ROBERT HUEBNER (born Nov-06-1948, died Jan-05-2025, 76 years old) Germany [what is this?] Dr. Robert Huebner was born in Cologne in 1948. He is widely considered to be the greatest German player since Emanuel Lasker. At age sixteen, he tied for first in the European Championship. At eighteen, Huebner was the joint winner of the West German Championship. In 1971, he received the International Grandmaster title after qualifying for the World Championship Candidates at Palma de Mallorca Interzonal (1970), where he tied for second place. The candidates match with Petrosian took place in Seville, Spain - Petrosian - Huebner Candidates Quarterfinal (1971). The first six games of the match ended in draws, with Petrosian winning the seventh. With three games remaining in the best-of-ten encounter, Huebner forfeited the match, citing problems with excessive heat and noise. Huebner also qualified in 1980. By defeating Adorjan and Portisch, he reached the finals. The candidates final with Korchnoi was a best-of-sixteen match that took place in Merano. Huebner was ahead by a point after six rounds, but lost games seven and eight. The following two games were adjourned, after which Huebner asked for a postponement. After some controversy, he ended up leaving Merano and forfeited the match. By reaching the finals, though, he secured a Candidates spot for the third time. In the next cycle, contested in 1983, he played the 62-year-old former world champion, Smyslov. The encounter took place in the Austrian spa and resort city of Velden. After 14 games, the match was tied. On April 20, the match was decided by the spin of a roulette wheel at Casino Velden. The first spin landed on 0 (green), necessitating a second spin. The second spin landed on 3, a red number, making Smyslov the winner. Widespread dissatisfaction with the randomness of this result led to further games at faster time controls being considered as an alternative tiebreaker. Huebner's last FIDE rating was 2574, and his last FIDE-rated game was in March 2020. His elder brother was Wolfgang Huebner. Wikipedia article: Robert Hübner Last updated: 2025-01-05 21:11:40

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page 1 of 76; games 1-25 of 1,879  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Huebner vs F Vogelmann   ½-½ 56 1961 GER-ch TT (final) C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense 2. Eichner vs Huebner   1-0 65 1961 GER-ch TT (final) B92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation 3. Huebner vs J Bichlmeier   1-0 46 1961 GER-ch TT (final) B05 Alekhine's Defense, Modern 4. Huebner vs E Eichhorn   1-0 37 1964 Niemeyer Juniors B77 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack 5. R Hartoch vs Huebner   ½-½ 41 1964 Niemeyer Juniors C10 French 6. Huebner vs L Cederquist   ½-½ 31 1964 Niemeyer Juniors B07 Pirc 7. P van Herck vs Huebner   0-1 41 1964 Niemeyer Juniors B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 8. Huebner vs R A Harris   1-0 34 1964 Niemeyer Juniors B20 Sicilian 9. Huebner vs J Sloth   ½-½ 35 1964 Niemeyer Juniors B76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack 10. E Scholl vs Huebner   ½-½ 51 1964 Niemeyer Juniors C16 French, Winawer 11. Huebner vs S Noorda   1-0 43 1964 Niemeyer Juniors C85 Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation Doubly Deferred (DERLD) 12. G Antunac vs Huebner   0-1 52 1964 Niemeyer Juniors C41 Philidor Defense 13. Huebner vs S Noorda   1-0 29 1964 Niemeyer Juniors 1964/65 C62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense 14. R Verstraeten vs Huebner   ½-½ 52 1964 Niemeyer Juniors 1964/65 B42 Sicilian, Kan 15. C Woodcock vs Huebner   ½-½ 30 1964 Niemeyer Juniors 1964/65 C03 French, Tarrasch 16. Huebner vs J Kolbak   1-0 77 1964 Niemeyer Juniors 1964/65 B43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3 17. Huebner vs F Hoelzl   1-0 29 1964 Niemeyer Juniors 1964/65 B45 Sicilian, Taimanov 18. Huebner vs Y Bleiman   1-0 39 1965 Niemeyer Juniors 1964/65 B16 Caro-Kann, Bronstein-Larsen Variation 19. H Ree vs Huebner   ½-½ 15 1965 Niemeyer Juniors 1964/65 C41 Philidor Defense 20. Huebner vs H Glauser   ½-½ 42 1965 Niemeyer Juniors 1964/65 C96 Ruy Lopez, Closed 21. P De Haseth vs Huebner 0-1 42 1965 Niemeyer Juniors 1964/65 C10 French 22. Huebner vs J Sibe   1-0 41 1965 Niemeyer Juniors 1964/65 B32 Sicilian 23. S Algera vs Huebner   0-1 33 1965 Niemeyer Juniors 1964/65 A07 King's Indian Attack 24. O Martius vs Huebner   ½-½ 29 1965 FRG CupT B43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3 25. Huebner vs L Schmid   ½-½ 52 1965 FRG CupT C15 French, Winawer  page 1 of 76; games 1-25 of 1,879

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 13 OF 13 ·  Later Kibitzing> Jan-06-25    Check It Out: Nigel Short: <I am very sad to learn that my dear friend, Robert Huebner, has died. The last time I spoke to him, he was calm and philosophical about his impending death. That is not to say he embraced it, but he didn't fear it either. He was an exceptionally brilliant man, austere on the outside, but privately very funny. I will miss him greatly.> Jan-06-25    Check It Out: <Here is quite a good summary of Robert's life. It includes a few personal reminisces. By the way, Robert certainly did not speak 22 languages, as is claimed. He would have been the first person to refute that. He did, however, speak English, Dutch, Finnish, French, Spanish, Portuguese (I think) and Italian fluently, as well as his native German. I have no doubt he could read Danish, Swedish and Norwegian with few problems. Probably Romanian. He could also read Homer without a dictionary. Perhaps I am missing a few. But no way did he "speak" 22 languages. Of polyglot current GMs, perhaps Ljubojevic and Movsesian lead the pack with about a dozen or so. https://www.chess.com/news/view/rob...> Jan-06-25    Murky: GM Igor Ivanov made an interesting comment to me some years ago about Robert Huebner. Said the only annotations he fully trusted in the Yugoslav Informant series were those of Robert Huebner. Those annotations were well known and almost notorious for their exceptional depth and accuracy. Most pages in the Informant series contain several games. But not when Robert Huebner was annotating. His commentary often ran several pages. Jan-06-25    parisattack: Another chess Boomer down! RIP, GM Huebner. His '25 Games' book is a mega-classic! Jan-06-25    Check It Out: Look at the photo they used in the chesscom article I linked from Nigel short's comment. Now look at CGs photo from decades earlier. The look is exactly the same. Jan-07-25    Honza Cervenka: R.I.P., Grandmaster. Jan-07-25    paulalbert: I had the pleasure of meeting GM Huebner a long time ago in NY. Having studied Egyptian history as part of my undergraduate history major at Princeton, we discussed his papyrus work more than chess. He was a very accomplished scholar and linguist as well as being an elite chess GM. He reminded me of one of my Princeton roommates who eventually became the head off the Art and Archaeology faculty at Princeton. Losing the chess players whose games I studied and met when I was younger is distressing especially when they are younger than I am. May he rest in peace. Jan-08-25    ColdSong: RIP Mr Huebner,you will not be forgotten... Jan-08-25    Cassandro: Great chess players like dr.Huebner will always be fondly remembered by lovers of 'the beautiful game'. And in the CG-database, so many of his brilliant games are there ready to be explored by old and new users. A real treasure trove. Jan-08-25    Fusilli: Sad to see this. RIP, grandmaster. Jan-08-25    belgradegambit: Good obituary by Anand: https://x.com/vishy64theking/status... Jan-08-25    Olavi: I understand that it is very bad manners to point this out, but Anand has the details about the logos discussion and the Timman book review wrong, they were both in New in Chess magazine. Jan-08-25    MissScarlett: Where does Anand contradict that? Jan-09-25    stone free or die: <<Olavi> I understand that it is very bad manners to point this out, but Anand has the details about the logos discussion and the Timman book review wrong, they were both in New in Chess magazine.> There's an ambiguity in your writing <Olavi>, at least in my reading. When you said <they were both in NIC magazine> you might be implying that Anand incorrectly placed the source of his Huebner stories. I think you're implying you read the original stories in NIC, and that there are details you remember (or recently read) that contradict Anands tellings. If this is the case, could you be so kind as to provide the details for us, if only that we can get the Huebner stories straight. Thanks. Jan-09-25    stone free or die: (Aside - I don't think it bad manners at all. I'm sure Huebner would approve of the quest for accuracy, after all!) Jan-09-25    Olavi: <stone free or die> Yes, Hübner would approve. The book review of Timman's Schaakwerk II is in issue 5/1992, p.69-85; so not longer than the book itself. If Anand is speaking of another review, then my observations are redundant. Timman returns to the matter in 7/1992, p.13-14. He discusses one of Hübner's comments regarding a study of Timman's, where Hübner apologizes for his laziness; Timman: 'do normal standards of laziness apply to someone who writes a 17-page book review?' Timman says that he had invited Hübner to his home after the review had been published to discuss it. Timman can of course have said informally about 'longer than the book itself'. 2/1997 carries an interview with Hübner. There he discusses the meaning of 'logos', and that is has often been mistranslated, including in the Bible, at the start of the gospel according to St. John. In the next issues, which I do not have to hand now, there are letters by, if I remember correctly, Luc Compagnie, a trained theologian (I sincerely apologize if I am mistaken, and will come back to correct this) and Hübner, in which this is taken further. The 'three pages' is certainly an exaggeration. Jan-09-25    stone free or die: Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to share all those details, <Olavi>. FWIW - I think the "longer than the book itself" should be given some poetic license. Clearly it's not meant to be taken literally. Wiggle words like "<almost> longer than the book" or "<practically> longer" are suggested in such a case, or, (horror!) winking emoji's. Jan-10-25    Olavi: <stone free or die> Yes, I was being Edward Winter. Well on the other hand that is accurate. Jan-12-25    Messiah: Rest in peace, Grandmaster. Jan-13-25    Gottschalk: “Those who say they understand chess, understand nothing.” (Robert Hübner) Jan-13-25    Gottschalk: Defeating Russian World Champions: Smyslov Huebner vs Smyslov, 1979 Tal Tal vs Huebner, 1973 Petrosian Huebner vs Petrosian, 1972 Spassky (What do You prefer?) Huebner vs Spassky, 1981 Huebner vs Spassky, 1989 Karpov Karpov vs Huebner, 2002 Kasparov Huebner vs Kasparov, 1992 Jan-13-25    Petrosianic: Petrosian and Tal weren't Russian, so that eliminates them. Jan-13-25    Open Defence: RIP <GM Huebner> Jan-13-25    harrylime: He's died... I knew it ... you know when a name comes up you've not seen for ages .. but it's an important name in your life .. .. I'm not even gonna google it. Oh very sad . I feeeeel very sad ... His game against Fischer was soooooo cool ... Think Bobby took him for granted in that game and Hubner essentially said ... I Am HERE .... RIP xxx Apr-02-25    Olavi: The earliest Hubner picture I know is from Schach-Echo 17/1961, page 264. There the 12-old in knee pants is in the front row of a group photo of the German Junior championship. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 13) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 13 OF 13 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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