Platz learned the game at the age of thirteen and for over a year he devoted himself to the intensive study of the games of Lasker, Anderson, Morphy, Steinitz and Tarrash. With this firm foundation in fundamentals, his progress was such that at age 16 he had the reputation of being one of the best players in Cologne.
In high school, he devoted the same intensity to his studies that he devoted to his chess games and graduated with the intention of entering medical school. The early death of his father and the insecure position of the family's economic situation caused a change in plans and he worked as a bookkeeper for a banking firm from 1923 to 1926.
An important milestone in Platz's life was the re-marriage of his mother to an man whose urging convinced Platz that at the age of 21 it was not too late to start studying medicine and so he entered medical school.
His first major tournament was an invitational event sponsored by the Cologne Chess League in which he scored 7-0. This win was not a one-shot victory because Platz went on to win the Cologne Chess Club Championship seven times in a row.
Chesswise, 1926 could be considered a successful year for him. He won the City of Cologne Championship with a score of 11.5-0.5 and when Rudolf Spielmann, one of the greatest attacking player of all times, was returning from winning an international tournament in Austria, he visited Cologne and a five game match with Platz was arranged.
The results of proved that Platz was no ordinary player. To put it in his own words, "What chance did I, an amateur chess player, have against the famous master? To everyone's surprise, including my own, I won two games, drew two and only lost one and won the match with a 3-2 score.”
In 1928, after a two year absence from serious chess due to his medical studies, Platz entered and won the tournament for the Championship of the Rhine (i.e. Western Germany).
More tournament successes followed, then in 1931, having passed the Medical Board examinations Dr. Platz served his internship in Hannover where he played a six-game match with H. Matthai, Lower Saxony Champion, and won with a +3 -1 =2 score.
1932 was spent as resident in surgery in the city of Offenburg where the busy schedule left little time for chess.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, Dr. Platz left Germany and came to the United States where, after a year's internship at Fordham Hospital in New York City, he passed all of the Medical Board exams and went into general practice in the Bronx.
In 1934, with all the uncertainty contingent with emigrating to a new country, learning a new language, setting up a medical practice and having to adopt a new way of life, Dr. Platz still managed to return to competitive chess and joined the Manhattan Chess Club where he took part in many tournaments.
As a member of the Manhattan team in the Metropolitan Chess League, he went undefeated for seven years and won a record setting Best Game Prize four times. During his stay in New York, Platz was also a member of the Bronx Chess Club and did not suffer a single loss in the six club championships that he won.
In 1948, he played in the US Championship (won by Herman Steiner). It was a 20-player event and Platz scored +4 -8 =7, landing him in 14th place.
In 1952 Dr. Platz, with a desire to live in a smaller and quieter community, moved his family to Manchester, Connecticut. Building up a new practice left very little time for anything else much less chess. Therefore, Platz decided to retire from active chess, but his retirement only lasted two years and in 1954 he was back in action.
In 1978 he wrote Chess Memoirs: The chess career of a physician and Lasker pupil. I do not have this book, but you can download the games in pgn from Bill Walls’ fantastic site HERE.
For some reason Platz only included one game from his match with Spielmann and quite a few miniature games where his opponents made real howlers…one move blunders. Perhaps there was a story behind them.
In the game below he defeats Irving Chernev who got into trouble when he brought his Q out too early and neglected to castle.
Joseph Platz–Irving Chernev1–0E34New York chNew York ch1939Stockfish 16
E34: Nimzo-Indian: Classical 1.d4 f6 2.c4 e6 3.c3 b4 4.c2 d5 5.cxd5 xd5 6.f3 c5 7.a3 xc3+ 8.bxc3 8.xc3 This is equally good. e4 9.c2 c6 10.dxc5 xc5 11.e3 equals. Schmidt,W (2370)-Rozentalis,E
(2602) Warsaw POL 2012 8...c6 9.e3 d7 10.c4 d6 10...h5 This leaves
the Q slightly vulnerable. 11.e2 0-0 12.0-0 fd8 13.b1 b6 14.e5
White is slightly better. Lomineishvili,M (2350)-Timmermans,I (2225)
Schwaebisch Gmuend 1999 11.b2 c8 12.d3 cxd4 13.exd4 f4 This leaves
his Q somewhat exposed plus his delay in castling is going to be a problem. 13.
..O-O was better. 14.0-0 e7 This was his last chance to castle. 15.e5 c6 16.ad1 h5 A fatal error; black has zero prospects of
conducting a successful K-side attack. 16...O-O, or possibly 16...b5 were
better. In that case white's advantage is only a modest one. 17.g3 This
highlights the problem with black's 13th move. h6 18.c1 g5 19.h4 g4 20.xg5 xe5 Very nice! This may look like desperation, but it's actually a neat
little trap! 20...g7 21.fe1 f6 22.xc6 xc6 23.c1 0-0 24.e4
White is clearly calling the shots. 21.dxe5 Avoiding Chernev's
crafty trap and securing the point. 21.xh6 f3+ 22.g2 xd4+ 23.h3 xc2 24.g7 24.xc2 xh6 and black is winning! 24...g8 25.b2 a4 26.d2 d8 27.xc2 xd2 28.xa4+ c6 and the advantage lies with black. 21...g7 22.fe1 g8 23.e4 xe4 24.xe4 With the powerful threat of Bxe7 and Qxb7+ c6 24...a6 25.xe7 xe7 26.xb7+ e8 27.xc8+ e7 28.d7# 24...g6 25.xb7 f8 26.f6 Black gets mated. e8 27.d8 Black can only delay
mate by giving away material. xg3+ 28.fxg3 xg3+ 29.h2 xd8 30.xe7+ g8 31.xd8+ h7 32.h8+ g6 33.xg3 a6 34.g7+ f5 35.g5# 25.d3
Threatening mate with Qd7+. f5 26.exf6 f7 27.d6 d8 28.d3 b6 29.f4
Black resigned, Flawless play by Platz. 29.de3 is just a bit quicker. c5 30.xe6+ xe6 31.xe6+ xe6 32.xe6+ d8 33.xg8+ d7 34.f4 xc4 35.xc4 a5 36.d5+ e8 37.e6+ d8 38.d6+ c8 39.c7# 29.f4 h8 30.de3 h7 31.xe6+ xe6 32.xe6+ xe6 33.xe6+ d8 34.d6+ e8 35.f5 a5 36.e6+ d8 37.f7+ c7 38.f4+ b7 39.d7+ c7 40.xc7+ a6 41.c8+ a7 42.b8+ a6 43.a8# 1–0
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