Bogdan Lalić (born 8 March 1964) is a Croatian chess grandmaster. He held the record for the longest unbeaten streak in FIDE-rated classical chess, with 155 games, until GM Zhou Jianchao surpassed it in 2026.
He was born in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia), in 1964. FIDE awarded him the International Master title in 1985, and the Grandmaster title in 1988.
Notable achievements
finished equal first at the GM Closed Pleven 1987 and GM Closed Sarajevo 1988 tournaments
1987: shared 1–3 I Ciudad de Badajoz Open, the winner on Bucholz
1987: winner of Avignon (Championnat France Rapidplay)
1987: winner of 12th Aubervilliers Rapidplay (Paris)
1999: shared 1st–2nd in Kilkenny Masters (together with GM Julian Hodgson but the winner on Bucholz)
2000: winner of II Memorial Pedro Zabala (Bilbao Rapidplay)
2000: winner of III Memorial Zuri Baltza (Bilbao Rapidplay)
2001: shared 1st–4th (2nd place on Bucholz, the winner was GM Evgenij Agrest) in XXXI Rilton Cup
2002: winner of Redbus KO tournament Southend
2003: 2nd in British Championship Rapidplay
2008: shared 1st–2nd at Cork Masters (the winner was GM Dejan Bojkov)
2008: shared 1st–3rd in the Open Neuchatel (with GMs Mark Hebden and Aloyzas Kveinys) – the winner on Bucholz
2010: winner of 6th Tabor Open
2012: shared 2nd–7th in 30th Ville de Metz Open tournament
2012: shared 1st–2nd place Pardubice Rapidplay together with GM Rainer Buhmann (the winner on Bucholz)
September 2012: winner of the closed GM tournament First Saturday in Budapest
2013: shared 1st–3rd (with GMs Azer Mirzoev and Alexei Barsov), the winner on Bucholz in Jaen IM closed tournament
2013: winner of XVII Torneo scacchi Cesenatico 2013
2016: shared 1st at 12th Tabor Open (the winner on Bucholz)
He achieved his highest rating of 2600 in 1997. Although registered with the Croatian Federation, he divides his time between playing abroad and making frequent visits to England. He was once married to International MasterSusan Lalic, England's first woman to hold the IM title, but they are now divorced. Together, they have a son, Peter Lalić, born 1994, who is also a strong chess player.
Lalic and Sergei Tiviakov both claim to have played a record 110 consecutive tournament games at classical time controls without losing, although neither player faced exclusively elite-level opponents during their unbeaten streaks. Lalic's streak occurred between 5 June 2006 and 3 March 2007.
