9/3/2020 – Lev Polugaevsky was one of the best players in the world and a leading expert on the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian in the 1970s and 1980s. A sub-variation is named after him. Last week was the 25th anniversary of his death. Dagobert Kohlmeyer pays tribute to the Soviet grandmaster.

8/6/2020 – In the mid-1970s Helmut Pfleger, who today, August 6, celebrates his 77th birthday, was one of the top 50 players of the world. But he was a doctor by profession and despite all his successes in chess he always remained an amateur. So he often had a hard time against the professionals when it came to opening theory. Nevertheless, in a theoretical duel against one of the greatest opening experts of the time, he won one of the most important games in the history of the Chess Olympiads. | Photo: Helmut Pfleger | Photo: Hartmut Metz