Ray Gamble

[Mike Alderson]

I have received the very sad news of Ray's death at the age of 78 on November 6th. He had been suffering from pulmonary fibrosis for some time.
Ray, who won the Derbyshire Championship 6 times between 1966 and 1980, was a major figure in Derbyshire chess and was a wonderfully warm-hearted person whose passing will be felt keenly by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.
A full obituary will be posted on the Derbyshire Chess Association website in due course.

[Roger de Coverly]

Ray, who won the Derbyshire Championship 6 times between 1966 and 1980, was a major figure in Derbyshire chess

A Congress regular all over the country as well.

[Kevin Thurlow]

Sad news - I played him at Hastings (just realised in 1976). He was very pleasant. I've seen him around since, but never played him again.

[John Saunders]

That's sad news. I checked my BritBase database and found there were 236 of his games there, over sixty years. Here's a link to a hastily-generated PGN file of them...

https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/gamble.pgn

Mega Database 2022 has fewer in total but amongst them are some from events which BritBase doesn't yet cover.

[Simon Rogers]

Very sad news.
Sorry to hear of this.
I think I played him in the Blackpool or Scarborough Congress.
Pleasant chap.
RIP

[Brendan O'Gorman]

A gentle soul. He much preferred to be called Raymond. I remember the sad story of his retirement after many years from Rolls Royce. His colleagues fashioned a special clock from the metal used to make the engines but inscribed it “Happy retirement Ray”.

[John Saunders]

That's sad news. I checked my BritBase database and found there were 236 of his games there, over sixty years. Here's a link to a hastily-generated PGN file of them...

https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/gamble.pgn

Mega Database 2022 has fewer in total but amongst them are some from events which BritBase doesn't yet cover.

EDIT (16 Nov): Now 260 games, having added three more kindly supplied by Roger de Coverly, the one below by Paul Habershon, plus some more from ChessBase's Mega Database.

[Paul Habershon]

I first played Raymond in the 1969 Major Open at Rhyl and managed to draw, but then lost to him in the Major Opens at Brighton 1972 and Eastbourne 1973. We didn't play again until we were seniors at Sheffield 2011. I see that John Saunders' link includes Raymond's remarkable victory against John Littlewood at the English Seniors (Dovedale 2008). Perhaps this will be included in the forthcoming obituary. Against Raymond's favourite French Defence Littlewood essayed 1 e4 e6 2 Qe2. I think Raymond's style could be described as ultra solid, but my Eastbourne loss to him became quite lively:

[Event "BCF Major Open(5) Eastbourne"] [Site "?"] [Date "1973.08.10"] [Round "?"] [White "Habershon, Paul"] [Black "Gamble, Raymond"] [Result "0-1"] [PlyCount "84"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. c3 O-O 9. Bd3 e5 10. O-O exd4 11. cxd4 g6 12. Nxf6+ Nxf6 13. Rc1 c6 14. b4 Be6 15. a4 Kg7 16. b5 Bd5 17. Ne5 cxb5 18. axb5 Nh5 19. f4 Qh4 20. Qd2 g5 21. Rc5 Rad8 22. Bf5 gxf4 23. Nd7 Ng3 24. Rxd5 $2 Nxf1 $2 ({We had both missed} 24... Qxh2+ $1 25. Kxh2 (25. Kf2) 25... Nxf1+) 25. Kxf1 Rfe8 26. Re5 Qxh2 27. Be4 Qh1+ 28. Kf2 Qh4+ 29. Kf1 Re7 30. g3 Qh3+ 31. Bg2 Qxd7 32. Rg5+ Kh8 33. Rd5 Qc7 34. Rxd8+ Qxd8 35. Qxf4 Re6 36. Kg1 Qe7 37. d5 Rf6 38. Qb8+ Kg7 39. Qxa7 Qe1+ 40. Kh2 Rh6+ 41. Bh3 Qd2+ 42. Kg1 Rxh3 0-1

[Robert Clegg]

Very sad news.Ive played Raymond many times,and often chatted with him at congresses.Really nice guy who will be missed.

[Mike Alderson]

Raymond's funeral will take place at 1pm on Thursday 7th December at St Nicholas Church, 2 Lawn Avenue, Allestree, Derby DE22 2PE, followed by interment at Nottingham Road Cemetery, Derby DE21 6FN. There will be refreshments in the church following the service.

[Ronnie Burton]

Very sad news. We played more than over 10 games over 15 years. All draws and he always called me Mr Burton. Very strong 170 - 180 player

[John Saunders]

I've updated the BritBase collection of Raymond Gamble's games to include a batch of five games sent to me by Ken Norman, for which many thanks...

https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/gamble.pgn

[John Saunders]

I've updated the BritBase collection of Raymond Gamble's games to include a batch of five games sent to me by Ken Norman, for which many thanks...

https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/gamble.pgn

Please note, I put the wrong result on one of the games sent to me by Ken Norman, which I have now amended in the download. Here is the game in question, showing the result corrected to a win for White...

[Event "Hastings New Year Special A 1974/75"] [Site "Hastings"] [Date "1975.01.??"] [Round "5"] [White "Gamble, Raymond J"] [Black "Norman, Kenneth I"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D04"] [WhiteElo "2163"] [BlackElo "2140"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "1974.12.??"] [EventCountry "ENG"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 d5 3. e3 Bf5 4. Bd3 Bxd3 5. Qxd3 Nbd7 6. b3 e6 7. Nbd2 Be7 8. Bb2 O-O 9. Ng5 c5 10. f4 Rc8 11. e4 Nxe4 12. Ngxe4 dxe4 13. Nxe4 Nf6 14. O-O Qd5 15. Rae1 c4 16. bxc4 Qxc4 17. Qxc4 Rxc4 18. c3 Nxe4 19. Rxe4 g6 20. g4 Ra4 21. a3 b5 22. Ra1 Bd6 23. Kg2 Rc8 24. h4 Rc6 25. Kf3 Be7 26. Re5 a6 27. f5 Bd6 28. Re2 gxf5 29. gxf5 exf5 30. Re8+ Kg7 31. Rg1+ Kf6 32. c4 bxc4 33. d5+ c3 34. Bc1 f4 35. dxc6 c2 36. h5 Rc4 {Source: Ken Norman, 2 December 2023} 1-0

[Mike Alderson]

Raymond's obituary has been posted on the DCA website: https://derbyshirechess.chessck.co.uk/Obituaries