Vita
Spahn studied History of theatre, German language and literature, Philosophy, and History of art at the University of Cologne. He received his doctorate ('Dr. Phil.') in 1969 for his dissertation The history of the theatre of the Ruhr region up to 1933. He worked as a TV journalist for the WDR from 1969 to 2005. He produced numerous series, portraits and documentaries in the field of cultural and educational policy.
He became known both nationally and internationally through chess programmes. Between 1983 and 2005, he presented the annual live broadcast Chess of the Grandmasters (Schach der Großmeister), where players including Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik competed for the TV Cup.
It was on his initiative and under his direction that the WDR regularly reported on the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting.
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