FM Brian Jones

[LawrenceCooper]

https://chessexpress.blogspot.com/2025/ ... m-11U12jcg

[Peter Ackley]

There was a Brian Jones ICCF event celebrating his life a few years ago, in which his children played
https://www.iccf.com/event?id=85329

[Matt Mackenzie]

Was a well known fixture in the N England chess scene before he and his family moved down under.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"There was a Brian Jones ICCF event celebrating his life a few years ago, in which his children played"

EFCC organised the event - they have introduced the rather nice idea of having Celebration events when the honoured person is still available to appreciate the honour, and in many cases, play in his/her own event.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Quoting the opening paragraph in case the link goes down at any point:

Brian Jones 1947 - 2025
FM Brian Jones has passed away in Sydney, at the age of 78. Born in the UK in 1947, Brian was a significant figure on the Australian chess scene after moving to Australia in 1987 with his wife Margaret and two children Lee and Nancy (who both became Australian junior champions shortly after their arrival).

[GaryLane]

For those who can't see the links.
Brian Jones (1947-2025) RIP My father-in-law and well-known English/Australian player and chess organiser has died aged 78 from complications due to liver cancer. He was a Fide Master.
A regular in Northern England tournaments during the 70s and 80s, he honeymooned in 1969 at the British Championships in Rhyl. He emigrated to Sydney, Australia in 1987 and suddenly became Grandmaster level at organising tournaments and promoting chess. With help from Shaun Press here are aa few of his achievements:
Brian was a significant figure on the Australian chess scene after moving to Australia in 1987 with his wife Margaret and two children Lee and Nancy (who both became Australian junior champions shortly after their arrival). Originally working in the IT industry, Brian turned his passion for chess into a full time business (Australian Chess Enterprises) as well as being a chess administrator and tournament organiser.
Bringing his experience from the UK chess scene to the somewhat less developed Australian environment, Brian immediately began to make improvements. An early adopter of technology, Brian helped introduce the use of electronic clocks to the Australian chess scene, lending his stock of DGT clocks to organisers, before clubs were in a position to purchase their own. When the Australian National University began a series of matches between humans and computers (Carbon v Silicon) he provided a number of strong programs for the Silicon team. He also introduced a number of new tournament formats to Australia, including knockout events, and single day rapid events, which he had organised back in England. He was the Chief Organiser of the 2003 Australian Open Chess Championship in Penrith, and included a number of format changes that remain till this day. He then created the Sydney International Open in Parramatta, an important addition to the Australian Chess tournament scene, and organised the event from 2007 until 2014. He also replicated the Grand Prix system when you could earn points at tournaments around the country to earn prize-money. At one point he was so successful at raising sponsorship that he was also able to fund tournaments in New Zealand.
On the International stage, he was a great contributor to the development of chess in the Oceania region. He was the FIDE Zone 3.6 President and founded the Oceania Chess Confederation. Through his efforts he helped countries such as Palau, Guam and the Solomon Islands join FIDE. He travelled to many Pacific Federations, both as a tournament participant, and as an administrator. He was the Team Captain for Papua New Guinea at the 2008 Chess Olympiad (Dresden), and was a Councillor on the FIDE Development Commission.
In 2003 he began publishing Chess Australia (later Australasian Chess) which was the national magazine for Australia and ran until 2013. A labour of love for Brian, it remains the last printed national magazine for Australian tournament chess.
Later in life he developed an interest in Correspondence Chess , and served as the International Secretary for the Correspondence Chess League of Australia. Always the innovator, Brian organised the 2013 International Correspondence Chess Federations congress in Sydney, as a way of highlighting the contribution that Australia had made to international CC. He also pioneered the move away from postal chess to server based CC, introducing a number of new events and formats, including the very popular Bicycle (non engine) events. He was also the publisher of the Australian Correspondence Chess Quarterly, the official magazine of the CCLA.
In later years poor health curtailed his participation in chess events, but he still visited important events in Sydney and Canberra. He became a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his services to elite chess.

[GaryLane]

thumbnail (2).jpg (113.01 KiB) Viewed 1878 times

531613857_781338844252999_2604185291462547227_n.jpg (247.23 KiB) Viewed 2265 times

531693385_781338907586326_9155940919385862214_n.jpg (299.51 KiB) Viewed 1878 times

[Ronnie Burton]

Great post Gary

[John Brewitt]

It's a great photo of Brian, and that's how I'll remember him.

I recognise most of the people on the photo, but cannot recall all their names. Seated, on the right, is David Biffen who currently lives in the Norwich area. I'm seated in the centre and fellow Police teammate, Ernest Batty, is standing behind me.

The gent presenting the trophy to Brian is the editor of The Star newspaper, Sheffield.

[GaryLane]

Thank you John for the extra information concerning the black and white trophy photo.

Brian did not seem to have many photos from his UK chess playing days but if anyone else finds something please put them here. He played enough British Championships so there must be something. In these pics one is a polaroid from a UK tournament

BrainJones-y.jpg (138.8 KiB) Viewed 1883 times

The other is a junior chess club and his son Lee is the one with the cup. Brian is the adult on the far right.

thumbnail (3).jpg (136.77 KiB) Viewed 1883 times

[Alan Walton]

That second photo is a blast from the past, not all from the same club so assuming it was a team event (likely to be Manchester U14)

Adults : Brian & John Rogers (MCC club/Manchester) and Gareth Lewis (from 3Cs/Oldham)

Juniors (I was a year or so younger than this lot in Manchester) : some names from those I recognize/remember; Lee J, Paul Brown, David Darwin and Michael Lamb (edit : I think Simon and Jonathan Pain are in this picture as well top right and bottom left)

I do remember playing against Lee a few times in the mid-80s when 3Cs and MCC had their numerous battles in the Manchester League (I would have been about 10-12 before they left to Australia)

[Matt Mackenzie]

I played Lee at the Chorley congress in autumn 1987, this must have been soon before the family emigrated down under.