Albin Planinc

{{Short description|Slovenian chess grandmaster (1944–2008)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}

{{Infobox chess player

|name = Albin Planinc

|image = Albin Planinc 1974b.jpg

|caption = Planinc in 1974

|country =

|birth_date = 18 April 1944

|birth_place = Briše, Slovenia

|death_date = 20 December 2008 (aged 64)

|death_place = Ljubljana, Slovenia

|title = Grandmaster (1972)

|peakrating =2545 (May 1974)

|peakranking =No. 36 (May 1974)

}}

Albin Planinc (also spelled Planinec) (18 April 1944 – 20 December 2008)[https://www.mladina.si/45876/v-pozabi-umrli-genij/ A forgotten genius: Albin Planinc (Planinec) (8 April 1944, Briše - 11 December 2008, Ljubljana)][https://theweekinchess.com/html/twic737.html#22 The Week In Chess, 737 – Mark Crowther]. Chesscenter.com. Retrieved on 2012-11-09. was a Slovenian-Yugoslavian chess Grandmaster.

He was born in a working-class family in Briše near Zagorje in the Central Sava Valley, in German-occupied Slovenia.{{fact|date=December 2022}}

Planinc won the Slovenian youth championship in 1962. He also won the full Slovenian Chess Championship in 1968 and 1971.{{fact|date=December 2022}}

His earliest international success occurred at the first Vidmar Memorial at Ljubljana 1969.[http://www.sah-zveza.si/mv12/mvarc.html Dr. Milan Vidmar Memorial Tournaments] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208055909/http://www.sah-zveza.si/mv12/mvarc.html |date=2012-02-08 }}. Sah-zveza.si. Retrieved on 2012-11-09. However, his best result was achieved at the Amsterdam (IBM tournament) 1973, where he shared first place with Tigran Petrosian, ahead of Lubomir Kavalek, Boris Spassky and László Szabó. He also tied for 2nd–4th at Čačak 1969, won at Varna 1970, shared 1st at Čačak 1970, took 9th at Vršac (Kostić Memorial, Henrique Mecking won), tied for 2nd–3rd at Skopje 1971, tied for 3rd–5th at Wijk aan Zee 1974 (Corus chess tournament, Walter Browne won), took 6th at Hastings 1974/75 (Hastings International Chess Congress, Vlastimil Hort won), tied for 2nd–3rd at Štip 1978, and took 12th at Polanica Zdrój 1979 (17th Rubinstein Memorial).[http://www.endgame.nl/planinc.htm Albin Planinc] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120728205216/http://www.endgame.nl/planinc.htm |date=2012-07-28 }}. Endgame.nl. Retrieved on 2012-11-09.

Planinc played on fourth board (+9 –1 =5) for Yugoslavia in the 21st Chess Olympiad at Nice 1974, where he won a team silver medal.[http://www.olimpbase.org/1974/1974in.html 21st Chess Olympiad, Nice 1974, information]. OlimpBase (1974-06-30). Retrieved on 2012-11-09.

He was awarded the GM title in 1972, then became a chess trainer when the strain of playing tournament chess was contributing to his poor mental health (in those days, medication was relatively ineffective). Planinc continued to suffer from severe depression for decades, spending the last years of his life at a mental institution in Ljubljana. In 1993, his last name was changed to Planinec by mistake.Down Planinc's path by Hans Ree (New in Chess 2012/8, p. 98)

In The Penguin Encyclopedia of Chess, Grandmaster Raymond Keene said of Planinc, "he specializes in apparently outdated openings into which his imaginative play infuses new life".The Penguin Encyclopedia of Chess, Golombek, 1981, p. 346

Mentally ill in his later years, he died in a nursing home in Ljubljana, Slovenia.