Borislav Ivkov 1933-2022

[Matt Mackenzie]

Quite a big one here - top former Yugoslav GM who was the first ever World Junior Champion and a former Candidate.

[Nick Ivell]

Another of Fischer's opponents gone.

Indeed a victor over Bobby; Santiago 1959 - an early example of Bobby's struggles against the Winawer.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Though his win over RJF on the Black side of a Ruy at Havana in 1965 was arguably even more impressive.

(I assume at least some here will be aware of the story of how he was close to his greatest ever tournament triumph there, but blew it)

[Nick Ivell]

I never understood what Bobby was up to in that Havana game.

An example of his occasional tentativeness in the Spanish (most flagrantly on display in the second match against Spassky).

[John Upham]

A fun game:


[Event "Zagreb Tournament of the Peace"] [Site "Zagreb"] [Date "1965.04.21"] [Round "7"] [White "Gligoric, Svetozar"] [Black "Ivkov, Borislav"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E56"] [Annotator "Bulletin"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "1965.04.12"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "19"] [EventCountry "CRO"] [SourceTitle "MCL"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1999.07.01"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "1999.07.01"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,72,19,31,14,-14,-11,-3,33,33,25,28,28,28,9,35,24,29,32,37,38,43,40,30, 28,43,47,28,19,4,4,4,23,-57,-57,-25,-63,-89,-124,-115,-128,-109,-93,-198,-317, -296,-252,-252,-366,-366,-358,-396,-406,-423,-350,-341,-343,-362,-352,-360, -365,-393,-388,-553,-560,-566,-520,-587,-459,-583,-568,-624,-653,-677,-568]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. Nf3 d5 7. O-O Nc6 8. a3 Ba5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. dxc5 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Bg4 12. c4 Ne5 13. Bb2 (13. cxd5 $5 Bxf3 ( 13... Qxd5 $2 14. Bxh7+ Kxh7 15. Qxd5 Nxd5 16. Nxe5 $18) (13... Nxf3+ $2 14. gxf3 Bh3 15. e4 $1 Nd7 16. Kh1 Bxf1 17. Bxf1 $16 {Donner,J-Pietzsch/Havana/ 1965/}) 14. gxf3 Qxd5 15. Be2 Qxc5 16. Bb2 Rfd8 17. Bd4 Qe7 18. Qc2 $1 $14) ({ Relevant:} 13. cxd5 Bxf3 14. gxf3 Qxd5 15. Be2 Qxc5 16. Bb2 Rad8 17. Bd4 Qc8 18. Qa4 Rd5 19. f4 b5 20. Qb3 Qh3 21. Bxe5 Ng4 22. Bxg4 Qxg4+ 23. Kh1 Qf3+ 24. Kg1 Qg4+ {1/2-1/2 (24) Antoshin,V-Krogius,N Sochi 1964}) 13... Nxf3+ 14. gxf3 Bh3 15. Re1 (15. cxd5 $5 Qxd5 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. Kh1 $14 (17. Bxh7+ $2 Kxh7 18. Qxd5 Rg8+ $19)) (15. Kh1 dxc4 16. Bxc4 Bxf1 17. Qxf1 $10 {Gligoric,S-Nicevski/ JUG-ch/1975/ Gligoric,S-Keller,D/Zuerich/1961/}) 15... Ne4 $1 {[#]} 16. f4 $146 (16. Be5 Qg5+ 17. Bg3 Nxg3 18. hxg3 dxc4 19. Bxc4 Qxc5 $10 {Furman,S-Taimanov, M/URS-ch/1954/}) ({Predecessor:} 16. Be5 Qg5+ 17. Bg3 Nxg3 18. hxg3 dxc4 19. Bxc4 Qxc5 20. Qd5 Rac8 21. Rac1 Qe7 22. g4 Rc6 23. Bb3 Rd6 24. Qf5 h5 25. Red1 hxg4 26. Bxf7+ Kh8 27. Rxd6 Qxd6 28. Rc8 g5 29. Rxf8+ Qxf8 30. Qf6+ Qg7 31. Qxg7+ Kxg7 32. Be6 Kf6 33. Bxg4 Bxg4 34. fxg4 Ke5 35. f3 Kd5 36. Kf2 Kc4 37. f4 gxf4 38. exf4 b5 39. g5 {1-0 (39) Furman,S-Cherepkov,A Riga 1954}) 16... Qh4 17. Qf3 Nd2 $1 18. Qe2 (18. Qg3 $5 Qxg3+ 19. fxg3 Nf3+ 20. Kf2 Nxe1 21. Rxe1 dxc4 22. Bxc4 Rac8 23. Bd4 $10) 18... dxc4 19. Bc2 Rad8 $17 20. f3 Qh5 21. Kh1 $2 (21. Bd1 $5) 21... Nxf3 22. Rg1 {[#]} Bg4 $1 {/\Nh2,Ng1,Rd2.} 23. Rxg4 Qxg4 24. Bc3 Rfe8 $1 25. e4 Nxh2 26. Qg2 Qf3 27. Bb4 c3 28. Qxf3 Nxf3 29. Bxc3 Nd4 30. Rg1 Nxc2 31. Rxg7+ Kf8 32. Rxh7 Nd4 33. e5 Ke7 34. Kg2 Nf5 35. Bb4 Ke6 36. Kf3 Rh8 0-1

[JustinHorton]

(I assume at least some here will be aware of the story of how he was close to his greatest ever tournament triumph there, but blew it)

Ah yes

[Nick Ivell]

A happier tournament for Ivkov was Santiago, where he came first equal with Pachman, ahead of the young Fischer.

[Matt Mackenzie]

(I assume at least some here will be aware of the story of how he was close to his greatest ever tournament triumph there, but blew it)

Ah yes

Had he won that, he would have been the overall victor with a round to spare. In the event he lost his last game (White v Robatsch) too.

[Simon Rogers]

Quite a big one here - top former Yugoslav GM who was the first ever World Junior Champion and a former Candidate.

Thanks Matt for informing us. Very sad news about Borislav. Yet another Serbian Grandmaster passes away.
Borislav was a World Championship candidate in 1965, and played in four more Interzonal tournaments, in 1967, 1970, 1973 and 1979.
He was a three-time Yugoslav Champion (1958 joint, 1963 joint, 1972) and was the first World Junior Champion in 1951.
Borislav represented Yugoslavia 12 times in Olympiad competition, from 1956 to 1980, and six times in European Team Championships.
For more than 15 years from the mid-1950s, he was the second-ranking Yugoslav player, after Svetozar Gligoric.
Borislav was also an International Arbiter and wrote an autobiography, My 60 Years in Chess.
RIP

[Mick Norris]

Pete Doggers obit

[Paul Habershon]

Just checked back on that 1951 World Junior (U-20) Championship. Ivkov 1st 9.5 and our own Malcolm Barker 8 was 2nd. Then Peter A Harris (ENG) tied 4th with Bent Larsen(!) on 6.5. Fridrik Olaffson further down the field.