Gerardo (Gert) Budowski (10 June 1925 – 8 October 2014) was a German–Venezuelan

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

master. He was born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

into a family with a love of chess. His mother drew a game with

José Raúl Capablanca José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was the third World Chess Championship, world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he was widely renowned for his exceptional Chess ...

in his simultaneous exhibition in October 1925 in Berlin. His father had a friendly relationship with

Alexander Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine. He disliked when Russians sometimes pronounced the of as , , which he regarded as a Yiddish distortion of his name, and insisted that the correct Russian pronunciation was . (March 24, 1946) was a Russian ...

who gave paid chess lessons to the

child prodigy A child prodigy is, technically, a child under the age of 10 who produces meaningful work in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to describe young people who are extraordinarily talented in some f ...

in Paris. The Jewish family left Nazi Germany in 1933 for France, and then - during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

- emigrated to

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, where Gert changed his name to Gerardo and became a Venezuelan citizen in the early 1950s. From 1952, he resided in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. Dr. Budowski graduated in 1948 as an agricultural engineer from the Universidad Central in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

, Venezuela, then earned his master's degree at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA) in Turrialba, Costa Rica. In 1962, he obtained his doctoral degree in Forestry from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. He was Director General of IUCN (

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

) from 1970 to 1976. From 1980, Dr. Budowski was instrumental in the development of the

University for Peace The University for Peace (UPEACE) is an international university and intergovernmental organization established as a treaty organisation by the United Nations General Assembly in 1980. The university offers postgraduate, doctoral, and executive ...

, not only did he start the Environmental programme but he also served in positions such as Interim Rector and Vice-Rector. In 2008, he was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus for his vision in the relation between peace and the environment. He won the '' Campeón Absoluto de Venezuela'' title 6-0 by beating Julio García (''Campeón Nacional de Venezuela'') in 1951. He also participated in other championships in Costa Rica in the 1950s. He won Costa Rican team championship, playing for Turrialba, in 1965. He represented Venezuela in the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...

at Lugano 1968. Dr. Budowski died of natural causes on October 8, 2014 in

San José, Costa Rica San José (; meaning "Saint Joseph") is the capital city, capital and largest city of Costa Rica, and the capital of San José Province. It is in the center of the country, in the mid-west of the Costa Rican Central Valley, Central Valley, wi ...

References

External links

Dr. Gerardo Budowski's oral biographyGerardo Budowski at 365Chess.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Budowski, Gerardo 1925 births 2014 deaths Emigrants from Nazi Germany Immigrants to France Immigrants to Venezuela Venezuelan chess players Costa Rican chess players Chess players from Berlin Central University of Venezuela alumni Yale University alumni Costa Rican people of German descent Immigrants to Costa Rica People associated with the International Union for Conservation of Nature Chess Olympiad competitors 20th-century German chess players German chess players