Rudolf Spielmann
"The Master of Attack"
Biography
Rudolf Spielmann was born on May 5, 1883, in Vienna, Austria, into a Jewish family. He became one of the most brilliant attacking players in chess history.
Spielmann was a consistent top-10 player in the world from the mid-1900s through the 1920s. He won major tournaments including San Sebastian 1912 (shared), Vienna 1923 (ahead of Grunfeld and Tarrasch), and Semmering 1926 (one of the strongest tournaments of the decade, ahead of Alekhine and Nimzowitsch).
His playing style was romantic and aggressive in an era that was becoming increasingly positional. While contemporaries like Capablanca and Rubinstein were perfecting positional technique, Spielmann continued to sacrifice material for the attack, and he succeeded more often than logic suggested he should.
Spielmann wrote 'The Art of Sacrifice in Chess' (1935), which remains one of the best books ever written on attacking play. The book articulates principles of sacrifice that are still taught today.
The Anschluss (Nazi annexation of Austria) in 1938 forced Spielmann to flee. He escaped first to Czechoslovakia, then to Sweden. He died on August 20, 1942, in Stockholm, at age 59, reportedly of a heart attack brought on by the stress of exile and the news of relatives killed in the Holocaust.
Playing Style
Spielmann was the last great Romantic attacker. He sacrificed material with a frequency and success rate that baffled his more positional contemporaries. His tactical vision was extraordinary, and he had an intuitive sense for when a sacrifice would work even when calculation alone could not justify it. He once said: 'I can see combinations as well as Alekhine, but I cannot get into the positions where they occur as well as he can.'
Legacy
Spielmann's 'The Art of Sacrifice in Chess' remains essential reading for any player who wants to improve their attacking skills. He demonstrated that romantic attacking chess could succeed even against the new positional school. His games are among the most entertaining in chess literature.
Key Results
- ♦Won Semmering 1926 (ahead of Alekhine and Nimzowitsch)
- ♦Won Vienna 1923 (ahead of Grunfeld and Tarrasch)
- ♦Shared 1st at San Sebastian 1912
- ♦Positive score vs Capablanca (2 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses)
- ♦Published 'The Art of Sacrifice in Chess' (1935)