Even though Croatia is a relatively small country, it is continuously producing players who manage to place themselves on the chess map of the world.
In the last 20 years, the most notable examples are Zdenko Kožul (European Champion in 2006) and Ivan Šarić (European Champion in 2018 and the first Croatian player to reach 2700). But if we dig even deeper in the past, we will stumble on names that deserve to be mentioned.
We already wrote about legendary Vlado Kovačević, who shocked the chess world with his win over Fischer in 1970. Today is a perfect opportunity to congratulate a birthday to another Croatian chess legend.
Late grandmaster Krunoslav „Kruno“ Hulak.
Hulak, born in 1951 in the east of Croatia in Osijek, was – just like Vlado – another „slow starter“. He learned his first steps in the club „Graničar“ in his hometown, but was nowhere near the definition of prodigy (a sign of times!).
However, it all changed in 1971, when he moved to Zagreb and joined the club „Mladost“, whose colors he would defend until the end of his life. In just three years, in 1974, he became an international master, and two years later, in 1976, a grandmaster.
Form that point onward, he would become the strongest Croatian grandmaster in the late 70s and 80s, playing successfully on the international level, winning several strong tournaments and battling successfully against the World top players. Just a quick scan throughout his games in the database reveals draws against Torre, Sosonko, Reshevsky, Timman, Miles, Panno, Polugaevsky, Seirawan and victories over Adorjan, Velimirovic, Romanishin and Balashov, among others.
His greatest tournament successes are as follows:
- 2nd place in the European Championship in 1983 and 1989
- Shared 1st place in Banja Luka 1983 (with Adorjan and Speelman with 8.5/13)
- 2nd place in Reggio Emilia 1983 (ahead of Rogers, Spassky, John Nunn)
- Shared 1st place in Belgrade GMA open tournament 1988 (with Gurevich, Polugaevsky, Psakhis, Pigusov, Timoschenko and Naumkin with 7/9, ahead of almost 100 other grandmasters)
He continued playing successfully throughout the 90s and then reduced his activity a bit (but not completely) in order to devote himself to coaching and compiling training material. Everyone who has visited the chess playing venue in Masarykova is familiar with Hulak sitting behind his laptop and smoking one cigarette after another. storing new material in his Chessbase.
Unfortunately, the habit of smoking is arguably what ultimately cost him – in 2015, at the age of only 64, he died of a short and severe pulmonary disease. It was a great loss for Croatian chess. Kruno left us way too soon…
If he were still alive, he would celebrate his 68th birthday today. And it is a perfect opportunity to remind ourselves of his legacy.
(Fellow Croatians who had the privilege to know him more deeply, I would urge you to share your stories and memories of late Kruno, as I am sure he amassed quite a few of them during his career)
(If you like posts as these, check our complete list of Chess Birthdays )