Olympiad round 4 report: Russia aiming at scudetto
Posted by Webmaster on 25 May 2006
Russia are on straight way to take first ever double win as both Russian men and women are in control of the action after four rounds of Turin Olympiad. As Zambia and Pakistan late-arrived to appear in the game hall on day four, there are now 148 men's teams in the pool, way more than at any time in the past.
The Russians denied China in the top clash of the day to dispel Chinese hopes for the second time in six months. The match looked much like that from World Team Championship with Svidler defeating Zhang Zhong and Zhang Pengxiang losing to Grischuk. The Russians share the lead with third seeds Armenia who ruthlessly wiped out Norway 4-0 (no Carlsen on the field). Holland is in third as they neatly beat Greece 3-1. Uzbekistan proved they are hoping for rehearsal of silver won in 1992 in Manila. Today they held Ukraine to a well-deserved draw, headed by Kasimdzhanov who outwitted Vasyl Ivanchuk in a creative Ruy Lopez line.
India are making up for a lost ground step by step. Today they beat Hungary 2.5-1.5 which may not be enough as they are still clear 2 points behind the nose. USA finally showed good shape vibrantly defeating weakened Polish side 3-1; still they are lying in modest 11th. England are likely to continue miserable performance from Calvia as today they lost to Turkey, another rising nation, despite Gurevich's terrible blunder at top board. France cannot recover as they barely halved with Slovenia in a match with four decisive results. Azerbaijan won 3.5-0.5 (at last) but are still in 42th.
In the women's section Russia easily denied Lithuania with clear 3-0 to take sole lead at 11.5 points. Ukraine beat China 2-1 and are lying in second 1.5 point behind Russian shoulders. USA and Bulgaria are also near the top. Third seeds Georgia dropped 1.5 point today and are down in 18th.
Standings:
Men: Russia and Armenia 13.5; Netherlands 13; Uzbekistan 12.5; Spain et al. 12
Women: Russia 11.5; Ukraine 10; USA, China, Bulgaria 9.5
Hit matches of day 5: Russia-Armenia (Kramnik-Aronian), Uzbekistan-Netherlands, Ukraine-Bulgaria, India-China
The coverage has finally improved, there is decent game file available at www.fide.com. There is also a daily bulletin available for downloading.
Recommended links for today:
Detailed results (no games) at Wiener Zeitung page
Mig Greengard's Olympiad blog
Daily reports for Persian readers
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY
158.* Kasimdzhanov (UZB, 2673) - Ivanchuk (UKR, 2731)
Kasim took risky trial: 18. g4!? opening files for attack. Then followed 18... fxg4 (perhaps 18... fxe4 was worth considering) 19. hxg4 Ne5 20. g5! All in all, White managed to refute all the threats and win material. 1-0 after 46 moves. A good win by Uzbeg leader and the team continues with their impressive run.
*denotes game number in a game file (see below)
182. Jussupow (GER, 2608) - Jobava (GEO, 2646)
Black to move. Would you at the first glance bet a penny he can take a win? Yes he does!: 55... g4! 56. Kg2 Bb6! -+ preventing white King from approaching the pawn. Now the plan is simple: black King arrives at d3 forcing White to trade Bishop for a pawn and then promote a6 pawn (which is possible because of a "good" Bishop controlling a1). Excellent! 0-1 after 67 moves.
189. Ganguly (IND, 2578) - Ruck (HUN, 2537)
Time for reflex control. White to move. You have 5 seconds to find the fuse and fire. Simple, but one must not overlook such occasions. Drag your mouse between brackets to find out the answer.
[29. Rxd5! Rxd5 30. Qxd8+ 1-0]
193. Wojtaszek (POL, 2597) - Kaidanov (USA, 2603)
The talented Pole took control of the game but the win doesn't seem to be obvious at all. That is no more a problem, since Kaidanov generously offers help on the issue: 46... Rxf3?? +- (46... Rb5 47. Rb7 Rc5 48. c7 Kd7 48. c8=Q+ Kxc8 49. Rxf7 Rxe5 and Black is still alive) 47. Rc8+ Ke7 48. Rh8! and Black cannot prevent promotion since black King is blocked at d7 and the Rook cannot slur over to protect c file. 1-0 The Americans were not worried about today though, as they won 3-1 overall.
210. Adams (ENG, 2720) - Gurevich (TUR, 2643)
We were astonished to see this game at 15th table. Gurevich, who left Belgium to settle in Turkey (?!), was apparently self-confident as his position can no longer cause any significant danger. This is why the game finished at once. Reckless 27... b6?? met 28. Nxd5! 1-0 Well...
--- Blunders are all over the board just waiting to be made --- one of quotes that OlimpBase randomly displays in the upper-right corner tells everything about this case.
222. Charbonneau (CAN, 2510) - Kortschnoj (SUI, 2611)
A battle of generations (age difference is 52 years!) was not error free but still kept in tension: 31... d4?! 31... Qa5 or 31... Re8 was more safe, but both players are in time trouble. 32. Qf2? here 32. h6! would do the job threatening the King. Now White overlooked good response which helps Black to consolidate. 32... Re3! 33. Bf5 forced 33... Rae8 34. Bc2 Qe6 35. Rf1 Ba6! -+ this excellent move chases white Rook away from e file allowing d4-d3 (Re3 is no more hanging). White exchanged sacrifice in despair but it was too late: 0-1 At 75 Kortschnoj is still able to outwit guys of age of his grandchildren. Only Bill Hook (83), who scored his first win in Turin yesterday, may compare to Viktor.
449. Song Jinwoo (KOR, 1962) - Ahmad Nadim (PAK, unr)
Nothing particularly interesting, but this game makes history - a first win every scored by the Korean in an international championship event! Surprisingly it is only in Turin when Korea appeared for the first time. This one is not very challenging but still opportunity has to be taken: 17... e5? 18. Nd5! Qb8 19. Nb6+ Kc7 20. Nxd7 Rxd7 21. Ne6+ +- and soon advantage was converted to a win 1-0. Fanfares please for the winner.
See online games from round 4
Russia are on straight way to take first ever double win as both Russian men and women are in control of the action after four rounds of Turin Olympiad. As Zambia and Pakistan late-arrived to appear in the game hall on day four, there are now 148 men's teams in the pool, way more than at any time in the past.The Russians denied China in the top clash of the day to dispel Chinese hopes for the second time in six months. The match looked much like that from World Team Championship with Svidler defeating Zhang Zhong and Zhang Pengxiang losing to Grischuk. The Russians share the lead with third seeds Armenia who ruthlessly wiped out Norway 4-0 (no Carlsen on the field). Holland is in third as they neatly beat Greece 3-1. Uzbekistan proved they are hoping for rehearsal of silver won in 1992 in Manila. Today they held Ukraine to a well-deserved draw, headed by Kasimdzhanov who outwitted Vasyl Ivanchuk in a creative Ruy Lopez line.
India are making up for a lost ground step by step. Today they beat Hungary 2.5-1.5 which may not be enough as they are still clear 2 points behind the nose. USA finally showed good shape vibrantly defeating weakened Polish side 3-1; still they are lying in modest 11th. England are likely to continue miserable performance from Calvia as today they lost to Turkey, another rising nation, despite Gurevich's terrible blunder at top board. France cannot recover as they barely halved with Slovenia in a match with four decisive results. Azerbaijan won 3.5-0.5 (at last) but are still in 42th.
In the women's section Russia easily denied Lithuania with clear 3-0 to take sole lead at 11.5 points. Ukraine beat China 2-1 and are lying in second 1.5 point behind Russian shoulders. USA and Bulgaria are also near the top. Third seeds Georgia dropped 1.5 point today and are down in 18th.
Standings:
Men: Russia and Armenia 13.5; Netherlands 13; Uzbekistan 12.5; Spain et al. 12
Women: Russia 11.5; Ukraine 10; USA, China, Bulgaria 9.5
Hit matches of day 5: Russia-Armenia (Kramnik-Aronian), Uzbekistan-Netherlands, Ukraine-Bulgaria, India-China
The coverage has finally improved, there is decent game file available at www.fide.com. There is also a daily bulletin available for downloading.
Recommended links for today:
Detailed results (no games) at Wiener Zeitung page
Mig Greengard's Olympiad blog
Daily reports for Persian readers
158.* Kasimdzhanov (UZB, 2673) - Ivanchuk (UKR, 2731)Kasim took risky trial: 18. g4!? opening files for attack. Then followed 18... fxg4 (perhaps 18... fxe4 was worth considering) 19. hxg4 Ne5 20. g5! All in all, White managed to refute all the threats and win material. 1-0 after 46 moves. A good win by Uzbeg leader and the team continues with their impressive run.
*denotes game number in a game file (see below)
182. Jussupow (GER, 2608) - Jobava (GEO, 2646)Black to move. Would you at the first glance bet a penny he can take a win? Yes he does!: 55... g4! 56. Kg2 Bb6! -+ preventing white King from approaching the pawn. Now the plan is simple: black King arrives at d3 forcing White to trade Bishop for a pawn and then promote a6 pawn (which is possible because of a "good" Bishop controlling a1). Excellent! 0-1 after 67 moves.
189. Ganguly (IND, 2578) - Ruck (HUN, 2537)Time for reflex control. White to move. You have 5 seconds to find the fuse and fire. Simple, but one must not overlook such occasions. Drag your mouse between brackets to find out the answer.
[29. Rxd5! Rxd5 30. Qxd8+ 1-0]
193. Wojtaszek (POL, 2597) - Kaidanov (USA, 2603)The talented Pole took control of the game but the win doesn't seem to be obvious at all. That is no more a problem, since Kaidanov generously offers help on the issue: 46... Rxf3?? +- (46... Rb5 47. Rb7 Rc5 48. c7 Kd7 48. c8=Q+ Kxc8 49. Rxf7 Rxe5 and Black is still alive) 47. Rc8+ Ke7 48. Rh8! and Black cannot prevent promotion since black King is blocked at d7 and the Rook cannot slur over to protect c file. 1-0 The Americans were not worried about today though, as they won 3-1 overall.
210. Adams (ENG, 2720) - Gurevich (TUR, 2643)We were astonished to see this game at 15th table. Gurevich, who left Belgium to settle in Turkey (?!), was apparently self-confident as his position can no longer cause any significant danger. This is why the game finished at once. Reckless 27... b6?? met 28. Nxd5! 1-0 Well...
--- Blunders are all over the board just waiting to be made --- one of quotes that OlimpBase randomly displays in the upper-right corner tells everything about this case.
222. Charbonneau (CAN, 2510) - Kortschnoj (SUI, 2611)A battle of generations (age difference is 52 years!) was not error free but still kept in tension: 31... d4?! 31... Qa5 or 31... Re8 was more safe, but both players are in time trouble. 32. Qf2? here 32. h6! would do the job threatening the King. Now White overlooked good response which helps Black to consolidate. 32... Re3! 33. Bf5 forced 33... Rae8 34. Bc2 Qe6 35. Rf1 Ba6! -+ this excellent move chases white Rook away from e file allowing d4-d3 (Re3 is no more hanging). White exchanged sacrifice in despair but it was too late: 0-1 At 75 Kortschnoj is still able to outwit guys of age of his grandchildren. Only Bill Hook (83), who scored his first win in Turin yesterday, may compare to Viktor.
449. Song Jinwoo (KOR, 1962) - Ahmad Nadim (PAK, unr)Nothing particularly interesting, but this game makes history - a first win every scored by the Korean in an international championship event! Surprisingly it is only in Turin when Korea appeared for the first time. This one is not very challenging but still opportunity has to be taken: 17... e5? 18. Nd5! Qb8 19. Nb6+ Kc7 20. Nxd7 Rxd7 21. Ne6+ +- and soon advantage was converted to a win 1-0. Fanfares please for the winner.
See online games from round 4
* * *
Olympiad round 3 report: surprise Uzbeks share lead
Posted by Webmaster on 23 May 2006
Three teams share the lead at 10.5 points after third round of the XXXVIIth Chess Olympiad in Turin. Top seeds Russia are in front by virtue of Buchholz tie-break ahead of two Asian sides: China - blazing up with revanchism after memorable Beer Sheva tragedy - and surprise Uzbekistan. The Uzbeks, seeded 30th, led by former FIDE World Champion Kasimdzhanov, enjoy lucky drawing as today they swept out Australia by 3.5-0.5 which was relatively very easy run given they could well be paired with, say, Holland or Serbia. Ukraine, only missing Ponomariov from 2004 squad, are just a fraction behind the leaders. Second seeds India, suffering shocking 3-1 debacle on day one, recovered a bit with a perfect 8/8 scored subsequently but they are still lying down in 17th. France are doing no better as they lie in poor 35th at 8/12. Azerbaijan are perhaps biggest losers so far. A team famous from being by far the youngest in the pool were commonly expected to become one of big wigs in near future. Today, following their disastrous performance in the first two rounds (0.5-3.5 vs Portugal!!), they are in miserable 76th with poor prospects for future.
Juicy pairings for tomorrow include China-Russia (!!), Armenia-Norway (possibly Aronian will face Carlsen) and Hungary-India.
In the women's section unstoppable Russia wiped out Poland 3-0 to take second position at 8.5/9. Sensational Lithuania are in the nose scoring incredible 9/9, including 3-0's vs Sweden and Latvia. Tomorrow will be the test day for 13th seeds as they play Russia in the hit clash of the event.
Standings:
Men: Russia, China, Uzbekistan 10.5; Greece, Ukraine, Netherlands 10
Women: Lithuania 9; Russia, China 8.5; Romania, Ukraine 8
The internet coverage of the event and the live transmission are poor and in no way meet the standards of 21st century. There is a game file but a lot of games are missing and truncated, and those available are too bugged to be of use for more in-depth analysis. We are sorry but the everyday game preview will not be launched until the problem is fixed.
See reports from fide.com
See ChessBase reports.
Three teams share the lead at 10.5 points after third round of the XXXVIIth Chess Olympiad in Turin. Top seeds Russia are in front by virtue of Buchholz tie-break ahead of two Asian sides: China - blazing up with revanchism after memorable Beer Sheva tragedy - and surprise Uzbekistan. The Uzbeks, seeded 30th, led by former FIDE World Champion Kasimdzhanov, enjoy lucky drawing as today they swept out Australia by 3.5-0.5 which was relatively very easy run given they could well be paired with, say, Holland or Serbia. Ukraine, only missing Ponomariov from 2004 squad, are just a fraction behind the leaders. Second seeds India, suffering shocking 3-1 debacle on day one, recovered a bit with a perfect 8/8 scored subsequently but they are still lying down in 17th. France are doing no better as they lie in poor 35th at 8/12. Azerbaijan are perhaps biggest losers so far. A team famous from being by far the youngest in the pool were commonly expected to become one of big wigs in near future. Today, following their disastrous performance in the first two rounds (0.5-3.5 vs Portugal!!), they are in miserable 76th with poor prospects for future. Juicy pairings for tomorrow include China-Russia (!!), Armenia-Norway (possibly Aronian will face Carlsen) and Hungary-India.
In the women's section unstoppable Russia wiped out Poland 3-0 to take second position at 8.5/9. Sensational Lithuania are in the nose scoring incredible 9/9, including 3-0's vs Sweden and Latvia. Tomorrow will be the test day for 13th seeds as they play Russia in the hit clash of the event.
Standings:
Men: Russia, China, Uzbekistan 10.5; Greece, Ukraine, Netherlands 10
Women: Lithuania 9; Russia, China 8.5; Romania, Ukraine 8
The internet coverage of the event and the live transmission are poor and in no way meet the standards of 21st century. There is a game file but a lot of games are missing and truncated, and those available are too bugged to be of use for more in-depth analysis. We are sorry but the everyday game preview will not be launched until the problem is fixed.
See reports from fide.com
See ChessBase reports.
* * *
OlimpBase receives brand new layout!
Posted by Webmaster on 23 May 2006
It took long months of arduous work and there is still a lot to do but today we are proud to announce that OlimpBase v2 is finally available! There is a brand new, much more user-friendly layout which should make browsing through 2GB of our archives intuitive and self-explanatory. There are plenty of new materials and a lot of new data, never seen on the Web before.
As our field of interest has grown the name of the site was altered. We are now database of all international team chess events and not only the Olympiads - still the latter remain one of our major fields of interest.
Most important additions include (see also What's new section):
- Men's Olympiad data were thoroughly revised and corrected,
- added brief coverage of some Women's Olympiad (there will be more soon),
- added much more complete coverage of the Asian Team Championship (including complete set of games from 1991 never published before),
- result summaries was added for European Club Cup and cities events (also coverage for recent ECC events was added),
- detailed history of world youth championship was added, including Student Olympiads (recommended!), World U26 Teams and Junior Teams,
- a lot of interesting youth events were described in details,
- short summaries of most important friendly tournaments were added, including Clare Benedicts, Balkaniads and Mitropa cup,
- much of old, forgotten stuff was brought back to the daylight, like Triennial Cup, Telechess Olympiads, NATO Championship and Allied Armies Championship on the contrary, EU team championship and more,
- a lot of attention was bestowed to handicapped chess, especially Blind Olympiads,
- there is also huge file with hundreds of results of friendly matches as well as national team championship list (under construction),
- and much more...
There are tons of interesting materials over here, most of them are not available anywhere else. This should secure long hours of enjoyment to every chess history lover. We hope you will appreciate and enjoy our efforts. It is expected that it will take 2 to 3 years to process the missing data. More can be achieved with help of old volumes of chess magazines - most of them are not available to us those days.
Please report to us errors encountered while browsing the files.
It took long months of arduous work and there is still a lot to do but today we are proud to announce that OlimpBase v2 is finally available! There is a brand new, much more user-friendly layout which should make browsing through 2GB of our archives intuitive and self-explanatory. There are plenty of new materials and a lot of new data, never seen on the Web before.As our field of interest has grown the name of the site was altered. We are now database of all international team chess events and not only the Olympiads - still the latter remain one of our major fields of interest.
Most important additions include (see also What's new section):
- Men's Olympiad data were thoroughly revised and corrected,
- added brief coverage of some Women's Olympiad (there will be more soon),
- added much more complete coverage of the Asian Team Championship (including complete set of games from 1991 never published before),
- result summaries was added for European Club Cup and cities events (also coverage for recent ECC events was added),
- detailed history of world youth championship was added, including Student Olympiads (recommended!), World U26 Teams and Junior Teams,
- a lot of interesting youth events were described in details,
- short summaries of most important friendly tournaments were added, including Clare Benedicts, Balkaniads and Mitropa cup,
- much of old, forgotten stuff was brought back to the daylight, like Triennial Cup, Telechess Olympiads, NATO Championship and Allied Armies Championship on the contrary, EU team championship and more,
- a lot of attention was bestowed to handicapped chess, especially Blind Olympiads,
- there is also huge file with hundreds of results of friendly matches as well as national team championship list (under construction),
- and much more...
There are tons of interesting materials over here, most of them are not available anywhere else. This should secure long hours of enjoyment to every chess history lover. We hope you will appreciate and enjoy our efforts. It is expected that it will take 2 to 3 years to process the missing data. More can be achieved with help of old volumes of chess magazines - most of them are not available to us those days.
Please report to us errors encountered while browsing the files.
* * *
The Chess Heroes: Teodor Regedzinski
Posted by Webmaster on 2 May 2006
Teodor Regedzinski was born on April 28th, 1894 near Lodz. His biography is the field of calamitous conflict of allegiance and choices unfeasible to face in a way that would satisfy everyone. Born Polish, he was of German origin as his father, who was a blacksmith by profession, was a German named Reger. As a young boy stemming from a poor family he had to earn for a living very soon. He had lived in Lodz since 1908 enrolling in the Lodz Association of Devotees of the Game of Chess (Lodzkie Towarzystwo Zwolennikow Gry Szachowej), city's strongest chess club. In 1912 he came second (behind Salwe; Rubinstein did not play) in an unofficial city championship. During WWI he was temporarily detained by the Austrians but was released in 1916. In 1917 he came third in the club championship, behind Rubinstein and Salwe. However already in 1918 and 1919 he won, in the absence of Rubinstein though. He participated in all four pre-1939 editions of exceptionally tough Polish Championship. In its premier edition in Warsaw in 1926 he won third prize shared with four other players. On the next year in Lodz he was fourth, but the competition was much harder; Rubinstein won ahead of Tartakower and Makarczyk. Later on that year he won master tournament in Kecskemet, which happened to underlie the IM title that he was awarded a few decades later.
In 1928 he was member of Polish team at the 2nd Chess Olympiad in The Hague, where he scored 10/13 receiving third prize for best individual result (no board order was known those days), he also won a bronze medal with the team. In 1930 he came 8th in an international tournament in Stubnianske Teplice (today's Turčianske Teplice, Slovakia) defeating a.o. Lilienthal and H.Steiner. In 1933 he went to Folkestone but fitness had always been his Achilles' heel and dry, matitime climate crippled him. He was not in the national team at the Warsaw Olympiad in 1935 because he did badly in the 3rd Polish Championship earlier on that year finishing 11th. In 1937 he came 8th in the 4th national championship which was a behemoth open tournament; Tartakower won ahead of Staahlberg of Sweden and Najdorf. At the Stockholm Olympiad he reached his all-time peak scoring marvellous 11/13 (+10=2-1) to win second prize for best result at his board and third best overall result. He also contributed greatly to Poland's bronze medal. In August 1939 he left for Chess Olympiad in Argentina where outbreak of WWII found him and his team-mates. Unlike other players of Polish team (Najdorf, Frydman, Tartakower) who profited hospitality of Jewish Diaspora in Buenos Aires and settled there for some years (or even forever), he decided to go aboard and come back to Europe, where his wife and his son were waiting.
As he came back to occupied Poland he decided to sign a volkslist, thus deeding over to his German roots and swearing off loyalty to Poland, which was considered to be a capital crime among Polish people. As Theodore Reger he had played in a number of chess tournament under Nazi patronage, including 7th German Championship in Bad Oeynhausen in 1940, where he finished 10th. In 1941 he played in the Generalgouvernement Championship in Cracow, won by Alekhine. Generalgouvernement was allocated part of pre-war Poland's territory to receive a smitch of autonomy, still under strict Nazi control anyway. Because of his linguistic skills (he spoke Polish, German, Russian, English and French) he was appointed by the German Army as an interpreter.
After the end of the War he came back to Lodz (it is a big mystery to me why he decided to leave Germany and confront new Polish reality) and was arrested by the newly appointed communist authorities and sentenced for collaboration with the facist regime to serve four years in a labour camp. Years spent in prison broke his health and his life. In late 1940's he came back to become active chess player once again, notwithstanding with the fact the he devoted most of his time spent on chess for work as a chess activist. In 1952 he even managed to win the championship of Lodz once again and came 5th in the national championship. His deteriorating health, however, made this his swansong. He passed away in 1954.
His chess career hasn't been dazzling, his Olympic record looks flash though. He played 46 games overall, of which he won 26 and lost 6 (71.7%). He won three individual and three team medals. He was also a member of Polish team which took silver medals in Munich, at the unofficial Olympiad.
His contemporaries recalled him as a humble and passionate person and chess addict. He did a lot for development of youth chess in his home town. His playing style was described as positional and incisive in defence. He was well-known from his wide theoretical knowledge.
See Teodor Regedzinski's all-time Olympic record.
See one of his games from 1937 Olympiad
Jiři Pelikan (CSR) - Teodor Regedzinski (POL) 0 - 1
Teodor Regedzinski was born on April 28th, 1894 near Lodz. His biography is the field of calamitous conflict of allegiance and choices unfeasible to face in a way that would satisfy everyone. Born Polish, he was of German origin as his father, who was a blacksmith by profession, was a German named Reger. As a young boy stemming from a poor family he had to earn for a living very soon. He had lived in Lodz since 1908 enrolling in the Lodz Association of Devotees of the Game of Chess (Lodzkie Towarzystwo Zwolennikow Gry Szachowej), city's strongest chess club. In 1912 he came second (behind Salwe; Rubinstein did not play) in an unofficial city championship. During WWI he was temporarily detained by the Austrians but was released in 1916. In 1917 he came third in the club championship, behind Rubinstein and Salwe. However already in 1918 and 1919 he won, in the absence of Rubinstein though. He participated in all four pre-1939 editions of exceptionally tough Polish Championship. In its premier edition in Warsaw in 1926 he won third prize shared with four other players. On the next year in Lodz he was fourth, but the competition was much harder; Rubinstein won ahead of Tartakower and Makarczyk. Later on that year he won master tournament in Kecskemet, which happened to underlie the IM title that he was awarded a few decades later. In 1928 he was member of Polish team at the 2nd Chess Olympiad in The Hague, where he scored 10/13 receiving third prize for best individual result (no board order was known those days), he also won a bronze medal with the team. In 1930 he came 8th in an international tournament in Stubnianske Teplice (today's Turčianske Teplice, Slovakia) defeating a.o. Lilienthal and H.Steiner. In 1933 he went to Folkestone but fitness had always been his Achilles' heel and dry, matitime climate crippled him. He was not in the national team at the Warsaw Olympiad in 1935 because he did badly in the 3rd Polish Championship earlier on that year finishing 11th. In 1937 he came 8th in the 4th national championship which was a behemoth open tournament; Tartakower won ahead of Staahlberg of Sweden and Najdorf. At the Stockholm Olympiad he reached his all-time peak scoring marvellous 11/13 (+10=2-1) to win second prize for best result at his board and third best overall result. He also contributed greatly to Poland's bronze medal. In August 1939 he left for Chess Olympiad in Argentina where outbreak of WWII found him and his team-mates. Unlike other players of Polish team (Najdorf, Frydman, Tartakower) who profited hospitality of Jewish Diaspora in Buenos Aires and settled there for some years (or even forever), he decided to go aboard and come back to Europe, where his wife and his son were waiting.
As he came back to occupied Poland he decided to sign a volkslist, thus deeding over to his German roots and swearing off loyalty to Poland, which was considered to be a capital crime among Polish people. As Theodore Reger he had played in a number of chess tournament under Nazi patronage, including 7th German Championship in Bad Oeynhausen in 1940, where he finished 10th. In 1941 he played in the Generalgouvernement Championship in Cracow, won by Alekhine. Generalgouvernement was allocated part of pre-war Poland's territory to receive a smitch of autonomy, still under strict Nazi control anyway. Because of his linguistic skills (he spoke Polish, German, Russian, English and French) he was appointed by the German Army as an interpreter.
After the end of the War he came back to Lodz (it is a big mystery to me why he decided to leave Germany and confront new Polish reality) and was arrested by the newly appointed communist authorities and sentenced for collaboration with the facist regime to serve four years in a labour camp. Years spent in prison broke his health and his life. In late 1940's he came back to become active chess player once again, notwithstanding with the fact the he devoted most of his time spent on chess for work as a chess activist. In 1952 he even managed to win the championship of Lodz once again and came 5th in the national championship. His deteriorating health, however, made this his swansong. He passed away in 1954.
His chess career hasn't been dazzling, his Olympic record looks flash though. He played 46 games overall, of which he won 26 and lost 6 (71.7%). He won three individual and three team medals. He was also a member of Polish team which took silver medals in Munich, at the unofficial Olympiad.
His contemporaries recalled him as a humble and passionate person and chess addict. He did a lot for development of youth chess in his home town. His playing style was described as positional and incisive in defence. He was well-known from his wide theoretical knowledge.
See Teodor Regedzinski's all-time Olympic record.
See one of his games from 1937 Olympiad
Jiři Pelikan (CSR) - Teodor Regedzinski (POL) 0 - 1
* * *
Unzicker passes at 81
Posted by Webmaster on 24 April 2006
The chess world mourns as legendary German GM Wolfgang Unzicker died of heart failure during a holiday in Portugal on April 20, 2006.
Anatoly Karpov called Wolfgang Unzicker the “world champion of amateurs”. He was born in Pirmasens, Germany, on June 26, 1925, and started to play chess at the age of ten.
Unzicker's career as an international tournament player began after the Second World War. He won the German championship seven times, from 1948 to 1965, and played in twelve Chess Olympiads, from 1950 to 1978 (on board one in ten of them). In 1954 he was awarded the grandmaster title. He represented his country on the national team nearly 400 times.
Unzicker's tournament victories include first place tie (+6 =9) with Boris Spassky at the Chigorin Memorial in Sochi 1965, first at Maribor 1967 ahead of Samuel Reshevsky, first at Krems, and first at Amsterdam 1980, tied with Hans Ree. In 1950, Unzicker shared the prize for best top-board score (+9 =4 -1) with Miguel Najdorf for his performance on first board for the West German team at the Dubrovnik Chess Olympiad. At the Tel Aviv 1964 Chess Olympiad Unzicker scored 13.5 points playing first board for the West German team that won the bronze medal on the strength of a 3-1 team victory over the Soviet Union. Unzicker also shared fourth place (+2 =14 -1) with Lajos Portisch in the 1966 Piatigorsky Cup in Santa Monica, California. Only Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer, and Bent Larsen finished ahead of Unzicker. Unzicker placed ahead of world champion Tigran Petrosian, Samuel Reshevsky, Miguel Najdorf, Borislav Ivkov, and Hein Donner. At Hastings 1969-1970, Unzicker finished second (+4 =5) after Lajos Portisch and before Svetozar Gligoric and world champion Vasily Smyslov. Unzicker finished second (+3 =7 -2) to Viktor Korchnoi at South Africa 1979.
May he rest in peace.
/from chessbase.com/
See his all-time Olympic record: http://www.olimpbase.org/players/cmkmci2i.html
Watch his best games from the Olympiads:
Unzicker-Reshevsky 1-0, Munich 1958 Olympiad
Smyslov-Unzicker 0-1, Tel Aviv 1964 Olympiad
The chess world mourns as legendary German GM Wolfgang Unzicker died of heart failure during a holiday in Portugal on April 20, 2006.Anatoly Karpov called Wolfgang Unzicker the “world champion of amateurs”. He was born in Pirmasens, Germany, on June 26, 1925, and started to play chess at the age of ten.
Unzicker's career as an international tournament player began after the Second World War. He won the German championship seven times, from 1948 to 1965, and played in twelve Chess Olympiads, from 1950 to 1978 (on board one in ten of them). In 1954 he was awarded the grandmaster title. He represented his country on the national team nearly 400 times.
Unzicker's tournament victories include first place tie (+6 =9) with Boris Spassky at the Chigorin Memorial in Sochi 1965, first at Maribor 1967 ahead of Samuel Reshevsky, first at Krems, and first at Amsterdam 1980, tied with Hans Ree. In 1950, Unzicker shared the prize for best top-board score (+9 =4 -1) with Miguel Najdorf for his performance on first board for the West German team at the Dubrovnik Chess Olympiad. At the Tel Aviv 1964 Chess Olympiad Unzicker scored 13.5 points playing first board for the West German team that won the bronze medal on the strength of a 3-1 team victory over the Soviet Union. Unzicker also shared fourth place (+2 =14 -1) with Lajos Portisch in the 1966 Piatigorsky Cup in Santa Monica, California. Only Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer, and Bent Larsen finished ahead of Unzicker. Unzicker placed ahead of world champion Tigran Petrosian, Samuel Reshevsky, Miguel Najdorf, Borislav Ivkov, and Hein Donner. At Hastings 1969-1970, Unzicker finished second (+4 =5) after Lajos Portisch and before Svetozar Gligoric and world champion Vasily Smyslov. Unzicker finished second (+3 =7 -2) to Viktor Korchnoi at South Africa 1979.
May he rest in peace.
/from chessbase.com/
See his all-time Olympic record: http://www.olimpbase.org/players/cmkmci2i.html
Watch his best games from the Olympiads:
Unzicker-Reshevsky 1-0, Munich 1958 Olympiad
Smyslov-Unzicker 0-1, Tel Aviv 1964 Olympiad
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