English Chess Forum

I am sorry to inform you that George Hollands has passed away.
George played for Swale and Snodland chess clubs in Kent.
He was a very good chess player especially with the French Defence.
His passing was reported recently on the Swale Chess Club website:
https://www.swalechessclub.co.uk
RIP

Omg. This is mad. He was only young? We was good friends till we had a little fall out on fb and I blocked him. Any idea what happened?

Lee Bullock wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 05, 2023 4:24 am

Omg. This is mad. He was only young? We was good friends till we had a little fall out on fb and I blocked him. Any idea what happened?

According to the English Federation for Correspondence Chess his death was "sudden".

Oh dear. I hope not the obvious. So sad if it was.

Wow I played George about a year ago at CC, as part a BCCA cup tournament (one of the last games I played before deciding my return to the game wasn't a keeper, due to the tedium of every single player using an engine - CC is over basically) I remember he was a really nice chatty guy on the ICCF server and I looked up his Twitter page, I remember seeing that cartoon pic of him. He gave me a sound thrashing in both games (seem to remember it was both a black and white side of a French - from what I read about him now that was a mistake ). I didn't imagine he was only one year older than me, I had placed him at least in his 50's.

RIP.

I have added a brief tribute to George at www.snodlandchessclub.com

Not to be crass, but do we have any more details than "Suddenly"? It's no age at all to go.

Jon Mahony wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 22, 2023 9:01 am

Not to be crass, but do we have any more details than "Suddenly"? It's no age at all to go.

It was reported on Facebook started feeling ill on the Monday, passed away on the Wednesday. Autopsy shed no light. Further samples taken for toxicology testing.

Not mentioned above is George had one of the most comprehensive chess libraries in the UK. When Steve Giddins wrote a book on the highlights of New in Chess magazines, he sourced them from George, who had a complete set.

Jon Mahony wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 06, 2023 8:45 am

Wow I played George about a year ago at CC, as part a BCCA cup tournament (one of the last games I played before deciding my return to the game wasn't a keeper, due to the tedium of every single player using an engine - CC is over basically) I remember he was a really nice chatty guy on the ICCF server and I looked up his Twitter page, I remember seeing that cartoon pic of him. He gave me a sound thrashing in both games (seem to remember it was both a black and white side of a French - from what I read about him now that was a mistake ). I didn't imagine he was only one year older than me, I had placed him at least in his 50's.

RIP.

I have returned to correspondence chess, the ICCF, no idea how long I will last this time. I always seem to abandon my games when I get outplayed by a 1300 who's clearly using an engine.

Anthony Ibbitson wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 30, 2023 5:30 pm

Jon Mahony wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 06, 2023 8:45 am

Wow I played George about a year ago at CC, as part a BCCA cup tournament (one of the last games I played before deciding my return to the game wasn't a keeper, due to the tedium of every single player using an engine - CC is over basically) I remember he was a really nice chatty guy on the ICCF server and I looked up his Twitter page, I remember seeing that cartoon pic of him. He gave me a sound thrashing in both games (seem to remember it was both a black and white side of a French - from what I read about him now that was a mistake ). I didn't imagine he was only one year older than me, I had placed him at least in his 50's.

RIP.

I have returned to correspondence chess, the ICCF, no idea how long I will last this time. I always seem to abandon my games when I get outplayed by a 1300 who's clearly using an engine.

Long time no speak Tony

Yes, during Covid I was quite hyped as I won one of the lower rated BCCA medal tourneys (which came with a physical medal... eventually when I reminded them to send it!) But when you get kicked up to the higher levels, it'd honestly be more fun (and less time consuming) to plug two laptops together and watch them play it out, when I get to that point, the log-ins to ICCF become more of a chore. I ended up resigning all my games and won't be going back to it.

Player base is also an issue - I'm afraid nature has taken it's course with many of the older players and new ones have not joined up to replace them, so I found myself playing the same 10 people constantly. The BCCA is really struggling now, I hear from a CC friend I still keep in touch with, they cancelled the postal method of playing last season.