The Boss

GM Dragoljub Velimirovic is special character in the chess world. Also known as "Drasko" and "The Boss", there are many funny stories connected with his name. He wanted to sue Russian publishers when they have renamed his "Velimirovic attack" into some river - eventually, it brought him big money. His extremely sharp play and spectacular sacrifices are admired around the world. Even Teimur Radjabov used his name as ICC nick.

Drasko was born on 1942. His mother Jovanka was Yugoslav women champion and his granfather Nikolay was famous Bishop and is recognized as a saint by Serbian Orthodox Church. Drasko earned his IM title on 1972 and GM title on 1975. He participated in Yugoslav national championships more then 25 times and was the winner on 1970 and 1975.


First shapes of "Velimirovic attack" 5.Bc4 6.Be3 7.Qe2 we have seen in Velimirovic-Bradvarevic YUG-ch 1962. However, he didn't play 0-0-0 then. For the first time 0-0-0 was seen in Velimirovic-Dely and Velimirovic-Milic played in Belgrade 1965. The game that finally made "Velimirovic attack" famous was Velimirovic-Sofreski YUG-ch 1965 when he fired Nf5 sac.


Dragoljub Velimirovic - Jovan Sofreski
Titograd, YUG-ch 1965
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 Be7 8.Qe2 a6 9.O-O-O Qc7 10.Bb3 Na5 11.g4 b5 12.g5 Nxb3+ 13.axb3 Nd7 14.Nf5!! exf5 15.Nd5 Qd8 16.exf5 O-O 17.f6 gxf6 18.Bd4! Ne5 19.gxf6 Bxf6 20.Rhg1+ Bg7 21.Bxe5 dxe5 22.Qxe5 f6 23.Ne7+ Kf7 24.Qh5+ 1-0

Dragoljub Velimirovic - Ljubomir Ljubojevic
Umag, YUG-ch 1972
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.O-O-O Nbd7 10.Bd3 b5 11.Rhe1 Bb7 12.Nd5! Nxd5 13.exd5 Bxg5 14.Rxe6+!! fxe6 15.Nxe6 Qa5 16.Qh5+ g6 17.Qxg5 Rg8 18.Rd2 Nf8 19.Nxf8 Qd8 20.Nxh7 Qxg5 21.fxg5 Kf7 22.Nf6 Rh8 23.g3 Bc8 24.h4 Bf5 25.Bxf5 gxf5 26.h5 Ra7 27.Rf2 1-0

Rafael Vaganjan - Dragoljub Velimirovic
Ohrid 1972
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.g3 d6 6.Bg2 O-O 7.Nf3 e6 8.dxe6 Bxe6 9.Ng5 Bxc4 10.Bxb7 Nbd7 11.Qxd6 h6 12.Nge4 Nxe4 13.Bxe4 Re8 14.O-O Bxc3 15.Bxa8 Be5 16.Qd1 Qxa8 17.Qxd7 Bd4 18.e3 Bxf1 19.Kxf1 Bf6 20.Qa4 Qh1+ 21.Ke2 Re5 22.Qd1 Qxh2 23.Bd2 Rf5 24.Qg1 Qh3 25.Rc1 Qg4+ 26.Ke1 Qf3 27.Rc4 Bxb2 28.g4 Re5 29.Qh2 Qd5 30.Rc3 Re8 31.Qxh6 Rd8 32.Rc2 Bc3 0-1

Dragoljub Velimirovic - Bozidar Ivanovic
Budva zt 1981
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Be3 a6 8.Qe2 Qc7 9.Bb3 Na5 10.g4 b5 11.g5 Nd7 12.f4 b4 13.Na4 Bb7 14.f5 e5 15.Bxf7+ Kxf7 16.Qh5+ Kg8 17.f6 g6 18.Qh3 Qc4 19.Ne6 Bxe4 20.Rf1 Kf7 21.Ng7 Bf5 22.Rxf5 gxf5 23.Qxf5 Rd8 24.b3 Qd5 25.Rd1 Qh1+ 26.Kd2 Qxh2+ 27.Kc1 Bxg7 28.Rxd6 Bf8 29.g6+ 1-0


Dragoljub Velimirovic - Milos Pavlovic
Panormo zt 1998
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 5.Nb3 Qc7 6.Nc3 a6 7.Bd3 b5 8.Be3 Bb7 9.f4 Nf6 10.O-O d6 11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5 Nfd7 13.Rxf7 Kxf7 14.Qh5+ g6 15.Bxg6+ hxg6 16.Qxh8 Nxe5 17.Qh7+ Bg7 18.Bh6 Qb6+ 19.Kh1 Bxg2+ 20.Kxg2 Qc6+ 21.Kg1 Nf3+ 22.Kf2 1-0