Richard Teichmann won the famous tournament Karlsbad 1911, and is known for having achieved many 5th place finishes. Below, I explore his life and games.
Photo: Cleveland Public Library, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Table of contents:
Biography
Early life
Richard Teichmann was born in 1868 in Lehnitzsch Sachsen-Altenburg, Germany. After school, in 1890 he became a student of modern languages in Berlin, and worked consistently to improve his chess. This paid off when he achieved an early success: winning the Berlin City Championship in 1891.
In 1892, Teichmann moved to England, where he worked as a language teacher. He also spent time at the famous Simpson’s Divan and the City of London Chess Club, two important chess establishments. This gave him the opportunity to compete regularly with strong players.
Early success
The experience he gained at these venues proved useful in 1894, when Teichmann competed at the 9th German Chess Association Congress, held in Leipzig. There he finished a very impressive 3rd in a strong field, behind only Tarrasch and Lipke.
Teichmann followed this up with a match victory against the experienced player Jacques Mieses in London. The one-sided score, 4,5-1,5 in favour of Teichmann, highlighted his development as a player.
Learning from the best
Teichmann then competed at the famous Nuremberg 1896 tournament, which was packed with famous names such as current and former World Champions Lasker and Steinitz, as well as Maroczy, Pillsbury, Tarrasch and Janowski, amongst others. In this incredibly strong field, Teichmann finished 19th and last. However, three weeks of intense competition with the world’s best players likely played a major role in Teichmann’s journey of chess improvement.
In 1899, Teichmann took part in an incredibly strong tournament in London. Despite the world-class field, he was performing well after four rounds, with a win, a loss and two draws. However, he was forced to withdraw from the event due to an eye infection. This infection would later leave him blind in one eye.
A new century
At the London 1900 tournament, however, Teichmann took first place. In a field of six masters and seven English amateurs, Teichmann proved strongest, able to draw on his experience at the top level in recent years. He finished ahead of famous names like Mason, Gunsberg and Blackburne.
Teichmann was also invited to the strong Monte Carlo tournaments of 1902 and 1903. He performed well in both, finishing fourth in 1902 (behind only Maroczy, Pillsbury and Janowski) and 5th in 1903 (behind Tarrasch, Maroczy, Pillsbury and Schlechter). Teichmann then shared 5th place with Maroczy and Mieses at the King’s Gambit Accepted tournament in Vienna. There he notably finished ahead of Schlechter and Gunsberg. These results show that Teichmann had successfully adapted his play to be able to compete with top level players.
Competing at the top
In 1904, Teichmann drew a short three-game match against Schlechter in Vienna, but then scored just 6,5/15 at the strong Cambridge Springs tournament. The following year, he shared a respectable 5th place with Marco at the famous Ostend tournament, which attracted many of the world’s leading players. At the 1906 edition of the Ostend tournament, Teichmann finished in a very impressive 4th place in a field of 36 players, behind only Schlechter, Maroczy and Rubinstein.
1907 saw Teichmann share 7th with Duras at the famous Karlsbad tournament. He then went on to win the Berlin Chess Association Jubilee tournament, ahead of a field which included Spielmann and Leonhardt. In the next few years, Teichamann continued to compete successfully at the top level, finishing 5th at the strong tournaments in Vienna and Prague 1908, and 6th at the famous tournament in St Petersburg in 1909. Also in 1909, he won a match against von Bardeleben in Berlin by the score of 4-2.
Back to Berlin
In 1910, Teichmann returned to live in Berlin, where he spent time at Café Kerkau and Café Kaiserhof. He also played exhibition games and wrote articles for the publication Deutsches Wochenschach. While in Berlin, he won one-sided matches against von Bardeleben (7-3) and Mieses (6-1).
Joining the world elite
Teichmann’s greatest success came at the famous Karlsbad 1911 tournament. He took clear 1st place in a world-class field, ahead of a long list of top players like Rubinstein, Schlechter, Marshall, Nimzowitsch, Vidmar, Tartakower and Alekhine. To achieve this, he scored 13 wins, 10 draws, and just 2 losses.
Although he scored just 8/19 at San Sebastion 1912, the next few years were generally successful for Teichmann. He shared 4th place with Duras at Bad Pistyan 1912, took an impressive 3rd at Breslau 1912, and won matches against Marshall (1,5-0,5) and Spielmann (5-1) in 1914.
WWI
Unfortunately, international chess was then interrupted by the outbreak of WWI. Teichmann moved to Switzerland around this time, probably to avoid the worst of the conflict. While there, he composed chess problems, made occasional appearances in minor tournaments, and found time for his hobby of mountain climbing.
Later years
Teichmann returned to Berlin and high-level chess in 1921, and immediately surprised the world by drawing a six-game match against Alekhine. This was made even more impressive by the fact that Teichmann was now 52, and past his prime as a chess player.
He was invited to the tournament in The Hague in 1922, but declined due to health issues. However, he was able to compete at Teplitz-Schönau 1922 and Karlsbad 1923, where he finished 7th and 9th respectively. These results are quite impressive when considering Teichmann’s age and the strength of the fields. 1924 saw Teichmann share 1st place with his old rival Mieses at a small tournament in Leipzig.
Unfortunately, Teichmann soon fell ill, and would not recover. He died in a Berlin hospital in 1925, possibly to chronic kidney and heart problems.
Legacy
Today Teichmann is remembered for his incredible clear 1st place at the super tournament Karlsbad 1911, as well as for the many problems and compositions he created. His habit of finishing 5th in tournaments has earned him the nickname “Richard the Fifth”. Less well-known than many of his colleagues, he lived a colourful and interesting life, and a careful study of his games would help to improve anyone’s play.
Game Analysis
Teichmann won an instructive game against Duras at Prague 1908, which demonstrates many important themes.
Lessons from this game:
- A knight can be worth more than a rook if the knight has an advanced outpost and the rook has no open files. In this game, 24.Rxd4! would have been a good example.
- When the opponent creates a threat, consider whether you can parry it by continuing with your own plans, instead of spending a tempo defending. In this game, 12…0-0! is a good example.
- Weak squares and pawns are only weak if the opponent can attack them.
Puzzles
Walbrodt – Teichmann, Nuremberg 1896
Curnock – Teichmann, London 1904
Teichmann – Salwe, Hamburg 1910
Teichmann – Nimzowitsch, Karlsbad 1911
Solutions
Biography
To learn more about Teichmann’s life and games, the following are useful sources:
Teichmann’s chessgames.com page,
this article on chess.com,
this article on chess.com,
this article from Chess Monthly,
this article from Deutscher Schachbund,
this collection of puzzles from Teichmann’s games,
this collection of Teichmann’s tournament and match results,
and the website chesshistory.com run by Edward Winter.
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