Vasja Pirc (1907–1980) was a notable Slovenian chess Grandmaster. Born on December 19, 1907, in Idrija, Slovenia, Pirc became one of the leading non-Soviet players in the world in the 1930s. His notable participation at the Chess Olympiads brought him five team and four individual medals.
He was the five-time winner of the Yugoslav Chess Championship (1935, 1936, 1937, 1948, 1953). In 1953, he received the title of International Grandmaster from FIDE. He is famously known for the Pirc Defence, a chess opening under the open games category characterized by the moves 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6.
Vasja Pirc wrote numerous articles and books on chess theory in German and Slovene languages. He also served as the chief of the analytical section of the Yugoslav Chess Federation. On June 23, 1980, he passed away in Ljubljana, Slovenia.