Friðrik Ólafsson

Friðrik Ólafsson at the 1980 Chess Olympiad
Surname	Friðrik Ólafsson
Association	Iceland
Born	January 26, 1935 Reykjavík , Iceland
title	International Master (1956) Grand Master (1958)
Current  Elo rating	2355 (August 2019)
Best Elo rating	2570 (July 1971 to July 1973)
Tab at the FIDE (English)

Friðrik Ólafsson (born January 26, 1935 in Reykjavík ) is an Icelandic chess grandmaster .

Career

In 1952 Friðrik Ólafsson was Icelandic national champion for the first time , he won this title six times (1952, 1953, 1957, 1961, 1962 and 1969). In 1956 he became an international master . In 1958 he qualified in the interzonal tournament as 5th to 6th (with the same number of points as Bobby Fischer ) for the Candidates Tournament in Yugoslavia in 1959 , where he was seventh. At the FIDE congress in Dubrovnik in 1958 , Friðrik was awarded the title of Grand Master.

Friðrik Ólafsson was a full-time lawyer and one of the few amateurs, at most for a short time semi-professionals, who could compete internationally at the highest level of competition against professional chess players.

From 1978 to 1982 he was President of the World Chess Federation FIDE . At the tournament in Buenos Aires in 1980, as association president, he succeeded in defeating the then reigning world champion ( Anatoli Karpow ), which hardly any sports official in the world has ever succeeded in doing . In November 2014 Friðrik was made an honorary member of FIDE.

For a time, Friðrik Ólafsson was Secretary General of the Icelandic parliament Althing .

Before the introduction of the Elo numbers , Friðrik Ólafssons highest historical Elo number was 2692 in October 1958, he was temporarily number 13 in the world.

Elo development

Tournament successes

Friðrik Ólafsson, Reykjavík 2008

• Hastings 1955–56: 1./2. Square with Korchnoi
• Reykjavík 1957: 1st place
• Zone tournament Wageningen 1957: 2nd place (1st Szabó )
• Hoogovens Beverwijk 1959: 1st place
• Zone tournament Berg en Dal (ZT a) 1960: 1st place (before 4th Bent Larsen )
• Zone tournament Marienbad (Czech: Mariánské Lázně) 1961: 1st place (this zone tournament also considered players who could not take part in 1960 in Berg en Dal due to visa problems, among them Wolfgang Uhlmann )
• Moscow ZCC 1961: 3rd place
• Los Angeles (Piatigorsky Cup) 1963: 3rd – 4th Place (1. Keres and Petrosyan )
• Reykjavík 1966: 1st place
• Reykjavík 1968: 3rd place
• Lugano 1970: 2nd place (1st Larsen )
• Hoogovens Wijk an Zee 1971: shared 2nd place with Petrosjan and others (1st Kortschnoi )
• Reykjavík 1972: 1./3. Place with Hort and Gheorghiu
• Las Palmas 1974: 2nd - 4th Place (1st Ljubojević )
• Tallinn 1975: 2/3 Place with Spasski (1st Keres)
• Hoogovens Wijk an Zee 1976: 1./2. Place with Ljubojević
• Reykjavík 1976: 1./2. Place with Jan Timman
• Las Palmas 1978 3rd place

Left: Friðrik Ólafsson, 1980 at the Chess Olympiad in Valletta on Malta
Iceland - USSR (Geller, Karpov)

Between 1952 and 1980 Friðrik Ólafsson took part with the Icelandic national team in eight chess Olympiads (except for the first participation always on the top board), he achieved the best individual result on the first board in 1962 in Varna . At the 2015 European Team Championship, he played in Iceland's second team. In the match between the USSR and the Rest of the World in 1970 he played a game as a substitute, but lost to Vasily Smyslow .

Probably his greatest tournament successes were the victory with Viktor Kortschnoi in Hastings and the victories at the traditional Hoogovens tournament, held in Beverwijk in 1959 and in 1976 - together with Ljubomir Ljubojević, in front of Michail Tal - in Wijk aan Zee.

Web links

Commons : Friðrik Ólafsson  - collection of images

• Replayable chess games by Friðrik Ólafsson on chessgames.com (English)
• Winner list Reykjavík International chess tournament, first held in 1964, played today as an Open (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Willy Iclicki: FIDE Golden book 1924-2002 . Euroadria, Slovenia, 2002, p. 75.
2. ↑ Data on Friðrik's historical Elo rating
3. ↑ Numbers according to FIDE Elo lists. Data sources: fide.com (period since 2001), olimpbase.org (period 1971 to 2001)
4. ↑ Friðrik Ólafsson's results at the Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
5. ↑ Friðrik Ólafsson's results at the European Team Championships on olimpbase.org (English)

Note: Icelanders are referred to by their first name or first and last name, but not just their surname. Further information can be found under Icelandic personal name .