W. Uhlmann - M. Botvinnik, Varna Chess Olympiad 1962
Despite this defeat, the Soviet Union won the match against East Germany 2½–1½ and ultimately secured the gold medal in Varna convincingly. In the final, the Soviets finished with 31½ board points - the only points that counted at this Olympiad - well ahead of Yugoslavia, who scored 28 board points. East Germany finished 8th with 20½ board points, level with Romania and only just behind West Germany, who took 7th place with 21 board points.
Uhlmann's win against Botvinnik may have been somewhat fortunate, but in fact Uhlmann was in excellent form in Varna. He remained unbeaten and scored 12 points from 17 games (+7, =10). This gave him a score of 70.6%, which, in percentage terms, was Uhlmann's third-best result in the eleven Olympiads in which he took part.
His best percentage score came in 1964 at the Olympiad in Tel Aviv, where he scored 15 out of 18 (+13, =4, -1), or 83.3%, and won the gold medal for the best individual result on top board. At the 1966 Olympiad in Havana, he scored 13 out of 18 (+9, =8, -1), or 72.2%, and won bronze on board three - but Uhlmann was not to win any further Olympiad medals.
In 1962, Ulhmann defeated the reigning world champion in a classical tournament game. It would take more than twenty years, until 1983, before a German player repeated this feat.
| Advertising |
.jpeg)
.png)
