For the sake of completeness, it is important to add that the ghost of Roberto Cosulich was still haunting Genoa in 1978. Indeed, according to Scaccomatto (No. 6/1997) — the monthly newsletter of the Circolo Scacchistico Genovese Luigi Centurini — he would come back from India and leave days later to Latin America “one autumn evening in 1978, after dropping by the Club to say hello to his friends”. The tale continues thus:
“The valuable account provided by Mario Quaglia here comes to our aid. On the way back from India, Cosulich calls in at Genoa, now clean-shaven, well dressed, with short haircut (!). He tells about his wanderings through India, where he would earn his living by playing blitz chess (he was very good even in this specialty, with several Italian Championsip titles under his belt). He stayed here for some days, then he left again. His restless, unhappy mind pushes him towards another destination: he goes back to South America. Roberto Cosulich never came back from this trip. A few years ago we learned from a French chess magazine that the passport of someone called Cosulich, a chess Master, would have been discovered in Peru among the victims of a natural disaster. His body, however, was never found”. |
The name of Mario Quaglia is not new since it was mentioned by Paolo Silvestri in a biographical article which appeared on the SoloScacchi website on January 4, 2014: “Halfway between 1973 and 1974 Roberto used to hang out with a group of — let’s call them thus — Genoese creatives: Mario Quaglia, Popi Frizziero, Umberto Melli... I remember them in a small flat at Boccadasse... discussions... chatter... laughter... focaccia and white wine until three in the morning”.
And so, a friend of Cosulich put another period to what everyone knew or guessed. In Quaglia’s account, however, there is a detail that sounds implausibly novelistic. I’ve been in India many years ago, and would doubt seriously that, at the time (1978), anyone could in any way earn a living by playing blitz chess. Why? Simple. There weren’t any opponents as chess was not popular at all in India, however incredible it may seem nowadays! Secondly, more importantly and surely Cosulich hadn’t gone to India to play chess. He was escaping a life he abhorred, where chess was mere routine work. And now, would he have played chess for a handful of rupees? No, never again. Most likely he hid in an ashram, where studied meditation and Eastern philosophy, and learned all secrets of reincarnation. It is not given to know whether, in his self-deconstruction, he changed his name, too. But of course it’s not impossible.
In the meantime, life went on.
There were birthdays and funerals he missed. Conversations and encounters he wasn’t part of.
His ancient mentor, Hermann Pilnik, died on November 12, 1981, at Caracas, Venezuela.
Giambattista Lazagna was acquitted and discharged from any prosecutions, indictments and imprisonments commenced against him.
The late Roberto Cosulich no longer needed his passport.
And so, a friend of Cosulich put another period to what everyone knew or guessed. In Quaglia’s account, however, there is a detail that sounds implausibly novelistic. I’ve been in India many years ago, and would doubt seriously that, at the time (1978), anyone could in any way earn a living by playing blitz chess. Why? Simple. There weren’t any opponents as chess was not popular at all in India, however incredible it may seem nowadays! Secondly, more importantly and surely Cosulich hadn’t gone to India to play chess. He was escaping a life he abhorred, where chess was mere routine work. And now, would he have played chess for a handful of rupees? No, never again. Most likely he hid in an ashram, where studied meditation and Eastern philosophy, and learned all secrets of reincarnation. It is not given to know whether, in his self-deconstruction, he changed his name, too. But of course it’s not impossible.
In the meantime, life went on.
There were birthdays and funerals he missed. Conversations and encounters he wasn’t part of.
His ancient mentor, Hermann Pilnik, died on November 12, 1981, at Caracas, Venezuela.
Giambattista Lazagna was acquitted and discharged from any prosecutions, indictments and imprisonments commenced against him.
The late Roberto Cosulich no longer needed his passport.
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