Arno Nickel (born February 15, 1952) is a German correspondence chess Grandmaster and a well-known German chess publisher.
Arno Nickel (born February 15, 1952) is a German correspondence chess Grandmaster and a well-known German chess publisher.
Arno lives in Berlin, which is also where his publishing company Edition Marco is located. [1]
Since 1983 he has edited the German Schach-Kalender, as well as the "Schach-Journal" together with Alexander Koblencs, former trainer of Mikhail Tal, from 1991 to 1994. He has published numerous books on chess, usually in German language with the exception of Robert Hübner's "Twenty-five Annotated Games" (1996). [2]
Since 2005 Nickel has been promoting Freestyle Chess (Advanced chess, created by GM Garry Kasparov), a new kind of online chess competition with computer-assisted play where almost anything is allowed, including help from other players.
In a correspondence match lasting many months, he won two games and drew a third against Hydra, the most powerful chess supercomputer in the world at that time (2005).
Since 2008 Nickel has promoted the Infinity Chess project, which is located in Abu Dhabi. Amongst other projects Infinity Chess has dedicated itself to Freestyle chess, supporting four play modes: human, engine, centaur (human + engine) and correspondence chess.
On February 16, 2009 Nickel won the Simon Webb Memorial, a category 15 correspondence chess event with 13 grandmasters. [3]
In the ICCF Champions League top group A, season 2007–2009, he achieved the best result on board 1.
In 2011 Nickel won the gold medal with the German Olympic team in the Final of the 17th ICCF Correspondence Chess Olympiad. He scored 8/12 and achieved the best result on board 3. [4] 2016 he achieved his second olympic gold at board 4, [5] and 2019 his third gold medal with the best performance at board 2. [6]
With an Elo of 2626 his ranking in the January 2020 ICCF rating list is No. 9 in the World. [7]
Nickel has published various articles on computer chess, correspondence chess and chess history. [8] 2018 he published in German his detailed research on the beginnings of organised chess in Berlin around 1800-1830s, featuring Julius Mendheim, who is considered the best player in Berlin and probably Germany at his time; "Julius Mendheim. Auf den Spuren eines genialen Schachmeisters des frühen 19. Jahrhunderts". [9]
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 common methods that have been employed include fax, homing pigeon and phone. It is in contrast to over-the-board (OTB) chess, where the players sit at a chessboard at the same time, or play each other in real time via the internet.
Advanced chess is a form of chess in which each human player uses a computer chess program to explore the possible results of candidate moves. Despite this computer assistance, it is the human player who controls and decides the game.
Simon Webb was a British chess player and writer who held the chess titles of International Master and Correspondence Chess Grandmaster.
Hydra was a chess machine, designed by a team with Dr. Christian "Chrilly" Donninger, Dr. Ulf Lorenz, GM Christopher Lutz and Muhammad Nasir Ali. Since 2006 the development team consisted only of Donninger and Lutz. Hydra was under the patronage of the PAL Group and Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi. The goal of the Hydra Project was to dominate the computer chess world, and finally have an accepted victory over humans.
International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) was founded on 26 March 1951 as a new appearance of the International Correspondence Chess Association (ICCA), which was founded in 1945, as successor of the Internationaler Fernschachbund (IFSB), founded on 2 December 1928.
Martin Kreuzer is a German mathematics professor and chess player who holds the chess titles of International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster and FIDE Master.
Rafael Duailibe Leitão is a Brazilian chess grandmaster. He is a grandmaster in both over-the-board chess and correspondence chess. Leitão is a seven-time Brazilian champion. He competed in the FIDE World Championship in 1999, 2000 and 2004 and in the FIDE World Cup in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013 and 2015.
Eros Riccio is an Italian International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster, Advanced Chess Champion and chess opening book author. He is FICGS World Champion and ICCF vice-European Champion and Olympic bronze with the Italian national team.
Zigurds Lanka is a Latvian chess player. In over-the-board chess, he received the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) in 1987 and Grandmaster (GM) in 1992. In correspondence chess, he earned the title of Correspondence Chess International Master (IM) in 1989.
László Bárczay was a Hungarian chess Grandmaster.
Roman Chytilek is a Czech correspondence chess grandmaster, currently No.1 of International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) rating list and winner of the 16th Olympiad.
Gyuláné Krizsán-Bilek, née Krizsán Gyuláné, also Edit Láng, Istvánné Bilek, is a Hungarian chess player who holds the title of Woman International Master. She is a winner of the Hungarian Women's Chess Championship (1958).
Hans Bouwmeester is a Dutch chess player who holds the chess titles of International Master (1954) and International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (1981). He was a Dutch Chess Championship medalist (1967) and is an author of chess books.
Terje Paul Wibe is a Norwegian chess player. In over-the-board chess, he received the FIDE title of International Master (IM) in 1977. In correspondence chess, he earned the ICCF title of Grandmaster (GM) in 1993.
Volf Bergraser, was a French chess master, two times French Chess Championship winner, International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (1981).
Eric Alfons Arnlind was a Swedish chess player. He was a Swedish Chess Championship medalist in 1961 and received the chess title of International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster in 1968.
Jozef Martin Boey was a Belgian chess player who held the FIDE title of International Master and the ICCF title of Correspondence Chess Grandmaster. He was a four-time Belgian Chess Championship winner.
Béla Tóth is a Hungarian-born Italian chess player who holds the FIDE title of International Master and the ICCF title of Correspondence Chess Grandmaster. He is a four-time Italian Chess Championship winner, a Hungarian Chess Championship medalist (1971), a Chess Olympiad individual silver medalist (1976), and a European Correspondence Chess Championship winner (1973-78).
Hans-Ulrich Grünberg is a German chess International Master and International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (1990) who two times won East Germany Chess Championship and won 16th European Correspondence Chess Championship (1981).
Marek Matlak is a Polish chess International Master (1988), ICCF International Master (1995), FIDE Senior Trainer (2014), FIDE Arbiter (2009).
