Klaus Junge

Background

Junge was born into a German Chilean family. His father Otto was a strong chess player who won the Chilean Chess Championship in 1922.

Career

On 11–20 August 1939, he, along with Wolfgang Unzicker (14 years old), Edith Keller (17), Rudolf Kunath (15) and Karl Krbavic (17), played in Fürstenwalde (Jugendschachwoche) near Berlin. In 1941, at the age of 17, Klaus Junge was considered one of the strongest players in Germany. In August 1941, he tied for first with Paul Felix Schmidt at Bad Oeynhausen (the eighth German Championship), although he lost a playoff match against Schmidt for the title at Bromberg (+0 –3 =1).

In October 1941, he took fourth place, behind Alexander Alekhine, Schmidt, and Efim Bogoljubow, at Krakow/Warsaw (the second General Government chess tournament championship).

In 1942, he took second place, behind Walter Niephaus, at Leipzig. In April 1942, he was second, behind Carl Carls, at Rostock.

In June 1942, he tied for third–fourth with Schmidt, behind Alekhine and Paul Keres, at the Salzburg 1942 chess tournament. In October 1942, he took second place, behind Alekhine, at Warsaw/Lublin/Krakow (the third General Government championship).

In December 1942, he tied for first with Alekhine at Prague (Duras Jubileé, 60-jährigen Jubiläum).

In 1942-1943, he played in three correspondence tournaments, beating among others Rudolf Teschner and Emil Joseph Diemer. As a lieutenant, refusing to surrender, he died in combat against Allied troops on 17 April 1945 in the Battle of Welle on the Lüneburg Heath, close to Hamburg, three weeks before World World War II ended. In 1946, Regensburg hosted the first Klaus Junge Memorial.

According to Doctor Robert Hübner, Klaus Junge was the greatest German chess talent in the 20th century.

Kurt Richter vs Klaus Junge, Bad Oeynhausen 1941, GER-ch, Trompowsky Attack, A45, 0–1

Klaus Junge vs Paul Mross, Krakow 1941, Nimzo-Indian, Rubinstein Variation, E47, 1–0

Alexander Alekhine vs Klaus Junge, Salzburg 1942, Semi-Slav Defense, Marshall Gambit, D31, 0–1

Klaus Junge vs Čeněk Kottnauer, Prague 1942, Queen"s Gambit Declined Semi-Slav, D46, 1–0

Klaus Junge vs Emil Josef Diemer, XVII.corr. tournament 1942-1943, King"s Gambit Accepted, C34, 1–0

Klaus Junge vs Walter Sahlmann, Hamburg 1944, Sicilian, Scheveningen Variation, B84, 1–0.

Achievements

• In 1941, he won the championship of Hamburg. In May 1941, he won at Bad Elster (qualifying German championship). In January 1942, Junge won the Dresden tournament. In September, he took seventh place at the Munich (the first European Championship), won by Alekhine. The event was won by Fedor Bohatirchuk, ahead of Elmārs Zemgalis, Wolfgang Unzicker, et cetera

Politics

Klaus Junge, whose father had been a member of the Nazi Party since 1932, was an adherent of the National Socialist ideology.