Hans Christoph Krumm

Hans-Christoph Krumm 22.12.1931 - 14.6.1994

Chess composer and solver

by Thomas Brand  

Born on 22 December 1931 in Königsberg, Hans-Christoph Krumm spent the first post-war years after his escape in Halberstadt/Harz, where he matured into a successful young party player. It was there that he became interested in problem chess through the Schach-Expreß and Herbert Grasemann, an interest that was further strengthened during his studies in Mainz (Ernst Bachl) and Hamburg. He then became a qualified meteorologist in the Ruhr area and lived in Oberhausen.   Taking part in tournaments was made very difficult by the shift work at the Essen weather office, so HCK, as some still know his abbreviation in many chess magazines, concentrated on solving - for decades he was a top solver for virtually all German chess magazines - and commentating. Occasionally he also composed; I have cited three examples.     It was always important to him to promote problem chess, especially among party players; he was helped in this by his sense of humour and his correspondingly "relaxed style" of writing when running various problem columns. I myself came into contact with him very early on via the then Rochade/Europa-Rochade; he then invited me, like other young problem chess players, to contribute to his "problem corner" (this term is truly an understatement, as it usually comprised ten printed pages!) of the Heißener Schachpost, the magazine of his chess club.    

Together we organised two "Ruhrpott meetings" in the mid-1980s, which were attended not only by problem players from all over NRW, but also by a surprisingly large number of party players from his club, as well as from the Mülheim and Essen area. Together with other problem gamers from the Ruhr area, we travelled to Andernach together for many years: The trips were always very entertaining, but also stimulating with lots of chess and non-chess discussions.

Hans-Christoph Krumm had not long succeeded Herbert Grasemann as head of the problem section of the Deutsche Schachblätter when he had a tragic accident on 14 June 1994 during his family holiday: he tried to make way for oncoming hikers, slipped and fell down a slope to his death. (translated into English)

Source: dieschwalbe.de