Overview

German master Kurt Richter (1900-1969) made significant contributions to the chess world as a player, and as an editor and author. Unassuming in real life, Richter was a fearsome opponent who expressed himself mainly through his over-the-board results, as well as through his chess journalism and literary output. He was responsible for several innovative openings, some of which gained renewed status in later years. This overview of his life and games sheds light on a player who should be better known, with much never-before-seen material. Examples of his entertaining writings on chess are included, some featuring his fictitious student opponent, Dr. Zabel. A wide selection of games illustrates the surprising combinations and brilliant style of play that earned him the title ""The Executioner of Berlin.""

Full Product Details

Author:   Alan McGowan
Publisher:   McFarland & Co Inc
Imprint:   McFarland & Co Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 21.60cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 27.90cm
Weight:   1.148kg
ISBN:  

9781476669069

ISBN 10:   1476669066
Pages:   384
Publication Date:   21 November 2018
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Table of Contents Acknowledgments Preface Introduction ♦ Prologue. 1900–1918 The 1914–1918 War and Its Aftermath First Chess Club: ­Springer–Berlin ♦ Part 1. 1919–1924 Venturing Forth 1919 1920 Berlin 1920—German Chess Federation Congress 1921 Berlin Championship 1921 Maróczy and Tartakower Published Chess Problems Blitz Tournament and Consultation Game 1922 Berlin Championship 1922—First Tournament Success Club Events Bad Oeynhausen 1922—22nd Congress of the German Chess Federation 1923 Berlin Championship 1923 1st Congress of the Brandenburg Chess Association Frankfurt 1923 Winners’ Group 1924 Berlin Championship 1924 New Chess Periodical Winter Tournament of the Schachverein 1876 ♦ Part 2. 1925–1929 Signs of Progress 1925 Jägerklause Tournament 1925 Berlin Championship 1925 1926 Berlin Championship 1926 A Change of Clubs Berlin Club Championship 1926 Scharfrichter: The Executioner of Berlin 1927 Berlin Championship 1927 Berlin 1927—2nd Congress of the German Chess Association Berlin Team Championship 1927-28 Employment 1928 First Editorial Position Freie Schachvereinigung 1928 Gaining the Master Title Wiesbaden 1928 No Respect for the Law Berlin–Stockholm Match 1928 First International Masters’ Tournament Blitz Tournaments Berlin Club Championship 1928-29 1929 Copenhagen–Berlin Match 1929 Berlin Chess Cafés Berlin Championship 1929 Bremen Chess Promotion German Championship—Duisburg 1929 ♦ Part 3. 1930–1932 Making His Mark 1930 Wilmersdorf Jubilee 1930 Berlin, Four Masters Tournament 1930 Naming Rights … and Wrongs Berlin Championship 1930 Swinemünde 1930 Hamburg Olympiad 1930 Berlin Club Championship 1930-31 Berliner Schachgesellschaft Championship 1930 Yearbook—Berliner Schachführer 1931 Then He Took Berlin: Stoltz of Sweden Aleister Crowley in Berlin German Championship—Swinemünde 1931 Prague Olympiad 1931 Bled 1931: Richter’s Nonappearance Cottbus to Berlin Berliner Schachgesellschaft Championship 1931-32 Here Be No Dragons 1932 Berliner Schachgesellschaft Winter Tournament Schachverein 1876 Club Championship Kiel 1932 Richter’s Opinion about Draws Hamburg, Four Masters Match-Tournament 1932 Berlin Championship 1932 Swinemünde 1932 Opening Innovation Stargard 1932 Bruno Moritz Berlin–Hamburg Telephone Match 1932 Berliner Schachgesellschaft Championship 1932-33 Bogoljubow Consultation Game and Interview ♦ Part 4. 1933–1935 Adapting to Change 1933 “Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation” Berlin Championship 1933 Reorganization of German Chess Bad Aachen 1933 Germany and FIDE Swinemünde 1933 Bad Pyrmont 1933 Bad Salzbrunn 1933 1934 Promoting Chess Berlin (West District) Championship 1934 Physician Heal Thyself: Richter and “Dr. Zabel” New Chess Pieces (Schachfiguren Bundesform) Bad Niendorf 1934 Drawing Conclusions German Team Championship 1934 “Dr. Zabel” Consults Again En Passant: Deaths 1935 Berlin Master Tournament 1935 Move to Karlshorst Olympiad Training Berlin Team Tour 1935 Swinemünde 1935 German Champion—Bad Aachen 1935 Berthold Koch Bad Nauheim 1935 Losing Beautifully: A Combinational Masterpiece Zoppot 1935 ♦ Part 5. 1936–1939 At His Creative Best 1936 German Team Championship 1935-36 Berlin Championship 1936 Opening Ideas Publication of Kombinationen Recuperation Swinemünde 1936 Poděbrady 1936 Munich 1936—The Unofficial Olympiad 1937 Berlin Championship 1937 Berliner Schachgesellschaft Jubilee Tournament 1937 Berlin–Hamburg Telephone Match 1937 Bad Elster 1937 Bad Saarow 1937 Tournament Losses German Championship 1937 A Forced Move Berlin 1937 (Christmas) En Passant: Deaths 1938 Berlin Club Championship 1938 Germany–Austria Friendship Tournament 1938 An Opening Innovation Berlin Championship 1938 Germany–Scandinavia Match 1938 Bad Harzburg 1938 Polishing the Polish German Championship 1938 En Passant: Deaths 1939 Berlin Club Championship 1939 Best Games Germany–Hungary Match 1939 Stuttgart 1939 German Club Championship—Stuttgart 1939 Bad Oeynhausen 1939 Olympiad and War Correspondence Chess ♦ Part 6. 1940–1945 The War Years 1940 Berlin Club Championship 1940 Schachgesellschaft Club Championship 1940 Berlin–Karlsbad Match 1940 Schachgesellschaft Training Tournament 1940 Schlage Memorial Tournament, Berlin 1940 Chess for the Military German Championship—Bad Oeynhausen 1940 Cracow–Krynica–Warsaw 1940 Krynica Warsaw 1941 Schachgesellschaft Club Championship 1941 Berlin Club Championship 1941 Berlin Championship 1941 German Championship—Bad Oeynhausen 1941 Munich 1941 1942 Drafted Publishing Success Munich 1942 Pressing Problems Publish and Be Praised 1943–1944 A Deteriorating Situation 1945 Fall of Berlin Prisoner of War ♦ Part 7. 1946–1949 Rebuilding 1946–1947 Starting Over Chess Life Soviet Military Administration Chess Periodicals Looking for Problems Surfacing Slowly Publishing Success 1948 Berlin Championship 1948 Chess Journalism Radio 1949 Four Cities ­Match-Tournament 1949 Berlin Championship 1949 German Championship 1949 A New Phase Another Visit from the Doctor Berlin–East Germany Match ♦ Part 8. 1950–1959 The Two Germanys 1950 Berlin Team Championship 1950 Berlin Championship 1950 A New Generation International Affairs Local Matters Berlin–East Germany Match 1951 Berlin Championship 1951 Berlin–East Germany Match Public Relations 1952 Berlin Championship 1952 Short Games, Long Praise Consecutive Losses 1953 A New Phase “My Opinion on the Chess Problem” East Berlin–West Berlin Match 1954–1956 1957 Berlin–Hamburg Match 1957 Berlin Championship 1957 More of Richter’s Opinions 1958 Munich Olympiad 1958: Richter Honored 1959 ♦ Part 9. 1960–1969 The Final Years Memories of 50 Years in Chess Endgame Preparation In Memoriam Last Words and Recommended Reading Richter’s Burial Plot Appendices ♦ Appendix A: Additional Games ♦ Appendix B: Tournament and Match Results Berlin Championship German Championship Others Matches—Team and Individual ♦ Appendix C: Richter’s Openings with White Queen’s Pawn: Richter’s Opening Sicilian Defense: ­Richter-Rauzer Variation The Positional Approach And Then Along Came Rauzer French Defense Winawer Variation: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 Rubinstein Variation: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 d×e4 Burn Variation: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 d×e4 McCutcheon Variation: 4. … Bb4 Anderssen-Richter: 4. … Be7 5. B×f6 B×f6 6. e5 Be7 7. Qg4 Ruy Lopez Ruy Lopez: Open Variation Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defense Deferred ♦ Appendix D: Richter’s Openings with Black Budapest Defense Budapest Gambit: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. d×e5 Ne4 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. d×e5 Ne4 4. various 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. d×e5 Ne4 4. Nf3 Nc6 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. d×e5 Ne4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Nbd2 Nc5 Polish Defense: 1. d4 b5 and 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b5 1. d4 b5 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b5 Scandinavian Defense: 1. e4 d5 1. e4 d5 2. e×d5 Nf6 1. e4 d5 2. e×d5 Nf6 3. d4… Notes Bibliography Index of Opponents Index of Annotators Index of Openings—Traditional Names Index of Openings—ECO Codes General Index

Reviews

A model of what a game collection and biography should be. This beautifully produced oversize red hardback with library binding covers everything related to the life of Kurt Richter. The close to 500 well-annotated games in this book feature a wealth of aggressive chess with beautiful combinations and sharp attacks throughout. The games are not only reason to buy this book. McGowan, who spent three decades researching and writing this work in what was clearly a labor of love, has uncovered a great deal of previously unknown material pertaining to not only Richter but his contemporaries. McFarland has published many outstanding books the past three-plus decades and Kurt Richter: A Chess Biography with 499 Games ranks right up there with the best. This is a wonderful book...highly recommended --IM John Donaldson; The book highlights not only Richter's career, but also the German chess culture and the effect that the two world wars had on his play. A well-researched monograph that does a nice job of introducing the reader to all aspects of [Richter's] life, especially those before the Second World War --Mind's Eye Press.

The book highlights not only Richter's career, but also the German chess culture and the effect that the two world wars had on his play. A well-researched monograph that does a nice job of introducing the reader to all aspects of [Richter's] life, especially those before the Second World War -- Mind's Eye Press Mind's Eye Press

Author Information

Alan McGowan has been associated with Cathcart Chess Club in Glasgow, Scotland and the Kitchener-Waterloo Chess Club in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.  He has helped edit Scottish Chess and Chess Canada Échecs and is the historian for Chess Scotland. He lives in Waterloo, Ontario.

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