Jan Sikora Lerch (Czech Republic, 14.09.1942 - 26.08.2020)

Chessmaster and chess composer of endgame studies

In EG 222 you may find an extensive obituary article about him written by Emil Vlasak and Jaroslav Polasek.

He was a strong chessplayer with an elo of 2415 and played against many strong players like:

Karpov, Uhlmann, Pachman, Hort, Jansa, Kavalek and many more..

This is what Mr Lerch wrote about himself on the website of TJ Sokol Mosty u Jablunkova. 

Words from the Chessmaster Jan Lerch:

"I was born in 1942, my father taught me chess when I was about 13 years old. When I discovered "contrashustrmat" (see example) after about a year, I stopped playing it. As champion of Šumper schools with a 100 per cent result from 18 games (played in two rounds - school championship, then final - all by households), I took part in the regional youth championship in Olomouc in 1957. It was there that I saw a chess lesson for the first time. I had no idea that chess literature existed, I invented everything behind the board - see the conclusion of my first game with Jašek. I only came third there, but won the 4th performance class (there were 6 basic classes back then - apart from the title of Master and Master Candidate)

I was lucky that chess was very popular back then, there was no television yet. There were several chess organisations in Šumperk and I joined the strongest one - Lokomotiva, where three tournament series were held every year: Divisional Championship, Čeňek Rýznar Memorial and District Championship, all in four (!!) individual groups depending on performance. During the year, I gradually worked my way up to the strongest team and won the 1st VT as the men's district champion and won the 1st chess board for the regional team championship. I only played in the Czechoslovak youth team final in 1960 and came 4th behind Hort, Děkan, Haubt (now in Germany), but ahead of Janata, Mišta, Smejkal, Nowak, Plachetka, etc. The Prague Pitharts did it Don't nominate me for a radio simulcast with Tal, in my place were some Salats from Prague who finished 9th in the semi-finals.

After graduating from grammar school in Šumperk (I was eleven years old at the time) in 1959, I worked as a turner for two years, then I worked for PTP in Rimavská Sobota. At that time, the labour battalions were under the "command" of the Minister of Transport. In Rimáš-Sobátbán there was a battalion of railway troops (already renamed), elsewhere there were road workers and also bridge builders. For 26 months (extended due to the "Berlin crisis") I built a railway network in the East Slovakian Ironworks.

In the meantime, my 1st VT failed and I started again "from the top". After returning "from the war" I worked as a technologist for about 5 years. It was a rewarding time, to this day I look at it and know how it works and how to make or repair it. I won the regional championship of the Ostrava region in 1965 and was also awarded the km title. In the semi-finals of the Czechoslovak Championship in 1966, I shared 2-3 places, but the final was played by others, including those who came fourth in another group - again the Prague Piharti. In Třinec, however, they noticed me and invited me to the Christmas tournament. There I lost to Karpov, Smejkal and Kupka, but also beat Kuprejčik, Nowak, Blatný and ended up in 5th place, with Augustin, the current national champion, behind me. In 1967 I again shared 2nd and 3rd place in the semi-finals, this time with Jansa and I could look forward to the 1968 final - the strongest championship in the history of Czechoslovakia.

Filip, Kaválek, Hort, Smejkal, Pachman, Kozma, Plachetka, Lechtýnský, Janata, Trapl, Kupka etc. played. I beat the second winner Smejkal (see the game), Kozma and also Kubíček and Vykydala, and I also played 5 draws and ended up in 18th place with 6.5 points. Immediately after the tournament I moved to Třinec. After that, I regularly played in the final until 1982 and won the bronze medal twice - in Ostrava in 1976 and in Mariánské Lázně in 1978.

I started working in Třinec as a programmer, later I moved to a group of system engineers, from 1976 we had the most powerful IBM 370 computer at the time, I regularly flew to London for further training and chess fell somewhat by the wayside. But the Prague Pitharti were not idle. After the championship final in 1982, they "forgot" to invite the less successful participants (about a third) to the semi-final tournaments, which were held in 1983. As a result, the 1984 "national championship" was the most embarrassing event in history. About a third of the participants did not belong at all in terms of performance. For a number of players - Augustin, Nowak, myself and others - it meant the end of their careers in individual competitions.

I've won more than a dozen international tournaments and I've played in the European Team Championships twice as part of the national team: in Moscow in 1977 and in Skara, Sweden, in 1980. I also took part in the Zone individual tournament in Warsaw in 1979. At the tournament in Karviná in 1972, in which several champions took part, I achieved 100%.

I have two diplomas at home - the Master of Sport, signed by A. Himl in 1974, and the International Master, signed by President Fridrik Olafsson at the congress in Atlanta in 1981. (Our representative at FIDE at the time wanted to get something out of me and put it off for 4 years. Then I personally wrote a request to the FIDE President and attached the documentation).

            In the extra league I won 5 gold medals with Třinec, another 2 during a loan in Pardubice and one with Olomouc - not counting silver and bronze.

            In 2008, he managed to find funds to participate in the European Championships for senior teams. This is a very strong competition with leading representatives from each country who are over 60 years old. In Dresden, our team: Jansa, Lechtýnský, Přibyl, Trapl and I won and took home gold medals. I started six times and collected 4 points without losing.

            I also passed about 20 trials, the judges at the time admired the Soviet school of combination and didn't know how to deal with my work, which was mainly based on manoeuvres."

This story ended on 26.08.2020. 

Source;  www.nss.cz

              Website of ARVES.org

Others; On Website of ARVES 4 endgame studies with solution are selected.