Edith Keller-Herrmann (November 17, 1921 – May 12, 2010) was a German WGM. She was married to surgeon Dr. Lutz Herrmann and was the sister of IM Rudolf Keller (1917 – 1993).
Her talent was promoted in the 1930s and 1940s by the Greater German Chess Federation. In 1936 there was an international tournament in Dresden in which four German players were pitted against six European masters, including the winner, Alekhine. She visited that tournament and became fascinated with the game.
She began studying intensively entered her first tournament in 1939. In August of that year the 17 year old Edith Keller, along with 15 year old Klaus Junge, 14 year old Wolfgang Unzicker and two others, Rudolf Kunath (age 15) and Karl Krbavac (age 17), played in Jugendschachwoche Fürstenwalde near Berlin.
In 1942 she had improved to the point that she won the Greater German Women's Championship. In the next German Women's Championship in 1943 she finished in third place, tied for 7th-8th at Bad Krynica (the fourth General Government tournament, won by Josef Lokvenc).
After the war, Keller-Hermann was the German Women's Champion in 1947, 1948, 1951, 1952 and 1953, and the Eastern German Women's Champion in 1950, 1952, 1956, 1957 and 1960.
She participated in the first women's Candidates Tournament in Moscow in 1949/1950, where she shared 5th to 7th place. In the following years she qualified three times for the candidates’ tournament.
In 1953 and 1958 she participated with respectable results in the men's championships of the East Germany. She played at the tournament in Dortmund in 1951, where she tied for 11th–12th, but drew with Efim Bogoljubow and won games against Rossolimo and Stojan Puc.
Keller-Hermann also played for East Germany in several Women's Chess Olympiads either at first or second board.
Chessmetrics assigns her a high rating of 2436 in 1952. At the time this game was played Chessmetrics lists Rossolimo at 2663, putting him among the top 25 best players in the world, so Keller-Hermann’s win was quite an accomplishment.
1) O'Kelly 7.5
2-3) Fuderer and Milic 7.0
4) Pfeiffer 6.5
5-6) Puc and Rossolimo 6.0
7-9) Bogoljubow, Stoltz and Kieninger 5.0
10) Lange 4.5
11-12) Keller-Hermann and Grob 3.0
[Event "Dortmund"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1951.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Edith Keller-Herrmann "]
[Black "Nicolas Rossolimo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{King's Indian Saemisch} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 {The
idea of the Saemisch is to reject immediate development in favor of securing a
position for both the QB and KN while avoiding harassment by either ...Bb4 or
. ..Ng4. Or, maybe even launch a K-side P-storm beginning with g2-g4.
However, black has a wealth of plausible responses.} 5... O-O 6. Be3 e5 7.
Nge2 exd4 8. Nxd4 Re8 9. Be2 Nbd7 10. O-O a5 11. Qd2 Nc5 12. Rfd1 Nfd7 13.
Nd5 Nf8 {Better was 13...c6.} 14. Re1 {White fails to take advantage of
black's lapse. With 14. Nbd5 the attack on c6 yields white a considerable
advantage.} 14... c6 15. Nc3 a4 16. Rad1 Qa5 17. Nc2 Be5 18. Bd4 Nfe6 19. Be3
Qd8 {Having established space on the Q-side and driven white's N back from d4
Rossolimo now switches his attention to the K-side.} 20. Bf1 {Black should now
begin a direct advance on the K-side beginning with 20...h5.} 20... Qh4 21.
g3 Qf6 22. Bg2 {Now 22...Bxc3 looks inviting but after 23.Qxc3 Qxc3 24.bxc3
while white is left with weak Ps black's d-Pawn is lost and white has active
play on the d-file.} 22... a3 {This switch back to the Q-side is ineffective.
Better was 22...g5 continuing operations on the K-side. } 23. f4 Bxc3 24.
Qxc3 Qxc3 25. bxc3 {So...black's faulty 22nd move has forced him to enter a
line similar to that after 22...Bxc3.} 25... Na4 26. Rxd6 Nxc3 {After this
black lands in serious trouble. It would have been better to have played
26...Nb2 and then he could have met 27.f7 with 27...Nxc4.} 27. f5 {Equally
good, maybe even better, was 27.Rd3 and 28.Rxa3.} 27... gxf5 28. exf5 Nf8 29.
Bd2 Bxf5 30. Nd4 Rxe1+ 31. Bxe1 {With his next move Rossolimo overestimates
the value on his advanced passed a-Pawn. Better would have been attacking
white's R with 31...Ne4. After 32.Nxf5 Nxd6 33.Nxd6 he would have had a R+2
Ps vs white's two Bs and the outcome would not be clear.} 31... Nxa2 32. Nxf5
Ne6 33. Rd1 c5 {Otherwise his N has no retreat square.} 34. Ra1 {Capturing the
b-Pawn was a good alternative.} 34... Nb4 35. Bxb7 Ra7 36. Be4 Ng5 37. Bb1
{Not the best. She should have played 37.Bg2 because after this black could
have played 37...a2 attacking the B. Then after 38.Bxb4 (note the B has no
move) 38...axb1Q+ 39. Rxb1 cxb4 40.Rxb4 white is a P up in a R and N ending
and the win would have been much more difficult.} 37... Nf3+ 38. Kf2 Nxe1 39.
Kxe1 a2 40. Be4 Ra6 41. Kd2 { This was probably the end of the time control
and while white does indeed have a theoretical win, Rossolimo's resignation
seems a bit premature. Several Shootouts ended up with white winning an
ending of a R+B+P vs R+P, but the ending were long and arduous, so he might
well have played on.} 1-0
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