THE (ALMOST) OLDEST GM
Wijk aan Zee 1979: GM Juraj Nikolac - Photo: Fernando Pereira / ANEFO
Today is the birthday of Grandmaster Juraj Nikolac. He was born in Metkovic, Croatia, on April 22, 1932.
Married to WIM Tanja Belamaric, Nikolac has never played in many tournaments, being a physics professor at the University until 1997.
However, his career is very long. He played in the Croatian Team Championship until he was 85, always with honorable results and an incredibly consistent Elo.
Strong endings player and author of chess books, Nikolac has defeated several famous players in his career: Andersson, Gligoric, Miles, G. Kuzmin, Epishin, Tkachiev, Miladinovic, and Ljubojevic, a game whose final combo is today's puzzle.
The recent attribution of the GM title "ad honorem" to the Austrian Andreas Dückstein (b. 1927) has made Nikolac the second oldest GM.
Juraj Nikolac (2470)-Ljubomir Ljubojevic (2610), Rovigno/Zagabria 1975
White to move
39. Nd6! Be8 40. Qxa4! Bxh5 41. Rde1 Bh6 42. Rxb3 Bf4 43. Qe4 Rd2 44. Qc6 Rd8 45. Ne4 Rd1 46. Qxf6+ Kg8 47. Qxd8+ Rxd8 48. Nf6+ 1-0
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