post-war years

The first years after the Second World War were dominated by the long-time chairman August Pohlmann and the strongest player Willy Esselbrügge, who was elected honorary chairman of the club in 1947, not least for this reason.

After a break of almost seven years, the Gütersloh Chess Club met again for the first time on August 13, 1946 in the Gasthof Schröder. Rebuilding the club and reorganizing game operations were the main items on the agenda.

Since the previous board members were still prisoners of war, new elections were necessary. August Pohlmann was elected chairman.

Gaming operations did not begin again until 1947. The Gütersloh team initially fielded three teams that played successfully in their classes.

The first team was promoted to the association class as third in the table, the second team even became champions and was promoted to the district class. The 3rd team played in the first district class.

For the 1948/49 season, a fourth team was set up in the second district class.

25th anniversary 1948

For the 25th anniversary in 1948, the East Westphalian chess master Dr. Lachmann from Bielefeld on 25 boards simultaneously against the Gütersloh team.

There was also an anniversary celebration with orchestral accompaniment.

However, the general gaming operations weren't quite as lavish. That same year, the first chairman asked Pohlmann to bring his own playing material to the club evenings, otherwise not every member or guest could play.

The sporting success of the Gütersloh Chess Club continued into the 1950s.
The Gütersloh thinkers even played in the Bundesliga for a year (although at that time there were only 4 classes: Bundesliga, Verbandsklasse, Bezirksklasse and Kreisklasse).
Esselbrügge, Krettek and Hellwig achieved the best results. The latter replaced August Pohlmann as chairman of the association in 1950.
In 1952 the association congress and the individual association championship took place in Gütersloh.

The 60s

Unfortunately, the club's chronicle is silent about the period from 1960 to the early 1970s. The chronicle will only be resumed with the club's 50th anniversary.

The 70s

The first highlight of the 70s was the club's 50th anniversary in 1973.

In this context there was also a simultaneous event with the well-known grandmaster Helmut Pfleger, who only had to accept four defeats and three draws on 25 boards. Among others, the two multiple city champions Hunke and Krettek as well as the OWL junior champion of 1973 Ralf Grobelny won.
The following year, the Gütersloh team played successfully in the newly introduced Verbandsliga.
Also worthy of note is Marianne Köhler's winning of the East Westphalia women's championship in 1975. Fridolin Schubert, who played at the Gütersloh top table for many years, and Wilhelm Hunke, who won the title of city champion nine times, also played very successfully.

So they dared, among other things, a simultaneous competition against the other members of the Gütersloh Chess Club, in which they achieved an excellent result for amateur players.

In 1979 the club, which had only had two teams at the time, sent a third team back into play.

In terms of chess, the seventies ended with a very special event. City master Fridolin Schubert played against the world's first talking chess computer and had to be content with a draw. The computer could calculate six variants simultaneously and had an opening library of 40 variants.

With the new chairman Hans-Martin Korn, who had been second chairman for many years and also first chairman in the early 1970s, the Gütersloh residents entered the 1980s.

The 80s

Former Bundesliga player Hans-Werner Ackermann played a key role in the rise of the Gütersloh chess club in the 1980s.

In the seven years of his membership, he won the city championship title seven times and led the Gütersloh team into the regional league. Unfortunately, he had to leave Gütersloh again after a short time for professional reasons.

His simultaneous competitions against the Gütersloh Chess Club, with which he enriched the club's 60th anniversary in 1983, will remain unforgettable.

In the mid-eighties a new era began under the chairmanship of Roland Schnülle.

The old players were replaced by younger ones, such as Bernhard Sadlowski and Michael Kretschmann, and with many new young people, a youth team was built that eventually even played in the NRW youth league. The most successful young person was Samir Azem, who is unfortunately no longer in Gütersloh due to his studies.