Predrag Nikolić (born 11 September 1960 in

Bosanski Šamac Bosnian may refer to: *Anything related to the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina or its inhabitants *Anything related to Bosnia (region) or its inhabitants * Bosniaks, an ethnic group mainly inhabiting Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of three constit ...

) is a Bosnian

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.

Biography

He first competed for the Yugoslav Championship in 1979, taking a share of second place. The following year and again in 1984, he went one step further and became the Yugoslav national champion. He was awarded the International Master and Grandmaster titles in 1980 and 1983 respectively. The GM title was earned from his 1982 performances in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

(third) and

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

(second after

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 ...

). He was a winner at Sarajevo in 1983, at

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

in 1984 and at

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

two years later. 1986 was also the year that he shared second place behind

Nigel Short Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and commentator who has been the FIDE Director for Chess Development since September 2022. Short earned the title of grandmaster at the ...

Wijk aan Zee Wijk aan Zee (; ) is a village on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk, the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament (formerly called the Corus chess tournament or the Hoogove ...

. He returned to winning ways at Sarajevo in 1987 and at the

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

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 ...

, narrowly failed to qualify for the Candidates Tournament (sharing fourth place behind Korchnoi, Ehlvest and Seirawan). In 1989, he won at

(jointly with Anand, Ribli and Sax) and took first place at

Portorož Portorož (; ) is a Slovenian Adriatic seaside resort and spa settlement located in the Municipality of Piran in southwestern Slovenia. Its modern development began in the late 19th century with the vogue for the first health resorts. In the earl ...

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

(the Vidmar Memorial tournament). There followed the 1990 Interzonal in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

, where once more he shared fourth place, but qualified this time for the 1991 Candidates tournament. During his 'final 16' encounter with

Boris Gelfand Boris Abramovich Gelfand (; born 24 June 1968) is a Belarusian-Israeli chess player. A six-time World Championship candidate (1991, 1994–95, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2013), he won the Chess World Cup 2009 and the 2011 Candidates Tournament, mak ...

, his uncles died. However, he was able to fight on and he was just edged out in a rapid play-off, having drawn the match 4-4. Later, he journeyed to

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

for a match with Henrique Mecking and secured victory by a score of 3.5-2.5. A tournament win in Bled saw him complete an eventful year. While playing the

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 ...

tournament of 1992 (where he finished second), war broke out in his home country and for a while he was domiciled in the Netherlands, along with the Bosnian Ivan Sokolov. There were more tournament victories to come; first at Wijk aan Zee in 1994 and as winner of the national Dutch Chess Championships of 1997 (equal with

Jan Timman Jan Timman (born 14 December 1951) is a Dutch chess grandmaster who was one of the world's leading chess players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. At the peak of his career, he was considered to be the best non-Soviet player and was known a ...

but winning the play-off) and 1999. In 2004, he shared a major success with Vassily Ivanchuk when they tied for first place at the European Individual Chess Championship, held in

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

, although he lost the play-off for the title. Between 1980 and 2002, he was, with the exception of 1982, an ever-present member of the Yugoslav and then Bosnian

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 ...

teams, winning one medal of each colour - team silver, team bronze and individual gold. He also participated regularly at the European Team Chess Championship and in 1983, took team silver and individual gold medals. He has played for many years in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

for club side SG Aljechin Solingen. At the start of the 2006/7 season, he was their highest rated player and listed as number 2 behind Artur Yusupov. In 2007 he won the Bosnia and Herzegovina Chess Championship ahead of Borki Predojević. In 2015 he won the World Senior Championship's over-50 (+50) section in Acqui Terme. Predrag Nikolić is now living in the Netherlands near Leiden, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Notable games

Predrag Nikolic vs Georgy Timoshenko, GMA-qual f 1990, King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Immediate Fianchetto (E60), 1-0

Predrag Nikolic vs Jeroen Piket, Corus 2000, Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Variation Flohr Line (D62), 1-0

Mikhail Krasenkow vs Predrag Nikolic, Bled Olympiad 2002, Slav Defense: Winawer Countergambit (D10), 0-1

Predrag Nikolic vs David Navara, FIDE World Cup 2005, Benoni Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Hastings Defense (A63), 1-0

References

*
Olimpbase - Olympiads and other Team event information

External links

Predrag Nikolic
chess games at 365Chess.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolic, Predrag 1960 births Living people Chess Grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Bosnia and Herzegovina chess players Yugoslav chess players People from Šamac, Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina World Senior Chess Champions Recipients of the Sixth of April Sarajevo Award