Wolfgang Leonhardt

Life Member of CAWA 2000

Wolfgang was born on 27 December 1928 in Berlin, Germany. His father was Russian and his mother German. He first learnt chess when he was five years old, by his father. Wolfgang joined the Berlin Chess Club and won the U/12 Championship in 1939. Because of air raids on Berlin, all schools were evacuated to safe country areas or German protectorates.

Wolf's school; the German-Russian High school, was moved to the health spa Luhatschowitz, in Czechoslovakia. There he came 1st in the 1943 Bohemian Youth Championship. No more chess was played until after the war. In 1948 and 1949 Wolf obtained 1st place in the romantic "City of Rothenburg". University studies and work as an interpreter for the Australian Mission of the International Refugee Organisation in Schweinfurt left no time for chess.

Wolfgang's family immigrated to Australia, arriving at Fremantle on 31 December 1950. He lived for a while in the migrant camp at Northam. In 1951 Wolfgang appeared on the local chess scene and joined the Perth Chess Club. He found a great friend and mentor in Dr Alec Siglin, who was president of the Perth Club and the CAWA for some years.

Between 1952 and 1972 Wolf won the WA State Championship 8 times and was runner-up on 7 occasions. He also won the State Lightning Championship 11 times, and the "City of Perth" Championship 10 times. Wolfgang probably holds the record for a local player in a simultaneous event. He played against 38 competitors and finished with a score of 33 wins, 4 draws and one loss.

He also played a blindfold competition against 8 players and recorded 5 wins and 3 draws. Wolf's best result in an Australian Championship was 3rd place (wins against J Purdy, G Koshnitsky, Cook and others). In 1964 he established a chess column in the Sunday Times newspaper (for the CAWA) which he ran until 1984.

In 1956 Wolfgang became naturalised. He helped to establish, in 1958, the German speaking Rhein Donau Club in which he served as President from 1967 to 1969. Wolfgang married Gisela in 1960, and they had two sons. In 1968 he left employment with H. Selby & Co. (a company dealing in scientific apparatus, laboratory chemicals and apparatus and process control equipment) and joined Lufthansa German Airlines as the Manager for WA, opening their Perth office in 1969. He was subsequently promoted to Manager, New Zealand & the Pacific Islands in 1973 and was transferred to Auckland.

Naturally, due to work commitments, he hardly had any time to play competitive chess. However Lufthansa, with a worldwide staff of some 55,000 had a very active staff chess club. From 1974 to 1992 Wolf won the biannually held LH World Championship five times. The International Airline Teams World Championships began in Rio de Janeiro in 1977.

From the beginning, Wolf played on board 1 for his company. It is interesting to know that he participated in these championships for many years, which were played at many exotic venues such as Bangkok, Madrid, Honolulu, Penang, Tampa, Kathmandu, Las Vegas, Reykjavik, Miami, Lisbon, and twice on board a cruise ship in the Carribean Sea.

In NZ Wolf was for many years President of the German Association of New Zealand, the Auckland Goethe Society, and for 17 years President of the NZ German Student Exchange Society, member of the Executive Board of the NZ German Business Association. He also initiated and moderated the "Deutsche Stunde", a German Language broadcast from 1991 until 1999.

In 1955 he was awarded the "Federal Cross of Merit" by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition for his services. Other honours (chess) include Honorary Life Member of the ACF in 1961, the Perth Chess Club in 1973, and the CAWA 2000.

After returning to Perth in 1999 and settling in Landsdale, he shared 1st prize in the Yanchep/Two Rocks Tournament, and finished equal second in the 2001 State Championship.

Wolf joined the Metropolitan Chess Club and this year came equal first in the Club Championship, and first in the Respini Tournament. a very impressive return to the local chess scene.

Wolf is the WA President of the Society for Australian-German Student Exchange, Vice President of the Rhein Donau Club, and Co-moderator of the local "Deutsche Stunde" radio program on 6EBA FM 95.3.

He lectures chess at primary school and tutors privately. In addition, Wolf was invited to play for Lufthansa in this year's Airline teams World Championship, which was to be held in Cadun, Mexico, in November but the tournament was cancelled because of the events in USA in September.

Wolf's other hobby (besides chess) is music. He plays the saxophone, clarinet and piano-accordion in a Big Band in Germany, and in a smaller band in Perth. Due to an accident he stopped playing the piano, and instead plays the balalaika in a balalaika orchestra in Perth.

We are indebted to you Wolfgang, for your contribution to the Perth chess community over many years and thank you for sharing your personal history with us.

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