Trier Potpourri
by Michael Negele
(edited version of lecture - German CCI meeting in Trier Nov. 2015)

I. The Mess with Marx

Karl Marx was born on the 5th of May 1818 in Trier, as the third child of the lawyer Heinrich (Heschel) Marx and his wife Henriette Marx (née Pressburg). The father had to convert to the protestant creed - under the newly installed Prussian suzerainty he would not have been able to continue his calling as advocate-lawyer, started under the Napoleonic regime. Marx was entered as pupil of the local high school (later Friedrich Wilhelm-Gymnasium) from 1830 till 1835, passing the final exams with 17 in the company of his friend (and future brother in law) Edgar von Westphalen.
Following school Marx moved to Bonn to study law and "cameralism" (Political Science of those days...). In 1836 Marx was betrothed to Edgar's sister Jenny (1814 - 1881) - whom he would marry in Kreuznach in 1843. A year later Marx (1837) Marx switched to the   Friedrich Wilhelm-University (today Humboldt-University) in Berlin - in 1941 he was proclaimed  Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Jena, thanks to his disseration on the difference between  democritic and epicurean philosophy of nature - in absentiam! Marx moved to Cologne to start a tenure as editor at the "Neue Rheinische Zeitung" - in Octobre 1843 he had to emigrate to Paris with his wife, and from there to Brussels. During the revolutionary year of 1848 Marx - as many other Socialists - was deemed a menace in Belgium. In 1849 Marx was forced to emigrate to England - here Wilhelm Liebknecht (also in limbo) used to play chess against him.
"Karl Marx was an excellent draughts player - in this game he had become so proficient as to make it almost impossible to win a game from him. He also liked to play chess- but here his ability was not that great. Generally he tried to make up for his lack of ability by zeal, precipitate attacks and bluster. In the early fifties a lot of chess was played among us refugees - we had more time on our hands than we cared for  - unfortunately despite the jingle "time is money" even less of that! - under the instruction of Wolff who had learned quite a lot in Paris playing with the local stars,  we practiced the game of kings most assiduously. There were a lot of heated chess battles - who lost , was mercilessly badgered by the crowd, with a lot of rowdy comments and noise during the games themselves. Marx used to very upset, whenever he got into trouble, even furious, when he lost.  In our lodging house in Compton street - where several of us were staying for 3 sh 6pence per week, we always had a crowd of englishmen watching our games with great interest - in England chess is much en vogue, especially in working man's circles - who were much entertained by our noisy and rowdy behaviour. Two germans in fact make more noise than 6 dozen britons!
 One day Marx announced triumphantly he had discovered a new move, which would enable him to skin each and every one of us. The challenge was taken up - and in fact he beat us all , one after another.  But bye and bye one learns from one's losses, and I contrived to mate Marx.  It being very late, he angrily demanded satisfaction for next morning in his apartment. At 11 o'clock on the dot - which is early in London! - I presented myself - Marx was not up and about yet, Mrs. Jenny not to be seen, Lena was pulling a face. Before I could ask if something was wrong , Marx appeared, shook my hand and immediately produced the chessboard. Now the battle commenced. Marx had found an improvement of his play during the night, and shortly I found myself up against the wall, with no way to extricate myself. My opponent managed to mate me , Marx rejoiced, all of a sudden his good humour was back, he ordered a drink and some sandwiches, and a new battle began. This time I won - and so it went on, one winning and then the other, without our taking the time to eat, grabbing meat, cheese and bread during the game from a plate Lena had set out for us. Mrs. Marx kept away, and none of the children dared to interrupt - finally I contrived to checkmate Marx twice in a row. midnight looming. He absolutely wanted to continue playing, but Lena - in the absence of Mrs. Marx the governor of the home - declared quite definitely:" Stop it, it is over now!" So I left. Next morning, I had hardly arisen, somebody knocks on my door - it is Lena: "Library (this is how they called me, without Mister...) Mrs. Marx takes leave to ask You not to play chess with Marx any more in the evening - when he loses, he is unbearable!" Then she informed me how his awful humour had put Mrs. Marx completely out of her patience. From then on, I never again engaged to play chess with Marx in the evening. " According to other sources Marx gave up chess completely later on - but always delighted in observing others play. (1)


II. Chess giant Marx

The legend of Marx' chess prowess was invented in Soviet publications in the 20ies - as Stefan Bücker outlined most competently in his magazine Kaissiber (Nr.13/ 2000). According to this 
hagiographic tale, Marx is supposed to have played a brilliant Muzio-Gambit against an opponent named Meyer in London, and checkmated the german Grandmaster G.A.Neumann! 

But in fact - it is all there in the 1869 numbers of the Parisian chess magazine La Strategie: Neumann lost a game (with knight handicap!) against the Londoner Mark Marks. And the problem composer H.F.L. Meyer (originally  from Hannover) lost to another Mr. Marks, either Mark or Edward. (2)
III. Strongest Chess Player of his days lived in Trier!

The  Baron Tassilo von Heydebrandt und von der Lasa (b. 17.10.1818 in Berlin, d. 27.6.1899 Osieczna/Storks Nest in Poland) lived in Trier from Sept. 1843 till 1845, working for the Prussian government. Following that, he opted for  diplomatic career,  with successive postings in Vienna, Stockholm, Frankfurt and Brussels - which cut short his budding chess playing ambitions. In 1953 he beat Howard Staunton in an informal match in Brussels - Staunton being at that time the strongest chess player one might argue Heydebrandt briefly occupied this position...Heydebrandt - THL for short - studied law and "cameralia" in Bonn at first, and in 1839  moved to Berlin to continue - do we see some parallels? In Berlin he joined the Berlin Chess Society, and formed part of the seven masters known as the Pleiads, headed by Ludwig von Bledow, and counting Rudolf von Bilguer as well.
In Trier THL planned to organize an international chess tournament with the help of Bledow - so we learn from a letter by Bledow dated 12th of Sept. 1843: " Europe's chess knights are applauding You and thronging around You, the Trier chess tournament will become a milestone in the history of modern chess, and will generate immeasurable enthusiasm for the game in present and future generations...". THL's intentions were bound to fail - possibly Trier was too provincial - later attempts involving Antwerp or Aachen (Aix) also came to naught, and - the first modern chess tournament was organized in London in 1851, under the auspices of the St. George-Club and Howard Staunton.
In Trier, THL seems to have been cut off from most news, especially those concerning the chess actualities. This we learn from a letter by the Hamburg astronomer Heinrich Christian Schumacher to THL, regarding the state of the chess battle between Staunton and St. Amant in Paris during November 1843. 
IV. Trier Chess Club Carrousel

THL did not found a chess club during his stay in Trier - this was due to the music teacher Heinrich Hunger (b. Leipzig, d. 1927 in Trier), who founded the Chess Club 1877 Trier in April 1877 - 2 years later the Club already joined the German Chess Federation, created in 1877. The Hunger-Club was not everybody's piece of pie - in 1905 the students Ernst Varain and Karl Eichhorn founded the chess Club Mosella , which changed its name to Chess Society Trier in 1910 in order to "attract" chess players from the other club...Eichhorn even founded a Trier Chess Magazine - inserted n the local daily Trierer Nachrichten - but died soon after. Varain still provided a bit more local history...
In the twenties and 30ies  three new clubs saw the light in Trier - 1927 Chess Club Trier South, 1928 Rook Trier West and 1932 Trier Pallien. Later on, Trier South and SK Trier 1877 fused to create the Chess Society 1877 - in 1972 Rook Trier West 1928 and the Chess Society 1877 fused to create the SG Rook Trier 1877. And in 2008 the circle closed - the recent newly formed Trier South and the SG Rook Trier 1877 joined to create the SG Trier 1877 - the Pallien chess club had been folded into the scene earlier on. The Trier Club today fields a strong team  in the uppermost level Bundesliga , and has produced  the top Grandmaster Georg Meier. 
lV. The eremite in the vineyard

The first German Chess Federation Congress in Leipzig in 1879 featured a young man from Trier in the main tournament: Ernst Varain , born in the sleepy Hunsrück (dogback range, south of the Moselle) village of Rhaunen. He seems to have been living in Trier at the time, possibly with relatives. Later this year, he played in the Winter tournament of the Academic Chess Club in Leipzig, against such established masters as Johannes Minckwitz, Fritz Riemann and Hermann von Gottschall. In 1880 Varain - now a student of medicine in Heidelberg, won the secondary tournament of the Cologne Chess Club. At the II.Chess Congress of the Federation in 1881 Ernst Varain, now from Berlin! , beat another young medical student in the main group named Siegbert Tarrasch - but lost to a third medical student named Berthold Lasker! Varain continued participating in the by now annual DSB-Congresses - in 1886 the student of medicine , now from Würzburg!, is cofounder of the Academical Chess Club Munich! In July 1893 Varain - entered in the lists as "the eremite" - easily won the 4. Bavarian Congress (= Championship) - but barely one month later , in the master class of the VIII. DSB Congress in Kiel, ended up last of 8 participants with 1 out of 8. "A very elegant player, who still lacks the necessary calm and assurance" was the verdict of the chess press. (3)

iIn 1894 Varain ended up first in the IX. DSB Congress in Leipzig together with van Lennep - but lost the match for the first prize. By this time, Varain was a professional chess player - in Munich he edited the South German Chess Magazine, later also the Academic Chess Magazine. Of course Varain - as editor of the South German Chess Magazine - had contact to THL - he fancied at that time his alias as "the eremite from Schwabing " and published games and problems in his magazine under this pseudo - in one case even a game against himself, that is , "the eremite" vz.  Ernst Varain!  From 1905 till 1907 Varain lived in the Eltzerhof -Street in  Koblenz - where he changed his chess pseudo to "the eremite from Eltzerhof" - then he moved to Trier, where he edited the mentioned Trier Chess Magazine till 1910. In his hands, the magazine published a wide spread amount of chess news from close and afar, even some Munich chess news. For Varain - new alias in Trier "T.Revero" (punning on the latin name for Trier, Treverum) - "the Rhineland habitants excepting Cologne and Barmen ... are a bit backward in chess...." In Trier, Varain lived in the Olk Road  - Olk is an old celtic word meaning vineyard. And in fact, there were vineyards all around, and Varain fancied a little chess paradise in the vineyards - the still existing Blesius-Pub - where the games were less important than the quality of the vine and beer...
At rest in the old town Varain offered lessons both in the Mosella club as in the Chess Society - he also strongly supported women in chess - in a letter to an enthusiastic female chess fan from Boppard he paraded  himself as "an old loner"..  On the 16th of October 1914 Varain faded away. A comment a few years later opined that "even Varain could not pull Trier chess out of its torpor!"

V. My 4 x 11 years in chess

Hans Lerch won the city championship in Trier in 1927 - and for the following decenniums continued to be one of the strongest chess players in town. Very early, he joined the sports newsroom of the  local newspaper Trierer Volksfreund. During the Nazi years he was out of a job - Lerch refused to employ the Nazi greeting with the raised arm! In 1946 he was back in the newspaper, and soon took to political comments, especially in the spirit of rooting out the old Nazis and collaborator attitudes. His journalistic work gained him several prizes and decorations - he also was one of the principal animators of chess life in Trier - to him I owe my entry into the kingdom of chess.
(c) Michael Negele 2016

Sources


1) acc. to Wilhelm Liebknecht, german socialist politician, in his book "In memory of Marx", quoted via  Arbeiterschachzeitung 3/1933
2) the legend may have simply arisen not so much because of pious reverence towards the communist founding father Marx, but because in the cyrillic transcription ks is rendered as x......
3) Deutsches Wochenschach (DWS) 1893
4) for info re Ernst Varain I am most indebted to Dr. Thomas Bohn, Koblenz
Dedicated to Chess Collecting