Boris Kostic

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Monument in Vršac

Borislav "Bora" Kostić (born February 24, 1887 in Vršac , Banat , Austria-Hungary , today Serbia ; † November 3, 1963 in Belgrade ) was an important Yugoslav chess master .

Life

Kostić learned to play chess at the age of 16. During his studies in Vienna and Budapest he achieved his first successes. In 1910 he won competitions against Frank James Marshall (+1, = 2) and Paul Saladin Leonhardt (+3 = 1 −1). He played his first international tournament in 1911 in San Remo , where he shared 4th and 5th place. His next big tournament was Karlsbad in 1911. During the First World War Kostić moved to South America and played mainly competitions against South American champions. In Buenos Aires 1913 he beat Roland Ilia 6-0, in Rio de Janeiro he beat Vilageza 8-1, in Santiago de Chile Martinez Lopez 7-0 and in Lima Fernandez Coriha 7-0. From 1915 to 1919 he stayed in the USA . There, too, he met strong players: In Frankfort / Kentucky in 1916 he won a competition against Jackson Whipps Showalter with 9.5: 4.5 (+7 = 5 −2). In 1918 he finished second in a tournament in New York behind the eventual world champion José Raúl Capablanca , but ahead of Marshall and David Janowski . In 1919 he lost to Capablanca in Havana in a competition with 0: 5. After the war was over, Kostić returned home to Europe . In 1919 he was second (behind Capablanca) in Hastings , in 1920 shared second in Bromley , in 1921 first in Gyula and Hastings.

In the years 1924 to 1926 Kostić undertook a world tour, which he financed with simultaneous and blind chess demonstrations. During these three years he popularized the game of chess in the most remote parts of the world: he visited Australia , South Africa , India , the Philippines and other exotic countries to play chess there. Numerous games from this phase have been preserved.

Returning to Europe, he took part in the most important tournaments again. In 1927 in London , 1931 in Prague , 1935 in Warsaw and 1937 in Stockholm he represented Yugoslavia at the chess Olympiads , he also took part in the unofficial Chess Olympiads in Budapest in 1926 and in Munich in 1936 (in which he achieved the best individual result on the sixth board). In 1928 he won in Trenčianske Teplice . In 1935 he was in the first played Yugoslav championship in Belgrade first together with Vasja Pirc . He celebrated his greatest tournament success in 1938 in Ljubljana . After the end of the Second World War , which he temporarily spent in concentration camps , it was no longer possible to build on the pre-war successes. Although Kostić, who was awarded the title of Grand Master by FIDE in 1950 , still took part in a few national tournaments until 1950, but always unsuccessfully. In 1962, shortly before his death, he won a veterans tournament in Zurich together with Henry Grob .

His best historical rating was 2706. This he reached in May 1921. At that time he was the sixth best player in the world.

literature

  • Dušan Bućan, Petar Trifunović, Aleksandar Božić: Ambasador šaha. Hronika o velemajstoru Bori Kostiću , Belgrade 1966.
  • Alfred Diel : Globetrotter of the chess game. In: Kaissiber No. 25 (2006), pp. 56-57.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Boris Kostić's results at the Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
  2. ↑ Boris Kostić's results at unofficial Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
  3. ↑ Borislav Kostić's historical Elo number at chessmetrics.com (English)
personal data
SURNAME Kostić, Boris
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kostić, Borislav (full name); Kostić, Bora (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Serbian chess master
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Vršac , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH 3rd November 1963
Place of death Belgrade , Yugoslavia