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Carl Schlechter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Carl Schlechter (March 2, 1874 - December 27, 1918) was a leading Austrian chess master at the turn of the 20th century. He is best known for drawing a World Chess Championship match with Emanuel Lasker.
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Schlechter was born in Vienna. From 1893 onwards he played in over 50 international chess tournaments, including four wins: Munich in 1900 (shared), Ostend in 1906, Vienna in 1908 (shared) and Hamburg in 1910.
In 1910 Schlechter played a match against Emanuel Lasker for the World Chess Championship (in Vienna and Berlin). He needed only a draw in the tenth and last game to win the match, but missed first a win, then a clear draw before losing the game. The match ended tied at 5-5 (+1 -1 =8), and Lasker retained his title.
It may be that this was because Schlechter needed to win by a two point margin in order to win the title, and so had no choice but to play for a win in the final game; historians are divided over whether this was the case. Researcher Graeme Cree writes,
"There are still some who doubt whether this two-point clause existed, and as far as I know, positive proof does not exist. But the evidence of Schlechter's play in that final game, plus the difficulty of imagining a cagey bird like Lasker risking his title in such a short match without some extra protection seems pretty telling. Not to mention the fact that negotiations for a Lasker-Capablanca match broke down the very next year over that very same 2-point tie clause."[1]
In contrast, journalist Larry Evans writes,
"The truth is Schlechter probably never saw a clear draw! He missed 35...Rd8! with good winning chances. Later he said he intended 38...Qh4 39 Kg2 Qg4 40 Rg3 Qxc8 overlooking 41 Qg6! Flustered, he then missed a draw -- and the title -- by 39...Qh4! 40 Kd2 Qh2 41 Ke3 Rxf3 42 Kxf3 Qh3 43 Ke2 Qxc8 44 Qxb5, etc. The last hope to hold was 46...Qa2."[2]
Nevertheless, Schlechter distinguished himself by being the first person in 16 years to seriously threaten to claim Lasker's world title.
Schlechter also played matches with Siegbert Tarrasch in 1911 (drawn) and Akiba Rubinstein in 1918 (lost).
He died in Budapest of pneumonia and starvation.
Schlechter was a typical example of a gentleman chess player of old, offering courteous draws to opponents who felt unwell. If his opponent arrived late for a game, Schlechter would inconspicuously subtract an equal amount of time from his own clock. He also mentored many of his rivals, including Oldřich Duras.
- Fried-Schlechter, Vienna 1894, From's Gambit (A02), 0-1 A breezy 14-move win by Schlechter, who sacrifices his queen and mates his opponent's king in the middle of the board.
- Bernhard Fleissig-Schlechter, Vienna 1895, Polish Opening: General (A00), 0-1 One of Schlechter's most famous games, a scintillating win where Black sacrificed both his rooks and both his bishops.
- Schlechter-Steinitz, Cologne 1898 Vienna Game (C28), 1-0 Schlechter routs the former World Champion in 24 moves.
- Schlechter-Meitner, Vienna 1899, Italian Game: Classical Variation. Greco Gambit Moeller-Therkatz Attack (C54), 1-0 An interesting combination in the endgame: White sacrifices his queen, then makes a quiet move with his king - and black is unable to prevent a mate in two moves.
- ^ 1910 World Chess Championship, by Graeme Cree
- ^ Column by Larry Evans at worldchessnetwork.com, accessed in October 2006 - inaccessible in July 2007