Kolisch, Ignaz

CHESS PLAYER, BANKER (HUNGARY)
BORN 6 Apr 1837, Bratislava - DIED 30 Apr 1889, Wien
CAUSE OF DEATH kidney failure
GRAVE LOCATION Wien: Zentralfriedhof, Simmeringer Hauptstraße 234, Simmering (Gruppe 05 B, Reihe 35, Nummer 10)

Ignaz Kolisch was born into a Jewish family in Pressburg (now Bratislava). He was private secretary of the Russian Prince Urusov before he went to Vienna in 1868. Between 1859 and 1867 he was among the strongest chess players in the world. He drew a match against Adolf Anderssen in Paris in 1860 and lost 5-4 to him in London in 1861. In 1867 he won the Paris Open, leaving Wilhelm Steinitz behind him.

In Vienna he met Albert Rothschild, who helped him to set himself up as a banker. He career business career was successful and he gave up active chess, but for chess he was still important as a patron. Kolisch was the founder of the Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung to which he contributed under the pseudonym Ideka.

Images

The grave of Ignaz Kolisch at the Zentralfriedhof, Vienna.
Picture by Androom (28 Aug 2016)

 

Sources
Cemetery Database


Kolisko, Alexander

Published: 29 Jul 2017
Last update: 15 Jan 2023