< In a less cruel world we would this year have been marking the 70th birthday of one of the most original and mysterious chess talents of the modern era. But Albin Planinc, who was born in the Slovenian town of Brise in 1944, died in tragic circumstances in 2008. Or perhaps one could say that death marked the end of a tragic life. He had been resident in an institution for many years: profound mental problems had forced his retirement from chess in 1979 when he was still in his thirties

It was ten years before that, in 1969, that as a complete unknown the 25-year-old Planinc won a major tournament in Ljubljana, ahead of ten notable international grandmasters. While the other players spent the mornings in their hotel rooms preparing, Planinc was working his shift in a local bicycle factory. No one could quite believe it, though Slovenians (then part of the Yugoslav federation) were of course thrilled that the tall, skinny local lad — and one of the workers! — had triumphed so unexpectedly.

Four years later Planinc recorded his greatest success, winning the awesomely strong IBM Amsterdam tournament of 1973 ahead of Boris Spassky. This time it was the whole chess world which was thrilled, not so much because there was a new star in the firmament, but because of the sheer unconventionality of Planinc's style. He did not just play every game to win, but — or so it seemed — to win beautifully. > (unquote)

http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/ches...

Read also the thrilling chronicle by <FSR> of Albin Planinc's winning the first Vidmar Memorial in 1969 at Ljubljana, a strong international tournament, as a little-known amateur, ahead of reputed grandmasters, one of the biggest upsets of all time in chess history:

http://www.chessnc.com/biography/pe...

The digital image bears no identifying metadata.

Note the flags. It appears the player in this photograph has been allotted the Yugoslavian flag, and his undepicted opponent playing White has been allotted the Bulgarian flag. (Greek flags do proliferate beside other tables.) My understanding, which is primitive, is that the Yugoslavian flag ceased to be flown or displayed officially after 1992. I don't believe the flag shown here beside the depicted player ever to have been the Slovenian flag, but of course I may be wrong in this regard. However, perhaps the tournament organizers were simply allotting the flags they had on hand.

The resolution of the digital image makes it difficult (but not impossible) to discern the entirety of the position at hand. It is hard for me to make out which chessmen have been captured (standing by the ashtray), and to make out all of the white and black chessmen down each of the files. I won't try to fix or to approximate the position, but if one were able to do so, then perhaps consultation of databases or printed lists of PGN moves from various sources featuring candidate games might prove revelatory.

The player depicted does bear some resemblance to Mr. P. as he appears in photographs from the days when his career was active and flourishing. If this is a photograph of Mr. P., I believe it was taken at a tournament held in 1983, not in 1993. My preliminary research reveals that Mr. P. did compete with some success at a Serbian tournament in November 1983; perhaps this photograph was taken at that event or one roughly coeval with it. I don't know if he was healthy enough to have travelled to Greece in 1983, but perhaps he was.

Back on January 20, 2008, you wrote that Mr. P. "stopped playing in the early 80's because of his illness." Although of course the cessation of his play was a great loss to all, and his illness was grievous, your comment nonetheless heartens me in my efforts to compile all of his tournament victories so all may benefit. I play through Mr. P.'s games often, and always he inspires me and brings a smile. I admire him for his ingenuity and his courage.

I have discovered a list (from which the compiler's name is absent, else I would credit him or her) of many of Mr. P's tournament victories, and while it is incomplete, it is remarkably accurate (so far, I have found only one error in the PGN moves of the 197 tournament victories it includes). I have been able to corroborate the PGN headers and moves for fifteen of the seventeen games it lists that are not yet posted here on chessgames; I plan to upload those fifteen corroborated games presently.

Two of these fifteen corroborated games Mr. P. won in the 1980's, and I was wondering if perhaps these were some of the games to which you were referring, and whether you might validate them or elaborate upon them. Leaving diacritics aside, the PGN headers for these two corroborated games from May 1981 are as follows:

[Event "YUG Cup 24th"]
[Site "Pula, ?"]
[Date "1981.05.18"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "1"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Planinec, Albin"]
[Black "Cvorovic, Marto"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]

Black resigned after White's 24th move.

[Event "YUG Cup 24th"]
[Site "Pula, ?"]
[Date "1981.05.21"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "4"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Planinec, Albin"]
[Black "Cetkovic, Miodrag"]
[ECO "A49"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"}

Black resigned after White's 29th move.

The following are the PGN headers for the two uncorroborated games, from November 1983, of the seventeen tournament victories of Mr. P.'s not yet posted here. I do plan to upload the PGN headers and moves for these two games once I've corroborated them:

[Event "Bratstvo-jedinstvo 7th Subotica"]
[Site "Subotica, ?"]
[Date "1983.11.22"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "2"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Sadiku, Bedri"]
[Black "Planinec, Albin"]
[ECO "A10"]
[WhiteElo "2275"]
[BlackElo "2425"]

White resigned in check after Black's 46th move.

[Event "Bratstvo-jedinstvo 7th Subotica"]
[Site "Subotica, ?"]
[Date "1983.11.24"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "4"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Ivanovic, Bozidar"]
[Black "Planinec, Albin"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2515"]
[BlackElo "2425"]

White resigned after Black's 34th move.

I put question marks after "Pula" and "Subotica" because I don't know if "Yugoslavia" is the correct country designation. I assume it would be, but I wish to be neither inaccurate nor disrespectful.

Am I correct that "Bratstvo-jedinstvo" means "Brotherhood and unity"?

Any corroboration, validation, or elucidation you or others might provide of course is most welcome, and would be very much appreciated.

I leave you with links to two pieces in Slovenian (I hope that is the proper name of your language) that I cannot read, but that I hope you will find informative and perhaps even inspiring. I would be most grateful if you could share in English any highlights or salient details you find noteworthy, but I wish not to impose.

Here is a link to Georg Mohr's "In Memoriam" dated December 23, 2008:

http://www.sah-zveza.si/novice/poda...

Here is a link to an article I believe to be dated January 8, 2009 by either Bernard Nežmah or Pisma Bralcev (sorry I can't tell who the author is!):

http://www.mladina.si/45876/v-pozab...

Enjoy!

Yes.

Pula and Subotica were both part of Yugoslavia, the former now of Croatia, the latter of Serbia. Sadly, I couldn't really tell you about the authenticity of the games, I couldn't find anything in a brief Google search and I don't know cyrillic to try and look into the two Subotica games more.

<Georg Mohr's "In Memoriam">

I was a boy, a talented beginner, when the legendary (chess) teacher Damjan Kolar from the Železničar (~Railroad) school in Maribor told me I could take part in a chess lecture and a small simul next Saturday, where Albin Planinc would take on some of the most talented local young players. My heart skipped a beat, my joy was immense - I would be playing against Planinc, a man that plays like no other, who features in local and especially foreign newspapers.

Just a few weeks prior I had worked as a demonstrator, moving pieces at an international tournament at the Dom JLA (Yugoslav People's Army Home, it's a name of a facility) in Maribor. Planinc was there as well and, as lucky would have it, that day the crowd became restless and the numerous spectators - at the time thy actually came to watch - went up on their feet and started clapping in the middle of the games. Against all rules, but when Albin was playing those didn't apply anyway. He was a chess demigod, my first and only role model.

In those years I didn't really understand the chess giant. All I saw were the piece sacrifices but not the path that led to them. And even less so the raging emotions inside him. I saw a man always deep in thought, who didn't say much but let chess moves speak for him. Just a few years later he quit playing. Because of his serious illness doctors forbade him from playing and of course he didn't listen. But later he realized by himself he couldn't go on. He couldn't handle the strain on his nerves and put the chessboard away, even though he could never put it out of his mind.

I had the privilege of having a few late night discussions with the man I looked up to. Always without a bottle - Planinc drank very little if at all, although he knew almost everything about wines. And not only that. He was a man without formal education - he dropped out of High School - nut was nevertheless very knowledgeable about many things, all self-taught. At those late hours I learned more about chess and many other things than ever before or since. In the next few years Planinc gradually retired from chess. In the 90's he was rarely heard of and even those few stories weren't chess-related. Everywhere I traveled chess players from all over the World would ask me about Bine (pet name version of Albin). How is he, does he still play any games? Yes, games! Those ensured his place in history.

And with results: he won the first Vidmar Memorial in 1969. Oh, how he exploded onto the scene with his sensational win. He won an Olympic medal with a brilliant performance in Nice 1974. But more than anything else, Planinc was famous for his games. They were a result of an unbelievable and inimitable attitude to chess. Planinc would honourably play every game until all opportunities were exhausted and in doing so he cared not about the name nor the strength of the opponent. Such an attitued brought many unnecessary losses but also many wins. His were usually very beautiful and pleasing for the casual fan.

We cared least for him at home. How the Dutch adored him, for example, as he kept declining draws in one tournament and managed the impossible when he lost a 2.5 points advantage with a few rounds to go. Which in turn brought him a legion of fans in a nation that loves the game. There are many such stories, Planinc will alyays be a part of chess history, even though he didn't achieve anything really important.

In Slovenia we always took him for granted, like these people were a dime a dozen. And so were his last years sad and lonely. He spent them in a nursing home in Mengeš forgotten by everyone. When we last spoke on the phone his voice was trembling and he could barely say anything. I knew the end of his path was nigh.

Even so I was completely devastated when I learned the sad news. With a few days' delay, in his final years Planinc would very rarely talk about chess. Still I believe his thoughts were filled with the black and white squares. And the 32 pieces, which he would only move in his mind. Rest in peace, the greatest. Chess players will always remember you!

***

Regarding the photo http://www.chessnc.com/biography/pe... , it may be him, but he looks very young, I would guess it's from the 60's or early 70's. There was a tournament in Athens in 1971, although I don't know why Planinc participated in the U20 WCh. It's not the game against Tringov (Tringov vs A Planinc, 1971), maybe he played Padevski?

I did corroborate the moves for Mr. P.'s two victories in the Tournament of Brotherhood and Unity that was the 7th Subotica held in November 1983. I also found that Mr. P., playing Black, defeated Stanimir Nikolic (against whom he secured one of his first tournament victories, at Novi Sad in 1965, then too playing Black) in 1983 at the 26th Yugoslavia Cup. GM Nikolic resigned after GM Planinc's 56th move. I don't yet have corroboration of the PGN moves I've found for this victory, but I will search on.

I'd love to validate these games by reference to some reliable printed history or collection somewhere, if such resources exist.

Thank you again for your kind and helpful efforts.

Is that the Bulgarian flag next to White? It looks to be, but I'm not wholly sure.

Here a link to IM Fernando Braga's website that styles the same photograph as "Planinc-Atenas 1993":

http://www.ajedrezconmaestros.com/l...

I believe "Atenas" is Spanish for "Athens."

This caption, taken together with the Greek flags, the clothing and wristwatch, and the nature of the color photography in this image, and considered in the context of Mr. P.'s several tournament appearances in 1983, all led me to my "Athens 1983" speculative corrective attribution.

Hope this isn't a tempest in a teapot, but games and appearances by Mr. P. post-'79 are rarer then hen's teeth (to mix metaphors), and I want to do whatever I can to bring new games to light so all can delight in them. Clarifying and augmenting the historical record, even in a modest way, is also important -- especially for a player so justly revered in his glory days yet so unjustly forgotten in his desuetude as Albin Planinc was.

[Event "Yugoslavia"]
[Site "?, Yugoslavia"]
[Date "1981.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Milisevic, ?"]
[Black "Planinc, Albin"]
[ECO "E99"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. Ne1 Nd7 10. Nd3 f5 11. Bd2 Nf6 12. f3 f4 13. c5 g5 14. Rc1 Ng6 15. a4 Rf7 16. a5 h5 17. h3 Bf8 18. cd6 cd6 19. b4 g4 20. hg4 hg4 21. fg4 Nh7 22. Nf2 Ng5 23. Nb5 f3 24. gf3 Rh7 25. Qe1 Qf6 26. Rc7 Bd7 27. Qc1 Nh3 28. Nh3 Qh4 29. Qe1 Qh3 30. Kf2 Qh4 31. Ke3 Bh6 32. f4 Bf4 33. Rf4 ef4 34. Kd4 Qf6 35. Kc4 Bb5 36. Kb5 Rc7 37. Qb1 Qd4 38. e5 Ne5 0-1.

I checked chessbites's tournament database (which does feature Planinc's two games from Pula 1981, possibly from the Tito Cup -- the ones for which I provided PGN headers earlier in this thread), but it does not list this game under "YUG-ch" or "Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia." White may have been played by FIDE Master Miodrag Milisevic, or by Predrag Milisevic.

My friend <sachistu> has played and analyzed this opening, and he deems this a tough variation for both sides. To borrow from his notes, White enjoys strong queenside play, but his king is exposed in this "mating variation" (Kasparov's characterization, perhaps?) And Albin Planinc, with the black pieces, takes full advantage.

This game to me is very much in the Planinc style. Great pawn tension early on, careful strategizing in the early midgame, fierce concentration and avoidance of defensive distractions, relentless tactical attack, and conclusive positional domination. The king hunt is a merry chase indeed. Tally-ho!

I'd love to submit this for upload, if I can find any hard-sourced corroboration of the moves, and learn the identity of the losing player with the white pieces. Any assistance would be most gratefully appreciated.

Also, there may be some games missing from here, so I will check and upload them if necessary.