Svetozar Gligoric, the legendary Serbian grandmaster, died in Belgrade on August 14 at the age of 89. He was one of the world's leading chess players of the 20th century, a fearless competitor and a true gentleman. His chess career spanned 70 years.
He won 12 championships of Yugoslavia and nearly 50 international tournaments. He played top board for Yugoslavia for 30 years, won 10 medals at the European championships and 14 olympiad medals. In 1958, he was proclaimed the best Yugoslavian athlete of the year. He was also a prolific writer and commentator.
Gligoric defeated several world champions, including Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vassily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian and Bobby Fischer.
He was a good friend of our generation, a mentor to young Fischer. We competed against each other in many international tournaments and on the top boards for our countries at chess Olympiads. When asked, Gligoric would always give sound advice. He will be missed.
More about Gligoric's rich career and life, and his signature win against Petrosian can be found in this Huffington Post blog post.
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