Wolfgang Unzicker, World Champion of Amateurs

     ...that’s what Anatoly Karpov called him. 

     Wolfgang Unzicker (June 26, 1925 - April 20, 2006) was one of the strongest West German GMs from 1945 to about 1970. He decided against making chess his profession, choosing law instead. He was rated in the mid-2500s.

     Unzicker was born in Pirmasens, a small town near Kaiserslautern in the province of Rhineland-Palatinate noted for shoe making. His father taught him how to play chess at age 10. His brother, four years older, was also a chess player but was killed in World War II. 

     Unzicker began to play tournaments abroad in 1948 and was awarded the GM title in 1954. He won the German Championship six times from 1948 to 1963 and tied for first in 1965. In 1956 he lost a match to Paul Keres in which the Ruy Lopez was played in all eight games. From 1950 to 1978 Unzicker played in twelve Chess Olympiads, and was first board on ten of them. For many years he was legal advisor for the German Chess Association. 

Among his major tournament successes were: 

* tie for first with Boris Spassky at Sochi 1965 

* first at Maribor 1967 ahead of Samuel Reshevsky 

* first at Krems, and Amsterdam 1980 tied with Hans Ree. 

* shared the prize for best top-board score with Miguel Najdorf for his performance on first board for the West German team at the 1950 Dubrovnik Chess Olympiad. 

* shared fourth place with Lajos Portisch in the 1966 Piatigorsky Cup 

* Hastings 1969–70, second behind Lajos Portisch 

* second behind Viktor Korchnoi at South Africa 1979

     Unzicker had a classical chess style modeled after Siegbert Tarrasch and, like Tarrasch, he shared some of the same dogmatic ideas. When one of his peers advised him that his openings were unambitious, he replied, "I know, but it could be worse." Unzicker died of a heart condition while vacationing in Albufeira, Portugal.

     At the Black Sea resort city of Sochi in 1965 he achieved a feat that very few Western players had accomplished when he tied for first place.  There is an interesting tribute to Unzicker on Chessbase HERE.

Wolfgang Unzicker - Vladimir Antoshin
Result: 1-0
Site: ?
Date: 1965
Ruy Lopez: Breyer Variation

[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♗b5 a6 4.♗a4 ♘f6 5.O-O ♗e7 6.♖e1 b5 7.♗b3 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 ♘b8 A paradoxical-looking variation which was suggested by Gyula Breyer in 1911, but there are no known games in which he actually played it. The variation became popular in the 1960s when it was adopted by Boris Spassky. Nowadays it's considered too passive. With 9... Nb8 Black frees the c-Pawn and intends to route the N to d7 where it supports e5. 10.d4 ♘bd7 11.♘h4 Black almost always plays 11.Nbd2, but this move is direct attempt to infiltrate on f5 and was tried by Fischer. 11...exd4

11...♖e8 worked out well for black after 12.♘f5 ♗f8 13.f4 ♗b7 14.fxe5 dxe5 15.♗g5 exd4 16.cxd4 ♗xe4 17.♖xe4 ♖xe4 and black is much better, but later poor play resulted in him losing the game in Kobese,W (2367)-Bhawoodien,M (2103)/ Durban RSA 2017

11...♘xe4 He could win a P with this but it allows white to obtain some initiative with 13.Nf5. 12.♘f5 ♘df6 13.♕f3 ♗b7 14.♗c2 ♘c5 15.♕g3 ♘e6 16.dxe5 dxe5

12.cxd4 ♘b6 13.♗c2 There is a strong argument for retreating with 13.Nf3 now that black has conceded the center. 13...♘fd5 This does not work out well at all. Correct was 13...c5

13...c5 14.♘d2 cxd4 15.♘hf3 ♖e8 16.♘xd4 ♗f8 17.b3 ♗b7 18.♗b2 ♘bd7 19.♕f3 ♖c8 20.♖ad1 d5 21.♗b1 dxe4 22.♘xe4 ♘xe4 23.♗xe4 ♖xe4 24.♖xe4 ♘e5 25.♕e2 ♗xe4 and Byrne,R (2510) -Spassky,B (2690)/Moscow 1971 agreed to a draw.

14.♘f5 The thematic move, but here it allows black to gain a slight advantage. (14.exd5 ♗xh4 15.♘c3 ♗b7 is equal.)

14.♘f3 is the best try to gain an advantage. 14...♘b4 15.♘c3 ♘xc2 16.♕xc2 is about equal.

14...♗xf5 15.exf5 (15.exd5 ♗xc2 16.♕xc2 ♗f6 is advantageous to black.) 15...♗f6 16.♘c3 It would have been somewhat better to play 16.a4 first. 16...♘xc3 17.bxc3 c5 Black's better P-structure fully compensates for white's Bishop pair. 18.♗e4 ♖c8 19.♗f4 ♘a4 20.♖c1 ♕b6 So far black has been playing quite well, but now he begins drifting. Direct play by 20...d5 was better. (20...d5 21.♗f3 cxd4 22.cxd4 ♖c4 with about equal chances.) 21.dxc5 This move is not the most precise as it allows black to maintain equality. Better was 21.Qf3 at once. 21...dxc5 22.♕f3 This defends c3 and at the same time activates his Q and B. 22...♖fe8 Not bad, but 22...c4! fixing the weakness on c3 would have been better, 23.c4 bxc4 After this black is in serious trouble.

23...♘b2 could lead to exciting and unclear complications. 24.cxb5 axb5 25.♗b7 ♖xe1 26.♖xe1 ♖d8 27.♗d5 c4 28.♗xf7 ♔xf7 29.♕h5 ♔f8 30.♕xh7 ♘d3

24.♗d5 ♘b2 With white's B already on d5 this is one move too late. It was better to return to defending with 23...Rf8 25.♗xf7 Now black gets crushed. 25...♔xf7 26.♕d5 ♔f8 27.♗d6 ♖e7 Regrettably forced. (27...♗e7 28.♖xe7 ♖xe7 29.♕e6 ♖ce8 30.♗xe7 wins the Q.) 28.♖e6 ♖d8

28...♕a7 29.♖ce1 ♖ce8 30.♖1e3 with the devastating threat of 31.Rxf6+ gxf6 32.Rg3 followed by mate on g8, which Black, bound hand and foo, is unable to prevent

29.♗xe7 ♗xe7 30.♖xb6 ♖xd5 31.♖xb2 Here black prematurely resigned. True, he is certainly lost with correct play, but he could have played on.

31.♖xb2 ♗f6 32.♖b6 c3 33.♖xa6 ♖xf5 Shootouts from this position produced a score for white of +4 -0 =1.

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