Robert Hübner, 1948-2025

Rest in peace.

If you were keeping an eye on professional chess in the 1970s and 1980s, you’ll surely remember the now late Robert Hübner, who died today at the age of 76. In those decades he was one of the world’s top players, though never at the level of the champions of his era (Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov, and Garry Kasparov), and had a successful career despite seeming to have serious problems with his nerves. He was renowned for his depth as an analyst - whatever you might consider a deeply annotated game, you might approximate Hübnerian depth if you multiply your imagined picture by ten. He famously wrote a 400-page book analyzing a whopping total of 25 of his games, and my recollection is that there is one spot in one of the games where Hübner spends something like 20 pages considering alternatives to the move played. (The analyses were deep; the book was not 400 pages long because of verbal filler. It’s one variation after another after another.) His analyses couldn’t be parodied, as they were self-parodying - and fantastic in their own way.

Much can be said about Hübner, and you should take a look at this and especially this remembrance of the great player. It’s worth noting that chess was only one aspect of his professional life; he also had a Ph.D. in Philology. Despite the dual career track, he maintained a 2600 rating well into his 60s and was still in the upper 2500s after turning 70. He was an intellectually impressive man.

Condolences to his loved ones; rest in peace.