Master of the Royal Game

Karlsfeld - Franz Beckenbauer gave a lot of things worth quoting and quoting.

He once insisted that the chess players should be removed from the glorious FC Bayern: “You don't need the Klötzleschieber!” Grumbled the Kaiser.

Well, Beckenbauer's appeal died down, FC Bayern still has a Bundesliga chess troop - and they will soon face city rivals Münchner SC.

He, in turn, has a young man from Karlsfeld on his team: Max Berchtenbreiter, 27, wants to annoy Bayern just as much as the rest of the chess Bundesliga.

A newcomer to the league generally gives relegation as a season's goal.

Berchtenbreiter is a little brisker: "I think a midfield position is realistic, we are already good."

The Münchner SC is one of the oldest chess clubs in Bavaria, founded in 1836. Berchtenbreiter has been with us for four years. Before that, the 27-year-old played club chess in his home town of Rosenheim.

“The SC has always been uphill since I've been here, but of course that wasn't my fault,” laughs Berchtenbreiter.

The fact is, however, that the married father of a son has never played as well as it does today.

The world chess federation FIDE once introduced the so-called Elo number in order to be able to measure the strength of players.

Berchtenbreiter's current Elo rating is 2507. “I've never been this far up,” he reports.

A decent average player has an Elo rating of around 1400 to 1700, world champion Magnus Carlsen from Norway is unmatched with 2882.

Alireza Firouzja's Elo rating gives FIDE 2770 in October.

That's awesome for an 18-year-old, there are just 120 players over 2700 - worldwide.

The Iranian-born grandmaster from France is therefore considered a future challenger to "King Magnus" and has already defeated him in an online match.

How good to have someone like that on the team.

Firouzja is a team-mate at SC Berchtenbreiters.

The 18-year-old super talent competes on board one for the Munich team.

There are eight players per team on Bundesliga match days.

The one seeded plays against one, two against two and finally eight against eight.

Berchtenbreiter is intended for places six to eight in the board ranking.

You won't find out exactly who your opponent is until the day of the match.

This of course makes targeted preparation more difficult.

But Berchtenbreiter already looks at many a game of the possible opponents at home.

He doesn't want to exaggerate the "home work": "I'm still an amateur."

The single-track chess Bundesliga comprises 16 teams, with match day trips to Hamburg and Kiel.

The majority of the Bundesliga clubs should be within reach for the newcomer from Munich.

The top teams such as series champions Baden Baden with the strong foreigners in the ranks "but you can't get close," as Berchtenbreiter knows.

The season does not start until January, because due to the Corona delays, the old round is still played in the first division.

Attack or Defense? Berchtenbreiter laughs when asked how he prefers to work on the 64 black and white fields: “There is self-perception and the perception of others. In terms of my self-perception, my style of play is relatively universal; in the perception of others, I am more likely to be an active, aggressive player. "

Berchtenbreiter learned the royal game as a little boy from his dad, who also played in the club in Rosenheim, but only at a lower level. The son's special talent was quickly recognized, and the young Max was soon one of Germany's best young players. Already at the age of ten he played a game that he will not forget for a lifetime: his opponent was the grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi, who once faced the legend Anatoly Karpov in two competitions for the world title and this time played against young German players simultaneously. Berchtenbreiter doesn't remember his exact age, but of course the outcome of the game: "I lost ...!"

The boy will have got over it.

Because especially as a child and later as a teenager, Berchtenbreiter was very successful.

In 2012 he became German U18 champion, later the U25 title followed, many other titles are in Berchtenbreiter's vita.

He took part in the 2014 World Cup in Vietnam with the German U14 national team.

Since 2013, Karlsfeld has been allowed to call himself “IM”, international master, the highest honorary title in chess after the grand master.

Berchtenbreiter has now achieved a decisive criterion for the title of Grand Master: at least 2500 points in the Elo ranking.

After studying history and political science, Max Berchtenbreiter is currently working on his doctoral thesis.

Title: "Election campaigns and image politics - a media biography of Edmund Stoiber from 1978 to 2002".

In lockdown times, the young Karlsfelder had enough time to get on with his dissertation.

However, he did not have to do without suitable chess opponents - Berchtenbreiter, like so many chess players, switched to the Internet because of Corona.

He made a name for himself on the global online platform Lichess, especially with the fast versions Blitz and Bullet.

The duel with a short and ultra-short reflection period suits him.

Berchtenbreiter: "I'm a tick better here than in classic chess."

THOMAS LEICHSENRING