Remarkable chess career of GPS Coy

Kevin Thurlow · Post by **Kevin Thurlow** » Thu Nov 02, 2017 4:35 pm

GPS ("Philip") Coy won the Civil Service Championship in 1936, 1937 and 1957. This is good of course. Since his retirement, he has played Postal Chess for Civil Service, until now. Shortly after his 100th birthday (in May), he announced that he would not be playing any more postal. His rating is still 1895, which is impressive as I cannot believe he uses silicon assistance!

Christopher Kreuzer · Post by **Christopher Kreuzer** » Thu Nov 02, 2017 4:53 pm

Very impressive. Any statistics on number of games played (or even amount of postage paid over the years!)? Oh, hang on, he only played postal chess since his retirement? I thought you meant he had played postal chess since the 1930s! He won the Civil Service Championship while still a teenager? That is also very impressive!

Kevin Thurlow · Post by **Kevin Thurlow** » Fri Nov 03, 2017 10:44 am

"I thought you meant he had played postal chess since the 1930s!"

I'm not sure when he started - happily the CS captain has been running the teams for 40+ years, so I'll ask him.

David Gilbert · Post by **David Gilbert** » Wed Feb 17, 2021 11:52 pm

I posted earlier on the the topic of D.G.Mackay. I noticed on the old winners band for the George Barstow Cup the name of GPS Coy. Kevin had missed a year! Remarkably he was also Civil Service Champion in 1970. So over a period spanning 34 years he won that championship four times. Phenomenal!

John Saunders · Post by **John Saunders** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:34 pm

I think Kevin already knew about Philip Coy's 1970 success as I mentioned it on Britbase last year when making available 74 of Coy's games...

https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/c ... iewer.html

My source for games and info was Kevin.

Tim Harding · Post by **Tim Harding** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:05 pm

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑
Fri Nov 03, 2017 10:44 am
"I thought you meant he had played postal chess since the 1930s!"

I'm not sure when he started - happily the CS captain has been running the teams for 40+ years, so I'll ask him.

The following is from my CC database, unfortunately no source. But a game between the same players with reverse colours is cited as BCM/1942/p257 so this game is probably in the same source around that time. The opponent was of course later editor of some editions of MCO.

I only have two other CC games by Coy - against J. Vivante-Sowter in 2000. Any others available?

Kevin Thurlow · Post by **Kevin Thurlow** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:58 pm

"I only have two other CC games by Coy - against J. Vivante-Sowter in 2000. Any others available?"

One of his daughters sent me a notebook of his which contained the games I sent to John. I don't believe I have any others.

Gerard Killoran · Post by **Gerard Killoran** » Wed Jun 29, 2022 3:17 pm

Coy, but not shy.

Nick Burrows · Post by **Nick Burrows** » Wed Jun 29, 2022 3:25 pm

Gerard Killoran wrote: ↑
Wed Jun 29, 2022 3:17 pm
Coy, but not shy.

[Event "Kent Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "1939.??.??"] [Round "1"] [White "Coy, George Philip Stanley"] [Black "Shedden, G."] [Result "1-0"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "6k1/4rpp1/1p1p4/p1pPnP2/2P1N1R1/1P6/P6P/6K1 w - - 0 1"] 1. Nf6+ Kf8 2. Nh7+ Kg8 3. Rxg7+ Kh8 4. f6 Re8 5. Ng5 Rf8 6. Kg2 {Sydenham, Forest Hill & Penge Gazette - Friday 23 June 1939 p.13} 1-0your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard

Thats a beautiful combo

John Saunders · Post by **John Saunders** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 9:23 am

Many thanks, Gerard, and also Tim for the game he posted last year. I have now added these to the collection of Philip Coy's games at BritBase, plus a handful of others I've found...

https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/c ... iewer.html

Gerard Killoran · Post by **Gerard Killoran** » Tue Jul 22, 2025 5:23 pm

Coy is in the picture!

: Kentish Independent - Friday 23 June 1939 p.16.png (1.59 MiB) Viewed 3433 times

: Kentish Independent - Friday 23 June 1939 p.7.png (557.23 KiB) Viewed 3433 times

John Saunders · Post by **John Saunders** » Tue Jul 22, 2025 7:12 pm

A very nice set of caricatures, thank you for posting it, Gerard. The board with the flying pieces put me in mind of Magnus Carlsen thumping the table when he lost to the world champion. I wondered whether the young boy, Rex Voysey, might still be around but sadly he died two years ago, aged in his mid-90s. As for the caricaturist's final comment - "after which the players all went into a 'deep think' - and made my job impossible": any chess photographer could relate to that.

Jon D'Souza-Eva · Post by **Jon D'Souza-Eva** » Tue Jul 22, 2025 7:59 pm

GPS (George Philip Stanley) Coy died on the 12th August, 2019. Kevin posted about it at the time:
viewtopic.php?t=10390
He was born on the 28th May, 1917, so he made it to his 102nd birthday.

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Remarkable chess career of GPS Coy

Remarkable chess career of GPS Coy

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