He moved to Graz at the age of 17 to become a student and often frequented the Mountainside Café, a popular meeting place for chess players.

While Robatsch played competitively over five decades, the high points of his international tournament career mostly occurred in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

He was a winner at Madrid in 1961 (with Borislav Milić) and achieved outright or shared second place at Kapfenberg 1955, Varna 1957, Utrecht 1961 and Beverwijk 1962.

At Halle in 1963, a zonal qualifying tournament for the world championship, he finished with a creditable tie for third (after Lajos Portisch and Bent Larsen, level with Borislav Ivkov).

Following preparatory moves such as Nc6 or d6, Black characteristically delays the development of the kingside knight in favour of an early challenge in the centre with e5.