Born in Dresden, his father, a baker, taught him the game at the age of six but, at age sixteen he contracted tuberculosis and spent 1 year and a half in a sanatorium where he seriously studied the game and emerged as a strong player. He won the German Youth Champion in 1951. He learned the trade of letterpress printing, but never practiced it, becoming a professional chess player instead.
Uhlmann was acknowledged as one of the world's leading experts on the French Defense, which he used almost exclusively in answer to 1.e4, particularly the Winawer Variation.
In 1964, Uhlmann tied for first with Lev Polugaevsky in Sarajevo and with Vasily Smyslov in the Capablanca Memorial in Havana.
He tied for first with Borislav Ivkov at Zagreb 1965, tied for first with Boris Spassky at Hastings 1965/66, tied for first with David Bronstein at Szombathely 1966 and tied for first with Bronstein at the Berlin Lasker Memorial in 1968.
At Raach in 1969, a zonal tournament, he finished two points ahead of the field and qualified for the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal in 1970. There he tied for 5th with Mark Taimanov and reached the Candidates Matches the following year. He lost his quarter-final match to Bent Larsen, 5.5-3.5.
Chessmetrics retro-ratings give some idea of how good Uhlmann was in comparison to his contemporaries. He is assigned a high rating of 2686 on the site's December 1970 list and was ranked number 20 in the world. On the July 1971 list he is ranked number 17 in the world.
He had been sick for much of his life from complications resulting from his childhood tuberculosis, but he died in Dresden, where he had lived his entire life, after entering a hospital following a fall.
In the following game his opponent, Dragoljub Velimirovic tried to set up a fork on black's K and Q on move 21, but missed Uhlmann's refutation. The game is a reminder that captures or recaptures are not mandatory in chess.
Dragoljub Velimirovic–Wolfgang Uhlmann0–1C01SkopjeSkopje YUG29.02.1976Stockfish 14.1
French: Exchange Variation 1.e4 e6 Uhlmann was a life long expert on the
French Defense and so Velimirovic, a dangerous tactician, transposes the game
into the Exchange Variation, normally a toothless drawing variation in which
the position becomes simple and clearcut and white makes no attempt at using
his first move advantage. However, white can create winning chances by playing
c2–c4 at some stage to put pressure on the Pawn on d5. Black can give white
an isolated d-Pawn by capturing on c4, but this gives white's pieces greater
freedom, which may lead to attacking chances. 2.c4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.d4 f6 5.c3 e7 Uhlmann wrote: In no circumstances should lack exchange on c4 too
early since after the gain of tempo Bxc4 the pressure from the attack against
the f7-square would give white the advantage. 6.f3 0-0 7.e3 c6 7...dxc4 According to Uhlmann this move is too soon. 8.xc4 bd7 9.h3 b6 10.b3 bd5 11.0-0 c6 Castaldo,F (2283)-Rogers,I (2529) Saint Vincent 2001 and
white has a good position. 7...c6 An unusual move that gives black
equality, but nothing more. 8.e2 e6 9.g5 f5 10.0-0 h6 11.f3 e6 12.b3 e8 is equal. Meijers,V (2496)-Rodriguez Gonzalez,J (2280) San Sebastian
2008 8.d3 White has also tried 8.h3 dxc4 Uhlmann: The exchange comes at
the right moment. The light squared B has to move twice and black can close
off the a2-g8 diagonal with the moves ...Nbd7-b6 followed by ...Nd5 9.xc4 bd7 10.0-0 b6 11.b3 bd5 Black has a
solid position and now concentrates on completing his development. 12.e5 e6 13.g5 Uhlmann was critical of this move, stating, "With this move white
reveals that he has no real plan. The second move with this B is already a
plus for black." However, he did not offer an alternative. Perhaps 13.Re1.
White might also try to set up a B and Q battery on the b1-h7 diagonal. e8 14.e1 a5 According to Uhlmann, with this move black gets the initiative
because he is the first to create threats and, in addition, the square d8 is
vacated for the R. According to Stockfish the position is evaluated at 0.00
meaning both sides have chances. 15.f3 ad8 16.ad1 16.xf6 According
to Uhlmann this is unsatisfactory, but after xf6 17.e4 e7 18.ad1
there is absolutely nothing wrong with white's position. 16...b4 "A
surprising redeployment of the B. This move is based on a tactical joke, which
white does not take seriously enough." Uhlmann. Either 16...h6 or 16...Nc7
result in equality. 17.xd5 Wrong capture. 17.xd5 xd5 18.g3 and
white has good attacking chances after e6 19.f4 17...xd5 18.xd5 xd5 19.xf6 Velimirovic played this under the impression that it was
a refutation of black's plan, but in reality it's the losing move! gxf6
Velimirovic saw this, but he missed black's 20th move. 19...xf3 This is
inferior to the text. 20.xf3 xe1+ 21.xe1 gxf6 21...xe1 22.xd8
White is a piece up. 22.d1 White has just a slightly better endgame. 20.xf6 Forced. 20.xd5 xd5 21.g4 xe1+ 22.xe1 xe1 23.xf6+ g7 24.xd5 cxd5 and white has lost a piece. 20.g4+ is met by f8 and white
has two pieces under attack. 20...d6 20...xe1 would be wrong because
after 21.g5+ f8 22.h6+ g8 white draws. 22...e7 loses to 23.xe1 21.d7 xe1 Forcing immediate resignation. 21...xf6
It's still not too late to lose! 22.xe8+ g7 23.g8+ h6 24.xf6 This position is evaluated as a clear win for white. b5 25.g4+ h5 26.e3 f5 27.d5 cxd5 28.xf5 is mate in e2 29.g3+ h6 30.xe2 f8 31.xd5 g7 32.f4 e5 33.xe5 a6 34.h5# 21...xe1 22.d3 xf6 23.xf6+ f8 24.xd5 cxd5 Black is a piece up. 0–1
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