Remembering Krunoslav Hulak
Six Grandmasters were born on This Day in Chess History:
- Krunoslav Hulak of Croatia, born 1951, GM 1976, Died 10/23/2015.
- Jens Kristiansen of Denmark, born 1952, GM 2012.
- Vladimir Nevostrujev of Russia, born 1966, GM 2003
- Aleksandr Karpatchev of Russia, born 1967, GM 1997.
- Salauat Izmukhambetov of Kazakhstan, born 1972, GM 1996.
- Manuel Perez Candelario of Spain, born 1983, GM 2011.
Today I would like to focus on Krunoslav Hulak (25 May 1951 – 23 October 2015) or "Kruno" as he was affectionately known. He was a Croatian chess player who was awarded the International Master title in 1974, and the grandmaster title in 1976. He was Yugoslavian Champion in 1976 and won the Croatian Championship in 2005. He won or shared first place at Varna BUL 1974; Osijek HRV 1980; Sombor SRB 1980; Banja Luka BIH 1983 & 1987; Wijk aan Zee NED 1986; Belgrade SRB Open 1989.
He played twice in the Interzonals, and 6 times in the Chess Olympiads (3 under Ygoslavia and 3 under Croatia). He also played in six European Team Championships, in which, with the Yugoslavian Team, he won a silver medal in Haifa ISR, 1989.
He worked as a trainer in the Zagreb Chess Federation, and later he was also team captain of the Croatian National Team.
He died on October 23rd, 2015, at age 64, after a short battle with lung cancer. Since 2016 the Zagreb Open has been held as a Memorial Tournament in his honor.
