Friðrik Ólafsson (born 26 January 1935) is an Icelandic chess grandmaster. He was president of FIDE from 1978 to 1982. He is a six-time Icelandic Chess Champion and a two-time Nordic Chess Champion.

Chess career

Friðrik was born in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

, Iceland. A first-time winner of the Icelandic Chess Championship in 1952 and of the

Nordic Chess Championship The Nordic Chess Championship (''Nordiska Schackkongressen'') is a biennal chess tournament which determines the champion of the Nordic countries. The first edition took place in Stockholm in 1897. History The winners in the Nordic Championship in ...

a year later, he rapidly became recognised as the strongest Icelandic

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 dist ...

player of his generation. Friðrik's first result of international note was his shared first with

Viktor Korchnoi Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ( rus, Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, p=vʲiktər lʲvovʲɪtɕ kɐrtɕˈnoj; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. H ...

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

1955–56. Friðrik's best result in

World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 match ...

competition was in the 1958 Interzonal tournament, where he finished equal 5th–6th, automatically earning the grandmaster title (the first for Iceland) and qualifying for the 1959 Candidates Tournament, the last stage to determine the challenger to the

World Chess Champion The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 matc ...

in 1960. In the Candidates Tournament, however, he finished seventh of eight with 10/28. He also played in the following Interzonal in 1962, but failed to qualify for the Candidates. Among his other best tournament results were joint third in the first

Piatigorsky Cup The Piatigorsky Cup was a triennial series of double round-robin grandmaster chess tournaments held in the United States in the 1960s. Sponsored by the Piatigorsky Foundation, only two events were held, in 1963 and 1966. The Piatigorsky Cups wer ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

1963, with 7½/14 and shared first with

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, S ...

Wijk aan Zee Wijk aan Zee ( literally ''Neighborhood at Sea'') is a village on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk, the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament (formerly called the Corus ...

1976, ahead of

Mikhail Tal Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal; rus, Михаил Нехемьевич Таль, ''Mikhail Nekhem'yevich Tal' '', ; sometimes transliterated ''Mihails Tals'' or ''Mihail Tal'' (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet-Latvian chess player ...

. According to

Chessmetrics Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo rating system. Implementation Chessmetrics is a weighted average of past performance. The score considers a player's win percen ...

, Olafsson at his best was rated 2692 on the October 1958 rating list, ranked #13 in world. Olafsson continued to play occasionally into the 21st century, winning a rapid match against fellow veteran

Bent Larsen Jørgen Bent Larsen (4 March 1935 – 9 September 2010) was a Danish chess grandmaster and author. Known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play, he was the second strongest non-Soviet player, behind Bobby Fischer, for much of the 19 ...

in 2003 by a score of 5–3. Friðrik usually played the Sicilian Defence against 1.e4 and the

King's Indian Defence The King's Indian Defence is a common chess opening. It is defined by the following moves: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 g6 Black intends to follow up with 3...Bg7 and 4...d6 (the Grünfeld Defence arises when Black plays 3...d5 instead, and is consid ...

and

Nimzo-Indian Defence The Nimzo-Indian Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 e6 :3. Nc3 Bb4 Other move orders, such as 1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.d4 Bb4, are also feasible. In the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'', the Nimzo-Indian ...

against 1.d4. With White, he usually played the

English Opening The English Opening is a chess opening that begins with the move: :1. c4 A flank opening, it is the fourth most popular and, according to various databases, one of the four most successful of White's twenty possible first moves. White begins t ...

, but he also played 1.d4, 1.e4 and 1.Nf3 many times.

FIDE president

In 1978, Olafsson succeeded

Max Euwe Machgielis "Max" Euwe (; May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 until 1937. He served as ...

as President of the international chess governing body FIDE. During the tenure he presided over the 1981 Karpov–Korchnoi World Championship match. Since Korchnoi defected from the Soviet Union in 1976, the Soviets were holding Korchnoi's son, Igor. Olafsson delayed the planned September 19 start date of the match in a bid to get the Soviets to release Korchnoi's son. For this attempt, Olafsson drew the wrath of the Soviets, who then backed the FIDE Vice-President, Florencio Campomanes for the Presidency of FIDE. Campomanes succeeded Olafsson as FIDE president in 1982.

Personal life

In life outside of chess, Friðrik is married and has two adult daughters. Prior to 1974, when he became a chess professional, he worked as a lawyer at the Icelandic Ministry of Justice. After the FIDE presidency in 1982, Olafsson was appointed Secretary to the Icelandic Parliament.

References

Sources

* ''Chess'' magazine, January 1979 – Interview with David Levy * ''The KGB Plays Chess'' – Yuri Felshtinsky

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Olafsson, Fridrick 1935 births Living people Fridrick Olafsson Chess grandmasters Fridrick Olafsson Presidents of FIDE Chess officials