Milunka Lazarević
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Milunka Lazarević (1 December 1932 – 15 December 2018) was a Serbian
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 ...
player and journalist. For many years, she was the strongest female player of Yugoslavia and became a contender for the
Women's World Chess Championship The Women's World Chess Championship is a chess match played to determine the Women's World Chess Champion. It has been administered by FIDE since its inception in 1927, unlike the absolute World Chess Championship, which only came under FIDE's ...
.


Biography

Born in
Šantarovac Šantarovac is a village in the municipality of Jagodina, Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map ...
,
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
, Lazarević was taught chess by her father at the age of fourteen and quickly became recognised as a talent in the game. Progressing to become Yugoslavia's leading female player, she won the women's national championship eleven times between 1952 and 1982. It was during this period that she enjoyed a rivalry with compatriot Vera Nedeljkovic, the two regularly placing well in both domestic and international competition. Her playing style developed to be both exciting and imaginative, although there were occasions when this caused her to overplay the position, particularly against weaker players. According to
Anne Sunnucks Patricia Anne Sunnucks (21 February 1927 – 22 November 2014) was an author and three-times British Women's Chess Champion (1957, 1958, 1964). During her chess career she was always known as Anne Sunnucks. She was educated at Wycombe Abbey Sch ...
, this often robbed her of first prize. Among her most notable early results were those from four zonal tournaments; she finished joint third at
Herceg Novi Herceg Novi (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Херцег Нови, ) is a town in Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro located at the Western entrance to the Bay of Kotor and at the foot of Mount Orjen. It is the administrative center of ...
1954, joint second at
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
1957, joint first at Vrnjacka Banja 1960 and third at Bad Neuenahr 1963. Her best result was to tie for first place at the Women's World Championship
Candidates Tournament The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The win ...
in
Sukhumi Sukhumi or Sokhumi is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the Capital city, capital and largest city of Abkhazia, a partially recognised state that most countries consider a part of Georgia (country), Georgia. The ...
1964. Unsuccessful in the play-off with
Alla Kushnir Alla Shulimovna Kushnir (; ; 11 August 1941 – 2 August 2013) was a Soviet-born Israeli chess player. She was awarded the FIDE titles of Woman International Master (WIM) in 1962 and Woman Grandmaster (WGM) in 1976. In 2017, she was inducted ...
and
Tatiana Zatulovskaya Tatiana Zatulovskaya (; , ; 8 December 1935 – 2 July 2017) was an Israeli (formerly Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian) chess player. She was a three-time Soviet women's champion and twice the world women's senior champion. She was awarded the t ...
, she missed the chance to challenge
Nona Gaprindashvili Nona Gaprindashvili ( ka, ნონა გაფრინდაშვილი; born 3 May 1941) is a Georgian chess Grandmaster. Noted for her aggressive style of play, she was the women's world chess champion from 1962 to 1978, and in 1978 ...
for the Women's World Championship in 1965. Later achievements included a share of second place at the
Ohrid Ohrid ( ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording a population of over 42,000 inhabitants as of ...
Interzonal Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by the World Chess Federation FIDE from the 1950s to the 1990s. They were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle and were held after the Zonal tournaments, and before the Ca ...
1971 (after
Nana Alexandria Nana Alexandria ( ka, ნანა გიორგის ასული ალექსანდრია, ''Nana Giorgis asuli Aleksandria''; born 13 October 1949) is a Georgian chess player. A three-time Soviet women's champion, she was the c ...
). There were also outright or shared first places at
Wijk aan Zee Wijk aan Zee (; ) 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 chess tournament or the Hoogove ...
,
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
, Emmen (all 1972) and the
Travnik Travnik ( cyrl, Травник) is a town and a municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the administrative center of the Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, ...
zonal tournament of 1978. In team chess, she competed on board one for Yugoslavia at several Women's
Olympiad An olympiad (, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the Ancient Olympic Games, ancient and Olympic Games, modern Olympic Games. Although the ancient Olympics were established during Archaic Greece, Greece ...
s between 1963 and 1984, winning a silver team medal at
Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...
in 1963. Lazarević qualified as a
Woman 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 ...
in 1954 and a
Woman Grandmaster 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 ...
in 1976. Additionally, she was awarded the
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 ...
title in 1970. Described by Sunnucks as an attractive redhead, Lazarević spent many years working as a journalist and penned articles on
Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...
and
Boris Spassky Boris Vasilyevich Spassky (; January 30, 1937 – February 27, 2025) was a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. Spassky played three world championship matches: he lost to Tigra ...
for the magazine '' New In Chess''. While her most active playing days subsided in the 1980s, she did not retire from the game altogether, participating at tournaments on a number of occasions in 2006 and 2008. She died on 15 December 2018 at the age of 86 in
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
. Two years later, on September 23, 2020, the public company "
Pošta Srbije Pošta Srbije ( sr-Cyrl, Пошта Србије, lit=Post of Serbia) is the national postal service of Serbia, with the headquarters in Belgrade. Public postal service was first introduced in Serbia in 1840. The first stamp was printed in 1866. ...
" released a new postage stamps called: "Chess Giants of Serbia". In addition to Lazarević,
Svetozar Gligorić Svetozar Gligorić ( sr-Cyrl, 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 11 times, and is considered the best ...
,
Boris Kostić Borislav Kostić (24 February 1887 – 3 November 1963) was a Serbs, Serbian chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster and a popularizer of the game. He was one of the best players in the world during the early part of the 20th century and in 1950 w ...
,
Petar Trifunović Petar Trifunović (31 August 1910 – 8 December 1980) was a Yugoslav and Serbian chess player, who was awarded the international grandmaster title, and was a five-time Yugoslav champion. Chess career Yugoslavia was for ...
and Milan Matulović were also given this honor. On that occasion, short biographies of the players depicted on these stamps were also published. The texts are given in Serbian and English, and their authors are: grandmaster
Aleksandar Matanović Aleksandar Matanović (; 23 May 1930 – 9 August 2023) was a Serbian chess grandmaster, one of the leading Yugoslav players in the 1950s-1970s. In 1966 he founded the company Chess Informant, which publishes regular game collections from recen ...
and sports journalist Miroslav Nešić.


Notable game

Milunka Lazarević vs Corry Vreeken, Split 1963: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 b5 8.e5 dxe5 9.fxe5 Qc7 10.exf6 Qe5+ 11.Be2 Qxg5 12.O-O Ra7 13.Qd3 Rd7 14.Ne4 Qe5 15.c3 Bb7 16.Qg3 Qxg3 17.Nxg3 gxf6 18.Nh5 Be7 19.Nxf6+ Bxf6 20.Rxf6 Rg8 21.Rf2 Nc6 22.Nb3 Rd5 23.Bf3 Rdg5 24.a4 Nd8 25.Bxb7 Nxb7 26.axb5 axb5 27.Ra8+ Nd8 28.Rd2 Ke7 29.Na5 Rd5 30.Rxd5 exd5 31.Rb8 Rg5 32.Rxb5 Ne6 33.c4 Kd6 34. cxd5 Rxd5 35.Nc4+ Kc6 36.Rxd5 Kxd5 37.Ne3+ Ke4 38.Kf2 Nc5 39.Nd1 Nd3+ 40. Kg3 Ne1 41.Nf2+ Kd4 42.Nh3 Nd3 43.Ng5 Nxb2 44.Nxf7 Nd3 45.Ng5 h5 46.Kh4 Ke3 47.g3 Kf2 48.g4 hxg4 49.Kxg4 Ke3 50.h4 Nf4 51.Kf5 Nh5 52.Ne6 Kf3 53. Kg5 Ng3 54.Nc5 Kg2 55.Kg4 Kf2 56.Nd3+ Kg2 57.Nf4+ Kf2 58.Nh5 Ne2 59.Ng7 Ng3 60.Nf5 Ne4 61.Kf4 Nf6 62.Kg5 Nh7+ 63.Kg6 Nf8+ 64.Kf7 Nd7 65.h5 Ne5+ 66.Kf6 Ng4+ 67.Kg5 Kf3 68.Nh6 Nf2 69.Nf5 Nh3+ 70.Kf6 Kg4 71.h6 Ng5 72.Kg6 Ne6 73.Ne3+ Kh4 74.Kf6 Nf8 75.Kf7 Kh5 76.Ng4 Nh7 77.Kg7 Ng5 78.Nf6+ Kh4 79.Ne4 Ne6+ 80.Kg8 Nf4 81.h7 Ng6 82.Kg7 Kh5 83.Nf6+ 1-0 Thanks to this game, Lazarević won the best game prize for the best ending at the
2nd Women's Chess Olympiad The 2nd Women's Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE, took place between 22 September and 12 October 1963, in Split, SFR Yugoslavia. Results A total of 15 two-woman teams entered the competition. It was played as a round-robin tournament. : I ...
."2nd Women's Chess Olympiad: Split 1963"
Olimpbase.org


References


Bibliography

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External links

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Chessbase: Milunka Lazarević, the female Tal - Part 1
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazarevic, Milunka 1932 births 2018 deaths Serbian female chess players Serbian chess players Yugoslav female chess players Yugoslav chess players Chess Woman Grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Serbian chess writers Chess arbiters Sportspeople from Jagodina