Robert Hübner (born November 6, 1948) is a German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and papyrologist. He was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Chess career

At eighteen, he was joint winner of the West German Chess Championship. In 1965 he won, together with Hans Ree, the Niemeyer tournament for European players under 20. His

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(IM) title was awarded in 1969 and his Grandmaster (GM) title in 1971. He reached third place in the

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

world ranking list in 1980. Between 1971 and 1991 (loss to Jan Timman), Hübner played in four

Candidates Tournament The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The wi ...

s for the World Championship. Three ended in controversial circumstances: * In

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

, he forfeited a closely contested quarter final to Tigran Petrosian, after blundering a piece in the 7th game in a drawn position. * In 1980–81, his best result, after winning the quarter and semi final (against the Hungarian players

Adorjan Adorjan ( sr-cyr, Адорјан, hu, Adorján) is a village in Serbia. It is located in the Kanjiža municipality, in the North Banat District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Hungarians, Hungarian ethnic majority (74.91%) and a populati ...

and Portisch), he reached the final before losing to Viktor Korchnoi. Hübner forfeited the match after 10 games when he was down 1 point. * In

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

, he lost a quarter final to Vassily Smyslov in unique circumstances: with the match tied after the original 10 games plus 4 further games, the tie was resolved (in Smyslov's favour) by a spin of a roulette wheel. At his

strongest "Strongest" is a song recorded by Norwegian singer and songwriter Ina Wroldsen. The song was released on 27 October 2017 and has peaked at number 2 in Norway. "Strongest" is Wroldsen's first solo release on Syco Music Syco Music is a defunc ...

in the mid-seventies to mid-eighties, Hübner participated in many of the elite tournaments of the day, and was invited at Montreal 1979 (The Tournament of Stars), playing alongside Anatoly Karpov, Mikhail Tal, and Jan Timman. His most notable tournament victories were at Houston 1974, Munich 1979 (shared with Ulf Andersson and

Boris Spassky Boris Vasilievich Spassky ( rus, Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский, Borís Vasíl'yevich Spásskiy; born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 ...

), Rio de Janeiro Interzonal 1979 (shared with

Lajos Portisch Lajos Portisch (born 4 April 1937) is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik". One of the strongest non-Soviet players from the early 1960s into the late 1980s, he participated ...

and Tigran Petrosian), Chicago 1982, Biel 1984 (equal with Vlastimil Hort),

Linares Linares may refer to: People *Fernando de Alencastre, 1st Duke of Linares (1641–1717), Spanish nobleman and military officer; viceroy of New Spain from 1711 to 1716 *Andreu Linares (born 1975), Spanish futsal player * Art Linares, American polit ...

1985 (shared with Ljubomir Ljubojević), and Tilburg 1985 (shared with Anthony Miles and Viktor Korchnoi). He served as a

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

to Nigel Short in the 1993 world championship match against Garry Kasparov. In 2000 he won, with the German team, a silver medal in the

34th Chess Olympiad The 34th Chess Olympiad ( tr, 34. Satranç Olimpiyatı), organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to all players. and women's tourn ...

in Istanbul. He remained active on the international circuit into the 2000s but has never been a full-time chess professional due to his academic career.

Playing style

Over the chessboard, Hübner's technique has been described as efficient and ruthless. According to Bill Hartston—"His perfectionist and rather pessimistic approach, however, prevented him from reaching the very top."

Other contributions

Hübner's contributions to chess literature include the study of world champions and extensive analysis of 19th-century chess brilliancies. His recent contributions are detailed analysis and study of the chess games of world champions – notably Bobby Fischer and Alexander Alekhine. He is the eponym of the Hübner Variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defence: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 c5 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bxc3+. When anti-doping tests were introduced into international chess, Hübner declared his withdrawal from the German national team. He views these tests as bureaucratic power displays that degrade the individual. In his opinion, doping in chess cannot improve the true abilities of a player, only their application. "I am always happy if my opponent's abilities can fully unfold, because then I learn more." Additionally, Hübner is known as one of the world's best xiangqi players not from China.Chinese Chess for Beginners by Sam Sloan (1989)

Notable games

Robert James Fischer vs. Robert Hübner, Palma de Mallorca iz 1970, Caro–Kann Defense: Breyer Variation (B10), ½–½
A dramatic game with central pawn attacks against the GM Robert James Fischer.
Robert Hübner vs. Raymond Keene, Vienna (Austria) 1972, Modern Defense: King Pawn Fianchetto (B06), 1–0
After a long series of manoeuvres the White pressure on the Black king position peaks in a winning combination.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hubner, Robert 1948 births Living people Chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors German chess players German papyrologists German chess writers Sportspeople from Cologne Chess theoreticians German male non-fiction writers