| Nov-16-03 | | Benjamin Lau: From http://www.angelfire.com/games3/AJs... "Many people consider Rotlewi to be a fish, or a completely obscure player
of no talent, not worthy of sitting at the same chess board as Rubinstein. This is NOT true!
GM Andy Soltis gives the additional information about the 1st player:
" Gersh Rotlewi - 1889-1920, is one of the tragic losses of 20th Century chess.
He was an obscure Pole until winning an amateur section at Hamburg, 1910.
This earned him the Master Title, and the right and invitation to compete
at Carlsbad, 1911. [One of the strongest of the pre-World War I events!]
To the amazement of the spectators he held his own with the world's best players.
He beat Aaron Nimzovich, Carl Schlecter, Frank Marshall, and Rudolf Spielmann."
He also drew many fine game of chess with some of the world's best. - A.J.G.
Soltis continues: "And he would have tied for First Place ... had he won his final
game. (!!) But after this brilliant debut at age 22, Rotlewi was stricken by a
serious nervous disorder and never played again." (!)
(From Andy Soltis's book, "The 100 Best.")
(Perhaps someone could write a book on this nearly forgotten player?) A detailed search of my database (and many on-line sources) indicates
that Rotlewi was a strong Master, maybe close to 2450 ELO.
(Lifetime average.)
(If you take FIDE's CURRENT rating formula's, Rotlewi would have been an
un-rated player prior to Carlsbad. This means his post-tournament rating
would have been well above 2700!!)" |
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Nov-16-03
 | | Chessical: Rotlewi is an interesting player. He never played for a draw, and few of his games ended in draws. Prior to Hamberg, he may have also played some games or a small match in Holland (but I have never found any more details of this).
The Polish Chess Federation does not have him listed as a great Polish player. Are there any Polish kibutzers with any further information on this lost player with such a natural talent?
There are a few basic details and a drawing in Edward Lasker's book on his own career. |
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Jun-19-04
| | Chessical: This is the most complete record of Rotlewi's tournament appearance I can find: 6 Lodz, 1907
5-6 Lodz, 1906
2 Ostend, 1907
4 Prague, 1908
1-2 Lodz, 1909
2 Saint Petersburg, 1909 (not the grandmaster competition)
1 Hamburg, 1910 (not the grandmaster competition)
2-5 Cologne, 1911
2 Munich, 1911
4 Carlsbad, 1911 |
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Jun-19-04
 | | Gypsy: In Prague, 1908, Rotlewi was in the main (not in master) tournament. I can not verify his placement as my source only states: "Such important players as Rotlewi and Reti were eliminated in preliminary groups." Karel Treybal won the main tournament, Duras and Schlechter shared jointly the top slot of the master tournament (ahead of Vidmar, Rubinstein, Teichmann, Maroczy, Leonhardt, Marshall, Salve, Janowski, Duz-Chotimirski, Alapin, Mieses, Suechting, Spielmenn, Prokes, ...). |
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Jun-19-04
| | Gypsy: Ostende 1907 had a GM section (1.Tarrash, 2.Schlechter, 3-4.Janowski-Marshall, 5.Burn, 6.ailing Chigorin); monster IM section (30 players 1-2.Bernstein-Rubinstein, 3-4.Mieses-Nimzowich, 5.Forgacs, 6.Teichmann, 7.Duras, ...); main class I section (1.Heilmann, 2.Rotlewi, ...), main class II section (1.Geuss...), main class III section (1.Patay...), and ladies section. |
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Oct-27-04
| | Chessical: Rotlewi played in the All-Russian Amateur tournament in St Petersberg February 15th - March 12th 1909. He scored 12/16 and came second to Alekine(13/16). |
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| Nov-11-04 | | fasting: I once read a very well-written book in Danish bout Rotlewi – it’s called something like “20 runder i Carlsbad” – 20 rounds in Carlsbad - all though I’m not sure it says “20”. The author Peter Dürfeld is a Danish chess commenter, who has done an incredible research on the young Jew – Rotlewi, and Carlsbad 1911 – as I remember you find psychological details down to how the players slept the night before their games… got the book back in Denmark, but since I live in México, I can’t make any further references. I wonder, since I know there more danes than me in here, if anybody knew about the book? |
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| Dec-01-04 | | fasting: Still no news bout Rotlewi or Peter Dürfeld?? |
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| Jun-28-05 | | Monoceros: Edward Lasker writes about Rotlevi in "Chess Secrets I Learned from the Great Masters" and discusses two games of his, including his loss to Richard Teichmann in 1911. Lasker believes that this hard-fought defeat "liberated a depression in him." |
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| Oct-07-07 | | Karpova: A picture of Rotlewi:
http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... |
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Oct-07-07
 | | whiteshark: Findings:
http://www.szachowyzapiecek.mzszach... (in Polish)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gersz_...
http://db.chessmetrics.com/CM2/Play... |
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| Jan-04-08 | | martin moller: Hello <fasting> YES I have a copy of the book: "20 runder i Karlsbad" being
a Dane i know Peter Dûrrfelt and have
even meet him a few times. In the book Peter Dûrrfelt tries to see the tournament from Rotlewi`s point of wiew |
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Jan-04-08
 | | Caissanist: Updated link for Rotlewi picture: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... |
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| Jan-04-08 | | Karpova: Another great success for Rotlewi that hasn't been mentioned yet was his second place in the WTZGSz (Warsaw Chess Association) tournament in Warsaw 1910 (October 17 to November 5).
Rotlewi and Rubinstein ended up tied for first (13.5/15) but Rotlewi declined to play for first place and gave it to Akiba. Rubinstein beat Rotlewi in their individual encounter and both drew Flamberg (he came in third). Rubinstein lost to Hartmanis. Rotlewi and Rubinstein won all their remaining games (+13 =1 -1 each!) - against players like Bogoljubov, Salwe and Langleben. |
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| Jan-04-08 | | MichAdams: Can second place in a city championship really be called a great success? Let's just agree that it was a success. |
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| Jan-04-08 | | Karpova: <MichAdams>
Of course, what I wrote about was not a City Championship (and I didn't write it was). Rotlewi didn't participate in the Warsaw City Championship taking place in 1910. |
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