John Rety (1930-2010)

[Gerard Killoran]

John Rety was identified as a threat to Western Civilisation by the Daily Express, surely a badge of honour. This is from an article attacking the organisers of a protest against the Vietnam War.

The paper had to issue a correction as John had never been handcuffed, although he had been arrested when protesting against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Daily Express _ Thursday 24 October 1968 _ p7.png (378.2 KiB) Viewed 1894 times

[Christopher Kreuzer]

There is only one chess anecdote - although a good one - so I attach one of Leonard's pieces where he uses a position from a game between John Rety and a promising junior.

The puzzle posed (no solution given - it would have been given the following day or week):

r2b1rk1/1pq4p/3p4/p1pP2pR/PnP1P3/1QN3K1/1P1B1N2/R7

Is there a typo in the moves as published? Surely the first move is 1...KtPxP (1...gxf4), giving this position instead:

r2b1rk1/1pq4p/3p4/p1pPp2R/PnP1P3/1QN3K1/1P1B1N2/R7

Still cannot find a move for Black that Luke avoided by playing 4.Kt-Kt4 (Ng4). Can anyone help?

How long did the chess column in the Sandwell Evening Mail run for?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Oh, I see it now. No typo (sorry!). Rxf2 and Qf7+.

[James Pratt]

I got to know John quite well. His poetry anthologies were the private preserve of FOYLES who had the exclusive rights, he told me. He translated Flesch's middlegame Batsford from Hungarian: "took ages" he added. He could be glimpsed at Speakers' Corner (and I even saw him on the box once.) He could be intolerant and annoying. And I miss him.
James

[Angus French]

I got to know John quite well. His poetry anthologies were the private preserve of FOYLES who had the exclusive rights, he told me. He translated Flesch's middlegame Batsford from Hungarian: "took ages" he added. He could be glimpsed at Speakers' Corner (and I even saw him on the box once.) He could be intolerant and annoying. And I miss him.
James

The Batsford edition of Janos Flesch's book which John translated was titled Planning in Chess (and published in 1983). Well done Gerard for finding the photos and archive material.

[David Mabbs]

I mentioned, on page two of the tributes to Dave Rumens, how Dave won a ten-shillings bet that he would jump off the end of Eastbourne Pier. The catch was that Dave jumped off the land-end of the pier - which was nevertheless quite a sizeable jump - and we all had to pay up. What I didn't mention was that in the general commotion that followed, John Rety happened to be coming off from the pier and evidently thought it would be an excellent idea to emulate Dave's actions. He was restrained at the last moment by a pier attendant, and was last seen headed stage left. As people have said, a remarkable and eccentric character. RIP.

[John Townsend]

I would agree with the "eccentric" part of the description of J. Rety. Some 20 years ago I played him in a congress game. He contemplated his first move (1.e4) for about ten minutes. Nothing to object to so far, but later he handled his own queen and my rook, before attempting to play a different move. When the director was called he denied having touched the pieces. After he had been ruled against, he berated the director for taking my word in preference to his. I believe he was an anarchist ...

[LawrenceCooper]

I would agree with the "eccentric" part of the description of J. Rety. Some 20 years ago I played him in a congress game. He contemplated his first move (1.e4) for about ten minutes. Nothing to object to so far, but later he handled his own queen and my rook, before attempting to play a different move. When the director was called he denied having touched the pieces. After he had been ruled against, he berated the director for taking my word in preference to his. I believe he was an anarchist ...

I had a similar experience in the 2001 South Wales Masters where he picked up my knight on e4 and his f pawn from f3. He then proceeded to use his other hand to put his rook on e4 and returned his pawn to f3. After I called the arbiter my opponent declined to continue the game.

[John Townsend]

Lawrence Cooper wrote:

"After I called the arbiter my opponent declined to continue the game."

Resigned, d' you mean?

[LawrenceCooper]

Lawrence Cooper wrote:

"After I called the arbiter my opponent declined to continue the game."

Resigned, d' you mean?

I don't recall him resigning before disappearing but that was the assumption made.