Berger Johann Nepomuk (11.04.1845 – 17.10.1933)

Austrian master, theorist, endgame study composer, author and editor, one of the founders of the Old German School in chess problems.

The founder and chairman of the Chess Society of Graz. The co-editor and editor of the chess magazine Deutsche Schachzeitung (1898-1907 and 1908-1911). . In September 1870, he won the first tournament in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at Graz.^[1] In 1875, he won a match againstAlexander Wittek (14 : 4) in Graz, and drew a match with Paul Lipke (3.5 : 3.5) at Eisenach 1896.

Author of a fundamental chess work “Das Schachproblem und dessen kunstgerechte Darstellung (1884), Theorie und Praxis der Endspiele (1890) and revised in 1922 and Katechismus des Schachspiels (1891).
Composer mostly of four-mover and more-mover problems. With the British player William Sonneborn, he proposed an auxiliary scoring method still used today in chess tournament.

Historical ELO: 2640.