Günter Wallraff
Born on the 1st October 1942 in Burscheid
Journalist and Writer

“I play chess because in so doing I can forget everything else and in play create my own world.”

In his youth, the Marathon was much more important to him, but when he began his undercover investigations, Günter Wallraff recognised his own, quite personal fascination for the game of chess. “During the previous decades, I had been constantly challenged and hounded, involved in campaigns and, at the same time, in the dock. Chess gave me peace and stamina in all those years; during a game, I leave everything else behind me and am in another world; with chess I have a calming experience in my life, even a life aid – I experience moments of true happiness.”

40 years ago, the trade union newspaper, ‘Metall’ printed his first sensational reports on industry – the prelude to a series of published masterpieces. For example, in the 1970s, he exposed the putsch plans of the earlier Portuguese President, General Spinola. Wallraff’s ‘Anti-BILD-Trilogie’ is also legendary and with ‘Ganz unten’ he documented his experiences as a Turkish guest worker. Wallraff’s undercover investigations give us an insight into pharmaceutical research; for the ZDF he reported on call centres in direct marketing or about the miserable working conditions and standards of hygiene in a bread factory. “With my work, I find myself constantly in defensive situations, with my actions I provoke countermoves which I have to predict, recognise and consider in advance – exactly as with a chess game.”
 
“Some see chess as a war game,” says Wallraff, and as a pacifist and conscientious objector he fundamentally rejects war toys. “However, with my friends, it is not a matter of mutual destruction. We draw attention to each other’s mistakes which are lower than our game level and the weak move is then withdrawn, even if this does not conform to the ‘touch-move’ rule.” Wallraff describes himself as an unconventional player, “who can sometimes cause embarrassment to a stronger opponent. If the game is then lost, it is not a defeat for me but a part of my never-ending learning process.” Does Wallraff have a chess role model? “Yes, Victor Kortschnoi because he embodies the chess guiding principle for me.”