Thomas Luther (born November 4, 1969, in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

) is a German

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 ...

player and

International Grandmaster Grandmaster (GM) is a Chess title, title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Chess Championship, World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is hel ...

of chess. In 2000 he was a member of the German team that won the silver medal in the 34th Chess Olympiad in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Childhood and Youth

He started to play chess at the age of four. Even in his childhood days he started to avidly read classic chess literature and learned a lot by himself. 1978 he became a member of the club ''HSG Medizin Erfurt''. 1980, 1981 and 1984 he won the respective

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

championship for his age class. 1986 he won the 12. GDR youth-championship in

correspondence chess Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, traditionally through the postal system. Today it is usually played through a correspondence chess server, a public internet chess forum, or email. Less commo ...

. Beginning with 1985 he played for ''Mikroelektronik Erfurt'' in the ''Oberliga'', the highest league in the GDR.

Chess career

1988 he was awarded the title

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 ...

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

. After a series of further successes, among them second places at the GDR championship in

Zittau Zittau (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, Upper Lusatian dialect: ''Sitte''; ) is the southeasternmost city in the Germany, German state of Saxony, and belongs to the Görlitz (district), district of Görlitz, Germany's easternmost Districts of Germ ...

1989 and in

Altensteig Altensteig (; Swabian: ''Aldaschdaeg'') is a town in the district of Calw, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History Altensteig was most likely given town rights by the Counts of Hohenberg around the middle of the 14th century. In 1398, the t ...

1991 and victories in

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1992, Lenk and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

1993 and finally his first (all-)German championship 1993 (after a 2–0 victory in the final against Thomas Pähtz) he became Grandmaster in 1994.

World- and National Championship Results

1997 Thomas Luther qualified for the world championships in

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

. In this KO-tournament he won the first round 3.5–2.5 against

Lajos Portisch Lajos Portisch (born 4 April 1937) is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik". One of the strongest players from the early 1960s into the late 1980s, he participated in twelve c ...

but lost (0.5–1.5) against

Vladimir Akopian Vladimir Akopian (, ; born December 7, 1971) is an Armenian- American chess Grandmaster. Career Akopian was born in Baku, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union. He won the World Under-16 Championship in 1986 at the age of 14 and ...

in round 2. 2001 he qualified again and won the first round in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

3–1 against Sergey Volkov but lost against Ilya Smirin (0.5–1.5). In 2002 he won the German championship in

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

again, outdistancing Alexander Graf and Florian Handke. He won his third German national championship in 2006 in Osterburg in a tie-breaker with Vitaly Kunin and Artur Yusupov.

German National Team

Between 1998 and 2006 Thomas Luther was often part of the German selection representing Germany in various international team tournaments: in the Olympiads

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Elista Elista (, ;"Большой энциклопедический словарь", под ред. А. М. Прохорова. Москва и Санкт-Петербург, 1997, стр. 1402 , ''Elst'', )The approximate pronunciation of the Cyr ...

(6th place),

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

(2nd place),

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

Bled Bled (; ,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper Carniolan regio ...

(14th place) and

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

(15th place).Thomas Luthers results in Olympiads
/ref> He also played for Germany in the World Team Chess Championship of

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

and the

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

of 2003 in

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

IPCA

Thomas Luther, who suffers from dysmelia played at the 39th Chess Olympiad in

Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk (, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a city in west-central Russia. Technically, it is situated on the eastern bank of the Irtysh River, from its confluence with the Ob, in the oil-ri ...

, 2010 first board for the IPCA (

International Physically Disabled Chess Association International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

) and made 6.5 points out of 10.

Tournament victories

During his active career he won many international tournaments, i.e.

Lippstadt Lippstadt () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest town within the district of Soest. Lippstadt is situated about 60 kilometres east of Dortmund, 40 kilometres south of Bielefeld and 30 kilometres west of Paderborn. Geo ...

(1994),

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

(1994/95), Bissen (1995),

Apolda Apolda () is a town in central Thuringia, Germany, the capital of the Weimarer Land district. It is situated in the center of the triangle Weimar–Jena–Naumburg near the river Ilm, c. east by north from Weimar. Apolda station lies on the Ha ...

(1994 and 1999), Turin (1996),

Cienfuegos Cienfuegos (), capital of Cienfuegos Province, is a city on the southern coast of Cuba. It is located about from Havana and has a population of 178,368 in 2022. Since the late 1960s, Cienfuegos has become one of Cuba's main industrial centers, ...

(1997), Bad Zwesten (1998),

Nova Gorica Nova Gorica () is a town in western Slovenia, on the border with Italy. It is the seat of the Municipality of Nova Gorica. Nova Gorica is a planned town, built according to the principles of modernist architecture after 1947, when the Treaty of pe ...

(2000),

Böblingen Böblingen (; ) is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, seat of Böblingen (district), Böblingen District. Sindelfingen and Böblingen are Geographic contiguity, contiguous. History Böblingen was founded by Count Wilhelm von Tübingen-Bö ...

(2005),

Oberwart Oberwart (; ; ) is a town in Burgenland in southeast Austria on the banks of the Pinka River, and the capital of the district of the Oberwart (district), same name. With almost 8,000 inhabitants it’s the third largest town in Burgenland, after E ...

(2005) and

Bad Homburg Bad Homburg vor der Höhe (, ) is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, Germany, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's official name is ''Bad Homburg ...

(2008). In 2009 he won 6th LGA Premium Chess Cup in

Nürnberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the largest city in Franconia, the second-largest city in the German state of Bavaria, and its 544,414 (2023) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest city in Germany. ...

. In October 2011 he won the first ''World Chess Games for Disabled'' with a perfect score of 7 out of 7.

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...
official and DSB official

He is the head of the FIDE Commission on Disabled and played for the IPCA team once. He is also head of the division for competitive chess (''Referent für Spitzenschach'') in the German chess federation.

Game

Thomas Luther's style is tactically oriented, which makes him a formidable opponent for even the strongest player. The following game is typical where he attacks former

Candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

Robert Hübner Robert Hübner (6 November 1948 – 5 January 2025) was a German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and papyrologist. He was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s. Chess career At eighteen, Hübner was joint winner of t ...

right out of the opening. The game was played in the penultimate round of the German championship 2002 and laid the ground for Thomas' later winning the title. The comments are based on personal conversations with Thomas Luther himself. : Robert Hübner (2640) – Thomas Luther (2538) : (74th German Individual Championship, Saarbrücken, 2002, Round 8) : 1. c2-c4 c7-c6 2. e2–e4 d7-d5 3. e4xd5 Ng8-f6 Black already offers a pawn sacrifice. Due to the gambit-style opening the position immediately becomes sharp and concrete. : 4. Qd1-a4 After ''4. d5xc6 Sb8xc6'' black has a good game. : 4. … e7-e6 Either way, Black absolutely wants to sacrifice a pawn. : 5. d5xe6 Bf8-c5 6. Ng1-f3 White didn't want to take the risk of accepting the second sacrifice. After ''6. e6xf7+ Ke8xf7'' the rook h8 dangerously comes into play too. : 6. … Nf6-g4 Again Black continues as aggressively as possible. : 7. d2-d4 Bc5xd4 8. Nf3xd4 Qd8xd4 9. Qa4-c2 Nb8-a6 The second knight joins the attack. Blacks opening strategy was successful. : 10. Nb1-a3 Bc8xe6 11. h2-h3 Na6-b4 12. Qc2-d2 Qd4-e4+ 13. Bf1-e2 Qe4xg2 14. Rh1-f1 Ng4-h2 (!) Black starts a combination leading to material gain. The inconspicuous knight on h2 will single-handedly wreak havoc in Whites position. : 15. Qd2xb4 0-0-0 16. Na3-b5 A good try to molest the black king with a knight sacrifice. Black, though, has a spectacular counterpunch: : 16. … c6xb5 17. Bc1-f4 The threat is Qc5+, forcing Qc6 and the subsequent loss of a knight as Black would get mated otherwise. : 17. … Qg2xf1+ !! This queen sacrifice starts the very effective deployment of the knight. Black wins material. : 18. Be2xf1 Nh2-f3+ 19. Ke1-e2 Nf3-d4+ 20. Ke2-d2 Asquiesces the discovered check but other king moves were even worse: ''Ke2-e1/e3'' and ''Nd4-c2+'' wins the queen. : 20. … Nd4-c6+ 21. Qb4-d6 Rd8xd6+ 22. Bf4xd6 Be6xc4 Black reaps the fruit of his combinatorial fireworks: the smoke has cleared and he is two pawns ahead. : 23. Kd2-c3 Rh8-d8 24. Bd6-f4 Bc4xf1 25. Ra1xf1 b5-b4+ 26. Kc3-c2 Rd8-d5 27. Bf4-e3 Kc8-d7 28. Rf1-g1 g7-g6 29. Rg1-g4 a7-a5 30. Rg4-h4 h7-h5 31. Rh4-f4 f7-f5 32. h3-h4 b7-b5 33. Rf4-f3 Nc6-d4+ 34. Be3xd4 Rd5xd4 35. Rf3-d3 Rd4xd3 36. Kc2xd3 g6-g5 This pawn breakthrough decides the game. The rest for completeness' sake: : 37. h4xg5 h5-h4 38. Kd3-e2 f5-f4 39. f2-f3 Kd6-e6 40. Ke2-f2 Ke6-f5 41. Kf2-g2 Kf5xg5 42. Kg2-h3 Kg5-h5 43. Kh3-g2 Kh5-g6 44. Kg2-h2 Kg6-f6 45. Kh2-h3 Kf6-e5 46. Kh3xh4 Ke5-d4 : White gave up!

Personal

Luther has a congenital disability ( dysmelia) on his arms. As a child he was considered to have no perspective in sports from GDR officials. He tells to have taken a great amount of energy out of experiencing that he can be as good as others.Dirk Poldauf: "Für mich gibt es kein Limit" (''For me there is no limit.''), Interview with Thomas Luther, ''Schach'' 2003/1, p31 Thomas Luther is author at

ChessBase ChessBase is a German company that develops and sells chess software, maintains a chess news site, and operates an internet chess server for online chess. Founded in 1986, it maintains and sells large-scale databases containing the moves of recor ...

. He published various DVDs on opening theory and other topics. He is considered to be one of the leading experts on the

French Defence The French Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 e6 This is most commonly followed by 2.d4 d5. Black usually plays ...c5 soon after, attacking White's and gaining on the . The French has a reputation for solidity ...

, about which he published several times. In 2009 he finished his studies at the

University of Hagen The University of Hagen (, informally often referred to as FU Hagen) is a Public university, public research university that is primarily focused on distance education, distance teaching. While its main campus is located in Hagen, North Rhine- ...

acquiring the title of ''Diplomkaufmann'' (German equivalent to

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

). Luther's current

Elo rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor. The Elo system wa ...

is 2528 (June 2020).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luther, Thomas 1969 births Living people German chess players Chess Grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Sportspeople from Erfurt