GMVlastimil Jansa

Vlastimil Jansa was born in Prague in 1942 and learned chess during a hospital stay at eight. He became Prague's youth champion at fourteen and later studied sports sciences at Charles University. He served as a professional soldier, reaching the rank of captain. He won Czechoslovak championships in 1964, 1974 and 1984 and became a grandmaster in 1974.

Jansa helped Czechoslovakia win Olympiad silver in 1982. His tournament successes included a shared victory in the 1974 Amsterdam IBM event. As a trainer, he worked with David Navara and served as Luxembourg's national coach. With Josef Přibyl, he developed the opening approach known as the Czech Pirc. His books include Dynamics of Chess Strategy and The Best Move, co-authored with Vlastimil Hort. In senior competition, he finished second to Viktor Korchnoi in 2006 and won the world over-sixty-five title in 2018.