Jaroslav Šajtar (December 3, 1921 – February 4, 2003) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

master and an honorary grandmaster, born in

Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...

. He won at Kraków 1938, thrice placed joined 4th at

Choceň Choceň (; ) is a town in Ústí nad Orlicí District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,600 inhabitants. Administrative division Choceň consists of seven municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 c ...

1942,

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

1943 (

Alexander Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine. He disliked when Russians sometimes pronounced the of as , , which he regarded as a Yiddish distortion of his name, and insisted that the correct Russian pronunciation was . (March 24, 1946) was a Russian ...

won),

Zlín Zlín (in 1949–1989 Gottwaldov; ; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 75,000 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 modern city ...

1943, and 4th at

Teplitz-Schönau Teplice (, until 1948 Teplice-Šanov; , ''Teplitz-Schönau'') is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 51,000 inhabitants. It is the most populous Czech spa town, followed by Karlovy Vary. The historic city cen ...

1947. His peak years were about 1950, his best results being shared 2nd with

Isaac Boleslavsky Isaac Yefremovich Boleslavsky (, ; 9 June 1919 – 15 February 1977) was a Soviet chess grandmaster and writer. Early career Born in Zolotonosha in Ukraine to Jewish parents, Boleslavsky taught himself chess at age nine. In 1933, he became sch ...

Luděk Pachman Luděk Pachman (German: Ludek Pachmann, May 11, 1924 – March 6, 2003) was a Czechoslovak-German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and political activist. In 1972, after being imprisoned and tortured almost to death by the Communist regime i ...

, and

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov (; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who was the seventh World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidates Tournament, Candidate for the World Chess Championship on ...

at Warsaw 1947 and 3rd at

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

1949. Šajtar played on the

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) ** Fourth Czechoslovak Repu ...

team against Great Britain in 1947 and in the

Helsinki 1952 The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

and Amsterdam 1954 Olympiads.Šajtar, Jaroslav
team chess record at olimpbase.org He finished 2nd in the 1952 Czechoslovak Championship. In 1956 Šajtar was elected vice-president of

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

(as president of Zone 3 astern Europe. He served as a FIDE official until 1974, devoting himself to the organisation of chess. He often served as arbiter at the Students Olympiads. Šajtar earned 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 1950 and became an

International Arbiter In chess tournaments, an arbiter is an official who oversees matches and ensures that the rules of chess are followed. International Arbiter ''International Arbiter'' is a title awarded by FIDE to individuals deemed capable of acting as arbiter ...

in 1955 with arbiting accomplishments including World Championship matches. FIDE made him an Honorary Grandmaster in 1985.

Notable chess games

Jaroslav Sajtar vs Bogdan Sliwa, Warsaw 1947, Queen's Gambit Accepted (D23), 1-0
A nice, very short game: Undeveloped Black position is successfully attacked by the White light pieces.
Jaroslav Sajtar vs Ludek Pachman, UJCS-17. Kongress 1943, Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 (E47), 1-0
Another short game of two (then young) Czech masters demonstrates a typical exchange sacrifice for the sake of attack.

References

External links

*
Jaroslav Šajtar
player profile at

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

1921 births 2003 deaths Czechoslovak chess players Czech chess players Chess Grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Chess arbiters {{CzechRepublic-chess-bio-stub