| Zdenko Kožul | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Zdenko Kožul |
| Country | Croatia |
| Born | May 21, 1966 Bihać |
| Title | Grandmaster |
| FIDE rating | 2604 (November 2009) |
| Peak rating | 2640 (October 2004) |
Zdenko Kožul (born May 21, 1966) is a Croatian chess grandmaster and was the 2006 European champion.
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Kožul was born in the north-western Bosnian town of Bihać, (then Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). He was awarded the grandmaster title by FIDE in 1989. In 1989 and 1990, Kozul won consecutive Yugoslavian championships. In 1990, Kozul won the bronze medal playing for the Yugoslav team at the Chess Olympiad in Novi Sad.[1]
After the break-up of Yugoslavia, Kozul played for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he was a part of the Bosnian Olympiad team in 1992. In 1993, Kozul, an ethnic Croat, settled in Croatia, thereafter representing that country. In 1995, he won an open tournament in Zadar.[2] In 1999, he came first at the IV Nova Gorica Open.[3] In 2003, he won the 11th Vasja Pirc Memorial at Maribor.[4]
In 2004, Kozul reached the final sixteen at the FIDE World Chess Championship, 2004 in Tripoli, before being eliminated by the Bulgarian grandmaster, future world champion Veselin Topalov. His greatest career achievement was his win at the 2006 European Individual Chess Championship in Kusadasi.[5]
According to Chessmetrics, at his peak in October 2000, Kožul's play was equivalent to a rating of 2647, and he was ranked number 50 in the world. His best single performance was at Tripoli (FIDE World Championship), 2004, where he scored 5.5 of 8 possible points (69%) against 2671-rated opposition, for a performance rating of 2724.[6]
Kozul's highest Elo rating was 2640 in October 2004. He is currently the top-rated Croatian player at 2604.