Schach#

Chess: the first indications that chess was played in Austria can be found in the Carmina Burana dating to around 1240. In 1557 Selenius called chess one of the seven chivalrous virtues. Tournament chess has been played in Vienna since the late 18th century. With his work "Neue theoretisch-praktische Anweisung zum Schach-Spiele" ("New Theoretical and Practical Instructions on Playing Chess") J. B. Allgaier (1763-1823) wrote the first book on chess theory in German in 1795. Karl Hamppe, the founder of the "Wiener Partie" (1814-1873), K. E. Falkbeer (1819-1885), A. Albin (1847-1920), and particularly W. Steinitz, the first world chess champion, were the most important Austrian chess players at the beginning of the 20th century. Chess playing reached its peak in Austria around the turn of the century with the establishment of the Vienna chess school, whose most important player was C. Schlechter, who is still considered to have been Austria's premier chess player. In 1877 the Graz school was formed, the oldest chess club still existing in Austria today. In 1890 the first nation-wide chess association was founded. J. Berger (1845-1933) was the theorist who set the tone for the modern game of chess. After World War I, R. Spielmann (1884-1942), E. Gruenfeld (1893-1962), H. Kmoch (1894-1973), J. Lokvenc (1899-1974) and E. Eliskases (b. 1913) were Austria's leading chess players; however, Austria lost its reputation as an important chess country after 1945. K. Robatsch (b. 1929) earned the title of international Grand Master at the Chess Olympics in Leipzig in 1960, and his "Robatsch defence" has gone down in modern chess history. In 1995 another Austrian, J. Klinger, earned the title of Grand Master, and 16 others were named as international masters. The Austrian umbrella organisation for the game of chess is the Austrian Chess Association with its headquarters in Graz.

Publikationen: Schach - Aktiv, Das oesterreichische Schach-Magazin.