Borislav Ivkov

Borislav Ivkov (12 November 1933 – 14 February 2022) was a Serbian chess Grandmaster.

Ivkov earned his National Master title in 1949 at age 16, by placing shared 4th–7th in the Yugoslav Championship at Zagreb, with 11/19; the winner was Svetozar Gligorić.

For more than 15 years from the mid-1950s, he was the second-ranking Yugoslav player, after Svetozar Gligorić.

He wrote an autobiography, My 60 Years in Chess.

Ivkov earned his first international event opportunity at Bled 1950, sharing 5th–6th places with 7½/14; the winner was Miguel Najdorf.

In this tournament, which featured some of the world's best players, Ivkov defeated well-known stars such as Hermann Pilnik, Milan Vidmar Sr., and Vasja Pirc.

After this impressive debut, he was selected to represent Yugoslavia in team matches against the United States and the Netherlands in 1950 and against West Germany in 1951.

Ivkov won the inaugural World Junior Chess Championship in 1951 at Birmingham; this tournament was established for players under age 20.

He continued his progress with two solid showings in Yugoslav Championships: at Sarajevo 1951 he tied 10th–12th places with 9½/19 (winner Braslav Rabar), and at Belgrade 1952 he tied 7th–9th places with 10/19 (winner Petar Trifunović).

At Opatija 1953, Ivkov scored 10/17 for a shared 4th–6th place; the winner was Aleksandar Matanović.

Ivkov was still eligible by age in 1953 to try to repeat his World Junior success; at Copenhagen he won his preliminary group with 7/9, but scored only 3½/7 in the finals to place tied 3rd–4th, as Oscar Panno and Klaus Darga tied at the top.

Ivkov shared 4th–5th places at Belgrade 1954 with 11½/19; this was his strongest event to date, the first Yugoslav event to welcome Soviet players following the end of World War II.

The winner was David Bronstein.

Ivkov earned the International Master title.

Ivkov broke through into the group of the world's elite players with two brilliant results in strong tournaments in Argentina.

Ivkov won numerous top-class events during his career; notable tournament triumphs include Mar del Plata 1955, Buenos Aires 1955, Beverwijk 1961, Zagreb 1965, Sarajevo 1967, Amsterdam-IBM 1974, and Moscow 1999.

He won at Mar del Plata 1955 with 11½/15, ahead of Najdorf, Gligoric, Szabo, Luděk Pachman, Panno and Pilnik.

Then he won again at Buenos Aires 1955 with 13/17, ahead of Gligoric, Pilnik, László Szabó, Bisguier, Luděk Pachman, Rosseto, Panno and Donner.

In the Yugoslav Championship at Novi Sad 1955, Ivkov had his best national result to date with a shared 3rd–4th place on 10½/17; the winner was Karaklajic.

Then at Zagreb 1955, he tied 2nd–3rd places with Matanovic on 12½/19; the winner was Vasily Smyslov.

Ivkov earned his Grandmaster title in 1955.

At Hastings 1955–56, Ivkov finished 3rd with 6½/9 behind winners Viktor Korchnoi and Friðrik Ólafsson.

He represented Yugoslavia 12 times in Olympiad competition, from 1956 to 1980, and six times in European Team Championships.

He represented Yugoslavia in the World Students' Olympiad at Uppsala 1956; on board two he scored 5/9 (+2 =6 −1), and Yugoslavia won the team bronze medals.

Ivkov earned the first of his 12 selections to the Yugoslav Olympiad team in 1956, and was a member of the national team continuously through 1980.

This was during a period when Yugoslavia was usually among the top three chess countries.

He won a total of ten team medals and five board medals during his career.

Ivkov made his first appearance at the European team level in the inaugural event at Vienna 1957, and was chosen on five further occasions.

He won four team medals and one board medal in Euroteams events.

According to the site olimpbase.org, Ivkov's totals in Euroteams play are (+10 =29 −4), for 57 per cent.

Ivkov narrowly missed becoming Yugoslav champion at Sombor 1957 when he scored 14/22 to share 2nd–4th places behind Gligoric.

But he had a setback at the 1957 Wageningen Zonal tournament, failing to qualify for the Interzonal stage by making only 8½/17 for 9th position.

Ivkov was a three-time Yugoslav Champion (1958 joint, 1963 joint, 1972) and was the first World Junior Champion in 1951.

He recovered with his first Yugoslav title at Sarajevo 1958, sharing the title with Gligoric on 12½/19.

This victory set off a string of tournament triumphs over the next five years.

Ivkov won at Sarajevo 1958 with 7/11.

He won at Belgrade 1959 by 2½ points with 9/11.

In a strong field at Dresden 1959, he shared 3rd–4th places with 10/15 behind winners Efim Geller and Mark Taimanov.

Ivkov shared the win at Lima 1959 with Pachman on 10½/13, and again shared the win at Santiago 1959 with Pachman.

He was a World championship candidate in 1965, and played in four more Interzonal tournaments, in 1967, 1970, 1973, and 1979.