MHB In memory of Svetozar Gligoric....

  • Thread starter Thread starter chisigma
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Memory
AI Thread Summary
The discussion highlights the legacy of Svetozar Gligoric, a prominent Serbian chess player who passed away at 89. He is remembered for his significant contributions to chess, including winning the Yugoslavian Championship for 17 consecutive years. The conversation references a notable game between Gligoric and Bent Larsen at the 1958 Portoroz Interzonal Tournament, showcasing the King's Indian Defense strategy. The analysis of the game reveals critical moves and strategies that led to a strong counterattack by Black, ultimately leading to White's defeat. Additionally, there is a brief mention of chess's popularity in the U.S., with a focus on the resurgence of interest through platforms like YouTube, where channels like "ChessNetwork" make the game accessible and engaging for a new generation. The discussion reflects on the evolving perceptions of chess and its instructional value.
chisigma
Gold Member
MHB
Messages
1,627
Reaction score
0
View attachment 312

SvetozarGligoric vs Robert James Fisher at the Portoroz Interzonal Tournement, 1958…

View attachment 313

Svetozar Glicoric ‘piano player’, 2011…

In last November I transferred myself in Beograd, Serbja, and one of the first ‘surprise’ I had has been to discover in a music shop a music album, consisting of twelve compositions in different genres, like blues, jazz, ballads and even rap collection of piano composed by Svetozar Glicoric. At first I though to ‘homonymy’, because the only ‘Svetozar Glicoric’ know by me was the [most famous] Serbian Grandmaster of Chess, but, looking at the cover of the album, I saw the photo of Svetozar Glicoric at the Tournament of Havana of 1966 [also the ‘Commander Che Guevara’ is in the photo…] and any my doubt disappeared. Two weeks ago Gligoric dead at the age of 89, so that , with great pain of me, I don’t have any more the opportunity to meet him personally.
Born in 1923, Svetozar Glicoric has been probably the chess player who more than any other ‘formed’ me. How ‘strong’ was Glicoric as chess player is demonstrated by the fact that he won uninterruptedly the Yugoslavian Championship for seventeen years [!] and hi didn’t become world champion only for the fact that he was ‘alone’ against the formidable ‘Russian War Machine’. In memory of Svetozar Gligoric I propose to the friends of MHB the following ‘beautiful game’…

Kind regards

$\chi$ $\sigma$


Bent Larsen - Svetozar Glicoric

Portoroz Interzonal Tournement, 1958

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7..
. This defensive line, known as ‘King’s Indian Defence’, become ‘popular’ in the 50 years and also today is ‘not yet completely explored’, so that it is currently one of the best defense for Blacks against the White’s opening 1. d4. The Black’s strategy is to leave the White’s the material occupation of the center with the idea of develop in a second phase a counter attack on a King’s or Queen’s side. ... 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 0-0 6. Nf3 e5 7. d5... 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Dxd8 Rxd8 9. Bg5 [9. Nxe5 Nxe4 ...] … Re8 10. 0-0-0 … conducts to a position with equal chances for Blacks and Whites … Na6… This ‘flexible’ Glicoric’s move [the Knight protects c7 and has the possibility to jump in c5 [attacking the pawn e4…] or in b4. The next White’s move defends e4 ‘pre-emptively’ but practically it will be a waste of time… 8. Nd2 c5 9. a3 Ne8 10. h4… The 8-th and 9-th White’s movies could be justified on the basis of an advance on the Queen’s side but in this case the 10-th and 11-th movies are clearly a contradiction so that we can say that at this point White has lost all his advantage… f5 11. h5 Nf6 12. hxg6 hxg6 13. Nf3 Nc7 14. Ng5 Qe7 15. Qd3 f4 … avoiding 16 Qh3 Blacks create the basis of a strong counter attack that Whites, searching improbable initiatives on the King’s side, finishes to facilitate … 16. Bd2 a6 17. g3 Ng4! 18. Nh3 b5!... excellent move!... now the Whites are in front of a ‘dilemma’: what pawn to catch, b5 or f4?... after 19. cxb5 axb5 20. Qxb5 Nxf2! … the White King is under attack but the alternative, which ‘opens the way’ to the g7 Bishop is even worse … 19. gxf4 exf4 20. Bxg4 Bxg4 21. Nxf4 Rxf4!... another excellent move that ‘kills’ the most dangerous White piece leaving Blacks ‘ohner of the table’ ... 22. Bxf4 bxc4 23. Qxc4 Nb5… more precise 23. … Rb8 because if 24 Rb1? Bxc3 … 24.Kd2 Rf8 25. Be3 Bf3 26. Rhg1 Nxc3 27. bxc3 Bxe4 28. Rae1 Bf5 29. Qb3 c4!... after this move White’s defence becomes simply ‘impossible’ … 30. Qxc4 Rc8 31. Qf4 Qb7 32. Ke2 Qb5+ 33. Kf3 Qxd5+ 34. Ke2 Bd3+ 0-1
 

Attachments

  • gligoric fisher.jpg
    gligoric fisher.jpg
    31.5 KB · Views: 117
  • gligoric piano player.jpg
    gligoric piano player.jpg
    17.3 KB · Views: 105
Physics news on Phys.org
Lol, I thought chess was a dead sport. Must be because I am an american kid...Are there any TV channels devoted to chess?
 
kanderson said:
Lol, I thought chess was a dead sport. Must be because I am an american kid...Are there any TV channels devoted to chess?

Not in the US. I was in a chess club as a kid but lost interest until I found the YouTube channel "ChessNetwork". It makes watching 40 minutes of chess fun, no joke. His blitz games are so fast and interesting but he also has really informative instructional videos on various chess topics.
 
kanderson said:
Thanks a lot man :D Especially enjoyed this one. Warzone Kings Chess Tournament [72] - YouTube

All of the 2 minute per game tournaments he plays are fun to watch. He thinks so fast and brings up ideas all the time I never even considered. Also, it feels good to catch good moves he missed. Usually in the comments below the video there are some good questions or something like "at 12:33 you could have trapped his Queen!".

I never gave much thought as a kid to pawn structure or the pros/cons of taking a pawn versus pushing my pawn another space forward to make the board closed. Other things like doubled pawns, choosing which pawn to take with if you have the choice and taking advantage of passed pawns.
 
Similar to the 2024 thread, here I start the 2025 thread. As always it is getting increasingly difficult to predict, so I will make a list based on other article predictions. You can also leave your prediction here. Here are the predictions of 2024 that did not make it: Peter Shor, David Deutsch and all the rest of the quantum computing community (various sources) Pablo Jarrillo Herrero, Allan McDonald and Rafi Bistritzer for magic angle in twisted graphene (various sources) Christoph...
Thread 'My experience as a hostage'
I believe it was the summer of 2001 that I made a trip to Peru for my work. I was a private contractor doing automation engineering and programming for various companies, including Frito Lay. Frito had purchased a snack food plant near Lima, Peru, and sent me down to oversee the upgrades to the systems and the startup. Peru was still suffering the ills of a recent civil war and I knew it was dicey, but the money was too good to pass up. It was a long trip to Lima; about 14 hours of airtime...

Similar threads

Replies
10
Views
4K
Replies
6
Views
2K
Replies
8
Views
9K
2
Replies
83
Views
21K
Back
Top