Brief Bio
Kavalek was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). He studied communication and journalism at Charles University. He won the championship of Czechoslovakia in 1962 and 1968. When Soviet tanks rolled into Prague in August 1968, Kavalek was playing in the Akiba Rubinstein Memorial in Poland, in which he finished second. Kavalek, who had always hated Communism, decided to defect to the West rather than return to Soviet-dominated Czechoslovakia. He bought several crates of vodka with his winnings, used them to bribe the border guards, and drove to West Germany. "It was the biggest loss ever suffered by Czechoslovakian chess," wrote Andrew Soltis in "The 100 Best Chess Games of the 20th Century, Ranked."
In 1970, on the way to the United States, he won a strong tournament in Caracas. He played the first half under the Czechoslovakian flag, the second half under the American flag. He represented the United States before officially setting foot in his new adopted country. He moved to Washington, D.C., studied Slavic literature at the George Washington University and briefly worked at the Voice of America (1971–72). In 1973 he became a full-time chess professional. He later became a United States citizen and now lives in Reston, Virginia.
Read more about this topic: Lubomir Kavalek