Marian Wróbel

Marian Wróbel (1 January 1907 – 25 April 1960) was a prominent Polish chess problemist of the mid-twentieth century. Between 1947 and 1950 he was considered the leading chess composer in the world. During his lifetime he published more than 1,000 problems and was a FIDE International Master of Chess Composition.

Biography

Born in Lwów (now Lviv) on 1 January 1907,^[1] Wróbel learned to play chess as a child of 5 and became interested in chess problems. In 1922, he published his first problem at the age of 15 and in 1928 the International Association of Problemists ranked him fourth in the world.

He studied in Lwów and Warsaw and completed a Magister's degree in Polish philology in 1932. He became a teacher but due to health problems transferred to administrative work.

During the 1930s Wróbel was a close collaborator and friend of Dawid Przepiórka and hosted him following the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 when Przepiórka's Warsaw home was destroyed. Wróbel was with Przepiórka during a private gathering of chess players in January 1940 when the Gestapo raided the meeting and arrested all the participants.^[2]

Wróbel was very active as a journalist of chess and published three major books on chess composition.

In 1954 he was awarded the FIDE title International Master of Chess Composition, and in 1959 he became an International Judge of Chess Composition,^[1] the first year the title was awarded.

Wróbel died in Warsaw on 25 April 1960.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Gaige, Jeremy (1987), Chess Personalia, A Biobibliography, McFarland, p. 471, ISBN 0-7864-2353-6 
2. ^ Goldstein, Alexander (1984). "David Przepiórka". EG 77 (5): 314–317. 

Further reading

• Wróbel, Marian (1956), Lat Polskiej Kompozycji Szachowej, Warszawa 
• Litmanowicz, Władysław (1976), Polscy Szachiści, Warszawa, pp. 237–243