SIEGBERT TARRASCH (born Mar-05-1862, died Feb-17-1934, 71 years old) Germany [what is this?] Siegbert Tarrasch was born in Breslau (modern-day Wroclaw, Poland). He learned chess at age 15. He rose to prominence by winning four consecutive international tournaments: 6th DSB Congress, Breslau (1889), Manchester 1890 (http://www.thechesslibrary.com/file...), Dresden (1892), and the 9th DSB Congress, Leipzig (1894). He also won Monte Carlo (1903). Chessmetrics ranks him the No. 2 player in the world (always behind his compatriot Emanuel Lasker) for 111 different months (a total of over nine years) between October 1890 and November 1906. His last good tournament result was at Semmering (1926), when he scored 10-7, tying with Akiba Rubinstein for 6th-7th place in a very strong field. After Lasker won the World Championship, the two agreed to terms for a match to take place in the fall of 1904, but the negotiations collapsed after Tarrasch requested a postponement. The Lasker - Tarrasch World Championship Match (1908) finally took place, but Lasker won decisively (+8 -3 =5). Tarrasch was an acclaimed writer. He was an editor of the Deutsche Schachzeitung, and also published his own Tarrasch's Schachzeitung (1932-1934) and the books Dreihundert Schachpartien (1895), Die moderne Schachpartie (1912), and Das Schachspiel (1931). He is often considered dogmatic, and had a long and bitter theoretical feud with the prominent hypermodern Aron Nimzowitsch, 16 years his junior, whose opening ideas he derided as bizarre. He was highly regarded for his contributions to opening theory. The Tarrasch (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5) and Semi-Tarrasch (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5) Variations of the Queen's Gambit Declined, and the Tarrasch Variation of the French Defense (1.e4 e6 2.4 d5 3.Nd2) are named for him, and remain very important even today. He also enriched the understanding of other aspects of the game. He articulated the principle that in rook endings rooks generally belong behind passed pawns. Many of his theories on the principles of mobility and other aspects of positional play still stand as well. Tarrasch also played consultation chess on the teams of Tarrasch / von Bardeleben / von Scheve / Schotlaender and Tarrasch / Harmonist / Heidebreck Wikipedia article: Siegbert Tarrasch http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/Play... Last updated: 2025-08-04 08:01:34

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page 1 of 39; games 1-25 of 970  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Tarrasch vs S Mendelsohn 1-0 26 1879 Breslau A00 Uncommon Opening 2. Tarrasch vs A Schottlaender 1-0 22 1879 Breslau C80 Ruy Lopez, Open 3. Tarrasch vs S Mendelsohn 1-0 32 1879 Breslau C80 Ruy Lopez, Open 4. Tarrasch vs A Schottlaender 0-1 24 1879 Breslau C51 Evans Gambit 5. Tarrasch vs S Mendelsohn 1-0 24 1879 Breslau B46 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation 6. Tarrasch vs S Mendelsohn 1-0 39 1879 Breslau C51 Evans Gambit 7. Tarrasch vs S Mendelsohn 1-0 33 1879 Breslau C51 Evans Gambit 8. Tarrasch vs F Riemann 0-1 18 1879 Breslau C67 Ruy Lopez 9. Tarrasch vs von Scheve 1-0 19 1879 Breslau B13 Caro-Kann, Exchange 10. Tarrasch vs A Mannheimer 1-0 27 1880 Breslau C55 Two Knights Defense 11. Tarrasch vs A Mannheimer 1-0 37 1880 Breslau C39 King's Gambit Accepted 12. S Mendelsohn vs Tarrasch 0-1 46 1880 Breslau C51 Evans Gambit 13. Tarrasch vs S Mendelsohn 1-0 24 1880 Breslau C49 Four Knights 14. Tarrasch vs A Mannheimer 1-0 28 1880 Breslau C42 Petrov Defense 15. Tarrasch vs S Mendelsohn 1-0 21 1880 Breslau C51 Evans Gambit 16. Tarrasch vs Pribulsky 1-0 30 1880 Berlin C31 King's Gambit Declined, Falkbeer Counter Gambit 17. von Scheve vs Tarrasch 0-1 30 1880 Bresslau C30 King's Gambit Declined 18. Tarrasch vs Winawer 1-0 30 1880 Casual game C51 Evans Gambit 19. Tarrasch vs B Lasker 1-0 23 1880 Berlin C42 Petrov Defense 20. Tarrasch vs NN 1-0 11 1880 Berlin C45 Scotch Game 21. Tarrasch vs G Vogt 1-0 24 1880 Breslau 000 Chess variants 22. Tarrasch vs Landau 1-0 17 1880 white blindfolded C55 Two Knights Defense 23. Tarrasch vs G Vogt 1-0 20 1880 Breslau 000 Chess variants 24. von Scheve vs Tarrasch 0-1 15 1880 Breslau C31 King's Gambit Declined, Falkbeer Counter Gambit 25. F Riemann vs Tarrasch 1-0 41 1880 Breslau C30 King's Gambit Declined  page 1 of 39; games 1-25 of 970

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 26 ·  Later Kibitzing> Jan-23-02    Sneaky: One of the great original thinkers in chess. And as a 1. d4 player myself, I must admit his confounded defense has caused me much consternation. Apr-03-03    Ron: For me, Tarrasch's "The Game of Chess" is a chess classic and when I was a boy I learned much from that book. That book has one great chess quote: "Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy." Aug-13-03    Benjamin Lau: For some reason, I always confuse this guy with Tartakower. Aug-14-03    AgentRgent: <For some reason, I always confuse this guy with Tartakower.> LOL! That's ironic, as I can't think of two players more different. Tarrasch being very staid and dogmatic, and Tartakower a notorious prankster, who said "as long as an opening is dubious... it's playable!" Aug-14-03    Shadout Mapes: Kinda like how I used to get the Beach Boys and Beastie Boys mixed up... Sep-29-03    suenteus po 147: "Before the endgame the gods have placed the middle game." - Tarrasch An important adage, and one that even world champions forget on occasion. Best example: Kan vs Botvinnik, 1935 Jan-29-04    crobzub: I mix up the two of them with Taimanov...... Mar-26-04    ruylopez900: Some confusing advice about te endgame form the man himself... "Always put the Rook behind the pawn...Except when it is incorrect to do so."-Siegbert Tarrasch (Grandmaster Secrets:Endings) Apr-30-04    chessgames.com: Many thanks to Honza Cervenka for supplying us with hundreds of missing games of Tarrasch. Apr-30-04    iron maiden: Is it true that Tarrasch was offered a chance to play Steinitz for the WC in America in 1890? May-01-04    capanegra: <iron maiden>, I don’t know exactly the date, but it is true that Steinitz –who was impressed by Tarrasch’s skills after Manchester 1980, Dresden 1892 and Leipzig 1894- offered Tarrasch a chance to play a match, and the place was supposed to be La Habana, were Steinitz had many admirers after his match with Chigorin in 1889. Dr. Tarrasch denied the offer, saying that he "could not abandon his patients right now". The book "La conquista del título mundial de ajedrez" says that Tarrasch made two mistakes in his life (or, should I say, he lost two magnificent opportunities). The first was the one I’ve mentioned, and the second was when he rejected Lasker’s proposal to play a match in the early 1890’s (young and less experienced Lasker wasn’t the world champion yet), because of his "lack of merits". Tarrasch was in the peak of his fame then, and could have won both matches, changing chess history. He probably regretted this somewhat arrogant behavior a few years later. May-02-04    capanegra: I just noticed that Tarrasch had refused to play against Lasker –because of his "lack of merits"- in Breslau, 1889. May-06-04    fred lennox: <Many thanks to Honza Cervenka for supplying us with hundreds of missing games of Tarrasch> Master calculator of this site - thank you!! May-17-04    GoodChessClub: Do you think Fischer and Tarrasch to some extent are similar? Both are rational and aggressive, and both may agree that 1.e4 is "best by test". May-21-04    fred lennox: Agressive without being being primarily a combinational player. Fisher is famous for his "straightfoward classical" playing , so too is Tarrasch, one of Fisher's favorite players. May-21-04    fred lennox: Tarrasch's ruling force is clarity and above all mobility not principles of good play. He was only interested in those principles which generally enhanced the ruling force. He was anti-classical in his attitude towards pawn structure, ever so was willing to sacrifice good pawn structure for the sake of mobility. Magnus Carlson shows the flame of the ruling force is as bright as ever. May-21-04    Gypsy: <fred lennox: Tarrasch's ruling force is clarity and above all mobility...> That summarizes the man's play very well. May-29-04    aragorn69: An interesting article (although not perfectly translated...) about Tarrasch as an example of a category of German Jews who desperately sought assimilation in the face of antisemitism. And how this could have been a factor on his well-known dogmatism... http://www.ballo.de/tarrasch_englis... Jun-15-04    PizzatheHut: I've never gone over Tarrasch's games before. Could anyone provide a few examples that are most representative of his style? Jun-15-04    Chessical: <PizzatheHut> The following brilliancy shows to perfection that Tarrasch had a sharp style even towards the end of his career: Spielmann vs Tarrasch, 1923 Aug-04-04    nikolaas: An excellent biography can be found here: http://pages.infinit.net/tarrasch/T.... It's well worth a visit. Sep-04-04    fgh: I hate Tarrasch. Sep-13-04    Leviathan: <fgh> Why? Sep-20-04    Knezh: arrasch was very arrogant man. I have his books "Game of Chess" and it strikes me how depreciatingly he comments on the games of his contemporaries, while praising and self-promoting his own. Phrases like: "Master Chajes apparently had very little knowledge about general opening principles" "Dr. Perlis made was rightly punished for his carelessness." "Contrary to whatever Doctor Bernstein might say, this was a decisive mistake" Sep-20-04    Knezh: Tarrasch* Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 26) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 26 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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