Max Blau (19 December 1918,

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 ...

– 1984,

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

) was a Swiss

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 won 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 ...

four times (1953, 1955, 1956, and 1967), and was awarded the

International 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 ...

title in 1953. Blau represented Switzerland in

Chess Olympiads 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 2020 and ...

(seven times, from 1954 to 1968), in Clare Benedict Chess Cup (fourteen times, from 1953 to 1972, and won three individual and one team gold medals), and in friendly matches against France (1946, 1965), Yugoslavia (1949, 1950), West Germany (1951, 1952), Spain (1953, 1954), Austria (1953, 1955), and Italy (1951, 1952, 1958, 1969). In tournaments, he tied for 7–8th at Hilversum 1947 (zonal), won at Lucerne 1949/50, took 4th at Zurich 1952, tied for 15–16th at Zurich 1959, and won at Birseck 1961.Litmanowicz, Władysław & Giżycki, Jerzy (1986, 1987). ''Szachy od A do Z''. Wydawnictwo Sport i Turystyka. Warszawa. (1. A-M), (2. N-Z)

References

1918 births 1984 deaths Chess International Masters 20th-century Swiss chess players {{Switzerland-chess-bio-stub