(25.02.2013) I am sad to report about the terrible news that Milan Velimirovic passed away...

Milan was not only a great composer but also a very nice person. I met him in Beograd some years ago. I still remember his lecture about the paradoxal mates by pinned pieces in twomovers which he present during the Beograd chess composing festival.

Last year when I decided to create Originals column in KoBulChess.com I was happy that he accepted to be the judge in Section Twomovers.

Here is part of his answer:

"Dear Diyan,

Although I decided to avoid judging as much as I can (it is not an easy job!), I appreciate your work so much than I cannot refuse your invitation. So I accept to judge the "KoBulChess" twomovers 2012."   Milan Velimirovic (09.05.2012)

Rest in peace Milan...

Here is the message by Marjan Kovacevic published in MatPlus Forum:

Dear friends,
Milan Velimirovic passed away this morning. The terrible news came much faster then a possible medical help he had avoided till the last days. His problems with health were obvious at the end of last year, soon after concluding the monumental work „Themes & Therms“, in a collaboration that he enjoyed so much, with his Finish friend Kari Valtonen. The last months he spent at home. In January, he had an idea to recover for his favourite solving competition ISC, but he couldn’t make it. Before that, in December, he participated in the last round of the Serbian League of Solvers 2012, that he won in a convincing way. 
Only two weeks ago, Milan had a feeling of complete recovery and the plans to rearrange the Mat Plus website. However, he couldn’t stand sitting by computer. Instead, Milan enjoyed sports on TV, the game of Barcelona and Milan being among the last ones. With the complete care of his sister Vojka, it seemed he wasn’t suffering the pain, nor he was aware of the heavy illness. In this respect, his decision to avoid hospital helped him during the last days.
Milan Velimirovic was born April 21st 1952. He used to say his first Lacny #2, in a high school, changed his life completely. Already as a teenager, he began working for a chess magazine MAT, and at 22 took over the problem part of it. As the main redactor, he created the high-class problem chess magazine MAT in the period 1974-85, offering new standards to the whole world.
Milan loved problem chess more than anyone else. His driving force was to reveal the beauty of chess and it’s art to everyone, from a visitor in a chess club to mature masters. With his articles in MAT, since 1974, he was the real creator of the contemporary problem chess in Serbia, and the successor of the work of Nenad Petrovic in ex-Yugoslavia. This mission of his had been extended with Mat Plus, and many book he had edited, or completely redacted, always taking care of the smallest details, up to the final lay-out. The long list of his books began with the one devoted to his late friend Miroslav Stosic, 1979. His philanthropic motivation gave him more pleasure in publishing the complete work of one of his idols, Touw Hian Bwee, than presenting his own opus in chess composition – that he never did. In the yearly international gatherings of problemists Milan was a most prominent and a most loved participant.
Milan’s ideas had always run ahead of it’s time, and against the common opinions. This brought him many disputes, and often left him dissatisfied, without the social recognitions he deserved. And, there were too many accomplishments to assure him much wider recognition. 
Milan was the first international master of chess composition, and the first grandmaster solver in Serbia. He was the key solver in many medals won by the national team in World Solving Championships, including the gold one, 1982. 
As a grandmaster of chess composition, Milan aimed the highest goals and the crystal-clear mechanisms, crowned by the complex cyclic change, his Queen of the Themes. No wonder he composed the first 3x3 Lacny #3, and the first, miraculous, Lacny-Tura #3. The later was composed in one of the periods of Milan’s dissatisfaction with the situation in problem chess, that lasted a whole decade, 1985-1994. 
These periods were the only reason his grandmaster title in composing came so late, but each comeback brought him a new enthusiasm. The last comeback, since 2007, began with his idea to live the rest of his life from the problem chess activities. Milan left the profession of a programmer and turned to various Mat Plus projects. He even accepted being director of both WCSC and ECSC, and not once. The road was rainy, especially after being a successful programmer, including a good work for IBM at the end of 90-es, but Milan loved chess composition so much. 
His spirit lives transparently in the construction of Mat Plus website, created for the pleasure and education of the whole problem chess world. The world he wanted to be much batter than it is now.
Our condolences go to his sister Vojka and so many chess friends around the world. This note is only the beginning of the Post on Milan’s site, to be completed by many of his friends and admirers, especially with the compositions that will make Milan live as long as good chess composition lives.

Marjan Kovacevic 25.02.2013

Here are some reactions on MatPlus.net forum:

Very sad, terrible news. Knowing that Milan was in a hospital was very worrying, but I was hoping he would recover. Milan was a great composer, solver, friend. He was the heart of the party; it was always fun to be around him. With this forum, the Mat Plus magazine and his books, he made a huge contribution in popularizing chess composition. We will remember him fondly.

Kostas Prentos (25.02.2013)

Terrible news. A great man and true lover of chess composition. Immense sadness.

Michel Caillaud (25.02.2013)

The news of Milan's decease is certainly a shock and a grief for us all. Milan was such a generous and active person, such an impressive and deep composer, such a devoted and hard-working editor, that it is hard to imagine him lifeless.
Sincere condolences to his family and close friends.

Eric Huber (25.02.2013)