Pirc Vasja (19.12.1907 – 02.06.1980)

Slovenian Grandmaster (1953) and International Arbiter (1973). Yugoslav Champion in 1935 (joint), 1936 and 1937 and 1953.

Best results in international tournaments: Budapest 1934, 2^nd; (+7=7-1), a half point behind Lilienthal; Novi Sad 1936, 1^st; Lodz 1938, 1^st (+8=7), ahead of Tartakower, Petrov, Stahlberg, and Eliskases; Bad Haezburg 1938, 1^st; Marianske Lazne 1948, equal first. In 1949 he drew a match with Max Euwe +2=6-2.

Between 1931 and 1954 he was a member of the Yugoslav team which won the gold medal at the 1950 Olympiad.

Pirc is probably best remembered as a prolific author whose originality greatly contributed to the opening theory. Some of his openings bear his name: the Pirc Defence (or Pirc-Robatsch System) that became standard play during his lifetime.

                                                       Keres-Pirc, Munich 1936