At the Club Anniversary of the Cologne CC
by Michael Negele
This year the Cologne Chess Club Dr. Lasker 1861 celebrated his 150th club anniversary. Unfortunately there was no new commemorative publication on this occasion (by now - maybe Manfred Herborth will still cope with it?), but for the weekend of June 18th and 19th the venerable club had arranged a wonderful anniversary event in the club rooms at the TAGUNGS- UND GÄSTEHAUS ST. GEORG in South Cologne. The invitation rapid tournament with a barbecue in the evening was really amusing for all participants, and I hope the large audience has told the like about my jubilee lecture on Emanuel Lasker.
For me it was a pure pleasure to communicate chattily some chess history in the presence of so much chess (expert) knowledge.
Therefore I make my talk available to the public here ...
Warum Lasker bedeutend bleibt ... [Why Lasker remains eminent...] (as PDF / 8.2 MB)
... the pictures may reflect the fantastic atmosphere.
You will find a tournament report by Andreas Decker (in German; with a linked photo gallery) on the website of the Schachfreunde Köln-Mülheim e.V., the tournament results are listed at the club site.
I will allow myself a short excursus to the club and his a little complicated amalgamation history:
The foundation of the Cologne Chess Club 1861 is well documented by the existing commemorative publications. But it was unclear how and when the "Dr. Lasker" was integrated into the club name. This happened unambiguously not until 1952 with the amalgamation of Köln-Nord (probably founded 1933 in Köln-Merheim) and "Dr. Lasker" Köln (founded 1948 by some chess enthusiasts in Köln-Riehl) to the chess club Dr. Lasker Köln-Nord which in 1960 was amalgamated with the Cologne Chess Club 1861.
But also my own "chess past" was revived at this meeting with so many kind people:
So since my early Treves days I am already acquainted with the "Koblenzer" Dietmar Krebs and the "Mayener" Dieter Kurka.
Michael Negele, 02/08/2011