Petar Trifunović (31 August 1910 – 8 December 1980) was a Yugoslav chess player, who has been awarded the international grandmaster title, and five times Yugoslav champion.

Chess career

Yugoslavia was for many years the world's second strongest chess nation. Trifunovic came third in the first Yugoslav championship (1935), second in the next championship, and won in 1945, 1946, 1947 (shared with

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 ...

), 1952, and 1961. The young Trifunovic was also an excellent scholar, obtaining a law degree in 1933, followed by a doctorate. He had a reputation as an attacking player in the 1930s, when he was known as 'Typhoonovic'. Later, he concentrated more on positional play and defensive technique, his style becoming less adventurous but difficult to refute. As a result, he

drew Drew may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places ;In the United States * Drew, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Drew, Mississippi, a city * Drew, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Drew, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Drew County, Arkansas ...

many games. For example, his drawn match with

Miguel Najdorf Miguel Najdorf (born Mojsze Mendel Najdorf) (15 April 1910 – 4 July 1997) was a Polish–Argentinian chess grandmaster. Originally from Poland, he was in Argentina when World War II began in 1939, and he stayed and settled there. He was ...

Opatija Opatija (; it, Abbazia; german: Sankt Jakobi) is a List of cities and towns in Croatia, town and a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The traditional seaside resort on the Kvarner Gulf is known for its Mediterranean ...

1949 included ten drawn games (+1 −1 =10), and at

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

in 1965 he drew all 15 of his games. His international tournament successes included:

Zlín Zlín (in 1949–1989 Gottwaldov; ; german: Zlin) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 73,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Zlín Region and it lies on the Dřevnice river. It is known as an industrial centre. The development of the ...

1945 (first),

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

1946 (tied for second after Najdorf),

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

1950 (first), Cheltenham 1951 (tied for second after Gligorić), Belgrade 1954 (third after Bronstein and Matanović, but ahead of Gligorić and Petrosian). At Netanya 1961 he tied for first with Matulović and Czerniak. At Prague 1961 and

Beverwijk Beverwijk () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The town is located about northwest of Amsterdam in the Randstad metropolitan area, north of the North Sea Canal very close to the North Sea coast. A ...

1962 he came outright first and at Sarajevo, also in 1962, third after Gligorić and Portisch. Trifunović tied for first with 10 players at the 1962 Oklahoma City Open after drawing with Ken Smith and drawing with Bob Potter, a little-known expert from Dallas. At

Noordwijk Noordwijk () is a town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water and had a population of in . On 1 January 2019, the former municipality of Noordwij ...

in 1965 he finished second to Botvinnik (ahead of Flohr, Larsen and Donner). FIDE awarded him the international master title in 1950 and the grandmaster title in 1953. He played for his country in seven

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 an ...

s between 1935 and 1962. His best individual result was the event held in his birthplace, Dubrovnik, in 1950. A score of 10/13 won him the board 3 gold medal.

Legacy

He popularised and subsequently had his name associated with a variation of

Alekhine's Defence The Alekhine's Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves: :1. e4 Nf6 Black tempts White's pawns forward to form a broad , with plans to undermine and attack the white structure later in the spirit of hypermodern defence. White's im ...

. The Trifunovic Variation is identified by the move 5...Bf5 as a counter to White's Four Pawns Attack (1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4).

References

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External links

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Visa with photo 1953Visa with photo 1955
1910 births 1980 deaths Chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Yugoslav chess players Chess theoreticians Sportspeople from Dubrovnik Serbs of Croatia 20th-century chess players {{Yugoslav Chess Championship