Obituary of Romano Bellucci
Again it´s my sad duty to report about the passing of a good friend, a founding member of the Ken Whyld Association.
In late 2002 or early 2003 I got in contact with the Italian chess editor and publisher
Romano Bellucci
(* 9th July, 1940 in Rome; † 15th September, 2017 in Venice).
His wonderful magazine Scacchi e Scienze Applicate (started in 1981) was well known to me. At that time Romano, who came already during wartimes to Venice, and was a school friend of Antonio Rosino, was most enthusiastic about German chess history.
So the trained librarian, but long-term chess publisher, was fully supporting our idea of our "Obliged to Tradition ..." without any objection and much on his own financial risk. (Obliged to Tradition ...)
In 2006 I had the opportunity to meet Romano personally in Torino for the first time, and he was of inspiring energy. Same experience in Bolzano 2007, where we met under quite complicated circumstances at Luca D´Ambrosio´s home. I will never forget to get Romano to a train, which will end somewhere on the way to Venice at midnight, without getting him to his home (and bed). However, we had a lot of fun at the meeting in his marvelous hometown, Venice, in 2008, where we could introduce finally our "Obliged ..."
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Prof. Carlo Alberto Pagni († 2009), Romano Bellucci, Jurgen Stigter -
Romano Bellucci and Toni Preziuso -
Luca D'Ambrosio, Romano Bellucci, Michael Negele
However some years later his health seemed significantly affected and Romano did not join the KWA meeting in Bolzano in 2011. But he visited Luca D´Ambrosio and his family the year after.
Since 2013 I lost contact and of this year is also the last issue of his magazine I find in my shelves. So my article "Is Arabic blindfold chess the key to modern chess?" will always remember me to this diligent and scientific editor, who was not shy to publish such an article in a language he had no clue of. A lot of trust was in my Venetian friend. My article is attached here for your purpose, with your download you should honor the work of Romano Bellucci.
Luca D´Ambrosio, who helped a lot with that article, kept me updated from time to time and reported about the sad fact, that Romano´s health was fading.
My sympathy is with his family, especially his widow, Luciana Busetto, who supported the publication efforts of her husband so generously. The FSI-website http://www.federscacchi.it/ provides some information about Romano´s life story. But also about his indispensable efforts to improve the scientific approach in chess research and publishing. Read here the article by Antonio Rosino in Italian Language:
Romano Bellucci è mancato nella sua Venezia il 15 settembre. I funerali si terranno nella chiesa di Santa Maria Formosa, martedì 19 settembre alle 11. Nato a Roma il 9 luglio 1940, Romano si trasferì a Venezia, città d’origine di sua madre, durante la seconda guerra mondiale. Studiò all’Università di Padova e lavorò per decenni come bibliotecario all’Istituto di Biologia del Mare di Venezia. Nel 1957, studente al liceo scientifico Benedetti, si iscrisse al Circolo Scacchistico Veneziano “Carlo Salvioli” del quale rimase sempre affezionato e attivo socio. La sua attività scacchistica fu molto vasta e molto varia, prima come giocatore, poi come organizzatore e dirigente del movimento scacchistico locale e nazionale. Fu per oltre un decennio, fra gli anni Ottanta e Novanta, consigliere federale. Come addetto stampa curò per anni il Bollettino con i “Comunicati ed atti ufficiali” della F.S.I. In quel periodo creò, e poi da allora diresse con competenza e passione, l’Archivio Federale delle partite, raccogliendo un enorme serie di materiali scacchistici e quindi salvando dall’oblio un’incredibile massa di informazioni. Pubblicò, con un lavoro accurato e, come sempre, gratuito, decine e decine di bollettini di tornei, talvolta ricuperando materiali inediti di alto valore anche a decenni di distanza. Nel 1981 creò la rivista internazionale “Scacchi e Scienze Applicate” che diresse con impegno e costanza fino ad oggi. La rivista pubblicò anche un’importante serie di volumi di storia scacchistica in particolare, riguardanti il mondo della composizione problemistica e studistica. Collaborò dalla fine degli anni Settanta a tutti i tornei organizzati dal Circolo Salvioli e in particolare fu il principale organizzatore dei festival di Pellestrina del 1978 e del 1979, dirigendo la sezione scacchi del circolo “Murazzo”. Parte di questa esperienza fu descritta nel volume collettivo “Scacchi: sbagliare e capire” che coordinò, diresse e pubblicò nel 1979.
Venetian Chess lost one of its foremost addicts.
http://www.veneziatoday.it/cronaca/morto-romano-bellucci-scacchi.html
We, the members of the Chess History & Literature Society, lost one of our most supportive members. And finally I lost another good friend, who shared his interest in chess history with myself for more than a decade.
Michael Negele
Postscript:
On this photo you will recognise another friend of mine, Dr. Tamas Erdelyi († 25. April 2017), who passed away at the age of 63. Also Tamas was a KWA member and supported us as a chess dealer at our book markets frequently. Tamas deserves also our appreciation, so I will get back to him in due course.
