Henri Grob

Henri Grob (4 June 1904 – 5? July[1] 1974) was a Swiss chess player, artist and painter. He pioneered eccentric chess openings, such as 1.g4 (book Angriff g2–g4, Zurich 1942), sometimes known as Grob's Attack. He was awarded the title of International Master in 1950 at its inauguration.

Henri Grob vs. Willem Muhring (Hastings, 1947-48)

Grob was considered as a leading Swiss player from the 1930s to 1950s and was invited to many prestigious closed tournaments. In 1926, he tied for 10-12th in Meran (Edgar Colle won). In 1932, he tied for 9-12th in Bern (Alexander Alekhine won). In 1934, he tied for 13-14th in Zürich 1934 (Alekhine won). In 1935, he took 3rd, behind Flohr and Koltanowski, in Barcelona, took 3rd in Rosas (Flohr won), and took 10th in Bad Nauheim (Bogoljubow won). In 1936, he took 10th in Dresden (Alekhine won), tied for 3rd-4th in Reus, and took 2nd, behind Erik Lundin, in Ostend.

In 1937, Grob won as first on tie-break, 1st-3rd with Reuben Fine and Paul Keres in Ostend (beating Keres and Fine, both absolute elite players and joint winners of the AVRO tournament in 1938).

In 1939, he took 9th in Stuttgart (Europa Turnier; Bogoljubow won).[2] In 1947, he tied for 2nd-3rd, behind Savielly Tartakower in Baarn, and took 5th in Venice (Tartakower won). In 1947/48 he tied for 2nd-4th, behind László Szabó, in Hastings. In 1948, he took 8th in Venice (Miguel Najdorf won). In 1949/50 he took 4th in Lucerne (Blau won). In 1951, he took 10th in Bad Pyrmont (zonal; Svetozar Gligorić won). He participated in the International Chess Tournament of Gijón (1950) obtaining the 6th place.[3]

Grob represented Switzerland in Chess Olympiads.

• In 1927, at fourth board in 1st Chess Olympiad in London (+2 –5 =7);
• In 1935, at second board in 6th Chess Olympiad in Warsaw (+2 –8 =5);
• In 1936, at third board in 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad in Munich (+4 –7 =6);
• In 1952, at first board in 10th Chess Olympiad in Helsinki (+6 –6 =1).

He also played for Switzerland in some friendly matches.

• In 1950, he lost to Carlos Guimard 0,5 : 1,5 in Zurich (SUI – ARG);
• In 1951, he drew with Eugenio Szabados 1 : 1 in Venice (SUI – ITA);
• In 1952, he drew with Rudolf Teschner 1 : 1 in Lucerne (SUI – FRG);
• In 1955, he won against Weichselbaumer 1 : 0 in Zurich (SUI – Saar).[4]

Grob played several matches.

• In 1933, he lost to Salo Flohr (+1 –4 =1)
• In 1934, he won against Jacques Mieses (+4 –1 =1)
• In 1935, he lost to Lajos Steiner (+1 –3 =0)
• In 1937, he drew with George Koltanowski (+1 –1 =2)
• In 1947, he lost to Max Euwe (+0 –5 =1)
• In 1948, he lost to Miguel Najdorf (+1 –5 =0)
• In 1949, he lost to Efim Bogoljubow (+2 –4 =1)
• In 1950, he lost to Lodewijk Prins (+1 –4 =1).[5]

He was Swiss champion twice, in 1939 and 1951.

Between 1946 and 1972, Grob played 3,614 correspondence chess games. He won 2,703, lost 430, and drew 481 games. All of the games were played against readers of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, a leading Swiss newspaper.

Grob married nine times. When once asked if he were married he replied "Fast immer" ("Almost always").