Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
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Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
Keith, in 1975, was England's first correspondence Grandmaster.
He was 1962 British Under-21 Champion and (almost) England's first European Junior Champion.
A jolly nice fellow and co-founder of Camberley Chess Cub with Anne Sunnucks amongst many other things.
Keith, in 1975, was England's first correspondence Grandmaster.
He was 1962 British Under-21 Champion and (almost) England's first European Junior Champion.
A jolly nice fellow and co-founder of Camberley Chess Cub with Anne Sunnucks amongst many other things.
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Re: Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
Keith played at one of the early English Senior Championships organised by Neil Graham at Dovedale. We had a chat about golf - his handicap was 14, respectable club standard. I've never been better than 19 myself. As Keith was excellent at cricket and squash, I wonder if his handicap might have been lower in his younger days. However, the mention of constraints on his time suggest that he probably wouldn't have joined a golf club before retirement.This led to a rather inconclusive enquiry by me to the Quotes and Queries column in BCM. 'Among British titled chess players who has achieved the lowest official golf handicap?' As far as I remember nothing much came up except that R.P. Ross of Hull played off 2, very impressive. However, although I think he was a trawler magnate, he wasn't a titled player. I therefore put out the question again here. I'd be surprised if Keith gets the accolade.
A prime example of success in chess and a physical sport is Sir George Thomas and badminton, though, going foreign, Agdestein and football is remarkable.
A prime example of success in chess and a physical sport is Sir George Thomas and badminton, though, going foreign, Agdestein and football is remarkable.
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Re: Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
Paul,
I attended Keith's funeral and the reception following was at the rather excellent Camberley Heath Golf Club of which Keith was a popular member. Apart from family members I met (once more) the Farrand family and the Edwards family plus many golfing, cricketing and chess colleagues.
Keith was hugely liked and a stalwart player for Camberley Chess Club which he helped to establish with Anne Sunnucks.
As a correspondence player he inevitably had a large chess library. Many of these books were in German and were made available to be sold on behalf of his Parkinson's charity.
I attended Keith's funeral and the reception following was at the rather excellent Camberley Heath Golf Club of which Keith was a popular member. Apart from family members I met (once more) the Farrand family and the Edwards family plus many golfing, cricketing and chess colleagues.
Keith was hugely liked and a stalwart player for Camberley Chess Club which he helped to establish with Anne Sunnucks.
As a correspondence player he inevitably had a large chess library. Many of these books were in German and were made available to be sold on behalf of his Parkinson's charity.
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Re: Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
I played Keith OTB in 2014 and when he got short of time, I was optimistic, but he played well and duly won. He was a really nice guy and we had a good chat afterwards. He had given up CC as he didn't want to play computers. I did reassure him that you could still find better moves than the computer but it was difficult.
As for Paul's question, RP Ross (whom I played at Hastings once) - I knew he "was" Ross frozen food, did he catch the fish before freezing it?
As for golf, a school friend Cliff Weight was Handicap 2 at the age of 17(!), and graded 170+, but he wasn't titled of course. I now really want to know who the best chess-playing golfer is.
Magnus Carlsen is pretty good at table-tennis and snowboarding, but that's not quite the same thing...
As for Paul's question, RP Ross (whom I played at Hastings once) - I knew he "was" Ross frozen food, did he catch the fish before freezing it?
As for golf, a school friend Cliff Weight was Handicap 2 at the age of 17(!), and graded 170+, but he wasn't titled of course. I now really want to know who the best chess-playing golfer is.
Magnus Carlsen is pretty good at table-tennis and snowboarding, but that's not quite the same thing...
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Re: Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
I'm pretty sure he told me his best handicap was 5 or 6 (the uncertainty being my memory of what Keith told me, not his).Paul Habershon wrote: ↑Sun Apr 11, 2021 5:06 pmKeith played at one of the early English Senior Championships organised by Neil Graham at Dovedale. We had a chat about golf - his handicap was 14, respectable club standard. I've never been better than 19 myself. As Keith was excellent at cricket and squash, I wonder if his handicap might have been lower in his younger days.
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Re: Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
Thanks, Ian. A 5 or 6 handicap for Keith sounds very plausible, especially as the 14 mentioned in my conversation with him was well after the 1990s Parkinson's diagnosis (which I didn't know about). I'd be surprised if any of our OTB GMs and IMs can beat that. Even if they had the inclination, the time-consuming nature of chess at that level, and the financial circumstances of some of them, mean that it's unlikely they would join a golf club, let alone achieve a single-figure handicap. Perhaps some sporty guys in the traditional ECF Congress cricket matches had potential. I can imagine Andrew Martin giving a golf ball a good hammering.Ian Thompson wrote: ↑Mon Apr 12, 2021 12:10 amI'm pretty sure he told me his best handicap was 5 or 6 (the uncertainty being my memory of what Keith told me, not his).
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Re: Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
Reading the appreciation, I got sidetracked after seeing the crosstable for the 1963 Niemeyer tournament and seeing that for whatever reason one of the competitors didn't have a flag against their name (though he has one here).
I'd not heard of Ernst Roscam Abbing (or any of the competitors except the first two) but hunting around I came across this page which appears to be a list of champions of the Benoordenhout chess club and which also appears to show that in 2018 Ernst Roscam Abbing won the club championship for the first time.
Now I have no Dutch so I may have misinterpreted the page, but if I'm correct - is there not something very unusual about a player winning their club championship, in their mid-seventies, for the very first time?
I'd not heard of Ernst Roscam Abbing (or any of the competitors except the first two) but hunting around I came across this page which appears to be a list of champions of the Benoordenhout chess club and which also appears to show that in 2018 Ernst Roscam Abbing won the club championship for the first time.
Now I have no Dutch so I may have misinterpreted the page, but if I'm correct - is there not something very unusual about a player winning their club championship, in their mid-seventies, for the very first time?
"Do you play chess?"
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Re: Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
Sounds unusual, yes. The usual explanations for such a phenomenon would be that he had just recently joined the club, or some other strong player had recently left it.
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Re: Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
Or that the club itself had been founded only a short time before.IM Jack Rudd wrote: ↑Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:17 pmSounds unusual, yes. The usual explanations for such a phenomenon would be that he had just recently joined the club, or some other strong player had recently left it.
Re sporting prowess, I vaguely remember reading somewhere once that Ljubojevic had been a very promising footballer, but switched to chess instead after a serious leg injury. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find anything on-line to confirm it.
"The chess-board is the world ..... the player on the other side is hidden from us ..... he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance."
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)
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Re: Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
There was the Romanian turned German IM Bela Soos, who played football for his native country at international level.
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)
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Re: Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
Before Camberley, Keith played a high board for Athenaeum Chess Club when we won the London league a couple of times and the National Club Championship ca. 1974-75-76.
Tim Harding
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Historian and FIDE Arbiter
Author of 'Steinitz in London,' British Chess Literature to 1914', 'Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography', and 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'
http://www.chessmail.com
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Re: Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
I now believe this is fake news - like quite a lot else in The Complete Chess Addict. It was questioned some years ago so I spent some time looking up Romanian international football teams from the period without finding any reference to him.Matt Mackenzie wrote: ↑Tue Apr 13, 2021 1:43 pmThere was the Romanian turned German IM Bela Soos, who played football for his native country at international level.
According to Wikipedia: "As a youth, he was a keen football player, representing Dinamo Bucharest during his military service."
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Re: Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
Thanks for that, though it suggests he still played soccer at a reasonably high level.
(pretty sure I saw the "international" claim made before Addict was published, maybe in a chess - possibly Chess - magazine?)
(pretty sure I saw the "international" claim made before Addict was published, maybe in a chess - possibly Chess - magazine?)
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)
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Re: Remembering CGM Keith Richardson (02-ii-1942 10-iv-2017)
Yes - which is where we would have taken it from.Matt Mackenzie wrote: ↑Tue Apr 13, 2021 6:17 pmThanks for that, though it suggests he still played soccer at a reasonably high level.
(pretty sure I saw the "international" claim made before Addict was published, maybe in a chess - possibly Chess - magazine?)