Zdenko Kožul (born 21 May 1966) is a

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 ...

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. He holds the title of Grandmaster and was the 2006 European champion.

Chess career

Born in the north-western Bosnian town of

Bihać Bihać is a city and the administrative centre of Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of river Una (Sava), Una in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, in th ...

(then

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

), Kožul was awarded the title of Grandmaster by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

in 1989. In 1989 and 1990, Kozul won consecutive Yugoslavian championships. Also in 1990, Kozul won the bronze medal playing for the Yugoslav team at the

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 ...

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 ...

. After the break-up of Yugoslavia, Kozul played for

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, and he was a part of the Bosnian team in the Olympiad 1992. In 1993, Kozul, an ethnic

Croat The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

, settled in

, thereafter representing that country. In 1995, he won an open tournament in

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

. In 1999, he came first at the 4th

Nova Gorica Nova Gorica () is a town in western Slovenia, on the border with Italy. It is the seat of the Municipality of Nova Gorica. Nova Gorica is a planned town, built according to the principles of modernist architecture after 1947, when the Treaty of pe ...

Open. In 2003, he won the 11th

Vasja Pirc Vasja Pirc ( ; ) (December 19, 1907 – June 2, 1980) was a Yugoslav chess player. He is best known in competitive chess circles as a strong exponent of the hypermodern defense now generally known as the Pirc Defence. Pirc was champion of Yugo ...

Memorial at

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

. In 2004, Kožul reached the final sixteen at the FIDE World Chess Championship, 2004 in Tripoli, before being eliminated by the

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n grandmaster and future world champion

Veselin Topalov Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced ; ; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. Topalov became FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE ...

. In 2006 he won the

European Individual Chess Championship The European Individual Chess Championship is a chess tournament organised by the European Chess Union. It was established in 2000 and has since then taken place on a yearly basis. Apart from determining the European champions (open and women's) ...

Kuşadası Kuşadası () is a municipality and district of Aydın Province, Turkey. Its area is 265 km2, and its population is 130,835 (2022). It is a large resort town on the Aegean coast. Kuşadası is south of İzmir, and about west of Aydın. T ...

. This achievement qualified him to the FIDE World Cup 2007. Kožul won the Croatian Chess Championships of 2006 and 2015. In March 2012, Kožul came first in the Zagreb Open. In April 2017, he finished tied for first with Nikita Vitiugov, Etienne Bacrot and Maxim Matlakov in the Grenke Chess Open in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Notable games

Alexey Shirov vs Zdenko Kozul, Cup European Club (final) 1996, Sicilian Defense: Richter-Rauzer, Neo-Modern Variation (B67), 0-1Joel Benjamin vs Zdenko Kozul, WchT 4th 1997, Sicilian Defense: Richter-Rauzer, Neo-Modern Variation (B67), 0-1Zdenko Kozul vs Sergei Rublevsky, FIDE World Championship Knockout Tournament 2004, Slav Defense: Quiet Variation (D11), 1-0

Books

References

External links

*
Zdenko Kožul
games at 365Chess.com
Zdenko Kožul
at

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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kozul, Zdenko 1966 births Living people Chess Grandmasters Croatian chess players Croatian chess writers European Chess Champions Yugoslav chess players Bosnia and Herzegovina chess players Chess Olympiad competitors Sportspeople from Bihać Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina