ABack to Articles on Petar Trifunovic
Chicago Tribune Chicago, Illinois Wednesday, December 05, 1962 - Page 54
A Matter of Concentration: 30 to 1 Odds Fail to Daunt Yugoslav Chess Master
(Caption:Dr. Peter Trifunovic, grand master from Yugoslavia, studies move during his simultaneous chess match with 30 players last night in The Cliff Dwellers club.)
Thirty chess enthusiasts sat for hours before their boards last night, wordless and intent, as they matched wits with a Yugoslav visitor who walked quickly and unhesitatingly around from game to game.
The exhibition of simultaneous competition took place in the quarters of The Cliff Dwellers club at 220 S. Michigan Ave. and it was Dr. Peter Trifunovic against the field.
One of the players, Dr. Ernest B. Zeisler, 179 E. Lake Shore Dr., treasurer of the club, who has been playing chess for decades, called his evening's play the most successful chess game of his life when Trifunovic accepted his offer of a draw after 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Play for Hours
The competition went on for hours with players dropping out in defeat along the way. As the number of chessmen standing on the boards dwindled, Trifunovic, a chess grand master ranked second in his native Yugoslavia and placed among the top 20 players in the world, slowed his earlier pace of a move every two to three seconds.
Trifunovic, who has a doctorate in law and serves as a legal expert in the Yugoslav ministry of internal affairs, spent more time waiting for his opponents to make moves than pondering his own.
At one point Trifunovic leaned over one of the tables, which were arranged in a U, and rested his left elbow on it, with his right leg thrown out behind him. The pressure was too much and the table collapsed, strewing the chessmen on Dr. Zeisler's board across the table.
Replaces Fallen Pieces
Dr. Zeisler recovered some of the fallen pieces. Trifunovic grabbed others, and while still keeping track of his 29 other problems, replaced each piece in the place it had been previously. He then corrected one of the positions to which Dr. Zeisler had returned a man.
The grand master, midway on a trip thru the United States, also conceded a draw to Kate Sillers, 15, of 314 14th St., Wilmette, midwest women's open champion, and one of the few females in a world traditionally dominated by men. Another draw went to Mark Harmer, 16, of 2022 Beechwood Dr., Wilmette, president of the New Trier High school chess club.
