If you've never heard of this David Friedman (1893-1980), don't be surprised. He was a chess enthusiast who left behind (as far as I know) no games, but he was a Jewish artist and Holocaust survivor.
He was born in Maehrisch Ostrau in the Austria-Hungary Empire; the town is known today as Ostrava, in the Czech Republic.
In 1911, he moved to Berlin to study art.
During WWI, he served as a battle artist in the Austro-Hungarian Army. After the war he returned to Berlin and resumed painting impressionist landscapes, still life and nudes which were exhibited in Berlin as well as galleries through Germany and Czechoslovakia.
Beginning is 1924, he also served as a freelance artist for various Berlin newspapers and magazines. He sketched many people ranging from scientists such as Albert Einstein to barn-storming pilots such as the WWI ace (and, ironically, later Luftwaffe high-ranking officer) Ernst Udet, as well as politicians, sports legends and businessmen. His favorite sketches though were of opera singers, musicians, actors and chess players.
In 1938, after the Nazis came into power, he fled with his family to Prague, but it turned out not to be safe there either and in 1941 he was deported to the Lodz ghetto and his works were looted by the Gestapo.
From Lodz, in 1944, he was sent to Auschwitz and other camps. His wife Mathilde and young daughter Mirjam Helene were murdered in Auschwitz. All through his incarceration, he continuing to draw and paint.
After liberation he created Because They Were Jews!, a series of artwork depicting the scenes he witnessed from his deportation up to his time in the Lodz Ghetto.
After the war, he lived in Prague and in 1948 he married another Holocaust survivor. In 1949 they fled Stalinist Czechoslovakia to Israel and in 1954, they and their daughter, immigrated to the United States where he continued his work; he became an American citizen in 1960 and changed the spelling of his name to Friedman.
According to his daughter, Miriam Friedman Morris, when a tournament, Maehrisch Ostrau, was taking place in July of 1923, he met former world champion Emanuel Lasker.
In their meeting the two discussed lithographs and copper etchings, an area in which Friedman was a specialist. Lasker was intrigued with the idea of portraying the players in the tournament and the result was fifty numbered portfolios composed of 14 lithograph portraits, one for each player. The work was lost a couple of times before it surfaced at the museum in Ostrava only with Pokorny and Hromadka omitted and the name of the work changed.
Other famous players Freidman sketched included Capablanca, Euwe, Bogoljubov, Gruenfeld, Alekhine and Reti.
The September 1996 issue of Chess Life, featured his daughter's article, David Friedmann’s Artwork for Berlin’s Newspapers and you can read it HERE, starting on page 40.
The tournament that got Friedman started sketching chess players was, as mentioned, Maehrisch Ostrau which was held in the summer of 1923 the event was sponsored by the Witkowitzer Eisenwerke (Witkowitz Iron Works).
Former world champion Emanuel Lasker finished undefeated in his first tournament chess since 1918.The tournament produced many great games, but one of the more interesting ones was the following game...watch Rubinstein's a-Pawn make its way to b2 and the way white's King seems to be in grave danger, but then black's attack stalls out.
Savielly Tartakower - Akiba Rubinstein
Result: 1-0
Site: Maehrisch Ostrau
Date: 1923
Scotch Game
[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.d4 Popular in the 1800s, but by 1900 it had lost favor among top players because it was thought to release the central tension too early and allow black to equalize without difficulty. It wasn't until Kasparov and Timman came along and used it as a surprise weapon to avoid the well analyzed Ruy Lopez that it once again gained in popularity. 3...exd4 4.♘xd4 ♘f6 Equally good is 4...Bc5 5.♘xc6 bxc6 6.♘d2 ♗c5 7.e5
7.♗e2 d5 8.e5 ♘g4 9.♗xg4 ♕h4 10.O-O ♗xg4 11.♕e1 O-O 12.♘b3 is equal. Senff, M (2462)-Pedersen,N (2441)/Emsdetten GER 2002
7...♕e7 8.♕e2 This blocks the B and hinders his castling K-side, but otherwise the e-Pawn is just lost. 8...♘d5 9.♘b3
9.♘e4 This is a mistake. 9...♗d4 10.f4 f5 11.c3 fxe4 12.cxd4 ♕b4+ with the initiative. Bontempi,P (2336)-Sbarra,M (2288)/Mantova ITA 2012
9...O-O
9...♗b6 was played in Tartakower,S-Lasker,E the following year in the great New York 1924 tournament and the game was eventually drawn. 10.♗d2 a5 11.a4 O-O 12.O-O-O d6 13.exd6 cxd6 14.♕xe7 ♘xe7
10.♗d2 a5 Watch this Ps amazing march. 11.O-O-O Equally good was 11.Bxc5. Castling Q-side looks quite risky, but castling on the other side is out of the question because the Q blocks the B.
11.g3 ♗b6 12.♗g2 a4 13.♘c1 a3 14.b3 ♗d4 15.♖b1 ♘c3 16.♗xc3 ♗xc3+ leaves black with a practically won game.
11...♗b6 Preferable seems 11...Bb4 after which black would have been slightly better. 12.c4 a4 13.♘a1 What a miserable square! 13...a3 Believe it or not, after this direct attack on white's K the chances are equal!
13...♘b4 was correct. Then after 14.a3 ♘a6 15.♗c3 ♖e8 16.f4 ♘c5 17.g4 f6 black's position is very promising.
14.♘c2 axb2+ 15.♔b1 d6 While black has not really a blundered in giving up the N, in this position he does not have quite enough compensation.
15...♕e6 16.cxd5 cxd5 17.♕f3 ♗b7 18.♕h3 ♖fb8 19.♗d3 ♕xh3 20.gxh3 d4 21.♖hg1 ♗d5 with unclear complications. In Shootouts the results were +1 -1 =3
16.cxd5 ♗f5
16...cxd5 was somewhat better. After 17.exd6 ♕xd6 18.♕f3 ♗e6 white is better, but black can at least hope to generate some threats against white's K.
17.♗c3 ♖fe8 After this black runs out of threats and the outcome is no longer in doubt.
17...cxd5 was somewhat better, but after 18.exd6 ♕d7 19.♕b5 ♗xc2+ 20.♔xc2 b1=♕+ 21.♖xb1 ♕xd6 Black only has a P for a B, but at least he has some play. Still, it's not likely to be enough to salvage a half point.
18.g4 ♗g6 19.f4 ♖a3 20.♗b4 ♖e3 21.♕d2 ♗xc2+ 22.♕xc2 cxd5 23.♗d3 c5 24.♗d2 ♖h3 Practically speaking, black may have some hope because of his menacing gob of Ps, but theoretically his position is lost. 25.♗b5 ♖d8 26.♖de1 g6
26...c4 was his last hope. 27.♗c6 ♕c7 28.♗xd5 c3 And now what is white to do? 29.e6 cxd2 Black has regained his piece, but after 30.exf7+ ♔f8 31.♕xd2 ♗a5 32.♖e8+ ♖xe8 33.fxe8=♕+ ♔xe8 34.♕e2+ ♔d8 35.♕e6 white has slightly the better of it, but can he still win?! In the and opposite colored B endings that occurred in Shootouts white scored +3 -0 =2
27.♗c6 From here to the end of the game Tartakower's play is quite accurate. 27...dxe5 28.♖xe5 ♕f6 29.♗xd5 ♗c7 30.g5 ♕b6 31.♗xf7+ ♔xf7 32.♕c4+ ♔f8 33.♖e6 ♖xd2 34.♖xb6 ♗xb6 35.♕e6 Black resigned. An amazing contest.
35.♕e6 ♖hd3 36.♕f6+ ♔g8 (36...♔e8 37.♖e1+ and black can only delay the mate.) 37.♕xb6 and black is out of moves.
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