Taubenhaus was a leading Warsaw chess player in late 1870s and in 1880, he settled in Paris. His best performance was in London tournament 1886, where he tied for 3rd-4th places with Isidor Gunsberg behind Joseph Blackburne and Amos Burn.
While living in Paris, Taubenhaus gave lessons at the Cafe de la Régence, where he played every day.
In 1893–96, he he visited the United states. In 1893 he participated in an impromptu international tournament in New York where he finished in 7th place with a 6-7 score. The event was won by Lasker ahead of Albin.
In 1896, he participated in the 6th American Congress in New York, finishing tied with Bird in 12th place (out of 20). Then, after touring Argentina and Cuba, he returned to Europe where he was an active tournament player.
In match play he drew with Sittenfeld (Paris, 1891). He lost matches to Tarrasch (Nuremberg 1891, 1892), Mieses (Glasgow, 1895), Janowski (Paris 1903, 1905), Miguel Angel Gelly (Buenos Aires, 1907) and Walter Lovegrove (Paris, 1912).
In match play he defeated Andres Clemente Vazquez (Havana 1894/95), Albin (Paris, 1901), Villegas (Buenos Aires, 1907) and Teichmann (Paris, 1911).
Taubenhaus authored on book: Traite du Jeu d’Échecs (Treatise on the Game of Chess) published in 1910.
Taubenhaus was also a primary operator of the Mephisto chess player machine. The third automaton Mephisto was made by Charles Godfrey Gumpel, and unlike its predecessors The Turk and Ajeeb, it had no hidden operator and functioned by electro-mechanical means.
Gumpel took a few years to build it and it was first shown in 1876 at his Leicester Square home in London. It was the first automaton to win a tournament when it was entered in the Counties Chess Association at London in 1878.
Mephisto was operated mainly Isidor Gunsberg and was shown regularly for 10 years, and at one time had its own club in the UK.
When Mephisto went to the Paris Exposition in 1889 it was operated by Taubenhaus. After that it was dismantled and its subsequent whereabouts are unknown.
[Event "6th American Congress, New York"]
[Site "New York, NY USA"]
[Date "1889.04.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Jackson W. Showalter"]
[Black "Jean Taubenhaus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C37"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "1889.03.25"]
{King's Gambit, Muzio Gambit} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 {Black
can avoid the Muzio with 4...Bg7 which has been recommended as a safe and
practical method of avoiding complications.} 5. O-O {White offers a N hoping
to exploit black's weakness on the f-file, thereby launching an attack on
black's K.} gxf3 (5... d5 {postponing taking the N allows a strong attack
after...} 6. Bxd5 gxf3 7. Qxf3 Nf6 8. Qxf4) 6. Qxf3 Qf6 {This move is
definitely best since it not only barricades the f-file, but also impedes the
formation of white's P-center with d4. GM Dmitry Andreikin played the rare
move 6...Bh6} (6... Bh6 {Apparently a satisfactory move.} 7. d4 Qh4 8. Nc3 Nc6
9. Nd5 Kd8 10. c3 d6 11. Nxf4 Nge7 12. g3 Qg4 {is roughly equal. Nakamura,H
(2741) -Andreikin,D (2683) Moscow 2010}) 7. e5 Qxe5 8. Bxf7+ {According to
Steinitz, the Scottish player John Cochrane (1798-1878) played this move first
when giving the odds of the QN to inferior players. Among others, Morphy and
other masters also favored it because it can be quite trappy and it also
insures speedy cooperation of the two Rs.However, Steinitz correctly observed
that here it "actually hampers white's game...to have the b1N on the board and
lose time in its development." He was also of the opinion that the Muzio was
"too bold" for tournament play and black should be able to use his extra
material to fend off the attack.} (8. d3 {This prosaic move is best, but black
still should have a significant advantage because of his extra material.} Bh6
9. Nc3 Ne7 10. Bd2 {and black stands quite well.}) 8... Kxf7 9. d4 Qf5 {Best.}
(9... Qxd4+ {gets really crazy.} 10. Be3 Qg7 11. Qxf4+ Nf6 12. Bd4 Rg8 13. Qe4
Bc5 14. Bxc5 d5 15. Qxd5+ Be6 16. Qxb7 Nbd7 {Black is better, but proving it
OTB could prove to be difficult. In Shootouts black scored 5-0, but the
endings generally were long with black having a R+B+Ps against a R+Ps}) 10. g4
{Of course 10.Bxf4 was also quite playable.} Qg6 {This surprising move which
leaves him open to a discovered check also leaves him with a winning position.}
(10... Qf6 11. Nc3 Ne7 12. Bxf4 Ke8 13. Ne4 {leaves white with too much play.})
(10... Qe6 11. Bxf4 Nf6 12. Nc3 d5 13. Bg3 Bg7 14. g5 {black can fend off the
attack and keep the advantage, but after} Qg4 15. gxf6 Bh6 16. Qxd5+ Be6 17.
Qxb7 {here, too, white has a lot of play.}) 11. Nc3 Nf6 12. Bxf4 d6 (12...
Qxg4+ {is less accurate.} 13. Qxg4 Nxg4 14. Be5+ Kg8 15. Bxh8 {and black's
position is not nearly a good as after the text.}) 13. Bg3 Kg7 {Black is
clearly winning. Believe it or not, the same moves were played in a game 107
years later.} (13... Be7 14. Rae1 Nc6 15. Nd5 Bd8 16. Bh4 Bxg4 17. Qg3 Bf5 18.
Rxf5 Qxf5 19. Nxf6 Bxf6 20. Rf1 Nxd4 21. Rxf5 Ne2+ 22. Kg2 Nxg3 23. hxg3 Rhf8
24. Rxf6+ Kg7 25. Re6 Rae8 {The ending is lost so white resigned. Lilov,V
(2259)-Filev,G (2389) Pleven 2006}) 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. Qxd5 Nc6 16. Qc4 d5 {
According to Steinitz, "Black's attack with superior forces can hardly fail."}
17. Qxd5 Be6 18. Qb5 Be7 19. Qxb7 Qe4 20. Rae1 Qxd4+ 21. Rf2 Bd7 22. Qxc7 {
With only 3 Ps against a B and N it's clear that white must lose, but
Taubenhaus' mopping up play is instructive.} Bc5 23. Kg2 Qd5+ 24. Rf3 Rhf8 25.
Bf4 Rac8 26. c4 Qxf3+ {A nice finishing touch. The auto-annotation with Fritz
described Taubenhaus' play as "flawless."} (26... Qxf3+ 27. Kxf3 Rxc7 28. Kg3
Bf2+ 29. Kxf2 Rxf4+ 30. Ke3 Rxc4 {etc.}) 0-1
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