Andreas Dueckstein (1927-2024)

GM Andreas Dueckstein, an Austrian grandmaster known as a dangerous attacker who defeated world champions Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik and Boris Spassky, died peacefully on August 28 at the age of 97. The news was confirmed by the Austrian chess federation.

Since February 2024, when he was awarded the honorary grandmaster title by FIDE, Dueckstein was the oldest living grandmaster. He received the title along with the Estonian GM Iivo Nei, both for their consistently strong results in the 1950s-70s. Since Dueckstein's passing, Nei is the oldest living grandmaster.

Dueckstein was born August 2, 1927, in Budapest, Hungary. As noted by Martin Stichlberger in his nice obituary, Dueckstein was a child of sports teachers, and so it was a logical choice to study at the Sports University, where he graduated. In 1949 he moved to Vienna, Austria, where he won the city championship in 1952. Two years later, he became an Austrian citizen. In 1964, he obtained a doctorate in law.

Always an amateur player, Dueckstein was a three-time Austrian champion (1954, 1956, 1977) and was very active for his country, which he represented in nine Olympiads between 1956 and 1988 and over a hundred international matches. He won two individual gold medals at Olympiads, at Moscow 1956 and at Nice 1974, playing the second board in both.

He played against seven world champions and defeated three of them. His most famous win, against then-reigning champion Botvinnik, was half a year after the Soviet grandmaster had regained his title in a rematch with GM Vasily Smyslov. The game was played at the 1958 Munich Olympiad and was the entire Soviet Union team's only loss at this event.

Dueckstein himself didn't think it was such a great game and always liked his win against GM Ludek Pachman at the same tournament more. It's not that typical for Dueckstein's aggressive style, but it shows that he wasn't a bad endgame player either:

At the age of 12, Dueckstein managed to hold Euwe to a draw in a simul. Almost two decades later, he defeated the former world champion at the Clare Benedict Cup, which was also in 1958, a few months before the Olympiad. We see the Poisoned Pawn Najdorf, which suited his style quite well:

Later in life, in fact a month after turning 57, Dueckstein added one more win against a former world champion. At an open tournament held in Zurich in 1984, he defeated Spassky with the black pieces at a time when Spassky, ten years younger, was still 16th in the world. Spassky wasn't having his best day, and his opponent capitalized on it:

One of Dueckstein's last very good results was a third place at the 1991 World Seniors in Bad Wörishofen, a tournament won by Smyslov.

Dueckstein was awarded the IM title in 1956 and later scored more than enough grandmaster norms had the modern rules been in place. However, at some of these events, he continued playing after having performed at GM level and his performance dropped, thus preventing it from counting as a GM norm after all—an old rule that doesn't exist anymore.

At least during the final six months of his life he was able to enjoy the highest title in chess, one that he certainly deserved.