WOLFGANG UNZICKER (born Jun-26-1925, died Apr-20-2006, 80 years old) Germany PRONUNCIATION: [what is this?] Wolfgang Unzicker was born in Pirmasens. He was taught to play chess by his older brother and some cousins when he was 10. Awarded the IM title in 1950 and GM title in 1954 he was West German Champion in 1948, 1950, 1952, 1959, 1963 and 1965 (joint). He played on 13 West German Chess Olympiad teams between 1950 and 1982, sharing the prize for the best top board score for the West German team at the 1950 Dubrovnik Chess Olympiad. Another first board triumph that propelled his West German team to success was during the Tel Aviv Olympiad in 1964 when he scored 13.5 points, assisting his team to winning the bronze medal after a 3:1 team victory over the Soviet Union. Unzicker also won the unique East and West German Championship in 1953. He was equal first with Spassky in the Chigorin Memorial Sochi in 1965, first in Maribor in 1967, equal fourth in the second Piatigorsky Cup in 1966 behind Spassky, Fischer and Larsen, second at Hastings in 1969-70 and equal first in Amsterdam in 1980. Although he was never a serious World Championship contender, he nevertheless played and on occasion defeated some of the finest players of his generation. Unzicker was a lawyer and a judge by profession and was for many years the legal advisor to the German Chess Association. He is survived by wife Fraia and three sons Alexander, Ferdinand Unzicker and Stefan. Wikipedia article: Wolfgang Unzicker Last updated: 2022-09-29 09:05:33

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page 1 of 52; games 1-25 of 1,294  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Unzicker vs K Junge 1-0 50 1939 Jugendschachwoche Fuerstenwalde C83 Ruy Lopez, Open 2. Kettisch vs Unzicker 0-1 16 1945 Munich C31 King's Gambit Declined, Falkbeer Counter Gambit 3. Unzicker vs Merkle 1-0 16 1946 Munich C83 Ruy Lopez, Open 4. Saemisch vs Unzicker   ½-½ 32 1946 Augsburg C83 Ruy Lopez, Open 5. Unzicker vs L Schmitt   1-0 34 1946 Augsburg B73 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical 6. P Tautvaisas vs Unzicker   0-1 40 1946 Augsburg C23 Bishop's Opening 7. Unzicker vs E Zemgalis   ½-½ 26 1946 Augsburg C11 French 8. R Palme vs Unzicker   0-1 47 1946 Augsburg E17 Queen's Indian 9. Unzicker vs K Ozols   1-0 43 1946 Augsburg C17 French, Winawer, Advance 10. F Nuernberg vs Unzicker   0-1 41 1946 Augsburg E24 Nimzo-Indian, Samisch 11. Unzicker vs J Huber   1-0 56 1946 Augsburg D64 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox, Rubinstein Attack 12. Unzicker vs R Arlauskas   1-0 24 1946 Augsburg B73 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical 13. L Endzelins vs Unzicker   ½-½ 20 1946 Augsburg D30 Queen's Gambit Declined 14. Unzicker vs F Krautheim 1-0 31 1946 Augsburg B01 Scandinavian 15. L Dreibergs vs Unzicker   0-1 40 1946 Augsburg C47 Four Knights 16. P Troeger vs Unzicker 0-1 20 1946 Augsburg E21 Nimzo-Indian, Three Knights 17. Unzicker vs A Rankis   1-0 43 1946 Augsburg C12 French, McCutcheon 18. A Krumins vs Unzicker   ½-½ 25 1946 Augsburg C29 Vienna Gambit 19. Unzicker vs M Riedmiller 1-0 23 1946 Augsburg C83 Ruy Lopez, Open 20. J Steger vs Unzicker   0-1 33 1946 Klaus Junge Memorial D48 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav, Meran 21. G Meyer vs Unzicker   0-1 48 1946 Klaus Junge Memorial D02 Queen's Pawn Game 22. Unzicker vs C H Meyer   1-0 50 1946 Klaus Junge Memorial B73 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical 23. Unzicker vs F Herzog   0-1 35 1946 Klaus Junge Memorial D52 Queen's Gambit Declined 24. Unzicker vs W Fleischmann 1-0 39 1946 Klaus Junge Memorial B63 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack 25. S Wolk vs Unzicker   0-1 59 1946 Klaus Junge Memorial E17 Queen's Indian  page 1 of 52; games 1-25 of 1,294

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing> Dec-02-04    kostich in time: Strong West German GM, who played at Santa Monica 1966. Always played e4, always answered e4 with e5. Keres and Unzicker once played amatch in which the Ruy was the ONLY opening played. Dec-27-04    tomh72000: Unfortunately, I always confuse Unzicker with Uhlmann (Nigel Short's idol when it comes to over-use of the French Defence). Dec-27-04    DanielBryant: Unzicker is one of those poor players immortalized on the wrong side of history: He's best remembered for his part in Petrosian vs Unzicker, 1960 Dec-27-04    JustAFish: A good friend and co-worker of mine and his family are family friends with Mr. Unzicker. Herr Unzicker has generously played a number of casual games against him on his visits to Germany. Jun-10-05    WMD: < Unfortunately, I always confuse Unzicker with Uhlmann> Unzicker, a West German, was the good guy, whilst Uhlmann, an East German < boo, hiss > was the baddie. Jun-26-05    Knight13: Happy Birthday, Mr. Unzicker! Now you are 80 years old. 20 more years to go! Jun-26-05    Shrivel Up DEVO: Oops,I just posted an error---My bad! Jun-26-05    Halldor: I have an excellent book Unzicker wrote - mainly for the level of average club players I think, but still surprisingly comprehensive - including many annotated and instructive games I like very much. The titel is: Knaurs Neues Schachbuch (I don't know if there is an English translation). Are there more books available from Unzicker? he is obviously a very good author! Jun-26-05    chessgames.com: There's a nice article about Unzicker at Chessbase today: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail... Jun-27-05    Halldor: In the book I mentioned, Unzicker makes the mate of two knights very easy, which other books on endgames which I have didn't succeed. I (as an admirer of the French) also find his annotated game against Czerniak memorable, impressive attack! <Amsterdam 1954>. Aug-09-05    Koster: <kostich in time> Today he played 1. d4 vs. Korchnoi, and lost. His other games were better though, draws with Spasski and Karpov. Not bad for an 80 yr old. <Halldor> Mate w 2 knights? That I would like to see. Aug-25-05    mcgee: Unzicker has actually dusted down his d-pawn on quite a few occasions, and he has also played the Sicilian with Black a few times as well. Just looking idly over these games there appears to be a ten-year gap in which he didn´t play 1 d4 - but then again Portisch, I believe, went 27 active years without playing 1 e4 in serious competitive play, by comparison. Feb-03-06    Timothy Glenn Forney: I wish more people would kibitz on this game,with a shocking ♕ and ♖ sac.The ♖ sac is just amazing creating a skewer on the ♕ .Unzicker vs Keres, 1956 Apr-24-06    babakova: R.I.P Mr Unzicker. Apr-24-06    walker: Unzicker died of heart failure during a holiday in Portugal on April 20, 2006. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail... Apr-24-06    Petrosian63: R.I.P - World Champion of Amateurs. Apr-24-06    Benzol: Very sad to hear of his passing. Apr-24-06    szunzein: I was hoping for another Unzicker gala in 10 years from 2005. R.I.P. M. Unzicker Apr-24-06    stanleys: Another great player who passed away.Rest in peace Mr Unzicker! Apr-24-06    plang: From TWIC: "His best results were probably joint 1st with Spassky in the Chigorin Memorial Sochi 1965 and 4th= in the famous 2nd Piatigorsky-Cup behind Spassky, Fischer and Larsen. He never made any serious impact in the world championship only playing two Interzonals finishing 9th in 1952 and 16th in 1956. His top board status in the Olympiad meant he played all the greats of the time and in 1950, he shared the prize for best top-board score (+9 =4 -1) with Miguel Najdorf for his performance on first board for the West German team at the Dubrovnik Chess Olympiad. A quick flick through his games reveals he had at least one victory over Tartakower, Bogoljubov, Gligoric, Keres, Reshevsky, Fischer, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Larsen, Donner, Timman, Ljubojevic, Korchnoi and Tal." Apr-24-06    offramp: One day we will all pass to the Great Chess Tournament in the East. And those who remain can play over our games that are still on Earth and rejoice. Apr-24-06    Prugno: Thank you, Dr. Unzicker. For your great games and excellent results, for your impeccable behaviour on the board and away from it, for your daily work as a servant of the Law. We won't forget you. Apr-24-06    WannaBe: Perhaps someone can update the bio. Apr-24-06    JustAFish: I just talked to my friend who I mentioned above was family friends with Herr Unzicker. He said Mr. Unziker's death is "a loss for humanity" and said that the GM was a genuninely warm and kind human being. "I wish I could have shown him my new chess skills". Despite Unziker's seemingly continuted good health for his age, my friend had paid one last visit to Unziker last year at the behest of his wife. "Now, I'm relucant to visit anyone else..." he joked. Apr-24-06    ChessPistol: I think I may have played Unziker on the Internet. He went out of his way to give me advice. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 3) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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