The Zepplin was first flown on September 6th and following a number of trial flights it was flown to Johannisthal in northeastern Germany on September 20th for an acceptance trial by the Navy.
This trial flight, the craft's tenth, was to be an altitude trial and was scheduled on October 17th. On the morning of the flight things started badly. Takeoff was delayed because one of the engines wouldn't start.
During the two hours it took to repair the engine the airship was sitting in the sun and the heated hydrogen expanded. As a result, on takeoff the airship ascended rapidly to about 650 feet and that's when observers saw flames leaping out of the forward engine car.
The flames caused some of the gasbags to explode and the airship began plummeting to the ground. Halfway down there was a second explosion and as the wreckage hit the ground there were more explosions as the fuel tanks ignited.
Medical personnel were there immediately and shortly thereafter several ambulances arrived. Two crew members were found alive lying outside the debris and severely wounded lieutenant was freed from the wreckage. Of the three survivors one died at the site, the second died during transport to the hospital and the third died in the hospital. The remaining 25 crew members were killed on impact.
Among the 28 crew members who died in the crash was one of the strongest members of the Berlin Chess Club (Berlin Scachgegellschaft), Captain Max Behnisch who was in command of the airship.
It was determined that the accident had been caused by the rapid ascent leading to venting of hydrogen through the relief valves, which in Zeppelins of the period were placed at the bottom of the bags; there were no vents to convey any hydrogen let off to the top of the ship. As a result, some of the vented gas was then sucked into the forward engine car where it was ignited, the fire then spreading to the gasbags.
Behnisch was the son of the director of the Gorlitz mechanical engineering and iron foundry corporation. His family (mother and sister) received the news of his death at 1:00pm by telegram from Berlin.
Although Behnsich was not a Master, he was a highly esteemed as an amateur player as well as for his personal qualities. He enjoyed the distinction of having been the only player to have defeated Emanuel Lasker in a simultaneous exhibition at the club in 1912. Lasker himself spoke very highly of the brilliant effort by Behnisch,
It was very audacious of Behnisch to play the Scandinavian, but it paid off because he obtained good development and fine attacking possibilities. Then, a temporary sacrifice of a N enabled him to make progress and Lasker found it necessary to give up the exchange.
In 1912, at the annual congress of the German Chess Association Behnisch participated in one of the minor tournaments at the Breslau International Congress. After the conclusion of the events the Breslau officials arranged an extra quadrangular tournament with the order of finish being 1) Hugo Suechting 2) Walther von Holzhausen 3) Behnisch and 4) Dr. Carl Hartlaub.
Unfortunately, I was unable to discover any of Behnisch's games except for his win over Lasker.
Emanuel Lasker–Max Behnisch0–1B01Simultaneous, BerlinBerlin GER17.11.1912Stockfish 15
Scandinavian Defense 1.e4 d5 This used to be known as the Center Counter
Defense. It's the oldest black defense recorded in modern chess. The general
goal is to prevent white from controlling the center with Pawns and forcing an
open game. It's played only occasionally today. 2.exd5 f6 This the more
modern way, but at the time it would have been more usual to play 2...Qxa4.
The rare Blackburne-Kloosterboer Gambit is 2...c6. 3.c4 This attempt at
holding the P allows black to obtain full compensation for the P because he
rapidly gets his pieces into play. White does better playing 3.d4 c6 4.dxc6
The best move is still 4.d4 xc6 5.c3 e5 6.d3 c5 6...f5 7.f3 e4 8.dxe4 xe4 9.e2 b4 Black has slightly the better of it. Savchenko,B (2562)
-Asrian,K (2634) Moscow 2007 7.e3 White's safest moves is the uninspired
7.Be2 7.f3 f5 8.e2 0-0 9.0-0 is equal. Blondel,J (1626)-Andrieu,P
(1914) Bagnoles de l'Orne 2009 7...d4 8.f3 Here black should probably
either play 8...O-O or 8...Bf5. but instead he plays for the attack. g4
White should get a slight advantage after this, but in a simul where Lasker is
moving quickly and not expecting master level competition the text proved to
be worth the risk. 8...0-0 9.e2 f5 10.xd4 exd4 11.b1 b5 12.bd2 bxc4 13.xc4 d5 14.0-0 e8 15.a3 f4 16.e1 f6 17.f1 g4 and the players
agreed toi a draw. Trifunovic,P-Maric,R Zagreb 1953 9.xd4 exd4 10.e4 b4+ 11.fd2 It would have been safer to play the other N to d2. 0-0
Black threatens ...f5 putting white under pressure and causing him to have to
lose time retreating the N which would not have been the case had white played
11.Ned2 12.e2 e3 As forceful as this looks, black's advantage, if any, is
only a positional one as he obtains the open d-file and what amounts to no
more than potential threats. 13.fxe3 dxe3 14.0-0 exd2 15.xd2 15.a3
was safer. a5 16.b4 c7 17.xd2 Neither side can claim any advantage. 15...d4+ 16.h1 xb2 17.e4 Rb1 is the strong threat. d4 17...d8 18.b1 a3 19.h5 e6 20.f3 and it's white who has the better chances. 18.b1 a5 19.f4 The very transparent threat is Nf6+ It's rather
odd that in his brief notes to this game that appeared in the American Chess
Bulletin, Isadore Gunsberg made no comment on this, the losing move. 19.c1 would have kept black's advantage to a bare minimum. a6 20.c5 c6 21.f4 h8 22.a3 xc5 23.xc5 xc5 24.xc5 xc5 19...f5 20.b3 Hoping black
takes the N! e6 20...fxe4 21.c5+ e6 22.xe6+ h8 23.xf8+ xf8 24.xe4 xe4 25.dxe4 c8 21.g5 21.a3 was hardly any better. d6 22.xd6 xf4 23.b5 ae8 Black is still winning. 21...xf4 22.xe6 e5 This should
have left Lasker off the hook! 22...e3 stays on track. 23.c5 h8 24.xf8 xe2 24...xf8 25.f3 e8 Threat ...Qe1+ 26.f1 f2 27.d1 xa2
White is very close to equalizing. 25.f7 e8 26.h3 e7 27.xe7 xe7 28.f1 g6 White's N goes leaving black with a won ending. 23.xf8
This hasty material grab is wrong. 23.f3 solves white's defensive
problems as after fe8 24.d4 f6 25.xb7 ab8 26.c7 Black's attack has
been beten back and the chances are equal after, say f8 27.c5+ h8 28.c6 h4 29.b5 be8 30.g3 e4 23...xe2 24.d7 e1 Not bad as black is
ambitious and wants to force mate, but 24...Rd8 was even stronger. 24...d8 25.c5+ h8 26.d5 e7 winning the N. 25.c5+ h8 26.h3 f1+ 27.h2 f4
Threatening ...Bg3# 28.xe1 xe1 29.d4 Avoiding the exchange of Qs with 29.
Qf7 still loses after 29...Qe3! and white has run out of reasonable moves. g3+ 30.xg3 fxg3+ 31.xg3 d8 The ending is lost. 31...d8 32.b6 xd4 33.f3 d2 34.a4 c2 35.d7 c4 etc. 0–1
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