Benjamin Leussen. Another Of The Forgotten. Part One.

Good afternoon everyone.

I am back from my travels. Whilst away a picture in my reading matter reminded me of a project I had never gotten around to. Benjamin Leussen. 

I have seen him described as the best Dutch player before Euwe, but Olland - who comes across as a rather argumentative type - seems to have disputed that. Back to that later if I remember!

There is virtually nothing to be found about him online - this is about all you get on chessgames.com.

edochess has this list of his few events.

The picture in question - the group photo from Scheveningen 1905, where he finished second behind Marshall.

I first came across him in the greatest tournament book ever written - actually one of the greatest chess books ever written - Barmen 1905, where he took part in the Master B tournament.

Historically that event is best remembered because the young Niemzowitsch got rather upset about the comments to his games. Many years ago I translated that material for a book a friend was writing a book  on Niemzowitsch. I will give the game between the two in Part Two!
So I did some digging through the primary sources and found enough material for four blogs, but will limit it to two. Let us begin!

 Firstly a picture.

It is included in an article on him, the text of which is this - via google translation with some touching up.

LEUSSEN.
Whereas in the previous issue of this magazine the memory of one of the oldest Dutch chess players was honored, we now wish to inform the reader of one of the younger ones, Benjamin Leussen, whose chess career is still short, but very full. He was born in Kampen on April 30, 1876, and
spent his youth largely at the country estate "Rustoord" near Diepen-near Deventer, where he attended primary and secondary schools. Then, in 1896, at the age of 20 he went to Leiden to continue his studies at the University, and in that year he was introduced to the game of chess.
Some fellow students taught him the principles, and from Dufresne's book he
gained his first theoretical knowledge. Still in the same year, he became a member of the
Leiden Chess Society. Then he found the opportunity to practice with the many equally young up-and-coming members of the club, Esser, Strick van Lin, 
Schoten, Steffelaar, and Splinter, and with the older members, including Dr. Van Rhijn.

During his years of study in Leiden, Leussen took a very strong interest in the game.

At last, he was present at every league competition and played with ever-present success.

In 1897, he achieved the 1st prize in the 6th class in Utrecht,

Likewise in 1898 in The Hague. In 1899 in Amsterdam in the 1st class the lists, in 1900 in Munich in the Hauptturnier B, the consolation prize. In the Dutch
Main Class competitions, he first competed in Haarlem in 1901, where he
immediately won the 2nd prize. Then followed Ilanover 1902,

Haupiturnier A, IV and V RI:deck-I, 1903 Hilversum III, 1904 Leeuwarden II and

finally, in 1905 in Scheveningen, he was promoted to Master of the Dutch

Chess Federation, by securing the 2nd prize before Leonhardt and Swiderski, among others. Let us briefly return to his residence in Leiden. Leussen studied medicine there and until the physics exam was behind him, everything went well. However, his aversion to his chosen profession manifested itself more and more, and it is not unlikely that this contributed to his great interest in the game. In those days, Leussen studied more chess than medicine. The suspicion was frequently voiced in chess circles that he would devote himself entirely to the game, and the nightmare of the chess professional Leussen often came to mind for his friends. Fortunately, it did not come to pass. In 1899, he returned from the path of medicine to take that of literature. %Tool- in this study he had more natural talent and the progress was also greater. Since then, there was still some competition with Catssa, though not as much as in the preceding years.

In the second period of his chess development fall the matches in Utrecht with Oand and Esser, which certainly advanced him considerably on the ladder to mastery. The influence of Oand is also clearly noticeable in his style. He plays positional play as his main task, i.e. attempts to force a win in the end by combining small advantages and constantly disrupting the position. But sometimes his power of combination takes the lead and he plays in a kind of anticipation. 
3. This is especially the case against players who are more inclined in the direction of Tarrasch and I.asker. Ms. Leussen is such a player with When faced with similar weapons, he unconsciously, or intentionally, exchanges his own with others and (leaving his element) is

therefore the cause of his lesser success against some of the Dutch Top Class players.

He has also practiced blind play. He can play 6 games simultaneously, though he finds this kind of game too tiring to take pleasure in. Also simultaneous play, in which he repeatedly demonstrated great proficiency.

Since 1902, the year in which he moved to Groningen to continue his studies in languages ​​and literature, he has withdrawn more from the chess world and only appears in the Yearantes as a chess player. That his love for the game or playing strength has not diminished as a result became apparent last year in Scheveningen.
With heart and soul he speculates his games and also his free hours. he still devoted
largely to chess. 
In the final days of the Scheveningen tournament his success was overwhelming, an uninterrupted series of 6 or 7 victories. Then came the pain of losses and the Bohemian Duras got opportunities for the championship.

As someone who has always had the wind at his back he is more sensitive to setbacks than he who had already had to contend with more adversity. As a result, Leussen was quite depressed after losing those few games. However, he soon recovered and managed to uphold the Dutch chessman's high standards. Leussen is not only a chess player, but also a person to be appreciated. He remains almost constantly with his team when playing match games, so he walks around very little during the game. Peculiar is his option to move the opponent when the latter has made a surprising move. He stares at him with wide eyes, as if he wants to read the variations on his face, and then looks back at the position, eyebrows raised high..

Lets do my thing which is the actually chess. This game, from 1899,  was given at the end of the article.

I like to include a 'fun game' somewhere in these blogs, so I chose this one - from the opposite end of Leussen's limited chess career. My regular readers will know the name of Joseph Blake. He was a seriously good player who was around for ever!

Not his best day!

O.K. This might all end up as a bit of a mess, but in this part I am going to give four fascinating endgames - to kind of make this a thematic post. The games I have selected from those I have which were decided in the middle game will come in part two. Well, I love my endgames!!

Hopefully you will learn something as well - I did, and I have been studying endgames for over 50 years!

Let's start with this one as it is from the Scheveningen tournament pictured above.

His opponent won the Master title at Barmen - he won a match for it against Tartakower, where he had actually offered to lose - and give Tartakower the title - for a price!!

Which links to this game, from Barmen. I know nothing about his opponent! So a crop of Leussen from the Scheveningen tournament instead.

I do know about his opponent in the next one! I have posted the fact that he was famous in his own field before. ( you can google him!!) Johannes Esser.

O.K. I am going to finish Part One with a couple of simultaneous games where he met famous players. Firstly this one against the World Champion who was in The Netherlands at the time - an article in itself could be done there!
A strange thing - this game is given in chessgames.com - complete with source, i.e. De Nieuwe Courant, 11-May-1908, but is not given by Renette who gives a number of games from the event.

He mentions that there were too many players wishing to take part and Lasker asked for the event to be limited to 25 boards, with the organisers trying to ensure that all the best players took part - Leussen would certainly have been in that catagory! He also says that Lasker played in a not particularly serious way in many of the games, making a pretty awful score - +11 =7 -7.

Lasker met Leussen again in another simultaneous exhibition three days later - in Utrecht - according to Renette, and took him less lightly, but that game too ended in a draw.

The game!

And this one to finish - it doesn't fit the endgame thing, but goes well with the Lasker game, so included it here.

Reti was definitely a player who improved during the first World war, and emerged as a top flight player by 1920.

As with Lasker, he tries to be entertaining, but doesn't make the endgame!

O.K. I will be back with a big bagful next time. Take care until then.