Living in the free world was the most important thing to me
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Chess grandmaster Vlastimil Hort was born on 12 January 1944 in Kladno into the family of social democrat Antonín Hort and Vlasta Hortová. In his childhood he suffered from many illnesses and therefore had to spend time in hospital. It was there, at the age of five, that he was introduced to the game of chess, which he absolutely fell in love with. From the age of seven he played competitively in the local club, mostly in the regional championship. From the age of sixteen he regularly participated in international tournaments, where he was very successful. In 1961 he drew attention to himself at a tournament in Moscow. He tied with the Soviet chess champion Michail Tal. From 1960 he actively represented Czechoslovakia at the Chess Olympiads, with the Czechoslovak team finishing second in Lucerne in 1982. He became International Master in 1962 and subsequently won the title of Grandmaster in 1965. The occupation by Warsaw Pact troops found him in Budapest on his way to a tournament in Yugoslavia. Upon his arrival in Czechoslovakia, he refused to play or speak to the Soviet representatives as a form of defiance. In 1972, he was allowed to play as a player abroad and as a result played in the German league. His greatest success came in the 1976 World Championship Intermediate Tournament in Manila, where he finished third and managed to qualify for the 1977 Candidates Tournament. Here he finished outside the imaginary gates of the final, failing to break into the top four players. In this year he also achieved his best ranking in the FIDE rankings, where he reached sixth place. After some pressure from the communist regime, he decided to emigrate to Germany in 1985, which he subsequently represented three times at the Chess Olympiads. In 2024 Vlastimil Hort was living with his wife Brigitta in Germany and still, although only occasionally, devoted himself to chess.
