Mijo Udovčić
Encyclopedia
Mijo Udovčić was a Yugoslavia
n chess
player, who became the first Croatia
n Grandmaster in 1962. Jointly with Borislav Ivkov
, he won the Yugoslav championships in 1963.
Chessmetrics
gives his highest rating as 2618 in January 1953, which places him 39th in the world at that time.
As well as being a top chess player, Udovčić worked as a judge
.
held in Tel Aviv
, Israel
in 1964. He played on the fifth board, scoring 5 points from 7 games.
Udovčić also played for Yugoslavia in two European Team Championship
s, scoring 7/10 in Oberhausen
in 1961 and 6/9 in Hamburg
in 1965. Yugoslavia won silver medals behind USSR in both events.
1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 g6 4.b4 Bg7 5.Bb2 O-O 6.Be2 Bg4 7.O-O Nbd7 8.Na3 c6 9.c4 e6 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 Qe7 12.b5 Ne4 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.bxc6 bxc6 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.Nb5 Qb4 17.Rb1 Qxd2 18.Bxe4 Qxe3+ 19.Kh1 Qxe4 20.Nd6 Qe3 21.Rb7 Nf6 22.f5 Qe5 23.fxg6 hxg6 24.Qf3 Rad8 25.Nb5 a6 26.Na7 Rd7 27.Nc6 Qf5 28.Qe2 Rxb7 29.Rxf5 exf5 30.Qxa6 Rb1+ 31.Kh2 Re8 32.Qa7 f4 33.Ne7 Ng4+ 0-1
Bent Larsen
resigned as 34. hxg4 was forced, which would have been followed by 34. ... Rh8 checkmate
.
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
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...
player, who became the first Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n Grandmaster in 1962. Jointly with Borislav Ivkov
Borislav Ivkov
Borislav Ivkov is a Serbian chess Grandmaster. He was the first ever World Junior Champion in 1951. He won the Yugoslav Championship in 1958 , 1963 and 1972. He was a World championship candidate in 1965, and played in four more Interzonal tournaments, in 1967, 1970, 1973, and 1979...
, he won the Yugoslav championships in 1963.
Background
Udovčić gained the title of International Master in 1950 and became a Grandmaster in 1962. He was the first Croatian player to attain the Grandmaster title.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:...
gives his highest rating as 2618 in January 1953, which places him 39th in the world at that time.
As well as being a top chess player, Udovčić worked as a judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
.
Notable team results
Udovčić was part of the Yugoslavian team who won silver medals behind USSR at the 16th Chess Olympiad16th Chess Olympiad
The 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...
held in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in 1964. He played on the fifth board, scoring 5 points from 7 games.
Udovčić also played for Yugoslavia in two European Team Championship
European Team Championship
The European Team Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9...
s, scoring 7/10 in Oberhausen
Oberhausen
Oberhausen is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen . The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It is also well known for the...
in 1961 and 6/9 in Hamburg
Hamburg
-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...
in 1965. Yugoslavia won silver medals behind USSR in both events.
Notable individual results
- LjubljanaLjubljanaLjubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
1955: 3rd 10½/17 (winner Zdravko Gabrovšek 11½, second Borislav MilicBorislav MilicBorislav Milic was a Yugoslav Grandmaster of chess, and a chess writer, organizer, promoter, and administrator.-Introduction:...
11) - DortmundDortmundDortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
1961: 2nd= 7/11 (with Vasily SmyslovVasily SmyslovVasily 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...
, winner Mark TaimanovMark TaimanovMark 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...
8) - Yugoslav Championship 1961 (Zagreb): 2nd= (with Stojan PucStojan PucStojan Puc was a Slovenian chess master.He won the Slovenian Chess Championship on four occasions: ....
, winner Trifunović) - Lasker Memorial, BerlinEast BerlinEast Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
1962: 2nd= 10½/15 (with Leonid SteinLeonid SteinLeonid 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 :...
, winner Evgeni VasiukovEvgeni VasiukovEvgeni Andreyevich Vasiukov is a Russian chess Grandmaster. During his career, he won the Championship of Moscow on six occasions and scored many victories in international tournaments, such as Belgrade Open 1961, Moscow International 1961, East Berlin 1962, and Manila 1974...
11½) - Yugoslav Championship 1963 (Zenica): 1st= 15/21 (with Ivkov)
- Zagreb 1969: 2nd= (with Vlastimil HortVlastimil HortVlastimil Hort is a chess Grandmaster of Czech nationality. During the 1960s and 1970s he was one of the world's strongest players and reached the Candidates stage of competition for the world chess championship, but was never able to compete for the actual title.Hort was born in Kladno,...
, winner Mato DamjanovićMato DamjanovicMato Damjanović was a Croatian chess grandmaster who represented Yugoslavia in international team events. In 1964 he became the second Croatian grandmaster, after Mijo Udovčić....
)
Notable games
Larsen, B–Udovčić, Sarajevo 1960
Bird's Opening (ECO F03)1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 g6 4.b4 Bg7 5.Bb2 O-O 6.Be2 Bg4 7.O-O Nbd7 8.Na3 c6 9.c4 e6 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 Qe7 12.b5 Ne4 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.bxc6 bxc6 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.Nb5 Qb4 17.Rb1 Qxd2 18.Bxe4 Qxe3+ 19.Kh1 Qxe4 20.Nd6 Qe3 21.Rb7 Nf6 22.f5 Qe5 23.fxg6 hxg6 24.Qf3 Rad8 25.Nb5 a6 26.Na7 Rd7 27.Nc6 Qf5 28.Qe2 Rxb7 29.Rxf5 exf5 30.Qxa6 Rb1+ 31.Kh2 Re8 32.Qa7 f4 33.Ne7 Ng4+ 0-1
Bent Larsen
Larsen
-Other:* Larsen & Toubro, an Indian engineering and construction conglomerate* Larsen Bay, in Alaska* Larsen Channel, in Antarctica* Larsen effect, special kind of feedback which occurs when a loop exists between an audio input and an audio output...
resigned as 34. hxg4 was forced, which would have been followed by 34. ... Rh8 checkmate
Mate
Mate may refer to one of the following meanings based on the generic dictionary definitions of the word:* One of a pair of animals involved in mating* Mate , a colloquialism used to refer to a friend* A naval officer:...
.