Ignatz Kolisch

Baron Ignaz von Kolisch, sometimes Ignatz Kolisch of ( born April 6, 1837 in Bratislava, † April 30, 1889 in Vienna ) was an Austro- Hungarian banker and one of the greatest chess player of the 19th century.

Life

Before Kolisch made ​​a fortune in the stock market and was elevated to the baron, he was known of the former chess world as a professional player and journalist. Kolisch came from modest circumstances. Even as a 17 -year-old he played in the Viennese coffee house in Silver Plankengasse successfully with Ernst Falk Beer. At the same time he wrote under the pseudonym " Ideka " Chess headings for various newspapers in Vienna.

In Paris in 1867 he won one of the strongest international chess tournaments of the 19th century. After the peak of his chess career Kolisch played no more competitive chess, though he still often came into existence as a patron of the royal game. He was an honorary member of the Vienna Chess Society, the organizing committee and also one of the main funders of the Second International Chess Champions tournament at Vienna in 1882. About the game of chess, the lawyer Jules Grévy, who later became President of France, and the multi-millionaire Albert Rothschild became his friends. Baron Rothschild, the Kolisch career in the financial world promoted decisive since 1872, was president and patron of the Vienna Chess Society.

Speculation on the stock exchange in Paris had made him a rich man. After him, the Duke of Saxe- Meiningen was honored in 1881 with the title Baron Kolisch moved to Vienna, where he had, among other things, the Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung (up to 1888).

He died in 1889 from kidney disease. Kolisch is the hero of the novella Chess Baron Ferenc Mora.

Chess career

His international chess career began in Paris in 1859, when he proceeded to the rank of the champion of the Café de la Regence, Daniel Harrwitz, whereupon he moved his activities to London. Easter 1860 played in Paris against Adolf Anderssen Kolisch eleven games, each of which won five and a draw ended. In the same year he traveled to England, where he 10-1 ( 10, -1) against Thomas Wilson Barnes and Manchester 3-1 ( 3, -1) against Bernhard Horwitz won in London.

Two invitations to Paul Morphy refused the American master, who had retired from chess. In 1861, Kolisch played two tournaments in London against Adolf Anderssen and Louis Paulsen. Both he lost narrowly: Anderssen 4-5 ( 3, -4, = 2), Paulsen with 15-16 ( 6, -7, = 18). 1862 went to Kolisch to Saint Petersburg, where he met the Russian chess champion Carl Ferdinand Jänisch, Ilya Schumow and Sergei Urussoff. He defeated Schumow 6-2 ( 6, -2) and played 2-2 ( 2, -2) against Urussoff.

From 1864 he lived in Paris again. This year, he played in the French capital a slight competition against the Prussian master Philipp Hirschfeld 4-4, beating the Polish emigre Samuel Rosenthal crushing 7-1.

His greatest triumph he celebrated in 1867, at the international tournament for the World Exhibition in Paris. In a very strong field tournament Kolisch won against players like Wilhelm Steinitz, Szymon Winawer and Gustav Neumann and won the sole first place. As a prize, he received 500 francs in cash and a Sèvres vase worth 5,000 francs which. Emperor Napoleon III was donated.

After Chess Metrics he was in the period from July 1867 to November 1868, the world number one. Also, according to " Edo Historical Chess Ratings" he was the best player in the world in the years 1866 and 1867.

From the Hungarian grandmaster Isidor Gunsberg the following saying is narrated: "I have seen in sixty years only a chess player who got money from the game of chess and also preserves it. Kolisch was the man. "