The Dash of Romanticiscm

There are chess players that, despite being outstanding players, did not reach the fame of their other, more famous, colleagues. This is the case of Jacques Mieses (February 27, 1865 – February 23, 1954) who was born in Germany and moved to England in the 1930s to escape Nazi persecution and went on to become the first British grandmaster(!) in 1950.

He was a dangerous attacker with a number of brilliant victories to his credit. His best achievement was to win the 1st Trebitsch Memorial at Vienna 1907.

He also organized the master tournament of San Sebastián 1911 and insisted that all the masters' expenses were paid! The times were changing! Mieses wrote many tournament reports, but it is said that his style was regarded as fairly dry, in contrast with his wittiness in person.

He often used the Scandinavian Defense, and greatly developed its theory in the early 1900s. He played excellent games with this defense. The chess opening 1.d3 is Mieses Opening.

He played chess almost until his death at the age of 89!

Let us enjoy a few positions from this excellent player called Herr Mieses(!) by Tarrasch.