Rudolph Loman

    According to Chessmetrics the 9th century London player Rudolph Loman achieved an estimated high rating of 2570 in 1892 and that ranked him #21 in the world; Emanuel Lasker topped the list at 2787. His opponent in the following game weighed in with a high rating of 2430 in 1902 placing him at #52 in the world; Lasker still topped the list at 2829. 

    A professional organist, Rudolph Loman (1681-1932) was born on Amsterdam where his father was a professor of theology at the University of Amsterdam.

    Lonan learned to play chess at the age of sixteen while he was studying at the Conservatoire of Music on Leipzig. After learning the game he began studying and after three years spent finishing his music studies in Cologne he ha become quite strong and when he returned to Holland he was one of the best players in the country and regularly competed in tournaments. 

    Loman arrived in London in 1883, and obtained, among other position, was an organist at the Dutch church in Austin Friars. He was also a professor of the piano at several music academies and he gave piano recitals that were popular. 

    Between the years of 1881 and 1892 he played in many Dutch national and London tournaments usually doing well and finishing among the prize winners. Although living in London until 1914, in 1912 he won the Dutch championship and finished second behind Max Euwe on two occasions. 

    His opponent in the following game was another prominent London player of the day, Thomas Physick (1852-1904), a sculptor and musician who was also a dangerous opponent. For example, in the Minor event at the 1899 London International (won by Lasker), Physick was undefeated and tied for second with Marco a half point behind Marshall. 

[Event "London"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "1900.04.09"] [Round "?"] [White "Rudolf Loman"] [Black "Thomas Physick"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C30"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "1900.04.05"] { King's Gambit Declined} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 Bc5 3. Nf3 d6 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Bc4 Nf6 6. d3 Be6 7. Bb5 Ng4 {While full of fury this doesn't accomplish much because the attack on f2 is banal. Either 7...a6 or 7...Bd2 would have been more judicious.} 8. Qe2 O-O (8... Bf2+ 9. Kf1 Bb6 (9... O-O 10. Bxc6 {wins a piece.}) 10. h3 {beats back the N because he cannot play} Nf2 11. Rh2 exf4 12. Nd5 {winning the N.}) (8... Nf2 {does not worl out well after} 9. Rf1 Ng4 (9... O-O 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. f5 Bd7 12. Rxf2 Bxf2+ 13. Qxf2 {and white's two Ns should be better than the R. In Shootouts white scored 5-0.}) 10. h3 Nf6 11. fxe5 dxe5 12. Nxe5 {White is cearly better.}) 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. h3 Nf2 {This was not good earlier and it's not good now. Retreating to f6 was much better.} 11. Rf1 Bxh3 {A hollow attack, but there was nothing better.} 12. gxh3 Nxh3 13. f5 d5 14. Qh2 Nf4 15. Rh1 {White's attack is irrepressible.} h6 16. Nxe5 dxe4 17. Bxf4 {[%mdl 32]} exd3 18. O-O-O {[%mdl 32]} Bd6 {White now has a clever finish.} 19. Qxh6 {[%mdl 512] White mates in 6} gxh6 20. Rdg1+ Qg5 21. Bxg5 Bxe5 22. Bf6+ $146 Kh7 23. Rg7+ Kh8 24. Rxh6# {A nearly flawless game by Loman!} 1-0