Rudolf Spielmann

Chessmetrics Ranking: World number six for one month in 1913

Tournament Career: Winner of six super-tournaments:

                                   Vienna 1913

                                   Stockholm 1919

                                   Teplice 1922

                                   German Chess Congress 1927

                                   and a few others…

Chess Olympiads: without success

What earned him this:

Spielmann was one of the broader circle of world players in the first half of the twentieth century. He was never in the narrow circle of the absolute best, but he won a not insignificant number of strong tournaments for that time and an even greater number of other tournaments. He was a player who reveled in gambits, sacrifices, and tactical combinations; stylistically, he followed the romantic school of chess from the previous century. This style, however successful and certainly attractive at times, may have prevented him from achieving even greater successes. The most successful players know when to slow down, take a strategic draw, or simply not take too many risks and wait for the opponent’s mistake. However, Spielmann did not know how to do this; he metaphorically did not take prisoners. Attack at all costs, and either it works or it doesn’t.

Spielmann was one of the players whose career was most negatively affected by the First World War. Just when he was on the rise, the chess world went silent for five years. After the war, he did win more tournaments, but who knows what kind of player he would have become without it. He might have been able to attack the highest ranks and reach for the highest title, although I personally don’t think so.

Why he isn’t higher:

As successful and attractive a player as Spielmann was, his résumé does not match the successes of many of his contemporaries. The tournaments he won were very strongly contested; for example, in Vienna 1913, he finished first ahead of Tartakower and Réti, but he was unable to replicate such performances on a regular basis.

Best Games:

José Raúl Capablanca vs Rudolf Spielmann

Bad Kissingen 1928