Curt von Bardeleben started playing chess when he was ten years old and quickly developed into one of the strongest players in Weimar.

Originally a student of law, Bardeleben gave it up in order to become a professional chess player.

In 1908 he lost a match to future world champion Alexander Alekhine, who described him as "a charming old chap" but also said he lacked the will to win.

Apparently he could never spare enough money to buy a new suit, although I learned one day that at fairly regular intervals he received comparatively large sums – from one to several thousand marks – through the simple expedient of marrying, and shortly after, divorcing, some lady who craved the distinction of his noble name and was willing to pay for it.

Evil tongues had it that the number of the ladies involved in these brief marital interludes had grown so alarmingly that they could easily have made up a Sultan's harem.

[9] His life and death have been cited as an inspiration for the main character in the novel The Defense by Vladimir Nabokov, which was made into the movie The Luzhin Defence.

[10][11] Bardeleben is perhaps best known for the game he lost to the former world champion Wilhelm Steinitz at Hastings 1895, especially because he simply walked out of the tournament room instead of resigning.