Ivor Annetts

[Trefor Thynne]

I am sorry to report the death on 28 September of Ivor Annetts, a stalwart of Devon chess for over 60 years. Ivor was in his mid-eighties and passed away at his home in Silverton near Tiverton, Devon after a period of illness. Ivor was a member at various times of chess clubs in Teignmouth, Newton Abbot, Exeter and Tiverton and held various officer posts . He was a regular league, county and congress player, highly competitive and was widely known in south-western chess circles. I personally had known Ivor since the mid-1960s when he was a maths teacher at Churston Ferrers Grammar School near Brixham and played for my club, Teignmouth. At his strongest he was around 165 (old-style rating) but he maintained a good level of play until well into old age, despite increasing deafness complicating his life. Later in his teaching career he became Deputy Head at Coombeshead School in Newton Abbot before taking early retirement.
Ivor was a very interesting man to spend time with. He had a vivid sense of humour and a highly-developed political mind which often led to lively debate. He became very active in the League Against Cruel Sports and was frequently seen on TV at anti-hunt protests, some of which turned pretty “ lively”.
Ivor was originally from Wiltshire and attended Bishop Wordsworth GS, Salisbury. He once told me that his English teacher and school chess club organiser was William Golding, later famous as the author of “ Lord of the Flies”. Ivor was a keen supporter of Southampton FC, the “Saints”.
One of Ivor’s closest chess friends was the late Simon Bartlett, a Cornishman whose name is remembered via the Memorial Congress held in Torquay every winter. A unique feature of this congress is the prize awarded for the loudest shirt, for which Ivor always competed vigorously.
A widely-liked and popular member of the chess fraternity in the South-West, Ivor will be much missed.

[Brendan O'Gorman]

Great character. The photo shows Ivor wearing his winning shirt in the Simon Barlett Memorial tournament in 2020.

Ivor Annets 2020.jpg (396.58 KiB) Viewed 5954 times

[Ronnie Burton]

True Gentleman. The picture was probably when we both won the most colourful shirt in honour of Simon Bartlett who was good friend of Ivor

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Very glad to find out more about this colourful character. I had come across him briefly while perusing a crosstable from the 1964 WECU Congress. Nice to put a face to a name. Condolences to his family and friends.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Briefly a team-mate of mine when we both played for Tiverton. Nice chap.

Had lunch at his house once; of the three chess players who were there, I'm the only one still alive.

[Ronnie Burton]

Nice to know that Jack. I'm guessing Simon Bartlett and Brian Boomas. spelling might incorrect. Ivor was close friends with both of them

[Brendan O'Gorman]

Boomsma

[Ronnie Burton]

Thanks Brendan. Quite a character but had some doggy positions. Had two partners on the go spending time with each of them during the week. Also ran an establishments for mature men which was closed down. I need to say no more.

[IM Jack Rudd]

The other player was indeed Simon Bartlett - we had lunch at Ivor's place before a Tiverton match.

[Trefor Thynne]

Ronnie’s evocation of Brian Boomsma ( whom I first played in 1965) took me back to an amusing incident about 15 years ago when I was playing in the South Hams Rapidplay at Kingsbridge in South Devon. After about 19 moves in our game Brian picked up a bishop on f8 and made to move it in the direction of b4 but noticed too late that it would lose material to a fork. Replacing the bishop on f8 he sank into thought for about 7 minutes and then made to move a knight on the queenside. “ Sorry Brian you touched the bishop and you have to move it” I pointed out.
This was the signal for a loud expletive whose author then walked out of the room and was not seen for the rest of the day.
One year later I turned up for the same tournament and found myself paired with the same Boomsma in round 1. I sat down and waited for him to turn up. Just as the round was starting Brian entered, looked at the pairings and announced in a loud voice “ I am not playing that f…….!” and went home again.
As Ronnie Burton says,Brian Boomsma had a colourful and chequered past but there was a long gap of about 10 years when he vanished from the scene completely. Ivor Annetts ( the late subject of this thread) for some reason known only to himself conducted lengthy and detailed researches into what had happened to Boomsma ( whom he considered a sort of friend) and discovered that he had spent a lengthy spell in one of HM’s sternest penal institutions!
At one point in the 1980’s Brian played for a club based in Paignton known as Paignton Palace which had a seriously strong first team : Gary Lane, Tony Swift (a Londoner), Dave Newhouse (a Lancastrian), Chris Hawthorne, Peter Harris ( ex-Birmingham) and Brian himself was a decent player around 150 grade.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Re-reading this thread has corrected my initial misapprehension that Ronnie was talking about Ivor, rather than Brian! Fascinating to hear from Trefor that Ivor ferreted out the incarceration history!

[Ronnie Burton]

You are right Chris on too much chatting on Brian. As my first post said Ivor was as a true gentleman and campaign against fox hunting and appeared on TV in the South West. Great person and improved as a chess player with age

[GaryLane]

I remember Ivor as a true gentleman of Devon chess. He set up chess clubs in his schools which produced a number of top players. He was kind enough to buy my first chess book with much enthusiasm as I had known him as a kid. Years later he was one of the people you always wanted to bump into at a tournament because he made you feel better about the world. He will be sadly missed.

PS I used to spend a lot of time in the chess world with Brian Boomsma but assume he has since died. He made no secret that he learned chess in prison and typical with those type of characters was very loyal to his friends. A top guy.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

I used to spend a lot of time in the chess world with Brian Boomsma but assume he has since died.

His death was registered in Torbay in Q4 2020. According to the GRO index his full name was Brian Hendrick Boomsma and he was born in 1942.