Friedrich Köhnlein (* Friday, 12 December 1879 in Nuremberg  - † Wednesday 5 July 1916 in the Département Somme) was a German chess player and chess composer.

His life
Köhnlein studied maths and physics in Munich. From 1907 he worked as a secondary school teacher in Pirmasens, then from 1911 at the district secondary school in Nuremberg. At the beginning of the First World War, Köhnlein was drafted and went missing on 1 July 1916. Only later did lengthy research reveal that Köhnlein must have been killed in action in the Battle of the Somme on 5 July 1916.

Chess player

Köhnlein was a strong party player and won the main tournament A of the 16th Congress of the German Chess Federation in Düsseldorf in 1908. In the round robin tournament with 14 participants, Köhnlein only lost a short game against the 15-year-old future world chess champion Alexander Alekhine.

By winning the main tournament A, Köhnlein acquired the title "Master of the German Chess Federation" and was thus henceforth entitled to participate in the DSB's master tournaments; in Hamburg in 1910, for example, he finished in 11th to 14th place.

Talented chess composer

After an initial preoccupation with matte paintings, especially in the form of echoes, Köhnlein later composed predominantly in the New German style.

Memories

"After studying mathematics and physics in Munich, Friedrich Köhnlein (12.12.1879 - 5.7.1916) from Nuremberg worked as a teacher, first in Pirmasens and then in his home town. After his first problem was published in 1898, he became one of the best-known problemists of his time in the following years and belonged to the circle of composers who gathered around Kohtz and Kockelkorn in the Munich Academic Chess Club."  Heft 210, Dezember 2004, Die Schwalbe