View source for Savielly Tartakower

{{Short description|Polish chess grandmaster (1887–1956)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}{{Infobox chess player
|name = Savielly Tartakower
|image = Ksawery Tartakower.jpg
|caption=
|country =  Austro-Hungarian Empire {{small|(until 1918)}}<br />Poland {{small|(1918–1948)}}<br />France {{small|(1948–1956)}}
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1887|2|21|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[Rostov-on-Don]], Russian Empire
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1956|2|4|1887|2|22|df=y}}
|death_place =Paris, France
|title = [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] (1950)
}}

'''Savielly Tartakower''' (also known as ''Xavier'' or ''Ksawery'' ''Tartakower'', less often ''Tartacover'' or ''Tartakover''; 21 February 1887 – 4 February 1956) was a Polish [[chess]] player. He was awarded the title of [[Grandmaster (chess)|International Grandmaster]] in its inaugural year, 1950. Tartakower was also a leading chess journalist and author of the 1920s and 1930s and is noted for his many witticisms.<ref name="Yakov Damsky 2005"/>

==Early career==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Ksawery Tartakower young.jpg|thumb|left|Young Tartakower]] -->

Tartakower was born on 9 (21) February 1887 in [[Rostov-on-Don]], Russia, to Austrian citizens of Jewish origin<ref name="Winter2003">{{cite web|url=https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/jews.html |author=Edward Winter|title=Chess and Jews|website=Chess Notes |access-date=2008-10-27}}</ref> and circumcised on February 16 (28).<ref name="Voronkov_tayna">{{cite web | url=https://chesspro.ru/thesaurus/tartakower_tayna| title=Тайна смерти родителей Тартаковера |date=2016-03-30|website=ChessPro| access-date=2016-04-04 | author=Сергей Воронков|language=ru}}</ref> His parents were killed in 1911 during a break-in in their house in Rostov-on-Don, where his father, a relatively wealthy businessman, owned a textile factory (or, according to some sources, a series of stores).<ref name="Voronkov_tayna">{{cite web | url=https://chesspro.ru/thesaurus/tartakower_tayna| title=Тайна смерти родителей Тартаковера |date=2016-03-30|website=ChessPro| access-date=2016-04-04 | author=Сергей Воронков|language=ru}}</ref> Tartakower stayed mainly in Austria. He graduated from the law faculties of universities in [[Geneva]] and [[Vienna]]. He spoke German and French. During his studies he became interested in chess and started attending chess meetings in various cafés for chess players in Vienna. He met many notable masters of the time, among them [[Carl Schlechter]], [[Géza Maróczy]] (against whom he played what was probably his most famous {{chessgloss|brilliancy}}<ref name="chessgames">{{cite web |url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1003826 |title=Géza Maróczy vs Savielly Tartakower (1922) "Geza Stripped" |website=[[Chessgames.com]] |access-date=2008-10-27 }}</ref>), [[Milan Vidmar]], and [[Richard Réti]]. His first achievement was first place in a tournament in [[Nuremberg]] in 1906. Three years later he achieved second place in the tournament in Vienna, losing only to Réti.

During World War I Tartakower was drafted into the [[Austro-Hungarian]] army and served as a staff officer on various posts. He went to the Russian front with the Viennese infantry house-regiment.<ref name="kmoch03">{{cite web | url=https://www.chesscafe.com/text/kmoch03.pdf | title=Grandmasters I Have Known | publisher=Burt Hochberg | access-date=July 24, 2011 | author=Hans Kmoch}} {{subscription required|via=[[Chesscafe.com]]}}</ref> After the war he emigrated to France, and settled in Paris. Although Tartakower did not speak [[Polish language|Polish]], after Poland regained its independence in 1918 he accepted Polish citizenship and became one of the country's most prominent honorary ambassadors. He was the captain and trainer of the Polish chess team in six international tournaments, winning a gold medal for Poland at the [[3rd Chess Olympiad|Hamburg Olympiad]] in 1930.<ref name="wyborcza">{{cite web | url=https://wyborcza.pl/1,76842,7056491,Szachy_ze_swastyka.html | title=Szachy ze swastyką|trans-title=Chess-game against Swastika| work=[[Gazeta Wyborcza]] | date=September 21, 2009 | access-date=July 24, 2011 | author1=Radosław Leniarski|author2=Paweł Kerntopf|language=pl}}</ref>

==Chess professional==
[[File:Savielly Tartakower and Edward Lasker.jpg|thumb|Tartakower (left) with [[Edward Lasker]], {{circa|1924}}]]
In France, Tartakower decided to become a professional chess player. He also started cooperating with various chess magazines, and wrote several books and brochures on chess. The most famous of these, ''Die Hypermoderne Schachpartie'' (''The Hypermodern Chess Game'') was published in 1924 and has been issued in almost 100 editions since. Tartakower took part in many of the most important chess tournaments of his day. In 1927 and 1928 he won two tournaments in [[Hastings International Chess Congress|Hastings]] and shared first place with [[Aron Nimzowitsch]] in London. On the latter occasion, he defeated such notable players as [[Frank Marshall (chess player)|Frank Marshall]], [[Milan Vidmar]], and [[Efim Bogoljubov]]. In 1930 he won the [[Liège]] tournament, beating [[Mir Sultan Khan]] by two points. Further down the list were, among others, [[Akiba Rubinstein]], Nimzowitsch, and Marshall.

Tartakower won the [[Polish Chess Championship]] twice, at Warsaw 1935 and Jurata 1937.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://polbase.w.interia.pl/tabele.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020608164655/http://polbase.w.interia.pl/tabele.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2002-06-08 |title=Szachowe Mistrzostwa Polski – Polish Chess Championships |language=pl |website=Polbase|access-date=2008-10-27 }}</ref> In the 1930s he represented Poland in six [[Chess Olympiad]]s, and France in 1950, winning three individual medals (gold in 1931 and bronze in 1933 and 1935), as well as five team medals (gold in 1930, two silver in 1931 and 1939, and two bronze in 1935 and 1937).

* In 1930, at second board at the [[3rd Chess Olympiad]] in [[Hamburg]] (+9−1=6);
* In 1931, at second board at the [[4th Chess Olympiad]] in [[Prague]] (+10−1=7);
* In 1933, at first board at the [[5th Chess Olympiad]] in [[Folkestone]] (+6−2=6);
* In 1935, at first board at the [[6th Chess Olympiad]] in [[Warsaw]] (+6−0=11);
* In 1937, at first board at the [[7th Chess Olympiad]] in [[Stockholm]] (+1−2=10);
* In 1939, at first board at the [[8th Chess Olympiad]] in [[Buenos Aires]] (+7−3=7);
* In 1950, at first board at the [[9th Chess Olympiad]] in [[Dubrovnik]] (+5−5=5).
 
In 1935 he was one of the main organizers of the Chess Olympiad in Warsaw.

In 1939, the outbreak of World War II found him in Buenos Aires, where he was playing the 8th Chess Olympiad, representing Poland on a team which included [[Miguel Najdorf]], who always called Tartakower "my teacher".{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

==Final years==
After a short stay in [[Argentina]] Tartakower returned to Europe. He arrived in France shortly before its collapse in 1940. Under the [[pseudonym]] ''Cartier'', he joined the forces of general [[Charles de Gaulle]].

After World War II and the Soviet takeover of Poland, Tartakower became a French citizen. He played in the first [[Interzonal]] tournament at [[Saltsjöbaden]] 1948, but did not qualify for the [[Candidate]]s tournament. He represented France at the [[1950 Chess Olympiad]]. [[FIDE]] instituted the title of [[International Grandmaster]] in 1950; Tartakower was in the first group of players to receive it. In 1953, he won the [[French Chess Championship]] in Paris.<ref>[http://heritageechecsfra.free.fr/interest.htm Le Championnat De France D'Echecs]. ''Héritage des Echecs Français'' {{in lang|fr}}.</ref>

He died on 4 February 1956 in Paris, 17 days before his 69th birthday.

==Personality and chess contributions==
{{algebraic notation|pos=secright}}

Tartakower is regarded as one of the most notable chess personalities of his time. [[Harry Golombek]] translated Tartakower's book of his best games, and in the foreword wrote: <blockquote>Dr. Tartakower is far and away the most cultured and the wittiest of all the chess masters I have ever met. His extremely well stored mind and ever-flowing native wit make conversation with him a perpetual delight. So much so that I count it as one of the brightest attractions an international tournament can hold out for me that Dr. Tartakower should also be one of the participants. His talk and thought are rather like a modernized blend of [[Baruch Spinoza]] and [[Voltaire]]; and with it all a dash of paradoxical originality that is essential Tartakower.</blockquote>

{{Chess diagram small
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|rd|nd|bd|qd|kd|bd|  |rd
|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|  |pd|pd
|  |  |  |  |  |nd|  | 
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 
|  |  |  |pl|pd|  |pl| 
|  |  |nl|  |  |  |  | 
|pl|pl|pl|  |  |pl|  |pl
|rl|  |bl|ql|kl|bl|nl|rl
|[[Dutch Defence]], [[Staunton Gambit]], Tartakower Variation: 1.d4 f5 2.e4 fxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g4
}}

A talented chess player, Tartakower is also known for his countless [[aphorism]]s, sometimes called ''Tartakoverisms''. One variation of the [[Dutch Defence]] is named after him. The Tartakower Defence in the [[Queen's Gambit Declined]] (also known as the Tartakower&ndash;[[Vladimir Makogonov|Makogonov]]&ndash;[[Igor Bondarevsky|Bondarevsky]] System) also bears his name, as does the most common variation of the [[Torre Attack]]. He is alleged to be the inventor of the [[Orangutan Opening]], 1.b4, so named after Tartakower had admired a great ape during his visit to the zoo whilst playing in the great 1924 tournament in New York. Tartakower originated the [[Catalan Opening]] at [[Barcelona]] 1929. This system starts with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3. It remains very popular today at all levels. Also, a counterplay-focused variation in the [[Caro–Kann Defence]], which starts with 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 is named after Tartakower.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.chess.com/openings/Caro-Kann-Defense-Tartakower-Variation | title=Caro-Kann Defense: Tartakower Variation - Chess Openings }}</ref>

[[José Raúl Capablanca]] scored +5−0=7 against Tartakower, but they had many hard fights. After their fighting draw in London 1922 (where Tartakower played his new defense), Capablanca said, "You are lacking in solidity", and Tartakower replied in his usual banter, "That is my saving grace." But in Capablanca's reports of the 1939 Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires for the Argentine newspaper ''Crítica'', he wrote: <blockquote>The Polish team&nbsp;… is captained and led by Dr S. Tartakower, a master with profound knowledge and great imagination, qualities which make him a formidable adversary. &nbsp;… Luckily for the others, the Polish team has only one Tartakower.</blockquote>

Sugden and Damsky stated that like other chess players of all ages and ranks among whom there is generally no lack of idiosyncrasy or superstition, Tartakower, a trenchant wit, took a most unsightly old hat with him from tournament to tournament. <blockquote>He would only wear it on the last round and he would win. Notably this hat did not guarantee him success in casinos, which he visited as though it were a job of work. The roulette table would regularly acquire both the Grandmaster's prizes and the numerous fees from his endless string of articles.<ref name="Yakov Damsky 2005">{{cite book |last1= Damsky |first1= Yakov |last2= Sugden |first2= John (TRN) |title= The Batsford Book of Chess Records |date= 2005-08-28 |publisher= [[Batsford (publisher)|Batsford]] |location= London |isbn= 978-0-7134-8946-0 |oclc= 66717591 |page= [https://archive.org/details/batsfordbookofch0000dams/page/298 298] |url= https://archive.org/details/batsfordbookofch0000dams/page/298 }}</ref></blockquote>

==Quotations==

Several chess witticisms are attributed to Tartakower:

*"It's always better to sacrifice your opponent's men."<ref name="Pandolfini">{{cite book |author-link=Bruce Pandolfini |last=Pandolfini |first=Bruce |title=Treasure Chess |publisher=Random House |year=2007 |pages=74–75 |isbn=9780375722042}}</ref>
* "An isolated pawn spreads gloom all over the chessboard."
* "The blunders are all there on the board, waiting to be made."<ref name="Pandolfini" />
* "The winner of the game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake."<ref name="Pandolfini" />
* "The move is there, but you must see it." {{harvcol|Horowitz|1971|p=137}}
* "No game was ever won by resigning."<ref name="Pandolfini" />
* "I never defeated a healthy opponent." (This refers to players who blame an illness, sometimes imaginary, for their loss.)
* "Tactics is what you do when there is something to do; strategy is what you do when there is nothing to do."<ref name="Pandolfini" />
* "Moral victories do not count."
* "Chess is a fairy tale of 1001 blunders."<ref name="Pandolfini" />
* "The great master places a knight on e5; checkmate follows by itself."
* "A master can sometimes play badly, a fan never!"
* "A match demonstrates less than a tournament. But a tournament demonstrates nothing at all."
* "Chess is a struggle against one's own errors."
* "Every chessplayer should have a hobby."<ref name="Pandolfini" />
* "A game of chess has three phases: the opening, where you hope you stand better; the middlegame, where you think you stand better; and the ending, where you know you stand to lose."<ref name="Pandolfini" />
* "As long as an opening is reputed to be weak it can be played."
* "Stalemate is the tragicomedy of chess."
* "''Erro, ergo sum.''"
* Talking about 1.Nf3 [[Réti Opening]]: "An opening of the past, which became, towards 1923, the opening of the future."<ref>{{Cite book|last1 = Tartakower|first1 = Savielly|author-link = Savielly Tartakower|last2 = du Mont|first2 = Julius|authorlink2 = Julius du Mont|title = 500 Master Games of Chess (1952)|year = 1975|publisher = Dover Publications|page = [https://archive.org/details/500mastergamesof00tart/page/636 636]|isbn = 0-486-23208-5|url-access = registration|url = https://archive.org/details/500mastergamesof00tart/page/636}}</ref>
* "To avoid losing a piece, many a person has lost the game."<ref name="Pandolfini" />
* "A draw can be obtained normally by repeating three moves, but also by playing one bad move."<ref name="Pandolfini" />
* "Some part of a mistake is always correct."<ref name="Pandolfini" />
* "Whenever you have to make a rook move, and both rooks are available for said move, you should evaluate which rook to move and, once you have made up your mind, move the other one."<ref name="Pandolfini" />
* "The player that takes risks may lose, the player that doesn't always loses."
* "Everything was finely imagined; but the gods, before the endgame, put the middlegame."

==Writings==
* ''500 Master Games of Chess'' by Savielly Tartakower and [[Julius du Mont]], Dover Publications, June 1, 1975, {{ISBN|0-486-23208-5}}. (Previously published in two volumes by G. Bell & Sons, 1952.)
* ''100 Master Games of Modern Chess'' by Savielly Tartakower and [[Julius du Mont]], Dover Publications, June 1, 1975, {{ISBN|0-486-20317-4}}. (Previously published by G. Bell & Sons, 1955.)
* ''Bréviaire des échecs'', one of the best known introductory texts for chess in the French language. (English edition: ''A Breviary of Chess'', translated by J. Du Mont, London: George Rutledge & Sones, Ltd.,1937)
* ''Die hypermoderne Schachpartie'' by Savielly Tartakower, published in German by ''[[Wiener Schachzeitung]]'' in 1924 (English translation of the second edition: ''The Hypermodern Game of Chess'', translated by Jared Becker, Russell Enterprises, 2015)
* ''My Best Games of Chess 1905&ndash;1954'' by S.G. Tartakower, Dover Publications, 1985, {{ISBN|0-486-24807-0}}. The definitive recollection of Tartakower's career, written in his unique style; translated by [[Harry Golombek]].

==Notable games==
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1130839 Rudolf Spielmann vs Savielly Tartakower, Copenhagen 1923, Caro–Kann Defense: Exchange Variation (B13), 0–1]
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1100114 Savielly Tartakower vs Akiba Rubinstein, Moscow International Tournament 1925, Bishop's Opening: Vienna Hybrid (C28), 1–0]
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1007197 Savielly Tartakower vs Jacques Mieses, Baden-Baden 1925, Dutch Defense: Staunton Gambit, Tartakower Variation (A82), 1–0]
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1012927 Alexander Alekhine vs Savielly Tartakower, Folkestone ol 1933, Queen's Gambit Declined: Tartakower Defense, (D58), 0–1]

==See also==
* [[Hypermodernism (chess)|Hypermodernism]]
* [[List of Jewish chess players]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

=== Bibliography ===
* {{cite book |last1= Damsky |first1= Yakov |last2= Sugden |first2= John (TRN) |title= The Batsford Book of Chess Records |date= 2005-08-28 |publisher= [[Batsford (publisher)|Batsford]] |location= London |isbn= 978-0-7134-8946-0 |oclc= 66717591 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/batsfordbookofch0000dams }}
* {{cite book |title= All About Chess
|last= Horowitz |first= I. A. |author-link= Israel Albert Horowitz |year= 1971 |publisher= [[Collier Books]] |location= New York|oclc= 2522287}}

==External links==
* {{365Chess.com player|Saviely_Tartakower}}
* {{Chessgames player|10247}}
* {{OlimpBase player|6csq24mj}}
* {{cite web|url= https://www.chesscafe.com/text/kmoch03.pdf|last=Kmoch|first=Hans|author-link=Hans Kmoch|title=Grandmasters I Have Known: Sawielly Grigoriewitsch Tartakower|date=2004|via=Chesscafe.com}}&nbsp;{{small|(62.2&nbsp;KB)}} {{subscription required}}.
* [[Hans Ree|Ree, Hans]] (2006). [https://www.chesscafe.com/text/hans116.pdf "Tartakower's Poetry"]. {{subscription required|via=Chesscafe.com}}
* [https://www.chesscafe.com/text/review634.pdf Steve Goldberg review of ''Moral Victories: the Story of Savielly Tartakower'' by David Lovejoy] {{subscription required|via=Chesscafe.com}}
*[https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/tartakower.html "Savielly Tartakower" by Edward Winter]
{{Polish GMs}}
{{Poland squad 3rd Chess Olympiad}}
{{Poland squad 8th Chess Olympiad}}
{{French chess grandmasters}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tartakower, Savielly}}
[[Category:1887 births]]
[[Category:1956 deaths]]
[[Category:Chess Grandmasters]]
[[Category:Chess Olympiad competitors]]
[[Category:Chess theoreticians]]
[[Category:Polish chess players]]
[[Category:French chess players]]
[[Category:Jewish chess players]]
[[Category:Jews from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Aphorists]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Austria-Hungary]]
[[Category:Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Austrian emigrants to France]]
[[Category:Polish non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:French non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:French chess writers]]
[[Category:Chess players from Rostov-on-Don]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of France]]
[[Category:French male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France]]
[[Category:20th-century French male writers]]