He moved to Graz at the age of 17 to become a student and often frequented the Mountainside Café, a popular meeting place for chess players. As he already had a recognisable chess talent, he joined a local club 'SK Gemeinde' (Municipal chess club) and quickly advanced to master standard.
Becoming an International Master (IM) in 1957 and a Grandmaster (GM) in 1961, Robatsch dedicated much of his life to serving Austrian chess, representing the nation at eleven Chess Olympiads and one European Team Chess Championship. Up until his last Olympiad in 1994, he played first board on every occasion and returned some impressive results. At the 1960 Leipzig Olympiad, he astounded the chess world by scoring 84.4% and taking the board 1 gold medal, while still only an IM. This was also the year that he became Austrian champion.
Tournament recordedit
While Robatsch played competitively over five decades, the high points of his international tournament career mostly occurred in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was a winner at Madrid in 1961 (with Borislav Milić) and achieved outright or shared second place at Kapfenberg 1955, Varna 1957, Utrecht 1961 and Beverwijk 1962. At Halle in 1963, a zonal qualifying tournament for the world championship, he finished with a creditable tie for third (after Lajos Portisch and Bent Larsen, level with Borislav Ivkov).
Later, he took a share of second place at Venice 1969, and placed third at Olot 1972, Costa Brava 1973 and Vienna 1979. He continued to play to a good standard into the late 1990s.
Robatsch displayed a highly combinative playing style in his younger days and adopted a more positional approach later in life. His opening play was often punctuated with experimental moves and this led to some lively and historically important games. The system of opening moves commencing 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 (see diagram), first seen in the 16th century, became a playground that Robatsch returned to time and time again when he had the black pieces.
Following preparatory moves such as Nc6 or d6, Black characteristically delays the development of the kingsideknight in favour of an early challenge in the centre with e5. An alternative configuration, with which he drew with ex-world champion Max Euwe, involved playing an early c5 and d5. Other strategies employed by Black are likely to transpose to lines of the Pirc Defence, King's Indian Defence or Modern Benoni. Robatsch duly revived, developed and popularised the system and it became widely known as the 'Robatsch Defence' throughout the 1960s, 70s and even into the 1980s. The tenth edition of Modern Chess Openings (1965) grouped the Pirc and Robatsch together as the "Pirc–Robatsch Defense". Although some opening books still reference it this way, a more common designation is the Modern Defence.
He was also known for his offbeat version of the Centre Counter, or Scandinavian Defence as it is now best known.
Parallel careeredit
Robatsch may have hindered his further development as a chess player by sharing his love of chess with a parallel career in botany. As an esteemed orchidologist, he was awarded the title of 'Professor' for his outstanding research work in the classification of different species and sub-species of orchid.
Karl Robatsch died in 2000, following a long fight with throat and stomach cancer.
Notable gamesedit
M Euwe vs K Robatsch, Varna 1962, Modern Defense: Queen Pawn Fianchetto (B06), ½–½
J Durao vs K Robatsch, Olympiad 1960, Modern Defense: Averbakh Variation (A42), 0–1
Referencesedit
Notes
^Early FIDE records had 1928 as Robatsch's birth year until it was corrected after January 1993 (as seen in the FIDE ratings lists). Sources such as Sunnucks 1970 and Gaige 1987 also give the incorrect year.
Citations
^Wiener Zeitung obituary 2016-08-09 at the Wayback Machine, 29 September 2000 (in German)
Karl Robatsch Chess Olympiad record at OlimpBase.org
Karl Robatsch player profile and games at Chessgames.com
Karl Robatsch chess games at 365Chess.com
April 10, 2024
karl, robatsch, october, 1929, klagenfurt, september, 2000, leading, austrian, chess, player, noted, botanist, robatsch, 1961countryaustriaborn, 1929, october, 1929, note, klagenfurt, austriadiedseptember, 2000, 2000, aged, titlegrandmaster, 1961, peak, rating. Karl Robatsch October 14 1929 in Klagenfurt September 19 2000 1 was a leading Austrian chess player and a noted botanist Karl RobatschRobatsch in 1961CountryAustriaBorn 1929 10 14 October 14 1929 note 1 Klagenfurt AustriaDiedSeptember 19 2000 2000 09 19 aged 70 TitleGrandmaster 1961 Peak rating2460 July 1971 He moved to Graz at the age of 17 to become a student and often frequented the Mountainside Cafe a popular meeting place for chess players As he already had a recognisable chess talent he joined a local club SK Gemeinde Municipal chess club and quickly advanced to master standard Contents 1 A team player 2 Tournament record 3 Style and contributions to opening theory 4 Parallel career 5 Notable games 6 References 7 External linksA team player editBecoming an International Master IM in 1957 and a Grandmaster GM in 1961 Robatsch dedicated much of his life to serving Austrian chess representing the nation at eleven Chess Olympiads and one European Team Chess Championship Up until his last Olympiad in 1994 he played first board on every occasion and returned some impressive results At the 1960 Leipzig Olympiad he astounded the chess world by scoring 84 4 and taking the board 1 gold medal while still only an IM This was also the year that he became Austrian champion Tournament record editWhile Robatsch played competitively over five decades the high points of his international tournament career mostly occurred in the late 1950s and early 1960s He was a winner at Madrid in 1961 with Borislav Milic and achieved outright or shared second place at Kapfenberg 1955 Varna 1957 Utrecht 1961 and Beverwijk 1962 At Halle in 1963 a zonal qualifying tournament for the world championship he finished with a creditable tie for third after Lajos Portisch and Bent Larsen level with Borislav Ivkov Later he took a share of second place at Venice 1969 and placed third at Olot 1972 Costa Brava 1973 and Vienna 1979 He continued to play to a good standard into the late 1990s Style and contributions to opening theory editabcdefgh8 nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 877665544332211abcdefghRobatsch or Modern Defence This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves Robatsch displayed a highly combinative playing style in his younger days and adopted a more positional approach later in life His opening play was often punctuated with experimental moves and this led to some lively and historically important games The system of opening moves commencing 1 e4 g6 2 d4 Bg7 see diagram first seen in the 16th century became a playground that Robatsch returned to time and time again when he had the black pieces Following preparatory moves such as Nc6 or d6 Black characteristically delays the development of the kingside knight in favour of an early challenge in the centre with e5 An alternative configuration with which he drew with ex world champion Max Euwe involved playing an early c5 and d5 Other strategies employed by Black are likely to transpose to lines of the Pirc Defence King s Indian Defence or Modern Benoni Robatsch duly revived developed and popularised the system and it became widely known as the Robatsch Defence throughout the 1960s 70s and even into the 1980s The tenth edition of Modern Chess Openings 1965 grouped the Pirc and Robatsch together as the Pirc Robatsch Defense Although some opening books still reference it this way a more common designation is the Modern Defence He was also known for his offbeat version of the Centre Counter or Scandinavian Defence as it is now best known Parallel career editRobatsch may have hindered his further development as a chess player by sharing his love of chess with a parallel career in botany As an esteemed orchidologist he was awarded the title of Professor for his outstanding research work in the classification of different species and sub species of orchid The standard author abbreviation Robatsch is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name 2 Karl Robatsch died in 2000 following a long fight with throat and stomach cancer Notable games editM Euwe vs K Robatsch Varna 1962 Modern Defense Queen Pawn Fianchetto B06 J Durao vs K Robatsch Olympiad 1960 Modern Defense Averbakh Variation A42 0 1References editNotes Early FIDE records had 1928 as Robatsch s birth year until it was corrected after January 1993 as seen in the FIDE ratings lists Sources such as Sunnucks 1970 and Gaige 1987 also give the incorrect year Citations Wiener Zeitung obituary Archived 2016 08 09 at the Wayback Machine 29 September 2000 in German International Plant Names Index Robatsch Bibliography Sunnucks Anne 1970 The Encyclopaedia of Chess Hale ISBN 0709110308 Gaige Jeremy 1987 Chess Personalia A Biobibliography McFarland p 356 ISBN 0 7864 2353 6 Karl Robatsch on the German WikipediaExternal links editKarl Robatsch Chess Olympiad record at OlimpBase org Karl Robatsch player profile and games at Chessgames com Karl Robatsch chess games at 365Chess com Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Karl Robatsch amp oldid 1214773905, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
