Games - Erich Eliskases

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Erich Gottlieb Eliskases (February 15, 1913 - February 2, 1997) was a leading chess player of the 1930s and 1940s who represented Austria, Germany and Argentina in international competition.

Born in Innsbruck, Austria, he learned chess at the age of 12 and quickly showed a startling aptitude for the game, winning the Schlechter chess club championship in his first year at the club, aged just 14. At 15, he was the Tyrolean Champion and at 16, joint winner of the Austrian Championship.

His college education centred on Business Studies, firstly in Innsbruck and then in Vienna. It was chess though that captured his imagination and he had exceptional results at the Olympiads of 1930, 1933 and 1935. When Germany and Austria merged, he twice won the German national championship at Bad Oeynhausen in 1938 and 1939. He played under the German flag at the 1939 Buenos Aires Olympiad and this coincided with the outbreak of World War II, when Eliskases (along with many other players) decided to stay in Argentina (and for a while in Brazil) rather than return to the scene of the conflict. This, of course, incurred the displeasure of the nazi party and the wrath of the Brazilian authorities, whom had severed all links with the Germans. After some years in the wilderness, when he struggled to make a living, he eventually became a naturalised Argentine citizen and represented his new country at the Olympiads of 1952, 1958, 1960 and 1964.

Eliskases was awarded the International Master title in 1950 and the International Grandmaster title in 1952. He had many fine tournament results, including outright or joint first place at Budapest 1934 (the Hungarian Championship), Linz 1934, Zurich 1935, Milan 1937, Noordwijk 1938 (notably, ahead of Euwe and Keres), Krefeld 1938, Bad Harzburg 1939, Bad Elster 1939 and Vienna 1939. Into the Forties, he had similar success at Sao Paulo 1941, Sao Paulo 1947, Mar del Plata 1948, Punta del Este 1951 and Cordoba 1959. Commencing with the Noordwijk victory, he managed to play eight consecutive tournaments without a single loss.

In match play, he won three times against Rudolf Spielmann (1932, 1936 and 1937) and once against Efim Bogoljubov (1939).

He carried on playing through the 1950s, 60s and even into the 70s but his results were not so convincing. He was married in 1954 and ventured back to the Austrian Tyrol with his wife in 1976, but the couple failed to settle and returned to Cordoba.

Towards the end of the 1930s, along with Keres and Capablanca, Eliskases was regarded as a third potential contender for a World Championship encounter with Alexander Alekhine. Indeed, Alekhine spoke out in favour of a match with the Austrian, who had ingratiated himself as the champion's second during his title defence with Max Euwe in 1937.

Alas, Eliskases' defection to South America was badly timed, as documentary evidence later showed that the nazi regime had scheduled him a 1941 match with the World Champion, but due to circumstances, had subsequently abandoned the idea. It can nevertheless be seen that Eliskases would have made a worthy challenger; he was one of very few masters and certainly the only Austrian to have beaten three world champions (Capablanca, Euwe and Fischer). His critics may have pointed to the impressive credentials of Keres, his main rival, but the Estonian too, had twice fallen victim to Eliskases in tournament play.

Erich Eliskases was also a strong correspondence player and his own notes revealed a score in excess of 75% during his most active period.

He was considered an expert in the endgame - in fact it was at Semmering in 1937, that he outplayed and beat Capablanca in the endgame phase, despite this being a major forte of the Cuban ex-world champion.

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