Zdenko Kožul

Zdenko Kožul (born 21 May 1966) is a Croatian chess player. He holds the title of Grandmaster and was the 2006 European champion.

Zdenko Kožul
Grenke Chess Open 2016
CountryYugoslavia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Croatia
Born (1966-05-21) 21 May 1966
Bihać, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia
TitleGrandmaster (1989)
FIDE rating2533 (October 2023)
Peak rating2640 (October 2004)
Peak rankingNo. 40 (January 1990)

Chess career

Born in the north-western Bosnian town of Bihać (then Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), Kožul was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1989. In 1989 and 1990, Kozul won consecutive Yugoslavian championships. Also in 1990, Kozul won the bronze medal playing for the Yugoslav team at the Chess Olympiad in Novi Sad.[1]

After the break-up of Yugoslavia, Kozul played for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he was a part of the Bosnian team in the Olympiad 1992. In 1993, Kozul, an ethnic Croat, settled in Croatia, thereafter representing that country. In 1995, he won an open tournament in Zadar.[2] In 1999, he came first at the 4th Nova Gorica Open.[3] In 2003, he won the 11th Vasja Pirc Memorial at Maribor.[4]

In 2004, Kožul reached the final sixteen at the FIDE World Chess Championship, 2004 in Tripoli, before being eliminated by the Bulgarian grandmaster and future world champion Veselin Topalov. In 2006 he won the European Individual Chess Championship in Kuşadası.[5][6] This achievement qualified him to the FIDE World Cup 2007. Kožul won the Croatian Chess Championships of 2006 and 2015.

In March 2012, Kožul came first in the Zagreb Open.[7]

In April 2017, he finished tied for first with Nikita Vitiugov, Etienne Bacrot and Maxim Matlakov in the Grenke Chess Open in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Notable games

Books
  • Kozul, Zdenko; Jankovic, Alojzje (2014). The Richter Rauzer Reborn: restyle your repertoire with the razor-sharp Kozul variation. Thinkers Publishing. ISBN 978-9082256604.

References
  1. Bartelski, Wojciech. "29th Chess Olympiad: Novi Sad 1990". OlimpBase. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  2. "Zadar op 1995". 365Chess.com. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  3. Crowther, Mark (1999-02-08). "TWIC 222: Nova Gorica". London Chess Center. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  4. Crowther, Mark (2003-02-24). "The Week in Chess 433: 11th Vasja Pirc Memorial". London Chess Center. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  5. Crowther, Mark (2006-04-17). "The Week in Chess 597: 7th European Individual Chess Championships". London Chess Center. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  6. "Ekaterina Atalik and Zdenko Kozul European Champions". Chess News. ChessBase. 2006-04-16. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  7. "Zagreb Open 2012 A-tournament International Chess Tournament". Chess-Results.com. 2012-03-12. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
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