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Dear chess friends Evgeny Tobolovsky passed away on January 10 at the age 74 . Many remember him as a kind person , a great chess enthusiast and , of course , a teacher . We condole and mourn with his family . Rest in Peace Evgeny .
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who is he? -
I first met Evgeny Tobolovsky about 15 yearsOriginally posted by Rek Slava View Post
ago, casually as a teacher and chess-player.
Eventually he came to work for me at Chess 'N
Math, as a peripatetic instructor. From the old
Soviet school, mildly accented and soft-spoken,
he was a delightful friend. When he came to see
me, his wonderful smile lit up the whole Store.
He never could pronounce my name, opting
instead, just for "Franz!". To me, and his small
circle of Russian emigrés, he was just "Genya!",
in his beautifully pressed casuals and shorts:)
What I really appreciated about the man, was he
was always there for me. I could call him day or
night, send him here or there, he always laughed,
"Of course Franz, no problem!" Whatta guy!
He came from Moscow, where his son still lives,
he had a much younger daughter in Toronto.
(I always thought he was from St. Petersburg:)
I remember him going back to sell his apartment
in Moscow some years ago - he told me it was
a frightening experience, he was lucky to get half
it's value and even luckier to get that to Canada!
He was a mentor to many youngsters at the
Willowdale Chess Club, who went on to
become masters themselves. I did not know
that Genya himself, so self-effacing, was a whiz!
Over a dozen years ago, I organized a joint
Christmas party at Loblaws on Bathurst for
Chess 'N Math, and Chess Institute instructors.
It was quite a revelation! Hidden talents came
to the fore! The late Ted Winnick and Tibi
Andronache proved quite dab hands at the piano!
After dinner, all the masters - and there were
quite a few well-known names - competed in
a double-round blitz! Strong as they were,
they were simply annihilated by the soft-
spoken 'Chip from Moscow', Genya Tobolovsky,
who simply blew the opposition out of
the water! We were all flabbergasted.
Today as they lay our beloved Genya to rest -
go softly my friend to that great blitz game in
the sky, where you can blow them all away too!
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Thanks Francis for this wonderful post!Comment
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