Ljubomir Ljubojević
- October 9, 2025
Ranking: world number three in 1983
Highest FIDE Elo Rating: 2645
Tournament career: winner of 11 super-tournaments:
2x winner of Las Palmas chess tournament, Amsterdam chess tournament
winner of Linares Chess Tournament 1985, Tata Steel Masters 1976, Palma de Mallorca chess tournament 1971
and a few others…
Chess Olympiads: two team bronze medals, one gold and one bronze individual medal
What earned him this:
Our next player is from Serbia and during his active career, he represented the former Yugoslavia.
Ljubomir Ljubojević had a chess career that I would say was very peculiar. He was third in the world and for many years a member of the top ten in the world. He won many tournaments, including the most prestigious ones like Linares, Tata Steel, and Las Palmas. In his best years, he regularly challenged the biggest stars of the time except for Kasparov, whom he couldn’t handle (but at that time, almost no one could). And yet he never played in a Candidates Tournament.
Why he isn’t higher:
It’s hard to say what prevented him from taking the next step and fighting for a chance to play for the world champion title. He simply didn’t have enough consistency. He never managed to time his form for the Interzonal Tournament, from which one advanced to the Candidates Tournament, and he never even came close to advancing. In other tournaments, he could be excellent, but in the world championship cycle, he never showcased his abilities.
Best games:
Ljubomir Ljubojević vs Viktor Korchnoi
Linares 1985
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Miroslav Janeček graduated in English Philology at Palacký University Olomouc. Currently he works in Prague as a content editor for a large marketing company. His roots are in Opava - the historic and cultural centre of the Czech part of Silesia. That city is also the home of Slezan Opava, the chess club where Miroslav started to play chess, later went on to work as a youth coach and which he to this day proudly represents. As an aspiring chess publicist, he is the main author of articles on ChessDB.cz. In his free time, in addition to chess and writing, he also devotes himself to racket sports, history, and literature.