PLAYERS
JAIME Santos Latasa
Jaime Santos Latasa (born 3 July 1996) is a Spanish chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2018.
Santos became a FIDE Master in 2011 and an International Master with effect from 15 August 2013. He was the Spanish U10 champion in 2006, the Spanish U12 champion in 2008 and the Spanish U14 champion in 2010. He was 19th in the San Sebastian Open 2009. He placed 3rd (4th on tiebreak) at the European U18 Junior Championship in 2014.
He led the Dubai Open Chess Tournament in 2017 with 5.5 points after 6 rounds, although finishing the tournament with a 20th place with 6.0/9.
As of September 2022, Santos is the 2nd best Spanish player.
Jules Moussard
Jules Moussard (born 16 January 1995) is a French chess player. He holds the title of Grandmaster, which FIDE awarded him in 2016.
Born in Paris, Moussard won seven titles at the French youth championships. In 2002, he won his first title in the French under-8 championship in Hyères, in front of Jacques Netzer. At the under-10 championship in Reims in 2004 he finished behind Stéphane Staatdjian, but won in the same age category the next year in Calvi. In 2006 in Aix-les-Bains, he won the under-12 title. He returned to this city in 2009 to win his fourth title, this time in the under-14 category. Two years later, he won the under-16 championship. Then in Nîmes in 2012, he won the under-18 championship ahead of Christophe Soshacki and Quentin Loiseau. In 2015 in Pau he won his seventh and last French youth championship in the under-20 division, ahead of Pierre Barbot and Raphaël Dutreuil.
Moussard won the silver medal at the World Youth Championships in the Under-10 category in 2004, tied with Yu Yangyi (gold medallist), Hou Yifan (bronze medallist) and Raymond Song (fourth). He received the title FIDE Master for this result.
He was awarded the title of International Master in 2011. FIDE awarded him the title of Grandmaster in 2016. Moussard won the Paris championship in 2016 and 2018.Also in 2018, he won the London Chess Classic FIDE Open on tiebreak score over Nicholas Pert, after both players scored 7½ points out of 9.
Kirill Shevchenko
Kirill Shevchenko (born 22 September 2002) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster.
Born in 2002, Shevchenko earned his international master title in 2016 and his grandmaster title in 2017, at the age of 14 years 10 months. In February 2018, he competed in the Aeroflot Open and finished 51 out of 92, scoring 4½/9 (+2–2=5). In March 2018, he competed in the European Individual Chess Championship and placed 32nd, scoring 7½/11 (+6–2=3).
In November 2021, Shevchenko won the Lindores Abbey Blitz tournament in Riga, Latvia. He finished clear first on 14/18, half a point ahead of Fabiano Caruana and Arjun Erigaisi. Later in the month, he represented Ukraine at the European Team Chess Championship. He played on board 4, scoring 4½/8 (+1–0=7), as Ukraine won gold.
Mustafa Yılmaz
Mustafa Yılmaz (born 5 November 1992) is a Turkish chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in September 2012. He is a two-time Turkish Chess Champion.
In the September 2022 FIDE rating list, he was ranked number 123 among active players in the world and number 1 in Turkey. He earned the titles of FIDE Master (FM) in 2008 and International Master (IM) in 2009. He is a native of Mamak in Ankara.
Yılmaz began playing chess at the age of seven, encouraged by his older sister Ezgi Yılmaz, also a Turkish chess champion. He attended a chess course in Mamak, Ankara.
In 2008, Yılmaz was admitted to the Turkish national chess team. The same year, he took part in the 38th Chess Olympiad held in Dresden, Germany. In 2009, he became the youngest Turkish chess champion, defeating Barış Esen in the final round and reaching a total score of 11½/13.
At the initiative of the Turkish Chess Federation, in 2012 he entered the Chess Department of Russian State Social University in Moscow along with Burak Fırat and Demre Kerigan; to receive instruction from chess masters and to learn Russian.
ZDENKO KOŽUL
Zdenko Kožul was born on May 21st 1966 in Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He learned to play chess in primary school. He quickly showed progress and started drawing attention to himself because of his exceptional chess skills. He achieved his International Master title in 1987 and the Grandmaster title in 1989. He won the Individual Chess Championship of Yugoslavia two times, in 1989 and 1990. He played at many Olympiads, winning the bronze medal at the 1990 Olympiad on his board. He won the Croatian Individual Chess Championship two times, in 2006 and 2016. His biggest success as a chess player is winning the European Chess Individual Championship in 2006. He won at the Interzonal tournament in 1993 in Zagreb. In 2004, he reached the final sixteen at the FIDE World Chess Championship, which has since been the best Croatian placement at that tournament. He is the triple champion of the European Champions’ Cup, winning it with the Bosnian team. In his rich career he won many closed and open tournaments and as a team player he was the cornerstone of the Croatian national team for over 20 years. He currently manages the Croatian national team and has achieved great results.
Leon Livaić
Leon Livaić was born on October 16, 2000 in Zagreb.
He won the title of international master in 2017, and he will most likely win the title of grandmaster by the end of the current year.
In September 2022, he has an international rating of 2565 elo points and occupies the 333rd position in the world ranking and the 3rd position in the domestic ranking of active players. He reached the highest career rating of 2576 elo points in August 2022.
He is a member of the chess club GŠK Solin-Cemex.
He is the winner of numerous domestic and international cadet, junior and senior tournaments.
From his junior days, his most important results are winning the 3rd place at the world championship in the under-16 competition in 2016 and the 1st place at the world championship in blitz chess in the under-18 competition.
He won an excellent 2nd place at the strong open tournament in Trieste in 2022, and as a team player he won three second places in strong foreign leagues (1st Hungarian League, 1st Greek League and 2nd German League) and won the Croatian Cup.
HRVOJE STEVIĆ
Hrvoje Stević is a Croatian Grandmaster born on January 8th 1980 in Osijek, Croatia. He learned to play chess at an early age and was considered a chess prodigy.
He won the World Youth Chess Championship in the under-16 category in 1995 in Brasil.
He won the Croatian Individual Chess Championship twice (in 2008 in Split, and in 2012 in Plitvice).
He won many tournaments during his career but most notable victories are winning the Zadar Open (2002 and 2011), and winning at the Mediterranean Open in 2010 in Rijeka.
As a team player his biggest success is the Croatian national team’s 4th place at the European Team Chess Championship in 2017 on Crete.
MARIN BOSIOČIĆ
Marin Bosiočić was born on August 8th in 1988 in Rijeka, Croatia.
He received his Grandmaster title in 2008.
He won the Croatian Individual Chess Championship twice (in 2017 , and in 2019).
As a team player his biggest success is the Croatian national team’s 4th place at the European Team Chess Championship in 2017 on Crete with a rating performance of 2824 ELO.
He has won many open tournaments and is a sought after as team player and is active in several european leagues.
His highest Elo of 2629 was achieved in June 2019.
MLADEN PALAC
Mladen Palac was born on February 18th 1971 in Donji Mamići, Bosnia and Herzegovina. When he was younger his family moved to Vukovar (Croatia) where he grew up.
He received his International Master title in 1990 and the Grandmaster title in 1993.
He won the Croatian Individual Chess Championship four times (2001, 2004, 2008 and 2012).
He won a few dozen international open tournaments, a few more notable ones being: Graz, Cannes, Vienna, Cap d’Agde, Biel, Montpellier, Munich, Nice, Lausanne, Lisbon, Ljubljana, Pula, Zadar, etc.
As a team player he was always considered a valuable player for the national team, achieving some outstanding team results. He won the gold medal on the 3rd board playing for the national team at the European Team Chess Championship in Pula 1997; the bronze medal playing for the national team on the 2nd board at the European Team Chess Championship in Batumi in 1999, and again the gold medal on the 2nd board at the European Team Chess Championship in Goeteborg in 2005.
He was part of the team that achieved the highest placement in Croatian history at the 12th European Chess Club Cup in Budapest in 1996. He played for the chess club “Borovo–Vukovar ’91“.
ROBERT ZELČIĆ
Robert Zelčić was born on September 21st 1965 in Zagreb, Croatia.
He received his International Master title in 1990 and the Grandmaster title in 1997.
He won the Croatian Individual Chess Championship three times (1996, 1998 and 2003).
He won a few dozen international open tournaments, some of which are are: Saint Vincent, Metz, Ljubljana, Graz, Schwarzach, Zadar, Pula, Zagreb, etc.
His biggest success as an individual competitor was winning the European Individual Chess Blitz Championship in 2006.
He played for the national team six times and in 2006, at the Olympiad in Torino, he won the silver medal for results achieved on the 4th board.
He was part of the team that achieved the highest placement in Croatian history at the 12th European Chess Club Cup in 1996 in Budapest. He played for the chess club “Borovo – Vukovar ’91“.
At the Interzonal tournament in Dresden in 1998 he shared the first place and was able to qualify for the Las Vegas World Championship in 1999.