Vlastimil Hort

Vlastimil Hort (1944–2025), born in Kladno,
was a Czechoslovak-German chess grandmaster who ranked among the world’s leading players during the 1970s.
He earned the grandmaster title in 1965
and defeated Lev Polugaevsky 2½–1½ on board four in the 1970 USSR vs Rest of the World match.
Hort won the Czechoslovak Championship five times and qualified for the Candidates Matches in 1977,
where he narrowly lost to Boris Spassky.
After moving to West Germany, he won the German Championship in 1987, 1989 and 1991.
Hort represented Czechoslovakia and Germany at a total of 14 Chess Olympiads.
He also became widely known for his humorous commentary on the television programme Schach der Großmeister.
Hort died in 2025 at the age of 81.