Siegbert Tarrasch (March 5, 1862 – February 17, 1934) was one of the strongest chess players of the late 19th century. He took Wilhelm Steinitz´s ideas (control of the center, bishop pair, space advantage) to a higher level of refinement. He stated what is known as the Tarrasch rule that rooks should be placed behind passed pawns — either yours or your opponent´s. He wrote several books, including Die moderne Schachpartie and Three hundred chess games.
Tarrasch may have been the best player in the world in during the early 1890s, but after Emmanuel Lasker became world chess champion, Tarrasch could not match him.
He was a great target of the hypermodern school, led by Richard Réti, Aron Nimzovitch and Savielly Tartakower who considered his ideas dogmatic.
A number of chess openings are named after Tarrasch, with the most notable being:
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