The chess games of Johann Nepomuk Berger

Johann Nepomuk Berger
Number of games in database: 232
Years covered: 1866 to 1908
Overall record: +65 -59 =108 (51.3%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
      Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS

With the White pieces:

Queen's Pawn Game (36)
    D00 D05 D02 A46 D04
Ruy Lopez (30)
    C77 C67 C65 C63 C83
French Defense (12)
    C11 C01 C00
Sicilian (11)
    B23 B34 B58 B43 B30
French (9)
    C11 C00
Tarrasch Defense (4)
    D32

With the Black pieces:

Ruy Lopez (37)
    C65 C67 C77 C79 C68
Giuoco Piano (14)
    C50 C54 C53
Queen's Pawn Game (7)
    D05 D02
Vienna Opening (7)
    C26 C28 C25
Queen's Gambit Declined (6)
    D37 D30 D35
French Defense (6)
    C11 C01

Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   J N Berger vs Frohlich, 1888 1-0
   J N Berger vs J Plachutta, 1866 1-0
   Maroczy vs J N Berger, 1908 0-1
   J N Berger vs Marshall, 1905 1-0
   J N Berger vs Reti, 1908 1-0

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Berlin 1881 by suenteus po 147
   Munich 1900 by Phony Benoni
   Barmen Meisterturnier A by Phony Benoni
   Vienna 1907 by suenteus po 147

GAMES ANNOTATED BY BERGER: [what is this?]
J N Berger vs J Plachutta, 1866

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JOHANN NEPOMUK BERGER
(born Apr-11-1845, died Oct-17-1933) Austria

[what is this?]

Johann Nepomuk Berger was born in Graz. He won 1st prize at Graz in 1870.

Berger invented (and Tarrasch popularized) the ubiquitous "rule of the square" in endgames by which one can easily determine if a pawn can promote by imagining a square traced from the pawn to the back rank and whether the opposing king can enter that square in order to catch the pawn.

He was also a problemist, endgame composer, writer and polemicist. His major works were, Das Schachproblem und dessen kunstgerechte Darstellung 1884, Theorie und Praxis der Endspiele 1890 and revised in 1922 and Katechismus des Schachspiels 1891. From 1898 to 1907 he was co-editor of Deutsche Schachzeitung and then sole editor until 1911.

Wikipedia article: Johann Berger

page 1 of 10; games 1-25 of 232

Game	Result	Moves	Year	Event/Locale	Opening
1. J N Berger vs J Plachutta	1-0	31	1866	Graz	C67 Ruy Lopez
2. K Koss vs J N Berger	1-0	22	1870	Graz	C50 Giuoco Piano
3. C T Goering vs J N Berger	0-1	55	1870	Graz	A80 Dutch
4. J N Berger vs H Posener	1-0	37	1870	Graz	C67 Ruy Lopez
5. J N Berger vs C T Goering	1-0	40	1870	Graz	C45 Scotch Game
6. J N Berger vs Gelbfuhs	0-1	26	1871	Vienna	C80 Ruy Lopez, Open
7. Wittek vs J N Berger	0-1	31	1875	Graz m	A84 Dutch
8. Wittek vs J N Berger	0-1	31	1875	Graz m	A00 Uncommon Opening
9. J N Berger vs Wittek	1-0	33	1875	Graz m	C33 King's Gambit Accepted
10. J N Berger vs Wittek	0-1	48	1875	Graz m	C33 King's Gambit Accepted
11. J N Berger vs Wittek	1-0	48	1875	Graz m	C33 King's Gambit Accepted
12. J N Berger vs A Schwarz	½-½	23	1880	Graz	C01 French, Exchange
13. J N Berger vs J Minckwitz	0-1	47	1880	Graz	C67 Ruy Lopez
14. J N Berger vs Wittek	½-½	54	1880	Graz	C01 French, Exchange
15. Max Weiss vs J N Berger	1-0	40	1880	Graz	A91 Dutch Defense
16. J Noa vs J N Berger	1-0	69	1880	Graz	C67 Ruy Lopez
17. J N Berger vs J Schwarz	1-0	23	1880	Graz	C11 French
18. E Schallopp vs J N Berger	0-1	39	1880	Graz	C11 French
19. J Minckwitz vs J N Berger	½-½	51	1881	Berlin	D37 Queen's Gambit Declined
20. J N Berger vs J Schwarz	0-1	59	1881	Berlin	C11 French
21. J N Berger vs Paulsen	0-1	62	1881	Berlin	B24 Sicilian, Closed
22. H Von Schuetz vs J N Berger	0-1	41	1881	Berlin	C67 Ruy Lopez
23. J N Berger vs Blackburne	½-½	27	1881	Berlin	C11 French
24. E Schallopp vs J N Berger	0-1	35	1881	Berlin	A06 Reti Opening
25. J Noa vs J N Berger	0-1	43	1881	Berlin	C11 French


page 1 of 10; games 1-25 of 232

REFINE SEARCH: White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Berger wins | Berger loses

Jun-13-04		Gypsy: Austrian master, endgame theoretician, and problem composer; "nemesis' of Maroczy +3 -0 =2.

Jul-03-05		WTHarvey: Here are some puzzles from Johann's games: http://www.wtharvey.com/berg.html

Jul-03-05		Honza Cervenka: <... but only achieved modest results for the rest of his career.> Well, it is true that he was not usually in the head of field in strong tournaments but on the other hand he was quite often hard nut even for the best players of his era. He was solid positional player and firm defender, but he did not lack combinational talent. He had active score not only against Maroczy, but also against three WCH challengers - Zukertort, Gunsberg and Marshall - and tied with two other - Chigorin and Schlechter.

Jul-03-05		chessgames.com: We've instructed those who write the biographies to avoid subjective commentary like that.

Jul-05-07		sneaky pete: Berger played most of his tournament games rather late in life. In 1905, master tournament in Barmen, he took 6th place with 8 from 15, ahead of Chigorin, Alapin, Burn and Mieses. Not bad for a 60 year old, but quite remarkable is how he did it. He scored 4 points against the 5 players finishing above him in the table (Janowski, Maroczy, Marshall, Bernstein and Schlechter) and 4 points against the 10 players below him.

Apr-11-08		brankat: A strong master, no doubt, although better known as a writer and editor. Wrote some fine books on chess theory, most notably, on endgames.

Apr-11-08		BIDMONFA: Johann Nepomuk Berger BERGER, Johann N. http://www.bidmonfa.com/berger_joha... _

Apr-11-08		whiteshark: The 'obligatory' links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann... http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann...

Sep-07-08		GrahamClayton: Berger was also a keen correspondence player, winning the tournament organised by the "Monde Illustre" newspaper in the late 1880's and early 1890's with a final score of +45, =3, -0. Source: David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld "Oxford Companion to Chess", 2nd edition, OUP, 1992.

Apr-11-11		Penguincw: Happy Birthday to Player of the Day.Without going through the games,I think this is his best game,J N Berger vs Marshall, 1905.

Apr-11-12		brankat: A prolific and important author.

Dec-20-12		thomastonk: Berger published two times a "Schach-Jahrbuch", one for 1892/93 and one for 1898/99. The later one can be found and read at Google books. Does anybody know whether the first one can be read online anywhere?

Dec-21-12		Calli: <Thomas> 1893 http://books.google.com/books?id=KB... Not sure that it works in every country.

Dec-21-12		TheFocus: Bachmann did "Schach-Jahrbuch" 1891. Can also be found at Google Books.

Dec-22-12		thomastonk: <Calli> Thank you for the link. I am in Germany, and so books after 1870 are not readable there without tricks. Now I will try again, since I know that it has to work somehow. <TheFocus> Thank you. I know Bachmann's book, which has not much more in common with Berger's books than the title. The largest chapter of Berger's book from 1898/99 provides addresses, biographies and other information on chess players, problemist etc.

Dec-24-12		TheFocus: <thomastonk> Yes. I took a look at Bachmann's. Not good in comparison to Berger's.

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