Miso Cebalo (1945-2022)

by André Schulz
9/10/2022 – On Friday last week, Croatian grandmaster Miso Cebalo passed away in Zagreb. In his younger years, Cebalo was one of Yugoslavia’s best bridge players. He was also a linguistic genius. Cebalo was a national player for Yugoslavia, then Croatia, and in later years was active as an author, commentator and coach. Miso Cebalo was 77 years old.

ChessBase 18 - Mega package ChessBase 18 - Mega package

Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

More...

Miso Cebalo was born on 6 February 1945 in Zagreb, which at that time was still the capital of the Independent State of Croatia. In May 1945, Croatia was incorporated into the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia.

Cebalo’s father was a good chess player and taught his son the rules when he was five years old. At the age of 13, Miso Cebalo joined a chess club. His second love was bridge, in which he was also one of the best players in the country. He was nominated for both the national chess team and the national bridge team in the 1970s. In 1979 he gave up bridge in favour of chess.

At the age of 20, Cebalo took part for the first time in the National Chess Championship of Yugoslavia, which was held in 1975 in Montenegro, in what was then Titograd (now Podgorica). Afterwards he began to study languages in Zagreb and withdrew somewhat from chess. Besides Croatian, Cebalo spoke Latin, Italian, French and five other European languages. After 1977, Cebalo returned to participate more regularly in tournaments. He was awarded the title of International Master in 1978.

After finishing second (after a play-off against Marjanovic) in the Yugoslav Championship and winning the Zone Tournament in Kavala, Cebalo was awarded the title of Grandmaster. In the following Interzonal Tournament in Taxco de Alarcón, Cebalo achieved shared 6th-7th place.

Photo: Zagreb Chess Club

In 1988, Cebalo won an invitational tournament in Bern. In 1991 he won the Memorial Chicco in Reggio Emilio. In 1998 he was tournament winner at the Asti Open. Cebalo won another tournament at the Pentium Cup 2001 in Milan. In 2009, Cebalo won the title at the 19th Senior World Championship in Condino.

Cebalo played for the Croatian national team at the Chess Olympiads in 1992 (Manila) and 1994 (Moscow) and at two European Team Championships. Between 1988 and 2000 he also took part in eight European Club Championships with various teams.

Photo: Italian Chess Federation

Towards the end of his playing career, Miso Cebalo became more and more active as an author and commentator. He was a regular guest in Biel and also acted as commentator at many tournaments there.

At the 1986 tournament, he managed a victory over Viktor Korchnoi.

 
Cebalo, Miso24751–0Kortschnoj, Viktor Lvovich2650
Biel
26.07.1986[Dolmatov,S]
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.d4 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 0-0 5.a3 Bxd2+ 6.Bxd2 Ne4 7.Be3?! 7.g3 d6 8.Bg2 Nd7 9.0-0 f5 10.Rc1 Qe7 11.c5 Lputian,S-Psakhis,L/URS/ 1987/ 7...d5 8.Rc1 dxc4 9.Rxc4 Qd5 10.Qc2 10.Rxc7? Qa5+-+ 10...Bd7? 10...Na6 11.g3 b5 11.g3 11.Rxc7? Bc6 11...Bb5 11...b5 12.Rxc7 Na6 13.Rxd7± 12.Rb4 Bc6 12...Nd6 13.Bg2 Na6?! 14.Ng5 Qf5 15.Qxf5 exf5 16.Rxb5 Nxb5 17.Bxb7± 13.Bg2 Na6 14.Rc4 14.Ng5 Nxb4 15.axb4 f5 14...Bb5 14...Nd6 15.Ng5 Qf5 15...Qa5+ 16.b4± 16.Qxf5 exf5 17.Bxc6 Nxc4 18.Bxb7± 15.Nd2!±
15...f5 16.Rc3 Nxc3 17.Bxd5 Nxd5 18.Qb3 Bc6 19.f3 Rae8 19...Nb8 20.Nc4 b6 20...Nd7 21.Na5± 21.Ne5 Bb7 22.Bf2 Re8 23.Qc2± 20.Nc4 b6 21.Ne5 Bb7 22.0-0 Nb8 23.Rc1 Rc8 24.Bd2 Rfe8 25.Kf2 h6 26.h3 26.h4 26...Rf8 27.g4 f4 28.h4 c6 29.Bb4 Rfd8 30.g5 hxg5 31.hxg5 Nd7 32.Bd6 Nxe5 33.Bxe5 Rf8 34.Rh1 Rf5 35.g6 35.Rh5 Kf7 36.Qd1 Kg6 37.Qh1+- 35...Rg5 36.Qd3 Rf8 37.Rh7 Nf6 38.Rh4 38.Bxf4?! Ng4+ 38...Nd5 39.Qe4 Rff5 40.Bxg7+-
40...Rxg6 40...Kxg7 41.Rh7+ Kxg6 42.Rxb7 Kf6 43.Rh7+- 41.Bh6 Rgf6 42.Bg5 Rxg5 43.Qh7+ Kf8 44.Qxb7 Rfg6 45.Qxa7 Rg1 46.Rh8+ Rg8 47.Rxg8+ Rxg8 48.Qd7 Rg6 49.Ke1 Ne7 50.Qd8+ Kf7 51.Qxb6 Rg5 52.Qc7 Rf5 53.a4 Ke8 54.a5
1–0

In 2011 Miso Cebalo was appointed FIDE Senior Trainer.

Miso Cebalo died last Friday, 2 September 2022 in Zagreb. He was 77 years old.


Interview with Robert Fontaine from Biel 2007 (in French)



André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.