Ján Šefc (10 December 1924 – 17 May 2014), was a Slovak

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 ...

player,

Czechoslovak Chess Championship The Czechoslovak National Chess Championship was a chess competition to determine the best Czechoslovak chess player. History The first Czechoslovak championships were held in Prague in 1919. After a break caused by World War II, the championsh ...

winner (1955),

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

team medalist (1957).

Biography

Ján Šefc grew up in

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of app ...

, but after the occupation of the city of Hungary in 1938, his parents moved to

Prešov Prešov (, hu, Eperjes, Rusyn language, Rusyn and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Пряшів) is a city in Eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj) and Šariš, as well as the historic Sáros Cou ...

. In 1949, after the death of his father Ján Šefc began to work in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

, where he studied medicine. In 1953 Ján Šefc became a professional chess trainer. He was repeated participant of

, where in 1954 Ján Šefc won bronze, and in 1955 in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

became the winner. In 1956, he ranked 6th in

Wilhelm Steinitz William Steinitz (born Wilhelm Steinitz; May 14, 1836 – August 12, 1900) was an Austrian and, later, American chess player. From 1886 to 1894, he was the first official World Chess Champion. He was also a highly influential writer and che ...

memorial in

Mariánské Lázně Mariánské Lázně (; german: Marienbad) is a spa town in Cheb District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. Most of the town's buildings come from its Golden Era in the second half of the 19th centu ...

. Ján Šefc played for Czechoslovakia in the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

s: * In 1956, at third board in the

12th Chess Olympiad The 12th Chess Olympiad (, ''12-ya Shakhmatnaya olimpiada''), organized by the FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. team tournament, as well as se ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

(+1, =5, -3), * In 1958, at second reserve board in the

13th Chess Olympiad The 13th Chess Olympiad (german: Die 13. Schacholympiade), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. team tournament, as well as several o ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

(+2, =3, -1). Ján Šefc played for Czechoslovakia in the

: * In 1957, at sixth board in the 1st European Team Chess Championship in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

(+0, =2, -3) and won team bronze medal. Among Ján Šefc chess students were grandmasters

Ľubomír Ftáčnik Ľubomír Ftáčnik (born October 30, 1957 in Bratislava) is a Slovak chess grandmaster and a former European Junior Champion. Chess career He became European Junior Champion in 1976/77 and was awarded the International Master title shortly ...

and

Igor Štohl Igor Štohl (born 27 September 1964) is a Slovak chess player who holds the titles of Grandmaster and Slovak Chess Championship winner (1984). Biography Igor Štohl learned to play chess at the age of 10. In 1982, in Copenhagen he won silver ...

, and an international master Róbert Tibenský. He was a member of the chess club ''Slovan'' from Bratislava.

References

External links

*
Ján Šefc
chess games at 365chess.com 1924 births 2014 deaths Czechoslovak chess players Slovak chess players Chess Olympiad competitors {{Slovakia-chess-bio-stub