Nickel/Thormann: Chess in East Berlin 1945-1990

Autor: Nickel, Arno; Thormann, Wolfgang
Verlag: Edition Marco
Erscheinungsjahr: 2023
Sprache: German
Buchumschlag: hardcover
Seiten: 156

Chess in the GDR and in divided Berlin is a largely neglected subject in literature, although it has occasionally made headlines and enjoyed state support at times - following the example of its big brother, the USSR. The names of the chess masters of the time and the outstanding events before and after the Chess Olympiad in Leipzig in 1960 will soon be known only to a few.
This book aims to remedy this with portraits of 24 East Berlin chess masters, all of whom FIDE master Wolfgang Thormann (born 1949) got to know during his active time. The reader not only learns about their achievements and biographies, but also what chess life was like back then in "real socialism".
Co-author, publisher and correspondence chess GM Arno Nickel, meanwhile, investigates how chess life developed after 1945 in destroyed Berlin under the four-power status and
how the East-West divide came about, even though there was still a Berlin-wide team championship in 1952 and chess players in East and West never tired of calling for German unity. He devotes a special chapter to the Berlin sports publishing house, which was so important for chess and whose publications were also in great demand in the West.

Contents:

Foreword 6
Chess in Berlin after 1945 − New Beginnings and German Division 7
History of an East Berlin Chess Club 28
Chess portraits
Berthold Koch (22.2.1899 Berlin −2.5.1988 Berlin) 39
Bruno Ullrich (23.3.1907 Berlin −6.12.1980 Berlin) 42
Hans Platz (1312.1919 Halle/S. −22.10.1988 Berlin) 45
Günter Ahlberg (21.3.1929 Berlin −13.12.2016 Berlin) 47
Horst Rittner (16.7.1930 Breslau −14.6.2021 Berlin) 49
Horst Strehlow (20.11.1931 Berlin) 52
Werner Golz (8.11.1933 Berlin −26.10.1974 Berlin) 54
Reinhart Fuchs (28.9.1934 Berlin −16.12.2017 Berlin) 57
Bodo Starck (13.10.1934 Berlin) 60
Fritz Baumbach (8.9.1935 Weimar) 63
Horst Handel (17.11.1935 Berlin) 66
Olaf Thal (14.12.1935 Berlin −22.03.2001 Berlin) 69
Dieter Brüntrup (1.4.1936 Berlin) 72
Werner Reichenbach (24.4.1936 Dresden −29.6.2016 Berlin) 75
Hartmut Badestein (10.6.1936 Halle/S.) 79
Lothar Kollberg (7.2.1938 Berlin) 81
Lothar Zinn (19.3.1938 Erfurt −29.2.1980 Berlin) 84
Hermann Brameyer (11.8.1939 Essen) 86
Uwe Bade (22.9.1940 Berlin) 88
Heidrun Bade (née Gallander) (15.4.1945 Halle/S.) 91
Wolfgang Thormann (23.6.1949 Berlin) 94
Brigitte Burchardt (née Hofmann) (17.10.1954 Weißenfels) 97
Annett Wagner-Michel (née Michel) (13.5.1955 Halle/S.) 99
Antje Göhler (née Riedel) (18.10.1967 Berlin) 101
My time at Sportverlag Berlin (Interview with Raymund Stolze) 103
Berlin chess master at board 114
Berlin Championship (East) 1955−1990 − Semi-final of the GDR Championship 134
Open Berlin Championship (East) 1961−1977 − City Championship 142
Tournaments and chess highlights in East Berlin 145
Documentary Appendix: Extracts from Chess 1979/80 148
List of games 152
Name Directory 153

156 pages, hardcover, 1st edition 2023