Wolfgang Uhlmann

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Wolfgang Uhlmann (born March 29, 1935) is a prominent German International Grandmaster of chess.

His father taught him the game at the age of eleven at their home in Dresden and he progressed to the title of German Youth Champion in 1951. By 1956 he was an International Master and by 1959, a Grandmaster.

He quickly established himself as the dominant force in East German chess, winning the GDR (German Democratic Republic, the official name for East Germany) national championship on eleven occasions from 1954 to 1986. Indeed, eleven appears to be a significant number in his life; he was the GDR's most outstanding player at the Chess Olympiads of 1956 - 1990, making eleven appearances, mostly on top board. At the 1964 event in Tel Aviv, he scored 83.3%, earning him the individual board one gold medal. An individual bronze medal followed in 1966 at Havana.

His most promising attempt at World Championship qualification occurred at the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal of 1970, where he placed 5th-6th and reached the Candidates Matches, held the following year. Alas, his quarter-final match with Bent Larsen in Las Palmas ended in disappointment - a 5.5-3.5 victory for Larsen and Uhlmann wasn't able to come so close again.

It was during the 1960s that he made a lasting impression on the international tournament scene. 1st= (with Polugaevsky) at Sarajevo 1964, 1st= (with Smyslov) at Havana 1964, 1st= (with Ivkov) at Zagreb 1965 (ahead of world champion Petrosian), 1st= (with Spassky) at Hastings 1965/66, 1st= (with Bronstein) at Szombathely 1966, 1st= (with Liberzon) at Zinnowitz 1967 and 1st= (with Bronstein) at the Berlin 'Lasker Memorial' in 1968. At Raach in 1969, a zonal tournament, he finished 2 points clear of the field (which included Lajos Portisch).

Into the 1970s and 80s, there was further success. 1st= (with Bronstein and Hort) at Hastings 1975/76, 2nd (behind Karpov) at Skopje 1976, 1st at Vrbas 1977, 1st= (with Farago and Knaak) at Halle 1978 and 1st at Halle 1981.

He is renowned as one of the world's leading experts on the French Defence, having refined and improved many of its variations and authored books on the opening. He is one of very few Grandmasters to have deployed the French almost exclusively in reply to 1.e4.

Despite being a dedicated professional chess player and undoubtedly, the GDR's most successful ever, Uhlmann has also had a career in accountancy.