Endre Steiner. Some Games And Pictures. Another Of The Forgotten.

Afternoon everyone.

I am back with a quick follow up to my last humble offering - there I mentioned that I may post something on Endre Steiner - centre standing in the above picture - so here it is.

I went back into the book

and went to the relevant sub-chapter for information and games. Then I took a couple of games from other chapters and some more of the wonderful pictures ( I have online enhanced a couple of those) to present here. A number of the games are not in the databases - old books are an endless source of new material! - did some notes, engine checked them, and this is what you get! Hopefully you will enjoy it and appreciate another of the forgotten.

Firstly the biography - the source for the stuff you find on the internet (uncredited, of course!!)

A quick note on that - the 'labourer' stuff is this. In Hungary at the time Jews were used as forced labourers. I recall the wonderful Laszlo Szabo saying that the government promised to treat all Jewish sports competitors equally - and they did. Equally badly.

With apologies for the obscurities of google translate.

''Endre Steiner.
The elder of the two Steiner brothers was born on June 27, 1901 in Budapest (although the family lived in Nagyvárad at the time) and died here on December 29, 1944: he was hit by a grenade explosion while serving as a laborer. He was married, but his marriage died prematurely, leaving him childless.
After graduating from high school, he wanted to pursue a technical career, but he was unable to enter the Technical University. First, he worked as a bank clerk (in the Angol-Magyar Bank), then became an independent hairdressing artist with his own shop and workshop.
Endre and his younger brother Lajos had barely outgrown their childhood when their father, Bernát Steiner, took them to a chess club. Endre grew strong very quickly and established himself among the adults. By the age of twenty, he had master strength, but he never actually obtained a master title. However, chess players and official circles recognized him as a master without question, especially based on his first place in Péstén in 1922 and the impressive results that followed. He was one of our most competitive masters, an almost constant participant in the Budapest tournaments. He almost always won prizes, his few weaker results always fell in the summer, and according to his own admission, he had difficulty tolerating the heat.
According to Dr. Vajda’s obituary, he was at his strongest around 1928/30, but his best results were in 1937. His 6th place among grandmasters in Kemeri, and his Olympic performance shortly after that in Stockholm, testify to his very great playing strength. Unfortunately, the events of the following years no longer allowed him to fight for the recognition of grandmaster.
In Steiner's game - unlike the majority of Hungarian masters - the strategic element predominated. His style thus seemed difficult to outsiders, and perhaps it was, but it suited our master's temperament. His patience and perseverance were proverbial, and in his competitions, 3-4 parallel adjourned games at a time, each lasting 70-80 moves, were not uncommon. (But we also saw plenty of brilliant tactical attacks from him.)
In the early thirties, his style and the resulting time trouble caused a slight decline in his results (which is why he was left out of the Olympic team), but Steiner was able to overcome the difficulties with a strong will and by expanding his tactical arsenal. The results were not far behind in 1936/37.
In addition to his sporadically published analyses, he also wrote a column in the Magyar Hírlap for years. In his analyses, he mainly dissected information related to the strategic management of games, which is admittedly less rewarding than listing the glittering variations of flashy games. Many of our masters were educated on his teachings. He also researched and delved into opening theory, successfully revived the c4 attack with White against the French and Caro-Kann defenses, and enriched the Sicilian Defense with some ideas for Black. He did all of this together with his younger brother Lajos, so the credit is shared between them. However, Endre's own idea was the system of developing the Black Bishop to a6 in the Nimzo-Indian Defense, with which he achieved great success. He was highly regarded as a chess player and loved as a person.''

Onto some games and pictures. Firstly the 'fun game' that I try to include. There is, for me, also a sad note to the game. His opponent, David Przepiorka, also died as a victim of the times.

A little background to the game.

O.K. So this one was originally going to be the 'fun game', until I spotted the previous one! It is a bit mad, despite having been played in an important event.

Steiner's opponent is worthy of a blog of his own - Denmark's Holger Norman-Hansen.

Steiner's opponent in this next game - Janos Balogh - is pictured in the full version of the picture the above crop is from.

Another picture link - Balogh and the wonderful Gideon Barcza both in picture, from the 1936 'Unofficial Olympiad'.

The moral of this game is - sometimes it's a good idea to develop your pieces! Barcza was one of those players who was much stronger with White than with Black - I don't recall a game where he got into such a mess as White. 

The header picture in full.

Let's throw in this game, against one of my very favourite players, the rather wonderful Milan Vidmar. I have posted enough pictures of him! Go google image search simaginfan Vidmar!! 

He had a great eye for unusual tactics - in that respect the untrained amateur of 100 years ago was quite like modern players. However, in this game he misses a very simple trick. It happens!

To finish with, this game from the book. If Steiner is a little obscure to some of you, his opponent is totally obscure to me! I guess he was one of the local competitors. I can't find a single reference to him other than this game.

Well, if Tal had played this game you would find it all over the internet. Endre Steiner played it and it is not even to be found in the databases - you saw it here first!!.

And finally I will throw in this wonderful picture from the book, as last time someone mentioned the man with the film star looks, friend of champions, Andor Lilienthal. A rare early picture of him - of course, the girl sits next to him!.  Ah, if only I had his looks and his chess talent!!!

That's all you get for today. Hopefully another of 'the forgotten' is not so forgotten. I have written too many blogs where the story has an unhappy ending. Endre Steiner - not forgotten.