Pachman Ludek (11.05.1924 – 06.03.2003)

Czech Grandmaster (1954), author of 80 books and a journalist who was living for many years in West Germany. Editor of the FIDE magazine for many years. Czechoslovakian Champion in 1946, 1953, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1963 and 1966.

Best results: winner at Arbon 1946 and 1949, Bucharest 1949, Mar del Plata 1957, Santiago 1957, Lima 1957, Sarajevo 1960 and 1961, Marianske Lazne 1960, Graz 1961, Athens 1968, and Reggio Emilia 1975-76.

Pachman is one of the few players who had a positive score of +2-2=4 against Fischer. He has participated in the Olympiads from 1952 until 1966 for Czechoslovakia and in 1976 for West Germany.

A devoted Communist then later an anti-Communist, Pachman was imprisoned following the 1968 Warsaw Pact ‘invasion’ of Czechoslovakia 1968, but in 1972, he was allowed to emigrate to West Germany where he became the national champion in 1978.

Author of Queen’s Gambit and other Close Games (1963), Modern Chess Strategy (1971), and Pachman Decisive Games(1975).

Peak rating: 2520 in 1976.