Dutch organizer Bessel Kok was running for FIDE president in 2006 during the olympiad of Torino against Kirsan Ilumschinow. This was also a subject amongst the chessplayers. Mira and Sanja were standing close when Dijana Dengler and Elena Boric were talking about that but apparently weren’t familiar with the name of the candidate. One of them was wondering which “vesel kok” - meaning “happy chicken” in Serbocroatian – their teammates were talking about.
Since then the sisters are called “veseli koka”, the “happy chickens” amongst their teammates.

Mira Dedijer                                                                 Sanja Dedijer

Text: Peter Dengler
Photos: Georgios Souleidis