At the beginning of his chess career, he played in Leipzig and after World War I he took part in many German tournaments and represented Germany in matches against The Netherlands at Berlin 1922 and Austria at Vienna 1926. He also played for Germany in the 2nd Chess Olympiad at The Hague 1928 with a result of +5 –4 =4.
During the Second World War, although he had health problems and his job required a lot of business travel, Bluemich continued to take part in many of the strenuous Nazi sponsored tournaments.
From 1925 to 1942, he was an editor of the first German chess magazine Deutsche Schachzeitung. He was the author of a controversial 1941 edition of the Kleine Lehrbuch des Schachspiels (Small Textbook of Chess) by Jean Dufresne and Jacques Mieses in which he changed, omitted and modified references to Jewish players.
At the time it was the outstanding textbook in the German language and had been around for some 60 years. From 1901 to 19 37 it was periodically revised and brought up to date by Jacques Mieses which w nh meant it remained a useful modern work. Under the Nazis a new revision was entrusted Bluemich who was 100 per cent Aryan.
In April of 1933, Bluemich is known to have sent a congratulatory telegram to the new Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, but was he acting out of self-preservation?
The Jewish chess collector and antiquarian Albrecht Buschke later expressed considerable doubts about Bluemich's Nazi convictions.
Buschke was said to have received some letters from Bluemich attacking the Nazis, which he (Buschke) had to destroy when he emigrated to the United States.
Buschke operated a used chess book store in New York City. One day, maybe in 1965 or ‘66, I was on a “96” (a 4-day liberty) from the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina at spent it wandering around New York. Naturally, I visited Buschke’s shop and purchased two or three books.
After paying for them, Buschke informed me he was planning on periodically putting out a catalog and would I like to be placed on the mailing list? After writing my name and home address on a scrape of paper he tossed it on a huge wooden desk piled high with books, correspondence and assorted other papers. Either he never put out the catalog or that scrap of paper disappeared in the pile.
That was when our conversation was interrupted by another customer who walked in. He was greeted warmly by Buschke and informed that some new chess books had arrived and would he like to go in the back and take a look at them? The customer enthusiastically agreed and the two of them disappeared into the back of the shop. I was struck by the fact that Buschke was a trusting soul; while he and Bobby Fischer were in the back I could have walked out with an arm load of books.
On July 11, 1945, in a letter from London to Jakob Seitz Jacques Mieses wrote, “...I am very sorry to hear about Bluemich's death. He was a pleasant person and under no circumstances a Nazi.”
This was even though Mieses' name had been erased from the title page and in the prefaces in 1940 edition.
Mieses, in the foreword to the 1949 edition, wrote that he considered Bluemich’s “reworking to be complete in chess literary terms excellent and it is based on a well-thought-out system."
In a June 26, 1950 letter Mieses wrote that Bluemich, “who was close to me, could not avoid deleting all the Jewish names in the 15th and 16th editions of the textbook.”
Bluemich succumbed to a heart attack on February 23, 1942 on the return trip from his daughter's engagement party. The news of death did not come as a surprise to friends because his health had not been good.
Bluemich’s opponent in the following amusing miniature was Georg Kieninger (June 5, 1902 - January 25, 1975, 72 years old) was born in Munich. He was awarded the IM title in 1950 and was German champion in 1932, 1937, 1940 and West Germany in 1947. An avid cigar smoker, Kieninger was nicknamed Eisernen Schorsch (Iron Georgie) because of his fighting style.
Max Bluemich - Georg Kieninger
Result: 1-0
Site: It
Date: 1941.10.06
Caro-Kann: Advance Variation
[...] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 For a long time this move was considered inferior because of the beating Nimzovich took at the hands of Capablanca in New York 1927. It was given new life when Tal played it against Botvinnik in his world championship matches and later it was favored by Alexei Shirov and Nigel Short. 3...♗f5 4.♘f3
11...♘exd5 12.♘xd5 ♘xd5 favors black. 10.d5 A typical breakthrough in these types of positions. All watch for it in your own games! 10...♘cxe5 11.♘xe5 ♘xe5 12.♕a4 This has all been played before.
4.♘c3 e6 5.g4 The Bayonet Attack became popular line in the 1980s and later favored by Shirov,
(4.h4 was Tal's favorite. 4...h5 5.c4 e6 6.♘c3) 4...e6 5.♗e2 c5 6.O-O
6.♗e3 is not very ambitious, but it was a favorite of Short. 6...cxd4 7.♘xd4 ♘e7 8.c4
6...♘d7 Not a particularly good move as will soon become apparent.
6...♘c6 7.c3 cxd4 8.cxd4 ♘ge7 is better, but black's position is uncomfortably cramped.
7.c4 dxc4 8.♗xc4 ♘e7 9.♘c3 ♘c6
9...a6 10.d5 This is not so strong now. Better is 10.Bf4 10...♘b6 11.♗b3
11.dxe6 fxe6
11...♗xe6 is way inferior. 12.♗xe6 fxe6 13.♘g5 and white is winning.
12.♕e2 with equal chances. 12.♗b5 ♘d7 13.g4 ♗g6 14.♖e1 ♗e7 and black resigned. Istratescu,A (2505)-Hausrath,D (2370)/Halle 1995
12...♔e7 13.♗f4 ♘xc4 14.♕xc4 ♔f6 Apparently black hopes to play ...g6 and ...Kg7, but it's not in the cards. 15.♖ad1 e5
15...g6 16.dxe6 ♕e7 17.♗e5 mates in 10 17...♔xe5 18.♘d5 g5 19.f4 ♔d6 20.♘xe7 ♔xe7 21.♖d7 ♔f6 22.♖xf7 ♔g6 23.♕d5 ♗xe6 24.♕xe6 ♔h5 25.♕h3 ♔g6 26.♕f5 ♔h6 27.♕xg5#
16.♗g3 ♗d6
16...g6 runs into... 17.♗h4 g5 18.f4 gxh4 19.fxe5 ♔g7 20.♖xf5 with a winning position.
17.f4 exf4 18.♗xf4 ♔g6 (18...g6 still fails... 19.♘e4 ♔g7 20.♘xd6) 19.♗xd6 ♕xd6 20.♖xf5 White has many ways to win but this is prettiest. 20...♔xf5 21.♕d3
21.♕e4 mates in 6...not that it matters. 21...♔g5 22.h4 ♔h5 23.♕f3 ♔xh4 24.♘e4 ♕d7 25.g3 ♔h3 26.♘f2#
21...♔g4 22.♕h3 It's mate in 4 and so Kieninger resigned. (22.♕h3 ♔g5 23.♘e4 ♔f4 24.♘xd6 ♔e5 25.♘xf7 ♔f6 26.♕e6#) Powered by Aquarium
No comments:
Post a Comment