Another [press] clipping from an old book.
Wolfgang Unzicker was the leading German chess grandmaster of his generation. Pulling lightning victories against Fischer, Smyslov & Botvinnik.
Unzicker v Botvinnik, European Team Championship, Oberhausen 1961. (I don't have the time to do the pgn) a classic in defeating a French Defence (My favourite with black).
Karpov described [U.K. Times] Unzicker as "world champion of amateurs".
June 1925 - April 2006
@hells-caretaker saidInteresting. I've never heard of Wolfgang Unzicker until now.
Another [press] clipping from an old book.
Wolfgang Unzicker was the leading German chess grandmaster of his generation. Pulling lightning victories against Fischer, Smyslov & Botvinnik.
Unzicker v Botvinnik, European Team Championship, Oberhausen 1961. (I don't have the time to do the pgn) a classic in defeating a French Defence (My favourite with black).
Karpov described [U.K. Times] Unzicker as "world champion of amateurs".
June 1925 - April 2006
I'd like to see something published on more of these strong players around the world who lived and competed at a high level 'just under the radar' Another example is Diane Savereide, 5 time US women's champion in the 70's and 80's (see my avatar photo) I'll wager it would make interesting reading.
@Hells-C
When I saw Unzicker's name, I immediately thought of Karpov-Unzicker 1974. Even though he loses, the game is an excellent lesson.
Karpov's 24th move is why this game is a famous anthology piece. The bishop blocks the a-file, allowing White to build up and freezing Black's queenside. Without counterplay, Unzicker is left waiting while Karpov wins on the kingside. An excellent game and lesson.
The idea of a bishop freezing play on a file is also seen in the St George Attack/Yugoslav Attack positions when White plays Bh6.
Aside from the obvious idea of trading dark square bishops on g7, the bishop also freezes the Black h7 pawn in place so that White can play h4-h5 without Black being able to get in ...h5 first. The Soltis variation of the Sicilian Dragon shows how the ...h5 idea is worth White preventing it if possible.