Paul Leonhardt
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Paul Saladin Leonhardt (November 13, 1877 - December 14, 1934) was a German chess master.
He was born in Posen, today part of Poland and died of a heart attack in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), during a game of chess.
A player with a low profile and not many tournament wins, Leonhardt has been largely forgotten by the history books. However, at is best, he was able to defeat most of the elite players of the period. Tarrasch, Tartakower, Nimzowitsch, Maroczy and Reti all succumbed to his fierce, attacking style between 1905 and 1920 and he won several brilliancy prizes.
In major tournaments he was 1st at Copenhagen 1907 ahead of Maroczy and Schlechter, making him Nordic Champion and 3rd at Carlsbad 1907 (behind Rubinstein and Maroczy, but ahead of such luminaries as Nimzowitsch, Vidmar, Teichmann, Marshall, Spielmann, Tartakower, Chigorin etc.). In matches he lost to Spielmann (+4, =5, -6) in 1906, but he defeated Nimzowitsch (+4, =1, -0) in 1911.
As an expert analyst of the openings, he wrote a monograph on the Ruy Lopez (Zur Spanische Partie - 1913). Opening variations have been attributed to him in the Lopez, Sicilian Defence, Ponziani Opening and Evans Gambit Accepted.
[edit] References
- Hooper, David and Kenneth Whyld (1996). The Oxford Companion To Chess. Oxford University. ISBN 0192800493.
- British Chess Magazine (December 1977) - article by Steve Cunliffe
