Andrew P Davies 1960 - 2020

[Mick Norris]

Sadly I have to announce to you all the passing of one of Staffordshire Chess’s most loyal stalwarts – Andrew Davies.

Andrew P. Davies was born in March 1960 at New Cross Hospital, which was one of the two main hospitals in Wolverhampton at the time. He was the youngest of a family of six. For many years he suffered with his health and with physical problems and pain related to the debilitating disease HSP from which he suffered. His determination and considerable intelligence made him able to live what most people would call a successful life where he could indulge his love of chess and his enthusiasm for mathematics. I also discovered a few years ago that he had a fascination with the history of the different waves of invasion of these islands by various British tribes in the last millennium before the Christian era. He lived in the somewhat forlorn hope of one day linking his own family history to some of these events.

His first venture into chess organisation was in 1995 when he became the secretary of Brewood Chess club. In more recent years, he branched out into other areas of chess, qualifying as a junior coach and as an arbiter. In both of these spheres he became very active, coaching many junior players in clubs in the southern part of the county and later became the Manager of Coaches for the ECF. He was also the webmaster for Junior chess organisations – both for the Staffordshire Junior Chess Association and for EPSCA – as well as being the Director of Junior Chess for the MCCU. For several years, he also served as the General Secretary of the Staffordshire Chess Association.

Andrew’s life was troubled but he always seemed pleasant and agreeable. He had one self-confessed addiction – he loved to have a mug of Earl Grey tea and an almond crescent and no day began well for him without them! We are very sad to have lost a personal friend and a major force in Staffordshire Chess.

— Robert Milner, President of the Staffordshire Chess Association; Traci Whitfield, Secretary for Junior Chess

Staffordshire website

[David Blower]

Well I am the chairman of Brewood Chess Circle.


No chess club, however good its players are, can function without a club secretary. I know Brewood Chess Circle is a very good chess club to go to, but only because we had a very good club secretary. Andrew will be very sadly missed.


On a personal note, I would like to thank him for all the help he has given me since I have been at the club, especially when I became the chairman of the chess club. He had given me lots of help especially regarding children at the chess club, the benefit of which the current children at the chess club are still receiving today.



Andrew made me feel welcome to Brewood when I first joined the club, and that was the case whenever a new member or potential new member joined the club. I always knew he was only ever a phone call away if I wanted some help or advice on the running of Brewood Chess Circle. One of Andrew's great strengths was that he believed chess was for everyone, regardless of their existing skill level, and set about with that at Brewood. If a child he was helping was finding something too difficult, it was not a problem, he would just move on to something a bit easier for them.


Andrew would produce a monthly club newsletter at Brewood, many copies of which I have still got. Often there would be a chess puzzle, either from something he had found on the internet, or sometimes club members would send him in positions from games that had occurred whilst playing for Brewood.


If anyone has some comments, or memories about Andrew they would like to share etc, please comment below. I will be writing an article up on the Brewood Chess Circle website and also updating the clubs social media pages (I am also the webmaster at the club as well as the chairman.) I knew that he was a qualified chess arbiter. One of the things he used to do was to go to arbiter's meetings, pretending he did not know much about chess, just to see the look on people's faces when he asked how the horse moves!


I also knew that he had started to learn the Welsh and Irish languages.


I would also like to thank Traci Whitfield for all that she is doing, behind the scenes. For those that do not know Traci is the secretary of junior chess for the Staffordshire Chess Association. She and Andrew had worked together on many things for the benefit of Staffordshire Juniors including organising for many years the Staffordshire Junior Chess Congress.



I hope we will soon be able to meet up over the board again, but until then keep yourselves safe.



As Andrew would say Good Chess everyone.

[David Blower]

I have updated the Brewood Chess Circle website with two updates regarding Andrew Davies death.

The first one is the statement that Robert Milner (President of the Staffordshire Chess Association,) and Traci Whitfield (Secretary for junior chess for the Staffordshire Chess Association,) had realised which can also be found on the Wolverhampton & District Chess League website, as well as the Staffordshire Chess Association website. The link on Brewood Chess Circle's website is here:
https://brewoodchess.webs.com/apps/blog ... 0-obituary


The second article is my own comments, alongside those comments from people (both from within Brewood Chess Circle and external to the club) who emailed me, reacting to the news of Andrew's death. The link is here:
https://brewoodchess.webs.com/apps/blog ... ew-s-death

[Simon Rogers]

Sad news and a terrible shock.
I spoke to Andrew a few times in the past on the phone.
A tribute from Robert Milner and Traci Whitfield was posted on 13th December on the English Chess Federation website.