Saturday, May 24, 2014

黑暗騎士 (The Dark Knight)


The obituary is by Grandmaster Kevin Spraggett:
He died this past Thursday. Born in Valjevo (Serbia) on May 12, 1942, Velimirović became known as one of the most brilliant attackers of his (or any!) generation, rivalling the reputations of Alekhine, Tal and Kasparov. Bobby Fischer was immensely impressed with his understanding of the Sicilian Defence and the Benoni, and it is said that the two spent some time together analysing. His theoretical ideas and innovations helped advance our understanding of numerous popular opening variations.
But Velimirović was much more that just an attacker. He defeated many of the world’s top grandmasters, representing his country not less than 6 times at the Olympiad and won the national title not less than 3 times.
[Event "XVIII Campionato Jugoslavo"]
[Site "Vrnjacka Banja"]
[Date "1962.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Velimirović, Dragoljub"]
[Black "Bradvarević, Aleksandar"]
[ECO "B89"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Spraggett, Kevin"]
[PlyCount "47"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Be3 Be7 8.Qe2 a6 9.Bb3 Na5 10.O-O b5 11.Rad1 Qc7 12.f4 Nxb3 13.cxb3 Bb7 14.f5 e5 15.Nf3 Nxe4 16.Nxe4 Bxe4 17.Ng5 Bxg5 18.Bxg5 d5 19.f6 O-O 20.Qg4 Qc5+ 21.Rf2 Rfe8
{One of Velimirović’s earliest games using the sharp Sozin Attack. Black seems to have weathered White’s attack quite easily and was now looking forward to using his strong centre to push White backwards... Unfortunately, the game lasted only 3 more moves!} 22.Be3 $1 Qf8 23.Bc5 $1 h5 24.Qg5 1-0
Dragoljub Velimirović at the 1966 Olympiad in Havana, Cuba

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