Vladimir Vuković

This article is about the chess writer. For the footballer, see Vladimir Vuković (footballer, born 1989).

Vladimir Vuković (26 August 1898, Zagreb – 18 November 1975, Zagreb) was a Croatian Jewish^[1][2] chess writer, theoretician, player, arbiter, and journalist.^[3]

Vladimir Vuković
Country	Croatia
Born	(1898-08-26)26 August 1898 Zagreb, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, (now Croatia)
Died	18 November 1975(1975-11-18) (aged 77) Zagreb, SFR Yugoslavia
Title	International Master (1951) International Arbiter (1952)

Chess career

Included in Vuković's tournament record achievements:^[4]

• 3rd at Celje 1921, behind Stefan Erdélyi and Imre König
• =4–7th at Vienna 1921 tied with Ernst Grünfeld, Savielly Tartakower, and Árpád Vajda; won by Friedrich Sämisch
• 1st at Vienna 1921
• =10–11th at Vienna 1922; won by Akiba Rubinstein
• =4–5th at Györ 1924 (Hungarian Chess Championship); won by Géza Nagy
• =4–5th at Debrecen 1925; won by Hans Kmoch
• 7th at Kecskemét 1927 (elim., group B); won by Lajos Steiner
• =6–7th at Kecskemét 1927 (final B); won by Savielly Tartakower
• 3rd at Ramsgate 1929, behind Adolf Seitz and Árpád Vajda

He played for Yugoslavia on second board in the 1st Chess Olympiad at London 1927, posting a record of +7−6=2.^[5]

He was awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1951 and International Arbiter (IA) in 1952.^[3][6]

He also served as the vice-president of the Croatian Chess Federation.^[7]

Writer

Vuković edited the monthly chess magazine Šahovski Glasnik (Chess Journal), the official periodical of the Yugoslavian chess federation.^[8] He is the author of The Art of Attack in Chess (Oxford-London 1963),^[9] which is widely regarded as a classic of chess literature.^[10][11][12] Other books he wrote include Razvoj šahovskih ideja [The development of chess ideas] (Zagreb 1928) and The Chess Sacrifice (London-New York 1968).

Legacy

Vuković has a checkmate pattern named after him: Vuković's Mate. It involves checkmating the enemy king with a rook in front of it while a knight blocks off the adjacent escape squares.^[13]

Death

Vuković died on November 18, 1975, in Zagreb and was buried at the Mirogoj Cemetery.^[14]

References

1. Greenberg (1987, pp. 210–214)
2. Skolnik (1978, pp. 401–410)
3. Gaige, Jeremy (1987), Chess Personalia, A Biobibliography, McFarland, p. 452, ISBN 0-7864-2353-6
4. "Name Index to Jeremy Gaige's Chess Tournament Crosstables" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2007. Retrieved July 4, 2007. Name Index to Jeremy Gaige's Chess Tournament Crosstables, An Electronic Edition, Anders Thulin, Malmö, 2004-09-01
5. OlimpBase :: 1st Chess Olympiad, London 1927, information
6. Sunnucks, Anne (1970), The Encyclopaedia of Chess, St. Martin's Press, p. 522, LCCN 78106371
7. 95. obljetnica Hrvatskoga šahovskog saveza
8. Brace, Edward R. (1977), An Illustrated Dictionary of Chess, Hamlyn Publishing Group, p. 301, ISBN 1-55521-394-4
9. Robot Check. Everyman Chess. January 1999. ISBN 9781857444001 – via Amazon.
10. The Art of Attack in Chess
11. Chessville – Reviews – Art of Attack in Chess
12. "An Enduring Attack". Retrieved 2023-12-22.
13. "Vukovic Mate – CHESSFOX.COM". Retrieved 2023-08-09.
14. (in Croatian) Gradska groblja Zagreb: Vladimir Vuković, Mirogoj RKT-4-I-47

Bibliography

• Greenberg, Martin H. (1987). Jewish Lists. New York City: Schocken Books. ISBN 978-080-523-711-5.
• Skolnik, Fred (1978). Encyclopedia Judaica. Volume 5. Jerusalem: Keter Publishing Company. ISBN 978-002-865-928-2.

External links

• Vladimir Vukovic player profile and games at Chessgames.com
• "Chess.com's Database for The Art of the Attack by Vladimir Vukovic". September 12, 2022.