Martin Newbury

[GrahamStuart]

I am sorry to inform the passing of Hampshire chess player Martin Newbury. Martin was a long time Southampton and Portsmouth Chess League player, and most recently played for the Hamble Chess club. Previously Martin had played for Sarisbury Green, British Rail and Passed Pawn in the Southampton and Gosport in Portsmouth Chess leagues. Martin was a great strategic chess player, master of many openings and had a real touch playing Black in the King’s Indian Defence.

https://www.hampshirechess.co.uk/martin-newbury-r-i-p/

Players from the West of England will have known Martin as he represented Hampshire more than 200 times from 1968 to 2007. Martin was one of the all-time great characters of the Southampton/Hampshire chess scene. Martin was a one of a kind.

[Event "Southampton Chess League"] [Site "?"] [Date "1994.12.06"] [Round "?"] [White "McLeod, Fraser Neil"] [Black "Newbury, Martin L"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E81"] [WhiteElo "162"] [BlackElo "183"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "56"] [WhiteTeam "Southampton"] [BlackTeam "Sarisbury"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 c5 7. d5 e6 8. Bd3 exd5 9. cxd5 Nbd7 10. Qd2 Ne5 11. Nge2 Nh5 12. O-O f5 13. Bc2 Nc4 14. Qc1 Nxe3 15. Qxe3 f4 16. Qd2 Qh4 17. Rab1 Be5 18. b4 b6 19. bxc5 bxc5 20. Bd3 g5 21. Qe1 Ng3 22. Rf2 Rf6 23. h3 Rh6 24. Nxg3 fxg3 25. Rc2 Bxh3 26. Kf1 Bxg2+ 27. Kxg2 Qh3+ 28. Kg1 Qh1# 0-1

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

He was great company on the incredibly long car journeys to county matches.

[Keith Gregory]

He was one of the top players in Hampshire when I first started playing chess - always patient, kind and approachable to us "chess brats" (some players weren't!) - we went on to play each other many times in the Portsmouth and Southampton leagues - he had a great natural talent and was capable of beating anyone, although he was always courteous and respectful in victory. A true gent.

[John Townsend]

He seemed a good player when he beat me in a county match between Hants. and Berks. on 2 March 2002, having got a good position from his fancy Sicilian variation: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6. My next move, 3.d4, was not good for White, although it looks natural to the uninitiated. (White would do better to play either 3.c4 or 3.c3).

R.I.P.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Again no indication, even approximate, of their age - but given the 1968 reference he must have been getting on a bit?

[JustinHorton]

Incidentally he appears to have been a Saints fan, and frequent away follower.

[Roger de Coverly]

Again no indication, even approximate, of their age - but given the 1968 reference he must have been getting on a bit?

If you have access to the "add new player" option in the ECF LMS, you can look up his year of birth. I'll just say that he was slightly younger than me and in 1968 would likely have been regarded as a promising junior.

[John Townsend]

Matt, as you have expressed interest in his age, I would estimate, very roughly, that he was about 50 to 60 when I played him in 2002. Of course, such recollections can be badly wrong!

[John Townsend]

Are these his birth registration details?

Births Mar 1953
NEWBURY Martin L BROWN Gosport 6b 324 (with acknowledgement and thanks to Free BMD)

If so, then he was a year or two younger than the lower end of my estimate!

[GrahamStuart]

Are these his birth registration details?

Births Mar 1953
NEWBURY Martin L BROWN Gosport 6b 324 (with acknowledgement and thanks to Free BMD)

If so, then he was a year or two younger than the lower end of my estimate!

That looks to be correct. Martin was a promising junior. He worked for ONS for many years. His grade probably peaked about 190 but during the 70's, 80's and early 90's was normally in the mid 180's.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Yes, that's him John:
https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/pe ... s/PFKG-QTW

I think he had three siblings (all alive as far as I know). He might have lived with one of his brothers.

Edit: I was misremembering - it was one of Martin's brothers, Robert Newbury, who sells books from his home in Titchfield:
https://www.ardis.co.uk/

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

A nice picture of a 30 year old Martin from his brother's wedding day in 1983.

MartinNewbury2.jpg (409.28 KiB) Viewed 725 times

[John Townsend]

What does the middle initial "L" stand for? (as seen in the birth index entry quoted above)

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

What does the middle initial "L" stand for? (as seen in the birth index entry quoted above)

I haven't been able to find out what the "L" stands for, but since both his father and paternal grandfather were named Leslie, I think that's quite likely.