Obituary for ΙΑ Borivoje Zaric (1938-2025)

With great sadness, the FIDE Arbiters’ Commission was informed that IA Borivoje Zaric passed away on November 13th, 2025. The Commission expresses its sincere condolences to his family and to the Chess Federation of Serbia.

Borivoje “Bora” Zaric belonged to the group of the best and most respected arbiters in the former Yugoslavia and the world. He was a lawyer by profession.

He became a chess arbiter in 1956, and an International Arbiter in 1970, at that time the youngest in the world to hold this title. He served as Chief Arbiter at tournaments and matches in which almost all major grandmasters of the era participated: Smyslov, Tal, Petrosyan, Spassky, Fischer, Larsen, Portisch, Stein, Polugaevsky, Najdorf, Mecking, Olafsson, Kasparov, Korchnoi, Anand, Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Gaprindashvili, Chiburdanidze, Gligoric, Matanovic, Ivkov, Matulovic, Ljubojevic, Milunka Lazarevic, Verica Nedeljkovic, Katarina Jovanovic – Blagojevic, Alisa Maric, Natasa Bojkovic, etc. He was also an arbiter in several hundred matches in national leagues.

He distinguished himself as a chess organizer as well. He was the director of several major tournaments, among which the 1972 Blind Chess Olympiad, held under the patronage of President Tito, deserves special mention.

For several decades, he held various positions in chess administration, the most significant being General Secretary of the Belgrade Chess Association and Vice President of the Chess Federation of Serbia. From 1961 to 1968, he served as organizational secretary and captain of the Slavija Chess Club, at a time when the club was one of the most prominent in Yugoslavia. In 1997, he and his wife founded the Gambit Chess Club, where he served as president and captain for almost 15 years. With this club, he won two national championships (2003 and 2004) and one national cup (2004, completing the “double crown”).

For more than 25 years, he was intensely dedicated to writing and researching chess history, with special emphasis on collecting materials related to Belgrade chess.

For his contributions to chess, he received numerous national awards, as well as honors from the city of Belgrade and from FIDE.

May he rest in peace.