Hermann Pilnik (8 January 1914, Stuttgart, Germany – 12 November 1981, Caracas,

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

) was a

German Argentine German Argentines (german: Deutschargentinier, es, germano-argentinos) are Argentines of German ancestry as well as German citizens living in Argentina. They are descendants of Germans who immigrated to Argentina from Germany and elsewhere in E ...

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 dist ...

Grandmaster.

Career

In 1929, he won the championship of Stuttgart. Pilnik emigrated from Germany to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in 1930. He won the Argentine Championships in 1942, 1945 and 1958. Pilnik began his international career in 1942, when he tied for 10-11th in New York, and tied for 2nd-3rd in Mar del Plata. In 1944, he tied for 1st with

Miguel Najdorf Miguel Najdorf (born Mojsze Mendel Najdorf) (15 April 1910 – 4 July 1997) was a Polish–Argentinian chess grandmaster. Originally from Poland, he was in Argentina when World War II began in 1939, and he stayed and settled there. He was ...

in Mar del Plata. In July/August 1945, he took 3rd at the Hollywood Pan-American Tournament in Los Angeles. The event was won by

Samuel Reshevsky Samuel Herman Reshevsky (born Szmul Rzeszewski; November 26, 1911 – April 4, 1992) was a Polish chess prodigy and later a leading American chess grandmaster. He was a contender for the World Chess Championship from the mid-1930s to the mid-196 ...

. In 1951, he came third in Gijón international tournament (Euwe was the winner), and he won in

Beverwijk Beverwijk () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The town is located about northwest of Amsterdam in the Randstad metropolitan area, north of the North Sea Canal very close to the North Sea coast. A ...

. In 1951/52, in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, In 1952, he won in Belgrade. In 1954, he won in Stuttgart. He played for Argentina in five

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 an ...

s. In 1950, he won individual gold medal playing at first reserve board (+6 −1 =3) and team silver medal at the

9th Chess Olympiad The 9th Chess Olympiad ( hr, 9. Šahovska olimpijada), organized by the FIDE and comprising an open team tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between August 20 and September 11, 1950, in Dubrovnik ...

in Dubrovnik. In 1952, he won team silver medal playing at fourth board (+6 −1 =7) at the

10th Chess Olympiad The 10th Chess Olympiad ( fi, 10. Shakkiolympialaiset; sv, Den 10:e Schackolympiad), organized by the FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. team t ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

. In 1954, he won team silver medal playing at fourth board (+3 −2 =2) at the

11th Chess Olympiad The 11th Chess Olympiad ( nl, De 11e Schaakolympiade), organized by the FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. team tournament, as well as several o ...

in Amsterdam. In 1956, he played at fourth board (+7 −3 =3) at the 12th Chess Olympiad in Moscow. In 1958, he won team bronze medal playing at first board (+5 −2 =8) at the 13th Chess Olympiad in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

.OlimpBase :: the encyclopaedia of team chess
/ref> He was awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1950 and the Grandmaster (GM) title in 1952. He took 10th at the Candidates Tournament at Amsterdam 1956. He traveled a lot and finally settled in Venezuela, where he taught chess at the Caracas Military Academy. He died in Caracas in 1981. The Pilnik Variation of the Ruy Lopez is named after him.

References

External links

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Visa with photo of 1945
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilnik, Herman 1914 births 1981 deaths Chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors German chess players Argentine chess players Argentine people of Jewish descent 20th-century chess players German emigrants to Argentina Death in Caracas