"Link With the Past" – Assiac on Mieses
London, The New Statesman and Nation, 20 March 1954
An Obituary Among Friends
Four weeks after Mieses died, the writer Heinrich Fraenkel – who ran the New Statesman's chess column under the name Assiac – gave his column over to him. Fraenkel, who had fled Berlin in 1933, knew Mieses personally from his London years. Rather than a summary of a career, Fraenkel sets three games side by side, played at 41, at 65 and at 75.
Chess: Link With the Past, No. 233
20 March 1954
Click to enlarge
| Publication | The New Statesman and Nation |
|---|---|
| Date | 20 March 1954 |
| Page | 383 |
| Author | Assiac (Heinrich Fraenkel) |
| Language | English (original) |
| Type | Obituary in a chess column |
| Occasion | Death on 23 February 1954 in London |
Two years earlier Fraenkel had written a column for Mieses's birthday, and he meant to write another one when Mieses turned ninety. He never got the chance: Mieses died on 23 February 1954, four days short of his 89th birthday.
What Fraenkel singles out is not the tournament record but the manner and the humour – and the sheer volume of the written work, spread over close to seven decades. As a player, he points to 1907: the tournament victory in Vienna and a shared third place at Ostend.
The miniature against Mikhail Chigorin, played on 7 June 1906 in the third round. Black goes after the f2 pawn, loses time doing so, and never finds an answer to the attack that follows.
Game details and notation
| White | Mieses, Jacques |
|---|---|
| Black | Tschigorin, Michail |
| Event | Ostende 1906 - Meisterturnier, Ostende, Belgien |
| Date | 7 June 1906 |
| Round | 3 |
| Opening | Wiener Partie (ECO C23) |
| Result | 1–0 |
| Source | The New Statesman and Nation, 20. März 1954, S. 383 (Kolumne 'Link With the Past' Nr. 233 von Assiac) |
1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Qg4 Qf6 5. Nd5 Qxf2+ 6. Kd1 Kf8 7. Nh3 Qd4 8. d3 d6 9. Qh4 Bxh3 10. Qxh3 Na5 11. Rf1 Nxc4 12. Qd7 f6 13. Nxf6 13... Qf2 14. Rxf2 Bxf2 15. Nh5 1-0
Notation in English algebraic form, as in the viewer.
Assiac ends his text after 13.Nxf6 with "resigns"; the game as otherwise transmitted runs two moves further.
Played on 9 September 1930 in the Anderssen Jubilee tournament of the Frankfurt chess association. Fraenkel picks it as an example of the positional pawn sacrifices Mieses liked to indulge in: 14.d5 opens the position, and the attack against Black's committed queenside decides the game.
Game details and notation
| White | Mieses, Jacques |
|---|---|
| Black | Przepiorka, Dawid |
| Event | Anderssen-Jubiläumsturnier – Meisterturnier, Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland |
| Date | 9 September 1930 |
| Round | 3 |
| Opening | Caro-Kann-Verteidigung (ECO B15) |
| Result | 1–0 |
| Source | The New Statesman and Nation, 20. März 1954, S. 383 (Kolumne 'Link With the Past' Nr. 233 von Assiac) |
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Bd3 Nxe4 6. Bxe4 Bf5 7. Bxf5 Qa5+ 8. c3 Qxf5 9. Ne2 Nd7 10. Ng3 Qb5 11. Qc2 e6 12. a3 c5 13. c4 Qc6 14. d5 14... exd5 15. cxd5 Qxd5 16. O-O O-O-O 17. Bf4 Qc6 18. Rfd1 Be7 19. Nf5 Rhe8 20. Rd6 Qc7 21. Nxe7+ Rxe7 22. Rxd7 1-0
Notation in English algebraic form, as in the viewer.
Mieses has Black. After 9.Nxf6+ he recaptures with the queen rather than the pawn and leaves the rook on b8 where it stands. White takes what is offered and ends up two rooks ahead after twelve moves – but the bishop on g4 covers e2, and against 12 … Qf3 and the queen's march there is nothing left to defend with.
Game details and notation
| White | N.N. |
|---|---|
| Black | Mieses, Jacques |
| Event | Mannschaftskampf der London Chess League, London, England |
| Opening | Englische Eröffnung (ECO A25) |
| Result | 0–1 |
| Source | The New Statesman and Nation, 20. März 1954, S. 383 (Kolumne 'Link With the Past' Nr. 233 von Assiac) |
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Bb4 5. e3 d6 6. Nge2 Bg4 7. Qb3 Rb8 8. Nd5 Bc5 9. Nxf6+ Qxf6 10. Bxc6+ bxc6 11. Qxb8+ Ke7 12. Qxh8 Qf3 13. Kd1 Qxe2+ 14. Kc2 Qxc4+ 15. Kb1 Qd3# 0-1
Notation in English algebraic form, as in the viewer.
Assiac names neither the opponent nor the year – see "Open Questions".
The name belongs to Heinrich Fraenkel (1897–1986), a writer and journalist. On the night of the Reichstag fire he left Berlin to escape imminent arrest and settled in London – five years before Mieses had to take the same road. He wrote the New Statesman's chess column from 1949 to 1976; the column on Mieses's death carries the running number 233. He also published several chess books of his own.
Fraenkel is among the most important witnesses to Mieses's London years. One of
the two surviving versions of a well-known Mieses anecdote also comes from him.
To the anecdotes
The London Chess League game
Assiac gives neither the opponent nor a date, and his two indications of time contradict each other: "thirty-three years later" – counted from Ostend 1906 – points to 1939, while "at the age of 75" points to 1940 or 1941. Both questions remain open for now.
The position "J. Mieses 1900"
One of the three problems set in the column is a position from a simultaneous display in Liverpool: Mieses's queen had just been attacked, and a single subtle stroke brought his opponent to resign. The solution appeared in a later issue and is not available here.
Sources
- Assiac (Heinrich Fraenkel): "Chess: Link With the Past No. 233". In: The New Statesman and Nation, 20 March 1954, p. 383.
- Anderssen Jubilee tournament of the Frankfurt chess association, Frankfurt am Main, 6–18 September 1930 (crosstable).
- Heinrich Fraenkel's dates and columns after the article "Heinrich Fraenkel" in the German Wikipedia (retrieved 21 August 2026); GND 11669081X.
From the Upcoming Biography
Mieses's London years and the German émigrés around him – Heinrich Fraenkel among them – are covered in the Mieses biography by Johannes Geppert (due in spring 2027).
More about the biography & newsletterMore obituaries from 1954
Two further obituaries are available on this site: the English one from the
British Chess Magazine and a German one, probably by Kurt Richter.
BCM obituary
Obituary (K. R.)