Farewell, Julian
One of my brightest memories that I have about Julian is the tournament in Ferrol (Spain) some years ago. The event was coming to its end and a bunch of Bulgarian players were sitting outside the restaurant before the final round, having lunch.
Julian was co-sharing the lead in the event and had the white pieces against the future GM Ilmars Starostits from Latvia. The latter needed a draw to achieve his final norm. None was deeply surprised to see Julian having a beer at lunch. After all, a draw would be good for everyone in this situation.
We went to the hall, the games started. Starostits was late. He then came, made ten moves and offered a draw. To our surprise it was rejected. Julian won quickly (did not spend more than an hour on his clock and twenty five moves for the game). He then explained that his opponent did not pay the needed respect (came late) and offered the draw too late (he had already messed the things up).
Had the Latvian come in time he would have achieved the desired draw as Julian was too good a person to spoil anyone’s happiness. On the other hand his perception of right and wrong and the way that he was understanding things in life was very clear, and the gentleman behavior- a law.
16-th of February was a black day for the Bulgarian chess. Our most modest, honorable and pure friend GM Julian Radulski passed away at the age of forty.
He was always a model person in behavior towards the game of chess and the people in general. Quiet, calm and respective towards his opponents, he would always find a good word for his adversary, no matter how good (bad) that person played.
I have the feeling that this was one of the main reasons for him not to achieve the maximum of his enormous knowledge and strength. Ever since I remember him he was rated around 2500-2550 but the respect that he had towards the names was somehow limiting him.
In the last two years though, he started trusting himself. He understood how strong he is. And the results were spectacular.
I already mentioned the tournament in Ferrol, but forgot to add that he won this even three times in a row, without losing a single game. He shared the win at the prestigious Linares open 2002 with 7.5/10, came third at Cappelle la Grand open 2010, won the strong Miguel Najdorf Memorial (Warsaw Poland) 2010 and many others.
In 2011 after winning many national team titles he was also crowned as a Bulgarian Individual Champion.
He lifted his rating above the 2600 mark and could improve further...
Julian was always very loyal to the clubs that he represented and would do the best for the team. At the Olympiad in 2002 he scored 9/13 for the Bulgarian squad, when out of these games he played seven with the black pieces!
I can spend days describing you in detail the many good things he did and caused in our chess community, the respect that people had to him.
But let now leave the chess pieces speak with his own words:
(From the Bulgarian chess players and the many friends around the world...)
