Platz learned the game at the age of thirteen and for over a year he devoted himself to the intensive study of the games of Lasker, Anderson, Morphy, Steinitz and Tarrash. With this firm foundation in fundamentals, his progress was such that at age 16 he had the reputation of being one of the best players in Cologne.
In high school, he devoted the same intensity to his studies that he devoted to his chess games and graduated with the intention of entering medical school. The early death of his father and the insecure position of the family's economic situation caused a change in plans and he worked as a bookkeeper for a banking firm from 1923 to 1926.
An important milestone in Platz's life was the re-marriage of his mother to an man whose urging convinced Platz that at the age of 21 it was not too late to start studying medicine and so he entered medical school.
His first major tournament was an invitational event sponsored by the Cologne Chess League in which he scored 7-0. This win was not a one-shot victory because Platz went on to win the Cologne Chess Club Championship seven times in a row.
Chesswise, 1926 could be considered a successful year for him. He won the City of Cologne Championship with a score of 11.5-0.5 and when Rudolf Spielmann, one of the greatest attacking player of all times, was returning from winning an international tournament in Austria, he visited Cologne and a five game match with Platz was arranged.
The results of proved that Platz was no ordinary player. To put it in his own words, "What chance did I, an amateur chess player, have against the famous master? To everyone's surprise, including my own, I won two games, drew two and only lost one and won the match with a 3-2 score.”
In 1928, after a two year absence from serious chess due to his medical studies, Platz entered and won the tournament for the Championship of the Rhine (i.e. Western Germany).
More tournament successes followed, then in 1931, having passed the Medical Board examinations Dr. Platz served his internship in Hannover where he played a six-game match with H. Matthai, Lower Saxony Champion, and won with a +3 -1 =2 score.
1932 was spent as resident in surgery in the city of Offenburg where the busy schedule left little time for chess.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, Dr. Platz left Germany and came to the United States where, after a year's internship at Fordham Hospital in New York City, he passed all of the Medical Board exams and went into general practice in the Bronx.
In 1934, with all the uncertainty contingent with emigrating to a new country, learning a new language, setting up a medical practice and having to adopt a new way of life, Dr. Platz still managed to return to competitive chess and joined the Manhattan Chess Club where he took part in many tournaments.
As a member of the Manhattan team in the Metropolitan Chess League, he went undefeated for seven years and won a record setting Best Game Prize four times. During his stay in New York, Platz was also a member of the Bronx Chess Club and did not suffer a single loss in the six club championships that he won.
In 1948, he played in the US Championship (won by Herman Steiner). It was a 20-player event and Platz scored +4 -8 =7, landing him in 14th place.
In 1952 Dr. Platz, with a desire to live in a smaller and quieter community, moved his family to Manchester, Connecticut. Building up a new practice left very little time for anything else much less chess. Therefore, Platz decided to retire from active chess, but his retirement only lasted two years and in 1954 he was back in action.
In 1978 he wrote Chess Memoirs: The chess career of a physician and Lasker pupil. I do not have this book, but you can download the games in pgn from Bill Walls’ fantastic site HERE.
For some reason Platz only included one game from his match with Spielmann and quite a few miniature games where his opponents made real howlers…one move blunders. Perhaps there was a story behind them.
In the game below he defeats Irving Chernev who got into trouble when he brought his Q out too early and neglected to castle.
[Event "New York ch"]
[Site "New York ch"]
[Date "1939.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Joseph Platz"]
[Black "Irving Chernev"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E34"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "1939.??.??"]
{E34: Nimzo-Indian: Classical} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5
Qxd5 6. Nf3 c5 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 {[%mdl 32]} (8. Qxc3 {This is equally good.}
Ne4 9. Qc2 Nc6 10. dxc5 Nxc5 11. Be3 {equals. Schmidt,W (2370)-Rozentalis,E
(2602) Warsaw POL 2012}) 8... Nc6 9. e3 Bd7 10. c4 Qd6 (10... Qh5 {This leaves
the Q slightly vulnerable.} 11. Be2 O-O 12. O-O Rfd8 13. Rb1 b6 14. Ne5 {
White is slightly better. Lomineishvili,M (2350)-Timmermans,I (2225)
Schwaebisch Gmuend 1999}) 11. Bb2 Rc8 12. Bd3 cxd4 13. exd4 Qf4 {This leaves
his Q somewhat exposed plus his delay in castling is going to be a problem. 13.
..O-O was better.} 14. O-O Ne7 {This was his last chance to castle.} 15. Ne5
Bc6 16. Rad1 h5 {[%mdl 8192] A fatal error; black has zero prospects of
conducting a successful K-side attack. 16...O-O, or possibly 16...b5 were
better. In that case white's advantage is only a modest one.} 17. g3 {This
highlights the problem with black's 13th move.} Qh6 18. Bc1 g5 19. h4 Ng4 20.
Bxg5 Nxe5 {Very nice! This may look like desperation, but it's actually a neat
little trap!} (20... Qg7 21. Rfe1 f6 22. Nxc6 Rxc6 23. Bc1 O-O 24. Be4 {
White is clearly calling the shots.}) 21. dxe5 {[%mdl 32] Avoiding Chernev's
crafty trap and securing the point.} (21. Bxh6 Nf3+ 22. Kg2 Nxd4+ 23. Kh3 Nxc2
24. Bg7 (24. Bxc2 Rxh6 {and black is winning!}) 24... Rg8 25. Bb2 Ba4 26. Rd2
Rd8 27. Bxc2 Rxd2 28. Bxa4+ Nc6 {and the advantage lies with black.}) 21... Qg7
22. Rfe1 Rg8 23. Be4 Bxe4 24. Qxe4 {With the powerful threat of Bxe7 and Qxb7+}
Nc6 (24... a6 25. Bxe7 Kxe7 26. Qxb7+ Ke8 27. Qxc8+ Ke7 28. Rd7#) (24... Qg6
25. Qxb7 Kf8 26. Bf6 {Black gets mated.} Re8 27. Rd8 {Black can only delay
mate by giving away material.} Qxg3+ 28. fxg3 Rxg3+ 29. Kh2 Rxd8 30. Qxe7+ Kg8
31. Qxd8+ Kh7 32. Qh8+ Kg6 33. Kxg3 a6 34. Qg7+ Kf5 35. Qg5#) 25. Qd3 {
Threatening mate with Qd7+.} f5 26. exf6 Qf7 27. Qd6 Nd8 28. Rd3 b6 29. f4 {
Black resigned, Flawless play by Platz.} (29. Rde3 {is just a bit quicker.} Rc5
30. Rxe6+ Nxe6 31. Rxe6+ Qxe6 32. Qxe6+ Kd8 33. Qxg8+ Kd7 34. Bf4 Rxc4 35. Qxc4
a5 36. Qd5+ Ke8 37. Qe6+ Kd8 38. Qd6+ Kc8 39. Qc7#) (29. f4 Rh8 30. Rde3 Rh7
31. Rxe6+ Nxe6 32. Rxe6+ Qxe6 33. Qxe6+ Kd8 34. Qd6+ Ke8 35. f5 a5 36. Qe6+ Kd8
37. f7+ Kc7 38. Bf4+ Kb7 39. Qd7+ Rc7 40. Qxc7+ Ka6 41. Qc8+ Ka7 42. Qb8+ Ka6
43. Qa8#) 1-0
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