Congratulations - Ljubomir Ljubojevic turns 75!

Born on 2 November 1950 in Titovo Uzice, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), he emerged onto the international tournament scene in the late 1960s, attracting a great deal of attention through his successes and aggressive, tactical style.

In 1969, he was part of the Yugoslavian team that won the World Student Team Championship. At the turn of 1969/70, he became the under-20s vice-world champion in Groningen, finishing behind András Adorján and ahead of Alexander Beliavsky. In March 1970, Ljubojević and Bruno Parma won a well-attended invitational tournament in Sarajevo.

Although he was not yet part of the Yugoslavian team that won bronze at the Chess Olympiad in Siegen, he travelled there privately and challenged the world's best players to blitz matches between rounds. FIDE named Ljubojevic an International Master in 1970 and a Grandmaster in 1971.

In 1972, Ljubojevic joined the Yugoslavian team for the first time at the Chess Olympiad in Skopje. Scoring 15.5 points from 19 games on board 3 behind Gligorić and Ivkov, he won bronze with the team and gold for the best result on his board. Ljubojevic won silver with the team in 1974 and bronze again in 1980. In 1982, he won the bronze medal on board 1. Between 1972 and 2002, he played in twelve Chess Olympiads for Yugoslavia and Serbia.

Ljubomir Ljubojevic, 1975 | Photo: Dutch National Archive

Ljubojevic and Tal, Wijk aan Zee 1976 | Photo: Dutch National Archive

Ljubojevic also won numerous tournaments in the 1970s and 1980s. His greatest successes were tournament victories in Palma de Mallorca in 1971, Las Palmas and Montreal in 1974, Orense in 1975, Manila in 1975, Wijk aan Zee in 1976, Titovo Uzice in 1978, Buenos Aires in 1980 and 1981, Brasilia in 1981, Linares in 1985, Belgrade in 1987, Vina del Mar in 1988, Barcelona in 1989 (together with Kasparov) and Reggio Emilia in 1991. At the "Tournament of the Stars" in Montreal in 1979, he came fourth behind Karpov, Tal and Portisch.

Alexei Shirov and Ljubomir Ljubojevic, Villarroblo 2008 | Photo: Organiser

In 1984, Ljubojevic was part of the world team in the second USSR vs. Rest of the World match. He won 1.5:0.5 against Smyslov and lost 0.5:1.5 against Tukmakov.

In 1988/89, the then Grandmaster Association (GMA) organised a series of tournaments with the 25 best players in the world. Ljubojevic finished the series in fifth place.

With his risky attacking style, Ljubojevic achieved many victories, even against the best players in the world.

On the other hand, he lacked the consistency to qualify for the World Championship Candidates Tournament. Sometimes he narrowly missed out on qualifying, for example at the 1976 Interzonal Tournament in Manila, when his shared 5th/6th place was not enough.

From 1981 to 1995, Ljubojevic was a regular participant in the tournaments organised by Luis Rentero at the Hotel Anibal in Linares. In 1985, he won the tournament together with Robert Hübner.

In the mid-1980s, Ljubojevic moved to Linares. He was also a regular guest at the Melody Amber tournaments organised by Joop van Oosterom in Monaco, where he was able to beat even players of the younger generation, including Anand, in rapid or blitz chess.

In 2010, Ljubojevic retired from tournament chess. However, he occasionally continued to participate in rapid chess tournaments.

A little-known interview with Ljubomir Ljubojevic can be found on YouTube.

Part 1