Savielly Tartakower
- October 25, 2025
Chessmetrics Ranking: ranked as world number three for one month in 1921
Tournament Career: winner of seven super-tournaments:
4-time winner of the Hastings International Chess Congress
winner of the Vienna Chess Tournament 1923, London Chess Tournament 1927, Liège 1930
Chess Olympiads: one gold, two silver, and two bronze team medals, one gold and two bronze individual medals
Why he deserved it:
The name Savielly Tartakower was one of the most feared if you were a chess master between the world wars. During this period, he consistently ranked among the top ten players on the planet and even reached the top 3. He performed very well at the famous Hastings tournament and other tournaments. For example, in Liège in 1930, he left behind players like Khan, Nimzowitsch, Rubinstein, and Marshall; in London 1927, Vidmar, Bogoljubow, and Réti finished behind him. Tartakower played at a time when chess Olympiads were just starting and was very successful in them, first for Poland and then for France.
Tartakower was a proponent of hypermodernism in openings, a very prolific chess author, and a generally well-liked person. He was said to have an amazing breadth of knowledge and was very educated – he was a doctor of law.
Why he isn’t higher:
Tartakower was successful, but he never played for the world championship title, nor was he ever seriously considered as a challenger. Although he was part of the broader elite for a very long time, he only occasionally broke into the absolute top.
Best Games:
Géza Maróczy vs Savielly Tartakower
Teplice 1922
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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.