English Chess Forum

One of the 'great powers' of international chess. Cause of death not announced, but I suspect a cardiac problem. The reason I suspect that is that he underwent serious cardiac surgery a about decade ago (if I remember correctly 2014 +/- a year or so). He told me about that (perhaps in Tromso, I can see the room we were in but do not recall the venue or year) along with a recital of his near death experiences (there were a number of them where he had cheated death).

I am sure Malcolm Pein (his running mate when Makro ran for President in Batumi 2018) will be along soon with more.

Before chess politics, he was a strong player - national champion multiple times and once looked set to become Greece's first GM.

Born in Thessaloniki, he organized two Olympiads there on 1984 & 1988