GM Dr phil. Robert Hübner (6.11.1948 - 5.1.2025)

- not only a chess genius -
by Siegfried Schönle
[Original article in German is here. Translation with DeepL.com (free version)]
Firstly, this remark before anything else:
In just a few words in this article, it is almost impossible to adequately honour the chess and academic work of the late GM Dr phil. Robert Hübner (6.11.1948 - 5.1.2025) in this article is simply not possible. The author would also like to ask for your understanding that he can only say a few things about Dr Robert Hübner. This is due to a lack of knowledge and language skills.
Instead, in reference to his own book title, Elemente einer Selbstbiographie [Elements of a Self-Biography], Berlin, Edition Marco 2015), some ‘elements’ of his biography will be recalled to the reader's memory.
This is an attempt to perhaps emphasise the lesser-known sides and interests of his personality.
A review of his entries in eight English- and German-language encyclopaedias revealed a fairly uniform picture: date of birth; learnt chess at the age of 5; his successes in decades after Büsum 1968 (see photo below); multiple World Championship candidate in around 20 years; participation in 6 World Championship cycles; papyrologist; various winning games at the end of the articles.
The focus of the articles in the encyclopaedias is, quite understandably, on the chess career. - So far so good!
Read more … GM Dr phil. Robert Hübner (6.11.1948 - 5.1.2025)
Jesus Diez del Corral: The Spanish Botvinnik

Mr Juan Carlos Sanz Menéndez has just published in Spanish, Jesús Diez del Corral: El Botvinnik español, about the second Spanish grandmaster, covering his entire chess career from 1945 to 1988, with over 1000 games, the vast majority of which do not appear in game databases. It is available from the specialist chess publisher Tienda Chessy: DIEZ DEL CORRAL El Botvinnik español
Description:
Book including all the games of Diez del Corral, the 2nd Spanish Grandmaster in history and one of the most talented. Covers his entire chess career, from 1945 to 1988.
This work is the result of a titanic effort by the author, who has endeavoured to bring together almost all the games played by one of the most talented Spanish grandmasters (and surely also one of the most professional in his preparation).
Not only is it a journey through Diez del Corral's chess career, but it is also a look at the leading Spanish masters of the time, who in most cases held the title of National Master by being placed prominently in the national championships. These now unknown players were among the strongest in Spain and with this work we make them known, with a brief biography.
Jesús Diez del Corral (1933-2010) was for more than a decade (from 1968 to 1979) the strongest player in Spain, although he had to combine chess with his demanding professional obligations (he was a land registrar and notary, for example).
Money makes the (chess) world go around

In the German chess journal Schach our President Frank Hoffmeister published recently an article about the difficulties of world champions and their challengers to find sponsors for their matches. With the kind authorisation of the publisher, our member Raj Tischbierek, please find attached his contribution (in German).
Schach im DP-Lager Landsberg und im Ghetto Terezín / Theresienstadt [Chess in the Landsberg DP camp and in the Terezín / Theresienstadt ghetto]

Schwarzweiße Wege der Forschung zu Nathan Markowsky und Isidor Schorr [Black and white paths of research on Nathan Markowsky and Isidor Schorr]
Comments on the current book by Siegfried Schönle from Kassel
by Konrad Reiß
[Original article in German is here. Translation with DeepL.com (free version)]
I used to travel through Theresienstadt a lot. The town was on the route to Schneekoppe, where my club, the 1871 Löberitz chess club, combines chess with a holiday for a few days every year around Easter.
Every time I drove through the town or even just heard the word Theresienstadt, I had to think of the misery that Jewish people had to endure there. At the same time, scenes from the Nazi propaganda film entitled "Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt"1 [The Führer Gives a City to the Jews] darken my mind.
The Theresienstadt ghetto could not have been described in a more perfidious and perverse way. Well, the camp was not an extermination camp, but it still served as a forecourt to hell. These hells existed as main camps (24) and subcamps (1,000) between around 1933 and 1945 and were called Auschwitz, Majdanek, Belcek, Sobibor and Treblinka.
Capablanca, the prodigious ascent (1888-1920) - by Georges Bertola

Georges Bertola, editor-in-chief of the magazine Europe Echecs and chess historian, has just published in French a book on Capablanca, with a preface by the Ukrainian champion Vasyl Ivanchuk.
Coincidentally, 19 November (today) also happens to be his birthday!
This fascinating, richly illustrated book takes you back through the career of this chess prodigy.
The first volume covers his rise from birth in 1888 to the year before he won the World Championship against Lasker in 1921.
An excellent gift for the festive season.
You can buy the book on the Europe Echecs magazine website
Price 39,90 €
Here's what the back cover says:
Read more … Capablanca, the prodigious ascent (1888-1920) - by Georges Bertola
Unveiling the Victory – How Spassky Won The Third World Junior Chess Championship Antwerp 1955 – Henri Serruys

Our friend Henri Serruys, treasurer of the CH&LS association, has just published a book with Thinkers Publishing about the 1955 Junior World Championship won by Boris Spassky.
Henri presented his great work to us two years ago in Marostica. The project has now become a reality!
The 3rd World Junior Chess Championship in Antwerp, Belgium in 1955
Another great Swedish Biography

Our member Peter Holmgren recently published the first of two planned volumes about his great countryman GM Gideon Ståhlberg (1908-1967), for decades one of the world’s strongest masters.
We are hoping to bring an in-depth review of the magnificent work later – in the meantime you may watch Daniel King’s presentation of the book on his YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqkqze-tKdg
Interview with Herbert Bastian about the book Chapais - The revolutionary chess manuscript by Gaspard Monge

A. Herbert Bastian: Who is the author?
Born in 1952, the author studied mathematics and physics up to the 2nd state examination after leaving school and completing his military service, then worked as a research assistant in the department of experimental physics and subsequently as a teacher at a comprehensive school.
Stages as a chess player: German Cup Winner 1976, 20 times Saarland Champion, 27 participations in the German Individual Championship, 10 years in the Bundesliga for the Munich Chess Club of 1836, holder of an A-coach licence since 1986, International Master since 2005, 14 appearances as a national player.
Positions as an official: President of the Saarland Chess Association from 1992 to 2016, spokesperson for the regional associations in the German Chess Federation from 2004-2011, President of the German Chess Federation from 2011-2017, Honorary President since 2023, Vice President of FIDE from 2014-2018, currently DSB Commissioner for Franco-German Relations. 2017 Awarded the Badge of Honour of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, for the first time to a chess athlete.
Publications (selection): La France et son apport dans le jeu d'échecs en Europe (2022), together with Prof. Dr Frank Hoffmeister and Jean-Olivier Leconte, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Fédération Française des Échecs.
B. Siegfried Schönle:
The interviewer is a collector of chess scenes in German literature and is interested in the cultural history of the game.
FIDE president Folke Rogard by Henrik Malm Lindberg

During the FIDE olympiad in Budapest and the centenary celebration of the world chess organisation, our Swedish member Henrik Malm Lindberg presented his recent biography of his countryman Folke Rogard (1899-1973) who held the presidency of FIDE from 1949 to 1970.
Henrik says about his new book:
It has puzzled me how Folke Rogard managed to fade into oblivion for the vast majority of those active in the chess world. The more I got to know him during my many long days in various archives, the more dimensions of his work emerged. The image of him—the precocious student, lawyer, businessman, family man, and, of course, chess president—has many nuances. My book had to focus primarily on the later aspects of his career, specifically his role as a chess organizer in Sweden and internationally. FIDE President Rogard had to deal with the Cold War during his international career. Although I am a trained economic historian, I probably did not realise until quite late in my writing the full extent of how this low-intensity war shaped chess in the post-war period. Chess became a kind of theatre of war—a way for the superpowers to prove their superiority on the board or the superiority of their own social system.
Read more … FIDE president Folke Rogard by Henrik Malm Lindberg
Arnaud Berman – Chess artist

My name is Arnaud Berman, I am the great grandson of Marcel Berman, president of the French Federation of Chess (FFE) from 1955 to 1958, and vice president of FIDE afterwards. Marcel Berman also wrote the lyrics of FIDE anthem. He was an excellent friend of Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Botvinnik and Folke Rogard.