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Nov-06-18
 | | Telemus: Robert Hübner turns 70 today. Happy Birthday!
It is often said that he is Germany's best player since Lasker, but if he ever was a chess hero, he was a very shy hero. I played one game with him in a team match, when we both were young men. Definitely a unique experience, but an ambiguous one. Before the match he sat in a corner and read a book. When we played, everything including the two handshakes was extremely reserved. He wished to start the game with a few seconds delay, because of some noise. I don't think he ever looked at me, and after the game we did not speak a single word. Today I enjoy his chess historical writings and I am already looking forward to the new extended edition of his "Der Weltmeisterschaftskampf Lasker - Steinitz 1894", which shall appear at the end of this year. Already the first book includes other matches, say Lasker vs Schlechter 1910, and in the new edition Lasker vs Janowski 1909 will be included, too. |
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| Aug-13-20 | | diagonal: Brilliant blog on Hübner’s chess: https://www.chess.com/blog/introubl... As an IM, Hübner finished equal 2nd with Bent Larsen and Efim Geller, behind overwhelmingly dominating Bobby Fischer, at the strong Interzonal in Palma de Mallorca 1970, thus Hübner earned the GM title automatically by qualifying into the World Championship Candidate's matches in 1971. Hübner has been a regular top twenty player in the 1970s, remaining a stable and solid elite player up to the 1990s and beginning 2000s, he was mostly a top ten player throughout the 1980s, and top five in the early eighties, with a peak ranking as clear number 3 of the world behind only Karpov and Korchnoi in 1981 (July-December list): 1 Karpov (30 yrs) 2700 Elo
2 Korchnoi (50 yrs) 2695 Elo
3 Hübner (33 yrs) 2640 Elo
4 Kasparov (18 yrs) 2630 Elo
= Spassky (44 yrs) 2630 Elo
= Timman (30 yrs) 2630 Elo
7 Portisch (44 yrs) 2620 Elo
8 Beliavsky (28 yrs) 2615 Elo
= Mecking (29 yrs) 2615 Elo
inactive since 1979 Rio de Janeiro IZT
10 Larsen (46 yrs) 2610 Elo
= Polugaevsky (47 yrs) 2610 Elo
(no player above 2700 Elo, eleven players above 2600 Elo) |
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| Aug-27-20 | | TheBish: Deciding any chess match (especially an important one like the 1983 Candidates quarterfinal with Smyslov) with the spin of a roulette wheel is a total joke. Why not just break out a deck of cards and play heads up Texas Hold'em? Or let them draw pistols at 10 paces, last man standing wins. (Which has the possible outcome of a "dead" draw and neither man advancing.) Seriously though, it would have made more sense to play a 1-minute bullet blindfold Armageddon game. Or maybe even a standard Armageddon game. I suppose this is one key incident that led to the Armageddon option (where White has an extra minute, such as 5 minutes to 4 or 6 to 5, with Black having draw odds). Seems that 5 to 4 is the preferred time now at the GM level, as draws are so common that 6 to 5 tended to favor Black. Ironically, the first spin of the wheel still didn't decide the match! "If the ball plunked into the red colour slot at the spin, Smyslov would win, black colour slot would help Huebner emerge the winner. What an irony, the ball settled-down into the number 0 on the first spin and the result was still not possible as the number 0 is the only number on a roulette wheel which is neither in red nor in black. On the second spin though the ball dropped into the number 3 slot which is red! Making Smyslov win the match and advance to the Candidates Semi Final which was to be played against Zoltan Ribli." https://en.chessbase.com/post/can-s... Caissa's hand at work! Reminding the foolish mortals that chess is not a game of chance, and indeed should not be reduced to such. But with a second spin, she threw up her hands and returned to her poetry. I was curious to know the history of the Armageddon rule (Wikipedia doesn't give a date) but it seems it was first implemented at the top levels at the 2001 Women's World Championship. https://chess.stackexchange.com/que... |
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Aug-27-20
 | | plang: Personally I prefer a flip of a coin to an Armageddon which says nothing about a players strength at classical chess. |
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Aug-27-20
 | | HeMateMe: they should play 30 minute chess until a winner is declared. If that takes several days then move the tournament finale to Wayne's basement or an empty college dormitory floor. Anything but butt-ugly Armageddon chess. |
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| Aug-28-20 | | TheBish: I'm not endorsing Armageddon (although it seems to be the preferred tie-breaker now). My point was that any form of chess (Fischer random/chess960 or giveaway chess if you prefer) makes more sense than settling things with a game of chance, whether it be a spin of a wheel or roll of the dice. Even a problem solving contest would make more sense to me. At least it involves chess and skill, not pure chance. But you have to admit that roulette wheel landing on "0" (no win for either side) seems like divine intervention. |
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Aug-28-20
 | | Dionysius1: A hint that FIDE were wise to take from then on! |
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| Nov-06-21 | | oolalimk1: happy birthday gm Hubner.
I had the honour of playing a five minute game against him once. |
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Nov-06-21
 | | harrylime: Still love his game with Bobby ...
Huebner the upstart !
What a cool draw ! |
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Nov-06-21
| | harrylime: Huebner was uber uber strong in 1970 ... |
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Nov-07-21
 | | 0ZeR0: Happy birthday, GM Robert Huebner!
After Fischer's disappearance from competitive play, Huebner became the best player from the west for a while. Always enjoyed his games and analysis. |
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Nov-07-21
| | harrylime: <<0ZeR0: Happy birthday, GM Robert Huebner!
After Fischer's disappearance from competitive play, Huebner became the best player from the west for a while. Always enjoyed his games and analysis.>> lol lol lol lol
What has Bobby got to do here loike ??
Anyone would think you HAVE AN AGENDA
lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol |
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Nov-07-21
| | 0ZeR0: <harrylime>
And by anyone you mean delusional individuals (i.e. yourself). I mentioned Fischer because presumably he would have still been the best player from the west had he not quit competitive chess. |
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Nov-07-21
| | harrylime: <<0ZeR0: <harrylime>
And by anyone you mean delusional individuals (i.e. yourself).I mentioned Fischer because presumably he would have still been the best player from the west had he not quit competitive chess.> > WIERDO ALERT
lol lol lol lol lol |
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Nov-07-21
| | harrylime: Respects to Hubner
He was LUCKY crossing Bobby's path
Even luckier scraping a desperate draw lol lol lol |
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| Nov-19-23 | | Caissanist: Surprised that Huebner still has a relatively sparse bio, I'll add to it. Does anyone consider "strongest German player since Emanuel Lasker" to be controversial? |
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Nov-19-23
 | | perfidious: Have never thought of Huebner in quite that way, but the proposed statement is far from wrong. |
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Nov-19-23
 | | MissScarlett: Does anyone consider "strongest homosexual player since Paul Morphy" to be controversial? |
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Nov-19-23
| | perfidious: Lemme get back to ya on that one; one of us could write of Huebner--or anyone else--in the most flowery terms--and cause offence in some quarter hereabout. |
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Nov-20-23
 | | fredthebear: Who cares?? Chess is a sport for all.
Another unnecessary attempt to open up the trash here. Puffy is well-known for shallow posts that inform us of nothing at all, but he certainly delights in the subject given his Rogoff history. Furthermore, I do not regard Huebner as the strongest German player since Lasker. That thought in no way shape or form belongs in his biography. There's a 19-year-old German grandmaster who is a decent player for those who believe in the enormously bloated ratings, but our readers don't expect our perverted editors to know or respond about such chess facts. |
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Nov-20-23
| | perfidious: Keymer? Maybe if he manages to replicate the following: <diagonal.....Hübner has been a regular top twenty player in the 1970s, remaining a stable and solid elite player up to the 1990s and beginning 2000s, he was mostly a top ten player throughout the 1980s, and top five in the early eighties, with a peak ranking as clear number 3 of the world behind only Karpov and Korchnoi in 1981 (July-December list):1 Karpov (30 yrs) 2700 Elo
2 Korchnoi (50 yrs) 2695 Elo
3 Hübner (33 yrs) 2640 Elo
4 Kasparov (18 yrs) 2630 Elo
= Spassky (44 yrs) 2630 Elo
= Timman (30 yrs) 2630 Elo
7 Portisch (44 yrs) 2620 Elo
8 Beliavsky (28 yrs) 2615 Elo
= Mecking (29 yrs) 2615 Elo
inactive since 1979 Rio de Janeiro IZT
10 Larsen (46 yrs) 2610 Elo
= Polugaevsky (47 yrs) 2610 Elo
(no player above 2700 Elo, eleven players above 2600 Elo)> Keymer may yet outstrip Huebner, but it will take some time, kid. |
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| Nov-20-23 | | Caissanist: <fred> OK, OK, I'll leave it out. You can put the gun down now. That does raise an interesting question, though (well, <I> think it's interesting anyway). The current FIDE rating list has Keymer at number 29. By contrast, the early 1969 Elo (not yet FIDE) list has Huebner only at 76th. However, Keymer is only the fifth best of today's juniors, while Huebner seems to have been second among the 1969 crop (behind Mecking). Which is the greater accomplishment? Seems to me that you could make a case either way. |
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| Nov-20-23 | | stone free or die: Should Artur Yusupov (or, more presently more correctly, <Artur Jussupow>) deserve a mention? His peak ELO of 2680 (July 1995) was achieved when he was already living in Germany, I believe. Yes, there's always the issue of rating inflation, pulus the fact that he originally was Russian (when did he change federations?). |
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| Nov-20-23 | | Caissanist: According to his bio, Yusupov moved to Germany after he was shut and almost killed by burglars in his Moscow flat in the early 1990s. He made the candidates cycle three time, the last being in 1992; the furthest he got was the semifinals. His peak ELO was of course after he move to Germany, but was only tenth highest, which Huebner of course got as high as third. Seems to me that Huebner's career was a little more impressive overall. |
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Nov-20-23
| | MissScarlett: <Does anyone consider "strongest German player since Emanuel Lasker" to be controversial?> I took this to mean that he was, at the peak of his career (mid 70s to mid 80s), the highest ranked German since Lasker. I didn't realise it was an open-ended commitment for perpetuity. |
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