Dragoljub Velimirovic was a former Yugoslav – Serbian, chess grandmaster whose international career was handicapped by political intrigues and his outspoken temperament. During the heyday of the USSR as the greatest national chess power, the former Yugoslavia was capable of running the Soviet Union a good second. Dragoljub Velimirovic posed a real threat to the men from Moscow. Velimirovic was born in 1942 to a prominent family from Valjevo, in the former Yugoslavia. He was introduced to chess at the age of seven by his mother, Jovanka Velimirovic, one of Yugoslavia’s leading female chess players. He died at the age 72, being one of the last players to develop a system or strategy that is so inventive it bears its creator’s name. It is a feat that is unlikely to be repeated in the modern era, when computer-based games and databases so thoroughly dominate competition that it is almost impossible to come up with something new. That does not mean that players were more talented or courageous in the decades when Velimirovic was in his prime. Velimirovic, who became a grandmaster in 1973, was never among the 20 top-ranked players in the world. And that was when there were only 200 or so grandmasters; today, there are about 2,400. This book is primarily for chess enthusiasts! For those who love the game of chess, sacrifices come flying, and before you know it, two hours have passed. It reads like a novel, and the analyses are accessible. But even the eternal student can make use of it. Personally, I've learned a bit more about the Dragon. It's not a one hundred percent study book, of course; you understand that too. This is primarily a biography with many instructive games. Thinkers Publishing House puts itself back on the map and can compete with publishers like Everyman Chess, Russell Enterprises, New in Chess, Quality Chess, in short, they're on the map and rightfully so. I am proud of this Belgian publishing house, and we can expect much more from them in the future! Then some more good news: This book is Volume 1, so a second volume is in the works. And God knows how far he would have gone in a friendlier environment. We'll never know. Furthermore, I understand that this book is only available in hardcover? It doesn't matter; it's worth every penny, and I eagerly await Volume 2. Dutch chess journalist Oliver De Hert, Schaaksite, March 2024. The latest book in the Forgotten Genius series by Thinkers Publishing,   The Life and Games of Dragoljub Velimirovic (Volume 2) by Georg Mohr and Ana Velimirovic-Zorira. Picking up immediately after the end of the first volume, this time we have games, stories and photographs all the way from 1976 to 2010. It is good to be able to read and enjoy many anecdotes from those who knew the player who, despite his extremely impressive attacking flair, never quite managed to push his way up to the highest levels of chess. According to Vlastimil Hort, Velimirovic was known to him and his Czechoslovakian teammates – in the chess Olympiads of old – as the ‘Yugoslavian Tal’. In their team meetings, it was spelled out that whoever had to face him in the team matches ‘was forbidden to play the Sicilian Defence’ due, of course, to Velimirovic’s habitual devastating attacks after 1 e4 c5. Even Garry Kasparov – on his way to the (eventually) winning the World Chess Championship, a route paved with several ferocious Sicilian battles against Anatoly Karpov, avoided the issue in the 1982 Interzonal Tournament, when he played the Caro-Kann Defense against Velimirovic instead. This book – just like the first volume – is highly recommended to those who like to see swashbuckling chess in action. Sean Marsh, Summer 2024, Forward Chess. This book is primarily for chess enthusiasts!  For those who love the game of chess, sacrifices come flying, and before you know it, two hours have passed. It reads like a novel, and the analyses are accessible. But even the eternal student can make use of it. Personally, I've learned a bit more about the Dragon. It's not a one hundred percent study book, of course; you understand that too. This is primarily a biography with many instructive games.  Thinkers Publishing House puts itself back on the map and can compete with publishers like Everyman Chess, Russell Enterprises, New in Chess, Quality Chess, in short, they're on the map and rightfully so. I am proud of this Belgian publishing house, and we can expect much more from them in the future!  Then some more good news:  This book is Volume 1, so a second volume is in the works. And God knows how far he would have gone in a friendlier environment. We'll never know. Furthermore, I understand that this book is only available in hardcover? It doesn't matter; it's worth every penny, and I eagerly await Volume 2.   Dutch chess journalist Oliver De Hert, Schaaksite, March 2024. Georg Mohr was born in Maribor, Slovenia in 1965 becoming a Grandmaster in 1997. He joined as a member of the FIDE Trainers Com