Soenke Maus and his contribution to opening theory (opens in new tab)

At the end of the 1980s, Soenke Maus, who was born on 11 June 1967 in Bad Schwartau and celebrated his 59th birthday last week, was regarded as one of Germany's greatest talents. But in 1995 he ended his chess career and became a successful marine researcher in Norway. Maus played his most famous game in 1989 at an open tournament in Lugano: he won in just 19 moves, in a theoretically important variation, against Dr Robert Hübner. | Pictured: Soenke Maus, 1994 | Photo: Torsten Szobries