Andrew Perkins

[MJMcCready]

Andrew Perkins, who played board 1 for Luton for decades and sometimes board 1 for Bedfordshire has sadly passed away. He was a kind and gentle man and had not been seen at his church for some time. The alarm was raised and he was found having passed on already.

[Matt Mackenzie]

How old was he (at least roughly)?

His ratings only go back to 2006 on the ECF site, but that being a grading of 183 suggests he was returning to chess after a sizeable break.

[Brian Valentine]

He would have been 76 or thereabouts

[John Townsend]

I was about to say he was probably north of 75, so, together with Brian's reply, that gives Matt a good idea.

[John Townsend]

Did he have a middle name beginning with D? An Andrew D. Perkins was born in the last quarter of 1949 in Luton district.

[Roger de Coverly]

His ratings only go back to 2006 on the ECF site, but that being a grading of 183 suggests he was returning to chess after a sizeable break.

I have a record of losing to him in the Bourne End one-day of 1981 which suggests he was a 170s, 180s or 190s player in the early 1980s.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Did he have a middle name beginning with D? An Andrew D. Perkins was born in the last quarter of 1949 in Luton district.

This page confirms that the middle inital of Andrew Perkins was "D" and also gives his birthday, which supports a birth registered in the fourth quarter of the year.
https://www.lutonchessclub.com/post/hap ... ngs-gambit

[MJMcCready]

He was usually rated in the 190s I believe. Very kind and softly spoken gentleman.

[Paul Habershon]

I first played Andrew on 13th October 1969 soon after taking up a teaching post in Bedford. It was my first game in the Bedfordshire League in which Andrew played for Luton A and I played for the Bedford Modern School staff/pupil team. Altogether we played each other 27 times, mostly in the Beds. League, with the rather neat score of +8 -8 =11. He was a delightful and sporting character with a quiet humour.

i am surprised to see that our last game was as long ago as April 1992. I don't know if he played for Luton after that - it could be that we were on different boards - but I am fairly certain that he gave up competitive chess eventually. The word was that he lived with and later cared for his elderly parents and at one time had a job as a bus driver. He was also deeply religious and declined playing for the county when matches became Sunday fixtures. However, I notice that he did play me in the last round of the 1981 Hitchin Congress on a Sunday. I am hoping to see a knowledgeable obituary on the Luton Chess Club website. There is still at least one member who knew him in the old days. I also believe Andrew was still contributing in some way to the club website. it's a funeral I would like to attend if it hasn't happened already.

Andrew won the Bedfordshire County Championship just once in 1982, though he may not have often entered. Here is his game against me on the way to the title. He was merciless after I went badly wrong on move 28.

[Event "Bedfordshire County Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "1982.06.07"] [Round "?"] [White "Perkins, Andrew D"] [Black "Habershon, Paul F"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B04"] [PlyCount "89"] 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 g6 6. Bc4 Be6 7. Qf3 Bg7 8. Nc3 c6 9. O-O O-O 10. Re1 Nc7 11. Bxe6 Nxe6 12. d5 Nd4 13. Qd3 c5 14. f4 Nd7 15. Nd1 Rc8 16. c3 Nf5 17. c4 Qc7 18. Nf3 Rfe8 19. Nc3 a6 20. Bd2 b5 21. g4 Nd6 22. f5 Nxc4 23. Ng5 Nde5 24. Qh3 h6 25. fxg6 Nxd2 ({Black is still better after this but stronger is} 25... hxg5 $1 26. Qh7+ Kf8 27. Rxe5 Nxe5 28. Rf1 f6 29. Bxg5 Nxg4) 26. gxf7+ Nxf7 27. Nxf7 Kxf7 28. Qd3 Nc4 $4 (28... b4 $1) 29. Qh7 $1 Rf8 30. Rf1+ Ke8 31. Qxg7 Rxf1+ 32. Rxf1 Qe5 33. Qxh6 Kd7 34. Qxa6 Nd6 35. Rf2 b4 36. Qa4+ Kc7 37. Qa7+ Kd8 38. Rf8+ Ne8 39. Qb6+ Kd7 40. Qb7+ Rc7 41. Qb5+ Kd6 42. Qa6+ Kd7 43. Qa4+ Kd6 44. Nb5+ Kxd5 45. Rf5 1-0

[MJMcCready]

sept-12th-1968-1.jpg (1.32 MiB) Viewed 4861 times

The Luton News, Sept. 12th 1968.

[John Saunders]

Here's the full score of the game given in the newspaper article above, including details such as the date and board number...

[Event "County m Beds-Herts"] [Site "Welwyn Garden City"] [Date "1967.12.19"] [Round "1.11"] [White "Norman, Dinah M"] [Black "Perkins, Andrew D"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B98"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "1967.12.19"] [EventType "team-match"] [EventRounds "1"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "BritBase"] [Source "John Saunders"] [SourceDate "2026.02.09"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2026.02.09"] [SourceQuality "1"] [WhiteTeam "Hertfordshire"] [BlackTeam "Bedfordshire"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"] [BlackTeamCountry "ENG"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3 Qc7 9. O-O-O O-O 10. g4 b5 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. g5 Bxd4 13. Rxd4 Bb7 14. Bg2 Nc6 15. Rd2 Na5 16. f5 Nc4 17. Re2 Ne5 18. Qg3 b4 19. Nd1 Qc4 20. Rf2 Qxa2 21. f6 Nc4 22. c3 b3 23. Qd3 Rac8 24. h4 a5 25. h5 Qa1+ 26. Qb1 Qxb1+ 27. Kxb1 Rc5 28. fxg7 Kxg7 29. g6 Rg5 30. gxf7 Rxf7 31. Re2 Kf8 32. Kc1 Rxg2 33. Rxg2 Bxe4 34. Rg4 Bxh1 35. Rxc4 Rf5 36. Rh4 Rf1 37. Kd2 Bc6 38. Ke2 Rf5 39. Ne3 Re5 40. Kd3 Ke7 41. Kd4 Rg5 42. Nc4 e5+ {(adjudicated) Source: Tom Sweby via Luton CC website} 0-1

[MJMcCready]

Does anyone know what her peak rating was?

[Roger de Coverly]

Here's the full score of the game given in the newspaper article above, including details such as the date and board number...

A surprise to see Dinah playing a Bg5 Najdorf. The idea at move 9 of castling into the attack was advocated by Cambridge University player Nigel Holloway although castling into it in the Bg5 Najforf has now become more popular. Possibly that's because Stockfish etc can make defences work.

The article mentions Roger Parry. He's someone who knew his way around the Bg5 Najdorf as I found to my cost about four years later. Following the games in Fissher's book, i played the "normal" Nbd7 at move 9. I think that game made it to the Bedford newspaper archive as well.

[Ian Thompson]

Does anyone know what her peak rating was?

Peak, no, but a perusal of old grading lists shows it was at least 169 (and consistently in the 160's for many years).

[Paul Habershon]

Does anyone know what her peak rating was?

Peak, no, but a perusal of old grading lists shows it was at least 169 (and consistently in the 160's for many years).

ECF database has him in two separate entries, A D Perkins and Andrew Perkins, both Luton. The former's rating history has a peak 194 in 1994 followed by 191 and 193 in the next two years.
https://rating.englishchess.org.uk/play ... de=116963E

...and more detail here https://rating.englishchess.org.uk/play ... de=255919F
Seems he finished with a 2050 rating.