Milan Matulovic
Notable Games

Milan Matulovic

18 celebrated games · 721 in the full archive
Player Index ◈ Biography 721 CURATED GAMES

Notable Games

  • 1949 Matulovic, Milan vsSegi, Lajos 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit Accepted 35 moves Kragujevac game Kragujevac 1949 — the earliest game in an archive of more than seven hundred wins that runs to 2007, and Matulović is fourteen, playing a Smith–Morra Gambit. The black king is dragged out and never gets back: 18.Qd7+ Kf6 19.Ng5 Kxg5 20.Qxe6, then 24.g4 Qxh3 25.g5+ Kh5 26.Qxh3+ Kxg5, and the checks run all the way to 35.Qc6+.
  • 1955.11.08 Larsen, Bent vsMatulovic, Milan 0-1 King's Indian Attack: Symmetrical Defense 60 moves Zagreb Junior International (Mladih) Zagreb junior international 1955 with Black against a twenty-year-old Bent Larsen — a study player here, and about to become Denmark's first grandmaster. Larsen queens a pawn on h7 and it does not save him: 51.Rxg7 Be4 52.Be5 Bxg2+ 53.Kh2 Qf4+ 54.Bxf4 Kxg7 55.Be5+ Kxh7 takes everything back, and 58...Raxc2 finishes.
  • 1958.02.24 Matulovic, Milan vsGligoric, Svetozar 1-0 Ruy Lopez: Closed 43 moves YUG-ch13 Final Yugoslav Championship 1958 against Svetozar Gligorić, the country's leading player for three decades. A Closed Ruy Lopez in which the black queen is chased all over the kingside: 34.Qb6 g6 35.Qd8+ Kg7 36.Qf6+ Kh7 37.Qxf4 wins the knight, and 41.Qh4 forces the trade into a won ending.
  • 1958.07.18 Matulovic, Milan vsFischer, Robert James 1-0 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation 41 moves Match Fischer-Matulovic +2-1=1 From the 1958 training match with Bobby Fischer in Belgrade, which the record books +2−1=1 to Fischer — this is Matulović's win, over a fifteen-year-old who was weeks away from qualifying for the Candidates at Portorož. A Sämisch King's Indian: 32.Bxb6 cxb6 33.Qg1 and 34.Qxb6 Qxb6 35.Nxb6 leave the b-pawn free, and 38.b6 with 41.Bh3 seals it.
  • 1961.05.11 Averbakh, Yuri L vsMatulovic, Milan 0-1 Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation, Knight Variation 34 moves Match/Nation YUG-URS 28,5-31,5 Yugoslavia–USSR match 1961 with Black against Yuri Averbakh, a study player here and the great endgame theoretician. Averbakh attacks on the kingside and Matulović takes the g-file for himself: 25...hxg4 26.hxg4 Qg5 27.Rg3 Bd6 28.Rdg1 Bxg3 29.Rxg3 gives up the bishop to kill the attack, and the two bishops finish it.
  • 1963.10 Kholmov, Ratmir D vsMatulovic, Milan 0-1 French Defense: King's Indian Attack 33 moves Belgrade Belgrade 1963 with Black against Ratmir Kholmov, also a study player here and one of the hardest men in the Soviet Union to beat. Thirty-three moves: 20...Ne3+ 21.Bxe3 dxe3 plants a pawn on the third rank, 26...Ne2 27.Re1 Nxc1 wins the queen for a rook, and 33.Ra4 Qf3 is the end.
  • 1964.07.13 Polugaevsky, Lev vsMatulovic, Milan 0-1 English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Normal Variation 40 moves Match/Nation URS-YUG 38,5-21,5 USSR–Yugoslavia match 1964 with Black against Lev Polugaevsky, later three times a Candidate. A Symmetrical English in which White pushes a pawn to a7 on move thirteen and it dies there: Matulović wins it back, and the finish is a knight — 38.Qa8+ Kh7 39.Qe4 Qf2+ 40.Kh1 Nf3, threatening mate with the queen and knight together.
  • 1965.03.28 Matulovic, Milan vsHort, Vlastimil 1-0 Caro-Kann Defense: Finnish Variation 28 moves Sarajevo-08 Sarajevo 1965 against Vlastimil Hort, later a Candidate and Czechoslovakia's best player. Twenty-eight moves: 20.axb6 axb6 21.Qxb6 opens the a-file into the black king, 23.Bxe5 Rhe8 24.Ra1 Rxe5 25.Rxe5 gives the bishop back to keep the rooks, and 26.Ra7 and 27.Rb7 take the seventh.
  • 1966.06.17 Matulovic, Milan vsKorchnoi, Viktor Lvovich 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation, Modern Variation 36 moves Match/Nation URS-YUG 37,5-22,5 USSR–Yugoslavia match 1966 against Viktor Korchnoi, later twice a World Championship challenger. Matulović builds the whole game on the c-file: 25.c5 fixes the queenside, 26...Qxe5 27.Rxe5 trades into a rook ending a pawn up, and 31.cxb6 Nxb6 32.Rxa5 collects a second.
  • 1966.08.04 Stein, Leonid vsMatulovic, Milan 0-1 English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Mecking Variation 62 moves Kislovodsk International Kislovodsk 1966 with Black against Leonid Stein, three times Soviet champion. Sixty-two moves that come down to a knight and rook hunting pawns: 47.Rxa5 Nxc5 48.b4 Nb3, 52.Kxh5 Nxb4 53.a5 Rc5+, and Matulović ends up with the last pawn on the board and the white king cut off.
  • 1967.10.22 Matulovic, Milan vsIvkov, Borislav 1-0 Queen's Gambit Declined 28 moves Interzonal-07 Sousse Interzonal 1967 against Borislav Ivkov — also a study player here, and the first World Junior Champion. Twenty-eight moves: Matulović gives up the g-pawn with 18.Bc2 Bxg2 and takes the black king's cover instead, 24.Rxg7 Qxa3 25.Rxf7+ Ke8 26.bxa3 leaves both rooks gone and the bishop dominant at 28.Bc6.
  • 1967.10.29 Matulovic, Milan vsPortisch, Lajos 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Taimanov Variation, Bastrikov Variation 25 moves Interzonal-07 The same Interzonal, a week later — Lajos Portisch, later eight times a Candidate, beaten in twenty-five moves. 9.Na4 and 11.Nb6 Rb8 12.Nxc8 trade the knight for the light-squared bishop, Portisch grabs on h2 with 20...Bxh2+, and 23.c5 Bxc5 24.Be5 Rb4 25.Qxf5 wins a piece with the black king still in the middle.
  • 1967.11.07 Matulovic, Milan vsKorchnoi, Viktor Lvovich 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack, Main Line 78 moves Interzonal-07 Korchnoi again at Sousse, this time seventy-eight moves in a Yugoslav Attack against the Dragon — Korchnoi plays the thematic 15...Rxc3 exchange sacrifice and Matulović survives it. The queens finally come off at 65.Qe3+ Qxe3 66.Rxe3, and the f- and g-pawns walk through: 67.f6, 76.g5, 77.Rxe2.
  • 1968.09.19 Matulovic, Milan vsMatanovic, Aleksandar 1-0 Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer Defense, Zaitsev Hybrid 36 moves Vinkovci Vinkovci 1968 against Aleksandar Matanović — a study player here, and the founder of *Chess Informant*. A Ruy Lopez that turns into a sequence of clean captures: 30.Nxf7 Qxg4 31.Nxh6+ Kh7 32.Nxg4 Bxh3 33.Kg3 Bxg4 34.Kxg4 leaves king and pawns, and 35.e5 Ne2 36.e7 queens first.
  • 1969.10.12 Matulovic, Milan vsOlafsson, Fridrik 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation, Modern Variation 58 moves Zonal Athens Athens Zonal 1969 against Friðrik Ólafsson, also a study player here and Iceland's first grandmaster. Fifty-eight moves: everything is traded down to bishops and a rook, Ólafsson's g-pawn reaches g3, and Matulović simply eats the rest — 52.Rxe5 Bxg2 53.Rh5 Bxh3 54.Rxh4 — then takes the last pawn at 57.Kxg3.
  • 1972.09.30 Timman, Jan H vsMatulovic, Milan 0-1 Sicilian Defense: Taimanov Variation, Bastrikov Variation 41 moves Olympiad-20 Final A Skopje Olympiad 1972 with Black against Jan Timman, soon to be the strongest player in the West. Matulović breaks with 26...h5 and 27...h4, and the h-file does the rest: 31...f5 32.Bxf5 Rxh3 33.Rdd2 Rh6 34.Be6 Rfh8 doubles on it, and 38...Rxg3 takes the pawns with the queens already off.
  • 1977 Matulovic, Milan vsCsom, Istvan 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Richter-Rauzer Variation, Neo-Modern Variation, Early Deviations 99 moves Concordia Against the Hungarian grandmaster István Csom, 1977 — ninety-nine moves, the longest game in the archive. Matulović gives the queen ending away at 79.Qxb6+ Kxb6 to reach knight and bishop with pawns, spends twenty moves manoeuvring the knight from e5 to g4 and back, and finally forces the pawn home: 92.f4, 94.f5+, 99.f6.
  • 2007.08.26 Brenjo, Slavisa vsMatulovic, Milan 0-1 Vienna Game: Mieses Variation 46 moves SRB-chT 1st Serbian team championship, August 2007 — the last game in the archive, fifty-eight years after the first, with Matulović at seventy-two. He wins a pawn with 30...Nxb4, gives the exchange back at 34.Rxb4 Rxb4, and the bishop pair does the work: 39...Bxb2, 43...Rb5, and 46.Bg5+ Bf6 with the king cut off.
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