Prominent Chessplayer Perishes In Fiery Crash

 

     The German Zeppelin L2 was the second Zeppelin airship to be bought by the Imperial German Navy. It caught fire and crashed with the loss of all aboard on October 17, 1913 before it even entered service. 

     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. 

     Korvettenkapitaen Max Behnisch (1873-1913) had been in the German Navy for 15 years originally serving as a corvette captain; a corvette is the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper warship. He had commanded the gunboat Panther when, in 1911, he was appointed to the Reichsmarineamt where he was head of the aviation department. 

     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. 

[Event "Simultaneous, Berlin"] [Site "Berlin GER"] [Date "1912.11.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Emanuel Lasker"] [Black "Max Behnisch"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B01"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "1912.??.??"] {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 Nf6 {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} Nxc6 5. Nc3 e5 6. d3 Bc5 (6... Bf5 7. Nf3 e4 8. dxe4 Nxe4 9. Be2 Bb4 {Black has slightly the better of it. Savchenko,B (2562) -Asrian,K (2634) Moscow 2007}) 7. Be3 {White's safest moves is the uninspired 7.Be2} (7. Nf3 Bf5 8. Be2 O-O 9. O-O {is equal. Blondel,J (1626)-Andrieu,P (1914) Bagnoles de l'Orne 2009}) 7... Nd4 8. Nf3 {Here black should probably either play 8...O-O or 8...Bf5. but instead he plays for the attack.} Ng4 { 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... O-O 9. Be2 Bf5 10. Bxd4 exd4 11. Nb1 b5 12. Nbd2 bxc4 13. Nxc4 Nd5 14. O-O Re8 15. a3 Nf4 16. Re1 Qf6 17. Bf1 Bg4 {and the players agreed toi a draw. Trifunovic,P-Maric,R Zagreb 1953}) 9. Bxd4 exd4 10. Ne4 Bb4+ 11. Nfd2 {It would have been safer to play the other N to d2.} O-O {[%mdl 2048] 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. Be2 Ne3 {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. O-O exd2 15. Nxd2 (15. a3 { was safer.} Ba5 16. b4 Bc7 17. Qxd2 {Neither side can claim any advantage.}) 15... Qd4+ 16. Kh1 Qxb2 17. Ne4 {Rb1 is the strong threat.} Qd4 (17... Rd8 18. Rb1 Qa3 19. Bh5 Be6 20. Qf3 {and it's white who has the better chances.}) 18. Rb1 a5 19. Rf4 {[%mdl 8192] 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. Qc1 {would have kept black's advantage to a bare minimum.} Ra6 20. c5 Rc6 21. Rf4 Kh8 22. a3 Bxc5 23. Nxc5 Qxc5 24. Qxc5 Rxc5) 19... f5 20. Qb3 {Hoping black takes the N!} Be6 (20... fxe4 21. c5+ Be6 22. Qxe6+ Kh8 23. Rxf8+ Rxf8 24. Qxe4 Qxe4 25. dxe4 Rc8) 21. Ng5 (21. a3 {was hardly any better.} Bd6 22. Nxd6 Qxf4 23. Nb5 Rae8 {Black is still winning.}) 21... Qxf4 22. Nxe6 Qe5 {This should have left Lasker off the hook!} (22... Qe3 {stays on track.} 23. c5 Kh8 24. Nxf8 Qxe2 (24... Rxf8 25. Bf3 Re8 {Threat ...Qe1+} 26. Rf1 Qf2 27. Qd1 Qxa2 { White is very close to equalizing.}) 25. Qf7 Re8 26. h3 Qe7 27. Qxe7 Rxe7 28. Rf1 g6 {White's N goes leaving black with a won ending.}) 23. Nxf8 {[%mdl 8192] This hasty material grab is wrong.} (23. Bf3 {solves white's defensive problems as after} Rfe8 24. d4 Qf6 25. Bxb7 Rab8 26. Nc7 {Black's attack has been beten back and the chances are equal after, say} Rf8 27. c5+ Kh8 28. c6 Qh4 29. Nb5 Rbe8 30. Qg3 Qe4) 23... Qxe2 24. Nd7 Be1 {Not bad as black is ambitious and wants to force mate, but 24...Rd8 was even stronger.} (24... Rd8 25. c5+ Kh8 26. Qd5 Qe7 {winning the N.}) 25. c5+ Kh8 26. h3 Qf1+ 27. Kh2 f4 { Threatening ...Bg3#} 28. Rxe1 Qxe1 29. d4 {Avoiding the exchange of Qs with 29. Qf7 still loses after 29...Qe3! and white has run out of reasonable moves.} Qg3+ 30. Qxg3 fxg3+ 31. Kxg3 Rd8 {The ending is lost.} (31... Rd8 32. Nb6 Rxd4 33. Kf3 Rd2 34. a4 Rc2 35. Nd7 Rc4 {etc.}) 0-1