In 1967, 25-year-old Rolf Martens won the Swedish Championship playing faster than anyone before. In the Student World Championship he defeated one of the world’s ten best players, and at the end of the year he became the first Swede to make an IM-norm. Efim Geller said: “If Martens comes to Moscow, he will become one of the best players in the world.” A few years later, he had quit playing to pursue political activism on the far left. It became his vocation for the rest of his life. When Martens’ desire for chess returned, it was as an analyst. He founded the Ultra Hypermodern Counter Attack School and has produced more openings than perhaps any other player in history. Rolf Martens – Chess genius, Maoist and rebel is his life story, but also a book for anyone who wants to use his openings.
