GM Dr Robert Hubner (1948-2025)

[Simon Rogers]

The sad news has just been posted that one of Germany's greatest chess players, Grandmaster Robert Hubner has passed away earlier today, after a long and serious illness.
Robert was born in Cologne on 6th November 1948.
RIP

[Jonathan Rogers]

That's very sad. He must have been Germany's strongest player on the world stage since the Lasker/Tarrasch era. If only he had actually relished being on the stage - seemingly not.

I suppose that I hope that someone will post here some of his best games, though it might not be the best way to remember someone who believed that his games should be his own copyright!

[John Townsend]

An Umlaut is needed: like this: Hübner

[Mick Norris]

Chessbase obit has some of his games

[Matt Mackenzie]

That's very sad. He must have been Germany's strongest player on the world stage since the Lasker/Tarrasch era. If only he had actually relished being on the stage - seemingly not.

Yes he was a very private man.

Must have enjoyed those "famous" annotations he used to produce, though.

I wonder how well they stand up to computer scrutiny - pretty reasonably I would have thought.

[John Clarke]

First mention in a UK publication (Junior Chess No 18, Sept 1963):

"The West German team was a very unbalanced one and the majority of their points were gained by their 1st and 3rd boards. On the latter they have produced a potential menace in young Robert Hübner, a 14 year old from Köln, who is eligible to play in this tour­nament again, not only two years hence, but also in 1967."

(A F Stammwitz, reporting on the international junior team tournament held the previous July)

[Roger Lancaster]

I believe I'm right in recalling that he was regarded as the strongest non-professional chess player of his era. RIP.

[Nick Burrows]

He was in the worlds top ten players approximately from:

Nov 1972 - Aug 1975.
Nov 1979 - Oct 1981.
Oct 1985 - Jan 1986

In the worlds top 30 players from:
Sep 1970 - Jan 1988

Top 40 until June 1995.

Incredible longevity.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"I believe I'm right in recalling that he was regarded as the strongest non-professional chess player of his era. RIP."

Certainly an impressive player. As for the "non-professional", I recall in the 80s, a strong English player saying he politely enquired of RH before one round of a tournament,
"Who are you playing today?"
"I do not know and I do not care!"

By then just about every strong player (and some others) would be preparing for their opponents. It didn't seem to do him any harm.

[Graham Borrowdale]

Very sad news. Hubner was one of the players whose games I always sought out when I was younger. This example springs to mind.

White: Lajos Portisch
Black: Robert Hubner
Bugojno 1978

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Ne2 Ba6 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.Nxc3 d5 8.b4 O-O 9.b5 Bb7 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Nxd5 Qxd5 12.f3 a6 13.Bd3 f5 14.a4 axb5 15.Ba3 b4 16.Bxb4 Rf7 17.Rc1 Ba6 18.Bc2 Nc6 19.Bb3 Qd7 20.Bc3 Ne7 21.Kf2 Nd5 22.Bd2 Qd6 23.Qc2 Bb7 24.Qc4 Rf6 25.g3 h5 26.Rhd1 h4 27.Rg1 Raf8 28.a5 Rh6 29.axb6 cxb6 30.Ra1 Kh7 31.Ra7 Qb8 32.Raa1 Nf6 33.Bd1 Bd5 34.Qc2 hxg3+ 35.hxg3 Rh3 36.Rc1 Rf7 37.Be2 Ne4+ 38.fxe4 fxe4+ 39.Ke1 Qxg3+ 0-1

Hubner also had a variation in the Nimzo-Indian Defence named after him, later played by Fischer in game 5 vs Spassky.

[Mick Norris]

Chess Mind

It’s worth noting that chess was only one aspect of his professional life; he also had a Ph.D. in Philology. Despite the dual career track, he maintained a 2600 rating well into his 60s and was still in the upper 2500s after turning 70. He was an intellectually impressive man.

[Roger de Coverly]

Hubner also had a variation in the Nimzo-Indian Defence named after him, later played by Fischer in game 5 vs Spassky.

In the 1970 Interzonal, he revived an old idea of Nimzo which was to take on c3 unprompted by the a3 pawn prod. Later he would follow up with .. d6 and .. e5. At the time, Black invariably played .. c5 and .. d5 in the Nimzo.

[Nick Ivell]

I knew Robert slightly when I was involved with the Hamburg team in the mid 80s. He was by far their strongest player.

[Paul Cooksey]

Wanted to share a few thoughts on the sad news of the passing of Robert Hubner. He was, of course, a great chess player, one of the top players in the world in the 70s and 80s, and he came very close to fighting for the world title. I had a chance to interact with him and play with him in several tournaments, but also enjoy some very nice conversations . He played for Baden Baden, just like me. He could always surprise you with the depth of his knowledge. The academic in him made a strong impression on me. I once saw a three page letter of his in a chess magazine where he discusses the meaning of the Greek word logos. Fascinating! He finished saying that though he disagreed with his debater, he was grateful to find someone he could even discuss the subject with.

Even in chess, I remember Jan Timman complaining that Robert Hubner's book review of his book was longer than the book itself.

Somehow that was so typically Robert. The perfectionism! In the pre computer era. And what do you do with someone who learns Finnish to a very high level just because he wanted to talk to a friend. He spoke Greek and Dutch as well. He would always say that he was a patzer in everything. Of course it was partly deflection and partly his perfectionism.

He was no patzer. He was someone who guarded his personal space zealously. He was a giant from a different era in chess and from a different era of chess players.

RIP Robert.