Gerardo Budowski

Who is Gerardo Budowski?

Gerardo Budowski a German–Venezuelan chess master.

Born in Berlin into a family loving chess. His mother drew a game with José Raúl Capablanca in his simultaneous exhibition on 30 October 1925 in Berlin. His father had a friendly relationship with Alexander Alekhine who gave chess lessons to the child prodigy in Paris. Budowski left Nazi Germany for France, and then - during World War II - emigrated to Venezuela, where he obtained citizenship. Since 1952, he resides in Costa Rica.

Dr. Budowski graduated in 1948 as an agricultural engineer from the Universidad Central in Caracas, Venezuela. He subsequently pursued a master's degree at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture, located in Turrialba, Costa Rica. In 1962, he obtained his doctoral degree in Forestry from Yale University. He is the Emeritus Professor of the University for Peace.

He won the Campeón Absoluto de Venezuela title, beating 6–0 Julio García in 1951. He also participated in other championships in Costa Rica in the 1950s. He won Costa Rican team championship, playing for Turrialba, in 1965. He represented Venezuela in Chess Olympiad at Lugano 1968.