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Wolfgang Unzicker
Wolfgang Unzicker, 1953
Country
Germany
Born
(1925-06-26)26 June 1925 Pirmasens, Germany
Died
20 April 2006(2006-04-20) (aged 80) Albufeira, Portugal
Title
Grandmaster (1954)
Peak rating
2545 (July 1971)
Peak ranking
No. 38 (July 1971)
Wolfgang Unzicker (26 June 1925 – 20 April 2006) was one of the strongest German chess Grandmasters from 1945 to about 1970.
He decided against making chess his profession, choosing law instead.
Unzicker was at times the world's strongest amateur chess player, and World Champion Anatoly Karpov called him the "world champion of amateurs".
Unzicker was born in Pirmasens, a small town near Kaiserslautern in the province of Rhineland-Palatinate noted for shoemaking.
His father taught him how to play chess at age 10. His brother, four years older, was also a chess player but was killed in World War II.
Unzicker began to play tournaments abroad in 1948 as Germany was struggling to rebuild after the war, and achieved the grandmaster title in 1954.
He won the German Championship six times from 1948 to 1963 and tied for first in 1965. From 1950 to 1978 Unzicker played in twelve Chess Olympiads, and was first board on ten of them. He played nearly 400 times representing Germany's national team.
For many years he was legal advisor for the German Chess Association.
His tournament victories include the first place tie (+6−0=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 (+9−1=4) 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 (+2−1=15) 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 1969–70, Unzicker finished second (+4−0=5) after Lajos Portisch and ahead of Svetozar Gligorić and former world champion Vasily Smyslov. Unzicker finished second (+3−2=7) to Viktor Korchnoi at South Africa 1979. A retired judge, he was still playing chess as first board on the club team "Tarrasch Munich".
Unzicker had a classical chess style modelled after the German player and theorist Siegbert Tarrasch. In 1956 he lost a match to Paul Keres in which both players chose to begin with the Ruy Lopez opening in all eight games.
In 2005, Unzicker celebrated his 80th birthday with his wife Freia, his three sons and their wives and three grandchildren, and a tournament with
Karpov, Korchnoi and Spassky took place in his honor.[1] Wolfgang Unzicker died on April 20, 2006, at the age of 80, during a holiday trip to Albufeira, Portugal.
Notable Games
Unzicker-Fisher
Buenos Aires, 1960
WolfgangUnzicker (26 June 1925 – 20 April 2006) was one of the strongest German chess Grandmasters from 1945 to about 1970. He decided against making...
repetition; or the players will agree to a draw. Unzicker vs. Averbakh, 1952 In the diagram, from WolfgangUnzicker–Yuri Averbakh, Stockholm Interzonal 1952,...
Pavel Belyayev, Soviet soldier, pilot and cosmonaut (d. 1970) 1925 – WolfgangUnzicker, German chess player (d. 2006) 1925 – Jean Frydman, French resistant...
Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, David Bronstein, Paul Keres, Yuri Averbakh and WolfgangUnzicker, though in modern times the title is generally held by individuals...
five sons returned to Germany. On 11–20 August 1939, he, along with WolfgangUnzicker (14 years old), Edith Keller (17), Rudolf Kunath (15) and Karl Krbavic...
Gothenburg Interzonal, behind David Bronstein, with 13½/20. Keres defeated WolfgangUnzicker in a 1956 exhibition match at Hamburg by 6–2 (+4−0=4). He tied 2nd–3rd...
Carlos Guimard, Héctor Rossetto, Hermann Pilnik West Germany 40½ WolfgangUnzicker, Lothar Schmid, Gerhard Pfeiffer, Ludwig Rellstab, Hans-Hilmar Staudte...
(1946)". "Groningen (1946)". Eugene Aleksandrovich Znosko-Borovsky vs WolfgangUnzicker, Lucerne (1949), SUI Robert Wade played Savielly Tartakower twice...
former head of research, Human Nutrition & Health at Hoffmann-La Roche WolfgangUnzicker (1925–2006), German chess grandmaster Hunsaker's Knob, Hundred, West...
7.d4 +/−; if 5...Bc5?, Black loses a pawn to 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Qh5+ (WolfgangUnzicker). The only virtue of 3...Nd4 is that it sets a trap that has ensnared...
Chigorin Memorial in Sochi, in 1965 with WolfgangUnzicker on 10½/15, then tied for first at Hastings 1965–66 with Wolfgang Uhlmann on 7½/9. Spassky lost a keenly...
Turek (1919–1984), football player Jan Ullrich (born 1973), cyclist WolfgangUnzicker (1925–2006), chess grandmaster Nicole Uphoff (born 1967), equestrian...
Bogatyrchuk, in Radom (the 5th GG-ch). Bogoljubow trained Klaus Junge, WolfgangUnzicker, and Klaus Darga. After the war, Bogoljubow lived in West Germany...
the World Junior Chess Championship. In 1965 he tied for 1st with WolfgangUnzicker in the German Chess Championship in Bad Aibling, but lost an additional...
German Chess Championship (12th GER-ch) in Essen. The event was won by WolfgangUnzicker. In May 1949, he took third place in Bad Pyrmont (13th GER-ch). The...
Alexander Unzicker: Unzicker's Real Physics Talk: Wolfgang Kundt. In: YouTube. June 29, 2019, accessed July 6, 2019 (German). Alexander Unzicker: Unzicker's Real...
Reshevsky (U.S.A), Bent Larsen (Denmark), Lajos Portisch (Hungary), WolfgangUnzicker (West Germany), Miguel Najdorf (Argentina), Borislav Ivkov (Yugoslavia)...
Russian teenager, murdered while working at McDonald's, stabbed. WolfgangUnzicker, 80, German chess grandmaster. Robert Wegman, 87, American businessman...
Mikhail Ulibin (Russia, born 1971) Mikhail Umansky (Russia, 1952–2010) WolfgangUnzicker (Germany, 1925–2006) Anna Ushenina (Ukraine, born 1985) Maxime Vachier-Lagrave...
After World War II, he took 16th at Augsburg 1946 (WolfgangUnzicker won), shared 1st with Unzicker at Leipzig 1953 (15th GER-ch) and lost a play-off match...
a draw (see stalemate) on move 65. Unzicker vs. Lundin, 1954 In the position from a game between WolfgangUnzicker and Erik Lundin, White to move wins...
Gligorić (Yugoslavia) 0 ½ ½ 1 0 0 ½ x 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 12½ 105.50 9 WolfgangUnzicker (West Germany) 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 x ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 11½ 10 Erich...
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