Alexander Koblencs ( lv, Aleksandrs Koblencs, russian: Александр Кобленц; 3 September 1916,

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

– 9 December 1993,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

) was a Latvian

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

master, trainer, and writer. He is best known as the trainer of the 1960-61

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Mikhail Tal Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal; rus, Михаил Нехемьевич Таль, ''Mikhail Nekhem'yevich Tal' '', ; sometimes transliterated ''Mihails Tals'' or ''Mihail Tal'' (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet-Latvian chess player ...

. In 1935, he took 4th place in Rosas (

Salo Flohr Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr (November 21, 1908 – July 18, 1983) was a Czechoslovak and Soviet chess player and writer. He was among the first recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Flohr dominated many tournam ...

won). In 1936, he took 5th in Reus (

Esteban Canal Esteban Canal (April 19, 1896 – February 14, 1981) was a leading Peruvian chess player who had his best tournament results in the 1920s and 1930s. Born in Chiclayo, Peru, he later lived in Italy, and died in Varese. As a chess player Canal wa ...

and Silbermann won). In 1937, he won, ahead of

Lajos Steiner Lajos Steiner (14 June 1903, in Nagyvárad ( Oradea) – 22 April 1975, in Sydney) was a Hungarian–born Australian chess master. Steiner was one of four children of Bernat Steiner, a mathematics teacher, and his wife Cecilia,(née Schwarz) ...

, in

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

with 9/11. In 1938, he took 5th in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

(

Erich Eliskases Erich Gottlieb Eliskases (15 February 1913 – 2 February 1997) was a chess player who represented Austria, Germany and Argentina in international competition. In the late 1930s he was considered a potential contender for the World Championship. ...

and

Mario Monticelli Mario Monticelli (16 March 1902, Venice – 30 June 1995, Milan) was an Italian chess player. He was awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1950 and the Grandmaster title honoris causa (GME) in 1985. In 1922, he won in Rome (ITA-ch Uni ...

won). In 1939, he tied for 13-14th in Kemeri-Riga (Flohr won). Koblencs won the Latvian Championship four times (1941, 1945, 1946, 1949). Although he took 2nd, behind

Vladimir Alatortsev Vladimir Alexeyevich Alatortsev (russian: Влади́мир Алексе́евич Ала́торцев, pronounced "a LAH tart sev"; 14 May 1909 – 13 January 1987) was a Soviet chess player, author, and administrator. During his career ...

in 1945, and behind

Mark Taimanov Mark Evgenievich Taimanov (russian: Марк Евгеньевич Тайманов; 7 February 1926 – 28 November 2016) was one of the leading Soviet and Russian chess players, among the world's top 20 players from 1946 to 1971. A prolific ch ...

in 1949, both were off contest (hors concours). In June 1944, he took 2nd, behind Voldemārs Mežgailis, in Udelnaya (Latvian SSR ch.). In 1944/45, he took 2nd, behind

Paul Keres Paul Keres (; 7 January 1916 – 5 June 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five ...

, in

(

Baltic Chess Championship The first Baltic Chess Congress took place in Riga, Latvia (then Russian Empire), in 1899. The winner was Robert Behting, the elder brother of Kārlis Bētiņš, who won a play-off game with Karl Wilhelm Rosenkrantz. The second Baltic Chess Congr ...

). In 1945, he took 14th in Moscow (14th USSR-ch). In October/November 1945, he tied for 3rd-4th in Riga (Baltic Republics ch.,

Vladas Mikėnas Vladas Mikėnas (17 April 1910 – 3 November 1992) was a Lithuanian chess player and journalist. He was awarded the titles of International Master and Honorary Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster by FIDE. Early career Vladas Mikėnas played for ...

won). In June/July 1946, he tied for 6-8th in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

(Baltic Rep. ch,

Yuri Averbakh Yuri Lvovich Averbakh (russian: Ю́рий Льво́вич Аверба́х; 8 February 1922 – 7 May 2022) was a Russian chess grandmaster and author. He was chairman of the USSR Chess Federation from 1973 to 1978. He was the first centenaria ...

won). In 1961, he took 3rd in

Palanga Palanga (; bat-smg, Palonga; pl, Połąga; german: Polangen) is a seaside resort town in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Palanga is the busiest summer resort in Lithuania and has sandy beaches (18 km, 11 miles long ...

(Baltic Rep. ch,

Iivo Nei Iivo Nei (born 31 October 1931 in Tartu) is an Estonian chess master.NEI, IIVO
esbl.ee (biography in Estonian) In 1947, ...

won).http://www.geocities.com/al2055mag/index.html RUSBASE (part III), 1961-1969,1985-1990
Archived
2009-10-25. As a trainer, he started to work with young

in 1949, and coached him through his meteoric rise from the mid-1950s. Most prominently, he coached him in his

World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the World Chess ...

matches in 1960 and 1961 against

Mikhail Botvinnik Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, ( – May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer scientist and was a pioneer in computer chess. Botvinnik ...

. He also coached the team of the Soviet Union (e.g., 1956 in Moscow and 1960 in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

). Koblencs is also well known as a writer of chess books, many of which have been translated, in particular into German (under the name of ''Alexander Koblenz''). For several years, he was the editor of the Latvian chess magazine ''Šahs'' and of the German chess magazine ''Schach-Journal''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koblencs, Alexander 1916 births 1993 deaths Latvian chess players Soviet chess players Jewish chess players Sportspeople from Riga Latvian Jews Latvian chess writers Chess coaches 20th-century chess players

References

Further reading

External links