Arthur Kaufmann

Arthur Kaufmann (*4 April 1872 in Iași, Romania; † 25 July 1938 in Vienna) was an Austrian attorney, philosopher and chess master.

Kaufmann was the second son of a wealthy, Jewish merchant family in Iaşi, Romania. In early childhood, he moved with his mother and siblings to Vienna, where he eventually attended university. He studied law and attended lectures on the history of literature and philosophy. He earned his doctorate in 1896. For a short period he worked as a legal apprentice, but his family’s prosperous circumstance soon afforded him the means to live independently from his inheritance.

Kaufmann considered himself primarily a philosopher. He worked for decades on a comprehensive philosophical opus, embracing Immanuel Kant and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s ideas in particular, but never completed it. His only publication was a piece on Albert Einsteins Theory of relativity. A philosophical fairy tale is, as his whole bequest, lost.

Kaufmann regularly attended the Viennese chess club and ultimately became an internationally recognized player. In 1892, he tied for 5-6th (Adolf Albin won), shared 3rd in 1893/94 (Jacques Schwarz won), twice took 2nd in 1896 and 1897/98, both behind Georg Marco. He drew a match with Marco (+5 -5 =0) in 1893. In 1914/15, he took 2nd, behind Carl Schlechter, in Vienna (Trebitsch Memorial). He took 3rd at Vienna 1915 (Quadrangular, Schlechter won), and 3rd place, behind Schlechter and Milan Vidmar, at Vienna 1916 (Triangular). He won matches against Richard Réti (+4 -1 =1) in 1915, and Savielly Tartakower (+2 -0 =2) in 1916. In January 1917, with his best, historic ELO-stat of 2637, he was the eighth-best in the worldwide chess ranking (established thereafter). Due to unknown reasons, he ended his career as a chess player in 1917.

...
Wikipedia