Borislav Ivkov
Encyclopedia
Borislav Ivkov is a Serbia
n chess
Grandmaster. He was the first ever World Junior Champion
in 1951. He won the Yugoslav Championship
in 1958 (joint), 1963 (joint) and 1972. He was a World championship
candidate in 1965, and played in four more Interzonal tournaments, in 1967, 1970, 1973, and 1979. Ivkov represented Yugoslavia
12 times in Olympiad competition, from 1956 to 1980, and six times in European Team Championships. Ivkov won nearly two dozen high-class events during his career; notable tournament triumphs include Mar del Plata
1955, Buenos Aires
1955, Beverwijk
1961, Zagreb
1965, Sarajevo
1967, Amsterdam
1974, and Moscow 1999. For more than 15 years from the mid-1950s, he was the second-ranking Yugoslav player, after Svetozar Gligorić
. He remains an active tournament competitor at age 73, having played successfully in the 2007 Canadian Open in Ottawa
. He is preparing his chess autobiography.
at Zagreb
, with 11/19; the winner was Svetozar Gligorić
. Ivkov earned his first international event opportunity at Bled
1950, sharing 5th-6th places with 7.5/14; the winner was Miguel Najdorf
. In this tournament, which featured some of the world's best players, Ivkov defeated well-known stars such as Herman Pilnik
, Milan Vidmar
Sr., and Vasja Pirc
. After this impressive debut, he was selected to represent Yugoslavia in team matches against the United States and the Netherlands in 1950 and against West Germany
in 1951.
Ivkov won the inaugural World Junior Chess Championship
in 1951 at Birmingham
; this tournament was established for players under age 20. He continued his progress with two solid showings in Yugoslav Championships: at Sarajevo
1951 he tied 10th-12th places with 9.5/19 (winner Braslav Rabar
), and at Belgrade 1952 he tied 7th-9th places with 10/19 (winner Petar Trifunović
). At Opatija
1953, Ivkov scored 10/17 for a shared 4th-6th place; the winner was Aleksandar Matanović
. Ivkov was still eligible by age in 1953 to try to repeat his World Junior success; at Copenhagen
he won his preliminary group with 7/9, but scored only 3.5/7 in the finals to place tied 3rd-4th, as Oscar Panno
and Klaus Darga
tied at the top.
1954 with 11.5/19; this was his strongest event to date, the first Yugoslav event to welcome Soviet players following the end of World War II. The winner was David Bronstein
. Ivkov earned the International Master title.
Ivkov broke through into the group of the world's elite players with two brilliant results in strong tournaments in Argentina
. He won at Mar del Plata
1955 with 11.5/15, ahead of Najdorf, Gligoric, Szabo, Luděk Pachman
, Panno and Pilnik. Then he won again at Buenos Aires
1955 with 13/17, ahead of Gligoric, Pilnik, Laszlo Szabo
, Bisguier, Luděk Pachman
, Rosseto, Panno and Donner. In the Yugoslav Championship at Novi Sad
1955, Ivkov had his best national result to date with a shared 3rd-4th place on 10.5/17; the winner was Karaklajic. Then at Zagreb
1955, he tied 2nd-3rd places with Matanovic on 12.5/19; the winner was Vasily Smyslov
. Ivkov earned his Grandmaster title in 1955.
At Hastings
1955-56, Ivkov finished 3rd with 6.5/9 behind winners Viktor Korchnoi
and Friðrik Ólafsson
. He represented Yugoslavia in the World Students' Olympiad at Uppsala
1956; on board two he scored 5/9 (+2 =6 -1), and Yugoslavia won the team bronze medals. Following his very strong debut at full Olympiad level at Moscow 1956, Ivkov reached his career peak chessmetrics
.com rating of 2715 in October of that year; he was #9 in the world at this stage. He would be in the world's top 40 players continuously for 20 years, from March 1955 through May 1975.
competition are (+82 =76 -13), for 70.2 per cent, and his 15 total medals is an all-time record for a non-Soviet player.
Ivkov made his first appearance at the European team level in the inaugural event at Vienna
1957, and was chosen on five further occasions. He won four team medals and one board medal in Euroteams events. According to the site olimpbase.org, Ivkov's totals in Euroteams play are (+10 =29 -4), for 57 per cent.
1957 when he scored 14/22 to share 2nd-4th places behind Gligoric. But he had a setback at the 1957 Wageningen
Zonal tournament, failing to qualify for the Interzonal
stage by making only 8.5/17 for 9th position. He recovered with his first Yugoslav title at Sarajevo
1958, sharing the title with Gligoric on 12.5/19. This victory set off a string of tournament triumphs over the next five years. Ivkov won at Sarajevo
1958 with 7/11. He won at Belgrade
1959 by 2.5 points with 9/11. In a strong field at Dresden
1959, he shared 3rd-4th places with 10/15 behind winners Efim Geller
and Mark Taimanov
. Ivkov shared the win at Lima
1959 with Pachman on 10.5/13, and again shared the win at Santiago
1959 with Pachman. At Mar del Plata
1959, he shared 3rd-4th places with Bobby Fischer
, behind winners Pachman and Najdorf.
Ivkov shared the victory at Beverwijk
1961 with Bent Larsen
on 7.5/9. At Belgrade
1962, he was second on 8/11 behind Gligoric. At Havana
1962, Ivkov scored 14.5/21, but had to content himself with sixth place, as Najdorf won. Ivkov qualified from the 1963 Halle
Zonal tournament into his first Interzonal
the next year. At Halle, he tied 3rd-4th places with 12/19, then defeated Karl Robatsch
by 2-0 in a playoff for the last berth. At Beverwijk 1963, he shared 3rd-5th places with 11/17, as Jan Hein Donner
won.
Ivkov won his second Yugoslav title at Zenica
1963 with 15/21, shared with Mijo Udovčić
. At Havana
1963, he scored very well with 15.5/21, but this was only good enough for a shared 5th-6th place, as Korchnoi won. Ivkov shared 2nd-3rd places at Belgrade
1964 on 11.5/17 behind Boris Spassky
. At Beverwijk 1964, he was 4th with 10/15 behind winners Paul Keres
and Ivo Nei. Then at Sarajevo
1964, he finished 3rd with 9.5/15 as Lev Polugaevsky
won.
Interzonal
to the Candidates' matches the next year, with a score of 15/23. But he lost his first-round Candidates' match at Zagreb
to Bent Larsen
by 5.5-2.5. He played at the Interzonal level four more times, but did not advance further. He narrowly missed moving on at age 46 in 1979.
Ivkov played board ten in the Russia (USSR) vs Rest of the World
team match at Belgrade
1970, but lost his match 3-1 to Paul Keres
.
1965, Ivkov shared 2nd-4th places with Geller and Fischer, and defeated Fischer for the second time in their game; the winner was Smyslov. In fact he was leading before he blew an easily won game against a tail ender; this would have been his greatest victory. Ivkov shared 2nd-3rd places in the Yugoslav Championship at Titograd
1965 with 11.5/18 as Gligoric won. Then at Zagreb
1965, Ivkov scored perhaps his most impressive career victory, sharing the title with Wolfgang Uhlmann
on 13.5/19, ahead of World Champion Tigran Petrosian
, Lajos Portisch
, Larsen, and Bronstein. Ivkov won at Venice
1966 with 5/7. He ended 4th at Beverwijk 1966 on 10/15 as Polugaevsky won. Ivkov won at Eersel
1966 with 4/5. He had a disappointing result at the elite Piatigorsky Cup
tournament at Santa Monica, California
, finishing with a minus score, as Spassky won. But then he nearly won the 1966 Open Canadian Chess Championship
at Kingston
. He shared 3rd-4th at Sarajevo
1966 with 10/15, behind winners Mikhail Tal
and Dragoljub Ciric
. He was 4th at Palma de Mallorca
1966 with 9.5/15 behind winner Tal.
In the Yugoslav Championship at Kraljevo
1967, he ended tied 2nd-6th behind winner Milan Matulović
. At Maribor
1967, he shared 3rd-5th places with 9/15, with Wolfgang Unzicker
winning. He was 6th at Palma de Mallorca
1967 with 10/17, with Larsen winning. Then he shared the title at Sarajevo
1967 on 10.5/15 with Leonid Stein
. Ivkov won the Zonal tournament at Vrnjačka Banja
1967 with 12/17 to qualify for the Interzonal later that year. He shared the title at Málaga
1968 with Dražen Marović
on 7.5/11. From the Raach Zonal 1969, he advanced to the Interzonal after sharing 2nd-5th places with Portisch, Jan Smejkal
, and Ulf Andersson
, then winning a further playoff. He was 3rd at Vršac
1969 with 9.5/15 behind winner Dragoljub Janosevic
.
At Budapest
1970, Ivkov shared 3rd-4th places with 8.5/15 as Keres won. At Caracas
1970, Ivkov shared 4th-6th places with 11.5/17, behind winner Lubomir Kavalek; Ivkov defeated rising star Anatoly Karpov
. Ivkov won at Stockholm
1970 with 6.5/9. He was third at Wijk aan Zee
1970 with 10/15 behind Taimanov. At Rovinj
/Zagreb
1970, he scored 9/17 for a tied 7th-8th place, as Fischer won. At Wijk aan Zee 1971, Ivkov shared 2nd-5th places on 9.5/15, as Korchnoi won. The Ivkov shared the title at the 1972 Caorle
Zonal tournament on 12/17 with Ljubomir Ljubojević
, to qualify for the next year's Interzonal.
Ivkov won his third Yugoslav title at Umag
1972 with 12/19. He tied 2nd-3rd places at Bauang, La Union
1973 on 6.5/9 behind Kavalek. Then he shared the title at Amsterdam
1974 on 10/15 with Vlastimil Jansa
and Vladimir Tukmakov
.
1977 with 8.5/13, behind Hort. At Bor
1984, he shared 2nd-4th places with 8.5/13 behind winner Slobodan Martinovic. He won the tournament at Cienfuegos
1985 with 10/13. In the 1991 Yugoslav Championship at Kladovo
, he shared 4th-7th places with 9/13. Ivkov shared 2nd-9th places in the 1998 World Senior Championship at Grieskirchen
on 8/11 behind champion Vladimir Bagirov
. His most impressive late-career feat was a shared 1st-2nd place in the strong Tigran Petrosian
Memorial at Moscow 1999 with 5/9, along with Portisch. Ivkov tied 2nd-4th places in the 25th anniversary Paul Keres
Memorial at Vancouver
with 7.5/10, behind winner Vladimir Epishin
. He was awarded the International Arbiter
title in 1986.
Ivkov is currently working on his chess autobiography, and playing periodically; he had a successful tournament at the very strong (23 Grandmasters) 2007 Open Canadian Chess Championship
in Ottawa
in July, which was won by the Chinese Grandmaster Bu. This was 41 years after his first appearance in that championship in 1966.
, Mikhail Tal
, Tigran Petrosian
, Bobby Fischer
, and Anatoly Karpov
. He also scored wins over most of the top players of his era, excepting Mikhail Botvinnik
and Paul Keres
. Head-to-head, he was dominated by such stars as Gligoric, Tal, and Larsen. Ivkov's style is classical, and he opened regularly with both 1.e4 and 1.d4 during his peak years, making him problematic to prepare for. As Black, he replied to 1.e4 with the Sicilian Defence, the French Defence, and with 1...e5, showing a wide repertoire which he handled well. While usually tending towards solid positional play, Ivkov could certainly switch over to fierce tactics when given the opportunity. During his peak years, he played in many high-class tournaments, and was almost always near the top of the table.
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
Grandmaster. He was the first ever World Junior Champion
World Junior Chess Championship
The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament organized by the World Chess Federation ....
in 1951. He won the Yugoslav Championship
Yugoslav Chess Championship
The Yugoslav Chess Championship is a tournament with great tradition, held to determine the national champion. It was a very strong event especially in the period 1945–1991, when it represented players from six federal republics, today independent countries....
in 1958 (joint), 1963 (joint) and 1972. He was a World championship
World championship
A world championship is the top achievement for any sport or contest. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best nation, team, individual in the world in a particular field. Certain sports do not have a world championship, instead...
candidate in 1965, and played in four more Interzonal tournaments, in 1967, 1970, 1973, and 1979. Ivkov represented Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
12 times in Olympiad competition, from 1956 to 1980, and six times in European Team Championships. Ivkov won nearly two dozen high-class events during his career; notable tournament triumphs include Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...
1955, Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
1955, Beverwijk
Corus chess tournament
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament formerly called the Corus chess tournament takes place every year, usually in January, in a small town called Wijk aan Zee, part of the larger Beverwijk in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands...
1961, Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
1965, Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
1967, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
1974, and Moscow 1999. For more than 15 years from the mid-1950s, he was the second-ranking Yugoslav player, after Svetozar Gligorić
Svetozar Gligoric
Svetozar Gligorić is a Serbian chess grandmaster. He won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is considered the best player ever from Serbia...
. He remains an active tournament competitor at age 73, having played successfully in the 2007 Canadian Open in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
. He is preparing his chess autobiography.
National Master, World Junior Champion
Ivkov earned his National Master title in 1949 at age 16, by placing shared 4th-7th in the Yugoslav ChampionshipYugoslav Chess Championship
The Yugoslav Chess Championship is a tournament with great tradition, held to determine the national champion. It was a very strong event especially in the period 1945–1991, when it represented players from six federal republics, today independent countries....
at Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, with 11/19; the winner was Svetozar Gligorić
Svetozar Gligoric
Svetozar Gligorić is a Serbian chess grandmaster. He won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is considered the best player ever from Serbia...
. Ivkov earned his first international event opportunity at Bled
Bled
Bled is a municipality in northwestern Slovenia in the region of Upper Carniola. The area, within the Julian Alps, is a popular tourist destination.-History:...
1950, sharing 5th-6th places with 7.5/14; the winner was Miguel Najdorf
Miguel Najdorf
Miguel Najdorf was a Polish-born Argentine chess grandmaster of Jewish origin, famous for his Najdorf Variation....
. In this tournament, which featured some of the world's best players, Ivkov defeated well-known stars such as Herman Pilnik
Herman Pilnik
Herman Pilnik was an Argentine chess Grandmaster.-Career:...
, Milan Vidmar
Milan Vidmar
Milan Vidmar was a Slovene electrical engineer, chess player, chess theorist, philosopher, and writer. He was a specialist in power transformers and transmission of electric current.- Biography :...
Sr., and Vasja Pirc
Vasja Pirc
Vasja Pirc was a leading Slovenian chess player. His name is most familiar to contemporary players as the originator of the hypermodern Pirc Defense...
. After this impressive debut, he was selected to represent Yugoslavia in team matches against the United States and the Netherlands in 1950 and against West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
in 1951.
Ivkov won the inaugural World Junior Chess Championship
World Junior Chess Championship
The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament organized by the World Chess Federation ....
in 1951 at Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
; this tournament was established for players under age 20. He continued his progress with two solid showings in Yugoslav Championships: at Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
1951 he tied 10th-12th places with 9.5/19 (winner Braslav Rabar
Braslav Rabar
Braslav Rabar was a Croatian chess International Master and chess writer. He was Yugoslav champion in 1951, and in 1953 again tied for the tournament lead, but lost a playoff match. He played for Yugoslavia in three chess Olympiads , winning a total of five medals...
), and at Belgrade 1952 he tied 7th-9th places with 10/19 (winner Petar Trifunović
Petar Trifunovic
Dr. Petar Trifunović was an International Grandmaster and Serbian Champion of chess...
). At Opatija
Opatija
Opatija is a town in western Croatia, just southwest of Rijeka on the Adriatic coast. , the town proper had a population of 7,850, with the municipality having a total 12,719 inhabitants.-Geography:...
1953, Ivkov scored 10/17 for a shared 4th-6th place; the winner was Aleksandar Matanović
Aleksandar Matanovic
Aleksandar Matanović is a Serbian chess Grandmaster. He was born in Belgrade.Awarded the GM title in 1955, he was junior champion of Yugoslavia in 1948 and Yugoslav national champion in 1962 , 1969 and 1978...
. Ivkov was still eligible by age in 1953 to try to repeat his World Junior success; at Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
he won his preliminary group with 7/9, but scored only 3.5/7 in the finals to place tied 3rd-4th, as Oscar Panno
Oscar Panno
Oscar R. Panno is an Argentine chess Grandmaster.Panno won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1953, and also won the championship of Argentina the same year....
and Klaus Darga
Klaus Darga
Klaus Viktor Darga is a German Grandmaster chess player.In 1951 Darga became German Junior Champion after winning the national under-20 championship. He also proved his strength as a young chessplayer by sharing first place in the World Junior Championship of 1953, with Oscar Panno of Argentina...
tied at the top.
Rapid rise
Ivkov shared 4th-5th places at BelgradeBelgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
1954 with 11.5/19; this was his strongest event to date, the first Yugoslav event to welcome Soviet players following the end of World War II. The winner was David Bronstein
David Bronstein
David Ionovich Bronstein was a Soviet chess grandmaster, who narrowly missed becoming World Chess Champion in 1951. Bronstein was described by his peers as a creative genius and master of tactics...
. Ivkov earned the International Master title.
Ivkov broke through into the group of the world's elite players with two brilliant results in strong tournaments in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. He won at Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...
1955 with 11.5/15, ahead of Najdorf, Gligoric, Szabo, Luděk Pachman
Ludek Pachman
Luděk Pachman was a Czechoslovak-German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and political activist. In 1972, after being imprisoned and tortured almost to death by the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, he was allowed to emigrate to West Germany...
, Panno and Pilnik. Then he won again at Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
1955 with 13/17, ahead of Gligoric, Pilnik, Laszlo Szabo
László Szabó (chess player)
László Szabó was a prominent Hungarian Grandmaster of chess.Born in Budapest, he burst onto the international chess scene in 1935, at the unusually young age of 18...
, Bisguier, Luděk Pachman
Ludek Pachman
Luděk Pachman was a Czechoslovak-German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and political activist. In 1972, after being imprisoned and tortured almost to death by the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, he was allowed to emigrate to West Germany...
, Rosseto, Panno and Donner. In the Yugoslav Championship at Novi Sad
Novi Sad
Novi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain on the Danube river....
1955, Ivkov had his best national result to date with a shared 3rd-4th place on 10.5/17; the winner was Karaklajic. Then at Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
1955, he tied 2nd-3rd places with Matanovic on 12.5/19; the winner was Vasily Smyslov
Vasily Smyslov
Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, and was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight occasions . Smyslov was twice equal first at the Soviet Championship , and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad medals won...
. Ivkov earned his Grandmaster title in 1955.
At Hastings
Hastings International Chess Congress
The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess congress which takes place in Hastings, England, around the turn of the year. The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin tournament. In 2004/05 the tournament was played in the...
1955-56, Ivkov finished 3rd with 6.5/9 behind winners Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...
and Friðrik Ólafsson
Friðrik Ólafsson
Friðrik Ólafsson is an Icelandic chess Grandmaster and former president of FIDE.Friðrik was born in Reykjavík, Iceland. A first-time winner of the Icelandic Championship in 1952 and of the Scandinavian Championship a year later, he rapidly became recognised as the strongest Icelandic player of his...
. He represented Yugoslavia in the World Students' Olympiad at Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
1956; on board two he scored 5/9 (+2 =6 -1), and Yugoslavia won the team bronze medals. Following his very strong debut at full Olympiad level at Moscow 1956, Ivkov reached his career peak chessmetrics
Chessmetrics
Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo rating system.-Implementation:...
.com rating of 2715 in October of that year; he was #9 in the world at this stage. He would be in the world's top 40 players continuously for 20 years, from March 1955 through May 1975.
National team stalwart
Ivkov earned the first of his 12 selections to the Yugoslav Olympiad team in 1956, and was a member of the national team continuously through 1980. This was during a period when Yugoslavia was usually among the top three chess countries. He won a total of ten team medals and five board medals during his career. According to the site olimpbase.org, Ivkov's totals in chess OlympiadChess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...
competition are (+82 =76 -13), for 70.2 per cent, and his 15 total medals is an all-time record for a non-Soviet player.
- Moscow 195612th Chess OlympiadThe 12th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between August 31 and September 25, 1956, in Moscow, Soviet Union.-References:...
: board 3, 12/16 (+9 =6 -1), board silver, team bronze; - Munich 195813th Chess OlympiadThe 13th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between September 30 and October 23, 1958, in Munich, West Germany.-References:...
: board 3, 9.5/15 (+7 =5 -3), team silver; - Leipzig 196014th Chess OlympiadThe 14th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 26 and November 9, 1960, in Leipzig, East Germany.-References:...
: board 3, 12/16 (+9 =6 -1), board bronze, team bronze; - Varna 196215th Chess OlympiadThe 15th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between September 15 and October 10, 1962, in Varna, Bulgaria.-References:* OlimpBase...
: board 4, 13.5/16 (+11 =5 -0), board gold, team silver; - Tel Aviv 196416th Chess OlympiadThe 16th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 2 and November 25, 1964, in Tel Aviv, Israel.-References:* OlimpBase...
: board 2, 11.5/16 (+8 =7 -1), team silver; - Havana 196617th Chess OlympiadThe 17th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 23 and November 20, 1966, in Havana, Cuba.-References:* OlimpBase...
: board 2, 10/15 (+8 =4 -3); - Lugano 196818th Chess OlympiadThe 18th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 17 and November 7, 1968, in Lugano, Switzerland.-References:* OlimpBase...
: board 2, 9/14 (+5 =8 -1), team silver; - Siegen 197019th Chess OlympiadThe 19th Chess Olympiad, comprising an open team tournament and the Annual Congress of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs, took place between September 5 and September 27, 1970, in the small town of Siegen, West Germany.-Tournament report:...
: board 2, 10/13 (+7 =6 -0), board gold, team silver; - Skopje 197220th Chess OlympiadThe 20th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between September 18 and October 13, 1972, in Skopje, Yugoslavia ....
: board 2, 12/18 (+6 =12 -0), team bronze; - Nice 197421st Chess OlympiadThe 21st Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between June 6 and June 30, 1974, in Nice, France.-References:* OlimpBase...
: board 3, 12/17 (+8 =8 -1), board silver, team silver; - Buenos Aires 197823rd Chess OlympiadThe 23rd Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 25 and November 12, 1978, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.-References:...
: board 4, 3/7 (+1 =4 -2); - Valletta 198024th Chess OlympiadThe 24th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 20 and December 6, 1980, in La Valletta, Malta.-References:* OlimpBase...
: board 2, 5.5/8 (+3 =5 -0), team bronze.
Ivkov made his first appearance at the European team level in the inaugural event at Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
1957, and was chosen on five further occasions. He won four team medals and one board medal in Euroteams events. According to the site olimpbase.org, Ivkov's totals in Euroteams play are (+10 =29 -4), for 57 per cent.
- ViennaViennaVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
1957: board 3, 3.5/6 (+2 =3 -1), team silver; - HamburgHamburg-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
1965: board 1, 5/10 (+2 =6 -2), team silver; - KapfenbergKapfenbergKapfenberg is a city in Styria, Austria, near Bruck an der Mur. The town's landmark is Burg Oberkapfenberg. Main employer in the city of Kapfenberg was and still is the steel manufacturer Böhler....
1970: board 2, 4/7 (+2 =4 -1); - Bath 1973: board 2, 4.5/7 (+2 =5 -0), board gold, team silver;
- Moscow 1977: board 6, 4/7 (+1 =6 -0), team bronze;
- SkaraSkaraSkara is a locality and the seat of Skara Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 18595 inhabitants in 2005. Despite its small size, it has a long educational and ecclesiastical history. One of Sweden's oldest high schools, Katedralskolan , is situated in Skara...
1980: board 3, 3.5/6 (+1 =5 -0).
Yugoslav Champion, international victories
Ivkov narrowly missed becoming Yugoslav champion at SomborSombor
Sombor is a city and municipality located in northwest part of Serbian autonomous province of Vojvodina. The city has a total population of 48,749 , while the Sombor municipality has 87,815 inhabitants...
1957 when he scored 14/22 to share 2nd-4th places behind Gligoric. But he had a setback at the 1957 Wageningen
Wageningen
' is a municipality and a historical town in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specializes in life sciences. The city has 37,414 inhabitants , of which many thousands are students...
Zonal tournament, failing to qualify for the Interzonal
Interzonal
Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle.- Zonal tournaments :...
stage by making only 8.5/17 for 9th position. He recovered with his first Yugoslav title at Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
1958, sharing the title with Gligoric on 12.5/19. This victory set off a string of tournament triumphs over the next five years. Ivkov won at Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
1958 with 7/11. He won at Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
1959 by 2.5 points with 9/11. In a strong field at Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
1959, he shared 3rd-4th places with 10/15 behind winners Efim Geller
Efim Geller
Efim Petrovich Geller was a Soviet chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak. He won the Soviet Championship twice and was a Candidate for the World Championship on six occasions...
and Mark Taimanov
Mark Taimanov
Mark Evgenievich Taimanov is a leading Soviet and Russian chess player and concert pianist.-Chess:He was awarded the International Grandmaster title in 1952 and played in the Candidates Tournament in Zurich in 1953, where he tied for eighth place. From 1946 to 1956, he was among the world's top...
. Ivkov shared the win at Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
1959 with Pachman on 10.5/13, and again shared the win at Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
1959 with Pachman. At Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...
1959, he shared 3rd-4th places with Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
, behind winners Pachman and Najdorf.
Ivkov shared the victory at Beverwijk
Corus chess tournament
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament formerly called the Corus chess tournament takes place every year, usually in January, in a small town called Wijk aan Zee, part of the larger Beverwijk in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands...
1961 with Bent Larsen
Bent Larsen
Jørgen Bent Larsen was a Danish chess Grandmaster and author. Larsen was known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play and he was the first western player to pose a serious challenge to the Soviet Union's dominance of chess...
on 7.5/9. At Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
1962, he was second on 8/11 behind Gligoric. At Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
1962, Ivkov scored 14.5/21, but had to content himself with sixth place, as Najdorf won. Ivkov qualified from the 1963 Halle
Halle, Saxony-Anhalt
Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...
Zonal tournament into his first Interzonal
Interzonal
Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle.- Zonal tournaments :...
the next year. At Halle, he tied 3rd-4th places with 12/19, then defeated Karl Robatsch
Karl Robatsch
Karl Robatsch was a leading Austrian chess player and a noted botanist.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...
by 2-0 in a playoff for the last berth. At Beverwijk 1963, he shared 3rd-5th places with 11/17, as Jan Hein Donner
Jan Hein Donner
Johannes Hendrikus Donner was a Dutch chess grandmaster and writer. Donner was born in The Hague and won the Dutch Championship in 1954, 1957, and 1958. FIDE, the World Chess Federation, awarded him the GM title in 1959. He played 11 times for the Netherlands in the Chess Olympiads...
won.
Ivkov won his second Yugoslav title at Zenica
Zenica
Zenica is an industrial city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the capital of the Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity...
1963 with 15/21, shared with Mijo Udovčić
Mijo Udovčić
Mijo Udovčić was a Yugoslavian chess player, who became the first Croatian Grandmaster in 1962. Jointly with Borislav Ivkov, he won the Yugoslav championships in 1963.-Background:...
. At Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
1963, he scored very well with 15.5/21, but this was only good enough for a shared 5th-6th place, as Korchnoi won. Ivkov shared 2nd-3rd places at Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
1964 on 11.5/17 behind Boris Spassky
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...
. At Beverwijk 1964, he was 4th with 10/15 behind winners Paul Keres
Paul Keres
Paul Keres , was an Estonian chess grandmaster, and a renowned chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s....
and Ivo Nei. Then at Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
1964, he finished 3rd with 9.5/15 as Lev Polugaevsky
Lev Polugaevsky
Lev Abramovich Polugaevsky was an International Grandmaster of chess and frequent contender for the world chess championship, although he never achieved that title...
won.
World Championship Candidate
Ivkov qualified from the 1964 AmsterdamAmsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
Interzonal
Interzonal
Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle.- Zonal tournaments :...
to the Candidates' matches the next year, with a score of 15/23. But he lost his first-round Candidates' match at Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
to Bent Larsen
Bent Larsen
Jørgen Bent Larsen was a Danish chess Grandmaster and author. Larsen was known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play and he was the first western player to pose a serious challenge to the Soviet Union's dominance of chess...
by 5.5-2.5. He played at the Interzonal level four more times, but did not advance further. He narrowly missed moving on at age 46 in 1979.
- 1967 SousseSousseSousse is a city in Tunisia. Located 140 km south of the capital Tunis, the city has 173,047 inhabitants . Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf of Hammamet, which is a part of the Mediterranean Sea. The name may be of Berber origin: similar names are found in Libya and in...
: 11/21, tied 12th-13th; - 1970 Palma de MallorcaPalma de MallorcaPalma is the major city and port on the island of Majorca and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. The names Ciutat de Mallorca and Ciutat were used before the War of the Spanish Succession and are still used by people in Majorca. However, the official name...
: 10.5/23, 14th; - 1973 PetrópolisPetrópolisPetrópolis , also known as The Imperial City of Brazil, is a town in the state of Rio de Janeiro, about 65 km from the city of Rio de Janeiro....
: 9/17, tied 9th-10th; - 1979 Rio de JaneiroRio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
: 10/18, 5th.
Ivkov played board ten in the Russia (USSR) vs Rest of the World
Russia (USSR) vs Rest of the World
There have been two chess matches featuring USSR vs. Rest of the World and 1 match Russia vs. Rest of the World. The first two matches were between a team from the USSR and a team of players from the "rest of the world"...
team match at Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
1970, but lost his match 3-1 to Paul Keres
Paul Keres
Paul Keres , was an Estonian chess grandmaster, and a renowned chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s....
.
Continued excellence
At HavanaHavana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
1965, Ivkov shared 2nd-4th places with Geller and Fischer, and defeated Fischer for the second time in their game; the winner was Smyslov. In fact he was leading before he blew an easily won game against a tail ender; this would have been his greatest victory. Ivkov shared 2nd-3rd places in the Yugoslav Championship at Titograd
Podgorica
Podgorica , is the capital and largest city of Montenegro.Podgorica's favourable position at the confluence of the Ribnica and Morača rivers and the meeting point of the fertile Zeta Plain and Bjelopavlići Valley has encouraged settlement...
1965 with 11.5/18 as Gligoric won. Then at Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
1965, Ivkov scored perhaps his most impressive career victory, sharing the title with Wolfgang Uhlmann
Wolfgang Uhlmann
Wolfgang Uhlmann is a prominent German International Grandmaster of chess. Despite being a dedicated professional chess player, and undoubtedly the GDR's most successful ever, he has also had a career in accountancy.-Chess career:...
on 13.5/19, ahead of World Champion Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else...
, Lajos Portisch
Lajos Portisch
Lajos Portisch is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik"...
, Larsen, and Bronstein. Ivkov won at Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
1966 with 5/7. He ended 4th at Beverwijk 1966 on 10/15 as Polugaevsky won. Ivkov won at Eersel
Eersel
Eersel is a municipality and a town in southern Netherlands in the province of North Brabant. Eersel is situated in the Campine area....
1966 with 4/5. He had a disappointing result at the elite Piatigorsky Cup
Piatigorsky Cup
The Piatigorsky Cup was a triennial series of double round-robin grandmaster chess tournaments held in the United States in the 1960s. Sponsored by the Piatigorsky Foundation, only two events were held, in 1963 and 1966. The Piatigorsky Cups were the strongest U.S. chess tournaments since New...
tournament at Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
, finishing with a minus score, as Spassky won. But then he nearly won the 1966 Open Canadian Chess Championship
Canadian Chess Championship
This is the list of all the winners of the Canadian Chess Championship, often referred to as the Canadian Closed Championship to distinguish it from the annual Canadian Open tournament. The winner of the Canadian Closed advances to the next stage of the FIDE World Chess Championship cycle...
at Kingston
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
. He shared 3rd-4th at Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
1966 with 10/15, behind winners Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal was a Soviet–Latvian chess player, a Grandmaster, and the eighth World Chess Champion.Widely regarded as a creative genius, and the best attacking player of all time, he played a daring, combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability....
and Dragoljub Ciric
Dragoljub Čirić
Dragoljub Miladin Čirić in Novi Sad) is a former Yugoslavian, now Serbian, chess Grandmaster.- Background :Čirić gained the title of International Master in 1961 and became a Grandmaster in 1965....
. He was 4th at Palma de Mallorca
Palma de Mallorca
Palma is the major city and port on the island of Majorca and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. The names Ciutat de Mallorca and Ciutat were used before the War of the Spanish Succession and are still used by people in Majorca. However, the official name...
1966 with 9.5/15 behind winner Tal.
In the Yugoslav Championship at Kraljevo
Kraljevo
Kraljevo is a city and municipality in central Serbia, built beside the river Ibar, 7 km west of its confluence with the Western Morava. It is located in the midst of an upland valley, between the mountains of Kotlenik in the north, and Stolovi in the south.In 2011 the city has population of...
1967, he ended tied 2nd-6th behind winner Milan Matulović
Milan Matulovic
Milan Matulović is a chess Grandmaster who was the second or third strongest Yugoslav player for much of the 1960s and 1970s behind Svetozar Gligorić and possibly Borislav Ivkov. He was primarily active before 1977, but has remained an occasional tournament competitor as recently as...
. At Maribor
Maribor
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....
1967, he shared 3rd-5th places with 9/15, with Wolfgang Unzicker
Wolfgang Unzicker
Wolfgang Unzicker was one of the strongest German chess Grandmasters from 1945 to about 1970.He decided against making chess his profession, choosing law instead....
winning. He was 6th at Palma de Mallorca
Palma de Mallorca
Palma is the major city and port on the island of Majorca and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. The names Ciutat de Mallorca and Ciutat were used before the War of the Spanish Succession and are still used by people in Majorca. However, the official name...
1967 with 10/17, with Larsen winning. Then he shared the title at Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
1967 on 10.5/15 with Leonid Stein
Leonid Stein
Leonid Zakharovich Stein was a Soviet chess Grandmaster from Ukraine. He won three USSR Chess Championships in the 1960s , and was among the world's top ten players during that era.- Early life :...
. Ivkov won the Zonal tournament at Vrnjačka Banja
Vrnjacka Banja
Vrnjačka Banja is a town, municipality, and a resort, mineral spa located in Raška District of Serbia. It contains the world's only hot spring with a temperature measuring exactly that of the human body ....
1967 with 12/17 to qualify for the Interzonal later that year. He shared the title at Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
1968 with Dražen Marović
Dražen Marovic
Dražen Marović is a Croatian chess player, trainer, journalist, writer and broadcaster.- Biography :...
on 7.5/11. From the Raach Zonal 1969, he advanced to the Interzonal after sharing 2nd-5th places with Portisch, Jan Smejkal
Jan Smejkal
Jan Smejkal is a Czech chess player and, since 1972, an International Grandmaster. In the 1970s, he was among the world chess elite...
, and Ulf Andersson
Ulf Andersson
Ulf Andersson is a leading Swedish chess player. FIDE awarded him the International Master title in 1970 and the Grandmaster title in 1972 .-Career:...
, then winning a further playoff. He was 3rd at Vršac
Vršac
Vršac is a town and municipality located in Serbia. In 2002 the town's total population was 36,623, while Vršac municipality had 54,369 inhabitants. Vršac is located in the Banat region, in the Vojvodina province of Serbia. It is part of the South Banat District.-Name:The name Vršac is of Serbian...
1969 with 9.5/15 behind winner Dragoljub Janosevic
Dragoljub Janoševic
Dragoljub Janošević was a Yugoslav chess Grandmaster.-Background:Janošević became an International Master in 1964 and earned the Grandmaster title the following year....
.
At Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
1970, Ivkov shared 3rd-4th places with 8.5/15 as Keres won. At Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
1970, Ivkov shared 4th-6th places with 11.5/17, behind winner Lubomir Kavalek; Ivkov defeated rising star Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
. Ivkov won at Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
1970 with 6.5/9. He was third at Wijk aan Zee
Corus chess tournament
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament formerly called the Corus chess tournament takes place every year, usually in January, in a small town called Wijk aan Zee, part of the larger Beverwijk in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands...
1970 with 10/15 behind Taimanov. At Rovinj
Rovinj
Rovinj is a city in Croatia situated on the north Adriatic Sea with a population of 13,562 . It is located on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula and is a popular tourist resort and an active fishing port...
/Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
1970, he scored 9/17 for a tied 7th-8th place, as Fischer won. At Wijk aan Zee 1971, Ivkov shared 2nd-5th places on 9.5/15, as Korchnoi won. The Ivkov shared the title at the 1972 Caorle
Caorle
Caorle is a coastal town in the province of Venice, Veneto, Italy, located between the estuaries of the Livenza and Lemene rivers. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea between two other famous touristic towns, Eraclea and Bibione.-History:...
Zonal tournament on 12/17 with Ljubomir Ljubojević
Ljubomir Ljubojevic
Ljubomir Ljubojević is a Grandmaster of chess. He was born on November 2, 1950, in Titovo Užice, Yugoslavia . Ljubojević was awarded the International Master title in 1970 and the GM title in 1971. He was Yugoslav champion in 1977 and 1982. He won the 1974 Canadian Open Chess Championship...
, to qualify for the next year's Interzonal.
Ivkov won his third Yugoslav title at Umag
Umag
Umag is a coastal city in Istria, Croatia.The city hosts the yearly Croatia Open ATP tennis tournament on clay courts.-Geography:It is the westernmost city of Croatia, and the municipality includes Savudrija which is westernmost point of Croatia....
1972 with 12/19. He tied 2nd-3rd places at Bauang, La Union
Bauang, La Union
Bauang is a 1st class municipality in the Philippine province of La Union. According to the latest census, it has a population of 69,837 people in 12,298 households....
1973 on 6.5/9 behind Kavalek. Then he shared the title at Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
1974 on 10/15 with Vlastimil Jansa
Vlastimil Jansa
Vlastimil Jansa is a Chess Grandmaster from the Czech Republic .He learned chess while in hospital at the age of eight and at fourteen, became the youth champion of Prague. In 1959, he finished second in the Czechoslovak national junior championship...
and Vladimir Tukmakov
Vladimir Tukmakov
Vladimir Borisovich Tukmakov is a Jewish-Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He gained the Grandmaster title in 1972.His career first blossomed when he helped and then led the USSR to consecutive wins of the World Student Team Championship from 1966 to 1972, bagging nine gold medals along the way.In the...
.
Later years
Ivkov fell out of the top 40 after 1975, and appeared less frequently in major events. But he still had some notable results later in his career. He was 2nd at ŠtipŠtip
Štip is the largest urban agglomeration in the eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia, serving as the economic, industrial, entertainment and educational focal point for the surrounding municipalities. As of the 2002 census, the Štip municipality alone had a population of about 47,796...
1977 with 8.5/13, behind Hort. At Bor
Bor, Serbia
Bor is a town and municipality located in eastern Serbia, with one of the largest copper mines in Europe and it has been a mining centre since 1904, when a French company began operations there. It is the administrative center of the Bor District of Serbia...
1984, he shared 2nd-4th places with 8.5/13 behind winner Slobodan Martinovic. He won the tournament at Cienfuegos
Cienfuegos
Cienfuegos is a city on the southern coast of Cuba, capital of Cienfuegos Province. It is located about from Havana, and has a population of 150,000. The city is dubbed La Perla del Sur...
1985 with 10/13. In the 1991 Yugoslav Championship at Kladovo
Kladovo
Kladovo is a town and municipality in the Bor District of eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube river...
, he shared 4th-7th places with 9/13. Ivkov shared 2nd-9th places in the 1998 World Senior Championship at Grieskirchen
Grieskirchen
Grieskirchen is a town in Austria. It is capital of the Grieskirchen district of Upper Austria, in the Trattnachtal valley. As of 2001, it has 4.807 inhabitants.-References:...
on 8/11 behind champion Vladimir Bagirov
Vladimir Bagirov
Vladimir Bagirov was a Soviet-Latvian grandmaster of chess, chess author, and trainer. He played in ten USSR Championships, with his best result being fourth place in his debut in 1960. Bagirov was World Senior Champion in 1998...
. His most impressive late-career feat was a shared 1st-2nd place in the strong Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else...
Memorial at Moscow 1999 with 5/9, along with Portisch. Ivkov tied 2nd-4th places in the 25th anniversary Paul Keres
Paul Keres
Paul Keres , was an Estonian chess grandmaster, and a renowned chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s....
Memorial at Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
with 7.5/10, behind winner Vladimir Epishin
Vladimir Epishin
Vladimir Epishin is a Russian chess grandmaster with an Elo-rating of 2610.He finished third in the 58th USSR Chess Championship...
. He was awarded the International Arbiter
International Arbiter
In chess, International Arbiter is a title awarded by FIDE to individuals deemed capable of acting as arbiter in important chess matches . The title was established in 1951....
title in 1986.
Ivkov is currently working on his chess autobiography, and playing periodically; he had a successful tournament at the very strong (23 Grandmasters) 2007 Open Canadian Chess Championship
Canadian Chess Championship
This is the list of all the winners of the Canadian Chess Championship, often referred to as the Canadian Closed Championship to distinguish it from the annual Canadian Open tournament. The winner of the Canadian Closed advances to the next stage of the FIDE World Chess Championship cycle...
in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
in July, which was won by the Chinese Grandmaster Bu. This was 41 years after his first appearance in that championship in 1966.
Legacy
Ivkov defeated five World Champions: Vasily SmyslovVasily Smyslov
Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, and was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight occasions . Smyslov was twice equal first at the Soviet Championship , and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad medals won...
, Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal was a Soviet–Latvian chess player, a Grandmaster, and the eighth World Chess Champion.Widely regarded as a creative genius, and the best attacking player of all time, he played a daring, combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability....
, Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else...
, Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
, and Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
. He also scored wins over most of the top players of his era, excepting Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...
and Paul Keres
Paul Keres
Paul Keres , was an Estonian chess grandmaster, and a renowned chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s....
. Head-to-head, he was dominated by such stars as Gligoric, Tal, and Larsen. Ivkov's style is classical, and he opened regularly with both 1.e4 and 1.d4 during his peak years, making him problematic to prepare for. As Black, he replied to 1.e4 with the Sicilian Defence, the French Defence, and with 1...e5, showing a wide repertoire which he handled well. While usually tending towards solid positional play, Ivkov could certainly switch over to fierce tactics when given the opportunity. During his peak years, he played in many high-class tournaments, and was almost always near the top of the table.
Notable chess games
- Borislav Ivkov vs Vasja Pirc, Bled 1950, Nimzo-Indian Defence, Saemisch Variation (E28), 1-0 Pirc was a five-time Yugoslav champion, so for the 17-year-old Ivkov, this win helped build his reputation.
- Borislav Ivkov vs Tigran Petrosian, Belgrade 1954, Sicilian Defence, Richter-Rauzer Variation (B63), 1-0 Petrosian had been a World Championship Candidate the year before.
- Borislav Ivkov vs Ludek Pachman, Buenos Aires 1955, Sicilian Defence, Accelerated Dragon Variation (B34), 1-0 On his first trip outside Europe, Ivkov has a strong Argentinian showing.
- Borislav Ivkov vs Mark Taimanov, Hastings 1955, Sicilian Defence, Classical Variation (B56), 1-0 Another Candidate has to concede defeat; Ivkov enjoyed excellent career success against Taimanov.
- Borislav Ivkov vs Lajos Portisch, Bled 1961, French Defence, Winawer Variation (C18), 1-0 These two players would meet many more times, with Portisch eventually establishing an edge.
- Borislav Ivkov vs Laszlo Szabo, Sarajevo 1963, Sicilian Defence, Taimanov Variation (B47), 1-0 Ivkov overcomes the nine-time Hungarian champion.
- Pal Benko vs Borislav Ivkov, Tel Aviv Olympiad 1964, Queen's Gambit Declined (D37), 0-1 Ivkov destroys Benko in a tactical slugfest miniature.
- Bobby Fischer vs Borislav Ivkov, Havana 1965, Ruy Lopez, Closed Variation (C96), 0-1 Fischer lost very rarely with White, so this is an impressive game.
- Borislav Ivkov vs Vasily Smyslov, Havana 1965, Queen's Gambit, Slav Defence, Exchange Variation (D13), 1-0 Ivkov takes off the former World Champion and winner of this tournament.
- Svetozar Gligoric vs Borislav Ivkov, Zagreb 1965, Nimzo-Indian Defence, Rubinstein Variation (E56), 0-1 It took Ivkov nearly 20 years to defeat Gligoric, the top Yugoslav post-war player.
- Borislav Ivkov vs David Bronstein, Zagreb 1965, King's Indian Defence, Fianchetto Variation (E62), 1-0 Defeating Bronstein in the King's Indian is always a notable feat.
- Borislav Ivkov vs Bent Larsen, Santa Monica 1966, Queen's Indian Defence (E16), 1-0 Larsen defeated Ivkov in their match, and had the career edge, but Ivkov gets a nice win here.
- Efim Geller vs Borislav Ivkov, Belgrade 1969, Sicilian Defence, Scheveningen Variation (B84), 0-1 Geller was a powerful theoretician, but he meets his match on this day.
- Borislav Ivkov vs Anatoly Karpov, Caracas 1970, Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower Variation (D58), 1-0 Karpov miscalculates and gets annihilated by a beautiful attack.
- Vlastimil Hort vs Borislav Ivkov, Petropolis Interzonal 1973, Nimzo-Indian Defence, Classical Variation (E39), 0-1