Edgard Colle

Edgard Colle was born on May 18, 1897 in Belgium. He pioneered the chess opening named the Colle System (1. d4 d5, 2. Nf3 Nf6, 3. e3), that was used mostly from the late 1920s and 1930s. Colle himself began playing it in 1925 until his death, scoring excellent results in major international tournaments. He placed 1st at Amsterdam in 1926, 1st at Meran-Merano in 1926, and 1st in the tournament at Scarborough in 1930. He scored a number of notable successes with his system, including a number of games sone analysts have termed "brilliancies".

The Colle System has become more frequently played in amateur ranks than in current tournament play than was the case in Colle's day. The opening remained popular among amateur players after Colle's era through the efforts of Belgian/American grandmaster George Koltanowski. As of 2004, the Colle System has been used in recent decades by grandmasters Pia Cramling and Artur Yusupov, as well as numerous amateur players. Colle's playing career was hampered by ill health. He survived three difficult operations, but after the fourth, he died on April 20, 1932.

Download 168 chess games by Edgard Colle

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