Skip to main content

Matches by Jacques Mieses | Games vs World Champions

Competitions

Over six decades, Jacques Mieses contested more than 20 matches against the strongest players of his time – from Emanuel Lasker to Vera Menchik. These duels, often played over several weeks, were the supreme discipline of chess and demanded not only playing skill, but also psychological strength and endurance.

Carl Schlechter, 1909

Stuttgart · Won +2 =1 -0

A first in chess history: the first-ever match between two internationally recognized masters played without sight of the board. At the Königsbau in Stuttgart, Mieses and Schlechter played three serious games blindfolded on consecutive evenings — and Mieses won, even though Schlechter would challenge Lasker for the World Championship just one year later. All three games Mieses opened with his trademark Scandinavian Defense. "Never before have two renowned masters measured their strength in this manner," Mieses himself wrote in the Stuttgarter Neues Tagesblatt.

Details

Emanuel Lasker, 1889

Leipzig · Lost +0 =3 -5

Both were in their early twenties, both from Leipzig – but Lasker won decisively and later became the second World Champion. This early encounter shows Mieses' membership in the absolute world elite of his youth. It was the duel of two rising talents who would take different paths.

Akiba Rubinstein, 1909

Berlin · Lost +3 =2 -5

The most dramatic match! Mieses won the first three games – they were Rubinstein's only defeats of the entire year 1909! Although Rubinstein recovered and still won the match, Mieses demonstrated that he could shine even against the absolute world elite. A triumph of attacking play against the master of positional strategy.

Siegbert Tarrasch, 1916

Berlin · Lost +2 =4 -7

A match under wartime conditions. The two had known each other since the 1880s and embodied different chess philosophies: Tarrasch the classical school, Mieses the romantic. The prize – half a pound of butter – shows the hardships of the time. Despite the defeat, a testament to the passion for the game amid World War.

View match

Vera Menchik, 1942

London · Lost +1 =5 -4

The first ever serious chess match between a woman and a grandmaster. At 77, Mieses faced the reigning Women's World Champion Vera Menchik, thirty-six years his junior and undefeated title-holder since 1927. Final result 6½–3½ for Menchik. Mieses played part of the match while suffering from a painful physical indisposition; he publicly paid tribute to his opponent in his chess column in the London German-language paper Die Zeitung. Two years later, on 27 June 1944, a German V-1 rocket struck Menchik's house in Clapham, killing her together with her mother and sister.

Match details

Gerald Abrahams, 1945

Glossop · Won 4½–1½

At eighty years of age, Mieses defeated one of England's strongest players. Abrahams, a Liverpool barrister, inventor of the Abrahams-Noteboom Variation and himself a brilliant tactician, had beaten Mieses six years earlier at Bournemouth, where Mieses refused a draw five times. Now came the revenge: six games in the small town of Glossop, a convincing victory for the octogenarian. Weeks later, Mieses won his famous brilliancy prize at Hastings.

José Raúl Capablanca, 1913

Berlin · Lost +0 =0 -2

During his European tour of 1913, Capablanca played a two-game mini-match against Mieses at the Kerkau-Palast on Berlin's Behrenstraße. The Cuban diplomat won both games. The second game is notable: Capablanca lost the exchange in the middlegame and only worked his way back through superior endgame technique. He later annotated his thirteenth move: "This is a serious mistake." Three years later, Mieses returned to the same venue, this time to face Tarrasch.

All Competitions Overview

Year Opponent Location Result Score Special Note
1889 Emanuel Lasker Leipzig Lost +0 =3 -5 Duel of two 24-year-olds; Lasker later became World Champion
1894 Carl Walbrodt Berlin Draw +5 =3 -5
1895 David Janowski Paris Draw +6 =0 -6 Dramatic match without draws
1895 Jean Taubenhaus Glasgow Won +3 =0 -2 Victory over the Paris-based master
1895 Richard Teichmann London Lost +1 =1 -4 First match against Teichmann
1897 Horatio Caro – Draw – Caro of the "Caro-Kann Defense"
1905 Paul Leonhardt – Won –
1908 Frank Marshall Café Kerkau, Berlin Lost +4 =1 -5 Mieses led 4½–3½ after 8 games, then lost both final games
~1905–1912 Rudolf Spielmann ? Lost ? Against the master of sacrificial play; exact details still being researched
1909 Akiba Rubinstein Berlin Lost +3 =2 -5 Mieses sensationally won the first 3 games – Rubinstein's only defeats of the year
1909 Carl Schlechter Stuttgart Won +2 =1 -0 Blindfold chess! First-ever match between two masters played without sight of the board. All 3 games with the Scandinavian
1910 Richard Teichmann Berlin Lost +0 =2 -5 Second match against Teichmann, fifteen years after the first. A heavy defeat.
1913 José Raúl Capablanca Berlin (Kerkau-Palast) Lost +0 =0 -2 Mini-match during Capablanca's European tour. Same venue as the later Tarrasch match of 1916.
1916 Siegbert Tarrasch Café Kerkau, Berlin Lost +2 =4 -7 The last major German chess match of the First World War; prize: half a pound of butter; referee: Lasker
1942 Vera Menchik London Lost +1 =5 -4 Against the Women's World Champion; Mieses was 77 years old
1945 Gerald Abrahams Glossop Won 4½–1½ (6 games) At 80 years old! Revenge for Bournemouth 1939. Abrahams was considered one of England's best after Blackpool

Matches vs. Tournaments

While tournaments brought together multiple players over few rounds, matches were intensive duels between two masters over many games. They required deep preparation for the specific opponent and psychological endurance. For Mieses, they were an opportunity to unfold his attacking style over several games.

Statistics

Of his over 20 documented matches, Mieses won about one-third, lost half, and drew several. His opponents read like a Who's Who of chess: Lasker, Rubinstein, Tarrasch, Janowski, Schlechter – all world-class players. That Mieses still won a match at 80 years old underscores his extraordinary longevity.

Learn more about Mieses' career and opponents in our FAQ.