GM Vlastimil Hort 1944-2025

[Matt Mackenzie]

Just announced on Chessbase

A terrific player in his prime, and a genuine raconteur. Some of a certain age will recall his multiple The Master Game appearances on TV.

RIP.

[Mick Norris]

Sad news

TWIC

The Czech GM Vlastimil Hort has passed away at the age of 81. Born in Kladno on January 12th 1944 he died in Germany May 12th 2025.

Hort grew up in the Czech Republic becoming a Grandmaster in 1965. He played the 1967 Sousse Interzonal finishing tied 6th, not enough to advance to the Candidates. He then played Board 4 in the USSR vs the Rest of the World match in 1970. Hort did eventually reach the Candidates in 1977 where he met Boris Spassky. This was also the peak of his career when Hort was world number 6 and rated 2620. Spassky was ill during the match and Hort gave up one of his rest days to aid his recovery after Spassky ran out of his. Hort lost the match narrowly in the end. Hort defected from the Czech Republic in 1985 moving to West Germany where he won the national championships 3 times (to add to his 5 earlier Czech titles). I first saw him on the BBC TV program the Master Game in the early 1980s, he had a memorable character and went on to be a chess commentator for many years in Germany. Hort played regularly up until 2020 and his final published game was in the Czech League in 2022.

[John Upham]

Hort vs Spasski, 1977

Hort vs Spasski, 1977

IMG_0005.jpg (744.13 KiB) Viewed 3381 times

[Matt Mackenzie]

Sorry to be a pedant and all, but he defected from Czechoslovakia not the (post-communist) Czech Republic!

[Nigel White]

When I went on the last three runs of the, now defunct, Chess Train (2017-2019), Vlastimil Hort usually attended either the opening or closing ceremonies in Prague.

[Nick Ivell]

A fine player and great character. I had the privilege of playing him in a clock simul, where he crushed me with his Tromp.

Another of Fischer's opponents dies; not many left now.

[Leonard Barden]

A fine player and great character. I had the privilege of playing him in a clock simul, where he crushed me with his Tromp.

That would have been at the 1977 Lord John Cup, where the visiting GMs all gave clock simuls on the rest day. Hort had the strongest group, I think led by Julian Hodgson.
He asked that his eight opponents be seated in a tight circle with himself in the centre, then, saving loads of time which Quinteros, Torre and Kotov spent walking up and down the row of boards, blitzed the juniors with fast play. I think he scored 8-0 against the cream of English talent, and I've never witnessed that simul technique before or since.

[John Upham]

Spasski vs Hort, 1977

Spasski vs Hort, 1977

IMG_0007.jpg (942.49 KiB) Viewed 3162 times

[John Upham]

I have published an album of Hort images, many of which are from the BCN archives.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 807&type=3

[Tim Spanton]

When I went on the last three runs of the, now defunct, Chess Train (2017-2019), Vlastimil Hort usually attended either the opening or closing ceremonies in Prague.

Slightly off-topic, but what was the Chess Train like?

[John Upham]

For example:

Vlastimil Hort (1944 - 2025)

Vlastimil Hort (1944 - 2025)

IMG_1645.jpg (812.54 KiB) Viewed 3113 times

[Nigel White]

When I went on the last three runs of the, now defunct, Chess Train (2017-2019), Vlastimil Hort usually attended either the opening or closing ceremonies in Prague.

Slightly off-topic, but what was the Chess Train like?

In summary - very enjoyable and brilliantly organised.
I put links in the forum thread about the Chess Train to the three blog posts I wrote on my personal travel blog about my experiences:
https://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.ph ... in#p267632

[Matt Mackenzie]

A fine player and great character. I had the privilege of playing him in a clock simul, where he crushed me with his Tromp.

Another of Fischer's opponents dies; not many left now.

Just two former WC Candidates left who are older than Karpov - Panno and Portisch.

The latter is also now the only survivor of the 1970 USSR v World match who actually played (also Darga who was an unused substitute)

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Can anyone post any memorable games?

EDIT: Thanks, Nick. Lovely finish!

[Nick Burrows]

[Event "Halle Zonal"] [Site "Halle GDR"] [Date "1967.03.??"] [Round "7"] [White "Vlastimil Hort"] [Black "Dragoljub Minic"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E75"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "1967.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Bg5 c5 7. d5 h6 8. Be3 Kh7 9. Nf3 Re8 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Qc2 e6 12. dxe6 Rxe6 13. Rad1 Qe7 14. Rfe1 Nxe4 15. Nd5 Qd8 16. Bd3 f5 17. Nf4 Re8 18. Bxe4 Rxe4 19. Rxd6 Qc7 20. Rxg6 Rxf4 21. Bxf4 Qxf4 22. Rxg7+ Kxg7 23. Qc3+ Nf6 24. Re7+ Kg6 25. Ne5+ Kh5 26. Rg7 Be6 27. Qh3+ Qh4 28. Ng6 1-0