Herman Pilnik

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Herman Pilnik (8 January 1914, Stuttgart, Germany – 12 November 1981, Caracas, Venezuela) was an Argentine (German origin) chess Grandmaster.

In 1929, he won the championship of Stuttgart. Pilnik emigrated from Germany to Argentina 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 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.^[1] In 1951, he won in Beverwijk. In 1951/52, he won in Vienna. In 1952, he won in Belgrade. In 1954, he won in Stuttgart.

He played for Argentina in five Chess Olympiads. In 1950, he won individual gold medal playing at first reserve board (+6 −1 =3) and team silver medal at the 9th Olympiad in Dubrovnik. In 1952, he won team silver medal playing at fourth board (+6 −1 =7) at the 10th Olympiad in Helsinki. In 1954, he won team silver medal playing at fourth board (+3 −2 =2) at the 11th Olympiad in Amsterdam. In 1956, he played at fourth board (+7 −3 =3) at the 12th Olympiad in Moscow. In 1958, he won team bronze medal playing at first board (+5 −2 =8) at the 13th Olympiad in Munich.^[2]

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 passed away in Caracas in 1981.