Robert Pikler, A Chess Champion Lost to Music

     Robert Pikler was born in Fureszfalu, Hungary, on January 24, 1909 and died on January 17, 1984 in his home in Adelaide, Australia and was cremated. A violinist, violist and conductor, he was one of six children of Emil Pikler, Social Democrat member of the Hungarian parliament. 

     He studied violin and viola at Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy of Music. Also interested in conducting, in 1927 he formed his own chamber orchestra, which toured extensively in Central Europe before departing in 1934 for Asia. Mixing concert and radio work, Pikler and his orchestra stayed in India for two years, later touring the East. 

     Pikler was directing the Netherlands East Indies Radio Orchestra in Jakarta in 1942, when the Japanese interned him. The extra food that h e received for performing helped him to survive but he later commented, "with all humility, I feel I was stronger than many others. I had a stronger will to survive." 

     After the war, in 1946, he arrived in Sydney, broke, without an instrument and wearing a borrowed suit. Within months, he and another musician formed the Musica Viva Chamber Players. With Pikler as violinist and leader, they sometimes gave two hundred concerts a year. The group disbanded in 1951 following Musica Viva’s temporary collapse. 

     In 1952 he was offered the position of principal violist in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He reluctantly accepted because symphony work provided financial security. He was quickly recognized as the best viola player in Australia. and became an Australian citizen in 1958. 

     In 1965 he left the Sydney Symphony Orchestra to become artistic director and violist with the Sydney String Quartet at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music. In 1969 eye problems forced him to leave the quartet.

     Returning to conducting, he formed the Robert Pikler Chamber Orchestra, which toured Australia and, in 1970, South-East Asia. He retired from public performances in the following year. 

     Throughout his career he was hampered by illness. Pressure neuritis in his left hand forced him to play with plastic caps on two fingers to lessen the pain. Terrible headaches were the legacy of cancer in the bone cavities of his face. At home, his poor health made him morose. 

     Besides music, Pikler was a talented bridge player and at the age of 17 he was officially rated a chess master. He participated in the Hungarian championship in 1931 (7th out of 15) and 1932 (finish unknown), Budapest International 1932 (10th out of 18). In Sydney 1957 in the Ukrainian Club’s Invitational he finished 5th-6th (out of 18) and the 1958/59 Australian Championship he tied for places 6-8 (out of 32); the event was a Swiss system tournament. In 1959 he played on 3rd board for New South Wales behind C.J.S. Purdy and Gregory Koshnitsky in a team match against Victoria, but lost his game.

 

[Event "Hungarian Champioship, Budapest"] [Site "Budapest"] [Date "1931.??.??"] [Round "12"] [White "Robert Pikler"] [Black "Jeno Szekely"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D02"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "1931.??.??"] {QP Opening} 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c6 3. Nbd2 Bf5 (3... Nf6 4. c4 Bf5 5. Nh4 Be6 6. Qb3 Qc7 7. e3 {Equals. Kovacevic,V (2555) -Nikolic,P (2570) Pula 1984}) 4. e3 Nd7 (4... e6 5. c4 Nd7 6. Qb3 Qb6 7. Be2 Be7 8. O-O {is completely even. Flohr, S-Alekhine,A Hastings White Rock Pavilion 1934}) 5. Nh4 Bg6 6. Nxg6 hxg6 7. Nf3 {More in line with white's opening is 7.e4} e6 8. Bd3 Bd6 9. Bd2 g5 {For his part back could have also advanced his e-Pawn here.} 10. g3 {He should not have allowed ...g5 and so 10.g5 was preferred.} g4 11. Nh4 {The N has no future here so 11.Ng1 was more accurate.} Ngf6 12. Be2 Ne4 {A nice P sacrifice; black has a strong initiative.} 13. Bxg4 g5 14. Ng2 f5 {Not bad, but 14...Qf3 was very strong. Black can hardly be blamed for missing this though because the followup is hard to spot!} (14... Qf6 15. Qe2 {Watch this!} (15. Rf1 Rxh2 16. Bf3 Nxd2 17. Kxd2 {black is vastly superior.}) 15... Bxg3 16. fxg3 Nxg3 17. Qf2 Nxh1 18. Qxf6 Nxf6 19. h3 Ne4 20. O-O-O Nhf2 {and black is up the exchange and a P.}) 15. Bh5+ Kf8 {As will be seen it would have been better to play 15.. .Ke7 connecting the pieces on the back rank.} 16. Bf3 Nxg3 {But now this is unsound! The prosaic 16...Ndf7 would have left his slightly better.} 17. fxg3 Bxg3+ 18. Ke2 {Without the Q on the f-file as in the previous variation black has no effective followup.} Bxh2 {Pinning his own B. Black is now lost. Best was 18...Bd6 but even then white's position would have been much better.} ( 18... Rxh2 19. Rxh2 Bxh2 20. Qh1 Bd6 21. Qh8+ {mates in 2.}) 19. Qg1 {[%mdl 512] Excellent!} g4 (19... Bxg1 20. Rxh8+ Ke7 21. Rxd8 Rxd8 22. Rxg1 {wins easily.}) 20. Rxh2 gxf3+ 21. Kxf3 {[%mdl 32]} Rg8 {Black's position has totally collapsed and the rest of the game is played out of inertia.} 22. Qh1 Qg5 23. Nf4 Qg4+ 24. Kf2 Nf6 25. Rg2 Ne4+ 26. Ke1 Ng3 27. Qh6+ Ke8 28. Qxe6+ Kd8 29. Ba5+ b6 30. Qd6+ Ke8 31. Qxc6+ Kf7 32. Qe6+ {Black finally realized the futility for playing on.} 1-0