German Grandmaster Hajo Hecht celebrates his 85th birthday

by André Schulz
1/29/2024 – Hans-Joachim Hecht, a Grandmaster since 1973, was a member of the successful German national team in the 1960s and 1970s, became German team champion eight times with his clubs SG Solingen and Bayern Munich and won the European Cup once. Today he celebrates his 85th birthday. Congratulations to him! | Photos: German Chess Federation, Münchener Schachakademie

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If you want to find out more about Hans-Joachim Hecht, read his book "Rochaden", published in 2015.

Hecht reads from his book at the Münchener Schachakademie

He was born on 29 January 1939 in Luckenwalde, south of Berlin. So today he celebrates his 85th birthday.

He may not have been aware of the war as a young child, but he was aware of its end in 1945, with air raids, burning railway stations in the distance and Russian soldiers marching through. After the machines in his father's carpentry workshop were dismantled and taken to the USSR, the family moved to Rangsdorf on the southern outskirts of Berlin.

Hans-Joachim Hecht learned to play chess at the age of ten after watching his parents play. The German Democratic Republic was founded in 1949. Because Hajo Hecht's parents could no longer tolerate the politically coloured education their son received in Rangsdorf, they enrolled him in a school in Lichtenrade, West Berlin. Little Hajo now had to go to Rangsdorf station every day and then travel 20 minutes by S-Bahn to Lichtenrade. At that time, many people who lived in the border zone of the GDR near Berlin still worked in the western part of Berlin.

They were called "Grenzgänger" (border crossers) and received 40 per cent of their wages in West Marks and 60 per cent in East Marks, as Hans-Joachim Hecht reports in his book "Rochaden" (Castling), so called not only because of the move in chess, but also because he castled between East and West. Of course, this shuffling between East and West was not appreciated, and the GDR authorities and border guards came up with a number of harassment schemes.

One day, Hajo Hecht's parents received an order to pay a fine because their son had not completed his compulsory schooling in the GDR. And border crossers were often simply not allowed to continue their journey. To get around this, Hajo lived with a host family in West Berlin during the week and with his parents at weekends. Today, almost 35 years after the collapse of the GDR and reunification, it is hard to imagine the difficult living conditions of those days. 

In August 1961, Hajo Hecht packed his bags and left East Germany for West Berlin. His parents followed in 1967.

Hajo Hecht had already started playing chess at school. He found a chess group in Lichtenrade which was led by an older classmate. In 1952, Hecht visited the Tempelhof chess club for the first time and in the following years began to play his first youth tournaments. As early as 1953 he was invited to play in a youth match. The West Berlin selection also included Klaus Darga, Wolfgang Bialas, Adolf Delander and Harald Lieb. There were matches against East Berlin and Hamburg. Hecht recalls in his book that he played against Claus Langmann from Hamburg, whom he would meet again almost 50 years later at a senior tournament in Dresden.

In 1956, 1957 and 1958, Hecht won the West Berlin Youth Championships and qualified for the West German Youth Championships. As a citizen of the GDR, he was not allowed to travel to West Germany, so he was temporarily given a West Berlin passport. At the 1956 Youth Championships in Traben-Trarbach he stunned his opponents with the Orang-Utan opening and good play, but narrowly missed out on the title. He was one of the favourites at the Berlin Championships in 1957, but lost to 13-year-old Helmut Pfleger right at the start. Hecht finished third. In 1958, however, he won the title at the youth championships in Hitzacker. Hajo Hecht also won the Dähne Cup in 1964 and the German Championships in 1970. 

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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Bc4 Ngf6 6.Ng5 e6 7.Qe2 Nb6 8.Bd3 h6 9.N5f3 c5 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Ne5 0-0 12.Ngf3 Nbd5 13.a3 a5 14.0-0 b6 15.c4 Ne7 16.Rd1 Qe8 17.Bd2 a4 18.Bc3 Nf5 19.g4 Nd6 20.g5 hxg5 21.Nxg5 Bb7 22.Bc2 g6 23.Nd7 Qxd7 24.Bxf6 Qc6 25.Rd5 exd5 26.Qh5 Bxf2+ 27.Kxf2 Ne4+ 28.Nxe4 gxh5 29.Rg1+ Kh7 30.Nc5+ 1–0
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Hecht,H-Keene,R-1–01966B17Clare Benedict Cup-133

In 1962, Hecht was called up for the first time for the Chess Olympiad, which took place in Varna, Bulgaria. Together with Wolfgang Unzicker, Lothar Schmid, Klaus Darga, Helmut Pfleger and Robert Hübner, he formed the backbone of the German national team at many international team tournaments until the 1980s. The German team often competed for medals. Hecht took part in ten Chess Olympiads between 1962 and 1986. At the 1985 World Team Championship, he achieved the best result on board five.

Hecht played for SG Solingen in the Bundesliga for a long time and won the German team championship with the team in 1974, 1975, 1980 and 1981. He achieved the same success with the FC Bayern Munich team in 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1990. He also won the European Club Cup with Solingen in 1976.

Hajo Hecht achieved his greatest successes in individual tournaments in Bad Pyrmont in 1970, in Olot in 1971, in Málaga in 1972 and at the International German Championships in Dortmund in 1973.

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 a6 4.g3 b5 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.d3 d6 7.0-0 Be7 8.e5 d5 9.Ne2 h5 10.h4 Nh6 11.c3 Nc6 12.d4 cxd4 13.cxd4 Qb6 14.Bg5 Bf8 15.Bh3 a5 16.Nf4 Ng8 17.Rc1 b4 18.Re1 Nge7 19.Qa4 Nc8 20.Nxe6 fxe6 21.Bxe6 N8e7 22.Rc5 Rh6 23.Bxh6 gxh6 24.Rec1 Rd8 25.Ne1 Bg7 26.Rb5 Qa6 27.Rxb7 Qxb7 28.Qd1 Ng6 29.Qxh5 Nce7 30.Nd3 Qb6 31.Nf4 a4 32.b3 axb3 33.axb3 Qa6 34.Rc7 Qa1+ 35.Kh2 Qxd4 36.Qxg6+ 1–0
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Hecht,H-Timman,J-1–01972B40Zonal Helsinki6

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.Re1 Nf6 6.Nc3 0-0 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.h3 d6 9.e5 Nd7 10.exd6 exd6 11.d3 Rb8 12.Bg5 f6 13.Bf4 Ne5 14.Rb1 Rb7 15.Ne4 Nf7! 16.Bd2! Re8?! 16...Re7!? 17.Ba5! Qd7 18.Bc3 Re6 19.Qd2 Qd8 20.Ba5?! Qf8 21.Bc3 d5?! 22.Ng3 Qd6 23.b3 Bh6 24.Rxe6 Bxe6 25.Qe2 Bd7 26.Re1 Bf8 27.Bb2! Bc8 28.Qd2 Kg7 29.Ba3!? Qd8! 30.Qc3 Rb5 31.d4 Qa5 32.Qxa5 Rxa5 33.Bxc5 Bxc5 34.dxc5 Kf8! 35.Nd4 Nd8! 35...Rxc5? 36.Re6! 36.Nge2 Rxc5 37.Nf4 Ra5 38.a4 Bd7 39.f3 c5? 39...Kf7 40.Nde6+ Nxe6 41.Nxe6+ Kg8 41...Kf7? 42.Nd8+ Kf8 43.Nb7 42.Nc7!? d4?! 42...c4 43.b4! Rxa4 44.Nxd5 Ra6 45.Re7 43.Ne6! c4! 44.Nxd4 Kf7 45.Kf2 h5 46.h4 Rd5 47.Ke3 g5 47...Re5+ 48.Kf2 Rd5 49.Rd1 Bf5 50.bxc4 Ra5 51.Nxf5 gxf5 52.Ke3 Rxa4 53.Kd4!+- 48.g3 Re5+ 49.Kf2 cxb3 50.cxb3 Rxe1?! 50...Rc5 51.Kxe1 Ke7 52.Kd2 Kd6 53.Kd3 Ke5 54.a5 a6 55.b4 Kd5 56.Kc3 gxh4 57.gxh4 Ke5 58.Kc4! Kd6 59.b5 axb5+ 60.Nxb5+ Ke5 61.Kc5 Bc8 62.Kb6 Bh3 62...Kf4 63.Nd6! 63.a6 Bg2 64.f4+! Kxf4 65.Nd6 f5 66.Nb7 Kg3 67.a7 f4 68.a8Q f3 69.Qb8+ 1–0
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Hecht,H-Spassky,B-1–01973B31GER-ch54 International022

In 1973 Hans-Joachim Hecht was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE. In 1976 he was awarded the Silver Laurel Leaf of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Hecht ended his professional career in the mid-1970s and took a job with the city of Solingen. However, he continued to play for his clubs in the German Team Championships, for the national team in international team tournaments and, when time allowed, in some individual tournaments.

Lecture at the German Chess Federation

After his retirement he was often seen in individual competitions, including senior tournaments. Hajo Hecht also played in every international senior team tournament until 2012. In 2004 he won the World Senior Team Championship on the Isle of Man, when Germany shared first place with Israel.

Senior Cup Tegernsee

After moving to Fürstenfeldbruck, Hajo Hecht continued to play for Bayern Munich for a while, but was poached by local club TuS Fürstenfeldbruck in 1993. He is also in charge of the young players there.


André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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