Milan Vidmar was one of the world’s strongest players in the 1910s and 1920s, and became Yugoslavia’s first grandmaster. Below, I explore his life and games.
Photo: Veličan Bešter, Digital Library of Slovenia, [XNFNI48W], Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Table of contents:
Biography
Early life
Milan Vidmar was born in 1885 in Ljubljana, Austria-Hungary, although the city is now part of Slovenia. After finishing school, Vidmar enrolled to study engineering at the Technical University of Vienna. Throughout his life, he would combine an academic and engineering career, remaining a chess amateur. This makes his significant chess achievements even more impressive.
Vidmar gave a sign of his talent in 1904, when he shared 1st place with Neumann in the main section of the 14th German Chess Congress. Although he did not compete in the strongest, masters section, Vidmar nevertheless finished ahead of both Spielmann and Nimzowitsch.
Early success
At the masters section of the 15th German Chess Congress in Nuremberg 1906, Vidmar scored a respectable 7,5/16. This is especially impressive when considering that Tarrasch, who would go on to play a World Championship Match with Lasker just a few years later, finished on the same score. Vidmar then earned the title of Nordic Champion as he took clear first place at Gothenburg 1909, ahead of Leonhardt, Duras, and Sjöberg. The following year, he completed his Phd.
Competing at the top
In the first few years of the next decade, Vidmar showed himself fully capable of competing successfully in tournaments at the highest level. He shared 2nd place with Rubinstein, behind only Capablanca, at the incredibly strong San Sebastian tournament of 1911. All the world’s strongest players competed apart from Lasker, including Marshall, Tarrasch, Schlechter and Nimzowitsch. Later that year, Vidmar took 7th place with an impressive 15/25 score at Karlsbad, ahead of famous names such as Tartakower, Duras, Alekhine and Spielmann.
WWI
Vidmar was competing at the 19th German Chess Congress in Mannheim in 1914 when the event was interrupted by the outbreak of WWI. International tournaments were rare during the war, and Vidmar’s chess career was put on hold. However, in 1918, he found the time and opportunity to play the Berlin Four Masters. There he finished in clear 1st, ahead of Rubinstein, Mieses and Schlechter. That same year, Vidmar won a match against Tartakower in Vienna, with the score 4-2.
As the war ended, Vidmar became a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Slovenia in Ljubljana. Vidmar therefore emerged from the war in his early thirties with both a promising academic and chess career. The future looked bright.
London and Hastings
The 1920s were a very successful decade for Vidmar. He recorded another great success by finishing 3rd at the strong London tournament of 1922, behind only Capablanca and Alekhine. The field was very strong, and included many of the world’s leading players, like Rubinstein, Bogoljubow, Réti, Tartakower, and Maroczy. He shared 1st place with Alekhine at Hastings 1925/6, just over a year and a half before Alekhine would become World Champion.
Semmering and New York
At Semmering 1926, Vidmar took 3rd place, defeating Alekhine in their individual game. There he again finished ahead of many famous names, such as Nimzowitsch, Tartakower, Rubinstein and Tarrasch. The strength of these results earned Vidmar an invitation to the famous New York 1927 tournament. There he finished 4th, scoring a solid 10/20. At the famous tournament Karlsbad 1929, Vidmar shared 5th, with Euwe and Becker, in a field of 22.
1929 was also the year in which Vidmar became Vice Chancellor of the University of Slovenia. After serving in this post for one or two years, he became Dean of the technical faculty, a position he would hold for five years.
A new decade
In 1931, Vidmar played on board 1 for the Yugoslav team at the Olympiad in Prague, helping his team achieve 4th place. At Bad Sliac 1932, he shared tournament victory with Flohr. Vidmar continued to compete at a high level throughout the 1930s, although, now entering his sixth decade, he had passed his peak playing strength.
Despite this, Vidmar achieved clear 1st place at Zagreb 1939, becoming Yugoslav Champion. That same year, WWII broke out, once again severely disrupting the international chess calendar. However, Vidmar could fall back on his academic and engineering career, and became a member of the Slovenian Academy of Arts and Science. Later, he would become its president.
Later years
After the war, Vidmar finished 17th out of 20 at Groningen 1946, at the age of 61. The following year, he took 5th at the Yugoslav Championship, with a positive 10,5/17 score. 1948 was a busy year for Vidmar, as he acted as Chief Referee at the World Championship tournament, held to determine a new champion following Alekhine’s death in 1946. That same year, he became the General Manager of the Institute for Electrical Engineering in Ljubljana.
Two years later, Vidmar was awarded the grandmaster title from FIDE, becoming Yugoslavia’s first grandmaster. At the 1950 Olympiad held in Yugoslavia, Vidmar saw his son play board 5 for the Yugoslav team, helping his teammates to achieve the gold medal.
In 1961, Vidmar’s Goldene Schachzeitung was published, which contained many of his memories of his encounters with top players over the decades. He died a year later, in his home city of Ljubljana.
Game Analysis
At Berlin 1918, Vidmar won an instructive game against Rubinstein which is still famous today.
Lessons from this game:
- It is important to strike at an advanced space-gaining pawn centre quickly, before it can be consolidated. In this game, 9…f6 is a good example.
- A king which stays in the centre for too long often comes under attack, especially if the opponent has a lead in development.
- It can be worth sacrificing material to keep the enemy king in the centre. Even if there is no immediate mate, the opponent is likely to experience awkward defensive problems for a long time.
Puzzles
Vidmar – Mieses, Karlsbad 1907
Vidmar – Nimzowitsch, Semmering 1926
Marshall – Vidmar, New York 1927
Treybal – Vidmar, Bad Sliac 1932
Solutions
Further Reading
To find more about Vidmar’s life and games, the following are useful sources:
Vidmar’s chessgames.com page,
his chess.com page,
this chessbase article by André Schulz,
and this collection of his tournament and match results.
If you’d like to receive notifications when new articles are posted, consider subscribing to Chessaglow.