Within the weeks main as much as the Chess Olympiad (10-23 September in Budapest), we at Chessable are on a mission to highlight a few of the most distinguished taking part nations and their Chessable representatives. And naturally, Germany can’t be lacking!
Why? Properly, for one, Germany has a wealthy historical past in chess and has introduced forth some necessary personalities who’ve had an enduring affect on the chess world. Till as we speak, Germany is among the many world’s high nations when it comes to chess excellence, which can also be mirrored on this 12 months’s Chess Olympiad: each German groups (Open and Ladies) are among the many 10 highest rated taking part nations.
Apart from that, we additionally want to say that German chess gamers and coaches play an necessary function for Chessable: Germany is the second most represented nation in our total catalog after the US! As lots of you in all probability know, we even have our personal part for German-language content material on Chessable, with a complete of 107 programs and extra to come back. However even the English Chessable catalog can be unthinkable with out the works of German Chessable pioneer IM Christof Sielecki.
Let’s discover some highlights of German chess historical past and Germany’s involvement within the Chess Olympiad.
Legends of German Chess
Notably within the nineteenth and early twentieth century, Germany and former German areas introduced forth some personalities who had an enduring affect on the chess world. Even for those who’re unfamiliar with the German chess sphere, you could have heard the next names earlier than:
You in all probability know the Immortal Sport, which is likely one of the most well-known chess video games of all time. The participant of the white items who finally gained the sport was Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen, a German chess composer and unofficial World Chess Champion. Try the epic end of the sport with Anderssen’s double rook sacrifice adopted by a queen sac.
By the way in which, there’s additionally a gap named after Anderssen: 1.a3. We’re at the moment nonetheless lacking this in our assortment of opening repertoires, so if you wish to cowl this, it is best to think about submitting your 1.a3-repertoire to the Create Your Personal Course contest!
One other nice title in German chess historical past is Siegbert Tarrasch. He was one of many strongest gamers and most necessary chess theoreticians of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Curiously, he performed first board within the very first Chess Olympiad in London in 1927. A number of opening variations are named after Tarrasch, most notably the Tarrasch Defence of the Queen’s Gambit and the Tarrasch Variation of the French Protection.
In such a short define of German chess historical past, Emanuel Lasker should not be lacking. He was the second world chess champion in historical past, holding the title from 1894 to 1921, and was truly the one German to ever obtain the title till as we speak. Not solely was a gap variation named after him (the Lasker Protection within the Queen’s Gambit Declined), but additionally a gap entice.
We might spend all day speaking about legendary gamers of German chess historical past, however within the curiosity of brevity, we fast-forward to probably the most promising younger participant of German chess as we speak: Vincent Keymer. The 19-year-old was the youngest German participant ever to change into a Grandmaster and is taken into account to be the best German chess expertise since Emmanuel Lasker. Vincent has all of the conditions to make it to the highest. He’s additionally a part of this 12 months’s German Olympic crew, which we’ll get into in a bit.
Germany’s Olympic Historical past
Germany has been concerned within the Chess Olympiad since its very beginnings in 1927 and has been one of many strongest taking part nations in most editions. Within the third Chess Olympiad, happening in Hamburg in 1930, Germany gained bronze.
In 1939, Germany was in a position to clinch the gold medals in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the primary and solely time. Nevertheless, this victory occurred below distinctive circumstances, because the finals of the event coincided with the outbreak of the Second World Warfare, on September 1. A number of gamers determined (or had) to drop out of the event. Some necessary matches had been declared drawn by mutual forfeit, together with the one between Germany and the runner-up, Poland. It’s price mentioning that every one 5 members of the 1939 German crew determined to not return to Nazi Germany after the Olympiad.
After 1939, the Chess Olympiad didn’t happen once more for 20 years because of the struggle. Within the following editions, Germany secured bronze medals three extra instances − the open class in 1950 and 1964, and the ladies’s class in 1978. The open crew additionally managed to win silver medals in 2000. Since then, there have been no extra medals for Germany on the Chess Olympiad. Nevertheless, German groups have persistently been among the many high performing nations, largely within the high 20. Within the final Chess Olympiad in 2022, the German Open crew completed 18th, and their Ladies’s crew made it to tenth place.
On this 12 months’s Olympiad, most gamers on the German groups have additionally participated within the Olympiad in 2022, each within the open and within the Ladies’s part. Let’s take a better have a look at the 2 2024 groups.
The German 2024 Olympiad Groups:
With an common ELO of 2663, the German Open crew is seeded eighth out of the 197 taking part nations. This provides rise to some hope for medals, however the crew must face sturdy opponents − most significantly the groups from the US, India and China.
Germany’s crew does have two appreciable benefits although: firstly, it’s a very younger crew (common age: 23.4 years), but all gamers are fairly skilled − for many of them it’s not their first Olympiad. Secondly, the crew has chess prodigy Vincent Keymer enjoying on board one. Rated 2719, Vincent has been enjoying fairly efficiently for the previous couple of years and has proven many instances that he can win towards the most effective, even towards Magnus Carlsen. Simply this week, he gained the Rubinstein memorial with a spherical to spare!
The younger German crew has already confirmed that they’re able to beating sturdy opponents in final 12 months’s European Crew Chess Championship, securing second place with nearly the identical crew constellation − as an alternative of Frederik Svane, his older brother Rasmus was enjoying.
The German Open crew additionally has top-of-the-line chess trainers on the planet as a captain: GM Jan Gustafsson. Jan is well-known within the chess world, with a profitable profession as a participant and coach. He was a part of the German crew that clinched the historic victory within the 2011 European Crew Chess Championship, one of many greatest crew successes in German chess up to now.
Jan has labored as a second for Magnus Carlsen, amongst others, and efficiently helped put together him for a number of World Championship matches. Apart from that, Jan additionally has numerous expertise within the Chess Olympiad, each as a participant and as a coach: he performed on the German crew within the Olympiads of 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2012, captained the Danish nationwide crew in 2010, the Dutch crew in 2018 and the German crew on the final Chess Olympiad, in 2022.
Jan Gustafsson can also be standard on Chessable: He has authored two opening repertoires − one for Black: Lifetime Repertoires: Gustafsson’s 1. e4 e5, and one for White, in collaboration with CM Vjekoslav Nemec: Gustafsson’s Aggressive 1.e4, which is his most up-to-date and in depth one, specified by two components. He additionally introduced the endgame traditional ‘100 Endgames You Must Know’ in German (100 Endspiele, die Sie kennen müssen).
Gustafsson is humorous in each English and German, however his signature humor could also be much more nuanced in his native language. In the event you perceive German, you’re fortunate sufficient to get to expertise it!
The German girls’s crew can also be promising this 12 months. With a mean ELO of 2380, they’re ranked ninth out of a complete of 184 taking part nations. Among the many crew members, we rely two Chessable instructors: Elisabeth Paehtz and Josefine Heinemann.
Elisabeth Paehtz is enjoying on board one and is Germany’s greatest feminine chess participant. She has revealed one in all our first Chessable programs in German: Elementare Schachstrategie (En: Basic Chess Technique) − a course educating primary strategical ideas comparable to prophylaxis and the significance of king security.
Taking part in on board 3 we’ve Josefine Heinemann, who has additionally already made fairly a reputation for herself on Chessable. She has revealed two repertoires for Black − one based mostly on 1.e4 e5, and one on the Semi-Tarrasch towards 1.d4. Moreover, she introduced the German winner course of our Ceate Your Personal Course-contest, submitted by FM Martin Kreuzer we briefly talked about beforehand. She additionally introduced the introductory course Every part You Must Learn about Chess for us in German (“Alles, was du über Schach wissen musst”). This makes her an necessary ambassador for Chessable German.
We hope these little insights have sparked your curiosity to comply with Germany’s groups within the Chess Olympiad, and hopefully additionally take a look at some Chessable programs by our high German gamers. Now is an effective time to take action as a result of we determined to have fun the Olympiad with main value reductions for every of the highest nations taking part, and, as you could have guessed, at the moment it’s Germany’s flip!
With greater than 50 programs by German authors on sale, it is best to hopefully discover one thing that covers your chess wants. And don’t fear, you don’t must study German to know them, lots of them are literally in English! However for those who do communicate or at the very least perceive Goethe’s language and haven’t explored the German facet of Chessable, we extremely suggest you test it out!
Have enjoyable studying and benefit from the Olympiad!
