Wolfgang Uhlmann, expert of the french defense, former Candidate, 1971 quarter-final against Larsen, chosen as member of the "Rest of the World" team in the match vs. the USSR in 1970, leading player for decades of East Germany, eleven times champion of (then) GDR. At the 1964 chess Olympiad in Tel Aviv, Uhlmann scored 83.3 percent, earning the individual board one gold medal (note: at that time, there was a preliminary at the Olympiads and then final groups based on the previous team results, no swiss system).

Brilliant tournament wins in the 1960s and 1970s: Wolfgang Uhlmann is a rare three times (sole or shared) winner at Hastings, in these days always a strong event: Uhlmann won in 1958/59 outright, in 1965/66 (shared with Boris Spassky), and tied for first again (with Bronstein and Hort) at Hastings Chess Congress 1975/76, one point ahead of Korchnoi.

Uhlmann also shared victory (with Polugaevsky) at Sarajevo 1964, tied for first (with Smyslov) at Havana (Capablanca Memorial) 1964, tied for first (with Ivkov, and ahead of World Champion Petrosian - and among others Portisch, Parma, Bronstein, Larsen, Matanovic, Filip, Gligoric, Bisguier) at Zagreb 1965, tied for first (with Bronstein) at Szombathely 1966, and tied for first (with Bronstein) at the Berlin 'Lasker Memorial' in 1968. At Raach in 1969, a zonal tournament, he finished two points clear of the field (which included Lajos Portisch), placed second (behind World Champion Karpov) at Skopje 1976, finished first at Vrbas 1977, to name the maybe most notable ones.

He beat at least four World Champions, from Fischer in 1960 <Fischer vs Uhlmann, 1960> to Anand in 1990 <Uhlmann vs Anand, 1990>, Botvinnik at the Olympiad, Varna 1962 <Uhlmann vs Botvinnik, 1962>, and Smyslov <Uhlmann vs Smyslov, 1973>.

In recent years, Wolfgang Uhlmann was quite a regular member of the Veterans / Old Hands ad-hoc formation in matches versus a Ladies / Snowdrops team. Especially the game Kashlinskaya-Uhlmann 0-1 was considered the most beautiful of the event in 2012:

<A Kashlinskaya vs Uhlmann, 2012>

It consists of the moves ♗(c8)-d7-e8-h5. At h5 the bishop is well-placed.

UHLMANNISATION!>

Ware-ing.

<offramp: UHLMANNISATION!>

Here is a Korchnoi game with Be8, Bh5 on the last 2 moves resulting in 0-1!

Molander vs. Korchnoi

C H Alexander vs Uhlmann, 1958

I tried playing The French for decades. I studied many games by these 2. I failed. Nobody told me - Do not try The French Defense at home. The French Defense must be played by Professionals in a closed position.

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