Ilkka Saren

Ilkka Juhani Sarén (16 May 1940 – 24 December 2022) was a Finnish chess FIDE master (FM), Finnish Chess Championship winner (1971).

Biography
In the 1970s, Ilkka Sarén was one of Finland's leading chess players. In Finnish Chess Championships he has won gold (1971), and bronze (1978) medals. Sarén participated in the World Junior Chess Championship (1959) and World Chess Championship Zonal tournament (1972).

Saren played for Finland in the Chess Olympiads:

In 1972, at third board in the 20th Chess Olympiad in Skopje (+5, =7, -3),
In 1976, at first reserve board in the 22nd Chess Olympiad in Haifa (+5, =6, -1),
In 1978, at fourth board in the 23rd Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires (+2, =4, -3).
Sarén played for Finland in the European Team Chess Championship preliminaries:

In 1973, at first board in the 5th European Team Chess Championship preliminaries (+0, =0, -5).
Saren played for Finland in the Nordic Chess Cups:[5]

In 1971, at second board in the 2nd Nordic Chess Cup in Großenbrode (+0, =1, -4),
In 1973, at first board in the 4th Nordic Chess Cup in Ribe (+0, =1, -4),
In 1974, at third board in the 5th Nordic Chess Cup in Eckernförde (+1, =3, -1).
References
 Tauriainen, Marko (27 December 2022). "Ilkka Saren 1940–2022" (in Finnish). Finnish Chess Federation [fi]. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
 "OlimpBase :: All-Time Player History :: Saren, Ilkka". www.olimpbase.org.
 "OlimpBase :: Men's Chess Olympiads :: Ilkka Saren". www.olimpbase.org.
 "OlimpBase :: European Men's Team Chess Championship (preliminaries) :: Ilkka Saren". www.olimpbase.org.
 "OlimpBase :: Nordic Chess Cup :: Ilkka Sarén". www.olimpbase.org.

Die Schwalbe (magazine for chess composing) wrote in Issue 319, February 2023:

"Our Finnish member Ilkka Saren (16.5.1940-24.12.2022) died on Christmas Eve. He was primarily a party player, but occasionally he also composed. He had been a Schwalbe member for about 40 years."

Source: dieschwalbe.de

"The versatile chess player Ilkka Saren died on Christmas Eve, 24 December 2022, at the age of 82. He was born on 16 May 1940 in Helsinki. Ilkka was successful in several areas of chess:

There were numerous Finnish championships in party chess, as early as 1971 in the long game, and later in both the long game and the rapid game in team competitions in the ranks of the Finnish Chess Club. In terms of his level of play, he was a Fide champion.

In the organisational field, Ilkka worked as an organiser of company chess, as a judge and on the board of ST.

In task chess he excelled mainly as an auxiliary draughtsman, both in quick draft competitions at ST meetings and task congresses and in longer competitions. He particularly liked long auxiliary mats and small works. He received one of his last commissions for the 1968-70 Fide album."