The news of the death of IM Julio Hernando, at the age of 45, has left us all with a heavy heart. Let this semblance serve to remember a creative player, who left samples of his talent in the Llobregat Open Chess Tournament. “May Caissa welcome you in its bosom, fellow chess player”.
Who was going to tell me… I have wanted to be a writer all my life and now I don’t want to do it, because Julito has died and having to say this is like saying that spring has died, that there is no more music or that people stop dreaming.
I remember with emotion the day I met him. Julito would have been, more or less, twelve years old. He had just won a semi-fast game in the Catalan Cup against grandmaster David García Ilundain, who took it with great humor that a child beat him at chess. Now, if you allow me to make a joke, both of them will be having a quick bite, without the rigors of the earthly condition.
Xavier Piñero, his coach at the Ateneu Colon, told me these days that Julito could have become a grandmaster. In my opinion, he was right. He was a natural talent, with a wonderful dynamic vision of chess. Then, what did he lack to achieve it?
Health. That was his Achilles heel, ever since he was born. In fact, there were several occasions when it seemed he would not make it. But nothing could be further from the truth: he was a brave man, clinging to life no matter how hard the road was. And it was a tough one… A few months ago, in the last edition of the Llobregat Open Chess Tournament, he looked very haggard. But Julito enjoyed playing chess so much… We all knew about his fragile health, but he was a fighter like few others.
Here, the essence of Julio Hernando: affability, hardness and humor. “Affability”, because Julito was very pleasant, being very well liked in the chess world; “hardness”, because he had all the arguments to complain but he was never heard to complain, because, whether he was transplanted, was on dialysis or suffered a heart attack, he spread joy around him, because he kept until the end the wide smile that characterized him; “humor”, because his dirty jokes were heard even at his funeral (may the priest forgive us), because he was the joy of the garden and in every comment he made a joke.
For this reason, I would like to advise his family, his friends and his club mates that, having been mourned these days, they should not shed a single tear for him. They know what he was like and, if I saw them sad, I would be the first to make a joke to lighten the mood. Let us honor his memory by living life as Julito did: dedicating our efforts to doing the things we like, surrounding ourselves with friends, seeing the world, smiling at the new day and knowing love.
You can enjoy the following game, corresponding to the outcome of the Lliga Catalana. This jewel is very characteristic of the style of IM Julio Hernando, who takes risks without fear to get the point that saved the category to Ateneu Colon.
