Name: Eric Lobron Birthday: 07.05.1960 Title: GM Rating: 2493 Playchess handle: Eric Lobron

Biography
I was born on may 7th, 1960, in Philadelphia, PA.
My mother, being German, longed very much for her home country, so in 1965 we all gave in and crossed the Atlantic ocean.
I lived there ever since, went to high school and university, but gave that up after 2 years of law study, in order to fulfil an old dream, one I've been carrying around with me for many years, ever since I learnt the game at the age of 9. I wanted to become a professional chess player, one of a kind with heroes like Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine,Keres, Tal, Spassky,Fischer a.s.o. That was in 1982, and definitely the fact that I received my GM-title being the second youngest only to Kasparov in that year stimulated my lust for adventure and bohemian lifestyle, and I never regretted that. Well, looking back I have to admit that I never really made it to the club of selected players mentioned above, but I hope that the following list of tournament successes proves my decision not to be a total failure, either.

Career highlights
1978 German junior champion, 1980 overall German champion, 1984 overall German ch., 1981 Biel GM-tournament (tn) 1st pl, 1982 Manila GM tn 1st place, 1983 Paris open 1st pl, 1983 New York GM tn 1st pl, 1985 Manhattan GM tn 1st pl, 1986 Biel GM tn 1st-2nd pl, 1987 Ter Apel GM tn 1st-3rd pl, 1988 Lyon GM tn 1st-2nd pl, 1989 Bejing Open 1st pl, 1989 Paris Open 1st pl, 1990 Bern GM tn 2nd pl, 1990 Uzes GM match 1st pl, 1991 Vienna open 1st pl, 1992 New York open 1st pl, 1992 Swift Rapid Brussels 2nd pl, 1993 Graz GM tn 1st pl, 1995 Leeuwarden open 1st pl, 1996 Las Palmas open 1st pl, 1997 Frankfurt Rapid 1st pl.

I was a permanent member of the German national team since 1980, played Olympiads and European team championships, many times representing the country on top boards, until 1996. After that, my American blood proved too strong to resist the desire for making money, I mean real money, and suddenly I saw my self spending more time studying stock charts and business magazines than contemporary opening theory. After all, my son was getting older and like most fathers I thought that the best wasn't good enough for him. Although sweet victories over players like Karpov, Shirov, Gelfand ,Adams, Kortchnoi, Topalov, Polugaevsky, Timman, Christiansen, Seirawan, Yusupov, Psakhis, Judith Polgar a.s.o, have again and again convinced me that chess is not as useless as many in our materialistic society try to make us think, it was about time to think about cash. Well, its no secret what happened to the markets after their tremendous rise, and all I can add is that luckily I got in early enough.
My passion towards the game has always been stronger than ultimate desire for success and has somehow made me try all kind of different openings and styles, both quiet, positional and wild attacking chess have captivated me equally, so just like in my favourite hobby, music, I never focused on only one style, but much more share Miles Davis's point of view that as long as its good music I'll listen to it. The same principal goes for cooking, red wine, art and sports, my other hobbies.
Unfortunately, again and again during my career, the ultimate hunger for finding the best move has caused too many time troubles, too many good positions fell victim to this terrible disease, which may have stopped me from achieving more.
In spite of always being more of an active player in the past, I've had many students over the years.yes-chess grandmasters also enjoy some cash on the side-but that's not the only motivation. After all, if you've spend so much time and energy on something it can give great satisfaction to pass on your knowledge. My first student here at WCN won 100 points after only 3 hours of teaching, and believe me, it's a pleasure for a teacher to live to see such a development.