Ragnar Hoen

Ragnar Hoen
Ragnar Hoen
	Ragnar Hoen in 2007
Country	Norway
Born	5 October 1940; Oslo, Norway
Died	6 July 2019 (aged 78)
Title	FIDE Master (FM)
Peak rating	2395 (January 1979)

Ragnar Hoen (5 October 1940 – 6 July 2019) was a Norwegian chess FIDE Master (FM), three-time Norwegian Chess Championship winner (1963, 1978, 1981), and Nordic Chess Championship winner (1967).

Biography

Hoen represented the club Oslo Schakselskap [no].^[1] From the early 1960s to the mid-1980s, Ragnar Hoen was one of the leading Norwegian chess players. He won Norwegian Chess Championships three times: 1963, 1978, and 1981.^[2] In the championship in 1981, Ragnar Hoen shared first place with three other players but was the only one who accepted a rematch and thus won the championship. He also won the Nordic Chess Championship in 1967.^[1] Ragnar Hoen won the Norwegian Blitz Chess Championship twice in a row (1980, 1981). He also won the Norwegian Senior Chess Championship (S60) six consecutive times in from 2002 to 2007.

Ragnar Hoen played for Norway in the Chess Olympiads:^[3]

in 1960, at the fourth board in the 14th Chess Olympiad in Leipzig (+7, =7, -4),
in 1962, at the third board in the 15th Chess Olympiad in Varna (+8, =4, -4),
in 1964, at the third board in the 16th Chess Olympiad in Tel Aviv (+3, =8, -5),
in 1966, at the third board in the 17th Chess Olympiad in Havana (+6, =5, -5),
in 1968, at the second board in the 18th Chess Olympiad in Lugano (+3, =3, -4),
in 1970, at the second board in the 19th Chess Olympiad in Siegen (+5, =4, -6),
in 1972, at the fourth board in the 20th Chess Olympiad in Skopje (+6, =3, -2),
in 1974, at the fourth board in the 21st Chess Olympiad in Nice (+3, =7, -6),
in 1976, at the second board in the 22nd Chess Olympiad in Haifa (+4, =6, -1),
in 1978, at the fourth board in the 23rd Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires (+3, =7, -2),
in 1980, at the third board in the 24th Chess Olympiad in La Valletta (+2, =6, -2),
in 1982, at the second reserve board in the 25th Chess Olympiad in Lucerne (+1, =4, -3).

Ragnar Hoen played for Norway in the European Team Chess Championship:^[4]

in 1989, at the first reserve board in the 9th European Team Chess Championship in Haifa (+2, =2, -1).

Ragnar Hoen also played for Norway in the Nordic Chess Cup five times (1970, 1972, 1977, 1985, 1987) and won gold (1987) and bronze (1970) medals in team competition.^[5]

Ragnar Hoen was also known as a chess journalist. He edited a column in the newspaper Vårt Land and a bulletin of the Norwegian Chess Federation. Ragnar Hoen served on the board of Tidemanns Tobakk.

His nephew was Steinar Hoen, a Norwegian high jumper and European Champion in 1994.