WGM Tatjana Lematschko 1948-2020

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Simon Rogers
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WGM Tatjana Lematschko 1948-2020

Post by Simon Rogers » Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:48 am

I am sorry to report that Tatjana Lematschko has died.
She passed away on 17th May 2020 aged 72 in Zurich, Switzerland.
Tatjana was born on 16th March 1948 in Moscow. She then emigrated to Bulgaria in 1972 where she played for the National Team. She won the Women's Bulgarian Championship several times and represented Bulgaria at the Olympiads in 1974, 1978, 1980 and 1982.
In 1983, Tatjana moved to Switzerland and won the Women's Swiss Chess Championship several times. She represented Switzerland at 10 Olympiads 1984-1998, 2004 and 2008.
In the 1986 Olympiad, she won a medal for best performance on the No1 board.
Tatjana competed for the Women's World Championship a number of occasions, most recently in 1999.
RIP

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: WGM Tatjana Lematschko 1948-2020

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Mon Jan 11, 2021 1:53 pm

Scored a famous win over John Nunn (then one of the world's top 20 players) in the mid 1980s, with the Black pieces IIRC.
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)

John McKenna

Re: WGM Tatjana Lematschko 1948-2020

Post by John McKenna » Mon Jan 11, 2021 3:32 pm

Correct. Her best win on rating:

Nunn,J (2600) 0-1 Lematschko,T (2270) Lugano Open 1984

She played and won against at least one other English player -

Sunnucks,Patricia 0-1 Lematschko,Tatjana Women's A-Final Medellin Ol. 1974

She was born Tatiana Medfodyevna Lemachko on 16th March 1948 in Izmaila (probably Izmail in southwest Ukraine) according to Ken Whyld (Guinness - Chess the Records).

She became a WIM in 1971 and a WGM in 1977 (unsure of any subsequent titles as I'm having trouble finding her FIDE record?!)

"In October-November 1992, the 25th Chess Olympiad was held in Lucerne, Switzerland... On the women's side, Tatjana Lemachko defected from the Bulgarian team on the eve of the last round and moved to Switzerland." (Bill Wall - Chess Tournament Trivia)

And had a close connection to Victor Korchnoi in Switzerland, or so I've heared rumoured.
Last edited by John McKenna on Mon Jan 11, 2021 6:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: WGM Tatjana Lematschko 1948-2020

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Mon Jan 11, 2021 4:55 pm

"Scored a famous win over John Nunn "

Yes - he was a bit fed up with that result. We were staying at the same hotel and I carefully avoided the topic of chess when we bumped into each other that evening! Interestingly, the other strong GMs were sympathetic the next day. One said, "I expect he felt sorry for her. There was a strong Russian player in a wheelchair and he won many games as his opponents felt sorry for him." Even, in 1984, I thought that was a really weird thing to say... John is a nice guy, but would expect to beat much lower-rated players!

Lematschko won the "player of the day award" for that game.

John McKenna

Re: WGM Tatjana Lematschko 1948-2020

Post by John McKenna » Mon Jan 11, 2021 5:50 pm

"... Lematschko won the "player of the day award" for that game."

More about her here (including photos and an image of her FIDE card, which seems to have gone missing from FIDE's player darabase!?) a bit in French but mainly in Russian -

https://nashagazeta.ch/news/les-gens-de ... y-lemachko