Franz Pachl. Germany, Ludwigshafen. Was born on January 8, 1951.
At a problem solver's meeting in Ludwigshafen in 1975, he met Hermann Weißauer. Weißauer mentored Pachl, teaching him about chess composition while helping him publish his first problem, a twomover, in 1976. He specialized in twomovers and helpmates. In 1988, when Pachl and Markus Manhardt became acquainted, he became interested in fairy chess. As of December 2005, he had published around 848 compositions (364 helpmates, 269 twomovers and 163 fairy problems), winning 193 prizes, 186 honorable mentions and 139 commendations. More than 300 compositions were co-productions. Pachl became International master of the FIDE for chess composition in 1989. The Grandmaster title was awarded in September 2005. He is an international judge of the FIDE for twomovers and helpmates. He wrote a book about chess composition in 1999.