It is not clear if he should be considered a “forgotten” master, but several
people have told me independently that they would like to know more about
Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa (1818-1899). It may seem strange, but
von der Lasa manages to be both an underrated and an overrated player from
chess history.
Von der Lasa was one of the “Pleiades,” the group of Berlin players and
analysts that included Bledow and Bilguer. Then, as now, strong chess players
seem to come in two flavors: educated, cultured people for whom chess is one
of several intellectual activities, and others who essentially live for chess, and may seem quite coarse away from the chessboard. Von der Lasa was very clearly of the first type, a highly successful and influential diplomat, extremely well read and an excellent writer, and rather wealthy. Every chess player seemed to like and respect von der Lasa, both as a player and a person. However, because of his diplomatic career, which involved a lot of travel and
attention to work, he was unable to play nearly as often as the other great players of his time. Thus, von der Lasa did not play at London 1851 (though his absence was noted with great regret by Staunton, who emphasized that Anderssen was the second-best player in Germany), nor in any other tournament, despite a lifelong interest in chess extending well into the period
when tournaments became more common. His reputation is based largely on match play, but these were not glamorous showdowns played in front of a crowd; some were even played in private at his home. Since von der Lasa did not have famous tournament or high-profile match
wins, he was largely forgotten as a player after his death, though his writings (especially the Handbuch des Schachspiels, which he edited for the first four editions, and his work on chess history) remained very influential. For many years, von der Lasa was considered a minor figure in chess history, when compared to the likes of Saint Amant, Staunton, Anderssen, Morphy and
others who grabbed the attention of the world, even the attention of those who knew little of chess. The closest von der Lasa came to international chess celebrity was during the Morphy craze, when a rumor went about that he would return from Brazil to challenge Morphy, and that Morphy would delay his return to the U.S. for this match. Lasa telegraphed that this rumor was
completely unfounded, and some people viewed him as Morphy’s last potential challenger, given that the match with Staunton seemed to have fallen through. For many years, accounts of the romantic period were unlikely to mention von der Lasa at all. Already by the time of his death, his status as one of the real leading players was largely forgotten; his London Times obituary says that in his day he met all the old masters of the past generation, including Staunton,
Mayet, Anderssen, von Bilguer, Buckle, Cunningham, Jänisch, and others, ith many of whom he could hold his own pretty well in practical play (The Times, Aug 22, 1899). This is actually quite an understatement of his ability. Von der Lasa’s reputation in chess history has more recently become much greater, because, in my opinion, of two distinct important sources. One was a
1985 article by Nathan Divinsky in the British Chess Magazine, “The Mighty Baron.” You can see important points from this article summarized in a Diggle article here. Divinsky looked at games of von der Lasa against top players (30 games from the Oxford Encyclopedia of Chess Games, 40 from Bachmann’s Aus Vergangenen Zeiten Volume 2, and 9 from various other sources), and found that he had a remarkably good score against the top masters of his time. Later, Divinsky had access to Lasa’s entire chess library (perhaps the best in the world for its time, and still kept intact); he no doubt found many other forgotten von der Lasa games, but did not complete a
planned biography on the subject before his death. The second boost to von der Lasa’s reputation has come from the statistical rankings applied to game databases, especially Jeff Sonas’ Chessmetrics, where von der Lasa comes out as top player in the world for an extended
period, enough for people to really take notice and place him in the top rank of players. Before that, Dr. Arpad Elo’s The Rating of Chessplayers Past and Present (1978) rated nearly 200 players who died too soon to receive an official FIDE rating. Of these, there are about 35 or 40, born circa 1800-1840, who could reasonably be called “Lasa and his contemporaries.” Among them, the highest rated are Morphy (2690), Steinitz (2650), Anderssen and, yes, von
der Lasa (both 2600).
people have told me independently that they would like to know more about
Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa (1818-1899). It may seem strange, but
von der Lasa manages to be both an underrated and an overrated player from
chess history.
Von der Lasa was one of the “Pleiades,” the group of Berlin players and
analysts that included Bledow and Bilguer. Then, as now, strong chess players
seem to come in two flavors: educated, cultured people for whom chess is one
of several intellectual activities, and others who essentially live for chess, and may seem quite coarse away from the chessboard. Von der Lasa was very clearly of the first type, a highly successful and influential diplomat, extremely well read and an excellent writer, and rather wealthy. Every chess player seemed to like and respect von der Lasa, both as a player and a person. However, because of his diplomatic career, which involved a lot of travel and
attention to work, he was unable to play nearly as often as the other great players of his time. Thus, von der Lasa did not play at London 1851 (though his absence was noted with great regret by Staunton, who emphasized that Anderssen was the second-best player in Germany), nor in any other tournament, despite a lifelong interest in chess extending well into the period
when tournaments became more common. His reputation is based largely on match play, but these were not glamorous showdowns played in front of a crowd; some were even played in private at his home. Since von der Lasa did not have famous tournament or high-profile match
wins, he was largely forgotten as a player after his death, though his writings (especially the Handbuch des Schachspiels, which he edited for the first four editions, and his work on chess history) remained very influential. For many years, von der Lasa was considered a minor figure in chess history, when compared to the likes of Saint Amant, Staunton, Anderssen, Morphy and
others who grabbed the attention of the world, even the attention of those who knew little of chess. The closest von der Lasa came to international chess celebrity was during the Morphy craze, when a rumor went about that he would return from Brazil to challenge Morphy, and that Morphy would delay his return to the U.S. for this match. Lasa telegraphed that this rumor was
completely unfounded, and some people viewed him as Morphy’s last potential challenger, given that the match with Staunton seemed to have fallen through. For many years, accounts of the romantic period were unlikely to mention von der Lasa at all. Already by the time of his death, his status as one of the real leading players was largely forgotten; his London Times obituary says that in his day he met all the old masters of the past generation, including Staunton,
Mayet, Anderssen, von Bilguer, Buckle, Cunningham, Jänisch, and others, ith many of whom he could hold his own pretty well in practical play (The Times, Aug 22, 1899). This is actually quite an understatement of his ability. Von der Lasa’s reputation in chess history has more recently become much greater, because, in my opinion, of two distinct important sources. One was a
1985 article by Nathan Divinsky in the British Chess Magazine, “The Mighty Baron.” You can see important points from this article summarized in a Diggle article here. Divinsky looked at games of von der Lasa against top players (30 games from the Oxford Encyclopedia of Chess Games, 40 from Bachmann’s Aus Vergangenen Zeiten Volume 2, and 9 from various other sources), and found that he had a remarkably good score against the top masters of his time. Later, Divinsky had access to Lasa’s entire chess library (perhaps the best in the world for its time, and still kept intact); he no doubt found many other forgotten von der Lasa games, but did not complete a
planned biography on the subject before his death. The second boost to von der Lasa’s reputation has come from the statistical rankings applied to game databases, especially Jeff Sonas’ Chessmetrics, where von der Lasa comes out as top player in the world for an extended
period, enough for people to really take notice and place him in the top rank of players. Before that, Dr. Arpad Elo’s The Rating of Chessplayers Past and Present (1978) rated nearly 200 players who died too soon to receive an official FIDE rating. Of these, there are about 35 or 40, born circa 1800-1840, who could reasonably be called “Lasa and his contemporaries.” Among them, the highest rated are Morphy (2690), Steinitz (2650), Anderssen and, yes, von
der Lasa (both 2600).
No comments:
Post a Comment