Edgar Walther (24 December 1930 – 23 October 2013) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

chess player who held the

titles A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

FIDE Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

and

International Correspondence Chess Master International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) was founded on 26 March 1951 as a new appearance of the International Correspondence Chess Association (ICCA), which was founded in 1945, as successor of the Internationaler Fernschachbund (IF ...

(1978). He was a

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 ...

individual medalist (

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

Biography

Walther three times won the Swiss Confederation Chess Championships (1949, 1957, 1971). In 1965, he was the best in the Swiss Cup. In 1965, he won first place in the

Swiss Chess Championship The Swiss Chess Championship is held annually during two weeks of July. It is organised by the Swiss Chess Federation (the SSB), which has been a member of the overall governing body, Swiss Olympic, since 2000. The SSB is itself a relatively new org ...

, but lost additional match. Between 1953 and 2007, he participated in Swiss team championships with one club - Zürich Chess Club, which is considered to be an unparalleled record in Swiss chess history. In 1968, he won the Swiss Chess Team Championship with his club. He became more widely known for his participation in the

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

International Chess Tournament of 1959. Although Walther shared only 13th place (behind winner

Mikhail Tal Mikhail Tal (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet and Latvian chess player and the eighth World Chess Champion. He is considered a creative genius and is widely regarded as Comparison of top chess players throughout history, one ...

), he played a drawn game with future World Chess Champion

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Chess Champi ...

, in which Fischer only just managed to save a lost game, partly by exploiting of the possibilities of an endgame with opposite colored bishops two pawns down. In 1969, Fischer included this game in his book ''

My 60 Memorable Games ''My 60 Memorable Games'' is a chess book by Bobby Fischer, first published in 1969. It is a collection of his games dating from the 1957 New Jersey Open to the 1967 Sousse Interzonal. Unlike many players' anthologies, which are often titled ''M ...

'', admitting he was tempted to resign at move 37. Walther played for Switzerland in the

s: * In 1954, at second reserve board in the

11th Chess Olympiad The 11th Chess Olympiad (), organized by the FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. team tournament, as well as several other events designed to pro ...

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(+8, =3, -2) and won individual silver medal, * In 1956, at third board in the

12th Chess Olympiad The 12th Chess Olympiad (, ''12-ya Shakhmatnaya olimpiada''), organized by the FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. team tournament, as well as se ...

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(+8, =5, -4), * In 1958, at fourth board in the

13th Chess Olympiad The 13th Chess Olympiad (), organized by Fédération Internationale des Échecs, FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. team tournament, as well as ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

(+6, =5, -3), * In 1964, at fourth board in the

16th Chess Olympiad The 16th Chess Olympiad (, ''Olimpiadat ha-shachmat ha-16''), organized by Fédération Internationale des Échecs, FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female ...

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(+9, =1, -4), * In 1966, at second board in the

17th Chess Olympiad The 17th Chess Olympiad (), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. team tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote ...

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.18th Chess Olympiad The 18th Chess Olympiad (), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. team tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote ...

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

(+4, =1, -5). He also played for Switzerland in the Clare Benedict Chess Cups (1958-1961, 1963-1966, 1968, 1971-1972). In team competition he won gold (1958) and bronze (1960) medals but in individual competition he won two gold (1961, 1963) medals. In later years, Walther actively participated in correspondence chess tournaments. He won the ''Goldenen Springer'' tournament (196/7-1971) and the Swiss Correspondence Chess Championship. He successfully participated in the 8th World Correspondence Chess Championship semi-final, where he shared 1st-2nd place, but in the championship final (1975–80) he shared 11th-12th place. In 1978, Edgar Walther was awarded the International Correspondence Chess Master (ICM) title.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walther, Edgar 1930 births 2013 deaths Chess Olympiad competitors Chess FIDE Masters 20th-century Swiss chess players