English Chess Forum

See https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/announ ... an__Lacey/

I don't think I knew this gentlemen but maybe someone (Roger?) from this place did?

John Upham wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 23, 2021 5:20 pm

See https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/announ ... an__Lacey/

I don't think I knew this gentlemen but maybe someone (Roger?) from this place did?

Hi John. According to the ECF Grading Database, Brian attended Wycombe & Hazlemere Chess Club, the same as Mr Melsom. I think he will be able to help us.
I didn't know Brian, but after reading the Obituary, I wish I had.
Clearly he did a huge amount to support Juniors in Buckinghamshire and deserves to be remembered on the forum.

John Upham wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 23, 2021 5:20 pm

I don't think I knew this gentlemen but maybe someone (Roger?) from this place did?

He had been Bucks Junior organiser for years, mainly concentrating on the younger ages. Phil Makepeace and Peter Finn may well have known him better.

I knew Brian well, as I ran a successful training group in HIgh Wycombe for over a decade during the 1990’s and later. He was a very unselfish man, who put an enormous amount of hard work into junior chess in Bucks. I found him supportive and most helpful.

Brian was an absolute stalwart of the game and he will be greatly missed.

Brian Lacey was my route into competitive chess in the aftermath of the 1993 Kasparov-Short World Championship match. A few weeks after it concluded, he placed an advertisement in a local paper (Bucks Herald rather than Bucks Free Press, roughly next door geographically) with a headline "Bored? Then check this one out mate." (or similar such words). This came on the back of me winning a runner's up prize in the competition The Times ran in conjunction with the World Championship (six puzzles over the course of their "Men of War" series). It was through him that I had my first taste of county match chess, and he managed to get me an invitation to the Junior Squad Championships on three occasions (of which I could only make one).

I only found out this news myself yesterday and have thus far only had the time to notify a few members of the local chess community. I concur with the sentiments expressed already, although Brian's approach wasn't always particularly collaborative, something not uncommon to chess organisers, especially perhaps those who have worked tirelessly to encourage juniors with relatively little support from adult clubs. I'll try and post more substantively over the weekend.

As a Bucks Junior of the right period, Brian was very influential in my early chess life, giving me and several others of my age group our first forays into Adult Chess when he took the promising juniors who played for and against Hazlemere in the junior leagues and helped setup Holmer Green to face the adults.

I have many a fond memory of being snuck through adult only bars to get to the chess rooms, although I didn't play for Holmer Green long as I moved up to the Royal Grammar School who had their own teams in the same leagues.