Dr. Moritz Lewitt

 

Source: Weiner Shachzeitung, December 1907, p. 409

Our frequent correspondent Herbert Halsegger notifies us of his research finding about the Jewish player and composer Dr. Moritz Lewitt (link in German). His best rating was 2427 (Berlin, 1891). This rating would not be that high today, but, as Edward Winter notes in his (devastating) review of Warriors of the Mind, ratings favor the moderns, and in any case comparison between generations is at unreliable. At any rate he was strong enough to co-author a book with (fellow Jew) Mieses.

To all this Mr. Halsegger also adds the picture above, where Lewitt (no. 2) is standing next to the young Spielmann (no. 4). He was not a player in the tournament in question (the Jubilee tournament of the Berlin Chess Association) but, as the caption to the photo notes, as the chairman of the association. 

Yemenite Metalwork Set

 

Our frequent correspondent Terje Kristiansen had sent us photos of the following interesting chess set. It is, to the best of his collecting friend's knowledge, an example of Jewish Yemenite sculpturing in metal wire. They ask why the king and queen seem identical. 

It seems likely that the answer is one of two: either the set is for decoration so the exact replication of distinct pieces was less important, or the artist, presumably a Yemenite Jew from Israel and therefore likely an observant Jew, didn't want to sculpture the traditional cross on top of the king.