Dr. Erwin Nievergelt

A younger Nievergelt

     Erwin Nievergelt (April 29, 1929 - August 4, 2018) was a Swiss player, mathematician and economist. Born in Zurich, he was one of Switzerland's biggest chess hopes in the 1950s, but his chess career was hindered as a result of his increasingly focusing on his professional career in the fledgling fields of Operations Research and Computer Science.
     Nievergelt graduated from University of Zurich and in 1956 he defended his thesis Die Rangkorrelation (Rank Correlation) for a Doctor of Philosophy. He worked in the area of business informatics ( a discipline combining information technology, informatics and management concepts) where he developed a system of electronic processing of economic information. 
     From 1967 to 1971 he worked as an outside lecturer at University of Basel. From 1971 to 1994 he was a Professor for information systems and computer science at the University of St. Gallen. He was also involved in computer science and engaged in predicting the exchange rate using artificial neural network and Artificial intelligence. 

An older Nievergelt

     After his retirement, Nievergelt established second and third homes in Italy and Spain where he was a gifted concert pianist.
     In chess his first notable success was at the 1954 Clare Benedict Tournament in Zurich, when he finished a surprising second behind Lothar Schmid and ahead of Max Euwe. He defeated Schmid and drew with Euwe. All together he played in five Clare Benedict Cups (1957, 1959, 1965-1967). 
     He was co-Champion of Switzerland in 1957. He played for the Swiss national team on two Olympiads: at Amsterdam in 1954 he scored 8-4. Then at Munich, 1958 he scored 6.5-6.5. Nievergelt took part in several strong international chess tournaments. He won the Swiss team championship five times. He founded the Aron Nimzowitsch chess club in Zurich. 
     In 1964 Nievergelt married Marlies Ehrensperger. They had four daughters who were very successful in their own careers: Caroline (biologist), Christine (teacher), Sabine (teacher) and Susanne (business consultant). 
     At the age of 89, Erwin Nievergelt passed away in his adopted country of Spain. 
     The following game was played in Spain in the Benidorm Open in 2002. At the time it was a new tournament that was based on the idea of the New York Open with amateurs and stars playing together in the same venue. 
     The Festival ran November 22nd to December 1st 2002 with almost 300 participants from 17 countries. The event finished with a "Stars Tournament" that saw a 12 players in a round robin 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move speed tournament. 
     Judith Polgar and Ruslan Ponomariov tied for first with 8.5 points. Two blitz games (3 minutes plus 2 seconds a move) were played to break the tie. The first was drawn and Polgar won the second in brilliant fashion when she gave up two Ps for a very strong attack. Next came Alexi Shirov and Anatoly Karpov tied with 7.5. 
     Fourth place was taken by the 12-year old Sergey Karjakin who was in the running for first but lost in the last round to San Segundo. The remaining players were: Lev Psakhis (5.5), Bojan Kurajica and Dragan Paunovic (5.0), Pablo San Segundo Carrillo (4.5), Antonio Granero Roca (3.5), Renaldo Vera (3.0) and Claudia Amura (1.5). 

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[Event "Benidorm (Spain) Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2002.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Rafael Sanchez"]
[Black "Dr. Erwin Nievergelt"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Queen's Indian Defense} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 b6 3. Nf3 Bb7 4. c4 {With 4.Nbd2
white could switch to the Torre Attack.} 4... e6 5. a3 {Petrosian first
recommended 4.a3 as a way to defend against the Q-Indian, but it wasn't until
Kasparov started playing the Q-Indian that the move became popular. The idea
behind this nifty little move is that it prevents the B from coming to b4
which means white's N can go to c3 with impunity. In this game white ignores
that and allows black to achieve easy equality.} 5... Be7 6. e3 {Try not to go
asleep during the next 20 mpves as both sides engage in dull maneuvering.}
6... O-O 7. Bd3 Ne4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Nbd2 f5 10. Qc2 Nxd2 11. Qxd2 d6 12. Be2
Nd7 13. b4 Nf6 14. Rc1 c5 15. Qb2 Rac8 16. O-O Rfe8 17. Rfd1 e5 18. d5 e4
{White's next move is a slight error. He maneuvers the N to f4, but he could
have done so with the maneuver Ng5-e6-f4 without weakening his K-side with
20.g3.} 19. Nh4 g6 20. g3 Nd7 21. Ng2 Ne5 22. h4 Qf6 23. Rc2 Rc7 24. Nf4 Bc8
25. Kg2 h6 26. bxc5 Rxc5 27. Rh1 Qf7 {Thus far black can only lay claim to a
slight advantage in the form of pressure on white's c-Pawn, but now white
begins to drift and allows Nievergelt to utilize the pin on the c-Pawn. White
needed to play 28.Rcc1 so that if the c-file gets opened he can challenge
black on thje file. But not 28.Rhc1 because after ...Qg7 and ...g5 white is
in trouble on the K-side.} 28. Qc1 Bd7 29. Rc3 {Another inexact move. He
needed to get the Q off the c-file so 29.Qd2 was better.} 29... Rec8 30. Rd1
{Better was 30.a4 trying to hinder ...b5.} 30... b5 {Demonstrating the error
of white's ways for the past three moves.} 31. Rd4 g5 {This switching of the
attack to the K-side isn't really necessary. Black is still better, but white
gets an opportunity to defend himself. On the other hand, the straightforward
31...bxc4 would have left white in dire straits.} 32. hxg5 hxg5 {With his next
move white misses his best defensive opportunity by not playing a P-sac.
33.Ne6 Bxe6 34.dxe6 followed by Qd2 would at least give him some play against
black's d-Pawn.} 33. Nh3 Qg7 34. Ng1 bxc4 { White is practically in
Zugzwang.} 35. f3 Nd3 36. Qd2 Qe5 37. Nh3 {Nievergelt now finishes up
forcefully.} 37... exf3+ 38. Bxf3 g4 39. Ng5 gxf3+ 40. Nxf3 Qg7 41. Qe2 Bb5
42. Nh4 f4 {Planning his 44th move.} 43. exf4 Re8 44. Re4 Nxf4+ { Winning the
Q and forcing a mate in 12. White resigned.} 0-1