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Rudolf Spielmann
Spielmann 
 

Number of games in database: 1,349
Years covered: 1903 to 1941
Overall record: +535 -330 =459 (57.7%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 25 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Vienna Opening (92) 
    C29 C28 C26 C25 C27
 French Defense (91) 
    C01 C11 C12 C14 C10
 Sicilian (69) 
    B40 B20 B74 B29 B56
 Ruy Lopez (57) 
    C77 C66 C84 C78 C86
 Caro-Kann (42) 
    B15 B13 B10 B18 B12
 French (41) 
    C11 C12 C10 C13 C00
With the Black pieces:
 Queen's Pawn Game (87) 
    D02 A46 A40 E10 D00
 Ruy Lopez (83) 
    C61 C63 C77 C78 C60
 Orthodox Defense (67) 
    D51 D52 D55 D63 D60
 French Defense (65) 
    C14 C01 C13 C11 C02
 Queen's Gambit Declined (36) 
    D37 D30 D35 D39
 Tarrasch Defense (30) 
    D32 D33
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Spielmann vs B Hoenlinger, 1929 1-0
   Spielmann vs R Wahle, 1926 1-0
   Spielmann vs R L'hermet, 1927 1-0
   Spielmann vs Flamberg, 1914 1-0
   Rubinstein vs Spielmann, 1912 0-1
   Spielmann vs M Walter, 1928 1-0
   Spielmann vs Rubinstein, 1911 1-0
   Spielmann vs M Elyashiv, 1903 1-0
   Spielmann vs J Mieses, 1910 1-0
   Spielmann vs Tartakower, 1909 1-0

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Abbazia (1912)
   Baden-bei-Wien (1914)
   Scheveningen (1923)
   Semmering (1926)
   25. DSB Kongress (1927)
   Berlin Jubilee (1907)
   Schultz Memorial, Stockholm (1919)
   Bad Pistyan (1922)
   Scheveningen (1905)
   San Sebastian (1912)
   Trebitsch Memorial (1933)
   Karlsbad (1929)
   Vienna (1908)
   Ostend Masters (1907)
   Karlsbad (1911)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Spielmann: Chess Biography by jessicafischerqueen
   The Last Romantic Harkened Fredthebear by fredthebear
   Some S-upermen of Yesteryeary When FTB was a Cub by fredthebear
   0ZeR0's collected games volume 280 by 0ZeR0
   The Games of Rudolf Spielmann by rbaglini
   The Games of Rudolf Spielmann by Timothy Glenn Forney
   0ZeR0's collected games volume 281 by 0ZeR0
   1920s Roar by Fredthebear by fredthebear
   Rudolf Spielmann's Best Games by KingG
   Art of Sacrifice in Chess - Spielmann by jgrob12
   Art of Sacrifice in Chess, R. Spielmann by mjk
   Art of Sacrifice in Chess, R. Spielmann by nakul1964
   Art of Sacrifice in Chess, R. Spielmann by nakul1964
   Art of Sacrifice (Spielmann) by Qindarka

GAMES ANNOTATED BY SPIELMANN: [what is this?]
   Spielmann vs Rubinstein, 1911


Search Sacrifice Explorer for Rudolf Spielmann
Search Google for Rudolf Spielmann

RUDOLF SPIELMANN
(born May-05-1883, died Aug-20-1942, 59 years old) Austria

[what is this?]

Rudolf Spielmann was born in Vienna, Austria. Nordic Champion in 1919 and German Champion in 1927, his notable tournament achievements included 3rd= at St. Petersburg 1909, 1st at Abbazia (1912), 2nd at San Sebastian (1912), 1st at Baden-bei-Wien (1914), 1st at Stockholm 1919, 1st= at Teplitz-Schonau 1922, 1st at Semmering (1926), one-half point ahead of Alexander Alekhine 3rd at Berlin 1928 and 2nd at Karlsbad (1929). In matches Spielmann scored victories over Aron Nimzowitsch in 1908, Richard Reti in 1910 and 1921, Savielly Tartakower in 1910 and 1921, Gideon Stahlberg in 1930, Vasja Pirc in 1931 and Efim Bogoljubov in 1932, but lost three consecutive matches to Erich Eliskases for the Austrian title.

Friendly, pleasant and sensitive as a person, Spielmann's chess style stood in stark contrast. He loved complex positions and combinations which would give flight to his imagination and in the age of Hypermodernism he seemed to belong to an earlier, more romantic time.

Being Jewish, Spielmann fled Nazi Germany, first for the Netherlands in 1934, then to Prague in 1938 and in 1939 escaped to Sweden. According to his close relatives (cited on p. 86 of Michael Ehn, Rudolf Spielmann, Koblenz, Germany, 1996) he locked himself in his room and was later found starved to death. Another version is that he suffered from a 'Parkinson's disease'-like illness, which worsened rapidly at the end. Spielmann was admitted to the Asö hospital, where he died. The official cause of death was 'Hypertonie und Cardiosclerosis' (ibid. p. 91). He was the brother of Leopold Spielmann.

Spielmann's book 'The Art of Sacrifice' remains a classic. He is known as 'The Last Romantic'.

Wikipedia article: Rudolf Spielmann

Last updated: 2025-03-29 08:35:33

Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 54; games 1-25 of 1,349  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. A Wagner vs Spielmann 0-1261903BerlinD11 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
2. Spielmann vs M Elyashiv 1-0291903Munich CC tC39 King's Gambit Accepted
3. E Cohn vs Spielmann 1-0291904Coburg-AC80 Ruy Lopez, Open
4. Spielmann vs Moewig 1-0401904Coburg-AC29 Vienna Gambit
5. Spielmann vs P Kaegbein 1-0371904Coburg-AC39 King's Gambit Accepted
6. Spielmann vs F Koehnlein 1-0391904MunichC29 Vienna Gambit
7. Spielmann vs O Bernstein ½-½281904BerlinC39 King's Gambit Accepted
8. Spielmann vs Vidmar 0-139190414th DSB Congress - Hauptturnier AC14 French, Classical
9. M Lange vs Spielmann 0-139190414th DSB Congress - Hauptturnier AD63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense
10. Spielmann vs Duras 0-1481904Coburg-AC29 Vienna Gambit
11. A Nimzowitsch vs Spielmann 1-0421905Nimzowitsch - Spielmann, 1st MatchC45 Scotch Game
12. Spielmann vs A Nimzowitsch 1-0191905Nimzowitsch - Spielmann, 1st MatchB15 Caro-Kann
13. A Nimzowitsch vs Spielmann 1-0201905Cafe Orlando di Lasso offhandC44 King's Pawn Game
14. A Nimzowitsch vs Spielmann  1-0351905Nimzowitsch - Spielmann, 1st MatchC45 Scotch Game
15. A Nimzowitsch vs Spielmann ½-½361905Nimzowitsch - Spielmann, 1st MatchC45 Scotch Game
16. Spielmann vs P Leonhardt 0-1321905HamburgC39 King's Gambit Accepted
17. Spielmann vs J W te Kolste  1-0291905ScheveningenC29 Vienna Gambit
18. Spielmann vs B Leussen 0-1421905ScheveningenB72 Sicilian, Dragon
19. P Leonhardt vs Spielmann 1-0331905ScheveningenC01 French, Exchange
20. R Loman vs Spielmann 0-1351905ScheveningenC84 Ruy Lopez, Closed
21. Spielmann vs Marshall 0-1351905ScheveningenC42 Petrov Defense
22. Spielmann vs A Reggio 1-0241905ScheveningenC30 King's Gambit Declined
23. G Oskam vs Spielmann  1-0411905ScheveningenC44 King's Pawn Game
24. G Schories vs Spielmann 0-1251905ScheveningenC82 Ruy Lopez, Open
25. Spielmann vs Swiderski ½-½681905ScheveningenC25 Vienna
 page 1 of 54; games 1-25 of 1,349  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Spielmann wins | Spielmann loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 7 OF 10 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Oct-08-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  jessicafischerqueen: <theagenbiteofinwit: My favorite Spielmann quote : <How can I favorably turn matter into energy?>>

What is your source for this quote? If you can post if for me I'd be very grateful!

Best,
JFQ

Oct-15-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  jessicafischerqueen: <TheAlchemist> regarding your post on page 2 about <Leopold Spielmann>-

<TheAlchemist: His tragic fate began unfolding in 1934, when Leopold had to leave Munich. He moved to Prague, where he made a living with cheap musical lessons and could hardly support his family.>

<TheAlchemist> is there any way you can supply me with more information about your source for this information? Is it from the <Mohr> article you cited in the previous post?

Reason I ask is that Spielmann biographer <Michael Ehn> has Leopold living in Berlin, not Munich, and fleeing to Prague in 1933 shortly after Hitler came to power, not in 1934.

Here is Ehn:

<"Leopold married his piano pupil Gertrude Ludtke in Berlin, where he became a resident, and they had four children. Upon Hitler's seizure of power, they fled from Berlin to Prague, where he and his family suffered hardship and barely kept their heads above water.">

That's my re-written version of a Google translation of the text.

The two accounts could match if Leopold was indeed in Berlin in 1933 and then stopped in Munich in 1934 on his way out of Germany, but I don't want to be guessing about this.

Any additional information would be excellent.

Oct-15-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  jessicafischerqueen: lol not just a myth or second hand knowledge that <Rudolph> enjoyed a pint.

After he competed in <New York 1927>, Spielmann wrote a thank you letter to the organizer. Note how he opens his message:

<"Dear Mr. Lederer,

Here with many a nice <<<Doppelspaten>>> [a German brand of beer], I'm now taking the time to review my week in New York, which was without beer, to be sure, but still highly exciting." >

Here is a photo of a nice <Doppelspaten> label:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CHrKKDU92...

Oct-29-11  whiteshark: Quote of the Day

< A good sacrifice is one that is not necessarily sound but leaves your opponent dazed and confused. >

-- Spielmann

Nov-27-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  jessicafischerqueen: <S4NKT: What a brilliant quote "play the opening like a book, the middlegame like a magician, and the endgame like a machine"!>

A great quote indeed, but it predates <Spielmann>. Here's the explanation courtesy of <Edward Winter's> website:

4156. Book, magician and machine

<‘It is evident from other parts of that chapter of Chernev’s that when he gave, for instance, two unattributed quotations followed by an attributed one it was only the last of these that he intended to ascribe to the writer named. Thus in the extract reproduced above the “poison” quote has no more to do with Spielmann than does the “book, magician and machine” comment.’

What we still lacked, however, was a source for the quote, and that is what Mr Sánchez has now found. He cites the following passage (from the pre-Spielmann era) in the section on <<<Pillsbury>>> on page xiv of The Games of the St Petersburg Tournament 1895-96 by J. Mason and W.H.K. Pollock (Leeds, 1896):

‘A great player was once asked to give his ideas as to how a master ought to play. “In the opening”, was his reply, “a master should play like a book; in the mid-game he should play like a magician; in the ending he should play like a machine.’>

Here's the current URL, but I want to remind folks to be sure to type in the <chessnote number> when citing from <Winter's> site, because the URLs don't remain stable for long. I think this is because the site is in constant flux due to ongoing edits. At any rate, I can't think of any other explanation for why so few of the <Winter> URLs listed in CG.com kibbutzes as sources actually still link to the original page the kibbutzer meant to source.

but anyways here's the URL - for today at least:

http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...

Jan-22-12  Antiochus: "I Learned from Anderssen those moves that I should do, I Learned from Tarrasch what I should avoid"

Rudolf Spielmann

Feb-26-12  whiteshark: <Quote of the Day

<Lasker's style was like clear limpid water--with a dash of poison in it! >>

-- Spielmann

Feb-26-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Penguincw: He must've meant that his play was dangerous, cause poison is dangerous.
Feb-26-12  whiteshark: <Penguincw> Think again! :D
Jun-27-12  Karpova: Rudolf Spielmann Platz in Vienna (named after him on 2011.07.10):

http://www.wien.gv.at/stadtplan/gra...

Jul-29-12  Karpova: Von welchem bekannten Schachspieler haben Sie das meiste gelernt?

Rudolf Spielmann: <Zuerst von Anderssen das Kombinieren, dann von Dr. Tarrasch, wie man vorteilhaft nicht kombiniert.>

From page 168 of the 1929 '(Neue) Wiener Schachzeitung'

Jul-30-12  Karpova: In 1931, Spielmann beat Pirc in a match (+3 =6 -1).

Source: Pages 172 and 178f of the 1931 '(Neue) Wiener Schachzeitung'

Aug-22-12  Karpova: He won a small tournament in Stockholm which ended on April 4, 1909:

1. Spielmann 4.5
2. Leonhardt 4.0
3. E. Cohn 2.0
4-6. Langborg 1.5
4-6. Nyholm 1.5
4-6. Sjöberg 1.5

All in all, Spielmann received 230 Kronen, Leonhardt 180 Kronen and E. Cohn 120 Kronen.

From page 253 of the 1909 'Wiener Schachzeitung'

Aug-23-12  Karpova: Spielmann beat Hans Fahrni in a match with +4 =4 -3 in Munich. The match began on June 5th, 1910.

From page 251 of the 1910 'Wiener Schachzeitung'

Aug-25-12  Karpova: Spielmann's match against Dr. Tartakower in Vienna ended on October 9, 1910.

Spielmann : 1 1 = 0 0 1
Tartakover: 0 0 = 1 1 0

The last game of the match was a Caro-Kann which Spielmann won in 16 moves.

From page 379 of the 1910 'Wiener Schachzeitung'

Sep-07-12  Karpova: Small Tournament in Warsaw, 1934:

1. Spielmann 4.0
2. Najdorf 3.5
3-4. Kremer 2.5
3-4. Makarczyk 2.5
5. Frydman 1.5
6. Glocer 1.0

Spielmann lost no game so he scored +3 =2 -0

From page 45 of the 1934 'Neue Wiener Schachzeitung'

Sep-07-12  Karpova: Spielmann in the Baltic region in 1934:

Against Feigin: +1 =3 -0

Against Apsenieks: +3 =1 -0

Against Petrov: +2 =5 -1

From page 109 of the 1934 'Neue Wiener Schachzeitung'

Nov-10-12  Norbi506: Moved to Sweden just like Rubinstein... But why did he starve himself to death?
May-05-13  Caissanist: I'm not sure the starvation was totally voluntary. Sweden was full of Jewish refugees during WWII and they seem to have been mostly left to fend for themselves. Spielmann desperately wanted to get to the UK or USA, but could not raise the money to get out of Sweden. At some point he basically shut himself into his apartment and starved, intentionally or otherwise.
May-05-13  Llawdogg: Sounds like an horrific Zugzwang. He ran out of options and was stuck in one of the worst times and places in all human history. No blame can attach to the chess master.
May-05-13  Abdel Irada: <jessicafischerqueen: <theagenbiteofinwit: My favorite Spielmann quote : <How can I favorably turn matter into energy?>>

What is your source for this quote? If you can post if for me I'd be very grateful!

Best,
JFQ>

A bit late, but the quote comes from Spielmann's book, _The Art of Sacrifice in Chess_: http://books.google.com/books?id=LP...

May-05-13  backrank: Yes, I remember that quote well ... as a scientist, it kept me stunned :D
May-05-13  cro777: "The faculty of converting energy into matter and matter into energy, constitutes one of the most wonderful characteristics of chess. The question: <How can I favorably turn matter into energy?> occurs as a rule in the early phase of the game; the converse is more likely to obtain for the later phase." (Nikolay Minev:"Rudolf Spielmann: Fifty Great Short Games")

<backrank: ...as a scientist, it kept me stunned> As a physicist would you take a look at the Shashin's physics-like model of chess. I'm expecting his new book: "Best Play: A New Method to Find the Strongest Move (With a foreword by Alexander Morozevich)". I'd appreciate your assessment.

http://www.bs-chess.com/latin/lectu...

http://www.vitruviuschess.com/artic...

May-05-13  brankat: R.I.P. master Spielmann.
Jul-15-13  Karpova: Beat Vasja Pirc in a match in Maribor (today Slovenia) in May 1931 by the score of +3 =6 -1.

Source: Pages 172 and 178 of the 1931 'Neue Wiener Schachzeitung'

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