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Wolfgang Uhlmann (1935 – 2020)
August 27, 2020
From the tribute by Peter Doggers in chess.com
https://www.chess.com/news/view/wolf...lmann-obituary
Wolfgang Uhlmann, a former world-class grandmaster, the most successful player from East Germany, a chess theoretician, and a writer of several chess books, died on Monday from the consequences of a fall. He was 85 years old.
"The game made up my life," said Uhlmann earlier this year. The legendary East German grandmaster was a world-class player in the 1960s and 1970s and continued playing well into the 21st century. According to his own calculations, he visited 34 countries and also won 34 tournaments.
Uhlmann was born March 29, 1935 in Dresden, Germany. As a young boy, he went through the tragedy of World War II, when the city center of his hometown was completely destroyed in bombing raids by American and British troops that killed approximately 25,000 people.
As a boy, Uhlmann spent a year in a sanatorium recovering from tuberculosis, when he read two chess books that his father had given him. It was then when his love for the game was born.
His chess talent was demonstrated when he won the 1951 German youth championship at 16. Three years later he won his first national championship. He was trained as a book printer from 1949 to 1952 and later as an industrial clerk, but thanks to his successes at the chessboard, he started to get state support and thus became the first professional chess player of his country.
Uhlmann was by far the most successful chess player in East Germany. He won the national championship no fewer than 11 times (1954, 1955, 1958, 1964, 1968, 1975, 1976, 1981, 1983, 1985, and 1986). He represented his country also 11 times between 1956 and 1990 and won the gold medal on board one at Tel Aviv 1964.
Uhlmann became an international master in 1956 and a grandmaster in 1959. He made his first step into the world championship cycle at the 1954 zonal tournament in Marianske Lazne, followed by Wageningen 1957.
The 1960s was Uhlmann's most successful decade. In 1964 he shared first place in Sarajevo (with Lev Polugaevsky) and Havana (with Vasily Smyslov), and in 1965 he tied for first place with Borislav Ivkov in Zagreb, ahead of world champion Tigran Petrosian. More shared first places were achieved with Boris Spassky at Hastings 1965/1966 and with David Bronstein at Berlin 1968.
Uhlmann was one of the participants in the 1970 USSR vs Rest of the World match. Initially, the East German government didn't allow him to participate, but after an intervention by the Russian Central Committee, he was permitted to play. On board seven for the World, he lost 2.5-1.5 to Mark Taimanov.
In 2012, Uhlmann was part of the "Old Hands" team together with GMs Oleg Romanishin, Vlastimil Hort, and Fridrik Olafsson, who played the "Snowdrops"—Tania Sachdev, Alina Kashlinskaya, Valentina Gunina, and Kristyna Havlikova—in Podebrady, Czech Republic. Uhlmann won a nice game against Kashlinskaya in that tournament.
Uhlmann was an honorary member of the German chess federation since 2003. He died in his hometown Dresden and is survived by his wife Christine.
Books by Uhlmann
Offene Linien: Strategie fur die Schachpraxis
Sportverlag Berlin 1981
191 pages
Bauernschwachen: Strategie fur die schachpraxis
Sportverlag Berlin 1984
250 pages
Kasparow contra Karpow: Schach-WM 1985 in Moskau
Sportverlag Berlin 1985
51 pages
Gute Laufer, schlechte Laufer
Sportverlag Berlin 1988
250 pages]
Ein Leben lang Franzosisch; Franzosische Verteidigung
Beyer 1991
126 pages
Winning with the French
Batsford 1995
157 pages
Schachweltmeisterschaft 1996: FIDE Titelkampf in Elista zwischen Gata Kamasky and Anatoli Karpov
Beyer 1996
98 pages
Open files
Olms 2009
164 pages
Meine besten Partien
ChessCoach 2015
327 pages
See also:
USSR vs The Rest of the World, 1970
https://forum.chesstalk.com/forum/ch...the-world-1970
Snowdrops vs Old Hands
https://forum.chesstalk.com/forum/ch...s-vs-old-hands
August 27, 2020
From the tribute by Peter Doggers in chess.com
https://www.chess.com/news/view/wolf...lmann-obituary
Wolfgang Uhlmann, a former world-class grandmaster, the most successful player from East Germany, a chess theoretician, and a writer of several chess books, died on Monday from the consequences of a fall. He was 85 years old.
"The game made up my life," said Uhlmann earlier this year. The legendary East German grandmaster was a world-class player in the 1960s and 1970s and continued playing well into the 21st century. According to his own calculations, he visited 34 countries and also won 34 tournaments.
Uhlmann was born March 29, 1935 in Dresden, Germany. As a young boy, he went through the tragedy of World War II, when the city center of his hometown was completely destroyed in bombing raids by American and British troops that killed approximately 25,000 people.
As a boy, Uhlmann spent a year in a sanatorium recovering from tuberculosis, when he read two chess books that his father had given him. It was then when his love for the game was born.
His chess talent was demonstrated when he won the 1951 German youth championship at 16. Three years later he won his first national championship. He was trained as a book printer from 1949 to 1952 and later as an industrial clerk, but thanks to his successes at the chessboard, he started to get state support and thus became the first professional chess player of his country.
Uhlmann was by far the most successful chess player in East Germany. He won the national championship no fewer than 11 times (1954, 1955, 1958, 1964, 1968, 1975, 1976, 1981, 1983, 1985, and 1986). He represented his country also 11 times between 1956 and 1990 and won the gold medal on board one at Tel Aviv 1964.
Uhlmann became an international master in 1956 and a grandmaster in 1959. He made his first step into the world championship cycle at the 1954 zonal tournament in Marianske Lazne, followed by Wageningen 1957.
The 1960s was Uhlmann's most successful decade. In 1964 he shared first place in Sarajevo (with Lev Polugaevsky) and Havana (with Vasily Smyslov), and in 1965 he tied for first place with Borislav Ivkov in Zagreb, ahead of world champion Tigran Petrosian. More shared first places were achieved with Boris Spassky at Hastings 1965/1966 and with David Bronstein at Berlin 1968.
Uhlmann was one of the participants in the 1970 USSR vs Rest of the World match. Initially, the East German government didn't allow him to participate, but after an intervention by the Russian Central Committee, he was permitted to play. On board seven for the World, he lost 2.5-1.5 to Mark Taimanov.
In 2012, Uhlmann was part of the "Old Hands" team together with GMs Oleg Romanishin, Vlastimil Hort, and Fridrik Olafsson, who played the "Snowdrops"—Tania Sachdev, Alina Kashlinskaya, Valentina Gunina, and Kristyna Havlikova—in Podebrady, Czech Republic. Uhlmann won a nice game against Kashlinskaya in that tournament.
Uhlmann was an honorary member of the German chess federation since 2003. He died in his hometown Dresden and is survived by his wife Christine.
Books by Uhlmann
Offene Linien: Strategie fur die Schachpraxis
Sportverlag Berlin 1981
191 pages
Bauernschwachen: Strategie fur die schachpraxis
Sportverlag Berlin 1984
250 pages
Kasparow contra Karpow: Schach-WM 1985 in Moskau
Sportverlag Berlin 1985
51 pages
Gute Laufer, schlechte Laufer
Sportverlag Berlin 1988
250 pages]
Ein Leben lang Franzosisch; Franzosische Verteidigung
Beyer 1991
126 pages
Winning with the French
Batsford 1995
157 pages
Schachweltmeisterschaft 1996: FIDE Titelkampf in Elista zwischen Gata Kamasky and Anatoli Karpov
Beyer 1996
98 pages
Open files
Olms 2009
164 pages
Meine besten Partien
ChessCoach 2015
327 pages
See also:
USSR vs The Rest of the World, 1970
https://forum.chesstalk.com/forum/ch...the-world-1970
Snowdrops vs Old Hands
https://forum.chesstalk.com/forum/ch...s-vs-old-hands
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