WHO ARE YOU, MR KIESERITZKY?

Myself

My name is Fredrik von Kieseritzky. I am twenty-four years old and live in the center of Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Only a few days ago, I finished my diploma work at the Royal Institute of Technology ("Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan" in Swedish) here in Stockholm, which makes me a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering ("civilingenjör" in Swedish, "Diplomingenieur" in German). I have just been accepted as a graduate student at the Department of Organic Chemistry, where I will continue with my research, right after graduation and hopefully become Ph.D. ("teknologie doktor" in Swedish, "Doktor der Technologie" in German) in about five years. For as long as I can remember I have always been deeply interested in science, simply because the I believe that science, and science only, can give answers to the fundamental questions, such as: what is real, where do we come from and why, what laws control the universe etc. Consequently, I have also studied theoretical philosophy at the University of Stockholm. Do I sound like a typical boring academic kind of guy? Well, believe me I'm not. Besides chemistry and philosophy, which I consider work, I am very eager to do lots of other things in my spare time. For instance, I like travelling very much, especially together with friends. I also enjoy music a lot.

My family

My mothers name is Gun (maiden name Möller) and she is a teacher at a local school, ages 7 through 15. Actually, the same school I went to when I grew up. (Of course, it was arranged so I never had my own mother as teacher.) My mother has three sisters and one brother, all married. Naturally, I have lots of cousins. My mothers parents, of which only my grand mother is alive today, were typically Swedish people. My father, Jan, is a text book author and has also worked as a senior high school teacher in sociology. Due to a number of circumstances, I don't know very many details about my fathers parents. Perhaps, this also contributes to my interest in family history and genealogy. My grand father, Theodor (mostly referred to as Fjodor; his Russian nick name), died when my father was only sixteen and my grand mother, Anna Maria, died eight years later. My grand father studied philology (Dr. Phil.) and was said to speak at least eleven languages fluently. According to his sister Irene (always referred to as her nick name Ira) "[Fjodor] was predicted professor of Slavic languages at the University of Uppsala, but however died abruptly/vorgesehen als Professor der slawischen Sprachen an der Universität Uppsala, verstarb jedoch plözlich". I also have a sister, Frida, who is nineteen years old.

The Kieseritzky family

As you correctly have noticed, our family name is far from being typically Swedish. When I was little and asked my father about it, he sometimes referred to is as Russian and sometimes German. I knew several relatives were German (like my grand fathers sister, who used to visit us), but I really did not understand much of the origin of the name. While my genealogical research has given me many answers, I cannot even today say I have absolute knowledge, as we shall see. Since at least the 17th century and up to the Russian revolution in 1917, almost every Kieseritzky resided in the Baltic states and considered themselves Baltic-German.

Several theories regarding the "true origin" of the Kieseritzky family have been proposed over the years, but definite data is yet to be presented. I myself am currently conducting research in the field. One branch of the family, to which I belong, was introduced into the Russian nobility (which is why I have a "von" in my family name). At the time of the revolution, things became very uneasy, very fast. I guess being a noble at the time of a working class revolution isn't an ideal situation either. So, in 1917 my grand father's mother, Sylvia von Kieseritzky (maiden name Rosenthal), decided to move to Sweden with her children. Many other Baltic-Germans did the same thing; i.e. moved either to Sweden or "back" to Germany. My grand father, who studied at the University of Uppsala, was the only Kieseritzky who permanently settled in Sweden. His mother and sister later retired to Germany, after the end of the first world war. In 1928 my grand father married Anna-Maria Hoas and they had their first child in 1930 (my father). The rest is history...

About Lionel

I first heard about Lionel when I was very little. And as I grew up, people who had read a little chess history, sometimes asked if I was related to "the famous chess master" when they learned my family name. Well, we bear the same name and we are in fact related, however not very close.

Our common forefather was Lionel's grand father Gustav Heinrich Kieseritzky (1704-1780), an estate manager in Livonia. Neither my father nor my mother play chess, but I got interested in the game a few years ago and decided to study chess a little more deeply. So, I bought some books and played through the famous games. I have also learned a great deal of chess from the computer program, Chessmaster 6000. I am not registered in a club and I don't have an official ranking, but I never refuse a game when someone asks me to play!

The End

Chess article without games scores? Impossible!

Therefore I would like to present some games of the TWO different Kieseritzkys: the famous Lionel Adalbert Bargation Felix Kieseritzky (1806-1853) and R. K. Kieseritzky, of whom all biographical data, including dates of his birth and death, to my knowledge, remain unknown.

Schulten,J - Kieseritzky,L [C33]
Paris, 06.05.1850 "GAMBIT BRYAN"

1.e4 e5 2.f4 e:f4 3.Bc4 Qh4+ 4.Kf1 b5 5.B:b5 Nf6 6.Nc3 Ng4 7.Nh3 Nc6 8.Nd5 Nd4 9.N:c7+ Kd8 10.N:a8 f3 11.d3 f6 12.Bc4 d5 13.B:d5 Bd6 14.Qe1

("A ce moment les Noirs annoncent le Mat en sept coups" - L. Kieseritzky) 14...f:g2+ 15.K:g2 Q:h3+ 16.K:h3 Ne3+ 17.Kh4 g5+ (17...Nf3+ 18.Kh5 Bg4# would be "too rapid" - T. L.) 18.Kh5 Bg4+ 19.Kh6 Bf8# 0-1 (score: "La Regence" Juin 1850, p. 179). Some sources give the wrong date: 1844.

Duras,O - Kieseritzky,R [B00]
Barmen Hauptturnier - A, 1905

1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Nc3 e6 4.Nf3 c5 5.Bf4 c:d4? 6.Nb5 Na6 (6...d6 7.Q:d4 e5 8.S:e5 +-) 7.Q:d4 Nf6 8.Nd2 d5 9.Qa4 Nd7 10.e:d5 e:d5 11.0-0-0 Nac5 12.Qd4 Ne6 13.Re1 Be7

14.R:e6! 0-0 (14...f:e6 15.Q:g7 +-) 15.Bc7 Bf6 16.B:d8 B:d4 17.Re7 B:f2 18.R:d7 Rf:d8 19.R:b7 1-0.

Kieseritzky,R - Rubinstein,A [D52]
Barmen Hauptturnier - A, 1905

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.e3 c6 6.Nf3 Qa5 7.B:f6 g:f6 8.c:d5 c:d5 9.Bd3 Be7 10.Qc2 f5 11.0-0 0-0 12.Kh1 (better 12.a3 or 12.Rfc1) 12...Nf6 13.Ne5 Bd6 14.f4 a6 15.Rf3 Ne4 16.Rh3 f6 17.Nf3 b5 18.N:e4? f:e4 19.B:e4 d:e4 20.Q:e4 (20.R:h7!? Rb8 21.Rh3) 20...Ra7 21.Rc1 Rc7 22.Rg1 b4 23.g4 Qd5 24.Qd3 Bb7 25.Rf1 Rg7 26.b3 e5 27.Qc4 e:f4 28.Rh5 Q:c4 29.b:c4 f:e3 30.d5 R:g4 31.Re1 f5 32.h3 R:c4 33.Rd1 e2 0-1.

Kieseritzky,R - Gajdos,J [D61]
Barmen Hauptutrnier - A, 1905

It seems the same R. K. Kieseritzky competed in the Fifth All-Russian Tournament (Lodz 1907) and in the Second Winter Tournament of the St. Petersburg Chess Club (early 1912, A. Alekhine first 7/9). His last recorded game may be Rabinovich - Kieseritzky, the First Category Tournament, annotated by Rabinovich and printed in "Shakhmatny Listok" 1923, p. 4.

All information about R. K. Kieseritzky are welcomed.