Dragoljub Ćirić

Dragoljub Miladin Čirić (12 November 1935 – 17 August 2014) was a Serbian-Yugoslavian chess grandmaster.

Background Čirić was born in Novi Sad in 1935. He gained the International Master title in 1961 and became a Grandmaster in 1965.

Notable team results Čirić played for Yugoslavia in the Olympiads of 1966 and 1968. His results were:

17th Chess Olympiad 1966 Havana – Čirić scored a perfect 8/8 playing as second reserve, and Yugoslavia finished 4th. 18th Chess Olympiad 1968 Lugano – Čirić scored 5/7 and Yugoslavia finished 2nd, receiving silver medals.

Čirić also played in the European Team Chess Championship twice, in 1961 and 1965. His results were as follows:

2nd European Team Championship 1961 Oberhausen – Čirić scored 6½/9 on board 7, receiving an individual gold medal. Yugoslavia finished 2nd (behind USSR) receiving silver medals. 3rd European Team Championship 1965 Hamburg – Čirić scored 4/8 on board 9, receiving an individual silver medal. Yugoslavia again finished 2nd behind USSR for team silver.

Notable individual results

Chigorin Memorial 1965: 3rd (the winners were Wolfgang Unzicker and Boris Spassky) Sarajevo 1966: 1st= 11/15 (with Mikhail Tal) Hoogovens Beverwijk 1967: 3rd (the winner was Spassky) Sarajevo 1968: 1st= 10/15 (with Anatoly Lein)

Death His death at the age of 78 was announced by the Belgrade Chess Federation on 17 August 2014.