FM Božidar Iveković

Hello! My name is Božidar Iveković. I am a 23-year-old Fide master from Croatia. I have been playing chess all my life and have competed in numerous world and European chess events. Apart from that, I am a future student of economics.

I started playing chess at the age of 4. Since then, I have competed in a number of tournaments in Croatia, but also in Europe and the world. Some of my biggest achievements are: 5x Croatian junior champion, 12th place in the World U20 Championship in India 2016 and 2 IM norms. Apart from that, I compete in numerous open tournaments, where I often win prizes.

Throughout my chess career, I have not only played, but also coached a number of young players. Some of the children I coached won the Croatian championship in their categories, both girls and boys. I have also worked with older people and with people of different standards. In addition to that, I used to coach school children, where I got the opportunity to work with children aged 7-10 who were beginners. I work mainly with intermediate players (FIDE Rtg 1700-2100), but I am always happy to accept new students, regardless of their standard.

In my free time, I used to work as a waiter in several restaurants and bars in Zagreb, where I got to meet a lot of people, which sometimes takes patience and understanding. That is why I have developed these skills which I think are very important when working with people.

When I learn or teach, I like to focus on the thinking process and logical understanding of all types of positions. I insist on my students explaining all of the decisions they make during their chess games, but also in the positions I set up for them in order to develop their intuition and point them in the right direction, i.e. to teach them where to look in different positions.

For my chess lessons, I use Skype and Lichess so it is important that my students have an account on both of these pages. We talk on Skype and I show them everything on the Lichess board. I like to create studies that I share only with my students.
Also, when I only start coaching someone, I like to assess their standard, so I usually play a game or two against them where they have to explain their moves and plans during the game.