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F Olafsson 
 
Fridrik Olafsson
Number of games in database: 608
Years covered: 1947 to 2008
Current FIDE rating: 2434
Highest rating achieved in database: 2570
Overall record: +172 -153 =277 (51.6%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
      Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
      6 exhibition games, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Sicilian (53) 
    B93 B30 B92 B96 B39
 English (42) 
    A15 A13 A17 A10 A16
 King's Indian (32) 
    E60 E63 E73 E62 E90
 Sicilian Najdorf (18) 
    B93 B92 B96 B90 B94
 Nimzo Indian (17) 
    E41 E21 E54 E46 E51
 English, 1 c4 c5 (16) 
    A30 A34 A35 A38 A37
With the Black pieces:
 Sicilian (72) 
    B42 B40 B44 B48 B96
 King's Indian (37) 
    E94 E80 E69 E62 E66
 Nimzo Indian (31) 
    E54 E42 E41 E56 E59
 Ruy Lopez (21) 
    C92 C77 C86 C83 C97
 English (20) 
    A13 A15 A16 A14 A17
 Grunfeld (13) 
    D71 D73 D75 D91 D88
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Tal vs F Olafsson, 1975 0-1
   J Boedvarsson vs F Olafsson, 1947 0-1
   F Olafsson vs Fischer, 1958 1-0
   O Rodriguez vs F Olafsson, 1978 0-1
   F Olafsson vs Unzicker, 1970 1-0
   V Rothuis vs F Olafsson, 2007 0-1
   F Olafsson vs Tal, 1971 1-0
   Gligoric vs F Olafsson, 1958 0-1
   Petrosian vs F Olafsson, 1958 1/2-1/2
   F Olafsson vs Karpov, 1977 1/2-1/2

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   99_Bad Lauterberg 1977 by whiteshark
   Wijk aan Zee Hoogovens 1969 by suenteus po 147
   Zurich 1959 by suenteus po 147
   Wijk aan Zee Hoogovens 1971 by suenteus po 147
   Mar del Plata 1960 by suenteus po 147
   Teesside 1975 by suenteus po 147
   First Piatigorsky Cup 1963 by Benzol
   Wijk aan Zee 1983 by EmperorAtahualpa
   Wijk aan Zee 1977 by EmperorAtahualpa
   Wijk aan Zee Hoogovens 1976 by suenteus po 147
   Hastings 1953/54 by suenteus po 147
   ffpainz- recent stuff by ffpainz

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FRIDRIK OLAFSSON
(born Jan-26-1935) Iceland

[what is this?]
Friðrik Ólafsson was born in Reykjavik on January 26, 1935. In 1953, he took 3rd in the World Junior Championship. In 1954/55, he tied for 1st with Korchnoi at Hastings. A multiple-time Scandinavian champion, Olafsson became the first Icelandic grandmaster in 1958 when he qualified for the Candidates' Tournament in Yugoslavia. After a number of years as one of the top non-Soviet players (he served as first reserve for the "Rest of the World" in the Belgrade 1970 match, and shared first place at Wijk aan Zee 1976), Olafsson retired from World Championship contests to devote himself to other things, including the FIDE presidency from 1978 to 1982. He is a lawyer by professon.

 page 1 of 25; games 1-25 of 608  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves Year Event/LocaleOpening
1. J Boedvarsson vs F Olafsson 0-15 1947 IcelandA02 Bird's Opening
2. F Olafsson vs Ivkov  0-145 1951 BirminghamA91 Dutch Defense
3. E German vs F Olafsson  1-040 1952 Helsinki ol (Men)E95 King's Indian, Orthodox, 7...Nbd7, 8.Re1
4. F Olafsson vs G Gaitanaros  ½-½40 1952 Helsinki ol (Men)B06 Robatsch
5. H Lambert vs F Olafsson  1-035 1952 Helsinki ol (Men)C77 Ruy Lopez
6. Julio Bolbochan vs F Olafsson  ½-½45 1952 Helsinki ol (Men)E68 King's Indian, Fianchetto, Classical Variation, 8.e4
7. F Olafsson vs Grob  1-030 1952 Helsinki ol (Men)D51 Queen's Gambit Declined
8. C Doerner vs F Olafsson 0-140 1952 Helsinki ol (Men)E80 King's Indian, Samisch Variation
9. F Olafsson vs E Myhre  ½-½38 1952 Helsinki ol (Men)C67 Ruy Lopez
10. Filip vs F Olafsson 1-044 1952 Helsinki ol (Men)D51 Queen's Gambit Declined
11. O Benkner vs F Olafsson  ½-½44 1952 Helsinki ol (Men)E70 King's Indian
12. F Olafsson vs C Poulsen  1-034 1952 Helsinki ol (Men)D43 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
13. M Aleman Dovo vs F Olafsson  1-044 1952 Helsinki ol (Men)D24 Queen's Gambit Accepted
14. F Olafsson vs L Barden  ½-½23 1952 Helsinki ol (Men)B30 Sicilian
15. O Benkner vs F Olafsson  ½-½80 1952 Helsinki ol (Men)E71 King's Indian, Makagonov System (5.h3)
16. F Olafsson vs Tolush  0-133 1953 HastingsB68 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack, 7...a6 Defense, 9...Be7
17. F Olafsson vs J Gudmundsson 1-024 1953 Reykjavik, IcelandB83 Sicilian
18. Larsen vs F Olafsson 0-138 1953 Wch U20 final-AE94 King's Indian, Orthodox
19. F Olafsson vs A Matanovic  ½-½40 1953 HastingsE15 Queen's Indian
20. Wade vs F Olafsson  0-140 1953 HastingsE70 King's Indian
21. Ivkov vs F Olafsson  ½-½57 1953 Wch U20 final-AD30 Queen's Gambit Declined
22. D Horne vs F Olafsson  1-032 1953 HastingsC35 King's Gambit Accepted, Cunningham
23. F Olafsson vs Bronstein  0-134 1953 HastingsB93 Sicilian, Najdorf, 6.f4
24. F Olafsson vs Tartakower  1-070 1953 HastingsD19 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Dutch
25. K Darga vs F Olafsson  1-053 1953 Wch U20 final-AC90 Ruy Lopez, Closed
 page 1 of 25; games 1-25 of 608  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Olafsson wins | Olafsson loses  
 

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing >
Mar-30-04   nikolaas: They're not really from the same time. In 1973, Timman was a up-coming talent. By that time, Olafsson was already forgotten.
Jun-05-05   babakova: You are forgetting Ulf Andersson, he was third behind the two undisputable giants Karpov & Kasparov
Jul-05-05   supertimchan: What about Fischer? He is a western player when the soviet had dominate the chess world.
Jul-05-05   PinkPanther: Olafsson was never one of the best Western players, I mean his best rating was only 2570 for crying out loud.
Jul-05-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  Hanada: I found this in an interview with Karpov:

" All the world champions came from Russia, except Bobby Fischer. In theory they were called amateurs by the Russian government, but would you regard Unzicker as an amateur world champion, because he worked as a judge?

Karpov: That is possible, for a certain period he was one of the strongest amateurs, no doubt about it. It is difficult however to make comparisons. The Icelandic grandmaster Fridrik Olafsson, who worked as a lawyer, was as strong as Unzicker, but he is from another generation."

It seems Olafsson was more of an amateur player and was indeed considered a VERY strong player, maybe even a championship candidate had he given his full attention to chess.

Jul-06-05   MrSifter: <PinkPanther> In those days the ratings were much lower. 2570 was very solid for that time, and that was past Olafsson's prime.

Is Gligoric considered a Western player?

Jul-06-05   PinkPanther: 2570 still doesn't make you one of the BEST Western Players, even Larsen was 2600+
Jul-06-05   MrSifter: OK, well his best period was the late 50's and early 60's so there weren't ratings back then.
Jul-10-05   pazzed paun: how good was F OLafson? ask one his contemporays-Larry Evans about how he was regarded at the time- If you go to the chessmetrics site and read how they set it up trying to give a comparable rating to all players regardless of what year they played in -Olafson is ranked quite highly over a 20 year span! --- I think people overestimated predicting his ultimate results in direct proportion to underestimating how difficult it would be to beat the Soviet Machine and it young stars of the 1950"S Boleslavsky-Bronstein Kotov Petrosian Furman Spassky Taimov Tal-

Fischer (who Olaffson beat in 2 games) took several attempts to qualify as the challenger to the world championship- all of the young soviet stars up untill Karpov and Tukamov learned to play chess during or before WW2 so there was quite a number of years with a talent gap.

Aug-16-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: Mr. Fredrik Olaffson is still with us, perhaps we can get him back to FIDE presidency and restore some order perhaps? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fridri... (I don't care how old he is!) Oh yeah 99th!!
Sep-01-05   WTHarvey: Here is a little collection of puzzles from Fridrik's games: http://www.wtharvey.com/olaf.html
Sep-01-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: Wasn't he also the player of the day from August 16th 2005? I can't remember the reason for my posting that day. (Best guess is that he was Player o' Day.)
Sep-01-05   ughaibu: Pity Paul Lovric only scent marks the games not the players.
Jan-17-06   karlth: Fridrik Olafsson was never a member of parliment but rather its highest ranking employee - the so called Secretary General of the Icelandic Parliament.

Fridrik rose to through the ranks in the Nordic chess world at the same time as Bent Larsen and was probably the stronger player of the two until around the early 1960.

Fridrik was for the most part an amateur chess player and only dedicated himself to the game for a few years in the mid 70s.

I saw him a few weeks ago in downtown Reykjavik and he was looking extremely fit and healthy for a 70 year old, looked 20 years younger.

Apr-20-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  diagonal: For the sake of the legality of the things:

The last democratic FIDE president, lawyer Fridrik Olafsson, announced he is supporting Bessel Kok and The Right Move campaign in the forthcoming elections in Torino.

Olafsson on Bessel Kok: "He is an ideal candidate with a keen sense of entrepreneurship and integrity that is required to make this important step into a new era for chess".

Obviously this is no prediction... Will sadly (as in 1982 when Fridrik Olafsson as a fair, respected and modern president was voted down at Lucerne (Olympiads) by Campomanes' crew and their arguments/money) once more loose the democratic approach? hopefully not!

Sep-21-06   Plato: His record includes wins over four World Champions: Tal, Petrosian, Fischer, and Karpov.
Oct-27-06   Maatalkko: <Pink Panther: <Olafsson was never one of the best Western players, I mean his best rating was only 2570 for crying out loud.>>

Uhhm...

1) Olafsson was always an amateur
2) He played in a CANDIDATES tournament in 1959 and did better than, say, Miroslav Filip in 1962. 3) His best years were played before the Elo system was implemented. Paul Keres was "only" 2580 lifetime official best, because his days were nearly over when the Elo system begun.

Incidentally, Olafsson looks admirably fit for his age. It's a pity he has so few kibitzes here, he deserves many more. I really hope I can visit Iceland to meet (both)Olafssons and Fischer someday.

Jun-21-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  talisman: <Plato> you are correct sir.And one of the all time greats needs a place on the drop down list(w/STEIN>!
Jan-26-08   BIDMONFA: Fridrik Olafsson

OLAFSSON, Fridrik
http://www.bidmonfa.com/OLAFSSON%20...
_

Jan-26-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  diagonal: Happy birthday to the the first Icelandic grandmaster in chess history: Fridrik Olafsson is a gentleman and one of the last of the previous generations of true Chess greats
Jan-26-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  timhortons: i think the first time fischer and olaffson play these master beat fischer
Jan-26-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  whiteshark: Player of the day.

Many pages in Icelandic...

He was also a politican and was lately 'dean' president of the Althing.

Mar-12-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Joshka: Allright I think I'm beginning to understand how the names go in Icelandic...<paulalbert> wrote on the <helgi olafsson> page, that if Fridrik Olafsson were Helgi's Olafsson's father, Helgi's name would really be Helgi Fridriksson, is this correct for anyone who has a grasp of the way names are pronounced in Iceland? Also does anyone know if Fridrik has any children?...thanks in advance
Mar-13-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  paulalbert: <Joshka> Go to Wikipedia.com under "Icelandic name". The patronymic naming system is explained there. Also on Wikipedia writeup on Fridrik Olafsson, it says he has two adult daughters. I think daughters in Iceland use a matronymic system, i.e., the last name is the mother's first name with "dottir" appended. Slavic names have some similar characteristics,but with complicated systems and spelling variants, middle name patronymics for example and "ova" endings for females. Paul Albert
Mar-13-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Joshka: <Paulalbert> Allright, yes, according to the Wikipedia...it says two daughter's.....allright thanks for sharing!
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