Pancho Beshkov

Pancho is a mathematician with interests in sport, martial arts, history, The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. In 2011 these interests converged in an unexpected way when he learned through friends that a historical fencing club existed in Bulgaria. His love for this art was born instantly — and endures to this day.

In 2018 he decided the time had come to set out on his own path. Together with the other instructors he founded the Forte club, where he trains and teaches today.

For Pancho, historical fencing is above all a working martial art — even if not the most practical one in modern everyday life. He sees it as a means of personal development and a way to understand both history and the modern world through the lens of the fighting skills preserved in the historical sources.

His main interests in historical fencing are the longsword according to the early sources of the Liechtenauer tradition, the sidesword according to the Italian sources, and the 19th-century military sabre.