Karl Robatsch
| Karl Robatsch | |
|---|---|
 Robatsch in 1961 | |
| Country | Austria |
| Born | October 14, 1929[note 1] Klagenfurt, Austria |
| Died | September 19, 2000 (aged 70) |
| Title | Grandmaster (1961) |
| Peak rating | 2460 (July 1971) |
Karl Robatsch (October 14, 1929 in
He moved to Graz at the age of 17 to become a student and often frequented the Mountainside Café, a popular meeting place for chess players. As he already had a recognisable chess talent, he joined a local club 'SK Gemeinde' (Municipal chess club) and quickly advanced to master standard.
A team player
Becoming an
Tournament record
While Robatsch played competitively over five decades, the high points of his international tournament career mostly occurred in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was a winner at
Later, he took a share of second place at Venice 1969, and placed third at Olot 1972, Costa Brava 1973 and Vienna 1979. He continued to play to a good standard into the late 1990s.
Style and contributions to opening theory
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Robatsch displayed a highly combinative playing style in his younger days and adopted a more positional approach later in life. His opening play was often punctuated with experimental moves and this led to some lively and historically important games. The system of opening moves commencing 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 (see diagram), first seen in the 16th century, became a playground that Robatsch returned to time and time again when he had the black pieces.
Following preparatory moves such as Nc6 or d6, Black characteristically delays the development of the
He was also known for his offbeat version of the Centre Counter, or
Parallel career
Robatsch may have hindered his further development as a chess player by sharing his love of chess with a parallel career in botany. As an esteemed orchidologist, he was awarded the title of 'Professor' for his outstanding research work in the classification of different species and sub-species of
Karl Robatsch died in 2000, following a long fight with throat and stomach cancer.
Notable games
- M Euwe vs K Robatsch, Varna 1962, Modern Defense: Queen Pawn Fianchetto (B06), ½–½
- J Durao vs K Robatsch, Olympiad 1960, Modern Defense: Averbakh Variation (A42), 0–1
References
Notes
- ^ Early FIDE records had 1928 as Robatsch's birth year until it was corrected after January 1993 (as seen in the FIDE ratings lists). Sources such as Sunnucks 1970 and Gaige 1987 also give the incorrect year.
Citations
- ^ Wiener Zeitung obituary Archived 2016-08-09 at the Wayback Machine, 29 September 2000 (in German)
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Robatsch.
Bibliography
- ISBN 0709110308.
- ISBN 0-7864-2353-6.
- Karl Robatsch on the German Wikipedia
External links
- Karl Robatsch Chess Olympiad record at OlimpBase.org
- Karl Robatsch player profile and games at Chessgames.com
- Karl Robatsch chess games at 365Chess.com
