Mijo Udovčić (September 11, 1920 – April 8, 1984) was a

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player, who became the first

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n Grandmaster in 1962. Jointly with

Borislav Ivkov Borislav Ivkov (12 November 1933 – 14 February 2022) was a Serbian chess Grandmaster. As one of the most decorated players in the history of Chess Olympiad, Ivkov was a World championship candidate in 1965, and played in four more Interzonal t ...

, he won the Yugoslav championships in 1963.

Background

Udovčić gained the title of

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

in 1957 and became a Grandmaster in 1962. He was the first Croatian player to attain the Grandmaster title.

Chessmetrics Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo and Edo rating systems. Implementation Chessmetrics is a weighted average of past performance. The score considers a player's ...

gives his highest rating at 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 A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

Notable team results

Udovčić was part of the Yugoslavian team who won silver medals behind

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

at the 16th Chess Olympiad held in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

in 1964. He played on the fifth board, scoring 5 points from 7 games. Udovčić also played for Yugoslavia in two

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') 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. This more ...

s, scoring 7/10 in

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 Rout ...

in 1961 and 6/9 in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

in 1965. Yugoslavia won silver medals behind USSR in both events.

Notable individual results

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

1955: 3rd 10½/17 (winner Zdravko Gabrovšek 11½, second

Borislav Milić Borislav Milić (Cyrillic: Борислав Милић; 20 October 1925 – 28 May 1986) was a Yugoslav Grandmaster of chess, and a chess writer, organizer, promoter, and administrator. Introduction Born in Belgrade, Borislav Milic was part of ...

11) *

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

1961: 2nd= 7/11 (with

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov (; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who was the seventh World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidates Tournament, Candidate for the World Chess Championship on ...

, winner

Mark Taimanov Mark Evgenievich Taimanov (; 7 February 1926 – 28 November 2016) was one of the leading Soviet and Russian chess players, among the world's top 20 players from 1946 to 1971. A prolific chess author, Taimanov was awarded the title of Grandmas ...

8) * Yugoslav Championship 1961 (Zagreb): 2nd= (with

Stojan Puc Stojan Puc (9 April 1921 – 29 January 2004) was a Slovenian-Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, A ...

, winner Trifunović) * Lasker Memorial,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

1962: 2nd= 10½/15 (with

Leonid Stein Leonid Zakharovych Stein (; November 12, 1934 – July 4, 1973) was a Soviet Union, Soviet chess Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster from Ukrainian SSR, Ukraine. He won three USSR Chess Championships in the 1960s (1963, 1965, and 1966), and was amo ...

, winner Evgeni Vasiukov 11½) * Yugoslav Championship 1963 (Zenica): 1st= 15/21 (with Ivkov) * Zagreb 1969: 2nd= (with

Vlastimil Hort Vlastimil Hort (12 January 1944 – 12 May 2025) was a Czech and German chess grandmaster. During the 1960s and 1970s he was one of the world's strongest players and reached the World Chess Championship 1978, 1977–78 Candidates Tournament for ...

, winner Mato Damjanović)

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 Larsen resigned as 34. hxg4 was forced, which would have been followed by 34. ... Rh8

checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Udovcic, Mijo Yugoslav chess players Chess Grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors 1920 births 1984 deaths