Sunday, February 1, 2026

Man on a Raft

When he could, Roberto Cosulich preferred to live where there were seas and ports. And when there was no sea, he would be content with a river. And so, on his way from the Chilean sea to the Mediterranean, he docked his raft on the English shores in 1965.
With the precious help of John Saunders, we succeeded in spotting him here and there around the British docks:

9th Easter Congress — Major A
Southend-on-Sea, April 16–19, 1965
                         1  2  3  4  5  6  Pts
1 WHITBREAD, Alan W.     •  1  ½  ½  1  1   4
2 COSULICH, Roberto      0  •  1  1  1  1   4  
3 ROE, Philip L.         ½  0  •  ½  1  1   3
4 WINSER, William A.     ½  0  ½  •  1  1   3
5 HAWSON, John B.        0  0  0  0  •  1   1
6 HARDER, J. H.          0  0  0  0  0  •   0
16th Ilford Whitsun Congress — Premier Reserves A
Ilford, June 4–7, 1965
As we read on the BritBase website, “The final scores were: (1) Raymond D. Keene 3½; (2) T. Goodhill 3; (3-4) Kenneth W. Lloyd, George W. Wheeler 2½; (5) Andrew J. Whiteley 2; (6) Roberto Cosulich (Santiago, Chile) 1½”.
Even in this case none of his games are given.

Furthermore, a few references to Cosulich playing board seven for Middlesex in the 1964/65 Southern Counties Championship appear on The Monthly News Bulletin of the Southern Counties Chess Union, No. 46, Volume 7, June 1965. Cosulich, with White, first defeated John G. Brogden of Surrey, and then David G. Levens of Leicestershire, leading Middlesex to the Semi-Final match against Chesire which took place on June 12, 1965. “Some of the players on higher boards were well-known (Wade, Hartston, etc.)”, Saunders writes. “He drew his game (playing Black) with Vernon Dilworth. Middlesex qualified for the final but he did not play in that match, so perhaps he left the country at that point”.
It should be noted that the distinguished English amateur Vernon Dilworth was not only the originator of the homonymous variation in the Open Ruy López (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Bc5 10. Nbd2 0-0 11. Bc2 Nxf2), but also the proponent of a controversial gambit in the Nimzo-Indian (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e4).