Chess Obituary: Dragoljub Velimirovic (1942 - 2014)
Chess Obituary: Dragoljub Velimirovic (1942 - 2014)
Coming from a chess family, his mother Jovanka was a master, he was born in Valjevo (Serbia) and very soon become one of the leading Yugoslav juniors and later for long period one of the best grandmasters. Three times he won the Yugoslav Chess Championship, for two decades he was member of the national team. In his rich collection there are two Olympic medals (in Nice 1974 for individual and team performance) another silver from the World Team Championship (Lucerne 1989) and three individual and two team medals from the European Team Championships. In the theory of chess openings there is a sharp variation of the Sicilian Defence named as the Velimirovic attack. His style of play was attacking, always with sacrificial possibilities. Several of his games will always be collected in chess anthologies of great games.
FIDE awarded him the GM title in 1973 and his peak rating was 2575 ( 1986). In the Merano World Championship Match between Karpov and Korchnoi, he was member of Korchnoi’s team. (via FIDE)
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Labels: chess obituary, dragoljub velimirovic
RIP GM Gyula Sax
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2014
Hello everyone,
The Hungarian Chess Federation has informed that Grandmaster Gyula Sax passed away on 25th January after a heart attack. Gyula Sax (born 1951) was one of the world’s leading players in the late 70′s and 80′s. He won the Hungarian Chess Championship twice and qualified for the Candidate Matches from Subotica Interzonal in 1987. Sax participated in ten Chess Olympiads, winning one gold and two silver medals with the team and one individual bronze medal. (FIDE)
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RIP: Vugar Gashimov is No More
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
It is sad news that member of the Azerbaijan National Chess team, the talented GM Vugar Gashimov is no more. He was under treatment at a Heidelberg clinic in Germany.
Born July 24, 1986 in Baku, Gashimov was three times Azerbaijani national chess champion. He played in the gold medal-winning Azerbaijani team at the European Team Chess Championship in Novi Sad in 2009 and became winner of Reggio Emilia chess tournament in 2011.
We send our heartfelt condolences to Vugar Gashimov's friends and family.
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RIP Dan Mayers: Much-loved Senior Chess Player is No More
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
Chess champion Dan Mayers passed away at his home in Sun Valley on Thursday, Jan. 2. He was 91.
Dan (known locally as ‘Thunderbunny’) grew up in New York City, raised by his father, Lewis, who was a lawyer, and his mother, May, a physician. Early in his life he devoted himself to chess, and won the New York City High School Championship in 1939.
In 1953, Dan played against 9-year-old Bobby Fischer at the Brooklyn Chess Club, and won. It was the earliest recorded game of Fischer, who went on to become the world chess champion.
After graduation, with a degree in geology from the University of Arizona in 1944, Dan was drafted into the Army, and was assigned to work at the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos. While there he developed an interest in magic.
After studying at Harvard, Dan set off on what would become a lifetime of traveling. During a business trip to Europe, he met his future wife, Barbara, and they moved to Mexico, where their first children, Vanda and Randell, were born.
In 1958, they moved to England, and it was there that Dan embarked on creating a unique wilderness garden called Lorien, with a vast collection of azaleas and rhododendrons from around the world. Gayle and Darrel were born in Sussex.
Apart from chess, Dan had many other interests and passions. He was successful as a distributor of emeralds and amethysts from Africa. He was also an aficionado of the Japanese shakuhachi flute, and became the president of the International Shakuhachi Society.
After Barbara passed away, he moved to spend his final years in Sun Valley, but continued playing chess to the end of his life. In 1996, he won the British Senior Championship, and in 2004, he won the U.S. Senior Championship. Just days before he passed away, he was competing in the North American Open at Bally’s Casino and Resort in Las Vegas.
He is survived by his four children, Vanda Gerhart, Randell Mayers, Gayle Schumacher and Darrel Mayers, and 10 grandchildren.
A funeral service will take place at 2 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 10, at Wood River Chapel, 403 N. Main St. in Hailey, Idaho.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Sierra Club or the Idaho Chess Association. Friends may leave a condolence and light a candle at www.woodriverchpael.com. (MT Express)
Labels: chess obituary, dan mayers, thunderbunny
Komodo Chess Engine author Don Dailey is No More
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
Don Dailey, author of the Komodo chess engine, has passed away after a long battle with leukemia. He left this world November 22, 2013, in Roanoke, Virginia at age 57, just about the same time that Komodo pulled ahead of Stockfish by winning game 2 in the TCEC final.
Don started chess programming in the 80s, and was author and co-author of multiple commercial as well as academical chess programs. He has been active poster in computer chess forums and computer Go newsgroups. More about Don Dailey in this detailed wiki article. The work of Don Dailey will be continued by his partner Larry Kaufmann and the new addition to the team Mark Lefler.
We express deepest condolences to Don’s wife Mary, to his family, to his partners Mark and Larry, and to all his friends and Komodo fans. Read more at www.chessdom.com.
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Obituary - Turkish Chess Loses Mehdi Hayri Özbilen (1935 – 2013)
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
Turkish Chess Federation lost the ex-president of the federation, who was also ex-member of the national team and an active veteran player. Mehdi Hayri Özbilen had been the president of TCF from 1982 till 1986. Özbilen has represented Turkey in different Olympiads as delegate, player and coach.
He had contributed as the compiler of the 40th Chess Olympiad Almanac. His son Önder Özbilen was also an active chess player.
Özbilen lost his life on 16th October 2013, after struggling in hospital for one and half month. His funeral had been organised (18th October) in Galip Paşa Mosque in İstanbul, and FIDE was represented there by Vice President Ali Nihat Yazici. We express deepest condolences to Turkish Chess Federation and members of Özbilen’s family.
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Australia Chess: RIP MAX FULLER 1945-2013
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
Here is an obituary by Ian Rogers on Max Fuller who became Australia's chess hero in the 70s. (via smh.com.au)
Knight moves: Max Fuller in 1964. He went on to become Australia's No.1 player and toured the world. Photo: Stuart MacGladrie
Australia's first chess professional, Max Fuller, developed from a gangly teenager who would rarely be seen at Canterbury Boys High School without a chessboard under his arm to Australia's No.1 in a few years.
His bohemian and peripatetic lifestyle - winning tournaments from Malta to Honiara - confounded many in Australia who believed chess could not be a ''real'' job, but also inspired a generation of Australians to try their luck on the international circuit.
Maxwell Leonard Fuller was born on January 28, 1945, and brought up in Sydney by his mother and a disliked step-father, after his father died.
As a teenager, every Saturday he could be found at the Hyde Park chess set, taking on all-comers all day, and by the time he left school at 16, he was determined to become a professional player. He even taught himself Dutch so he could read the premier theoretical journal of the time, Max Euwe's Chess Archives.
His mother's death in 1962 made Fuller more determined to leave home and he used his small inheritance to travel to the World Junior Championship in Yugoslavia in 1963 and a year later to the Chess Olympiad in Tel Aviv.Prizes in Australian tournaments at the time were negligible, so when Fuller returned to Sydney he combined studying and playing chess with proofreading for the Herald. He was called up for the army during the Vietnam War but was rejected for being far below the minimum weight for his height.
His first big break came at the end of 1968 when he was invited to the traditional Hastings Grandmaster tournament in England. He soon understood the gap between himself and the world elite and said the five ''draws'' he scrounged in his eleven games were the most difficult of his life and left him exhausted.
Read more »Labels: australia chess, chess obituary, max fuller
R.I.P. WIM Vesna Rozic
Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013Hi everyone,
WIM Vesna Rozic, 26, two-time Slovenian Women's Chess Champion is no more. She lost her battle to cancer, as reported by the Slovenia chess federation website. Our deepest condolence to her relatives, friends and loved ones.
WIM Vesna Rozic (2260) has played in four European Championships and four Chess Olympiads. She was forced to cancel her participation in the European Women's Championships a few weeks back because of the illness.
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Labels: chess obituary, vesna rozic
First Asian International Master Rodolfo Tan Cardoso of the Philippines Passes Away
Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013
Hi everyone,
Rodolfo Tan Cardoso, the first Asian International Master and member of the first Philippine team that competed in the Moscow Chess Olympiad in 1956, died Wednesday after a heart attack.
Born Dec. 25, 1937 in Anda, Pangasinan, Cardoso was highly regarded as a player, arbiter, coach and teacher. He earned his IM title in 1957.
He and Campomanes saw action in Moscow along with NMs Carlos Benitez and Glicerio Badilles.
“He was a true gentleman over the chessboard. As the first International Master of Asia, he aroused Philippine interest in chess and put our country in the world chess map. And, he was the only Filipino to ever beat (American chess great) Bobby Fischer,” said two-time Olympian and National Master/lawyer Samuel Estimo.
“He’s a big loss to Philippine chess. Before his death, he was still involved in the sport by teaching youngsters,” said Asia’s First Grandmaster Eugene Torre.
His remains lie at La Funeraria Paz, Manila Memorial, Sucat, Parañaque. The body will be transferred Saturday morning to Alaminos, Pangasinan. Interment will be on Monday.
For details, call or text his nephew Rene at 0922 853 6256
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Labels: asian chess, chess obituary, philippines chess, rodolfo tan cardoso
RIP: GM Igor Kurnosov
Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013
Hi everyone,
This is shocking and sad news. GM Igor Kurnosov, 28, has passed away after being run away by a car last night in Chelyabinsk, Russia. He was number 20 on the Russian rating list and had just returned home after playing in the Masters section of the Biel Chess Festival. His last major tournament victory is the Abu Dabi Chess Masters. He also won this year’s Nakhchivan Open 2013. One of his most memorable victories was in Politiken Cup 2011, where he finished with 8,5. His last tournament was the Biel Masters 2013 where he finished in top 20 with 6,5/9. Our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of GM Igor Kurnosov. Our prayers to help them get through this tragedy.
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RIP Hans Suri and Lucio Barvas - Strengths of the Swiss Chess World (Photos Updated)
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
June 14, 2013 was a sad day for the chess world. Two leading figures of the Swiss chess world have left us. Hans Suri, Studen, has died at the age of 85. Lucio Barvas, living in Uster, has passed away at the age of 78.
Memories to Inspire: 12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk remembers strengths of the Swiss chess world Lucio Barvas (in photo) and Hans Suri.
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk and Lucio were always happy to meet at chess tournaments where Lucio was either arbiter, or newsletter editor, or internet transmission manager. GM Kosteniuk says, "I will greatly miss my dear friend Lucio."
Lucio Barvas Photios was well known in the chess world - particularly Switzerland and of course Biel. For many years, he remained the arbiter and newsletter editor of the international festival and also for the Swiss Championship (CSI). He was known nationally as Swiss representative of ChessBase, a position he held for two decades and earned him the nickname "Mister ChessBase". His love for computers started in the 80s, when he won the first official championship of computer correspondence, organised by the former Swiss working Chess Federation (FOSE).
Unforgettable Friends: 12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk flanked by Hans Suri (Left) and Lucio Barvas.
The name of Hans Suri is inseparable from the Biel Chess Festival. He organised the event for the first time in the summer of 1968 in a small hotel. There was no looking back. Hans Suri remained the festival's director for three decades as the chess festival grew in stature and reputation. Today, the festival as an important part of the international calendar.
In 1976, 1985 and 1993, Hans Suri even brought the Interzonal tournament to Biel. To his great commitment, the Swiss Chess Federation of the time and his club SG Biel had elected him as a honorary member. After retiring from the tournament, Hans Suri has regularly played the tournament. He participated in the 45 th edition in July 2012.
Hans Suri in 1985 sitting next to Jan Timman and Timman's wife. Han Suri is speaking to Jean Py (hidden by Timman's wife).
We offer our deepest sympathy on the passing of Hans Suri and Lucio Barvas. We salute them for their contribution to the chess world and their great chess legacy. May their families find peace and comfort in knowing that their loss is felt by all who knew and loved him. May the Lord give strength to their families and peace upon the departed souls.
Hans Suri in 2011 - New Horizons into the Light
Labels: chess obituary, Chess video, hans suri, lucio barvas, swiss chess
American Chess Legend Robert Byrne is No More; Memorial Service April 20
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
RIP: American chess legend Robert Byrne. We have this sad news. World Chess Championship Candidate-1974 and US Chess Champion-1972 Robert Byrne is no more. His wife Ursula (Maria) Byrne announced late Friday that Robert Byrne passed away after a long illness, eight days short of his 85th birthday.
The memorial service will be on Saturday, April 20, at 1 PM at Dorsey Funeral Home, 15 M Wilton Place, Ossining, NY 10562. Attendees are welcome. RSVP to ursula1732@aol.com. ( Also welcome are verbal messages that can be read out.)
Byrne's dear friend Anthony Saidy says, "Robert Byrne was a pillar of American chess. I would add that uniquely, in mid-career, Robert Byrne switched from the Queen Pawn to the King Pawn, tantamount to a Ford driver taking on a race car, or an internist learning brain surgery. It took him close to the summit of world chess. R.I.P. a great American player and a friend whose example taught me much."
Byrne represented the United States nine times in Chess Olympiads from 1952 to 1976 and won seven medals. He was the chess columnist from 1972 to 2006 for the New York Times, which ran his final column (a recounting of his 1952 victory over David Bronstein) on November 12, 2006. Byrne worked as a university professor for many years, before becoming a chess professional in the early 1970s. Read the complete Wikipedia entry on this great American chess player here.
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Labels: chess obituary, robert byrne
RIP: Former Bulgarian Champion Julian Radulski is No More
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013 Hello everyone,
Bulgarian Grandmaster Julian Radulski passed away on 16th February after a long illness. He was a great chess player and wonderful person. Julian was born on May 24, 1972, in Plovdiv. He became International Master in 2001 and Grandmaster in 2004. He represented Bulgaria in Chess Olympiads and European Team Championships, most recently in Porto Carras in 2011.
In 2010 he won Ciudad de Ferrol Open and Miguel Naidorf Memorial which lifted his elo to the record high 2606. He played for various clubs throughout Europe – Lokomotiv 2000 Plovdiv, Heliopolis, ASD Scacchi Latina, Sloga Kraljevo and SV Turm Bergheim. Julian won the 2011 Bulgarian Chess Championship and finished sixth in the 2012 Championship. This was his last appearance in rated tournaments. (Chessdom)
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RIP: WGM Margareta Teodorescu
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012Hi everyone,
Margareta Teodorescu (1932 - 2013): Romanian WGM Margareta Teodorescu passed away Tuesday, January 22, in Bucharest at the age of 81. Born on April 13, 1932, Margareta Teodorescu obtained in 1949 bronze medal in the first women's national championship after the Second World War.
It was the first success in a long series of remarkable results. During 1949 -1978, she won 8 bronze medals, 8 silver medals and she was champion of Romania in the years 1959, 1968, 1969 and 1974.
Margareta Teodorescu won two silver medals at Chess Olympiad! In Emmen (Netherlands) 1957, Margareta Teodorescu, in team with Maria Albuleţ, brought for Romania the first Olympic medal, the silver medal, at the first edition of Women Chess Olympiad, finishing on equal points with the Soviet team.
Selection criteria which, in 1957, had sent Romanian team on the second place, were not available at the end of Chess Olympiad edition 1974 in Medellin (Colombia). There, Romanian team composed by Margareta Teodorescu, Elisabeta Polihroniade and Gertrude Baumstark, was ranked first on equal points with the Soviet team and it should have the supreme title. But, the rules were changed and after a tiebreak match against Soviet team, our team finished second, receiving the silver medal. (Fide)
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Obituary - Chess Theorist GM Georgy Borisenko
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
On December 3 a great chess theorist GM Georgy Borisenko passed away at the age of 91 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Dmitry Aleev (Borisenko's pupil) recollects, "He was born on May 25, 1922, a veteran of Great Patriotic War, all his life he devoted to chess. He was an optimist and a man of great life energy. He was a second of many World Champions; he trained Nona Gaprindashvili and his wife Valentina Borisenko (Belova), one of the strongest chess players of the last century.
In 1965 Borisenko was offered a job to train the chess players in Armenia, Ural and Uzbekistan. He chose Tashkent and worked there as a Trainer. Among his pupils are GM Anton Filippov and GM Timur Gareev. (Fide)
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Labels: Anton Filippov, chess obituary, dmitry aleev, georgy borisenko, nona gaprindashvili, timur gareev, valentina borisenko
RIP GM Yuri Razuvaev - one of the finest chess teachers as ever was
 It is with a sad heart that we report the death of one of the finest chess coaches there ever was - RIP GM Yuri Razuvaev. He was also Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk's dearest and beloved chess teacher. You can read the Fide obituary here and GM Kosteniuk's tribute to her dearest teacher at www.chessqueen.com.
Labels: chess obituary, yuri razuvaev
Remembering Andrija Fuderer, a gifted chess player and all-round talent
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
We have a lovely feature-obit from The Guardian by Leonard Barden. Barden has chosen to write about Andrija Fuderer, who died aged 80 last month, was an eminent chemical engineer and inventor with more than 50 patents to his name. Few in the chess media noticed his passing, yet long ago in his twenties he had been the game's most gifted attacker outside the Soviet Union.
Barden writes: Fuderer made an impressive international debut at Bled 1950, where the 19-year-old was fourth in a strong field and was praised for the style and elegance of his wins. A year later, he played for Yugoslavia against Britain in London and was paired with Jonathan Penrose, later ten times British champion and already the hope of English chess. I was on the next board, and was immersed in the opening when I heard a series of thumps down the table. Fuderer was blitzing Penrose and crashing through his defences with a knight and rook sacrifice.
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| A Fuderer v J Donner, Beverwijk 1952. What happened when Black chose the wrong way to recapture on C5? |
Fuderer was polyglot and friendly, and told me of his career dilemma. He was studying chemistry at Zagreb, played the piano in virtuoso style, and could aim for the world chess top. Which to choose? For the next few years he postponed the decision, as his chess career nudged upwards. In 1954 he qualified for the world title interzonal, scored a fine victory over Ewfim Geller at the Amsterdam Olympiad where Yugoslavia took the silver medals behind Russian gold, and finished third to Vassily Smyslov and Paul Keres at Hastings.
The fateful moment came at the 1955 Gothenburg interzonal. At halfway after ten rounds he was on 7-3, battling for the lead with David Bronstein and Keres. But the pairings were such that the six Soviets played each other at the start while in the second half Fuderer had to meet all six in successive rounds. Keres beat him in 18 moves and those last ten rounds were a disaster, four draws and six defeats.
So chemistry won. Fuderer took his doctorate at Zagreb, married in 1957, and after helping Yugoslavia to silver at the Moscow 1956 Olympiad gradually withdrew from chess. His swansong was the 1959 Soviet Union v Yugoslavia match at Kiev where, still only 28, he showed what might have been by beating Bronstein, the victor at Gothenburg, 3-1. In the late 1960s he quit Yugoslavia for good, living in Spain and working as a chemical engineer in Antwerp.
Even in his best chess years there were games where he settled for quick draws against much weaker opponents. An obituary by his son Miha helps explain why. Fuderer felt his greatest passion was for chemistry, and he used his tournaments outside Yugoslavia to acquire consumer goods which when he got home he could resell at a profit to finance his university studies. For chess, a great talent lost.
Read the full article at this link.
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Labels: Andrija Fuderer, chess article, chess column, chess news, chess obituary, leonard barden, the guardian
Remembering talented Yugoslavian chess player - R.I.P. Andrija Fuderer
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
We found this chess news update by Mark Crowther about the death of the talented attacking player IM Andrija Fuderer of Yugoslavia has been announced. His playing career was in the 1950s. IM Andrija Fuderer was born May 13th 1931 in Subotica, Yugoslavia, died Palamos, Spain 2nd October 2011. IM title 1952. Honorary GM 1990.
Andrija Fuderer was considered one of the most talented Yugoslav players of his generation with a style similar to that of Mikhail Tal. His results never quite lived up to this promise with his best tournament result being 3rd= behind Keres and Smyslov at Hastings 1954-5 and his 3-1 victory over David Bronstein in USSR vs Yugoslavia match 1957. He played three Olympiads Helsinki 1952 (70%), Amsterdam 1954 (71%) and Munich 1958 (77%). He played the Goteborg Interzonal in 1955 and finished 14th equal and this failure seems to have prompted his decision to concentrate on a career in Chemical Engineering.
Of German ancestry he and his family left Yugoslavia some to the US, he settled in Belgium. He also lived in Italy and Spain in later years. Royal Chess Circle Deurne publishes a letter from Fuderer's son at:http://www.skdeurne.be/Nieuws/Fuderer.php detailing his life.
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Labels: Andrija Fuderer, chess news, chess obituary
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