13th March, 2003

LUDEK Pachman, one of post-war Czechoslovakia‚s strongest and yet
controversial grandmasters, who gained worldwide recognition as an
unlikely political activist during the Soviet invasion of his homeland
in 1968, died last Thursday in the German city of Passau, aged 78.

Born on May 11, 1924 in the small Czech town of Bela pod Bezdezem,
Pachman went on to become one of the leading players of his generation.
He honed his chess skills in Prague during World War II under the expert
tutelage of world champion Alexander Alekhine, going on to become a
seven-time Czech champion and a prolific chess author and journalist.

Despite being a devout communist from his youth, Pachman became a cause
célèbre of Alexander Dubcek‚s ill-fated Prague Spring, when he suddenly
turned into a fierce critic of the communist regime. During this
turbulent period in Czech history, he was thrust into the limelight by
editing an underground edition of Rudé právo, the former communist
newspaper that was taken over by its staff following the Soviet
invasion, where previous his only title was that of chess correspondent.
On his subsequent capture, he was imprisoned several times and described
in graphic details in his 1975 Faber and Faber biography, „Checkmate in
Prague‰, how he drew international attention to his plight by
intentionally jumping head first from his prison bed to cause permanent
head and spinal injuries.

He was released from prison due to health reasons in late 1970, only to
find himself deprived of his livelihood by apparatchiks who had taken
control of the Czech Chess Federation. Rather than being a thorn in
their side as a political martyr, in 1972 the authorities allowed
Pachman to emigrate to the west, and he eventually settled in West
Germany after being turned down by his first choice of Holland. In
Germany, he soon became know as a political activist, with strong
anti-communist views, who would make frequent appearances on political
tv shows.

Later that same year of his release to the west, he returned once again
to the chess arena with an invitation to Britain to compete in the
Islington Open, where, again amongst the media spotlight, in the opening
round he faced one of England's top juniors, Jon Speelman.

L Pachman à J Speelman
Islington Open, (1)
King‚s Indian Defence
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 Bg5 d6 5 e3 0-0 6 Be2 c5 7 Nf3 h6 8 Bh4 Qa5
9 0-0 g5 10 Bg3 Nh5 11 Rc1 Nxg3 12 hxg3 Nd7 13 a3 Nf6 14 Nd2 Bf5 15 d5
e6 16 e4 Bh7 17 Re1 Rae8 18 Bd3 Qd8 19 Qc2 exd5 20 cxd5 Ng4 21 Rf1 Ne5
22 Bb5 Re7 23 Rce1 a6 24 Be2 g4 25 f4 gxf3 26 gxf3 f5 27 f4 Nd7 28 Bd3
Bd4+ 29 Kg2 Nf6 30 exf5 Ng4 31 Nd1 Qe8 32 Nf3 Rxe1 33 Rxe1 Qh5 34 Nh4
1-0

JOHN B HENDERSON