Legacy
Falkbeer is more famous for his contributions to chess theory than for his individual play. He introduced the Falkbeer Countergambit, still considered one of the main lines in the King's Gambit Declined. Siegbert Tarrasch held the view that Falkbeer's Countergambit refuted the King's Gambit entirely. In fact King's Gambit was a common chess opening until Falkbeers counter-gambit became commonly known in the chess-world. If accepted, quite a few interesting variants of King's Gambit like for instance the Muzio Gambit may appear. But after the invention of Falkbeer all variants of King's Gambit has been reduced to only seldomly being played and only at lower levels. No other "new" opening move - in any kind of chess-opening theory has had such a profound influence on the game of chess after the invention of Falkbeers Counter Gambit.
Read more about this topic: Ernst Falkbeer
Famous quotes containing the word legacy:
“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)