English Chess Forum

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"It is with great sadness we have to report the passing of Mr Paul Buswell early today. Paul was our chairman for several years and many of us will remember him for his regular rapid play events with fun prizes for all. Heartfelt condolences to friends and family."

Funeral details are not yet known but it may be a private event.

Paul did a lot of work for both Hastings club and congress as well as the BCF/ECF.

It is a great loss to chess.

Was of course a semi-regular poster on here, his final contribution coming last month.

Paul Buswell will indeed be sadly missed.

He was General Secretary (the senior employee) of the then BCF from 1975 to 1986. I comment further on that period below.

Subsequently he did a lot of voluntary work for the Hastings & St Leonards Chess Club and for the Hastings International Chess Congress. In the early 1990s, he was offered the BCF President's Award for Services to Chess, but declined it.

In recent years he returned to work at the ECF on a part time basis.

The most important development during his period as BCF General Secretary was the acquisition of British Chess Magazine. This resulted in the BCF moving its Office to Hastings, in which locality it remains to this day, albeit not in the same building.

But the most protracted episode was the commencement of the Lancashire v Greater Manchester dispute, about which Paul commented on here as follows:

Paul Buswell wrote: ↑

Sun May 13, 2012 1:55 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote: Legal threats included suing the General Secretary of the BCF, effectively its paid CEO, for allowing Manchester into the BCF.

Slightly more than a 'threat', legal action was indeed instigated - I still recall the process server's unexpected visit. The suit was issued by private individuals against myself and the BCF President. The matter went on for some time, and Counsel was eventually instructed (Lancelot Ware of Mensa I think but not sure after so long): I do recall going to Chambers with David Anderton to go through the facts. The suit was eventually withdrawn on the basis that both sides paid their costs, while BCF Council in due course voted that all past, then and future players with qualifications based on the GM administrative area could choose - and later change - whether to be eligible for GM, or for traditional Lancashire/Cheshire/Yorkshire as appropriate.

PB

At the time of his passing Paul was one of the few people still alive to have been involved in the matter from outset. Indeed, I think that he may have been the last such person from the BCF (as opposed to from Lancashire or Greater Manchester).

It is fitting that he should have lived just long enough to have seen the NCCU admit Greater Manchester to membership.

It is a tremendous shock and a shame to hear this news.

In my third season as controller of the county championships I had the task of liaising with Paul Buswell to sort out the invoicing of individual counties, a job that in prior seasons had been carried out by the late John Philpott. It was fairly thankless task but Paul Buswell was a pleasure to work with, his excellent eye for detail meaning that errors such as duplication and players registered twice in the database were easily sorted out.

He was one of English chess' most dedicated and diligent servants and will be very greatly missed.

He was "only" 72 as well, had imagined he was a bit older.

Here is an image of Paul Buswell. I'll let you name the others as I know who they are.

Sad news indeed. Condolences to his friends and family, and the whole Hastings chess scene.

Are there more recent photos available (or somewhere online)?

John Upham wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 19, 2022 1:52 pm

Here is an image of Paul Buswell. I'll let you name the others as I know who they are.



IMG_0044.jpg

Stuart Conquest and Neil Carr. I think it might also be Neil Fox or something similar but can't place the other player.

That's very sad news. I first remember encountering Paul when he was general secretary of the BCF some 40 years ago although it's entirely possible that we had met earlier. On that occasion, I had to convince him that Kings Head (then national club champions) had the financial resources to compete in the European Club Cup, the previous year's English entry having pulled out through lack of money. Paul was helpful with his advice on that, and subsequent, occasions.

Hands up if you possess one of these from Paul himself:

Notice the date on which the membership expires.

and here is the reverse:

I can't recall why the reverse has a MCCA stamp with Treasurer in the middle.

I assume MCCA is Middlesex County Chess Association and that Mike Wills sorted this for me when I was a member of London Central YMCA?

Does the ECF provide "playing equipment for hire" in 2022?

Sad news about Paul.
Although I didn't know him personally, I enjoyed reading his posts on the forum.
He was a valued member and clearly did a lot of work for British chess which I wasn't aware of.
He will be missed.
RIP

Is the unknown man in the photo Darren Lee?

A very sad loss. At the British Championships in the early 1980s there was always a reception on the last night for invited players. I remember Paul arranging for myself and a few other younger players to get a ticket, in return for helping to clear away tables, sets, etc. at the end of the congress. A very approachable BFC official as I remember.