Helmut Pfleger (born on August 6, 1943) is a prominent German chess Grandmaster known for his significant contribution to chess broadcasting. At 16 years, he won the German Junior Championship and at 20 he became an International Master. He achieved the title of Grandmaster in 1975.
While he was a medical student in Munich, he conducted intensive research on the effects of stress and psychological performance in chess. His studies focussed on the respiratory frequency, oxygen consumption and pulse frequency of chess players during matches, and he later implemented these findings in his practice as a medical doctor in internal medicine.
Moreover, Pfleger has been active in promoting chess through broadcasting. From the mid-seventies until 2008, Dr Pfleger has been providing chess commentary for German television. He's also been the author of numerous chess books, emphasizing the mating motif, which he believes to be largely neglected in chess literature.
Dr Pfleger was the President of the German Chess Federation from 1977 to 1981, and co-organised the 1980 World Chess Championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi while serving as President. He received the Federal Cross of Merit for his services to the game of chess.