Ľubomír Ftáčnik (born October 30, 1957 in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the 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 — approximately 140% of ...

) is 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 dist ...

grandmaster and a former European Junior Champion.

Chess career

He became European Junior Champion in 1976/77 and was awarded 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 shortly after. In 1980, he received the

International Grandmaster Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally it ha ...

title and this heralded the start of a successful playing career in national and international competitions. In his native Czechoslovakia (now the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

) he became national champion in 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1985. In tournaments, there have been many outright first places, including Esbjerg 1982, Trnava 1983, Alltensteig 1987, Baden-Baden Open 1987, the international invitation tournament in Haninge (Sweden), Vienna 1990 and the Parkroyal Surfers (Australia) 2000. At Cienfuegos (Capablanca Memorial) 1980, Dortmund GM 1981 and Lugano Open 1988, he shared first place, and at Hradec Králové in 1981 he was runner-up. In 1987 he drew a match with

Kiril Georgiev Kiril Dimitrov Georgiev ( bg, Кирил Димитров Георгиев; born 28 November 1965 in Petrich) is a Bulgarian and Macedonian chess grandmaster, and seven-time Bulgarian Chess Champion. Chess career Georgiev first caught the ...

, the strong Bulgarian grandmaster. At 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 an ...

, he has represented first Czechoslovakia and then Slovakia from 1980 onwards, missing out only in 1998. His major triumph occurred in 1982, when a 67.9% score helped the Czechoslovaks win the silver medal, very much against expectation. His performance with the black pieces overshadowed his results with white, an unusual outcome at such a high level. In recent years he has spent more time travelling abroad and is an occasional visitor to Australia and the USA. In the US he has attended chess summer camps, promoted his book (''Winning The Won Game'' - 2004 Batsford/Chrysalis, co-authored with Danny Kopec) and played in tournaments. In 2006, he finished joint first at the

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

National Open and followed up with an outright win at the

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

Open. He also played the Amsterdam 2006 event and finished a creditable half point off the leaders in what was a very strong field (Tiviakov, Timman, Nijboer, Tukmakov among others). Ftáčnik plays league chess in the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footb ...

and has also made occasional appearances in the

4NCL {{Unreferenced, date=November 2022 The 4NCL, or Four Nations Chess League, is a chess league in the United Kingdom and named after its four nations: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. However, the league is truly international, with pl ...

Personal life

Ftáčnik has a son, Martin, born 1985. His twin brother, Jan, is a physicist at the Physics Department of the

Comenius University Comenius University in Bratislava ( sk, Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave) is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is name ...

in Bratislava. His older brother,

Milan Ftáčnik Milan Ftáčnik (30 October 1956 – 13 May 2021) was a Slovak politician, Minister of Education of the Slovak Republic from 1998 to 2002 and Mayor of Bratislava from 2010 to 2014. He was also a teacher at the Department of Applied Informati ...

, was the mayor of Bratislava from 2011 to 2014.

References

* *
Olimpbase – Olympiads and other Team event information

External links

*
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1045547
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ftacnik, Lubomir 1957 births Living people Chess grandmasters Slovak chess players Chess writers Chess Olympiad competitors