Oldřich Duras

Oldrich Duras ( born October 30, 1882 in Humny, Bohemia, † January 5, 1957 in Prague) was a Czech chess master and composer study. In 1950 he was among the first players, which was awarded by the FIDE title of Grand Master.

Duras began his chess career in 1903 when he finished in second place at an international tournament in Hilversum. 1905 championship, he was awarded after he won the Masters Tournament in Barmen along with Akiba Rubinstein.

In the following years Duras won a number of major achievements: In 1906 he was in Nuremberg second ( behind Frank James Marshall), also in Vienna in 1907 ( behind Jacques Lousy ). He won in Vienna in 1908 (together with Géza Maroczy and Carl Schlechter ) and in the same year in Prague ( with Carl Schlechter ). In 1909 he was in St. Petersburg, together with Rudolf Spielmann shared third ( behind Emanuel Lasker and Akiba Rubinstein ). In 1910 he was runner-up in Gothenburg and Hamburg. He won in Breslau in 1912, together with Akiba Rubinstein.

In 1913 he undertook a trip to the USA. There he played in a number of local tournaments. When Manhattan Tournament of New York City, he was third behind José Raúl Capablanca and Frank James Marshall. At the same place he was defeated by the latter in a contest with 1.5-5.5 ( 1, -5, = 1).

He took part in the tournament in 1914 from Mannheim, which was canceled after the outbreak of the First World War. Duras, a professional civil servant, returned to Prague after the war and was the tournament game on.

He devoted himself increasingly to composition studies and became editor of a Czech newspaper chess. Duras was regarded as an important composer. He published about 50 studies and problems.

According to him, the Duras variant is named in the Ruy Lopez: 1 e2- e4 e7 - e5 2 Sg1 -f3 Sb8 - c6 3 Lf1 - b5 a7 - a6 4 Bb5 -a4 d7 - d6 5 c2 - c4.

Duras was known for his tenacity in defense worse positions. In his game against Henry Wolf at the tournament in Karlsbad 1907, he gave up after 168 trains and beaten more than 22 hours of play time, which meant at that time a record.

His best Historical Elo rating was 2743, so it was in August 1909, the fourth-best player in the world.

Study

Solution: 1 Tb5 -b3 e3 - e2 2 Tb3 -e3 Lg6 - h5 3 ka5 - b4 f6 - f5 4 kb4 - c3 f5 - f4 5 Kc3 -d2! f4xe3 6 Kd2 e1 Kd8 - d7 7 d4 -d5 draw