In Memoriam Alex Crisovan

Our Swiss member Alex Crisovan passed away only a short time after his 93rd birthday. He was the second eldest member of our association (after Billy Levene). Michael Negele has contributed a short note of remembrance and two new photos:

"… Alex was for more than 75 (?) years a significant figure in the chess scenery, especially in Switzerland. [He came to Switzerland as a 13-year-old boy. (R.B.)] Personally I met Alex Crisovan for the first time during the Chess Olympiad 1988 in Thessaloniki, there he impressed me a lot by all his knowledge about chess history. Later we visited Alex and Maria at their nice home in Pfäffikon, and I was amazed (my wife was shocked) by all these chess books amassed in the second flat. Our book project (German translation of Bronstein’s book of Neuhausen/Zurich 1953) was overcome by history – the Sportverlag Berlin published a (significantly shortened) translation in 1991. (Ein weiterer R(h)einfall - he who comes too late will be punished by life ...)

Below you find a photo taken on a tour to the Rhine fall in 1990 (a view from the Neuhausen side), my wife Marion, Alex and Maria Crisovan:

Later on I met Alex again at the San Bernardino tournament (in 1994), and his wife and he joined our KWA meeting at La Tour-de-Peiltz in 2006 (see photos below). There he still was in splendid condition, especially his mind was sharp. It makes me happy, that this stage of consciousness was donated to him till the very end. Keep well, dear Alex, in the next world."

Those who wish to read more about Alex Crisovan may look at our former birthday greetings (October 2008 in English / German; October 2009 in English / German) and the brief tribute in the contribution Our Doyens / Unsere Nestoren, as well as Richard Forster’s short biography of Alex Crisovan in his marvellous book about the Zurich Chess Club, 1809-2009.

PS (22/02/2013): Our Swiss member Toni Preziuso wrote an obituary, published in Schweizerische Schachzeitung 1/2013, p.21: www.schachbund.ch/presse/ssz-neu/...

PPS (02/03/2013): Already in 2010 the large book collection of Alex Crisovan (together with the collections of the Swiss Association of Problem Friends, of Richard Forster and of Toni Preziuso) had been donated to the Central Library of Zurich. The nearly 4000 items are presented there as "Helvetian Chess Library". Source: SSZ 5/2010, p.5 (R.B.)