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November 25

Identification of a 19th-century chess player in what's now Estonia

Is G. von Helmersen (p. 307, diagram #152) = Gregor von Helmersen, or somebody else? Double sharp (talk) 08:25, 25 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I note that the name is actually rendered on page 307 "G. von Hêlmersen", though in the index of names (Personen-Register) at the back of the volume it appears as "Helmersen, G. v.". I don't know the signifance of that diacritic in this contest. That index entry apparently refers to something on page 90, but page 90 is not part of the volume linked from Google Books. However, I found it in this volume, which it identifies Helmersen as a "Mitschüler" (school classmate) of someone named F. Amelung. I have not attempted to pursue that name.

The next name in that index of names is "Helmersen, Generalin v.", which is interesting because "-in" in German is a feminizing suffix, so this sounds as if it's talking about a female general! Googling for "Generalin von Helmersen", I find two references in German to "Frau Generalin von Helmersen", so I guess this is actually the wife of a General von Helmersen. Searching on "General * von Helmersen", I find that General Gregor von Helmersen was a geologist, so I guess he is indeed Gregor von Helmersen and the other chess player is his wife. --142.112.221.156 (talk) 10:40, 25 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The hat of the ⟨ê⟩ is definitely a scanning artifact. --Lambiam 11:15, 25 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting, thanks. I actually accessed the PDF version of the document so I could search for words in it, and in that version it seems to me like a clear and sharp ê character. --142.112.220.31 (talk) 01:33, 27 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The geologist is identified unambiguously here in issue 3, 1889, of Baltische Schachblätter, in a footnote in which the publisher and author, F. Amelung, reveals that he personally met Frau Generalin von H., the widow of Gregor von H. The same volume contains several mentions of "G. von Helmersen", including one in issue 2 that reveals that Amelung played against G. von Helmersen, referring to him as his schoolmate (Mitschüler). There can be little doubt that the chess player and geologist are the same person. --Lambiam 11:08, 25 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Many thanks to both of you!

(Their identification as schoolmates does seem rather odd, considering that Amelung was almost forty years younger.) Double sharp (talk) 11:15, 25 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The translation as "schoolmates" may be a bit misleading. It seems more likely that this refers to adult students in a chess class under teacher Schneehagen. --Wrongfilter (talk) 11:47, 25 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It can theoretically also mean that Amelung and Helmersen attended the same boarding school, although at different times. Amelung attended a boarding school in Fellin (Pensionsanstalt, mentioned here), but for Helmersen I can only find that he attended several boarding schools in Sankt Petersburg. In the context, the second use of "seinem" in "mit seinem Lehrer Schneehagen, seinem Mitschüler G. von Helmersen und ..." is actually ambiguous; a third possibility is that it refers to Schneehagen. However, in 1856 Amelung was 13 or 14 years old, and it is unlikely that a contemporary schoolmate of his taught a chess class attended by a 52-year old Helmersen. Gustav Schneehagen graduated in 1854 and in 1855–67 was a teacher at a private school in Fellin identified as der Schmidt'schen Anstalt (Schmidt's school).^[1] Might it be that the chess player "G. von Helmersen" is the son of geologist Generallieutenant Gregor von Helmersen? This seems now actually the more plausible explanation of the Mittschüler enigma. --Lambiam 12:18, 25 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It seems plausible to me too. Double sharp (talk) 12:24, 25 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I think now the "third possibility" is actually the correct one. Schneehagen graduated from the Kaiserliche Universität zu Dorpat (now the University of Tartu), and Gregor von Helmersen also graduated from this university in 1825, 29 years earlier. So Schneehagen was apparently the school teacher of young Amelung, and Helmersen was an older fellow alumnus of Schneehagen. --Lambiam 12:48, 25 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

OK, that makes sense. Thank you! Double sharp (talk) 03:46, 1 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]