Robert Rough RIP

[David Sedgwick]

From the Chess Scotland Forum:

By David G Congalton » Fri Sep 13, 2013 1:03 pm

It is with deep sadness and regret that I learned today of the passing of Inverness Chess Club stalwart Robert Rough last night.

Robert was very much involved in making last weekend’s 1st Inverness Chess Congress happen and his enthusiasm and love of chess was clearly apparent when I met him in Inverness earlier this year to talk about the event.

Robert was also one of the first people to enter the 1st Prestwick Airport Congress and I know he took part in numerous chess event at home and abroad.

I would like to pass on my condolences to his family and friends at this sad time.

Sad news indeed.

Robert played at a number of e2e4 events and several times in Gibraltar.

[Sean Hewitt]

I can't quite believe this. Tragic news. Robert loved the game and was a true gentleman. RIP.

[John Saunders]

This is just desperately sad. I used to love starting the day in Gibraltar by having breakfast with Robert because I loved his company, his unique sense of humour and his love of chess. I shall miss him hugely.

[David Grobler]

is this the Robert Rough who was a very keen correspondence chess player ?
I never met him...but played him more than once.....terrible news if it is the same chap...quite young I believe?

[Matthew Peat]

I first met Robert in 2007 when we were the only UK participants in the Porto Mannu tournament in Sardinia.

He was simply brilliant company, a hugely warm person with time to spare for everyone and a fantastic sense of humour. Our dinner table would expand night on night to include whomever he had crossed paths with that day, looking for another fix of his dry Scottish wit. We both played in the same event in 2008 and 2009, by which time a good few people were there simply on Robert's reccomendation or to use the opportunity to meet up with him again.

Although I have never played there, the tournament closest to Robert's heart was Gibraltar where I think he played 6/7 consecutive editions. It's very nice to see a remembrance of him on the event's website, which I think he would be very touched by.

Truly a pleasure and privilige to have known him and he will be very greatly missed by many.

[Alan Byron]

Robert was certainly a fantastic guy whom I had the good fortune to meet in Sardinia and Gibraltar for quite a few years. He was exceptionally warm and with great Scottish wit, and had an incredible modesty and self-deprecation when it came to his chess ability, calling himself a chess muppet - even though he was often a grading prize winner! I will miss him, his enlightening reflections on life and his hugely funny comments on chess, including his inability to dare to push a pawn beyond the third rank! He was a total pleasure to be around at all times.

[Alistair Campbell]

Thanks for alerting me to this.

I find myself shocked and saddened by this news. When I played my first congresses 30+ years ago, Robert was one of the more memorable characters, friendly and enthusiastic, and often used to sport a tee-shirt bearing the slogan "Sokolski Appreciation Society" or something similar as he liked to open a game with 1 P-QN4. I think I first played him in 1983, and lost (I imagine to the Sokolski although I've mislaid the score of that game). I played him a couple of times by correspondence three or four years later, games that coincided with his move to the Highland capital - by now he was opening 1.b4, and I managed a couple of draws, but I've a feeling he gave up chess for a bit - at that time he sold me a couple of dozen cardboard and plastic sets ideal for keeping track of a host of correspondence games, sets which I still have.

However, few of us really gave up, and I played him again in 2008 when Oban played the reborn Inverness club in the Spens Cup at Fort William's football ground. He had hardly changed although by then he must have been in his late 50s, and his obvious passion for the game seems to have contributed to the birth of the first ever Inverness congress which took place this month. He will be a sad loss.

[John McKenna]

Without wishing to intrude on private grief - I never met him but I thought I came across a game of his somewhere and his opponent was a Mr. Chandler. I might just be imagining it, though. Anyway, he will be greatly missed by those who knew him and that says it all.