Aug-19-09
 | | GrahamClayton: Dan Zoler was involved in one of the saddest incidents in chess history while playing in the 2009 Acropolis Open in Athens. Zoler was Black against Greek player Nikolas Karapanos, and the following position was reached after Black's 35th move:
click for larger viewWhile considering the best way to finish off the game, Karapanos suffered a heart attack and died. Zoler, a doctor by profession, tried to revive Karapanos, but to no avail. Out of respect to his opponent, Zoler resigned the game and withdrew from the tournament. |
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| Aug-19-09 | | grizopoulos: I would like to post a comment paying my deepest respect, honors and admiration towards Mr.DAN ZOLER International master from Israel.
First of all please accept my apologies for my poor English. I come from Greece and I am a ‘humble’ candidate master so not much of a chess player really.
About a week ago the Acropolis International tournament started in Chalkida, Greece.
Mr.Zoler was facing in the first round the late (god bless his soul) 42 y.old NIKOS KARAPANOS from Greece, a player of master strength (about 2200 I think) who –against the odds- had performed formidably on the board and was ready to play the decisive and winning R:f7+ when he suffered a heart attack and unfortunately later passed away.
Mr Zoler –being also a medical doctor- immediately offered his professional knowledge during the first-aid procedure trying desperately to assist poor Nikos till the ambulance arrival and also accompanied him to the nearby hospital offering his (alas vain) assistance.
After the tragic finish he himself declared Nikos Karapanos a winner (despite the arbiter’s original announcements and his chess ‘interests’) and also –obviously shocked- withdrew from the Tournament.
The whole incident was widely covered by the Greek chess press and e-blogs, but nothing -I could find at least- was mentioned on our beloved chessgames.com site or elsewhere internationally.
According to my opinion acts like these of Mr.Zoler’s full of dignity, human sensitivity and true respect to the essence of chess as part of our daily lives should very much be high praised and advertized as a bright example to be followed.
After all he most convincingly and empathically demonstrated that chess is not only about ratings, tournament money prizes e.t.c. and I must say that unfortunately in our days he is one of the few really respecting the Moto ’’GENS UNA SUMUS’’
I really think that F.I.D.E, the Greek Chess Federation and other authorities perhaps should honor him for his actions.
But at least let him know that he will be always remembered and honored in our hearts for his humanity as the true great winner of this tournament. All chess players –including myself of course- would like to have played a la Tal or a la Capa at specific games. From now on I would thank god if I could play a la Zoler!
‘’ÅÕÃÅ ÍÔÁÍ ÆÏËÅÑ!’’
P.S. I was not present at the tragic stage ,but all information is provided by 100% reliable sources including nearby players and arbiters.
Chessgames.com should also mention something I think.
Kind Regards,G.Rizopoulos (Greece) |
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| Jul-25-10 | | BIDMONFA: Dan Zoler ZOLER, Dan
http://www.bidmonfa.com/zoler_dan.htm
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Jul-25-10
 | | Tabanus: Winner today of the XXVIII Andorra Open 17-25 July 2010: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr362..., congratulations! |
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Nov-11-11
 | | wordfunph: <GrahamClayton> <grizopoulos> thanks for sharing <one of the saddest incidents in chess history>.. i was so touched by the incident and this maybe the best OTB story ever! |
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Jan-19-12
 | | brankat: A very sad, and yet heartwarming story. A true sportsman and a gentleman GM Zoler! Happy Birthday Sir! |
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| Jan-19-12 | | King Death: That story's a reminder of what really matters in life. Dr. Zoler is a GM in chess and he's a world champion as a man. Happy Birthday and may you live to be a thousand years old! |
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| Mar-28-12 | | ColdSong: I'd find it really difficult to take a full point in a tournament from a man who does not finish the game alive, and still have to go on for the next rounds.Simply hope that will never happen.But I think, maybe interestingly, that if one day it happens that I myself die while playing a game, and being asked about the result (a thing that rarely occurs, for some understandable reasons ) I'd wish my opponent to take the point (or, maybe, half a point,hmm, let's have a look at the chessboard position after all ) and go on with this tournament. |
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Jul-15-12
 | | twinlark: Dan Zoler is a GM as of last year, at the age 37. Congratulations GM Zoler. Also GM Zoler won this years Benasque Open in Spain quite convincingly, scoring 8/9 with a TPR of 2791. He won by a clear point ahead of the second placed group that included Harekrishna, Burmakin and Nabaty. He seems to go from strength to strength showing he's evergreen both as a player and as a human being. All the very best to him. |
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Jul-15-12
 | | Shams: I thought you had to get all three norms within a couple years? |
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Jul-15-12
 | | WannaBe: I don't think so, it took Ben Finegold quite a while to get his third... |
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Jul-15-12
| | twinlark: That used to be the case, but the requirement was relaxed sometime in the 80s or 90s. |
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