35 Facts About Lubomir Kavalek

Lubomir Kavalek was a Czech-American chess player.

Lubomir Kavalek was awarded both the International Master and International Grandmaster titles by FIDE in 1965.

Lubomir Kavalek won two Czechoslovak and three US championships, and was ranked as the world's No 10 player in 1974.

Lubomir Kavalek was inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame in 2001.

Lubomir Kavalek was born in Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

Lubomir Kavalek did not complete his studies and became a chess professional.

Lubomir Kavalek won the championship of Czechoslovakia in 1962 and 1968.

When Soviet tanks rolled into Prague in August 1968, Lubomir Kavalek was playing in the Akiba Rubinstein Memorial in Poland, in which he finished second.

Lubomir Kavalek, who had always hated Communism, decided to defect to the West rather than return to Soviet-dominated Czechoslovakia.

Lubomir Kavalek bought several crates of vodka with his winnings, used them to bribe the border guards, and drove to West Germany.

Lubomir Kavalek later entered Amsterdam on a student visa and in 1970 immigrated to the United States.

On his way to America, Lubomir Kavalek won a strong tournament in Caracas.

Lubomir Kavalek played the first half under the Czechoslovakian flag, the second half under the American flag.

Lubomir Kavalek represented the United States before officially setting foot in his new adopted country.

Lubomir Kavalek moved to Washington, DC, studied Slavic literature at George Washington University and worked at Voice of America.

Besides sharing first place at the US championship, Lubomir Kavalek won four tournaments:.

Lubomir Kavalek finished third in Amsterdam and in Manila.

Lubomir Kavalek finished third at the 1966 The Hague European Zonal and qualified for the 1967 Interzonal in Sousse, where he was one of the three players to draw with Bobby Fischer.

In 1979, Lubomir Kavalek played in the double-round Man and his World Chess Challenge in Montreal, which he organized.

Lubomir Kavalek played in nine Chess Olympiads, representing Czechoslovakia in 1964 and 1966 and the US from 1972 through 1986 except 1980.

From 1969 until 1991 Lubomir Kavalek was a leading player for the German team in Solingen.

In 1976, Lubomir Kavalek was the top player on the Washington Plumbers team that won the National Chess League.

Lubomir Kavalek lost two matches against two of the world's best players in Solingen, Germany.

Lubomir Kavalek ranked among the top 100 players in the world continuously from the end of 1962 until September 1988, peaking at number 10 in 1974, when he achieved his peak Elo rating of 2625 on the FIDE Rating list.

Lubomir Kavalek had a notable coaching career, working with Mark Diesen, Robert Byrne, Yasser Seirawan, Eugene Torre and Robert Hubner.

Lubomir Kavalek was one of Bobby Fischer's seconds in the World Chess Championship 1972 and served as British grandmaster Nigel Short's trainer in the 1990 Interzonal in Manila, and in Short's successful Candidates matches against British grandmaster Jonathan Speelman, Israeli grandmaster Boris Gelfand, former world champion Anatoly Karpov and Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman, leading up to Short's 1993 world championship match against Garry Kasparov.

Short and Lubomir Kavalek parted company shortly after the beginning of the latter match, which Kasparov won decisively.

Short and Lubomir Kavalek later wrote articles for chess magazines criticizing each other.

Lubomir Kavalek was acting captain and team analyst of the Rest of the World team against the Soviet Union in London in 1984.

Lubomir Kavalek was selected to Gallery of Distinguished Chess Journalists in 2006 and won Chess Journalists of America awards for the best newspaper column.

Lubomir Kavalek was editor-in-chief of chess publishing for RHM Press in New York from 1973 to 1986.

Lubomir Kavalek was the chess columnist for The Washington Post from 1986 to 2010, his last column running on January 4,2010.

Lubomir Kavalek was a member of the jury to select the best and most important games in Chess Informant.

Lubomir Kavalek died in his sleep peacefully at his residence in Reston, Virginia, on January 18,2021, at the age of 77.

Lubomir Kavalek was survived by his wife of 49 years, Irena Kavalek, son Steven Kavalek, daughter-in-law Theresa Kavalek and grandson Steven Kavalek, Jr.