English Chess Forum

I am sorry to report the death of Tom Guy on 19 July. Some details may be found at:

https://www.nottinghamshirechess.org/20 ... july-2021/

One of his games is in the Presidents' section; Tom was president of the NCA 1977-79:

https://www.nottinghamshirechess.org/wp ... idents.pdf

My condolences to Tom's wife Anne and to all his family and friends. RIP.

He was probably at his peak in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when he won the Brighton CC Championship in 1957 and 1960. I believe that he moved to Tunbridge Wells for the last years of his life.

A few years ago, with Tom's permission, Brian forwarded to me some of Tom's games from the 1961 BCF Major Open, where he scored 6½/11 in a strong field. Here is one of his wins (though with different game finishes - one as published by BH Wood in the Illustrated London News and the other as recorded by Tom himself)...

[Event "GBR-ch48 Major Open"] [Site "Aberystwyth"] [Date "1961.08.23"] [Round "9"] [White "Lees, David"] [Black "Guy, Thomas"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E87"] [PlyCount "52"] [EventDate "1961.08.14"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "GBR"] [SourceTitle "Denman, Brian"] [SourceDate "2018.05.03"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2018.05.03"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 e5 6. d5 O-O 7. Be3 Nh5 8. Bd3 f5 9. exf5 gxf5 10. Nge2 Na6 11. Qd2 Nc5 12. Bc2 a5 13. O-O-O Bd7 14. Rdg1 a4 15. g4 fxg4 16. fxg4 Nf4 17. Nxf4 exf4 18. Bxf4 a3 $1 19. Bg5 (19. b3 $2 Bxc3 20. Qxc3 Rxf4 $19) 19... axb2+ 20. Kxb2 Rxa2+ $3 21. Kxa2 Qa8+ 22. Kb1 Qa5 (22... Qa3 $142 23. Rg3 $8 Ra8 24. Bxh7+ $8 Kxh7 25. Qb2 Qa6 $15) 23. Na2 $2 (23. Na4 $1 $16) 23... Qxa2+ $3 ({An alternative contemporary version of the subsequent score is} 23... Qa7 24. Bh6 Qxa2+ $3 25. Kxa2 Ra8+ 26. Ba4 Rxa4+ 27. Kb1 Ra1+ 28. Kc2 Ba4# {, as given by BH Wood in his column in the Illustrated London News, 23 September 1961. Wood comments on what he considered to be the game moves as follows: "That’s how it actually ended. As fine a finish, I should think, as this event has ever seen. It does seem a shame, but in the interests of accuracy we have to point out that 22...Qa6 would have been much better than 22...Qa5. It threatens White’s knight, just the same but any move of the knight would allow an immediate mate; so White would have to reply 23.Rg3, whereupon 23...Ra8 would leave him defenceless. Reverting to the game, if Black could win by the brilliant Qxa2+ on move 24, could he not have won by Qxa2+ on move 23? The answer is, that he could!" Please note that Wood's comment that 23...Ra8 leaves White without a defence is not strictly true as the computer finds 24.Bxh7+ as in the game note at Black's move 22 above.}) 24. Kxa2 Ra8+ 25. Ba4 Rxa4+ 26. Kb1 Ra1+ {Sources: T Guy and 'Sussex Chess News 2012'. Contributed by Brian Denman, 3 May 2018.} 0-1

RIP