Dragoljub Minić (March 5, 1937 – c. April 5, 2005) was a Yugoslav Grandmaster of

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

. He won the championship of Yugoslavia in 1962 (joint with Aleksandar Matanović).

Chess career

Minić's chess career was primarily in the 1960s and 1970s. He represented Yugoslavia in many competitions, including the 1962 Varna Olympiad, where he scored 6½ out of 8 games for Yugoslavia, which finished second to the Soviet Union, and the 1970 Siegen Olympiad, where he scored 8½ out of 10 for Yugoslavia, which finished third behind the Soviet Union and Hungary. Minić also served as a second to

Svetozar Gligorić Svetozar Gligorić (Serbian Cyrillic: Светозар Глигорић, 2 February 1923 – 14 August 2012) was a Serbian and Yugoslav chess grandmaster and musician. He won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is consider ...

and

Ljubomir Ljubojević Ljubomir Ljubojević (; born November 2, 1950) is a Serbian chess grandmaster. He won the Yugoslav Chess Championship in 1977 (tied) and 1982. Life and career Ljubojević was born on 2 November 1950 in Titovo Užice, Yugoslavia (now Užice, Se ...

, Yugoslavia's most prominent grandmasters. Minić was famous for his knowledge of the game and great analytical ability.

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

awarded him the

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

title in 1964, and the Honorary Grandmaster title in 1991.

Death

Minić was found dead by friends in his Novi Sad apartment on April 9, 2005, after failing to respond to phone and intercom calls for several days. Doctors determined that he died of a heart attack approximately four days earlier.

Notable games

Minić was a virtuoso of the

Sicilian Defence The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the following moves: :1. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4, e4 b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c5, c5 The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4. Ope ...

, which he played with great skill from either side of the board. Here is a sharp tactical win over Yugoslav grandmaster

Albin Planinc Albin Planinc (also spelled Planinec) (8 or 18 April 1944 – 20 December 2008) was a Slovenian-Yugoslavian chess Grandmaster. He was born in a working-class family in Briše near Zagorje in the Central Sava Valley, in German-occupied Slove ...

at the

Vidmar Memorial The Milan Vidmar Memorial is a strong closed chess tournament commemorating Milan Vidmar (1885–1962), a leading Slovenian grandmaster. The tournament has been held mostly in a biannual rhythm in several Slovenian cities, i.e.: Ljubljana, Porto ...

tournament in 1973. :Planinc vs. Minić
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Nbd7 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.0-0-0 b5 10.e5 Bb7 11.Qh3 dxe5 12.Nxe6 fxe6 13.Qxe6+ Be7 14.Bxb5 axb5 15.Nxb5 Qc6 16.Nd6+ Kd8 17.fxe5 Kc7 18.Qxe7 Rxa2 19.Rd4 Ra1+ 20.Kd2 Qxg2+ 21.Kc3 Qf3+ 22.Kb4 (''diagram'') Ra4+ An amazing move, giving up the

rook Rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') is a bird of the corvid family. Rook or rooks may also refer to: Games *Rook (chess), a piece in chess *Rook (card game), a trick-taking card game Military * Sukhoi Su-25 or Rook, a close air support aircraft * USS ...

just to gain a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

for the attack. The game continued: :23.Kxa4 Bc6+ 24.Kb4 Rb8+ 25.Kc4 Nd5 26.Ne8+ Rxe8 27.Qd6+ Kb7 28.Rxd5 Qxh1 29.Ra5 Qe4+ 30.Kb3 Rxe5 31.Bd8 Qf3+ 32.c3 Qf7+ 33.c4 Re3+ 34.Kb4 Qf8 35.Qxf8 Nxf8 36.Rf5 Rf3 37.Rh5 Ne6 38.Be7 h6 39.Bd6 Rd3 40.Be5 Re3 41.Bg3 Be8 42.Ra5 Re2 43.b3 g5 44.Rf5 h5 45.c5 Re4+ 46.Kc3 Kc6 47.Bd6 Re3+ 48.Kc4 Rxb3 49.Re5 Rf3 50.Kb4 Bd7 51.Re2 Nd4 52.Ra2 Kd5 53.Ka5 Rb3 54.Rd2 Kc4

References

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External links

*
The Week in Chess 546
Mark Crowther (25 April 2005)
Indochess, May 7, 2005, Bobby Ang, "Chess Piece: Milestones"
Chess grandmasters 1937 births 2005 deaths Montenegrin chess players Yugoslav chess players Sportspeople from Podgorica Chess Olympiad competitors 20th-century chess players {{Yugoslav Chess Championship