Career
In 1975, he became one of the world"s leading players, rising to third place in the FIDE world ranking list in 1980. At his strongest in the mid-seventies to early eighties, Hübner participated in many of the elite tournaments of the day, such as Tilburg 1978 and Montreal 1979 (The Tournament of Stars), playing alongside Anatoly Karpov, Mikhail Tal, and January Timman. There were tournament victories at Houston 1974, Munich 1979 (shared with Ulf Andersson and Boris Spassky), Rio de Janeiro Interzonal 1979 (shared with Lajos Portisch and Tigran Petrosian), and Linares 1985 (shared with Ljubomir Ljubojević).
He remained active on the international circuit into the 2000s, but has never been a full-time chess professional due to his academic career.
His International Master (IM) title was awarded in 1969 and his Grandmaster (General Motors) title in 1971. He was a candidate for the World Championship in 1981 and 1984, and played in the Interzonal some other years.
Over the chessboard, Hübner"s technique has been described as efficient and ruthless. According to Bill Hartston—"His perfectionist and rather pessimistic approach, however, prevented him from reaching the very top." His progress was hampered by disputes and withdrawals at inopportune moments.
He withdrew from his 1971 Candidates Match against Tigran Petrosian over a dispute about intolerable conditions, and again from a 1980 Candidates Match against Viktor Korchnoi.
His fortune was dealt a particularly cruel blow at his 1983 Candidates Quarter Final match against Vasily Smyslov, when Smyslov refused to play tie-break rapid games (these were optional at the time and a noted strength of Hübner). The match was then awarded to Smyslov on the spin of a roulette wheel. Hübner"s contributions to chess literature include the study of World Champions and extensive analysis of 19th-century chess brilliancies.
His recent contributions are detailed analysis and study of the chess games of World Champions – notably Bobby Fischer and Alexander Alekhine.
He is the eponym of the Hübner Variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defence: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 c5 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bxc3+. Additionally, Hübner is known as one of the world"s best xiangqi players not from China.
Robert James Fischer vs Robert Hübner, Palma de Mallorca iz 1970, Caro-Kann Defense: Breyer Variation (B10), ½–½ A dramatic game with central pawn attacks against the General Motors Robert James Fischer. Robert Hübner vs Raymond Keene, Vienna (Austria) 1972, Modern Defense: King Pawn Fianchetto (B06), 1–0 After a long series of manoeuvres the White pressure on the Black king position peaks in a winning combination.