BCN remembers GM Jacques Mieses who passed away on February 23rd, 1954 aged 88. He was buried on the 25th of February at the East Ham Jewish Cemetery in Section J, Row 18, Grave 1100. We hope to update his burial record with these details when we are allowed to do so.

Jakob Jacques Mieses was born on Monday, February 27th 1865 in Leipzig in the German state of Saxony. He came to England in 1939 and was recorded in the UK Internees Index for 1939 – 1942 on 25th April 1939 :

At the time of the 1939 register Mieses was recorded as living at 66, Oakley Square, St. Pancras, Camden, London, NW1 and he is listed as a Professional Chess Player.

By the time of Hastings 1945 (27th December) Jacques had relocated to :

On June 7th 1947 he was granted Naturalisation Certificate AZ27326.

In 1950 he was one of the twenty-seven first players to be awarded the Grandmaster title by FIDE. He was therefore the first British National to be awarded the Grandmaster title for OTB play. The next (Tony Miles) would be twenty-six years later.

He has The Mieses Opening named after him :

[fen]rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/3P4/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq – 0 1[/fen]

which never really caught on to any significant degree.

In the Scotch Game (a favourite of his with both colours) we have The Mieses Variation :

[fen]r1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/8/3NP3/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq – 0 1[/fen]

and in the Vienna Game The Mieses Variation is :

[fen]rnbqkb1r/pppp1ppp/5n2/4p3/4P3/2N3P1/PPPP1P1P/R1BQKBNR b KQkq – 0 1[/fen]

and in the Centre Counter or Scandinavian Defence we have the Mieses Variation:

[fen] rnb1kbnr/ppp1pppp/8/q7/8/2N5/PPPP1PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq – 0 1 [/fen]

and finally, also in the Centre Counter or Scandinavian Defence we have the Mieses Gambit:

[fen] rnb1kbnr/ppp1pppp/8/q7/1P6/2N5/P1PP1PPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq – 0 1 [/fen]

From The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Robert Hale, 1970 & 1976), Anne Sunnucks :

“International Grandmaster. Born in Leipzig on 27th February 1865, Jacques Mieses was educated at Leipzig University and in Berlin. He came to England as a refugee from Nazi Germany shortly before the 1939-1945 war and eventually became a naturalised British citizen.

The early part of his chess career was devoted mainly to the study of chess theory and to chess problems. It was not until he was 23 that his tournament career really started with a tie for 2nd place at Nuremberg 1888, followed by 3rd at Leipzig 1888.

Over the next 50 years, he played in numerous tournaments with varying degrees of success. His addiction to speculative rather than sound openings and his attempts to combine playing in tournaments with reporting them were possibly responsible for his inconsistent results. Within a few months of one of the greatest performances of his career, when he came lst at Vienna 1907, ahead of Duras, Maróczy, Tartakover, Vidmar, Schlechter and Spielmann,

he came no higher than =16th at Carlsbad. In 1923 he achieved another great success when he came lst at Liverpool, ahead of Maróczy, Thomas and Yates.

While his style of play prevented him from reaching the greatest heights as a tournament player, it was also responsible for the numerous brilliancy prizes which came his way, one of the last being at the 1945 Hastings Congress, when he was 80.

[pgn]
[Event “Christmas Congress 1945/46-21 Premier”]
[Site “Hastings”]
[Date “1946.01.03”]
[Round “6”]
[White “Christoffel, Martin”]
[Black “Mieses, Jacques”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “A34”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “58”]
[EventDate “1945.12.28”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “HCL”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “2”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,56,31,-3,16,16,15,10,25,9,12,-20,-9,6,1,8,1,4,16,1,1,1,55,55,55,55,55,
21,41,6,6,13,16,16,37,36,36,15,21,15,11,11,17,13,15,17,17,-197,-197,-195,-193,
-477,-484,-29993,-29994,-29995,-29996,-29997,-29998]} {From British Chess
Magazine, 1946, February, page 34: Mieses aged over 80 could, of course, not
repeat the successes of his prime. But he confounded the critics by scoring
four good draws and winning a game against the youngest competitor, Christoffel,
to whom he was conceding 57 years, for which he was awarded the only
brilliancy prize in the tournament, Mieses is the sole survivor out of the
masters who took part in the great Hastings Tournament of 1895, a unique
occurrence in the history of chess. Julius du Mont.} 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3
Nf6 4. g3 b6 {A slightly offbeat choice but played by Short and Larsen.} (4…
g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 d6 10. Qd3 a6 11. Bd2
Rb8 12. Rac1 {is a popular continuation.}) 5. d4 (5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O e6 7. d4
Nxd4 8. Nxd4 Bxg2 9. Kxg2 cxd4 10. Qxd4) 5… cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nxd4 7. Qxd4 Bb7 8.
e4 g6 9. Bg2 Bg7 10. O-O O-O (10… d6 {is, perhaps more precise.}) 11. e5 Bxg2
12. Kxg2 Ne8 13. Qe4 $14 {[#]} (13. Bf4) (13. Rd1) 13… Rc8 14. Bg5 f6 15.
exf6 Nxf6 16. Qe2 Rc6 17. Rad1 Qa8 $5 18. Kg1 (18. Qxe7 $4 Re6+) (18. f3) 18…
Re6 19. Qd3 Rd6 20. Qc2 Rxd1 21. Rxd1 Qc6 22. b3 (22. Qe2) 22… e6 23. Qd3 $2
{[#]} (23. Qe2) 23… Ng4 $1 {Suddenly f2 is under pressure.} 24. Bf4 {hoping
to block access to f2} g5 $1 $19 25. f3 Qc5+ 26. Kg2 Qf2+ 27. Kh3 Qxh2+ $1 28.
Kxg4 Rxf4+ $1 {and Christoffel resigned.} 29. gxf4 (29. Kxg5 Bh6#) 29… Qh4#
0-1
[/pgn]

Among the many books which Mieses wrote were The Chess Pilot,

Manual of the End Game

and Instructive Positions from Master Chess.

A very popular player, Mieses had a ready sense of humour. On one occasion, when he was in New York, he was asked by an American who mispronounced his name “Sind sie Mister Meises?”, ” No sir,” he promptly replied “Ich bin Meister Mieses.” On another occasion, when submitting an article in German to a British magazine, he could not resist asking ” Don’t you think my German is very good for an Englishman?”

On his eightieth birthday, a dinner was held in his honour in London and he was presented with a cheque by his numerous chess friends and admirers. The speech he made on this occasion was later quoted in most of his obituaries:

I have been told that a good many people never reach the biblical span of three score years and 10; and those who do-so some most reliable statistics assure us-are most likely to die between 70 and 80. Hence, I dare say, ladies and gentlemen, that I for one have now passed the danger zone and may well go on living for ever.

He lived for nearly nine more years, taking his daily swim in the Serpentine in Hyde Park or some open-air swimming pool, until only a few days before his death. He died in a London nursing home on 23rd February 1954 and was buried in the East London Jewish Cemetery.”

From The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford, 1977) Harry Golombek OBE we have this from Wolfgang Heidenfeld :

“Grandmaster, theorist, problemist, tournament organiser and chess journalist.

Mieses was a spectacular player who won many brilliancy prizes but suffered as many very short defeats. As a a result the German master achieved only one full success in important international tournaments (Vienna 1907), but occupied good places in such events as Breslau 1889 (3rd), Hanover 1902 (4th), Ostend 1907 (=3rd), as well as some smaller events.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M80F14AN1Mw[/embedyt]

In matches he showed a heavy preponderance of losses against the top-notchers, losing to Lasker, Tarrasch, Rubinstein, Marshall, Teichmann (twice) and Spielmann, but he drew with Walbrodt (1894), Janowski (1895) and Caro (1897) and beat Leonhardt, Taubenhaus, and (at the age of 81) Abrahams.

Here is the first game from October 29th 1945 annotated by Mieses from his match with Gerald Abrahams played in Glossop:

[pgn]
[Event “Match”]
[Site “Glossop”]
[Date “1945.10.29”]
[Round “1”]
[White “Mieses, Jacques”]
[Black “Abrahams, Gerald”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C45”]
[Annotator “Jacques Mieses and British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “41”]
[EventDate “1945.10.29”]
[EventType “match”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “BCM, 1946, page 23, game “]

{[%evp 0,11,19,38,25,16,14,26,-11,7,57,39,29,-34]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4
exd4 4. Nxd4 Qf6 5. Be3 Bc5 6. Nb5 {JM : The so-called Blumenfeld Variation
which is regarded by theorists with some scepticism. In my opinion, however,
the last word here has not yet been spoken. BCN : This line continues to be
played to the present day and scores better for White than the so-called main
line.} (6. c3 Nge7 7. Bc4 Ne5 8. Be2 Qg6 9. O-O d6 10. f3 O-O 11. Kh1 {BCN :
is more usual}) 6… Bxe3 7. fxe3 (7. Nxc7+ $4 Kd8 8. Nxa8 Qxf2# {BCN : is in
the database!}) 7… Qh4+ 8. g3 Qxe4 ({JM : In “Chess Openings” by RC Griffith
and PW Sergeant, revised by R. Fine} 8… Qd8 9. Qg4 Kf8 {is recommened as
being rather in favour of Black.} (9… g6 10. Qf4 d6 11. Bc4 Ne5 12. O-O Bh3
13. Bxf7+ Kd7 14. N1c3 g5 15. Qf2 Nh6 16. Bb3 Rf8 17. Qxf8 Qxf8 18. Rxf8 Rxf8
19. Nd4) {but after} 10. Qf4 d6 11. Nd4 {I should not prefer Black’s position.}
) 9. Nxc7+ Kd8 10. Nxa8 Qxh1 11. Qd6 Nge7 ({JM :} 11… Nf6 {would be
preferable.} {I should have continued with} 12. Qc7+ Ke7 13. Nd2 Qd5 14. O-O-O
{Instead of} Qxa2 (14… Qd6 {then} 15. Nc4 {with about even chances in the
endgame.}) 15. Nb3 {with an attacking position more than compensating the
sacrificied pawn.}) 12. Nd2 $16 {[#]} Qg1 $146 {BCN : Not repeated since this
game.} ({JM : A blunder would be} 12… Qd5 $4 {because of} 13. Qc7+ Ke8 14.
Qxc8+ Nxc8 15. Nc7+ Kd8 16. Nxd5 {BCN: Funnily enough this blunder appears at
least 40 times in Megabase 2020!}) (12… Nf5 13. Qc7+ Ke7) 13. Nc4 $1 b5 14.
Qc7+ Ke8 15. Nd6+ Kf8 {[#]} 16. O-O-O $1 Qxe3+ 17. Kb1 Ba6 ({If} 17… Qf3 18.
Re1 {Black cannot play} Qf2 $2 {because of} 19. Qxc8+ $1 Nxc8 20. Re8#) 18.
Qxd7 g6 19. Qe8+ Kg7 20. Qxf7+ Kh6 21. Qf6 {and Black resigned. A typical
skirmish game.} 1-0
[/pgn]

In keeping with his sharp style, Mieses preferred such openings as the Vienna Gambit, the Danish Gambit and the Centre Counter-Gambit. Among his lasting achievements are his brilliancy prize games against Janowksi (Paris 1900),

[pgn]
[Event “Paris”]
[Site “Paris”]
[Date “1900.06.12”]
[Round “14”]
[White “Mieses, Jacques”]
[Black “Janowski, Dawid Markelowicz”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C27”]
[Annotator “ChessBase & British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “71”]
[EventDate “1900.??.??”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “16”]
[EventCountry “FRA”]
[SourceTitle “100 Jahre Schach”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2000.04.19”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2000.04.19”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,71,19,36,18,22,17,13,17,17,6,-49,-56,-59,-50,-55,-19,-64,-37,-54,-37,
-12,0,0,1,17,6,15,7,20,25,26,10,42,19,42,109,73,113,87,96,96,90,90,137,124,120,
34,66,82,109,131,167,145,191,-83,103,140,325,306,342,350,360,408,403,407,426,
423,443,458,489,639,1229,1261] Das Superturnier des Jahres fand anlässlich der
Weltausstellung in Paris statt und wurde in überlegener Manier von Lasker
gewonnen. Zwei Schönheitspreise waren ausgesetzt (von Baron Albert von
Rothschild). Einen davon sicherte sich der Leipziger Jaques Mieses, der ob
seines schneidigen Angriffsstils gefürchtet war, doch für große Turniersiege
reichte es bei ihm selten.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 d6 5. f4 {
Das ist eine beliebte Überfallvariante.} Nc6 ({Vor allem nach} 5… Ng4 6. f5 {
kann es lustig werden:} Nf2 7. Qh5 Qd7 8. Be6 Qe7 9. Nd5 g6 10. Qh6 Qf8 11.
Bxc8 Nxh1 12. Bxb7 Bxg1 13. Bxa8 Kd7 14. Qxf8 Rxf8 15. Bh6 {1-0 Emms,J-Jackson,
A/Port Erin 1999/CBM 74 (15)}) 6. f5 {Mieses won three games with this in
Paris 1900 including games against Chigorin and Winawer. 1900 was the first of
this idea.} Na5 7. Qf3 c6 8. g4 h6 {[#]} 9. h4 $146 b5 10. Bb3 Nxb3 11. axb3 h5
12. gxh5 Nxh5 13. Nge2 Qb6 14. Ng3 Nf6 15. Bg5 Bb7 16. h5 Nh7 17. Bd2 O-O-O (
17… Nf6) 18. h6 g6 $6 {Mit dem gut gedeckten Freibauern h6 steht Weiß nun
deutlich besser.} ({Nach} 18… gxh6 19. Rxh6 Rdg8 20. Ke2 Nf8 21. Rah1 Rxh6
22. Rxh6 {hat Weiß nicht viel.}) 19. O-O-O (19. Nce2 b4 20. fxg6 fxg6 21. Qg4+
Kb8 22. Qxg6 $16) 19… Rhg8 20. fxg6 fxg6 21. Rdf1 Kb8 22. Qf7 Rh8 $2 {
In der Annahme, dass der Pg6 tabu ist, aber…} (22… Qc7 23. Qxc7+ Kxc7 24.
Rf7+ Rd7 25. Rhf1 Rh8 26. Rg7 Nf8 27. Nd1 $16) 23. Qxg6 $1 Rdg8 {[#]} 24. Qg7
$1 $18 Bc8 (24… Rxg7 25. hxg7 Rg8 26. Rxh7 Qd8 27. Nh5 $18) 25. Nf5 Bxf5 (
25… Qc7 26. Qxc7+ Kxc7 27. b4 $1 Bb6 28. b3) 26. Rxf5 Bb4 27. Kb1 Bxc3 28.
bxc3 Nf8 29. Rhf1 Ng6 30. Qd7 Rd8 31. Qe6 Nf4 32. Bxf4 exf4 33. R5xf4 Qc5 34.
Rf7 Qg5 35. Rf8 (35. Rg7) 35… Qc5 (35… Rhxf8 36. Rxf8 Rxf8 37. Qxd6+ Kb7
38. Qxf8) 36. Qe7 1-0
[/pgn]

Reggio (Monte Carlo 1903),

[pgn]
[Event “Monte Carlo”]
[Site “Monte Carlo”]
[Date “1903.03.02”]
[Round “15”]
[White “Reggio, Arturo”]
[Black “Mieses, Jacques”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B45”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “78”]
[EventDate “1903.??.??”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “26”]
[EventCountry “MNC”]
[SourceTitle “HCL”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “2”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,78,32,28,49,47,59,29,41,29,29,37,31,5,8,16,37,-3,6,-19,30,21,43,38,38,
38,38,28,42,-19,-21,8,-8,8,31,6,0,-9,-9,-9,54,1,69,-40,70,-73,-104,-65,-92,-78,
-87,-87,-87,-87,0,0,0,-55,-68,-114,-117,-125,-129,-141,-142,-154,-171,-189,
-190,-227,-227,-227,-242,-244,-244,-246,-234,-339,-327,-442,-371]} 1. e4 c5 2.
Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 (6. Ndb5) 6… bxc6 7. e5 Nd5
8. Ne4 Qc7 9. f4 $146 {This was the first game to play this move.} f5 (9… Qb6
10. c4 Bb4+ 11. Ke2 f5 12. Nf2 Ba6 13. Kf3 Ne7 14. Be3 Bc5 15. Bxc5 Qxc5 16.
Qd6 Qb6 17. b3 c5 18. Rd1 Bb7+ 19. Ke3 Qxd6 {is fairly modern theory.}) 10.
exf6 Nxf6 11. Nxf6+ gxf6 12. Qh5+ Kd8 13. Bd2 d5 14. c4 Rb8 15. Qh4 Be7 $146 {
has never been seen since 1903.} 16. Bc3 Qb6 17. Be2 Kd7 18. cxd5 $16 cxd5 19.
Rd1 (19. O-O-O $16) 19… Rg8 20. Qh3 f5 21. Rf1 Ba6 22. Bd3 $2 {[#]} (22. Bxa6
Qxa6 23. g3) 22… Rg3 $3 {Deflection is the key idea. White must control e3
or else.} 23. Qxg3 (23. hxg3 Qe3+ 24. Be2 Qxe2#) 23… Bh4 $1 24. Bxa6 {best}
Bxg3+ 25. hxg3 Qxa6 $17 26. Rh1 Rg8 27. Rxh7+ Kc6 $2 (27… Kd8) 28. Rh6 $2 (
28. Rc1 $1 {Would have given White excellent winning chances.}) 28… Kb5 29.
Rxd5+ exd5 $1 30. Rxa6 Kxa6 $19 31. Kf2 Kb5 32. b3 Kc5 33. Kf3 d4 34. Bd2 Kd5
35. Be1 Rc8 36. g4 fxg4+ 37. Kxg4 Rc2 38. g3 $2 (38. Kf3) 38… d3 39. Kg5 d2
0-1
[/pgn]

Perlis (Ostend 1907)

[pgn]
[Event “Oostende Masters”]
[Site “Ostend”]
[Date “1907.06.20”]
[Round “26”]
[White “Perlis, Julius”]
[Black “Mieses, Jacques”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B01”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “56”]
[EventDate “1907.05.16”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “29”]
[EventCountry “BEL”]
[SourceTitle “HCL”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “2”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,56,19,36,37,50,47,63,62,58,61,42,39,11,19,-34,6,-44,-36,-52,-63,-61,
-61,-61,-42,-36,-37,-25,-41,-49,-50,-56,-57,-61,-60,-76,-66,-60,-55,-95,-83,
-194,-263,-475,-470,-484,-479,-479,-488,-488,-498,-506,-506,-505,-508,-503,
-512,-511,-503]} 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bd3 Nc6 ({
Nowadays} 5… c6 {would be an automatic choice.} 6. Nge2 Bg4 7. f3 Bh5 8. O-O
e6 9. Bf4 Nbd7) 6. Bd2 (6. Nge2) 6… e5 $6 {Mieses clearly had had his
Weetabix that morning !} (6… Bf5 {is much more sensible.}) 7. Nb5 {tempting
but not very good.} ({Better was} 7. Bb5) 7… Qb6 8. Qe2 a6 9. Nc3 (9. dxe5
Nd5) 9… Bg4 $15 10. f3 Nxd4 11. Qxe5+ Be6 12. Nge2 Nxe2 13. Qxe2 O-O-O 14.
O-O-O {White has survived the opening} Bd6 15. Bc4 Rhe8 16. Bxe6+ Rxe6 $17 17.
Qc4 Qf2 (17… Bxh2 $1 {Crushing was} 18. Rxh2 Rxd2 19. Rxd2 (19. Kxd2 Qe3#)
19… Qg1+ 20. Rd1 Qxh2) 18. Qf1 Qc5 19. g3 Be5 $17 {Black’s control of the
dark squares is telling….} 20. Qg2 $2 (20. f4 Rxd2 21. fxe5 Rxd1+ 22. Qxd1
Qe3+ 23. Kb1 Rxe5 $17) 20… Rb6 $19 21. Be1 $2 {[#]} Qe3+ 22. Bd2 {and now it
is time to pause the video….} Bxc3 $3 23. Bxe3 (23. bxc3 Qc5 24. Rde1 Nd5 25.
Qh3+ Kb8) 23… Bxb2+ 24. Kb1 Bd4+ 25. Kc1 Bxe3+ 26. Rd2 Bxd2+ 27. Qxd2 Rb1+ $1
28. Kxb1 Rxd2 0-1
[/pgn]

and Schlechter (Vienna 1908).

Personally a very witty man (and something of a bon vivant) Mieses did not invest his writing with the same sparkle; both as a journalist and author he was rather dry and sober. He edited the eighth edition of the famous Handbuch, several editions of the ‘little Dufresne’, and published several primers as well as a treatise on blindfold play and an anthology Instructive Positions from Master Chess, London, 1938.

One of Mieses’s most important contributions to chess history was the payment of travelling and living expenses during a tournament, which he insisted on when running the famous tournament at San Sebastian 1911 – it was only thenceforth that this procedure became the norm.”

Here is an obituary written by DJ Morgan from British Chess Magazine, Volume LXXIV (74, 1954), Number 4 (April), pp. 107-108 :

Last month we made brief mention of the death, on February 23rd at a London Nursing Home, of the old grandmaster, on the verge of his eighty-ninth birthday. He was the last surviving link with a distant and largely-forgotten era. Mieses entered the international arena in the days of the great Romantics, of Zukertort, Charousek, and Tchigorin. He reached his heyday in the times of Tarrasch, Schlechter, and Maróczy. But he could never assimilate the canons of this Classical School, derived from Steinitz and codified and promulgated by Tarrasch. He preferred the dynamic to the static. He played the Scotch Game in tournaments long after it hat been
discarded by Steinitz and Blackburne; the Danish Gambit and the Vienna became in his hands instruments of great attacking potential. As Black he long favoured the Centre Counter Defence, and with it he brought off a number of thrilling victories in such great tournaments as those of Ostend, 1907, Carlsbad, 1907, Vienna, 1908, and St. Petersburg, 1909.

Jacques Mieses was born on February 27th, 1865, at Leipsic, and was educated at the university there, and in Berlin. In the capital he joined, at seventeen, one of the city’s chess clubs, and soon won the first prize in its annual tournament. Nevertheless, his earlier days were devoted mainly to the theoretical side of the game and to problems of which he was a good composer and a phenomenal solver. His public career really began with a tie for second place at Nuremberg, 1888, with the third prize at Leipsic in the same year, followed by a third, behind Tarrasch and Burn, at Breslau, 1889. His subsequent achievements span the years and are recorded in the literature of the game. He played at the famous Hastings 1895 (and was its sole survivor); fifty years later he played at a Hastings Christmas Congress. His preference for the speculative and the spectacular to the then ultra-modern-prevented him from winning the major prizes of the games. As we look up the record’s we can readily see how unpredictable his performances were. Thus, in 1907, a first at Vienna early in the year was followed later by an equal sixteenth-eighteenth at Carlsbad. But his Brilliancy Prizes were numerous: such endings as those v. Janowski, Paris, 1900; v. Reggio, Monte Carlo, 1903 (quoted, incidentally, as Diagram 52 in Fine’s The Middle Game in Chess, but without giving its source); v. Znosko-Borovsky, Ostend, 1907; and v. Schlechter, Vienna, 1908, will always be the delight of anthologists.

As well as playing incessantly in match and tournament, Mieses wrote copiously on all aspects of the game, analytically as well as in a literary manner, in books as well as in magazines. Three of his little books, The Chess Pilot, Manual of the End-game, and Instructive Positions from Master Chess, have enjoyed a long and wide popularity in English.

Two personal memories come to the writer’s mind. We first met him during the Liverpool congress-of 1923 ((1) Mieses, (2) Maróczy). one morning we took a stroll together up Dale Street, a stroll which developed into a tie-hunting expedition, ending up with a fine selection on his part to take back to a Germany emerging from recent disaster. He left the impression of a courteous and cultured man, precise in speech and with something of the military in his bearing. ln 1939, on hearing of his whereabouts, we called at his lodgings in Camden Town one Sunday morning. We were diffidently greeted by a seriously-crippled Mieses, who had recently, under great difficulties, made his exit from a Germany once more faced with disaster.

But the prim and chivalrous personality soon exerted itself. His many English friends rallied round him in his exile, all culminating in the great tribute paid to him on his eightieth birthday. Mon March 15th, 1945, at the Lud-Eagle Chess Club, a large number of friends and admirers gathered to pay their respects. A cheque, subscribed to by members of the club, was presented to the veteran master. He had, he said in his acknowledgement, sought asylum in England, and he had been shown great kindness and sympathy. The final gift was a last resting-place in the East London (Ed : we now know this to be East Ham) Jewish Cemetery. – DJM.

[pgn]
[Event “Ostend”]
[Site “Ostend”]
[Date “1906.06.07”]
[Round “3”]
[White “Mieses, Jacques”]
[Black “Chigorin, Mikhail Ivanovich”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C25”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “29”]
[EventDate “1906.06.05”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “31”]
[EventCountry “BEL”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2020”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2019.10.17”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2019.10.17”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,29,19,31,34,33,25,25,19,-2,9,41,71,71,142,94,94,128,128,128,145,36,
299,299,299,667,685,421,811,840,839,669]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Qg4
Qf6 $6 (4… Kf8 $142) 5. Nd5 Qxf2+ 6. Kd1 {[%csl Gc7,Gg7]} Kf8 7. Nh3 Qd4 8.
d3 {[%cal Gc1e3]} d6 {[%cal Gc8g4]} 9. Qh4 $18 (9. Qg3) 9… Bxh3 10. Qxh3 Na5
11. Rf1 $1 Nxc4 12. Qd7 f6 13. Nxf6 $1 (13. Bh6) 13… Qf2 14. Rxf2 Bxf2 15.
Nh5 1-0
[/pgn]

From Chessgames.com :

“Jacques Mieses was born in Leipzig. He won the chess championship of Berlin at the age of 17, and in 1888 he placed joint second at Leipzig and third at Nuremberg.

In 1889 he came third at Breslau (1889). He was, however, rather eclipsed by two great emerging talents – Emanuel Lasker and Siegbert Tarrasch. Mieses was crushed by Lasker in a match – Lasker – Mieses (1889/90) in Leipzig (December 1889 to January 1890). He also performed poorly at 8th DSB Kongress (1893) coming only 7th out of 9 against a field which was relatively weak compared to previous DSB congresses.

1894-95 was a busy period for Mieses. He drew a match with Karl August Walbrodt. (+5, =3,-5) in Berlin (May-June 1894). Mieses then played in the extremely strong 9th DSB Kongress, Leipzig (1894) (3rd-14th September, 1894) coming 10th out of 18. He had then toured Russia giving simultaneous displays, before travelling to Paris to play a match with David Janowski (8th January to 4th February 1895).

 

Mieses then crossed the English Channel to play a short match against Richard Teichmann in London (16th – 21st February 1895) which he lost by +1 =1 -4. A month later he played this match, Mieses next professional engagement would be (which was his first tournament outside his own country) came at the famous Hastings event of 1895. Although he finished only twentieth (in a field of 22 players), he soon adapted to this level of play and in 1907 he took first prize at the Vienna tournament scoring ten points from thirteen games.

In 1909, Mieses played a short blindfold match with Carl Schlechter, winning it with two wins and one draw. The very next year Schlechter played Emanuel Lasker for the World Championship and drew the match 5-5.

Mieses tried his hand as a tournament organiser in 1911, putting together the San Sebastian event that marked the international debut of future World Champion Jose Raul Capablanca. Mieses was defeated by one of Lasker’s title challengers, Siegbert Tarrasch, in a match in 1916 (+2 -7 =4). In 1938 Mieses resettled in England and took British citizenship. He was awarded the grandmaster title in 1950.”

From The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld :

German-born Jewish player and author from Leipzig, International Grandmaster (1950), International Arbiter
(1951). He never assimilated the positional ideas of Steinitz and Tarrasch; instead he preferred to set up a game with the direct object of attacking the enemy king, a style that brought him many brilliancy prizes but few successes in high-level play. His best result was at Vienna 1907, the first Trebitsch Memorial tournament, when he won first prize ( +9 =2 —2) ahead of Duras, Maróczy and Schlechter. Later in the year he shared third prize with Nimzowitsch after Bernstein and Rubinstein in a 28-round tournament at Ostend. He played 25 matches, mostly short, and won six of them including a defeat of Schlechter in 1909 (+2-1).

Mieses reported chess events, edited chess columns, and wrote several books. In 1921 he published a supplement to the eighth edition of Bilguer’s Handbuch, and he revised several editions of Dufresne’s popular Lehrbuck des Schachspiels, He also organized chess events, including the tournament at San Sebastian in 1911 for which he insisted that competitors were paid for travel and board, a practice that later became normal.

After living in Germany for 73 years he escaped the clutches of the Nazis and sought refuge in England. A prim, courteous, and dignified old gentleman, still upright in bearing, he became widely liked in his adopted country. Asked about his lameness in one leg, caused by a street accident in 1937, he merely answered ‘it was my turn to move,’ Soon after naturalization he became the first British player to be awarded the International Grandmaster title. A generation before him his uncle Samuel Mieses (1841-84) had been a German player of master strength.

In the various publications of Edward Winter there are many and varied references to Mieses. We recommend you consult : Kings, Commoners and Knaves, Chess Facts and Fables and Chess Explorations to read them.

According to Edward Winter in Chess Notes JM lived at the following addresses :

• Tauchaerstrasse, Leipzig, Germany (Wiener Schachzeitung, July 1904, page 211).
• Christianstrasse 23, Leipzig, Germany (Düsseldorf, 1908 tournament book, page 176).
• Wettiner Str. 32, Leipzig, Germany (Ranneforths Schach-Kalender, 1915, page 70).
• Christianstrasse 19II, Leipzig, Germany (Ranneforths Schachkalender, 1925, page 158).
• 8 Fitzjohns Avenue, London NW3, England (Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club visitors’ book, 27 December 1945*).

Here is an article by André Schulz of ChessBase

An excellent article from Edward Winter.

Here is his Wikipedia entry.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrt9-OQ23x8[/embedyt]