Player Dies Over The Board

I'm having an OMG moment. And for this, I blame GM Ian Rogers. In his column last Sunday for Sydney's Sun Herald, GM Rogers reports on the death of one Nikolaos Karapanos, aged 43.

GM Rogers:

The fact that tournament chess can be a stressful activity was confirmed yet again this week with the death of a Greek amateur during a game.

Nikolaos Karapanos, 43, was playing the game of his life against the much higher rated Israeli International Master Dan Zoler at the Acropolis Open in Athens when, with a winning position in front of him, he suffered a heart attack. Zoler, a doctor, tried to revive his opponent but Karapanos was dead by the time an ambulance arrived.

Over on his blog, Dennis Monokroussos tells his readers that he actually witnessed the whole incident!