Siegbert Tarrasch

Siegbert Tarrasch was born on March 5, 1862. He was one of the strongest chess players of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Tarrasch was Jewish, and a patriotic German who lost a son in World War I, but lived to suffer under the early stages of Nazism.

Tarrasch was a medical doctor by profession who also may have been the best player in the world in the early 1890s. He scored heavily against the aging Steinitz in tournaments, (+3-0=1), but refused an opportunity to challenge for the world title because of the demands of his medical practice. Soon afterwards, Tarrasch drew a hard-fought match against his challenger Mikhail Chigorin in 1893 (+9-9=4). Tarrasch also won four major tournaments in succession: Breslau 1889, Manchester 1890, Dresden 1892 and Leipzig 1894.

However, after Emmanuel Lasker became world chess champion in 1894, Tarrasch could not match him. When Lasker finally agreed to a title match in 1908, he beat Tarrasch convincingly +8-3=5. However, Tarrasch was still very powerful during Lasker's reign, demolishing Frank Marshall in a match in 1905 (+8-1=8), and becoming one of the five original grandmasters by becoming one of the five finalists at the very strong Saint Petersburg tournament of 1914. His chess career was not very successful after this, although he still played some highly regarded games. He died on February 17, 1934.

Download 299 chess games by Siegbert Tarrasch

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