Milan Vukcevich, Grandmaster Without the Title

    I recently received an e-mail from FM John McCarthy detailing some interesting information on a player who will be most familiar to players from Ohio, but not elsewhere, Milan Vukcevich. 

    Milan R. Vukcevich (March 11, 1937 – May 10, 2003) was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. In 1955 he won the Yugoslav junior championship. The same year he drew a match (4-4) with Bent Larsen who received his IM title that year.

    Vukcevich chose a career in science and in 1963 moved to the Cleveland, Ohio area. Here are some excerpts from the article which is used with permission.

     

    “Vuky, as some called him, was a gentleman, a scholar and had a very strong presence in every room that he entered...What should the FIDE rating be of a very part-time chessplayer with the following accomplishments? 

    (He) scored 11.5/13 on second board in the 1960 World Student Team Championship defeating Charles Kalme who also scored 11.5/13 on Board 2 for the US winning team ahead of the heavily favored Russian team. 

    Milan Vukcevich was an incredibly stand-up guy as he had a chance to beat out Kalme for the board prize. Once Kalme accepted a draw against Bulgaria to win the team title, he felt it would be unfair for him to take the board prize. Milan, in a gesture of sportsmanship, offered his much lower rated German opponent a draw on move 12 which was quickly accepted. Bill Lombardy scored a ridiculous 12/13 (2 draws) on Board 1 for the US including a win against Boris Spassky in 29 moves. 

    (Vukcevich) tied for first with GM’s Benko and Bisguier in his only US Open tournament at Lincoln, Nebraska in 1969. Vukcevich crushed Bisguier. Milan was invited to the US Championship (based on rating) for many years, only accepting when it came to Oberlin, Ohio in 1975. He finished clear 3rd with 7.5/13. Vukcevich scored a ridiculous 16/22 in the Telephone League playing first board against mostly GM’s and IM’s. 

    Milan was awarded the title of Grandmaster of Composition in 1988 becoming the equal 21st person to achieve the title...Vukcevich had 119.67 points through 1991 which placed him 9th all-time. He finished with 162.67 points which placed him 22nd all-time through 2021. 

    (He was the) sole 1998 inductee into the US Chess Hall of Fame...Vukcevich was =92nd in the world at 2490 on the January 1976 FIDE Rating List...Vukcevich only achieved a FIDE Master title for over the board play despite all of his chess achievements. 

    ...Vukcevich played in one Chess Olympiad, for Yugoslavia, held in Leipzig Germany in 1960. Vukcevich was second reserve for Yugoslavia which won the Bronze Medal for clear 3rd…. 

    Milan Vukcevich has been cited as a Nobel Prize for Chemistry nominee on many sites. I could not find documentation due to the 50 year rule below:

 

 **Nomination to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry is by invitation only. The names of the nominees and other information about the nominations cannot be revealed until 50 years later. 

     

    ...Vukcevich did not lose a game in the Cleveland Chess League for the approximately first 15 years that he played.”