Barry Sandercock

[Ronnie Burton]

Played Barry many times and failed to win.

R.I.P.

[Richard Thursby]

According to my stack of scorebooks, I played him twice at Golders Green in 2008. The first the score runs out at about move 30 with a note saying black eventually ran out time with white only having a king left. The second was a slightly wild and woolly position with opposite coloured bishops of the same colour as the weaknesses around the opponent's king. Ultimately the fact his king was stuck in the centre and he injudiciously moved all his major pieces off the back rank allowed my queen to get in behind followed by a tactic that either forced mate or won his queen.

[Robert Clegg]

Very sad news.Played Barry a few times.Really nice guy.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

This is very sad news, though I did not know he had reached such a venerable age.

I always enjoyed reading his posts here. I wish I had a way of looking up whether I had played him over the board.

The pictures look very familiar, so I must be recognizing him from places I encountered him (maybe congresses from a few years ago).

[Roger de Coverly]

. I wish I had a way of looking up whether I had played him over the board.

If you've played him in an ECF graded game over the past 15 years or so, look him up, or yourself, using the detail history at the ecfrating site. That was how I dated his win against John Littlewood. I had a recollection of congratulating him on his result and that it had been at a British, but not where or when.

[Brian Valentine]

Hastings 2010-11, Kreuzer v Sandercock, draw

[Mike Gunn]

He was a tough, but friendly opponent. On the grading database my score against him is one draw (at Paignton in 2019) and 2 earlier losses. I also recall playing against him at Hastings in the 1990s and I expect he won those too!

[Nick Burrows]

It showed how much chess he played, that he seems to have faced every member of the forum! I played him at Paignton around 7 years ago. He gave me a tough game, and like everyone else, I went away thinking what a friendly chap he was.

Good game.

Rest In Piece.

[Lee Bullock]

A great man. A gentle man. A lovely man. But as you'll see from the position beneath, he also reserved the right to employ the occasional double-cross!

Barry came to Kos for the ACO Amateurs in 2018 with his wife, daughter & son-in-law - a 90th birthday family treat. He got off to a flying start and was one of the section leaders after four rounds, but maybe time was catching-up and he finished in mid-table. He still had a fantastic time. He was playing chess after all, but apart from that he loved sitting down with his family and chatting about anything other than chess.

But as I said above, he wasn't adverse to the occasional con. Here's one of my favourite endings ever, ever, ever, primarily because of the reaction of his opponent. It comes from the e2e4 Diamond Jubilee Congress in 2012, I think at Gatwick, and it's Barry, as Black to play. Oh, and he's completely lost at this point:

[Event "e2e4 London Diamond "] [Site "Gatwick"] [Date "2012.06.03"] [Round "2"] [White "MacDonlad, John"] [Black "Sandercock. Barry"] [Result "*"] [FEN "3k4/1R6/8/5BPK/7P/6r1/4R3/6r1 b - - 0 1"] [SetUp "1"] [WhiteElo "1664"] 1...Rxg5+ 2.hxg5 Rxg5+ 3.Kxg5 * 68...Rxg5+ 69.hxg5 Rxg5+ 70.Kxg5 (of course MacDonald arrogantly takes the second rook without hesitation). Stalemate! Barry holds out his hand for a full minute but MacDonald ignores it and refuses to shake hands. MacDonald turns and walks away without so much as a how-do-you-do but two minutes later is led back to the board by Alex Holowczak to grudgingly sign scoresheets and reset the pieces. MacDonald wasn't a happy man at the best of times, this was full on blues, double-wide. Barry and I saw the funnier side!

I was there for that game. I was also watching! Barry was so chuffed haha. I said to him you sneeky guy haha. He smiled. I had a few chats with Barry. He was always so nice and friendly. never got to know him properly but I bet he was a great guy. Rip Barry.

[John Upham]

Image #3 of Barry from the very same Amersham Congress:

i-ZQnbQJx-X2.jpg