Jacques Mieses - Biography

Jacques Mieses (Leipzig, 27 February 1865 – London, 23 February 1954) was a German-born Jewish chess Grandmaster and writer. He became a naturalized British citizen after World War II.^p258

Chess career

Mieses was a dangerous attacker with a number of brilliant victories to his credit, e.g. against Frank Marshall (Monte Carlo 1903). His best achievement was to win the first Trebitsch Memorial at Vienna 1907, and he came third at the 28-round Masters tournament at Ostend the same year.

He organized the 1911 San Sebastian master tournament and insisted that all the masters' expenses were paid. This was the first international tournament of José Raúl Capablanca, who surprised everyone by winning.

Mieses moved to England in the 1930s to escape Nazi persecution. In 1950 he became the first FIDE-authorized British grandmaster, though not (as is sometimes claimed) the first British grandmaster. ('Grandmaster' is a title first used of chess players in the nineteenth century,^p156 and a number of British players were considered to be grandmasters in their day, the most obvious examples being Howard Staunton and Joseph Blackburne. When FIDE first awarded the grandmaster title in 1950, Mieses was one of the 27 original recipients.)

Mieses wrote many tournament reports, but his style was regarded as fairly dry, in contrast with his wittiness in person.

Legacy

Mieses often used the Scandinavian Defense and greatly developed its theory in the early 1900s. The chess opening 1.d3 is named the Mieses Opening. He is also known for the Mieses Variation of the Vienna Game, which runs 1.e4 e5. 2.Nc3 Nf6 (or 2...Nc6) 3.g3. It's king bishop fianchetto can be seen as an early example of hypermodernism. There is also a line in the Scotch Game named Mieses Variation (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 6.Nxc6) after he employed it four times at Hastings 1895.^p213

External links

• Jacques Mieses - Information, Pictures and Games (in German)