Miroslav Filip (27 October 1928 – 27 April 2009) was a Czech

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 ...

grandmaster. Filip was awarded 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 1953, and the Grandmaster title in 1955. Filip represented

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in 12 consecutive

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...

s from

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

1952 to

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Candidates Tournament The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The win ...

, which is the tournament to choose a world championship challenger. In 1955 Filip placed seventh in the

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Interzonal Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by the World Chess Federation FIDE from the 1950s to the 1990s. They were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle and were held after the Zonal tournaments, and before the Ca ...

, qualifying for the Candidates, which was held in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

the following year. He placed eighth out of ten players. (See

World Chess Championship 1957 A World Chess Championship was played between Mikhail Botvinnik and Vasily Smyslov in Moscow from March 5 to April 27, 1957. Botvinnik had been World Champion since 1948, while Smyslov earned the right to challenge by winning the 1956 Candidates ...

.) In 1962 Filip placed fifth (out of 23 players) in the

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Interzonal. This qualified him for the Candidates tournament in

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

, where he tied for last place out of eight players. (See

World Chess Championship 1963 At the World Chess Championship 1963, Tigran Petrosian narrowly qualified to challenge Mikhail Botvinnik for the World Chess Championship, and then won the match to become the ninth World Chess Champion. The cycle is particularly remembered for ...

Three-time Czechoslovak Chess Champion

Filip won the

Czechoslovak Chess Championship The Czechoslovak National Chess Championship was a chess competition to determine the best Czechoslovak chess player. History The first Czechoslovak championships were held in Prague in 1919. After a break caused by World War II, the championsh ...

three times: in 1950 at Gottwaldov, in 1952 at Tatranska Lomnica, and in 1954 in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Other results

He played in the

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 ...

twice, winning an individual gold in 1970 for the best score and a bronze in 1977 for the third best score. Tournament results include first place at Prague 1956 and second at Marienbad 1960,

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

1961 and

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

1975. In the early 1980s Filip retired from playing professional chess, but remained active as a chess journalist.

Notable games

The game Tal–Miroslav Filip is one of Filip's most famous chess games. Filip was playing with the black pieces against the Latvian grandmaster and former

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Mikhail Tal Mikhail Tal (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet and Latvian chess player and the eighth World Chess Champion. He is considered a creative genius and is widely regarded as Comparison of top chess players throughout history, one ...

at the

Candidates Tournament The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The win ...

at Curaçao in 1962, part of the 1963 World Championship cycle. :Tal vs. Filip, Candidates Tournament (round 12), Curacao 1962;

Sicilian Defence The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the following moves: :1. e4 c5 The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4. The opening 1.d4 is a statistically more successful opening for Whi ...

('' ECO'' B43)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.f4 b5 7.a3 Bb7 8.Qf3 Nf6 9.Bd3 Bc5 10.Nb3 Be7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Bd2 d6 13.g4 d5 14.e5 Nfd7 15.Qh3 g6 16.Nd4 Nc6 17.Nce2 Nxd4 18.Nxd4 Nc5 19.b4 Ne4 20.Be3 Rfe8 21.Rae1 Bf8 22.Nf3 a5 23.f5 exf5 24.gxf5 Rxe5 25.fxg6 hxg6 26.Nxe5 Qxe5 27.c3 axb4 28.Bd4 Bc8 29.Qg2 Qh5 30.Bxe4 dxe4 31.Qxe4 Qg5+ 32.Kh1 Be6 33.Be5 Rd8 34.h4 Qh5 35.Qf4 Rd3 36.Bf6 Qd5+ 37.Kg1 bxc3 38.Re4 Bc5+ 39.Kh2 Qa2+

Death

Miroslav Filip died at 80 years of age in

on 27 April 2009.Czech GM Miroslav Filip dies at 80
Chessbase. Retrieved on 30 October 2013.

References

External links

* : 1,047 games {{DEFAULTSORT:Filip, Miroslav 1928 births 2009 deaths Chess players from Prague Chess Grandmasters Czech chess players 20th-century chess players