Career
Although he took 2nd, behind Vladimir Alatortsev in 1945, and behind Mark Taimanov in 1949, both were off contest (hors concours). In June 1944, he took 2nd, behind Voldemars Mezhgailis, in Udelnaya (Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic ch). In 1944/45, he took 2nd, behind Paul Keres, in Riga (Baltic Chess Championship).
In 1945, he took 14th in Moscow (14th Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics-ch).
As a trainer, he started to work with young Mikhail Tal in 1949, and coached him through his meteoric rise from the mid-1950s. Most prominently, he coached him in his World Chess Championship matches in 1960 and 1961 against Mikhail Botvinnik.
He also coached the team of the Soviet Union (eg, 1956 in Moscow and 1960 in Leipzig). Koblencs is also well known as a writer of chess books, many of which have been translated into foreign languages, in particular to German.
Foreign several years, he was the editor of the Latvian chess magazine Sahs and of the German chess magazine Schach-Journal.