Being Jewish, he fled Nazi Germany in 1939 and went to Sweden. There are two versions of his demise. One is that he locked himself in his room and was later found starved to death. The other version is that he suffered from a Parkinson's disease which rapidly worsened and he died after being admitted to a hospital.
Parkinson’s is a disorder of the central nervous system that affects movement and often including tremors. It often starts with a tremor in one hand. Other symptoms are slow movement, stiffness, and loss of balance. These days medications can help control the symptoms.
His opponent in the following game was Georg F. W. Schories (1874-1934, 60 years old). He was born in Berlin,Germany, but spent a few years of his life in Sheffield, England. However, during the First World War, being German, he was internment in an English prison camp. After the war he returned home to Germany.
The game was played in Scheveningen in 1905. Most of the world’s top players didn’t play, Frank Marshall being the only exception.
Marshall lost badly to Dirk Bleijkmans in the first round, but recovered and proceeded to reel off ten consecutive wins!
The surprise of the tournament was the virtually unknown, but brilliant, Dutch player Benjamin Leussen (1876-1924). Supposedly not long after this tournament he lost interest in chess and gave it up. There is an interesting article on him HERE, but it’s in Dutch.
If you have the "must have" browser addon Copyfish (free OCR software) installed on your computer you can copy the article and use Google translate. You can (and should!) download Copyfish...just do a Google search to locate the program.
Spielmann’s classic book, The Art of Sacrifice, is still worth reading. In the book he gives the following game as an example of a “real” sacrifice which is, as he so eloquently described it, is “turning matter into energy." That is, the sacrifice of material for the sake of dynamic advantages.
“Real" sacrifices are those which are characterized by the element of risk and the benefits of such a sacrifice cannot be assumed with a certain degree of probability. The likelihood of their success is not necessarily based on the position. They can even be based upon a psychological motive such as an opponent's individual failings. Or, one can speculate on his time trouble, etc. Or, they are simply made with the desire to take a sporting chance. A simplest example of a real sacrifice is in the opening where material is given up for the sake of development.
Georg Schories–Rudolf Spielmann0–1C82Scheveningen8Scheveningen NED05.08.1905Stockfish 16
C82: Open Ruy Lopez 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.b5 a6 4.a4 f6 5.0-0 xe4
In thid, the seldom seen Open Variation of the Morphy Defense (4...a6), black
tries to make use of the time white will take to regain the P to gain a
foothold in the centrer. 6.d4 b5 7.b3 d5 8.dxe5 e6 Spielmann was fond
of this defense because of its aggressive character. 9.c3 c5 10.a4 b4 11.e2 Best. 11.a5 0-0 12.a4 e7 13.d4 b8 14.e3 Black is slightly
better. Polgar,J (2630)-Piket,J (2605) Monaco blindfold 1994 11...0-0 12.c2 Spielmann explains: Black is threatened with the loss of a P because his
N on e4 is attacked twice. It can be supported by 12...Bf5 when no further
attack on the N will succeed. See the variation. It is clear that black can
easily defend his position, but according to Spielmann the situation seems to
call for a Pawn sacrifice. The reason is that if white can capture twice in e4
he gives up his best attacking piece (the light-squared B), exposes his Q on
e4 and leaves black with the two Bs. Another observation is that at the moment
black is a tempo ahead although this is momentarily offset by white's superior
P-formation. If it were white's move he could play as in the note. Note that
today 12.Bc2 is considered the correct move and it is confirmed by Stockfish. f5 Interesting! Spielmann explains: Now white is faced with a difficult
problem. He must either concede the consolidation of black's position at e4
and thus admit his move 12.Bc2 was defective; or else he must go on with the
P-winning expedition, whereby he neglects his development and substantially
promotes that of his opponent. Such is the reasoning of a truly great play.
Stockfish's clodblooded evaluation is that the position is dead equal. 12...bxc3 13.xc3 xc3 14.bxc3 d7 15.a5 f5 16.a4 fe8 equals. Souhardo,B
(2301)-Aagam,A (1715) Ahmedabad IND 2019 12...f5 13.bd2 This loses.
Correct is 13.Be3 xc3 14.bxc3 xc2 15.cxb4 xb4 Though only a P up, black
is much better. 12...b8 A pass to demonstrate the possibility if it were
white's move and he wanted to snatch a P. 13.xe4 dxe4 14.xe4 d5 15.e2 xf3 Now if white wishes to keep his extra P he must break up his K-side with
16.gxf3 16.gxf3 16.xf3 xe5 17.e2 e8 18.e3 h4 with an excellent
position. Note that the B cannot be captured. 19.xc5 g4 threatening mate
so... 20.xe8+ xe8 21.h3 h2 22.xh2 c4 23.g1 xc5 and black whould
win. 16...d5 17.f4 fe8 with a good position. 13.exf6 White
correctly decides to accept the offer. 13.e3 This tranquil continuation
favors black after e7 14.a5 h8 15.d1 c8 with all the paly. 13...xf6 Black is splendidly developed and must obtain a strong at tack no matter how
play proceeds - Spielmann 14.xe4 White might just as well accept the
sacrifice, as a quiet continuation (14.Be3 Bd6) leaves black with the
advantage and no risk involved - Spielmann dxe4 15.xe4 b3 A multipurpose
move. The black N remains protected, \white's Q is prevented from reaching c2
and it also preventing the possible Qc4+ at a later stage. As Spielmann
observed, black has secured a very promising and menacing game which, however,
he has yet to win. True enough...the engine evaluation is that the position is
dead equal.. 16.c4 Bit, this is not good! Just as the battle between the
numerically superior side and the better developed side was shaping up white
makes a mistake which tips the scales clearly in the black's (the attacker)
favor. Here Spiel;mann makes the observation that this game is a good
illustration because of the mistake because it is the kind that happens far
more frequently (and the consequences are greater) when one is defending
rather that attacking! In this game white (the defender) has the ptoblem that
not only is he behinf in development., but he would also like to maintai n his
material plus as compensation. Obviously white would like to to expedite his
development by giving back the P, but in that case black would still have his
two Bs.Bishop. 16.e3 keeps the balance. fe8 17.d3 xe3 18.fxe3 f7 19.e4 e5 20.xe5 xe5 21.cxb4 xe4 22.xe4 xe4 23.b5 e2 is completely
equal. 16...d6 An excellent move that parries the threats of 17.Qd5+
winng the B and at the same time prepares an attack on the c-Pawn. 17.bd2
Oddly, Spielmann made no comment on this move which is a losing
blunder! 17.e3 is the only move, but it keeps black's advantage at a
minimum. ae8 18.xc5 xc5 19.d5+ xd5 20.cxd5 xd5 and blacj is only
slightly better. 17...ae8 18.b1 This is a horrible retreat, but white's
position was very bad in any case. Now black's light squared B is firmly
trapped; but white failed to realize that he will never have an opportunity to
capture it! 18.g4 c2 19.b3 f5 20.g3 xg3 21.hxg3 d3 22.d1 e2
and white is in serious trouble...losing in fact. 18...d4 Beginning the
final assault. White has multiple possibilities, but none that are at all
promising! 19.e4 19.xd4 xd4 20.xb3 As note earlier, white is unable
to capture this B. xf2+ 21.xf2 e1# 19.xb3 xf3+ 20.gxf3 xf3 21.xc5 h3 22.f4 xc5+ 23.e3 exe3 24.f2 hg3+ 25.hxg3 xg3+ 26.f1 xc4+ 27.e2 xf4+ 28.f2 g4 29.e1 g1+ 30.d2 d4+ 31.e2 e5+ 32.d2 d4+ 33.e2 xb1 34.xb1 e4+ wins 19...xf3+ 19...g6 Ig this was whar white
was expecting black still wins. For example... 20.xd4 xd4 21.g3 xf2 22.e3 xe3 23.xf2 xf2+ 24.xf2 b6+ 25.f3 Black mates in 16! 25.f1 xc4+ 26.e2 xe2 mates in 2 25...e3+ 26.g4 xc4 27.f5 e6 28.f1 g6 29.xe6+ xe6+ 30.g5 h6+ 31.xh6 g4 32.f6 h4+ 33.xg6 g4+ 34.h6 g7+ 35.h5 xf6 36.g4 h7 37.f5 e4+ 38.g3 g5+ 39.f2 f4+ 40.g1 e1# 20.gxf3 g6+ 21.h1 xf3 22.e1 xf2 23.g5 h5 24.f6+ gxf6 25.xe8+ f7 Ut's mate in 5 25...f7 26.xh7+ xh7 27.f4 h3 28.e7+ xe7 29.g1 f3+ 30.g2 xg2# 0–1
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