Ken Brown
26/2/1928 – 7/2/2012
by Graham Brown (Technical Editor of Chess Today)
CT-66(4137) Chess Today
My Dad, Ken Brown, has passed away at the age of 83 in Sunderland. He played a big part in Norfolk chess in the 60s and 70s. He was the chess teacher at Great Yarmouth Grammar School and was responsible for the early development of the school’s three national champions.
My thanks to SIM Mike Read who revealed this fact in a tribute in the Norfolk Chess magazine, En Passant. These champions Mike notes as being Robert Bellin (British Champion 1979), Clive Cubitt (British Under 18 Champion 1969) and Patrick McDermott (British Under21 Correspondence Champion 1967).
Dad taught me chess and gave me a life long love of the game. He taught anyone who was vaguely interested, and some who might not have been, and always used the famous Paul Morphy game played in 1858 at an opera house in Paris as an example of rapid development.
He was planning to use it for the millionth time at 4 o’clock on Tuesday in the hospital when his daughter Joyce visited. He had just found out that a male nurse, Ben, was keen to learn chess and he was going over it with Joyce in preparation for the lesson to come. It never did come, he passed away peacefully less than an hour after playing Joyce a game of chess.
I’m still learning from my Dad’s words, Knights come out BEFORE bishops, have 3 reasons for every move. never move a piece twice in the opening until you’ve moved each one once. And so thanks Dad … from the first game I ever drew with you for which you gave me 50p to the first game I ever won against you for which you gave me £1. That was a proud moment for me. From the second to last game of chess we played five weeks ago in January 2012 which I won … to the last ever game of chess that we played just after that … which you won.
www.ChessToday.net
It’s beautiful.