photo courtesy of Chess Classic Mainz 2005

Wolfgang Unzicker, 1925–2006

Seven time German Champion GM Wolfgang Unzicker passed away on the 20th of April in Portugal at the age of 80 years old.

Unzicker's chess career spanned an incredible 70 years and brought us many memorable events. Born in Pirmasens, Germany, on June 26, 1925, Unzicker picked up the game of chess at the early age of ten. At the age of 29, in 1954, Unzicker earned his grandmaster title.

Throughout his career, Unzicker won the German Championship seven times between 1948 and 1965, played in 12 Olympiads (of which he played the top board 10 times!) between 1950 and 1978, and played in hundreds of tournaments around the world representing his home of West Germany.

What made his career so impressive is that chess was not Unzicker's profession. His full-time profession was in law as a judge for an administrative court. Chess was a passion for Unzicker. Unzicker once said "I never had the desire to become a professional chess player – this seemed to be a risky proposition in the Western World. Also, I did not want to dedicate my entire life to chess". Despite his desire to not make chess his full time profession he still brought us some matches and earned himself the nickname "world champion of amateurs". And...despite his age, he continued to play tournament chess regularly with his team from the chess club "Tarrasch Munich", competing in the "Oberliga" on board number one. In August of 2005, Unzicker competed in an 80th birthday rapid event where his opponents were Karpov, Korchnoi and Spassky.

Some of the most memorable chess moments that Unzicker brought to us were his first place tie with Boris Spassky at the Chigorin Memorial in Sochi 1965, finishing tied in 4th place in the famous 1966 2nd Piatigorsky-Cup behind Spassky, Fischer and Larsen and finishing first at Maribor 1967.

Unzicker is survived by his wife, his three sons and his three grandchildren.

We have compiled a list of 1,622 chess games from his long and wonderful career. We hope that you enjoy these!

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The ICC is having live relay coverage of the GM Loek van Wely (2804) vs. GM Magnus Carlsen (2646) match up taking place in Schagen, Netherlands.

Live relay coverage is taking place April 28 through May 1. Games start with 2 hours on the clock. Add 60 minutes after move 40. Add 15 minutes after move 60. Add 30 seconds for each move after move 60. The times of the games are as follows:

Game 1:  Friday April 28    0900 EDT
Game 2:  Saturday April 29  0600 EDT
Game 3:  Sunday April 30    0600 EDT
Game 4:  Monday May 1       0500 EDT

If needed, a tie break match will take place on Monday, May 1.

van Wely won the opening game. Click here to view the game.

Be sure to visit the ICC tournament page for more details and the official web site.

Congratulations!

ICC members NM Landon Brownell (aka Suitkid) and Bradley J. Sawyer (aka Scotchman) finished in a tie for first place with 6.5 points at the 2006 National High School Championship. Both players had strong performances with six wins, one draw, and no losses making their final scores 6.5 out of 7! A very impressive tournament for these two up and coming stars.

Congratulations to Scotchman and Suitkid on the ICC.

Landon Brownell photo courtesy of American Chess Events

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 a5 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Nf3 b6 7.0-0 Ba6 8.Qc2 d5 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Bg5 Be7 Both sides have moved pieces twice in the opening but Black seems to have lost more time with than White 11.Nc3 Bb7 12.Rac1 h6 13.Bf4 c6 14.Ne5 Nfd7

A typical manouevre to try and simlify but Ivanchuk wants to avoid exchanges [14...Nbd7 15.e4 dxe4 16.Nxe4 Nxe4 17.Bxe4 attacking c6 and after 17...Nxe5 18.dxe5 its like the game] 15.Nf3 Nf6 16.Rfd1 Nbd7 17.Ne5! Nfd7 is not possible now 17...Nh5 [17...Nxe5 18.dxe5 Nd7 19.e4] 18.Bd2 Nhf6 19.e4 dxe4 20.Nxe4 Nxe4 21.Qxe4 Nxe5 22.dxe5 Ivanchuk has a clear advantage. His rooks are active, Black's queenside pawns are weakened and the Bb7 passive. 22...Qc8 23.Be3 Rb8 24.Qa4 Gaining control of d7 [24.Bxb6?? c5 25.Qc4 Bxg2 26.Kxg2 Rxb6] 24...c5 25.Rd7 Bxg2 26.Kxg2 Rb7 27.Rcd1 b5 28.Qg4 Qc6+ 29.Kg1 With threats of Bxh6 and Rxb7 followed by Rd7 29...h5 30.Qh3 Rxd7 31.Qxd7 Qf3

[This loses to a clever tactic. Defence with 31...Qxd7 32.Rxd7 Re8 was not appealing but a better chance as a passed pawn may appear on the queenside 33.f4 (33.Rb7 b4 34.Rb5 c4 35.Rxa5 Rc8) 33...f6 34.Rd5 Kf7 Black loses a pawn but he has chances to draw 35.exf6 Bxf6 36.Kf2 Bxb2 37.Rxc5 Rb8 38.Rxh5 a4] 32.Re1 h4 33.Qxe7 h3 34.Kf1! Qd5 35.Qxc5 Qd3+ 36.Kg1 Qe4 Black threatens to draw after 37.Kf1 Qd3+ 38.Kg1 Qe4 but 37.Qxf8+! Kh7 [37...Kxf8 38.Bc5+] 38.Qxg7+!

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