Echesspedia

The Austrian Chess Federation was founded on 12^th December 1920 but chess was already popular long before. In the 1850’s Vienna was already one of the chess centres of Europe where all leading world players met regulary in the Wiener Schachklub and in the Café Central. In 1921, Friederich Sämisch won the first Championship. The country has been a full member of the FIDE since 1926. The ACF has participated in the Olympiads since 1927. Its best achievement was the fourth place in 1927 and 1930. Since the 1970′s the federation has been ran under the presidency of Kurt Jungwirth (a former European President) who helped the ACF to organize many European team events and youth competitions. By 2007, the federation had 441 clubs and 19,351 registered players. The known players are Wilheim Steinitz, Curt Schlechter, Erich Eliskases, Andreas Dückstein, Karl Robatsch, Josef Klinger and Nikolaus Stanec. In 2009 Austria was ranked 42^nd among the countries (2495) with 6 IGMs, 36 IMs and a total of 129 titled players.

The national champions are:

1921 Friedrich Sämisch, 1922 Rubinstein, 1924 Dünman, 1925 Becker and Wolf, 1929 Eliskases and Glass, 1930 Künert, 1931 Berghofer and Palda, 1933 Fus, 1934 Podhorzer, 1936 Erich Eliskases, 1947 Leopold Lenner, 1948 Karl Galia, 1949 Josef Platt, 1950 Rudolf Palme, 1951 Thaddäus Leinweber / Josef Lokvenc, 1952 Karl Poschauko, 1953 Josef Lokvenc, 1954 Andreas Dückstein, 1955 Franz Auer , 1956 Andreas Dückstein , 1957 Franz Auer, 1958 Alexander Prameshuber, 1960 Karl Robatsch, 1963 Wilhelm Schwarzbach, 1965 Philipp Struner, 1967 Karl Janetschek, 1969 Karl Röhrl, 1971 Karl Röhrl, 1973 Karl Janetschek, 1975 Franz Hölzl, 1977 Andreas Dückstein, 1979 Adolf Herzog, 1981 Franz Hölzl, 1983 Adolf Herzog, 1985 Josef Klinger, 1987 Egon Brestian, 1989 Alexander Fauland, 1991 Reinhard Lendwai, 1993 Josef Klinger, 1994 Alexander Fauland, 1995 Nikolaus Stanec, 1996 Nikolaus Stanec, 1997 Nikolaus Stanec, 1998 Nikolaus Stanec, 1999 Nikolaus Stanec, 2000 Nikolaus Stanec, 2001 Siegfried Baumegger, 2002 Nikolaus Stanec, 2003 Nikolaus Stanec, 2004 Nikolaus Stanec, 2005 Nikolaus Stanec, 2006 Eva Moser, 2007 Siegfried Baumegger, 2008 Markus Ragger, 2009 Markus Ragger, 2010 Markus Ragger, 2011 Georg Fröwis.

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