In May 2022 the then world's oldest grandmaster, Yuri Averbakh, died at the age of 100. Since then, until two weeks ago, the 'title' of the world's oldest grandmaster was held by Aleksandar Matanovic. On 9 August 2023 Matanovic, one of the leading players of the Yugoslav golden era, died in Belgrade at the age of 93. Diana Mihajlova honours a man who gave his life to chess. | Photo: Serbian Chess Federation
Today, chess legend Svetozar Gligoric, who passed away in 2012, would have turned 100 years old. In World War II he fought as a partisan against the Germans, and after the war he became one of the world's best chess players. He was very popular among his peers and even managed to be friends with Bobby Fischer. Dagobert Kohlmeyer remembers the King's Indian expert. | Photos: Dagobert Kohlmeyer
The Serbian name "Darko" comes from "Dar" for "gift". Good wishes are bestowed often upon our children, be it luck with the Biblical name "The son of luck" or "Benjamin", or in this case, the gift of being gifted. A special gift indeed was given to Darko Hlebec, an interesting composing style. Study specialist Siegfried Hornecker presents presents examples of his work and Darko's comments about it.
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