Ambar Chatterjee Obituary: Dimitrije Bjelica

On 18^th June 2025 the world lost a top class chess journalist, chess organiser and chess player.

I first became aware of Dimitrije Bjelica's writings when Bobby Fischer began his meteoric rise in the 1970s. The loud mouthed Fischer had scant regard for journalists in general, but Dimitrije Bjelica was different. Bobby trusted him and the two became close friends. Dimitrije was one of the persons behind Fischer's several visits to Yogoslavia during 1958 to 1966 where he played in tournaments and exhibition games against top Yugoslav players. Dimitrije Bjelica's favourable reporting in the media accounted for Fischer's popularity in Yogoslavia.

Bjelica and Fischer worked together on chess literature, co-authoring projects such as the book Šahovski Susreti Stoleća (Chess Encounters of the Century).

Dimitrije was always around to cover the major tournaments in Europe. But he was not just a journalist covering the events, he was also close to the players who confided in him. In 1959 there were two important events in Europe, the Zurich Jubilee Tournament in Switzerland and the 1959 Candidates Tournament held across Bled, Zagreb, and Belgrade in Yugoslavia. Mikhail Tal, then 22 years of age created history with his exceptional scinitillating brillant sacrificial play winning both the tournaments. The 16-year old Bobby Fischer nearly caught Tal but a penultimate-round upset brought him down to 3^rd-4^th place.

Dimitrije recognized before the events that the young Tal and Fischer were the players to watch and gather material for his media coverage and befriended both of them. One day he put both Tal and Fischer in his car to show them around Zurich (while planning a joint interview). Dimitrije's mind was not in his driving and his handling of the car was pretty rough. Fischer became concerned and said that there could be an accident. Bjelica tried to make a joke out of it saying that if they all died right now then tomorrow's newspaper headlines would say: "Dimitrije Bjelica killed in a car accident with two passengers". Mikhail Tal immediately burst out laughing, appreciating the ironic humor of two generational chess prodigies being relegated to mere "passengers" in Bjelica's obituary. But the young Bobby did not appreciate the joke and said "No, I don't think they would write something like that. I am much more well-known than Bjelica."

The car incident and the subsequent joint interview of Tal and Fischer have become legendary in chess journalism. Bjelica managed to sit both players down together and pelted them with rapid-fire questions. Both players were caught off-guard and made candid funny statements. On defeating Tal, Fischer remarked, "Finally, he has not escaped me!" and Tal immediately joked, "It is difficult to play against Einstein's Theory". When Bjelica asked "Who do you admire", Tal immediately said "Bobby Fischer!" while Fischer replied, "Nobody, not even Botvinnik".

While there were no digital video-cameras in those days, but filming with hand-held movie camers was what journalists could do. One of Bjelica's famous recorded footage concerns the Caro-Kann defence. During the late 1950s and 1960s, Bobby Fischer regularly replied to the Caro-Kann Defence with the Two Knights Variation (1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3). Top Soviet grandmasters like Tal, Petrosian, and Smyslov heavily targeted Fischer with the Caro-Kann because they knew he preferred sharp, open tactical games like the Open Sicilian and hated the closed drawish nature of the Caro-Kann. Bjelica filmed Bobby Fischer and Tal together smiling and joking as Fischer recalled hoow after he moved 1.e4, Tal (playing Black), picked up his c-pawn and held it in the air for several agonizing seconds while staring directly into Fischer's eyes and finally and unecpectedly dropping it on c5 instead of c6, accepting to play a fighting Sicilian game.

The 1970 Match of the Century held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia was an epoch-making clash that pitted the ten best chess grandmasters of the Soviet Union against the ten best from the Rest of the World. Dimitrije Bjelica was on the ground filming the historic gathering, which was filled with unprecedented drama, shocking concessions, and legendary games. The stubborn Bent Larsen objected to Fischer playing on Board 1 and himself relegated to Board 2 saying that Fischer was inactive for two years while he had won several major tournaments. This was going to be flash point, because Fischer would never concede. While it is not known how, Fischer unexpectedly and almost immediately agreed to step down to second board, some say it was Dimitrije who used his long friendship positively for creating this outcome.

Dimitrije Bjelica was one of the most visible, prolific, and colorful chess journalists of the 20^th century. His sheer volume of work and proximity to the world's elite players made him a household name in the chess community. Bjelica's greatest strength was his ability to secure direct, candid access to historically reclusive or difficult chess legends. He maintained a close personal and professional rapport with players like Mikhail Tal, Anatoly Karpov, and Bobby Fischer. His early profiles and continuous updates provided fans with rare glimpses into their personalities. He is recognized as one of the most published chess authors in history, having penned over 80 books issued in roughly 180 editions. Among his most famous projects were comprehensive biographical collections and his multi-volume works tracking the historic exploits of Fischer. Beyond standard print journalism, Bjelica aggressively modernized chess media by producing over 35 videos and CDs. He hosted various television segments and documentaries, translating complex chess grandmaster drama into engaging entertainment for the general public. He functioned as an on-the-scene reporter for many of the most critical chess events of the 20^th century, including multiple Chess Olympiads and World Championship cycles. His iconic I Was There style column in magazines like Chess Life delivered immediate, direct-speech interviews with titans like Bent Larsen and Mikhail Tal. Bjelica founded and edited the chess magazine Gens una sumus following the 1986 Dubai Olympiad. He also spearheaded the creation of the International Chess Writers Association, establishing himself as its self-styled director to hand out annual chess journalism awards. Leveraging his journalism network, he crossed over into organizing major elite tournaments and acted as an official arbiter for world-class chess events, most notably the legendary Linares tournaments in Spain.

We will always remember him.