Karel Opočenský

Karel Opočenský, 1969
Association	Czechoslovakia
Born	7 February 1892 Brüx
Died	November 16, 1975 Prague
title	International champion (1950)
Best Elo rating	2618 (May 1936) ( historical rating )

Karel Opočenský (born February 7, 1892 in Brüx , † November 16, 1975 in Prague ) was a Czech chess master .

successes

Opočenský won the championship of Czechoslovakia four times : in 1927, 1928, 1938 and 1944. He represented his homeland at four Chess Olympiads in 1931 , 1933 , 1935 and 1939 , with his best result at the 1933 Olympics. He won the individual ranking on the 4th board with 11.5 points from 13 games (+10 = 3 −0) and achieved second place at the same time as the team. Opočenský took part in numerous international tournaments , with his shared first place in Prague in 1938 and his first place in Arbon in 1946 stand out. In 1941 he defeated the reigning world champion Alexander Alekhine at the European tournament in Munich . In 1950 FIDE awarded him the title of International Master , in 1951 he became International Referee . As main referee, he headed the world championship matches in 1951 between Mikhail Botvinnik and David Bronstein and in 1954 between Mikhail Botvinnik and Vasily Smyslow , as well as the 1953 Candidates Tournament and the 1952 Chess Olympiad .

According to calculations of his historical Elo number , Opočenský reached its highest value of 2618 in May 1936. In March of the same year he was accordingly one of the 23 best players in the world.

Opočenský published numerous articles and books in the Czech language .

Opočenský was married to Vlasta Svobodová (1895-1966).

Web links

• Replayable chess games by Karel Opočenský on chessgames.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Karel Opočenský's results at the Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
2. ↑ Opočenskýs historical Elo rating .