Ronald (Ron) Thomas

[Ernie Lazenby]

One of the best players to have been born in the north east of England passed away on 6th January 2021 aged 81. Ron Thomas was a one off, someone who possessed natural ability at our game and according to a number of top players had the ability to be a master even perhaps a grand master. About 12 years ago I wrote a piece about him for the hall of fame section on the Cleveland chess association web site. Ron has not played for many years but followed the game until the end. The care home staff said when he entered the home he had his chess set and books with him. Grandmaster Keith Arkell will remember Ron. They played a drawn game in the mid 1980's. Keith told me Ron had chances for a win in the game. Very little is known about Rons private life, he had very few friends and no family we know of.
Ron was a very talented player who may well have ended up joint winner with Botterill of the 1977 British Championship but for an error with the adjournment system at that time. I will try and copy to this thread the piece I wrote about him.
Ronald Thomas. RIP.

[Ernie Lazenby]

Heres the link to the Cleveland hall of fame article.
http://www.clevelandchessassociation.or ... thomas.htm

[John Saunders]

That's sad news.

Ron Thomas played in five British Championships and his games may be found on BritBase as follows: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1974, 1977. In this case it might be easier to access all his Championship games in one go by going to chessgames.com

Regarding the game lost as the result of an adjournment foul-up, it must have been this one, where White won despite being clearly lost in the final position. Ron Thomas's other losses in the same event look consistent with the final position on the board and the same is true of other games he was recorded as losing in other Championship games.

[Event "British Championship"] [Site "Brighton"] [Date "1977.08.08"] [Round "1"] [White "Morley, Andrew J"] [Black "Thomas, Ronald"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C45"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "1977.08.08"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "GBR"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 Bb6 6. a4 a6 7. Nc3 d6 8. Nd5 Ba7 9. Qe2 Nge7 10. Bg5 f6 11. Be3 Bxe3 12. Qxe3 O-O 13. O-O-O f5 14. Nd4 Nxd5 15. exd5 f4 16. Qc3 Ne5 17. h3 Bd7 18. Nf3 Nxf3 19. Qxf3 Bxa4 20. Bd3 Bd7 21. Qh5 h6 22. Qg6 Qf6 23. Qh7+ Kf7 24. h4 Rh8 25. Qe4 Rhe8 26. Qh7 Re5 27. g4 fxg3 28. fxg3 Bf5 29. Bxf5 Rxf5 30. Rhe1 Re8 31. Rxe8 Kxe8 32. Qg8+ Qf8 33. Qe6+ Kd8 34. Qe3 Rf1 35. Qd3 Rf2 36. Rd2 Rf1+ 37. Rd1 Rf2 38. Rd2 Rf3 39. Qd4 Qf6 40. Qe4 Rf1+ 41. Rd1 1-0

Note that this was played in the very first round of the Championship so the winning of the Championship, jointly or otherwise, would still have been a long way into the future.

[Ernie Lazenby]

Thanks for the clarification John. Ron was a bit of a character! He once tried to convince me he had a better playing record than Bobby Fischer saying he had the figures to prove it. I choose not to upset him by pointing out the vastly different levels of opponent! It takes all sorts. In the context of the time he was active and at his peak in the UK he was one of the top players. Our local chess scene was the better for having him.

[John Saunders]

In the context of the time he was active and at his peak in the UK he was one of the top players. Our local chess scene was the better for having him.

Yes, indeed. On the 1968 BCF Grading List he was graded 214 which put him in the country's top 30 players.

[Keith Arkell]

One of the best players to have been born in the north east of England passed away on 6th January 2021 aged 81. Ron Thomas was a one off, someone who possessed natural ability at our game and according to a number of top players had the ability to be a master even perhaps a grand master. About 12 years ago I wrote a piece about him for the hall of fame section on the Cleveland chess association web site. Ron has not played for many years but followed the game until the end. The care home staff said when he entered the home he had his chess set and books with him. Grandmaster Keith Arkell will remember Ron. They played a drawn game in the mid 1980's. Keith told me Ron had chances for a win in the game. Very little is known about Rons private life, he had very few friends and no family we know of.
Ron was a very talented player who may well have ended up joint winner with Botterill of the 1977 British Championship but for an error with the adjournment system at that time. I will try and copy to this thread the piece I wrote about him.
Ronald Thomas. RIP.

Yes, that was some game and Ron was some player! Inevitably, for me, even such a complex and crazy game ended up in a R+P.

http://www.clevelandchessassociation.or ... _kavrt.htm