Hans Dieter Leiß

Hans Dieter Leiß (15.1.1941-23.10.1994)

Editor for chess composition

When the Woodstock Festival attracted worldwide attention 50 years ago and stood as a shining signal for social and cultural upheaval, a lasting change was also in the offing in our quieter world of problem chess, although it was not particularly noticeable at first. As early as January of that year, a young problemist had taken over the management of the two-move section in the Schwalbe, who wrote in the introduction to his first first print section in the February 1969 issue: "I must confess that it worries me somewhat that my predecessors have resigned after a relatively short time." The restlessness revealed here apparently drove the writer of this sentence, Hans Dieter Leiß (15 January 1941-23 October 1994), for the rest of his life, as he managed the Schwalbe-Zweizüger without interruption until his untimely death. While other administrators usually ask to be replaced after a few years of voluntary work, HDL did just the opposite: when the position of editor had to be filled in 1974, he was prepared to take on this most difficult and labour-intensive Schwalbe job as well. 

As if that were not enough, after Hermann Albrecht's death in 1982, he was also given the opportunity to take over and continue his famous two-tier collection; this kept the collection up to date and "alive", which was probably also an important prerequisite for its later continuation and digitisation - another great achievement that was accomplished by Udo Degener after HDL's death. The fact that HDL was able to cope with the immense work of clerk, editor and collection manager at the highest level for such a long time is testament to his great aplomb and perfect organisation. It was regrettable, however, that HDL's workload prevented him from regularly attending chess meetings. He did organise the Schwalbe meeting in Trier in 1980, but otherwise I only remember a few short visits to Andernach. HDL was the mainstay of Schwalbe for 25 years, and the period since his death has been just as long, during which a whole series of enthusiasts were needed to continue the work previously carried out by HDL alone.