Dragan Šolak Explained

Dragan Šolak
Country:Yugoslavia → Serbia (until 2011)
Turkey (since 2011)
Birth Date:30 March 1980
Birth Place:Vrbas, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia
Grandmaster (2001)
Peakrating:2641 (November 2016)
Peakranking:No. 95 (April 2008)
Fideid:916811

Dragan Šolak (Serbian: Драган Шолак; born 30 March 1980) is a Turkish-Serbian chess grandmaster.

Career

Šolak learnt chess from a very young age and started participating in tournaments before he turned four years of age.[1] In 2002 he tied for 1st–3rd with Vladimir Tukmakov and Andrei Sokolov in the Hilton Open in Basel[2] and tied for 3rd–4th with Ketino Kachiani-Gersinska in the Casino Open in Interlaken.[3] In 2011 he tied for 3rd–7th with Sergey Volkov, Ioannis Nikolaidis, Konstantine Shanava and Fernando Peralta in the 1st Isthmia International Tournament.[4]

He played for the Yugoslav (later Serbian) national team in the Chess Olympiads of 2000, 2004, 2008[5] and in the European Team Chess Championships of 1999, 2005, 2009 and 2011.[6]

In December 2011 he transferred to the Turkish Chess Federation.[7] Šolak represented Turkey at the Chess Olympiads of 2012, 2014, 2016[5] and at the European Team Championship of 2013.[6] He won the Turkish Chess Championship in 2012 and 2013.

Šolak finished equal second (fourth on tiebreak) at the European Individual Chess Championship of 2014 scoring 8 points out of 11 and this result enabled him to qualify for the 2015 Chess World Cup.[8] In 2015 he won the 17th Dubai Open, edging out other five grandmasters on tiebreak, after all finished on 7/9 points.[9] At the Chess World Cup 2015 he lost in the first round to Anton Korobov and therefore was eliminated from the competition.

His handle on the Internet Chess Club is "RuznaMamuna".[10]

Notes and References

  1. News: Interview with GM Dragan Solak (and video game review). 2011-09-28. Chess Videos, Chess DVDs, Chess Software and more.. 2017-11-29. en-US.
  2. Web site: Tournament report April 2002: Hilton Open - Switzerland. World Chess Federation. 19 May 2010.
  3. Web site: Tournament report April 2002: Casino Open - Switzerland. World Chess Federation. 19 May 2010.
  4. Web site: 1st International Tournament "Isthmia" 2011 Group A'. 2011-08-28. Chess-Results.com. 28 August 2011.
  5. Web site: Men's Chess Olympiads: Dragan Solak. Bartelski. Wojciech. OlimpBase. 2010-05-19.
  6. Web site: European Men's Team Chess Championship: Dragan Solak. Bartelski. Wojciech. OlimpBase. 2010-05-19.
  7. https://ratings.fide.com/fedchange.phtml?year=2011 Players transfers in 2011
  8. Web site: Alexander Motylev is the new European Champion. Chessdom. 2 October 2015. 2014-03-15.
  9. Web site: Sagar Shah. Dragan Solak wins 17th Dubai Open. ChessBase. 2 October 2015. 2015-04-18.
  10. Web site: RuznaMamuna. Internet Chess Club. 21 March 2011.