Mijo Udovčić

Mijo Udovčić (September 11, 1920 – April 8, 1984) was a Yugoslavian chess player, who became the first Croatian Grandmaster in 1962. Jointly with Borislav Ivkov, he won the Yugoslav championships in 1963.

Background

Udovčić gained the title of International Master in 1957 and became a Grandmaster in 1962. He was the first Croatian player to attain the Grandmaster title.

Chessmetrics gives his highest rating at 2618 in January 1953, which places him 39th in the world at that time. As well as being a top chess player, Udovčić worked as a judge.

Notable team results

Udovčić was part of the Yugoslavian team who won silver medals behind USSR at the 16th Chess Olympiad held in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1964. He played on the fifth board, scoring 5 points from 7 games.

Udovčić also played for Yugoslavia in two European Team Chess Championships, scoring 7/10 in Oberhausen in 1961 and 6/9 in Hamburg in 1965. Yugoslavia won silver medals behind USSR in both events.

Notable individual results Ljubljana 1955: 3rd 10½/17 (winner Zdravko Gabrovšek 11½, second Borislav Milić 11) Dortmund 1961: 2nd= 7/11 (with Vasily Smyslov, winner Mark Taimanov 8) Yugoslav Championship 1961 (Zagreb): 2nd= (with Stojan Puc, winner Trifunović) Lasker Memorial, Berlin 1962: 2nd= 10½/15 (with Leonid Stein, winner Evgeni Vasiukov 11½) Yugoslav Championship 1963 (Zenica): 1st= 15/21 (with Ivkov) Zagreb 1969: 2nd= (with Vlastimil Hort, winner Mato Damjanović)

Notable games Chess diagram floatright | | | |rd| | | ql| | | |nl|pd|kd| | | | | | |pd| | | |pd| | | | | | | | |pd|nd| | | | | | | |pl pl| | | | | |pl|kl |rd| | | | | | Larsen–Udovčić, position after 33 ... Ng4+!