Amigos[as], há cerca de trinta anos o Brasil teve o mais precoce Grande Mestre do mundo, na história do xadrez; ele era Henrique da Costa Mecking ou o “Meckinho”, como a imprensa o apelidou. Meckinho era um gênio e foi [até hoje] a única esperança brasileira genuína/verdadeira de termos um campeão mundial de xadrez.
Mas Meckinho adoeceu, sem razões aparentes e somente agora, tanto tempo depois, volta a jogar xadrez de alto nível.
Neste meio tempo, em que lutava para se recuperar, Mecking voltou-se para a religião e encontrou aquele tipo de paz legítima e profunda, quase a paz dos místicos. Seu olhar, parece envolto num tipo de serenidade cândida, terna, suave mas firme, robusta, cheia de vida e força mental. Para mim, é uma grande felicidade vê-lo novamente jogando…
A todos, deixo a matéria adiante, retirada do excelente site www.chessbase.com, em que se fala muito mais dele e muito menos do vencedor do torneio [o ex-desafiante de Kasparov] Nigel Short.
Boa leitura [nas fotos abaixo, vários momentos de Mecking, no torneio de que a matéria fala].
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Short leads in Bazna, Mecking and Portisch follow
31.05.2008 – Nigel Short, former World Championship finalist, is leading the Bazna tournament in Romania, with 5.0/7 and a 2735 performance. But we are especially interested to watch the progress of former child prodigy and world-class grandmaster Henrique Mecking of Brazil. He has recovered from serious illness and is playing, in his own words, with divine assistance. Report and games.
While it is nice to see Nigel Short, former challenger for the World Championship, back in form, we will be especially watching Henrique Mecking, 56, who was a leading Brazilian player in the 1970s. Mecking started off as a child prodigy and became a grandmaster at the age of 19. In January 1978, at the age of 25, his FIDE rating was 2635 and he was ranked third in the world, behind Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi (Karpov 2725, Korchnoi 2665, Mecking 2630, Portisch 2630, Spassky 2630).
In 1979 Mecking was struck by a serious illness, probably myasthenia gravis, which severely hampered his chess career throughout the 80s. But he recovered, assisted he believes by divine intervention, and was able to resume his chess career in 1991. In an interview, published in Romanian language, he attributes his current progress to external assistance he receives from Jesus Christ, something a former world championship finalist (you guess who) has suggested may be against FIDE rules.
