(Note: This article uses the westernized spelling of several places. Apologies for this, but I would spell it probably even wronger otherwise.)
On the corner of
Kneza Milosa and Nemanjina Street is a big scar, a leftover from a direct
missile hit in the night of 29 to 30 April 1999, the 37
th day of the
NATO aggression, and the night of 7 to 8 May 1999, the 45
th day of
the
NATO attacks against Belgrade in 1999 (see photo).
Photo by Darko
Hlebec, used with permission
A short walk away
from this leftover of the war is to one side Kneza Milosa 53. Directly abroad that
address the former U.S.
embassy building is now for sale. To the other side of the former Army
Headquarters as seen in the photo along the Kneza Milosa and then one further
street to the right we can find the building with the chess club of Belgrade.
I arrived first on Airport Nikola Tesla and then in Belgrade on 2 June 2015
to participate in the annual Belgrade Problem Chess Festival. On the days
leading up to the festival, Darko Hlebec showed me around the city, being always
helpful even when I was demanding. As a personal highlight, we visited his
family where his wonderful grandmother gifted me an artistic booklet of hers.
Another booklet was received on the evening of the 5th June in the Belgrade chess club where
Ivan Denkovski presented a collection of proofgames, printed in 2013. Several
mini-lectures were held, including Marjan Kovačević talking about a theme by
our late friend Milan Velimirović.
In the technical
university of Belgrade, some blocks away from the chess club, the solving event
of the Open Championship of Serbia took place on the 6th and 7th
of June. Yours Truly immediately took the first place after the twomovers round
– from behind. After the threemovers, I had achieved five points but then my
specialty came up – endgame studies. One particular pawn endgame was impossible
to crack for me while the study ending in stalemate was easy to solve for a
full five points. The first of the set of three studies proved to be the most
difficult because of the move 1.-Qd2, very hard to find, but then everything
ran by itself. Yet at the end of the solution I gave a point away by giving the
sideline that is in my opinion equal to the main line since the same moves with
the same idea are played. I gave the sheet one minute early to the judge Ivan
Denkovski. When later a dual was found in the stalemate study, several results
were uprated, making that minute crucial to me being the best endgame study
solver with 11 points and 99 minutes, in front of Branislav “Branko” Djurasević
with 11 points and 100 minutes. So I can call myself the inofficial champion of
Serbia
in solving endgame studies.
After this, we went
again to the chess club where we friendly sat together and composers should
show one work they produced since the last meeting, so I presented my study
from the Sam Isenegger MT 2014 which, as Dragan Stojnić showed me, had also
appeared in the “Sahovski informator” in Afek’s column (thanks, Yochanan!). I
also showed around a study I composed recently which was met with positive
comments. Since currently Martin Minski and I still develop it, it is not
possible to present it to the public yet, sorry!
The second day saw
helpmates of which I solved one completely and a line of another one.
Unfortunately I wasted my time on the too difficult one instead of the easier
third one, thereby probably wasting some points. The directmates had a hellish
surprise by “Rätselonkel” Fritz Giegold:
Fritz Giegold
Die Welt, 1978
Mate in 5
I had of course seen
this problem a long time ago but did not remember the solution. I still
remembered it was by Giegold, which should have led me to the solution but it
took me 70 of the allotted 80 minutes for moremovers to find it: Can you do
better?
The selfmates saw me
solving the two- and threemover. I was surprised at myself. Unfortunately the
fivemover proved to be a too tough nut for me, chasing the wrong idea 1.Rb1
d:e6. In the end I reached place 16 of 29 contestants and a respectable 37.5
points in 259 minutes. Of course this is far behind, but more than half of the
points of winner Michel “Kajo” Caillaud (68.5 points / 327 minutes). I will
look forward to seeing my half-rating (in solving you must compete in two
tournaments to receive a full rating).
Later on the day we visited
the grave of my friend Milan, bringing the
closure and possibility to honor him to me that I sought when I first came to Belgrade in 2013.
On the evening of the
8th of June a special treat awaited those who participated in the
“normal” chess club evening: Darko Hlebec just had won (shared) the draw
section of the Johann Berger 170 Memorial and presented his study that ends in
a wonderful end pattern. Judge Peter Krug from Austria was right in awarding the
highest honors to it, even if a certain other composer disagreed because of the
two inactive pieces in that position.
Darko Hlebec
Johann Berger 170 MT,
Draw section, 1st/2nd prize
White to move and
draw
1.Ra6+! R:a6 2.S7c5+ Kb5 3.Sd4+ Q:d4 4.Q:d4 Rg6+ 5.Kf4 Sg2+ 6.K:f5 Sh4+
7.K:e4 Rg4+ 8.f4 B:d4 9.e8Q+ Kc4! 10.Qe6+/Qf7+ Kc3 11.Sa4+ B:a4 12.Qc4+ K:c4
stalemate
Final position.
The stalemate is
funny and interesting, of a certain beauty since the whole fourth rank is
filled.
Sergiy Didukh on his blog however complained that the two pieces on the
left side, the Ba4 and Pb4, are unessential for the stalemate. However, I
believe they were intentionally added by Darko, which he pretty much confirmed,
and they do contribute in my opinion to the overall final picture.
As all journeys will
reach their end, so did mine. Armed with one painting bought from street
painter Zoran and with the 8 June 2015 issue of “Politika” in my luggage that
featured our solving competition on page 29, I left Belgrade on the early morning of 9 June 2015
by plane. For a short moment prior to the landing it did not look good: We flew
through clouds and suddenly something black seemed to show up below the wing –
smoke? No, as it turned out, the weather in Germany just made the ground look
rather dark. We arrived safely, and as the customs police officer told me I did
not have to pay taxes for the beautiful painting showing the back of a half-naked
young woman. It might not be Jan Vermeer’s Maiden
with the Pearl Earring, but I don’t think any other German has a painting
of Zoran from Belgrade
in his apartment?
As we say in Germany: Ein schöner Rücken / kann entzücken.
