Friday, April 12, 2019

Alexandru Tyroler, First Romanian Champion

     Alexandru Tyroler (October 19, 1891 - February 3, 1973) was born in Garamszentkereszt in Hungary (now Slovakia) into a Jewish family. After World War I, following the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, he became a citizen of Romania and won the first Romanian championship in 1926 and followed it up with championship wins in 1927 and 1929. 
     The Treaty of Trianon was the peace agreement of 1920 that formally ended World War I between most of the Allies of World War I and the Kingdom of Hungary, the latter being one of the successor states to Austria-Hungary. The treaty regulated the status of an independent Hungarian state and defined its borders. Additionally, the treaty stated clearly that “the Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Hungary accepts the responsibility of Hungary and her allies for causing the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them...” 
     Tyroler represented Romania in the 2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad at Budapest 1926, where he won team bronze medal. He also played at 3rd board (+4 –7 =4) in the 3rd Chess Olympiad at Hamburg 1930. 
     Between December 30, 1926 and January 31, 1927, the first "Great Romania Championship" was held in Sibiu, a city in Transylvania located some 171 miles north-west of Bucharest. The event coincided with the meeting of the FR Shah Congress, after which the famous writer Mihail Sadoveanu was elected president.  
     The championship was played under poor conditions and participation was low with only eight players. Tyroler was undefeated and registered two draws, with Dr. Ioan Balogh and Lt.Col Luca Sempronius. The prize money was not spectacular even for those times. The final standings were: 

1) Alexandru Tryoler 6.0-1.0 
2) Seno Proca 5.5-1.5 
3) Ioan Balogh 5.0-2.0 
4) Aurel Lernovici 3.5-3.5 
5-6) G. Kuttler and A. Roth 2.5-4.5 
7) A Martzi 2.0-5.5 
8) Sempronius Luca 1.0-6.0 

     The Romanian Chess Magazine noted: "We note that the first championship of the country can not be considered fully successful because not all the Romanian provinces were represented. It is also very regrettable that some of our renowned masters such as Dr. N. Brody, A. Delanoff, S. Herland, L. Loewentin, I. Mendelssohn and Dr. Kahane did not take part.” 
     Tyroler only dabbled in chess until his early twenties, but in 1912 he participated in the first big international tournament organized on the current territory of Romania and held in Timisoara. The tournament was won by Gyula Breyer, with a score of 10.5 while Tyroler tied for places 5th-8th with 8.5 points.
     Tyroler described his approach to chess in a letter published in the Romanian Chess Journal in the summer of 1927:  “...I played only in the years 1910-1914, during which time I took part in (three) tournaments for the Budapest Championship...winning all three times the 2nd prize."
     "In 1912, I took part in the tournament for the Hungarian championship, where I was fifth. From 1914 to 1924...I have not played yet, and I can tell you that these years have been the most beautiful of my life. ...in the 1920s (I moved) to Timisoara, where (there were) some younger players...(and) at their insistence, to promote their progress, we played several serious games and then set up the Shahisch (Chess) Society. We played matches and serious games between clubs...and two years later I took part in the first tournament for the Romanian championship organized by FRS in Sibiu, both (times) coming first.” 
     Tyroler was a member of the Romanian team that participated in the Olympiads in Budapest in 1926 where he won the bronze medal and Hamburg in 1930. He later coached the national team of Romania and prepared their talented players.
     After he left Romania at the end of the Second World War and settled in Hungary not much is known of his chess activity. He died in Budapest on February 3, 1973, at the age of 81. 
     Chessmetrics assigns him a high rating of 2554 in 1913, placing him at number 37 in the world. That would be in the same group as such well known players as Grigory Levenfish, Georg Salwe, Semyon Alapin, Aleksander Flamberg and Paul Leonhardt. 
     The situation in 1928 was somewhat confusing. The first World Amateur Championship and chess Olympiad (unofficially considered the first chess Olympiad) were held the year the FIDE was founded at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris.
     The second World Amateur Championship and the 2nd Chess Olympiad were also held concurrently with the 1928 Summer Olympics. In 1927 FIDE bowed under pressure from the British and decided to allow only amateurs to take part. The result was that most world’s top players ignored the Olympiad, weakening its strength and prestige. 
     The definition of the amateur status was left to the national federations and different countries made different decisions. As a result of the lack of any clear rules as to what constituted an amateur, a conflict that broke out between the British and the US Federations because the British suspected some of the American team members were actually professional players. The result was the British team withdrew in protest. 
     At the last minute the FIDE congress cancelled the ban on the professionals and everyone was allowed to play, but it was too late and many teams just sent their reserves and young players.
     Each team was allowed to put one representative in the Amateur World Championship and everyone but Belgium and Denmark did so. Most teams selected their top player for the Amateur Championship.  
     Herman Steiner, Max Euwe and Hermanis Matisons were the favorites, but Carls, Treybal and Przepiorka were considered dark horses. 
     At the halfway point Euwe had a clear lead with 7.5-0.5 and Treybal was in second a full point behind. They were followed by Matisons, Carls and Golmayo. The other favorite, Steiner, lost his first 6 games and after 8 rounds had but one point. 
     After 11 rounds Euwe was still in the lead by a half point over Przepiorka and Carls who were followed by Matisons and Golmayo. 
     In the end Euwe finished first, followed by Przepiorka and Matisons, who finished third and thus failed to defend his title of World Amateur Champion which he had won in Paris, 1924. The famous criminal, US Master Norman T. Whitaker, won his last four games and shared fourth place with Golmayo and Treybal. 
     In the following game from the Amateur World Championship, Tyroler defeats Allan Nilsson (May 18, 1899 - September 4, 1949) of Sweden.  He was Swedish Champion from 1924-1929 and played four matches for the title. He drew a match with Gustaf Nyholm in 1921, won against Nyholm in 1924, drew with Gosta Stoltz in 1927, and lost to Gideon Stahlberg in 1929. 
     Nilsson tied for 2nd-3rd at Goteborg, shared 1st with Anton Olson at Uppsala in 1923 and finished 3rd in the 1924 Nordic Championship which was won by Nimzovich. Nilsson represented Sweden in the 1st Chess Olympiad at London 1927, and tied for 9th-11th in the Amateur World Championship. 

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