This is a "No Vacation" tournament!

ONE DAY WILL BE 3 ROUNDS AND THE FINAL BETWEEN THE BEST NINE PLAYERS.

Happy 75 Birthday to GM Robert Hübner, one of the world's leading players in the 1970s & 80s, chess writer, & papyrologist.

Hübner participated in 4 #FIDECandidates & many elite tournaments. He also served as a second to Nigel Short in the 1993 match against Kasparov.

ROBERT HüBNER

(born Nov-06-1948, 75 years old) Germany  

Dr. Robert Hübner was born in Cologne in 1948. At age sixteen, he tied for first in the European Championship. At eighteen, he was the joint winner of the West German Championship. In 1971 he received the International Grandmaster title by qualifying for the World Championship Candidates at Palma de Mallorca Interzonal (1970).

The candidate's match with Petrosian took place in Seville, Spain - Petrosian - Hübner Candidates Quarterfinal (1971). The first six games of the match ended in draws, with Petrosian winning the seventh. With three games remaining in the best-of-ten encounter, Hübner forfeited the match, citing problems with excessive heat and noise. Hübner also qualified in 1980. By defeating Adorjan and Portisch, he reached the finals. The candidate's final with Korchnoi was a best-of-sixteen match that took place in Merano. Huebner was up by a point after six rounds but lost games seven and eight. The following two games where adjourned, after which Hübner asked for a postponement. After some controversy, he ended up leaving Merano and forfeited the match. By reaching the finals, though, he secured a Candidates spot for the third time.

In the next cycle, contested in 1983, he played the sixty-two-year-old former world champion, Smyslov. The encounter took place in the Austrian spa and resort city of Velden. After fourteen games, the match was tied. On April twentieth, the match was decided by the spin of a roulette wheel at Casino Velden, which made Smyslov the winner. After this incident, quick playoff speed matches were first considered as an alternative tiebreaker. Huebner still lives in Germany and, as of 2021, he was still active, with a FIDE rating of 2574.