Olaf Hesse was born in Freiberg (Saxony) in 1962. He learned to play chess from his father at the age of seven. But for a long time, chess was only an occasional hobby for him. Handball, which he had been playing since the age of 12, was his main focus. After school, he trained as a locksmith. He married at the age of 20, became a father at 25, and two years later his second child was born. His active handball career was over, and for the locksmith and welder working shifts, correspondence chess offered an interesting way to relax after work.

Correspondence chess by post, which he still enjoys today, even though email and server chess have long since become the norm. Things went well at the start of his international tournaments in the mid-1990s. But gradually his rating fell from 2268 in 1997 to 1895 in 2008. Opponents he previously had no reason to fear had long since begun to seek advice from powerful computer programmes. But Olaf did not let himself be discouraged. Not even when a chronic joint disease (polyarthrosis) turned his life upside down and he was forced into early retirement.

At least Olaf now has more time for his hobby and is catching up with the competition in terms of computer skills. After 70 more games, he reaches the 2300 Elo mark in 2014 and receives the ‘National Correspondence Chess Champion Bronze’ award the following year.
In 2017, with a rating well above 2400, he qualified for a World Championship Candidates Tournament, in which he sensationally took second place in 2019 (WCCC37CT03, Category 10). Olaf's dream of participating in a World Championship final has come true and he has earned a SIM norm.

The 33rd final of the Correspondence Chess World Championship (Category 11) will begin at the end of 2022 and end in August 2025, curiously enough with a dead heat between the top 10 players and, in a broader sense, all participants who played the tournament to the end, except for three-time world champion Aleksandr Dronow, who died in 2023. None of the players won a game in regular play, but Dronov's 10 unfinished games are counted as walkover victories for his opponents, including Olaf Hesse. These 10 players receive the world championship title, while the other six who drew with Dronov come away empty-handed. If the unfinished games had been evaluated, this would not have happened, but rules are rules. Olaf cannot really rejoice in this honour, but only in the fact that he persevered and kept up. He plans to write a book about the 33rd World Championship final – we can look forward to it.

None of the players achieved a GM norm in the World Championship final, but Olaf earned his first in the Memorial M. Avotins tournament, held parallel to the World Championship in August 2024, again along with many others who benefited from the walkover victories of a player who withdrew. This was another case in point, as this frequent player managed to halve his dubious rating from 2595 to 1277 in the 2024/3 rating period with 304 games evaluated.
Olaf was more pleased with his second GM norm in the 5th Marian Vinchev Memorial (category 12) in March 2025. This time without any ‘tailwind