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Aleksandar Matanovic
A Matanovic 
 
Number of games in database: 1,522
Years covered: 1947 to 2007
Last FIDE rating: 2490
Highest rating achieved in database: 2500

Overall record: +431 -205 =885 (57.4%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 1 exhibition game, blitz/rapid, odds game, etc. is excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Sicilian (318) 
    B92 B83 B47 B32 B45
 Ruy Lopez (204) 
    C97 C90 C64 C98 C92
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (112) 
    C97 C90 C98 C92 C96
 French Defense (76) 
    C07 C05 C03 C09 C11
 Sicilian Najdorf (68) 
    B92 B91 B96 B97 B94
 Caro-Kann (58) 
    B18 B17 B10 B15 B11
With the Black pieces:
 Ruy Lopez (141) 
    C95 C93 C97 C69 C77
 Nimzo Indian (115) 
    E59 E54 E42 E55 E41
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (109) 
    C95 C93 C97 C85 C94
 Queen's Indian (85) 
    E17 E12 E19 E15 E14
 English (62) 
    A17 A14 A15 A13 A12
 King's Indian (50) 
    E66 E64 E95 E70 E80
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Bisguier vs A Matanovic, 1961 0-1
   I Aloni vs A Matanovic, 1966 0-1
   Petrosian vs A Matanovic, 1959 1/2-1/2
   A Matanovic vs Tal, 1958 1-0
   A Matanovic vs Uhlmann, 1976 1-0
   Bronstein vs A Matanovic, 1962 1/2-1/2
   Fischer vs A Matanovic, 1961 1/2-1/2
   Spassky vs A Matanovic, 1964 1/2-1/2
   Bronstein vs A Matanovic, 1964 1/2-1/2
   N Padevsky vs A Matanovic, 1966 0-1

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Opatija (1953)
   Klaus Junge Memorial (1955)
   Yugoslav Championship (1969)
   Yugoslav Championship (1956)
   Belgrade (1954)
   Yugoslav Championship (1959)
   Zagreb (1955)
   Vrnjacka Banja Zonal (1967)
   Bad Pyrmont Zonal (1951)
   Budapest Zonal (1960)
   Belgrade (1952)
   Mar del Plata (1961)
   Belgrade (1964)
   Yugoslav Championship (1949)
   Portoroz Interzonal (1958)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Palma de Mallorca 1966 by Tabanus
   Wijk aan Zee Hoogovens 1968 by suenteus po 147
   Moscow 1963 by sneaky pete
   Vidmar Memorial by FSR
   Wijk aan Zee Hoogovens 1968 by WCC Editing Project
   Forssa/Helsinki zonal tournament 1972 by Chessdreamer

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Aleksandar Matanovic
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FIDE player card for Aleksandar Matanovic


ALEKSANDAR MATANOVIC
(born May-23-1930, 93 years old) Yugoslavia (federation/nationality Serbia)

[what is this?]

Aleksandar Matanovic was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Awarded the IM title in 1951 and the GM title in 1955, he won the Yugoslav Championship in 1962 (=Dragoljub Minic), 1969 and 1978. A fine positional player, he might have achieved more if he hadn't concentrated his efforts into chess literature. Two major works owe much to his editorship, namely the five volume "Encyclopedia Of Chess Openings" and "Chess Informator" founded in 1966. The code(1) "ECO" created by him and Dragutin Sahovic is universal today.

Further Reading:

(1) http://www.chessgames.com/chessecoh... is a list; pages like Uncommon Opening (A00) allow the user to navigate a series of 500 pages of opening codes for the kibitzer who prefer it to the Opening Explorer view; (2) Wikipedia article: Aleksandar Matanović

Last updated: 2023-02-01 20:45:02

 page 1 of 62; games 1-25 of 1,537  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Kostic vs A Matanovic  0-1451947YUG-ch Semifinal EastE91 King's Indian
2. B Milenkovic vs A Matanovic  0-1321947Serbian Junior ChampionshipE67 King's Indian, Fianchetto
3. A Matanovic vs A Fuderer  0-1381947Junior Yugoslav Championship 1947/48C80 Ruy Lopez, Open
4. A Matanovic vs Milasinovic  1-0351948SlavoniaB84 Sicilian, Scheveningen
5. A Matanovic vs Kostic  0-1351948SlavoniaB56 Sicilian
6. A Matanovic vs N Karaklajic  1-0271949Belgrade ChampionshipC90 Ruy Lopez, Closed
7. A Matanovic vs S Nedeljkovic  0-1341949Belgrade ChampionshipB45 Sicilian, Taimanov
8. A Matanovic vs D Andric  0-1551949Belgrade ChampionshipB92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation
9. A Fuderer vs A Matanovic  ½-½291949Yugoslav ChampionshipB17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation
10. A Matanovic vs D Avirovic  1-0241949Yugoslav ChampionshipB10 Caro-Kann
11. N Karaklajic vs A Matanovic  0-1481949Yugoslav ChampionshipB10 Caro-Kann
12. A Matanovic vs B Milic  1-0601949Yugoslav ChampionshipC90 Ruy Lopez, Closed
13. Pirc vs A Matanovic  ½-½461949Yugoslav ChampionshipA14 English
14. A Matanovic vs B Tot  0-1401949Yugoslav ChampionshipB10 Caro-Kann
15. V Tomovic vs A Matanovic  0-1381949Yugoslav ChampionshipE16 Queen's Indian
16. A Matanovic vs B Rabar 1-0311949Yugoslav ChampionshipB62 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer
17. S Puc vs A Matanovic  1-0841949Yugoslav ChampionshipE12 Queen's Indian
18. A Matanovic vs A Bozic  0-1431949Yugoslav ChampionshipC90 Ruy Lopez, Closed
19. S Nedeljkovic vs A Matanovic  1-0281949Yugoslav ChampionshipE16 Queen's Indian
20. A Matanovic vs B Simonovic  1-0571949Yugoslav ChampionshipD45 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
21. S Vukovic vs A Matanovic  1-0421949Yugoslav ChampionshipE22 Nimzo-Indian, Spielmann Variation
22. Janosevic vs A Matanovic  0-1491949Yugoslav ChampionshipB17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation
23. A Matanovic vs Kostic  ½-½611949Yugoslav ChampionshipA06 Reti Opening
24. Gligoric vs A Matanovic  ½-½251949Yugoslav ChampionshipB10 Caro-Kann
25. A Matanovic vs P Trifunovic  1-0411949Yugoslav ChampionshipB29 Sicilian, Nimzovich-Rubinstein
 page 1 of 62; games 1-25 of 1,537  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Matanovic wins | Matanovic loses  
 

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
May-23-08  bravado1: It may be true. Back then, in communism, a lot of sportsmen officially served in the Army or border patrols because it enabled them to have a regular salary and other benefits. This customs officer could be in fact a Bulgarian grandmaster.
May-23-08  Nikita Smirnov: bravado1: It may be true. Back then, in communism, a lot of sportsmen officially served in the Army or border patrols because it enabled them to have a regular salary and other benefits. This customs officer could be in fact a Bulgarian grandmaster.

Yes,you're right.
One such good exmple of a good player joining the army was Leonid Stein.And he also got an officer post if I'm right.

May-26-08  brankat: In East European countries in those days it was mandatory to join the armed forces service. Usually from 1-2 years. Of course there were exceptions. Some top level athletes, for example :-)
May-26-08  Nikita Smirnov: I've also heard that under WW II some great Soviet Sportsmens got wounded or killed.
May-28-08  utssb: <This customs officer could be in fact a Bulgarian grandmaster.>

I would very much doubt that. GMs were not common in that time and surely he would have been recognized. Or he would have recognized one of the players within the group. And if he was a GM that certainly would have presented itself in conversation and no such test would be needed.

Maybe it's possible that some decent club player was underestimated by Matanovic but the story seems unlikely. And surely it was no Master that he played.

Jun-01-08  Nikita Smirnov: <utssb> How can you be so sure?
Jun-01-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  TheAlchemist: <utssb> Well, I've seen some candidate masters at my club defeat GMs and IMs at blitz a few times. Maybe he was just a specialist (of master strength or thereabout) and Matanovic might not have been so good at it.
Aug-31-08  myschkin: . . .

"Chess Informant no. 100"

Recently, the famous Chess Informant reached a milestone: edition no. 100 was published. Facts, figures and an exclusive interview with 77-year-old editor-in-chief Aleksandar Matanovic.

Forty-two years ago, in the former Yugoslavia, some chess enthousiasts had a few interesting ideas. They wanted to collect the most distinguished chess games from all major events, and publish them. For this, they established a “chess language” - an international code akin to those used in mathematics and music, equally understandable to chessplayers all over the globe. Lastly, they subsitituted traditional opening names with a classification of chess openings based on evaluation of all the available hitherto played games. In 1966, the first volume of Chess Informant was published.

Within a few years, their publication (also called “Informator”) became the one and only chess bible (or should we say: bibles?) for travelling chess professionals, who in those days were known to carry more chess books than clothes in their suitcases, something we can hardly imagine in the digital era.

Exclusive interview with editor-in-chief Aleksandar Matanovic ...

http://www.chessvibes.com/personal/...

(by chessvibes 4/2008)

Nov-08-08  brankat: <myschkin> Thanks for the link. A very informative interview :-)
Apr-17-10  wordfunph: <myschkin: their publication (also called “Informator”) became the one and only chess bible (or should we say: bibles?) for travelling chess professionals, who in those days were known to carry more chess books than clothes in their suitcases, something we can hardly imagine in the digital era.>

true.

May-23-10  reti: Probably, Matanovic played very weak in order to save his life!
May-23-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  Penguincw: Wow. Aleksandar Matanovic is 81 years old.
May-23-11  bronkenstein: Srećan rodjendan velemajstore , sve najlepše!

Or shall I say , happy birthday :)

May-23-13  brankat: Wishing You a very happy Birthday Aleksandar!
May-23-16  TheFocus: Happy birthday, Aleksander Matanovic.
Jun-24-16  brankat: Last time I talked to GM Matanovic was in 1977. Hard to believe he's 86! But, then, I was 26, 65 now :-)
Jan-07-17  wrap99: About the official beating him at chess. I have read a similar story where someone claimed to be a mathematician and the official, one himself, asked him to do a Taylor series expansion of a function.
May-23-20  diagonal: The Serbian (Yugoslavian) grandmaster, famous founder and longtime editor-in-chief of the leading chess encyclopedia CHESS INFORMANT, esteemed author, journalist, and radio announcer, turns 90 today: Happy birthday, health and happiness.

In 1955, five players got the grandmaster title: Boris Spassky, then the youngest gm of the world, Oscar Panno, and Miroslav Filip (all automatically by qualifying as a Candidate), as well as Borislav Ivkov and Aleksandar Matanovic.

Aleksandar Matanovic is certainly best known as the chief editor of the legendary Chess Informant which was initiated in 1966 by him, Milivoje Molerovic, and Dragutin Sahovic, based also on previous work by Braslav Rabar who was an important co-inventor and designer of the classification systems for the Chess Informant publications.

Garry Kasparov asserted: "We are all Children of Informant".

Mr Matanovic is inextricably linked with the development of modern (post-war / pre-computer era) chess, compare the post from <myschkin>:

A world language, "chess esperanto" for the game, understandable to everyone, on all continents and to all dialects.

The code ECO, created by Matanovic, Molerovic, Rabar, Sahovic, and some others, is universal today.

Aug-21-22  Natasha Romannoff: happy he is still with us
Jan-06-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: Upon the death of Ivan Farago Matanovic became the oldest living Grandmaster.
Jan-07-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: <OCF> Not really. Farago was 76, and there are several GMs older than that and younger than Matanovic. See my last post on my chessforum.
Jan-07-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: <OCF> Matanovic became the oldest living GM upon the death of Yuri Averbakh at 100 last year.
Jan-07-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: <Fusilli> thanks for the correction.
May-23-23  SkySports: Happy birthday to Aleksandar Matanovic, the oldest living GM, who turns 93 today!
May-23-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: Five oldest living GMs, sorted by age:

1. Aleksandar Matanovic, 93 today

2. Juraj Nikolac, 91

3. Yair Kraidman, 90

4. Nikola Padevsky, 89 (turning 90 next Monday)

5. Klaus Darga, 89

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