Oldrich Duras (1882-1957)

World's top player and noted problem/study composer

Handwritten signed letter

between 1922-1931, written in Czech in pen

size 17 x 13 cm (unfolded 17 x 26 cm)

Close to very good: light traces after horizontal center fold, light signs of use.

The letter begins "Mily priteli“ (= Dear Friend), the addressee is not specified.

The main part of the letter is about Duras' game against Swidersky in Vienna in 1908 and its analysis. In the comments, Duras also refers to Dr. Eduard Dyckhoff's notes on this game in the Sueddeutsche Schachzeitung 1908.

The game Duras – Swiderski, Vienna 1908 can be found, for example, here: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1039801

The letter is not dated, but in the second paragraph on the first page, Duras mentions his chess column in the newspaper Ceske slovo. Oldrich Duras edited this column from 1922 to 1931, so it can be assumed that the letter was written during this period.

Biographical data:

Oldrich Duras (1882-1957) was one of the strongest Czech chess players of all time, he belonged to the world’s best players in early 20th century. Several times Czech champion, shared winner in tournaments Barmen 1905 (with A. Rubinstein), Vienna 1908 (with Maroczy and Schlechter), Prague 1908 (with Schlechter), Breslau 1912 (with Rubinstein), etc. His last tournament was Mannheim 1914, then Duras never came back to the tournament chess after the wwi.

Duras was a player of the original style - he did not like to learn a theory but he was smart tactician and was very strong in complicated positions. Many of his combinations came into various tactics manuals. Duras is also well-known as a composer of both endgame studies and problems.

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