Sammi Fajarowicz (5 June 1908 in Möckern/Leipzig – 4 July 1940 in Leipzig) was a German chess master.

Fajarowicz was born into a Jewish family with Ukrainian roots. He played several times in Leipzig championships; took 3rd in 1928, 2nd in 1929, shared 1st with Max Blümich, but lost to him a play-off match (2.5–4.5) in 1930, and twice won in 1931 and 1933.[1] He also took 5th at Bautzen 1929, tied for 12-13th at Zwickau 1930 (Karl Helling won), and took 5th at Frankfurt.[2]

Fajarowicz took 4th at Great Yarmouth 1935 (Samuel Reshevsky won). In Nazi Germany, he could play only in Jüdische Meisterschaft Deutschlands. He won twice those tournaments – in Leipzig 1935 (jointly with J. Mundsztuk and Simon Rotenstein)[3] and Frankfurt am Main 1937.

He had tried to escape from Germany but without success. He died in a Jewish Hospital in Leipzig (Leipziger Israelisches Krankenhaus) in 1940 from tuberculosis.

The Fajarowicz Gambit in the Budapest Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne4!?) is named after him.

References

  1. ^ "Blümich gegen Fajarowicz" at www.chessbase.de (in German)
  2. ^ http://www.anders.thulin.name/SUBJECTS/CHESS/CTCIndex.pdf Name Index to Jeremy Gaige's Chess Tournament Crosstables, An Electronic Edition, Anders Thulin, Malmö, 2004-09-01
  3. ^ Chess: Hitler and Nazi Germany

Literature