FIDE broke news that Istvan Csom (1940-2021) passed away on July 28. As the report mentions, this Hungarian Grandmaster (1973) and International Arbiter (1991) was a two-time champion of his country (1972, 1973) and part of the 1978 Buenos Aires Olympiad team that won the gold medal over the USSR in a historic upset.
It was the only Olympiad the Soviets ever competed in (1952 through 1990) that they did not win. Note: USA won gold at Haifa 1976 when URS didn’t play.
Csom won several international tournaments during his career and, as I discovered, played some lively games!
In tribute to Istvan Csom, I’ve chosen his 1969 victory against Predrag Ostojíc (1938-1996), Grandmaster (1975) and two-time Yugoslav Champion (1968, 1971).
The Black queen is running short of squares. White to play.
17.?
Caught in the Cookie Jar
As we liked to say back in the day, that was Csom finish!