My Small Tribute. Borislav Ivkov - First World Junior Champion.

The recently departed Borislav 'Bora' Ivkov held a unique place in chess history. Only one can be the first to achieve something, and he was the first winner of the World Junior Championships, created by my dear friend Ritson, back in 1951.

You can find some background on that event, as well as the sources for some of the pictures and newspaper pages, in one of my articles on the runner-up, here:-  https://www.chess.com/blog/simaginfan/the-short-but-extraordinary-chess-career-of-malcolm-barker-part-two   

The tournament table - Ivkov took a quick draw in the final round with first place assured.

''Undoubtedly he is by far the best player competing. His coolness and perfect control of every game he played showed him to be a chess player of World class. His future is very bright''. William Ritson Morry. Birmingham Gazette, June 23rd 1951.

The three 'big games', as we would view it today, all resulted in wins for Ivkov. England's Malcolm Barker - still with us - was his main rival. and the press was there to capture the meeting.

Barker was quietly pushed off the board.

A better version of the press photo above - originally in the Birmingham Gazette.

''Malcolm Barker was the player I most feared - and I am glad he came second'' Ivkov.

Two future Grandmasters and World Championship Candidates were in the field. Olafsson later recounted his memories of the event - see the above link. The young Olafsson in Birmingham.

Although he had a poor tournament, he was already very strong, and won a lightening tournament immediately afterwards which included Bogoljubov, Tartakower, Matanovic, Donner , Rossolimo and Unzicker.

Also there was the young Bent Larsen, seen here in a wonderful contemporary picture which includes others in the tournament..

''I do not want to be falsely modest. I was pretty certain that I would win, but my match with Larsen of Denmark gave me quite a fright. I only beat him by the closest of margins''. Ivkov.

My favourite game of Ivkov's from the tournament was against this man - left of picture in 2019, and, hopefully, still with us.

It shows Ivkov as a player who was already of Grandmaster abilities and understanding. A pure 'Russian Exchange Sacrifice' a la Simagin. I think it's a beautiful game.

R.I.P. Grandmaster Ivkov. Another of the players who I grew up studying is no longer with us, but not forgotten.