GM Jan Plachetka (1945-2026)

[Matt Mackenzie]

A mainstay of Slovak (and before that Czechoslovak) chess for decades, and one of *the* most active GMs.

I suspect a few of our titled contributors on here crossed swords with him at some point.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A1n_Plachetka

https://schachkicker.de/gm-plachetka-mi ... erstorben/

As reported on Facebook, the Slovakian grandmaster and FIDE trainer passed away at the age of 81. The following brief information about his career is taken from Wikipedia.

Grandmaster Plachetka participated in seven Chess Olympiads: 1974, 1980, 1982, 1984, and 1986 for Czechoslovakia, and 1994 and 2002 for Slovakia. His greatest Olympiad achievement was winning silver with the team in Lucerne in 1982. Plachetka played four times for Czechoslovakia (1970, 1977, 1980, and 1989) and once for Slovakia (1999) at the European Team Championships.

He received the Grandmaster title in 1978. Plachetka came second in the Czechoslovak Individual Championship in 1992, and third in both 1973 and 1988. In 1993, he became the Slovak Individual Champion in Topoľčianky.

His last Elo rating was in April 2025, meaning he was still actively playing until the very end, while other grandmasters would have long since retired into chess inactivity!

[James Plaskett]

I adjourned a game with him in an event In Trnava in 1984. He said in the post mortem that I had come up with "some quite unexpected defences" before I lost.
I recall clearly his comment on the adjournment, that it
"... is not a position for analysing. Is a position for playing."
Last saw him in an event in Gausdal in 1985 where I played white against the Swedish IM and cab driver, Tomas Welin. A position arose in which I had pawns at a3, b2, c3 and d4 whilst he had pawns at d5, c4, b5 and a5. He played ... a5-a4, After i won,Plachetka made an aside to me of,
"I would cut off my hand after this move!"
R.I.P. Jan

[Matt Mackenzie]

And playing was what he most enjoyed doing, as I said above. Respect to all those who are mainly motivated by their love of the game.