English Chess Forum

Remembering Johannes Zukertort (07-ix-1842 20-vi-1888)

An interesting compilation, thank you, but it does tend to highlight a weakness of your methodology, i.e., you quote long chunks of previous writers without pointing out where they are wrong or contradict each other.

For example you quote Sunnucks saying he was born in Riga (which was sometimes said in his lifetime) but Lublin was correct.

Zukertort's mother was not a baroness; her maiden name was Etna Margulis. The "Baroness" seems to have been one of Z's numerous fabrications.

Zukertort was Jewish by descent but probably not by upbringing or practice.
The Russian article you link to mentions correctly that the chess master's father was an evangelical Christian minister, having converted from Judaism.

Also you don't mention an important work about Zukertort, namely the biography by Lissowski and Domanski (available in German and Polish).
When things are doubtful about his early life, I would tend to trust them.
However, Lissowski doesn't agree with the suggestion in my Eminent Victorian Chess Players that Zukertort had two illegitimate daughters who were adopted in Berlin after his death.
Bird was very explicit on that point in one of his books and there is a hint in one of Steinitz's writings that seems to support Bird's claim. It's probably impossible to establish the facts as I guess that any records that may have survived in Berlin would have been destroyed in 1945.

I would take issue with the first date in the Oxford Companion claim that "from about 1871 to 1886 second player in the world after Steinitz."
I think the first date should probably be 1877 or 1878.
In 1872 Blackburne beat Zukertort and finished ahead of him in the London Grand Tourney won by Steinitz. In the 1876 London Divan tournament Blackburne was the winner ahead of him when they scored one win apiece, and they had one win each in their aborted 1877 match.
Up to 1876 Zukertort was definitely inferior to Blackburne on results and indeed he chose not to enter Vienna 1873 though the reason isn't clear. Also previously he passed up the opportunity to play Baden-Baden 1870 and his excuse wasn't very credible.

"For his match with Steinitz in 1872 his extensive opening preparations brought him only one win. Steinitz was the better player in unfamiliar situations"

is a quote from your article.
Zukertort was indeed in the 1870s and 1880s probably the premier writer of what we would now call theoretical opening articles in chess journals, but the point is that this made him a bit vulnerable to counter-preparation.

Relevant here is the anecdote in Richard James's excellent article about Alexander Sich, which tells how Steinitz (before the 1872 Zukertort match) arranged to have sight of Zukertort's articles on the Steinitz Gambit. I'm sorry I didn't put that story in my book about Steinitz.

Later, when Steinitz wrote theory works himself, he became vulnerable to counter-preparation himself, hence his bad start at London 1883 where he lost games with his gambit.

I am indebted for your response. I really should invest in more of your publications and become somewhat more knowledgeable!

May I incorporate your comments into the article?

I don't think you should rewrite the article now it's up. You can post my response in the Comment area at the end if you wish.

For the future, I think you need to comment when articles you quote at length contradict each other or make dubious statements.
As Jimmy Adams's book points out, it can be very hard to arrive at certainty where Zukertort is concerned.

Tim Harding wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 20, 2021 8:36 pm

Also you don't mention an important work about Zukertort, namely the biography by Lissowski and Domanski (available in German and Polish).
When things are doubtful about his early life, I would tend to trust them.
However, Lissowski doesn't agree with the suggestion in my Eminent Victorian Chess Players that Zukertort had two illegitimate daughters who were adopted in Berlin after his death.

Years ago I wrote a review of the 2002 Polish biography of Zukertort, Arcymistrz z Lublina by Domanski & Lissowski, for chesscafe.com

In the review I very briefly summarised what the two Polish historians had discovered...

Jan Herman Cukiertort was born 7th September 1842 in Lublin, in the Russian-ruled Kingdom of Poland, into an affluent family of Polish-Jewish origins. (His father had converted to Christianity several years previously.) In 1855 his family moved to Breslau (Wroclaw) in Prussia, and from that time his surname is written Germanically as “Zukertort.” [...] Zukertort was a bright boy (though no genius), with a good memory, an aptitude for languages, and an early interest in mathematics. He learnt chess in his teens, and did not acquire his own set until he was 16.

And so on.

Unfortunately, I no longer have the book.

I have a copy of the German edition of the book by Cezary Domanski and Tomasz Lissowski which is entitled Der Grossmeister aus Lublin (Exzelsior Verlag, Berlin, 2005).
As the authors used primarily Polish and German sources, it is much stronger on Zukertort's early life.
For the English period, there is Jimmy Adams's book.

My article (written many years ago) about Zukertort's extended visit to Dublin in 1879 can be seen at:
http://www.chessmail.com/zukertort/dublin-visit.html

I don't know much about Zukertort, but always good to be reminded of Qb4!! The move I always used when teaching deflection. It helps that you don't have to calculate to the end, given that at least a perpetual is obvious.

Gracious of John to accept constructive criticism in the spirit it was intended. Would that we were always so gracious on this forum!

Let me commend Edward Winter's feature article, J.H. Zukertort’s Alleged Accomplishments, which presents an intriguing and remarkable picture: it would be good to know the full truth in more of those matters.

Tim mentioned in Eminent Victorian Chess Players (page 258) that Zukertort has not been found in the 1881 census, and he suggested that he may have been abroad. While respecting that possibility, I see also that page 181 of Sergeant's A century of British chess describes Zukertort's involvement in a match between the City of London and St. George's clubs on 24 March. That means he was still in London at a time quite close to the night of 3 - 4 April, when the census was taken. So I wonder if his census entry is there just waiting to be found. Tim gave his address when he died, 187 Beresford Street, on page 257. I have been trying to locate that address in the census records, but have not so far succeeded. How long might he have been there? Perhaps he was elsewhere in 1881 anyway.

I am also intrigued by the story about his two daughters, but it is hard to see how the picture can be added to. If they were in London, we don't know their names. I suppose it is too much to hope that the census entry would lead us to that ...

Yes it would be great if somebody can find Z in the census or more about the alleged daughters.

My online article did hint that if they really existed, the mother could have been Irish. Moreover, Z playing in London on 24 March would hardly preclude his being on the Emerald Isle on 3/4 April. The Irish census household records were destroyed during the Irish Civil War so we have no way of finding out if he was here, And the girls' surname in any documents would probably be that of their mother.

I received an email from Jon D'Souza-Eva (Oxford) as follows:

John Townsend mentioned that he couldn't find Zukertort in the 1881 census, so I had a quick look on ancestry myself.

I wonder if this might be him?

1881 Census record

LNDRG11_548_552-0916.jpg (564.87 KiB) Viewed 2719 times

The address is 7 Albert Street, St Mary Newington and the person who transcribed the entry for this household has done so as follows:

James Sporge 41
Sheba Sporge 38
Jessie Neals 13
Leopold Stoller 39
John Zeskerfort 36

It's the last of these that I wondered might be Zukertort.The transcriber has his age as 36 (i.e. born ~1845), his relation to the head of the household as "boarder", his occupation as "Editor" and his place of birth as "(F) Russia".

Do you happen to know if Zukertort worked as an editor or journalist around that time?

The Ancestry URL is

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/ ... 8_552-0915

John

Brilliant!! Please pass on congratulations to Jon D'Souza-Eva.

I will take a closer look and post again.

John Townsend wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 22, 2021 2:42 pm

Brilliant!! Please pass on congratulations to Jon D'Souza-Eva.

I will take a closer look and post again.

I will indeed.

He is attempting to join this place but has fallen foul of the SpamBot measures.

I've asked Michael Palin and Terry Jones to assist.

I make it:

John Zukerfort, boarder, unmarried, 36, editor, born Russia.

On the previous line is:

Leopold Hoffer (spelt "Holler"), boarder, widower, 39, editor, born Hungary, Pest.

The age, 36, seems rather different from what is commonly accepted. Perhaps Russia is acceptable?

Tim, thanks for your earlier reply .

I take your point about the "extended Irish visit in 1879". But I assumed he would also have had more than ample opportunity to father a couple of children in London. Bird referred to "his two beautiful daughters, the sole care of his life", so there is a possible inference that Bird had met them in London.

I don't expect we will ever discover the truth. We have the census entry now, and there is no sign of any information leading to the daughters.