Hans-Joachim Hecht
Encyclopedia
Hans-Joachim Hecht is a German chess
player and twice the national champion. His first name is often abbreviated to Hajo.
One of his earliest international tournaments was the Kecskemét
zonal qualifier of 1964, where he finished a creditable ninth equal, behind some of the finest players of the day (Georgi Tringov
, Ludek Pachman
, László Szabó
, Florin Gheorghiu
and Vlastimil Hort
to name a few). At Bussum
in 1968, he took a share of sixth place (Robert Hubner
won). There were other promising results at Bussum 1969 and the Raach
zonal the same year, but it was apparent that development was slow during this phase of his career, and he was unable to challenge for first place in strong competition.
Progress was eventually forthcoming between earning his International Master title in 1969 and becoming a Grandmaster in 1973, when the quality of his play improved rapidly, and this was largely due to his decision to turn professional around 1970. As a result, he participated in a great many events and was able to register impressive victories at Bad Pyrmont
1970 (with Alexander Matanovic and Mato Damjanovic), Olot
1971, Málaga
1972, Montilla-Moriles
1972 and Dortmund
1973 (with Boris Spassky
and Ulf Andersson
). Domestically too, he twice captured the German Chess Championship
, in 1970 and 1973. At Wijk aan Zee
in 1974, a fully bearded Hecht took a share of third place behind Walter Browne and Jan Hein Donner
(ahead of Jan Timman
and Andras Adorjan
) and was the winner at Dublin.
He was also making wedding plans in 1974 and realised that his earnings would be insufficient to raise a family. Consequently, he resumed his former amateur status and took a job in local government
, based in Solingen
. He married Anne Marie Zeitler, the sister of notable German blind chess player Hans Zeitler and together they had two sons, Christopher and Volkmar. Both are strong chess players.
Hecht has had a long and successful association with team chess, spanning from 1962 to 1986, during which time he made ten Chess Olympiad
appearances. Curiously, his highest team position (board 2) at Valletta 1980
, coincided with his best score of +7, =4, -2 (69%). He also played at three European Team Championship
s, from 1965 to 1977, but it was at the World Team Chess Championship
of 1985, that he scored his biggest triumph, taking an individual gold medal for his performance on board 5. Over the years, he also gained medals at the EEC
Team Chess Championship, The Clare Benedict Chess Cup, and the Nordic Chess Cup. In league chess, he enjoyed many successes with Chess Bundesliga
teams Solingen SG 1868 and Bayern Munich throughout his career.
By the late 1970s, he found himself playing a diminishing number of tournaments and so took up correspondence chess
, earning himself the Correspondence International Master title in 1980.
For many years, he was a 'second' to World Chess Championship
Candidate
Robert Hubner.
Most recently, he has been involved in the promotion of German junior chess club Furstenfeldbruck, but also participated at the 2005 World Senior Chess Championship
at Lignano Sabbiadoro
, where he made a respectable top ten finish from a field of one hundred and forty. In 2006, he played at Queenstown
, New Zealand, and took home the 'Seniors' trophy.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
player and twice the national champion. His first name is often abbreviated to Hajo.
One of his earliest international tournaments was the Kecskemét
Kecskemét
Kecskemét is a city in the central part of Hungary. It is the 8th largest city of the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun.Kecskemét lies halfway between the capital Budapest and the country's third-largest city, Szeged, 86 kilometres from both of them and almost equal distance from the two...
zonal qualifier of 1964, where he finished a creditable ninth equal, behind some of the finest players of the day (Georgi Tringov
Georgi Tringov
Georgi Petrov Tringov was a Grandmaster of chess from Bulgaria. He won the Bulgarian national chess championship in 1963, the year he was awarded the Grandmaster title, only the second Bulgarian player thus honored...
, Ludek Pachman
Ludek Pachman
Luděk Pachman 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...
, László Szabó
László Szabó (chess player)
László Szabó was a prominent Hungarian Grandmaster of chess.Born in Budapest, he burst onto the international chess scene in 1935, at the unusually young age of 18...
, Florin Gheorghiu
Florin Gheorghiu
Florin Gheorghiu is a Romanian chess player and university lecturer in foreign languages.Born in Bucharest, his prodigious talent for the game was evidenced by his many early achievements; he became an International Master in 1963 and Romania's first Grandmaster just two years later...
and Vlastimil Hort
Vlastimil Hort
Vlastimil Hort is a chess Grandmaster of Czech nationality. During the 1960s and 1970s he was one of the world's strongest players and reached the Candidates stage of competition for the world chess championship, but was never able to compete for the actual title.Hort was born in Kladno,...
to name a few). At Bussum
Bussum
Bussum is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland.-History:Bussum was first mentioned in 1306. In this time, Bussum was a large heathland with many small farms, sheep pens and forests as is shown on old maps. Since Bussum is situated near the fortified town...
in 1968, he took a share of sixth place (Robert Hubner
Robert Hübner
Robert Hübner is a respected German chess Grandmaster, chess writer, and papyrologist . At eighteen, he was joint winner of the West German Chess Championship...
won). There were other promising results at Bussum 1969 and the Raach
Raach am Hochgebirge
Raach am Hochgebirge is a town in the district of Neunkirchen in the Austrian state of Lower Austria....
zonal the same year, but it was apparent that development was slow during this phase of his career, and he was unable to challenge for first place in strong competition.
Progress was eventually forthcoming between earning his International Master title in 1969 and becoming a Grandmaster in 1973, when the quality of his play improved rapidly, and this was largely due to his decision to turn professional around 1970. As a result, he participated in a great many events and was able to register impressive victories at Bad Pyrmont
Bad Pyrmont
-External links:* * -Multimedia:*...
1970 (with Alexander Matanovic and Mato Damjanovic), Olot
Olot
Olot is the capital of the comarca of the Garrotxa, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain.- Etymology :The etymology of Olot is not clear and there are several hypotheses...
1971, Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
1972, Montilla-Moriles
Montilla-Moriles
Montilla-Moriles is a Spanish Denominación de Origen for wines located in the southern part of the province of Córdoba...
1972 and Dortmund
Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
1973 (with Boris Spassky
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...
and Ulf Andersson
Ulf Andersson
Ulf Andersson is a leading Swedish chess player. FIDE awarded him the International Master title in 1970 and the Grandmaster title in 1972 .-Career:...
). Domestically too, he twice captured the German Chess Championship
German Chess Championship
The German Chess Championship has been played since 1861, and determines the national champion.Prior to 1880 three different federations organized chess activities in Germany: the Westdeutscher Schachbund , the Norddeutscher Schachbund and the Mitteldeutscher Schachbund . Each one organized its...
, in 1970 and 1973. At Wijk aan Zee
Wijk aan Zee
Wijk aan Zee is a small town on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk in the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel chess tournament formerly Corus chess tournament and before that called Hoogovens tournament takes place there every year.Due...
in 1974, a fully bearded Hecht took a share of third place behind Walter Browne and Jan Hein Donner
Jan Hein Donner
Johannes Hendrikus Donner was a Dutch chess grandmaster and writer. Donner was born in The Hague and won the Dutch Championship in 1954, 1957, and 1958. FIDE, the World Chess Federation, awarded him the GM title in 1959. He played 11 times for the Netherlands in the Chess Olympiads...
(ahead of Jan Timman
Jan Timman
Jan Timman is a Dutch chess Grandmaster who was one of the world's leading players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. At the peak of his career he was considered to be the best non-Soviet player and was known as "The Best of the West"...
and Andras Adorjan
Andras Adorjan
András Adorján is a Hungarian author and Grandmaster of chess , born in Budapest. He adopted his mother's surname Adorján in 1968....
) and was the winner at Dublin.
He was also making wedding plans in 1974 and realised that his earnings would be insufficient to raise a family. Consequently, he resumed his former amateur status and took a job in local government
Local government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...
, based in Solingen
Solingen
Solingen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the northern edge of the region called Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr area, and with a 2009 population of 161,366 is the second largest city in the Bergisches Land...
. He married Anne Marie Zeitler, the sister of notable German blind chess player Hans Zeitler and together they had two sons, Christopher and Volkmar. Both are strong chess players.
Hecht has had a long and successful association with team chess, spanning from 1962 to 1986, during which time he made ten Chess Olympiad
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...
appearances. Curiously, his highest team position (board 2) at Valletta 1980
24th Chess Olympiad
The 24th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 20 and December 6, 1980, in La Valletta, Malta.-References:* OlimpBase...
, coincided with his best score of +7, =4, -2 (69%). He also played at three European Team Championship
European Team Championship
The European Team Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9...
s, from 1965 to 1977, but it was at the World Team Chess Championship
World Team Chess Championship
The World Team Chess Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of 10 countries whose chess federations dominate their continent.-Men's team medals:-Women's team medals:-References:*...
of 1985, that he scored his biggest triumph, taking an individual gold medal for his performance on board 5. Over the years, he also gained medals at the EEC
EEC
EEC is an abbreviation that usually refers to the European Economic Community, the forerunner to the European Union.It may also refer to;* The East Erie Commercial Railroad, a shortline in Pennsylvania...
Team Chess Championship, The Clare Benedict Chess Cup, and the Nordic Chess Cup. In league chess, he enjoyed many successes with Chess Bundesliga
Chess Bundesliga
The term Chess Bundesliga , normally refers to the premier league of team chess in Germany. It is arguably the strongest and longest running league of its kind, attracting many top grandmasters from Europe and beyond....
teams Solingen SG 1868 and Bayern Munich throughout his career.
By the late 1970s, he found himself playing a diminishing number of tournaments and so took up correspondence chess
Correspondence chess
Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, usually through a correspondence chess server, through email or by the postal system; less common methods which have been employed include fax and homing pigeon...
, earning himself the Correspondence International Master title in 1980.
For many years, he was a 'second' to World Chess Championship
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
Candidate
Candidates Tournament
The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship...
Robert Hubner.
Most recently, he has been involved in the promotion of German junior chess club Furstenfeldbruck, but also participated at the 2005 World Senior Chess Championship
World Senior Chess Championship
The World Senior Chess Championship is an annual chess tournament established in 1991 by FIDE, the World Chess Federation.Participants must have reached 60 years old on 1 January of the year of the event...
at Lignano Sabbiadoro
Lignano Sabbiadoro
Lignano Sabbiadoro is a village and comune within the province of Udine, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region . It is one of the main summer resorts in northern Italy and in the Adriatic Sea coast.-History:...
, where he made a respectable top ten finish from a field of one hundred and forty. In 2006, he played at Queenstown
Queenstown, New Zealand
Queenstown is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long thin Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, and has spectacular views of nearby mountains....
, New Zealand, and took home the 'Seniors' trophy.
Notable games
- Hans-Joachim Hecht vs Raymond Keene, Brunnen 1966, Caro-Kann Defense: Karpov, Smyslov Variation (B17), 1-0
- Bent Larsen vs Hans-Joachim Hecht, Buesum 1969, Nimzo-Larsen Attack: English Variation (A01), ½–½
- Hans-Joachim Hecht vs Heinz Schaufelberger, Bath 1973, Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation (B95), 1-0
- Hans-Joachim Hecht vs Gyozo V Forintos, Hoogovens 1974, Sicilian Defense: Nyezhmetdinov-Rossolimo Attack (B30), 1-0