Gligoric was also interesting as a person.
Not in the way we usually imagine chess players like crazy nerds.
Gligoric used to say for himself "I am ego maniac but a normal one!"
He has recently published autobigpraphy in which he described his war years. ("I went to the war in my blue crombie coat, and we had to fight a German machine gun nest..." He also described his match aginst Tal in 1968: when he was writing his move in abandoned game, one spectator looked over his shoulder and said the move to Tal! Tal cursed loudly because he was fair... but Gligoric lost the game... He desicrbed how he had proposed his future wife...)
Gligoric died of stroke last nigth.
He was fascinated with music all his life, and only in advanced age he took lessons of harmony and composing, and he learned how to use computer to compose.
he had published 2 cd with lyrics in English.
His apartment was in fact a chess museum.
He was nice fellow, gentleman of chess, he tried to bring Fischer back to chess in 1978, but he was also a day dreamer, lonesome, but never in the sense of hermit chess "lunatics" as Hubner or Fischer.
He never smoked, he played football for fitness even in his late seventies.
Serbian highest officials expressed condolences to the Chess Assosiation of Serbia, because Gligoric has no relatives /childless widower/, and press said as always in such occasions: date and place of funeral will be announced later.
I expect though a state funeral - there is an area on Belgrade cemetery for distuingshed artists etc - after a memmorial session in Serbian Chess Federation.
Gligoric Has Died
14 Aug '12 21:19
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