Well, I do have some other occupations, you know.
Paddy already mentioned Richtig Opfern, the indispensable guide for those who want to rout their opponent.
Then there is Michael Ehn's biography Rudolf Spielmann, a fine collection of articles from (including the famous Sickbed) and on RS.
Finally I own De troubadour van het schaakspel by Siep H. Postma, a light collection of 64 games.
On
http://www.chessgameslinks.lars-balzer.info/ you can find several links to game collections. I have more than 1200 now, though according to Becker in Internationales Schachmeisterturnier Semmering 1926 Spielmann has played about 1800 tournament and match games; many more than Lasker, Capablanca and Nimzovitsj.
Spielmann has not beaten, but crushed all important players of his time (until 1932, when he ceased to be a topplayer) at least two times, with the exception of Lasker. His achievements were highly unpredictable; in several tournaments he ended somewhere at the bottom of the list, despite beating the tournament winner.
Semmering 1926 and Carlsbad 1929 are probably his finest achievements, but I must also mention the gambit tournaments of 1912 and 1914, Stockholm 1919, Teplice Sanov 1922 and the DSB-Congress Magdenburg 1927.
In 1932 Spielmann beat Bogoljubov in a match - Richard Forster has written a fine article on it. You can find it in the archives of chesscafe. His last remarkable achievement is Göteborg 1939, co-winner with Salo Flohr, who was contender for the WCh-title then.
Spielmann's results were not constant enough to reach the absolute top. I would say, that from 1910 to 1930 he was about the 5th strongest player of the world. He played an important role in the theoretical development of the Carlsbad Variation of the Nimzo-Indian (4.Qb3), the Blumenfeld Gambit, the Manhattan/Westphalia Variation of the QGD and of course the KG.
IMO Spielmann was a transition figure between the classical attacking players Morphy, Anderssen and Tsjigorin before him and the dynamic Soviet school after WW-2. Especially in Carlsbad 1929 he played a string of impressive attacking games, beginning with 1.d4.
Spielmann had a very fine sense of humour. One quote: the ugliest men get often the most beautiful women; the wildest attacking players get often the most boring positions.
Hope Strapatzer and Willempie are satisfied by now.
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Spielmann (Read 4480 times)
