| Cenek Kottnauer | |
| Birthname: | Čeněk Kottnauer |
| Country: | |
| Birth Date: | 24 February 1910 |
| Birth Place: | Prague, Austria-Hungary |
| Death Place: | London, England |
| International Master | |
Čeněk Kottnauer (24 February 1910, Prague – 14 February 1996, London) was a Czech British chess master, earning the title of International Master.
At the beginning of his career, he tied for 11-12th at Prague 1933 (Kautsky Memorial, Karel Opočenský won),[1] and took 7th at Prague 1939 (pre-Olympic qual, Jiří Pelikán won).[2]
During World War II, he took 6th at Prague 1942 (Alexander Alekhine and Klaus Junge won),[3] tied for 7-8th at Choceň 1942 (Miroslav Katětov won),[4] and won at Zlin 1943 (ahead of Jan Foltys).[5] In May 1944, he along with other Czech players (Luděk Pachman, Podgorny, Prucha, etc.) lost an 8-game training match against Fedor Bogatyrchuk (+0 –7 =1) in Prague.
After the war, he took 13th at Groningen 1946 (Mikhail Botvinnik won),[6] took 13th at Moscow 1947 (Chigorin Memorial, Botvinnik won), shared 2nd at Vienna 1947 (Schlechter Memorial, László Szabó won), took 3rd at Beverwijk 1947 (Theo van Scheltinga won),[7] took 4th at Bad Gastein 1948 (Erik Lundin won), tied for 8-9th at Beverwijk 1948 (Lodewijk Prins won),[8] took 9th at Venice 1949 (Szabó won), took 10th at Trenčianske Teplice 1949 (Gideon Ståhlberg won), tied for 3rd-6th at Vienna 1949 (Schlechter Memorial, Foltys and Stojan Puc won),[9] tied for 9-10th at Szczawno Zdrój (Salzbrunn) 1950 (Przepiórka Memorial, Paul Keres won),[10] took 17th at Amsterdam 1950 (Miguel Najdorf won),[11] and won at Lucerne 1953.[12]
In 1953, he emigrated to the United Kingdom. He tied for 5-7th at Hastings 1959/60 (Svetozar Gligorić won), and took 11th at Hastings 1968/69 (Vasily Smyslov won).[13]
Kottnauer thrice played in Chess Olympiads. He represented Czechoslovakia on the fourth board at Helsinki 1952 (won an individual gold medal, +10 –0 =5), and England on the first board at Tel Aviv 1964 and on the second board at Lugano 1968.[14]
He was awarded the International Master title in 1950, and the International Arbiter title in 1951.[15]