Jul-02-23
 | | jnpope: Earlier discussions regarding Max:
David Adolf Albin
Biographer Bistro (kibitz #26785) |
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| May-25-25 | | Alan McGowan: Previous discussions about this player doubted that he was the son of Adolf Albin because no direct connection could be found. Also, important information in Chess Notes - CN 11752 and 11753 - regarding the senior figure's family mentioned his wife (died 1887) and daughter (died 1896), as well as indicating that 'Albin's heir was his <only> son, David Albin, ...' https://www.chesshistory.com/winter... However, the Deutsches Wochenschach 1893, p351, discusses Adolf Albin's background. It talks about his time in Bucharest and how AA had become self-employed in 1879. It then says:- 'Er zog dann mit seiner Frau und seinen drei Kindern nach Wien...' (He then moved to Vienna with his wife and three children...). From the various links mentioned here and on the page for David Adolf Albin, the story that unfolded was that Max Adolf Albin had been a professor of languages, but left his post when he discovered he had a lung disease (Adolf Albin's wife died of tuberculosis). He is mentioned in reports from the summer of 1910 (Italy and Spain), the Barcelona championship 1912/13, and several reports in Austrian newspapers in 1913-14. For example: The Klagenfurter Zeitung of 27 June 1913, p4, refers to Schachmeister Prof. Adolf Albin and a simul display, and the Salzburger Volksblatt of 12 May 1914, p5, gives Schachmeister Adolf Albin <jun> Wien as visiting Salzburg. At the end of 1913 he toured Denmark and Sweden, giving a series of simul displays as well playing a 5-game match with Gustaf Nyholm. The Swedish chess publication Tidsskrift för Schack did not cover the tour, but the Danish Skakbladet did provide several reports. He is shown as Professor M. Adolf Albin here (p67) https://skak.dk/images/skakbladet/1... and as Pr. M.A. Albin jun and M.A. Albin jun here (two references on p88) https://skak.dk/images/skakbladet/1... I have not discovered any ancestry records, but have a look at the photo in the Dagens Nyheter of 28 December 1913 (thanks <tabanus> and compare with the image of Adolf Albin. |
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May-25-25
| | jnpope: The junior reference is not evidence, if anything it would indicate that his father was a Max Adolf Albin, Sr., and not Adolf Albin wouldn't it? Do we know when Max died and can we find an obituary mentioning the chess player Adolf as his famous father and/or brother named David? Allegedly he would have died prior to Adolf Albin (otherwise David wouldn't have been the sole heir) and I would expect mention of the surviving family members. If Max died after Adolf then it would seem to indicate that they were not father and son (unless Max was disinherited leaving David the sole heir). |
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May-25-25
| | jnpope: I am curious about the statement of Adolf having three children when he moved to Vienna (between 1879 and 1893?). https://web.archive.org/web/2016062...
<...professor Adolf Albin som föddes 1870 i Bukarest och avled 1 februari 1920.> Seems to claim Max was born in 1870. We know David was born in 1874 and Fanny in 1877. Is there any mention of Adolf being a father prior to 1874? Or any mention of having two children before 1877? |
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May-26-25
| | jnpope: That statement from <Deutsches Wochenschach> 1893, p351, is the only evidence discovered so far indicating a third child, so perhaps Retireborn was correct (Biographer Bistro (kibitz #26787)) and Max was the blacksheep of the family and not an imposter. If Max Albin did die on 1-Feb-1920 (and that caused the confusion about Adolf dying that day intead of 7 weeks later on 22-Mar-1920), and if Max was this third child, perhaps the wording by Michael Lorenz: "Albin’s heir was his only son, David Albin..." should read "Albin’s heir was his only <surviving> son, David Albin..." As written that statement seems to imply Adolf only ever had one son, which would also indicate that the third child would be a second daughter (again, is there any evidence of this being the case)? I wonder if any mention of the three children/siblings are made in their obits? The "family" appears to be:
Adolf Albin, b. 1848.09.14; d. 1920.03.22
Caroline Albin (née Samueli), b. ?; d. 1887.02.21
Max Adolf Albin, b. 1870; d. 1920.02.01
David Adolf Albin, b. 1874; d. ?
Fanny Albin, b.1877; d. 1896
Speculation: Max would have been 16/17 years of age when the mother died, so perhaps something happened between Max and his father and Max struck out on his own leaving Adolf to care for the two younger children? Perhaps that was enough to ostracize Max from the family? |
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| May-26-25 | | Alan McGowan: It is worth noting that chess reports about Max Albin - as far as I have found - begin in 1910, when he was in Italy and Spain, including Barcelona, where he gave some simuls. He returned to Barcelona for the 1912/13 city championship, at which time it was reported that he was 41. Aside from the May and June 1914 references in my earlier posting, I have since found that he was in Danzig on 22 October 1914, again for a simul display (Deutsche Schachblaetter 1914-15, Nr 8, October, p89-<Herr Albin jr>). I have not found any later reports. |
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May-26-25
 | | Tabanus: https://www.ajedrez365.com/2014/02/... https://tidningar.kb.se/4mw5d3582mt... shows him in Sweden sitting at the table to the <left>. That's certainly not the Altmeister. |
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May-27-25
| | jnpope: Does Sthig Jonasson mention any sources for his information about Max Albin in his article? https://web.archive.org/web/2016062... In particular I'd like to track down the sources for Max's birth year, mentions of his education, health, and date of death. Clearly Sthig Jonasson had some source for the information presented in his article. I don't see anything looking like source citations in the article but then again I don't read Swedish so perhaps I glossed over mention of his source(s). |
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| May-27-25 | | stone free or die: <Tab>, <whiteshark> and others discussion from 2012: Adolf Albin (kibitz #20) . |
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May-27-25
| | jnpope: Ok. So no sources and in 2012 it was thought that Sthig Jonasson was reputable, but as far as we know he was just repeating hearsay (he does claim Adolf died in 1913 after all). The hunt for verifiable sources begins... |
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| May-27-25 | | stone free or die: May the force be with you young Luke! |
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May-27-25
| | Tabanus: I found the Rolf Littorin article from 2002:
https://web.archive.org/web/2003061... |
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| May-27-25 | | Alan McGowan: Earlier today I looked again at ancestry records. Adolf Albin is shown arriving New York 28 July 1893; he was on his own. He remained in the USA for a few years. I tried searching the Lehmann's directories for Vienna. There are plenty of 'hits' for AA, the main tenant, but no mention of David or Max. I did not find any separate listings for David or Max, but perhaps I did not search properly. Under David Albin I mentioned a reference in the WSZ 1887, Nr 3, p72, to 12-years-old David Albin solving a problem. In the next issue, p96, <Albin jun.> solved another problem. In a fashion, this answers a point raised by <jnpope> as to why Max was called jun when his supposed father's name was Adolf. Clearly, for some publications, the fact that someone was known to be a son of Altmeister Albin was enough to refer to him as junior. Considering the arrangement whereby chess editors exchanged publications, I wonder if someone could assume the name of a senior player, travel around Europe, be reported on from Italy, Spain, Denmark etc, without questions being raised about his identity. However, I did come across one reference to someone assuming the name Max Albin. See https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/... |
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May-27-25
| | jnpope: <In a fashion, this answers a point raised by <jnpope> as to why Max was called jun...> Yes, if they were using "junior" for both Max and David then it seems it was being used to denote a "younger" vs the "elder" situation. <Considering the arrangement whereby chess editors exchanged publications...> It's definitely looking like Max was a son of Adolf. Max starts turning up in chess circles in 1910, which would have given Adolf plenty of time to become aware of any "imposter" attempting to link himself to Adolf's fame by the time Max won the Barcelona tournament (which started 20-Oct-1912) and well before Max going on tour in 1913/14. |
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May-27-25
| | Tabanus: Google transl.:
The Vienna III police station has reported that a local photographer's double anastigmat S III/b, No. 133328, was stolen in Goerz. The photographer Max Albin, who was allegedly passing through, appears to be strongly suspected of the crime; he is suspected of several similar thefts in Graz, Mürzzuschlag, etc. Albin, actually Max Matkus, is 28-32 years old, supposedly comes from Romania, speaks German, French, and English, has fine manners, is tall, thin, wears a gray suit, but is of poor clothing and physical appearance. |
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Kibitzing
