Heinrich Fraenkel

MJMcCready · Post by **MJMcCready** » Sat May 04, 2024 8:40 pm

What regard was Heinrich Fraenkel held in generally speaking? Was he thought of as a well-respected figure in the game in his day?

I note that he wrote/edited a column on chess in The New Statesman for 23 years under a pseudonym.

He also wrote books on chess 'Adventures in Chess' and 'The Pleasures of Chess'. What are these books actually about? Are they works of fiction? Worth a read? Did anyone ever bother with them much? Were they critically acclaimed?

I've come across a quote of his concerning chess problems which is rather curious. Did he play chess well do we know?

Kevin Thurlow · Post by **Kevin Thurlow** » Sat May 04, 2024 10:55 pm

He called himself "Assiac" - cruciverbalists will know why. I have a couple of his books, but not handy. From memory, he had a gentle style of writing. I enjoyed the books. He reported many anecdotes relating to great players. I rather formed the impression that he spoke to many people and actually listened to what they said.

MJMcCready · Post by **MJMcCready** » Sat May 04, 2024 11:04 pm

SO you would say he's worth a read if I can lay may hands on his publications? Assiac is cassia backwards he told readers once according to wiki.

John Townsend · Post by **John Townsend** » Sun May 05, 2024 7:40 am

A few biographical notes about "Assiac" appeared in Edward Winter's Chess Facts and Fables (pages 205-6).

Jon D'Souza-Eva · Post by **Jon D'Souza-Eva** » Sun May 05, 2024 9:20 am

There's also an excellent article about him here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20231201135 ... h_fraenkel

Tim Harding · Post by **Tim Harding** » Sun May 05, 2024 11:53 am

I clicked on Jon's link and it was blocked by my Norton software saying the site is dangerous.

The column Assiac conducted in the New Statesman was (at least when I read it regularly, in libraries, during the 1960s and early 1970s) unusual in that it was devoted to endgame studies. This made it rather valuable to improving players. As I recall, there were three prize puzzles each week and for a time during my school days I sometimes entered these competitions.
I never met Fraenkel (although we corresponded once or twice) and although I have read the two books mentioned in the original post they are not in my library.
Betts's bibliography lists:
Adventure [sic] in chess; editions 1951 and 1956
The delights of chess 1960
The pleasures of chess 1952 and 1960

Later there was Opening Preparation by Assiac and Kevin O'Connell (Pergamon Press 1982) which was outside his comfort zone, I think. I don't know the genesis of that work.

John Townsend · Post by **John Townsend** » Sun May 05, 2024 3:54 pm

I recall with affection from my schooldays Adventure in Chess and The Delights of Chess, which I was able to borrow from a local library. Both contain miscellanies of articles, some about players, some about games or positions, including some chess fantasies, generally written with Assiac's lighter touch. I read them several times, as chess books were not easily accessible. The first book I bought was Wenman's One Hundred Chess Gems, which I also rapidly absorbed, not appreciating until years later that all those King's Gambit variations were seldom played any more. Around that time also was a television programme which I found inspiring. It began with its signature tune and the pieces springing out of their box and on to the board, which was the signal for another game to be played, each with a lesson to teach. I was impressed by one such lesson, The Sleepless Knights, where the knights combined to force the enemy king several squares across the board.

I see a copy of The Delights of Chess is currently for sale for £8 on Tony Peterson's website.

"Did he play chess well do we know?"

I don't know of any evidence that Assiac was any good, but I would be interested to learn to the contrary.

Roger de Coverly · Post by **Roger de Coverly** » Sun May 05, 2024 6:47 pm

John Townsend wrote: ↑
Sun May 05, 2024 3:54 pm
I don't know of any evidence that Assiac was any good, but I would be interested to learn to the contrary.

I think he contributed some content to "Chess Treasury of the Air". That book, originally published by Penguin and now by Hardinge-Simpole was material in book form from the BBC's Third Programme show featuring chess. In it he recalls playing alongside Mieses in a London League match.

John Townsend · Post by **John Townsend** » Sun May 05, 2024 8:31 pm

Indeed, Roger. In Chess Treasury of the Air, an article about Mieses was contributed by Assiac. In a London league match, played at St. Bride's, Mieses took Board 2 out of politeness to the club champion. Assiac was on Board 3, but indicated that he would not usually have been that high:

"He played second board, and luckily - there must have been more absentees than usual - I got as high up as third board ..."
(page 60)

John Clarke · Post by **John Clarke** » Mon May 06, 2024 1:37 am

Fraenkel was always modest about his own playing ability, but says in The Delights Of Chess that he’d played in the Premier Reserves at Margate in 1935. On checking out BritBase, I found this event had a peculiar structure, with three preliminary sections of six competing for places in the three finals (top two from each prelim went to the A Final, etc). Starting with 1.5/5 in his prelim, Fraenkel eventually finished second in the C Final with 4/5, on the way achieving draws with A R B Thomas and W A Winser. So, good county strength, by the look of it.

His New Statesman column was titled Chess Board. The very first one went out over the by-line of Caissa; he decided to turn it round after being told someone else was already using that name.

I’m not sure when the first of the regular New Statesman international competitions for endgame study composition was launched, but they were announced every couple of years or so, whenever the column number ended in two zeroes. Subsequent publication of the results often spread over several weeks, making the column something of a bore for those not addicted to studies. (B H Wood commented to that effect in Chess when the time came for Miles to take it over.)

As for the books: Adventure In Chess and The Pleasures Of Chess are one and the same, these being respectively the UK and USA titles. The original UK edition of 1951 had a pocket chess board and men bound into the back cover (and was published by Turnstile Press, which suggests some involvement by the New Statesman); copies complete with board can still be found for sale on-line. Both volumes essentially provide entertainment and inspiration as opposed to instruction, and succeed admirably on both scores. The long section in Delights devoted to pen-pictures of leading grandmasters is particularly interesting, containing as it does the sort of material seldom found elsewhere.

John Townsend · Post by **John Townsend** » Mon May 06, 2024 11:41 am

Yes, John, Assiac's presence at Margate in 1935 was discussed by Edward Winter in C.N. 3090:

https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/ext ... dotes.html

Britbase notes the Margate player as "Heinrich L. Fraenkel", but that is not entirely correct, since Assiac had no middle name according to Edward Winter's C.N. 10360, which contained information from the birth certificate.

Assiac should not be confused with Dr. H.L. Fraenkel, the player who won the Major Open at Malvern in 1921. The latter was a member of the Malvern Link Chess Club in 1944, when he gave a simultaneous display (source: Evening Despatch, 18 January 1944, page 4) and a teacher of English and foreign languages in 1941 (source: Evesham Standard & West Midland Observer, 11 January 1941, page 6). His death registration in the district of Stoke Newington in 1948 indicates that his first name was Hersch ("Hersch L. Fraenkel"); his age was given as 64." A brief death notice appeared in B.C.M.

The material which I referred to earlier in Chess Facts and Fables can be accessed on-line at

https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/jottings.html

C.N. 10357 contained Gaige information about him plus a photograph of Fraenkel with Leonard Barden.

C.N. 10361 quoted a contribution from Leonard Barden about Fraenkel.

MJMcCready · Post by **MJMcCready** » Mon May 06, 2024 11:58 am

Okay many thanks. I've ordered up a copy and will check it out.

Jon D'Souza-Eva · Post by **Jon D'Souza-Eva** » Mon May 06, 2024 3:11 pm

One of Heinrich Fraenkel's sons has been very successful in his field:
https://www.eng.ed.ac.uk/about/news/201 ... d-scottish

John Saunders · Post by **John Saunders** » Mon May 06, 2024 3:39 pm

John Townsend wrote: ↑
Mon May 06, 2024 11:41 am
Yes, John, Assiac's presence at Margate in 1935 was discussed by Edward Winter in C.N. 3090:

https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/ext ... dotes.html

Britbase notes the Margate player as "Heinrich L. Fraenkel", but that is not entirely correct, since Assiac had no middle name according to Edward Winter's C.N. 10360, which contained information from the birth certificate.

Thanks, John T, you're quite right. Having seen the thread on Fraenkel here, I researched further this morning (before seeing your post) and reached the same conclusion as you that there were two chess players called H Fraenkel, one being 'Assiac' - Heinrich Fraenkel (with no middle initial) - and the other Dr. Hersch Lazar Fraenkel (c1884-1948). I recall being confused as to the middle initial and the doctorate but it is now quite clear that they were two different people. I have amended the 1921 British Championship page on BritBase accordingly, and also the 1935 Margate page (removing the spurious middle initial from Heinrich Fraenkel's name).

I have been through various UK newspaper reports which have chess-related references to the Fraenkel surname and tentatively concluded that most relate to 'Assiac', other than reports on the 1921 British Championship at Malvern which relate to Dr. H L Fraenkel, and the later references to the Doctor's play whilst living in Great Malvern during the war years. One anomaly remains, however. The Newcastle Evening Chronicle for 21 May 1935 has the following:

1935-05-21 H-L-Fraenkel.png

We know for certain from his own writings that 'Assiac' played at Margate 1935, but the writer of this column (H W Hawks) refers to "Dr. Fraenkel". Perhaps the writer was under the same misapprehension as I was previously, that Heinrich Fraenkel held a doctorate.

I have found one other game played by Dr. Hersch L Fraenkel, from The Observer, 14 May 1922. The notes to the game referred to him as 'the Polish amateur'. Heinrich Fraenkel was from Germany.

John Townsend · Post by **John Townsend** » Mon May 06, 2024 4:13 pm

John, regarding the "thrilling encounter", the name "Dr. H. Fraenkel" must contain an error because Dr. H.L. Fraenkel had a middle initial (L), and Assiac was not a doctor!

I would suggest the answer lies in the sentence, "He played with distinction in the premier reserve tournament in the recent Kent Congress."

Surely, Margate is being referred to, and Assiac's performance there. Therefore, I suggest that the "Dr." part of "Dr. H. Fraenkel" needs to be deleted.

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