Zdenko Kožul


Zdenko Kožul at the Grenke Chess Open 2016
Association	Yugoslavia Socialist Federal Republic Yugoslavia (until 1991) Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992 to 1993) Croatia (since 1994) Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia
Born	May 21, 1966 Bihać
title	International Master (1986) Grand Master (1989)
Current Elo rating	2597 (August 2020)
Best Elo rating	2641 (March 2017)
Tab at the FIDE (English)

Zdenko Kožul (born May 21, 1966 in Bihać , Yugoslavia ) is a Croatian chess master. In 2006 he became European champion .

Life

Kožul has held the grandmaster title since 1989 . He became champions of Yugoslavia in 1989 and 1990 . After the collapse of the Yugoslav confederation, Kožul initially represented Bosnia and Herzegovina , and later Croatia . At the FIDE World Championship after the knockout system in 2004 in Tripoli , he made it to the round of 16. As European champion in 2006 he was qualified for the 2007 World Chess Cup , in which he prevailed in the first round against Lázaro Bruzón , but failed in the second round to Şəhriyar Məmmədyarov .

National team

Kožul took part in twelve Chess Olympiads from 1990 to 2014 . He played for Yugoslavia in 1990 , at the 1992 Chess Olympiad in Manila, he was nominated as reserve player for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but remained unused. From 1994 to the 2014 Chess Olympiad in Tromsø , he represented Croatia at all Olympics. In 1990 he won a bronze medal on the third board. With Croatia, he also participated in the World Team Championship in part in 1997, and he played in nine European Team Championships (1992 for Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1997 to 2009 and 2013 for Croatia).

societies

Kožul is a member of the ŠK Bosna in Sarajevo , with which he became Bosnian team champion five times (2002 to 2006) and three times (1999, 2000 and 2002) the European Club Cup . In 2010 Kožul became the Bosnian team champion with the ŠK Bihać , and he took part in the European Club Cup a total of 18 times. In the Austrian Bundesliga , Kožul played for SV Wolfsberg in the 2013/14 season , in the German Bundesliga he has played for SF Deizisau since 2017 and in the Hungarian team championship since 2017 for HVSE Infraplan .

European Championship

Kožul won the 7th European Championship in April 2006 in Kuşadası , Turkey, ahead of the Ukrainian Vasily Ivanchuk and the Bulgarian Kiril Georgiev and another 135 players. After 11 rounds, Kožul was half a point ahead of the favored Ivanchuk with 8.5 points. With his Elo rating of 2606, Kožul was considered an outsider, as he was only 17th on the starting list. In the tournament with many grandmasters in the Swiss system , in which the absolute top class was absent, Kožul scored 6 wins and 5 draws. For his victory he received prize money of 7,000 euros.