Ernst Grünfeld

Chessmetrics Ranking: World number four for seven months in 1924-1925

Tournament Career: Winner of eight super-tournaments:

3-time winner of the Leopold Trebitsch Memorial

Winner of the Ostrava 1933 Chess Tournament, German Chess Congress 1923, Merano 1924 chess tournament

and two others…

Chess Olympiads: Without success

Why he deserved it:

Ernst Grünfeld is today one of the players known primarily for the openings that bear their names. Their chess career is largely forgotten, but unjustly so. The Austrian grandmaster (this title was awarded to him upon its establishment in 1950), whom we are discussing today, was a world-renowned opening expert. Especially in the interwar period, he collected several valuable tournament successes, one of them in Ostrava in 1933. Perhaps his most valuable victory was in Merano 1924, where he left behind Spielmann, Rubinstein, and the aging Tarrasch. According to retrospectively calculated rankings, he was briefly the world number four.

Grünfeld had a very tumultuous life. He grew up in poverty and had an accident in childhood after which his leg had to be amputated. A large part of his family perished during the First World War. He is particularly criticized for his collaboration with the Nazis, although it is unclear whether he did so out of conviction.

The opening that bears his name was introduced to the world at the Vienna tournament in 1922, where he achieved victory with it against a future world champion.

Why he isn’t higher:

Grünfeld was an excellent theoretician and opening expert, and his style was positional, avoiding complications. A large percentage of his games ended in a draw, which did not allow him to collect more successes. He was never considered a serious candidate for the world champion title, which is the most significant gap in his resume.

Best Games:

Alexander Alekhine vs Ernst Grünfeld

Vienna 1922