Luděk Pachman

Luděk Pachman
Luděk Pachman in 1972
Country	Czechoslovakia West Germany
Born	May 11, 1924 Bělá pod Bezdězem (now Czech Republic)
Died	March 6, 2003 (aged 78) Passau, Germany
Title	Grandmaster
Peak rating	2520 (January 1976)

Luděk Pachman (German: Ludek Pachmann, May 11, 1924 in Bělá pod Bezdězem, today Czech Republic – March 6, 2003 in Passau, Germany) was a Czechoslovak-German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and political activist. In 1972, after being imprisoned and tortured almost to death by the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, he was allowed to emigrate to West Germany. He lived the remainder of his life there, and resumed his chess career with considerable success, including playing in the Interzonal in 1976 and winning the West German Championship in 1978.

Pachman's first chess championship came in 1940, when he became champion of the nearby village of Cista (population 900). The first break in his chess career came in 1943, when he was invited to an international tournament in Prague. World Champion Alekhine dominated the event, with Keres taking second place. Pachman finished ninth in the nineteen-player tournament. Alekhine paid him a compliment in an article in the "Frankfurter Zeitung" and from the fifth round on, invited him every evening to analyze games and opening variations. "I don't have to tell you how a beginner from a village chess club felt at that time", Pachman wrote.

Pachman went on to become one of the world's leading players. He won fifteen international tournaments, but considered sharing second place in Havana 1963, with Mikhail Tal and Efim Geller, behind Viktor Korchnoi, his best tournament result. Pachman won the Czechoslovak championship seven times between 1946 and 1966. He became the champion of West Germany in 1978. He played in six Interzonal tournaments between Saltsjöbaden 1948 and Manila 1976. He represented Czechoslovakia in eight consecutive Chess Olympiads from 1952 through 1966, usually playing first board.