Karl Schlechter
- November 20, 2025
Defeated in the 1910 World Championship Match
Chessmetrics Ranking: ranked as world number two for three months at the turn of 1906 – 1907
Tournament Career: winner of 12 super-tournaments:
3-time winner of the German Chess Congress
4-time winner of the Vienna Chess Tournament
winner of the Prague Chess Tournament 1908, Ostend 1906
and three others…
Matches: Schlechter vs Janowski 6:1 (=3)
Schlechter vs Alapin 1:1 (=4)
Schlechter vs Teichmann 1:1 (=1)
Schlechter vs Tarrasch 3:3 (=10)
Why he deserved it:
A little-known fact is that Karl Schlechter was just one draw away from the world champion title. In 1910, he challenged Lasker and before the last game, he held a one-point lead. The world title was hanging in the balance, but the goddess Caissa decided to keep the title with the defender, and Schlechter lost the final game. The drawn match meant that Lasker retained the title.
However, Schlechter had achieved much more than just one famous lost match! He was the second-ranked player in the world, defeated great players like Janowski in matches, drew with the renowned Tarrasch, and also had excellent tournament results.
For example, he won the strong super-tournament in Ostend ahead of Janowski, Maroczy, Burn, Rubinstein, and many others. Two years later in Prague, he shared the victory with our Duras and surpassed Vidmar, Rubinstein, Maroczy, Janowski, Marshall, and Spielmann. Among his valuable victories are also several titles from Vienna and the German Chess Congress, all of which were very strong and prestigious tournaments.
Schlechter died shortly after the end of World War I at the age of just 44. According to contemporary sources, he was a generally liked and respected player, who enjoyed the favor of both the public and fellow chess players. Lasker wrote shortly before the end of their title match that “the match will soon be over and it looks like I might be defeated for the first time. If that happens, then the world champion title will be in the hands of a good man.”
Best Games:
L Fried vs Carl Schlechter
Vienna 1894
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Miroslav Janeček graduated in English Philology at Palacký University Olomouc. Currently he works in Prague as a content editor for a large marketing company. His roots are in Opava - the historic and cultural centre of the Czech part of Silesia. That city is also the home of Slezan Opava, the chess club where Miroslav started to play chess, later went on to work as a youth coach and which he to this day proudly represents. As an aspiring chess publicist, he is the main author of articles on ChessDB.cz. In his free time, in addition to chess and writing, he also devotes himself to racket sports, history, and literature.