Wolfgang Uhlmann (1935-2020)

[Richard Bates]

Chess for tigers rabbit basher.

[Matt Mackenzie]

And maybe the biggest friend the French Defence has ever had.

One of the top players in the old GDR for most of its existence and former Candidate.

Another giant of the game gone

[Chris Rice]

As a French defence player all my life I find this a bitter blow! Emil Sutovsky made some heartfelt comments on social media. The translation isn't good but I'm sure you can get the giste:

"Sad news from Germany - Wolfgang Uhlmann died at the age of 85 The strongest chess player of the GDR during three post-war decades, Uhlmann combined modesty and real chess force. His peak was the 1970 Zonal (1. Fischer), but until the end of the seventies, the German chess player confidently was always in the top ten of the world. For many years, he remained the leading player of the French defence, defeating many of the strongest players on the planet, including Fischer. Always elegant, he often attended tournaments even in the 1990s and became the last match partner for Victor Korchnoi. I've talked to Uhlmann several times and his intelligent manner of communication always made an impression. He was a good old guy and he kept his love for chess until his last years. A couple of years ago, we wanted to award him with a scholarship under the FIDE program to support veterans, but Uhlmann, having thanked us for the thought, proposed to include someone who might need these funds more instead...
For sure, among those reading these lines there are those who knew Maestro Wolfgang closer than me - I would love your feedback. A decent person and a serious chess player in the highest score.

Bright memory!"

I had a search for the Fischer game and here it is:

[Event "Buenos Aires International"] [Site "Buenos Aires"] [Date "1960.07.02"] [Round "8"] [White "Fischer, Robert James"] [Black "Uhlmann, Wolfgang"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C19"] [Annotator "ChessBase/Uhlmann"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "1960.06.23"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "19"] [EventCountry "ARG"] [SourceTitle "MainBase"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1999.07.01"] [SourceVersion "2"] [SourceVersionDate "1999.07.01"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. e4 {1) Uhlmann,Wofgang: Meine besten Partien. St.Ingbert. 2015. S.6-10.} e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Nf3 Bd7 8. a4 Qa5 9. Qd2 Nbc6 10. Bd3 c4 11. Be2 f6 (11... O-O-O 12. Ba3 f6 13. O-O $14 {(Keres 69)} ) 12. Ba3 (12. O-O O-O $5 {(Ivkov)}) 12... Ng6 $6 (12... O-O-O $142) 13. O-O $1 O-O-O (13... fxe5 $6 14. Nxe5 Ngxe5 15. dxe5 Nxe5 16. Qg5 $1 $16 {(Schwarz 67)} Ng6 (16... Nc6 17. Bh5+ $1 g6 18. Qf6 Rg8 19. Rfe1 $16 {(Schwarz 67)}) (16... Qxc3 $4 17. Qe7#) 17. Bh5 $1 $16 {(Schwarz 67, Mednis 74)}) 14. Bd6 (14. Rfe1 fxe5 15. dxe5 Ngxe5 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. Qd4 Nc6 18. Qxg7 Rhg8 $13 {(eco 74/81)}) 14... Nce7 $1 {"Uhlmann gruppeirt um, weil seine Chancen auf dem Konigsflugel liegen." (Schwarz 67)} (14... fxe5 15. dxe5 h6 16. Kh1 Rhe8 17. Rfd1 Nh8 $1 { Gligoric-Sokolov 1956}) (14... Rde8 15. Rfb1 Nd8 16. Bb4 Qc7 17. Bd6 Qa5 18. Qe3 Nf7 19. Bc5 Kb8 20. Rb2 {Klavin-Fuchs 1961}) 15. Nh4 $1 {"With this and the following series of fine moves, White ensures an excellent diagonal for his QB and paralyzes any hopes Black may have for meaningful counterplay." (Mednis 74) ! Uhlmann: Weiss verhindert Sf5 und kann so seinen Läufer auf der Diagonalen b8-h2 behaupten.} Rde8 16. Nxg6 $1 hxg6 17. exf6 $1 {"Weiss will auf den dunklen Feldern zu eimem Ubergewicht kommen, daher die Linienoffnung fur den Th8." (Schwarz 67)} gxf6 18. h3 $1 {"Fischers Plan sieht gut aus: er will den Laufer auf der Diagonale h2-b8 wirken lassen." (Schwarz 67)} Nf5 19. Bh2 g5 {[#]} 20. f4 $2 {"But this brute force attempt at an immediate win spoils everything." (Mednis 74) Sperrt den Lh1 ein, und Schwarz will ihn blockiert lassen.} (20. Rfe1 $1 {"... White has a marvelous position: pressure on Black's somewhat shaky center, open diagonals for both Bishops, while Black's King can find himself uncomfortably open soon." (Mednis 74)}) (20. Rae1 ) (20. Bg4) 20... Nd6 $6 (20... g4 $1 {Lässt f4xg5 nicht zu.} {Nach} 21. hxg4 (21. Bxg4 Reg8) 21... Nd6 22. Bf3 f5 {hätten wir mit Zugumstellung die Partiestellung auf dem Brett.}) 21. Bf3 (21. fxg5 $5 {Befreit den Lh2.} Ne4 22. Qe3 (22. Qf4 e5 $1) 22... Qxc3 23. Qxc3 (23. Bd3 $2 cxd3 24. cxd3 Qd2 $1 { (Schwarz 67)}) 23... Nxc3 24. Bf3 fxg5 25. a5 $11 {(Schwarz 67, Mednis 74)}) 21... g4 $3 {"Black sacrifices a pawn and allows a protected passed pawn to boot, for the strategic objective of locking in White's QB. The damage done by White's 20 f4? is now very obvious." (Mednis 74) Uhlmann: Mit dem Bauernopfer wird der Läufer auf h2 endgültig bis zum Partienende aus dem Verkehr gezogen. } 22. hxg4 (22. Bxg4 $2 Ne4 23. Qe3 f5 24. Bf3 Qxc3 25. Qxc3 Nxc3 $17 { (Schwarz 67)}) 22... f5 $1 23. g5 Re7 24. Bg3 Be8 25. Qe3 Ne4 26. Bxe4 $8 dxe4 27. Kf2 {"Fischer evaluates this position much too optimistically and plans to husband the extra Pawn to victory. The blocked nature of the position makes winning attempts for either side less than fruitful." (Mednis 74)} (27. d5 $5) 27... Reh7 (27... Qd5) 28. Rfb1 (28. d5 $142 $1 Qxd5 29. Rfd1 {(Schwarz 67)}) 28... Qd5 $1 {"Now we have a rather full blockade and the game could well be called a draw here." (Mednis 74)} 29. Qe1 $2 (29. a5 $10) (29. Qd2 $5 Rh1 30. Ke3) 29... Rh1 $1 {[#]} 30. Qxh1 $4 (30. Qe3 $8 Rxb1 31. Rxb1 Bxa4 32. Ra1 Bxc2 33. Rxa7 Kb8 34. Ra1 Bd3 $15 {(Mednis 74)}) 30... e3+ $1 31. Kg1 (31. Kxe3 $2 Qe4+ 32. Kf2 (32. Kd2 $2 Rxh1 33. Rxh1 Qxg2+ $19) 32... Rxh1 (32... Qxc2+ 33. Kg1 Rxh1+ 34. Kxh1 Bc6 35. Rg1 Qxc3 {(Schwarz 67)}) 33. Rxh1 Bc6 $1 34. Rh2 Qxc2+ 35. Kg1 Qxc3 $19 {(Mednis 74)}) (31. Ke2 $2 Rxh1 32. Rxh1 Qxg2+ {(Wade/ O'Connell)}) 31... Rxh1+ 32. Kxh1 e2 $1 33. Rb5 $5 {"Bobby finally realized that he must be lost and thus characteristically goes for active counterplay. It is not good enough, but is as good a try as any." (Mednis 74)} (33. Re1 Qe4) (33. Rg1 Qe4) 33... Bxb5 34. axb5 Qxb5 $1 35. Re1 a5 36. Rxe2 a4 $1 37. Rxe6 a3 38. g6 (38. Re5 Qxe5 $19) 38... Qd7 (38... a2 $4 39. g7 a1=Q+ 40. Kh2 $10 { (Mednis 74)}) 39. Re5 b6 40. Bh4 a2 41. Re1 Qg7 42. Ra1 Qxg6 (42... Qxg6 43. Rxa2 Qh5 44. g3 Qf3+ 45. Kh2 Qxc3 46. Bf6 b5 $19 {(Mednis 74)}) 0-1

[Adam Raoof]

I will have my own minutes silence, whilst I peruse his games...

[Matt Mackenzie]

Might have thought ChessBase would have had some sort of tribute up by now.

[Leonard Barden]

Might have thought ChessBase would have had some sort of tribute up by now.

https://de.chessbase.com/post/wolfgang- ... -gestorben

[Matt Mackenzie]

Tried that one yesterday and got a "page 404" notice. And of course, its in German......

[Simon Brown]

I played Shamkovich in a Lloyds Bank many years ago, black side of a French Tarrasch f4 line and I played ..f6 and ..g5. After I lost he told me I played the opening like Uhlmann, which made me very happy. RIP

[Andrew Smith]

I met Mr Uhlmann at the World Seniors Team championship that Stewart Reuben organised in the Isle of Man around 2004. I was the games imputer, and Uhlmann had absolutely appalling handwriting that made parts of his score-sheets almost indecipherable, and one move in particular, wasn't obvious, even with a board in front of me. So I had to confer with him, and even he couldn't read his own handwriting or recall what the actual move was ! I guess it would have been at the end of a game, when time was short. I have a recollection how charismatic he was, and how gentlemanly. I remember also, how spectators, who played the French Defence themselves, were almost reverential towards him! But one of my favourite games of his was actually a defeat with the French defence when he lost to Bob Wade at Skopje 1968. I was given a chess book at Christmas by my brother when I was a junior. It was the 2nd book I ever had and it was called 'Selected Chess Masterpieces' by Svetozar Gligoric and he annotated this game. It was a great book and I would still recommend it now. By the end of Boxing Day, I had gone through every single game, and every single annotation. I went through it from cover to cover. Bob Wade played a wonderful game and a masterly demonstration on how to exploit dark square weaknesses that occur in the French Defence. That's impressive, when your opponent is Wolfgang Uhlmann ! ( For the record, my first ever book, also present from my brother, was, I think called Tal - Since 1961 by Cozens when I recall being mesmerised by the lightly annotated games!)

[John Moore]

Andrew - just to be picky, the Cozens book was entitled Tal since 1960. But the real reason for posting was to say how lucky you were to have this and the Gligoric book as your first two books. I reckon a lot of people got some right old tripe as their first chess book.

[David Sedgwick]

I met Mr Uhlmann at the World Seniors Team championship that Stewart Reuben organised in the Isle of Man around 2004. I was the games imputer, and Uhlmann had absolutely appalling handwriting that made parts of his score-sheets almost indecipherable, and one move in particular, wasn't obvious, even with a board in front of me. So I had to confer with him, and even he couldn't read his own handwriting or recall what the actual move was ! I guess it would have been at the end of a game, when time was short. I have a recollection how charismatic he was, and how gentlemanly.

If I remember correctly, that was Uhlmann's game against Korchnoi, whose handwriting was even worse.

The year was indeed 2004. Korchnoi left after Round 4 to play in the Calvià Olympiad.

[John Saunders]

By a weird, almost Plaskettian, coincidence, I have an illegible Korchnoi scoresheet from the 2004 Monarch Assurance tournament on my desk at the moment which turned up amongst my papers a day or so ago, sent to me long ago by one David Sedgwick for some reason that I can't now remember...

2004 Korchnoi Rowson scoresheet.jpg

If I recall rightly (though David has a vastly better memory than me and will inevitably recall better), Andrew took over from me as game inputter for the 2004 World Senior Team Championship after I had done the same job for the Monarch Assurance tournament that immediately preceded it. I think I hung around for one round of the World Senior, took some photos and then headed home to England. (incidentally, I have preserved the web page for this event at BritBase: https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/world ... index.html)

I can tell a similar story to Andrew's as regards the job of inputting illegible scores, though relating to games played by Korchnoi rather than Uhlmann. David is right to draw attention to the pairing Uhlmann-Korchnoi which game inputters from the pre-DGT board era would probably dread as the ultimate clash of GMs with illegible handwriting. However, Andrew treated this as an opportunity rather than a threat, enjoying the chance to chat with a star of the game. Nearly all my chats with Korchnoi followed sessions where I had had to ask him to dictate the moves to me (which he invariably did from memory since he couldn't read his own handwriting). Though notoriously crabby with some of his opponents, I can report that he was always very amiable and cooperative on these occasions.

[Andrew Smith]

You are probably right David, as you were there as well. Usually, the 'Get out of Jail card free' is that you read the other players score-sheet, so your recollection would explain why that wasn't a helpful option! I think it was during that event that I challenged Korchnoi, in the bar area, to a 5 minute game, and he agreed, perhaps because he thought that as a games imputer, I was bound to be complete rubbish. He started the game quite jovially, talking to the spectators and not paying to much attention to his French Defence position. Suddenly silence descended on the board when he realised he was in quite a bit of trouble and in danger of being mated ! But a few careful moves with maximum concentration, and he soon had everything back under control as I misplayed the attack...
When i suggested a replay, he was already up and on his way, suggesting that I was far too good.....!

[Andrew Smith]

Andrew - just to be picky, the Cozens book was entitled Tal since 1960. But the real reason for posting was to say how lucky you were to have this and the Gligoric book as your first two books. I reckon a lot of people got some right old tripe as their first chess book.

Yes John, I agree. My half-brother Michael Pitt, who gave me the books, was a 180+ chess player, so he knew what to buy ! Most people have to rely on mum or dad getting them their first book, and that doesn't tend to turn out well ! It worked out well for me because my first grade was a handy 145 amended subsequently to 150. Now you mention it, I think you are right about the title of the Tal book.

[Paul Habershon]

Informative obituary in today's Times. He narrowly escaped death in the 1945 bombing of Dresden.