English Chess Forum

Remembering CGM Adrian Hollis (02-viii-1940 26-ii-2013)

Adrian was England's second correspondence GM and one of three GMs in 1976. A classical scholar and huge supporter of chess at Oxford and at Lloyds Bank and in Somerset and the West of England.

He had to endure unwanted press attention regarding his father and possibly, SIM Graham Mitchell.

Thanks to Julian way for personal insights and to Richard James and James Pratt for background information.


I included several heavily annotated OTB and postal games for your viewing pleasure.

The link to Graham Mitchell doesn't appear to locate a piece

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 26, 2021 11:11 am

The link to Graham Mitchell doesn't appear to locate a piece

Yes, it is a place holder. GM is on my massive ToDo list!

I forget to mention that followers of Ray Keene may be interested in comparing "his" annotations with those of Adrian Hollis in the Hartston-Hollis game.

You mat think you are seeing double!

Oh are the original BCM annotations, not acknowledged here, not even Ray's?

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 26, 2021 11:52 am

Oh are the original BCM annotations, not acknowledged here, not even Ray's?

AFAIK, there is no credit to BCM or ASH by RDK for "his" Spectator annotations.

Apart from that it was a great game by Adrian.

I would like to have seen the Hollis v Moiseyev game. I wonder if it is available.

I thought I saw the chance of tempting him to an incorrect sacrifice. Back came his move; he had indeed made the sacrifice and the envelope burnt a hole in my pocket during an important meeting (my mind was elsewhere). After a mere two days’ thought I sent my reply. The post between England and the USSR takes about a month for the return trip. Soon after posting my move, as I was walking from the Ashmolean Museum to Keble, just passing the front gate of St. John’s, the realisation of what I had overlooked hit me, and there followed an inexorable wait for the death blow which I now saw only too clearly.

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 26, 2021 2:34 pm

I would like to have seen the Hollis v Moiseyev game. I wonder if it is available.

It is available. On its own it doesn't tell me much because, if Hollis saw the possibility of the sacrifice that was played, it's not obvious what he overlooked after that.

John Upham wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:15 pm

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 26, 2021 11:52 am

Oh are the original BCM annotations, not acknowledged here, not even Ray's?

AFAIK, there is no credit to BCM or ASH by RDK for "his" Spectator annotations.

Ah, the question was whether the BCM annotations were by Hollis rather than by Ray.

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 26, 2021 3:38 pm

John Upham wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:15 pm

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 26, 2021 11:52 am

Oh are the original BCM annotations, not acknowledged here, not even Ray's?

AFAIK, there is no credit to BCM or ASH by RDK for "his" Spectator annotations.

Ah, the question was whether the BCM annotations were by Hollis rather than by Ray.

In the 1966 BCM version the annotations were by Hollis in the Game Section edited by HG.

The Spectator version notes have no reference to their original source.

In any case, I'd rather this thread focused on the career of Adrian Hollis.

Some lovely Varsity match photos there (love the 'obligatory staring at the board pose' comment!). One of the photos included Maria Eagle (is that one of the Eagle sisters who became an MP?) and one of the photos included a Ken Regan (is that the Ken Regan of anti-cheating computer software fame?).

Slight nitpick, is sounds like this bit was copied from Companies House:

Adrian became a director of the company Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Limited on the September 1st 1996 and resigned on May 12th 2007.

Would it not be more accurate to say that he was director of this institution (if that is the right one) from 1996 to 2007:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_fo ... ce_Studies

i.e. It was more an academic role than a business role? (Though maybe a bit of both in some senses.)

I don't think the "academics who play chess" thread ever got started in the end, I can only find these past threads:

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=10118
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=10046
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=10039

I don't think Adrian Hollis got mentioned anywhere in those threads, but he certainly should have been!

(I may try and consolidate all the mentions from previous threads into one at some point, unless I missed a thread already on this.)

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 26, 2021 4:48 pm

Some lovely Varsity match photos there (love the 'obligatory staring at the board pose' comment!). One of the photos included Maria Eagle (is that one of the Eagle sisters who became an MP?) and one of the photos included a Ken Regan (is that the Ken Regan of anti-cheating computer software fame?).

The britbase site no doubt has more, but they are who you think they are and part of the long list of people playing in the Varsity match who later became well known elsewhere.

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 26, 2021 4:48 pm

Some lovely Varsity match photos there (love the 'obligatory staring at the board pose' comment!). One of the photos included Maria Eagle (is that one of the Eagle sisters who became an MP?) and one of the photos included a Ken Regan (is that the Ken Regan of anti-cheating computer software fame?).

I believe all of the photos for this article have a caption detailing those present for example :

Linda Brownson (Newnham & Basildon), left, playing Maria Eagle (Pembroke & Formby) being observed by John Nunn, Adrian Hollis and Harry Golombek posing for the obligatory “staring at the board” picture for the 1981 Varsity Match sponsored by Lloyds Bank.

and

Leonard Barden, Henry Mutkin, Adrian Hollis and Bob Wade observe Nick Ivell vs Ken Regan at the 1983 Varsity match

Maybe your browser does not display the captions? Let me know and I will attempt to make the text more visible.

I have added more "Staring at the board" photos (with Adrian) but I feel you can have too much of a good thing!

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 26, 2021 4:48 pm

One of the photos included Maria Eagle (is that one of the Eagle sisters who became an MP?) and one of the photos included a Ken Regan (is that the Ken Regan of anti-cheating computer software fame?).

Yes and yes.

John Upham wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 26, 2021 5:05 pm

I believe all of the photos for this article have a caption detailing those present for example :

Maybe your browser does not display the captions? Let me know and I will attempt to make the text more visible.

I do have more "Staring at the board" photos (with Adrian) but I feel you can have too much of a good thing.

Oh no, more please!

I can see the captions, but I was being lazy and not checking myself the connections. Ken Regan is a fairly common name.