Lubomir Kavalek

Lubomir (Lubosh) Kavalek (, August 9, 1943 – January 18, 2021) was a Czech-American chess player.

He won the championship of Czechoslovakia in 1962 and 1968.

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

In his seven appearances on the US team he played top board three times and second board twice, and the team collected one gold and five bronze medals.

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

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

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

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

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

On his way to America, Kavalek won a strong tournament in Caracas (scoring +10−1=6).

He played the first half under the Czechoslovakian flag, the second half under the American flag.

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

"During the 1970s Kavalek was one of the most active and successful tournament competitors from the USA."

Besides sharing first place at the U.S. championship, Kavalek won four tournaments:

Kavalek moved to Washington, D.C., studied Slavic literature at George Washington University and worked at Voice of America (1971–72).

In 1973 he became a full-time chess professional.

He later became a United States citizen.

He lived in Reston, Virginia.

Kavalek played in four Czechoslovak championships.

Three results were significant:

Kavalek finished first in three U.S. championships.

He won two Czechoslovak and three U.S. championships, and was ranked as the world's No. 10 player in 1974.

Because of these results, Kavalek moved in 1974 to number 10 in the world on the official FIDE rating list at 2625.

Also in 1974 he shared first place in Solingen (Kavalek, Polugaevsky 10/14, Spassky, Kurajica 8.5).

In the Manila Interzonal in 1976, Kavalek finished seventh.

In 1976 he was a member of the first U.S. team to win a gold medal since the 1930s.

Kavalek also qualified for the 1979 and 1987 Interzonals, but never achieved a place in the Candidates Matches.

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

It was the most bizarre result of his career.

He finished last in the first half with 1.5/9, but won the second half with 6.5/9.

He ended tying for seventh place overall.

He was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 2001.

Kavalek was also a chess coach, organizer, teacher, commentator, author and award-winning columnist.

Kavalek was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic).

He studied at the University of Žilina.

He did not complete his studies and became a chess professional.

His official occupation was reporter for the news "Prace" and the newspaper Mladá fronta.

"It was the biggest loss ever suffered by Czechoslovakian chess," wrote Andrew Soltis in "The 100 Best Chess Games of the 20th Century, Ranked."

He also finished third in Amsterdam (Petrosian and Planinc 10, Kavalek 9.5, Spassky 9) and in Manila (Larsen 12.5/15, Ljubojevic 11.5, Kavalek 11).

Kavalek finished third at the 1966 The Hague European Zonal (Gligorić 12.5/16, Bilek 12, Kavalek 11.5) and qualified for the 1967 Interzonal in Sousse, where he was one of the three players to draw with Bobby Fischer.