Bognor 1968

[Richard James]

Gösta Ivar Håkan Åkvist. EKSJÖ. 1941-10-27 Date of birth. 2020-06-27 Date of death. Buried: 2020-07-15. SKOG 50AL 60. Skogskyrkogården

according to various Scandinavian 'find a grave' websites.

Google is your friend!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Thank you. I think I made the beginner's error of leaving in "chess" as a search term, so none of the Swedish sites were coming up because obviously they call it 'Schack' or something.

Fullest obituary I could find is here:

https://www.eksjoschack.se/arkiv/2020-2021.html

Short quote from the start of the piece:

In his own career, he managed to take out two IM mortgages, but the sparse range of tournaments and the civilian trajectory that led to a bank manager's post prevented him from moving on. Four times Håkan played in the Swedish champion group, 1965-66 and 1971-72. He won the Danish Championship in 1983.

Photo here:

https://www.smt.se/2020-07-04/eksjoprof ... st-ar-dod/

[Roger de Coverly]

How good a player was Daniel Johnson (son of "Loony Bins" Paul) then - peak grading?

He played for the Slough club and the Bucks county team as a teenager in the 1970s. I would have said 170s. I played him three times, one win each and a draw.

[John Clarke]

Interesting trip back in time to the period when I was still an active player (although I wouldn't have presumed then to go in for a tournament of that strength). I recognised many of the names on the pairing board in the photo.

I've been aware of Tim Congdon's chess and economics credentials for many years, but there was no particular reason to note them on this forum. First heard his name in 1967, when Ray Keene published an article in Chess about the prowess shown by several British juniors in that year's Churchill Memorial. "Only fifteen!" enthused Mondo about TC (who was born in April 1951, so probably 16 by the time that piece appeared).

I am curious as to the origins of the name "Urmas O Aavelaid". Australia is mentioned. I think the name is Estonian in origin. The full name appears to be Urmas Olav Aavelaid. I won't quote here the dental practice history. I wonder how old he was at the time of the 1968 event?

A hard man to trace, that Aavelaid! I haven't been able to turn up birth or (if applicable) death dates. But I can say that he popped up in the 1973-74 New Zealand championship, apparently affiliated to Great Britain, and finishing 10th out of 12 with a score of 2/11. (See on-line copies of the NZCA Bulletin for Dec 73 and Feb 74, downloadable from here if anyone's interested.

[Richard James]

Aavelaid1.jpg (11.81 KiB) Viewed 1553 times

According to a Passenger List of Displaced Persons (Seedorf, Germany) 1949 Aavelaid's date of birth was 13 July 1938.

I can't find any death information so he could well still be alive.

Here's his E-Type Jag:

https://richmonds.com.au/portfolio/1967 ... -series-1/

[Gerard Killoran]

I hope Urmas is in better health than one of his patients...

The Canberra Times Sat 26 Sep 1987 p14.png (1.07 MiB) Viewed 1534 times

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I am curious as to the origins of the name "Urmas O Aavelaid". Australia is mentioned. I think the name is Estonian in origin. The full name appears to be Urmas Olav Aavelaid. I won't quote here the dental practice history. I wonder how old he was at the time of the 1968 event?

A hard man to trace, that Aavelaid! I haven't been able to turn up birth or (if applicable) death dates. But I can say that he popped up in the 1973-74 New Zealand championship, apparently affiliated to Great Britain, and finishing 10th out of 12 with a score of 2/11. (See on-line copies of the NZCA Bulletin for Dec 73 and Feb 74, downloadable from here if anyone's interested.

Thank you, John (and to Richard also for the birth date and the classic car!!).

Apparently (I see Gerard has posted the dental practice history), Aavelaid eventually appealed for reinstatement and did get reinstated at some point. Being a dentist might explain the ability to do up a classic car.

In the NZCA Bulletin for Dec 73, Aavelaid is given his medical (dental, I think) title. That title is not given in the cross-table in the report in the Feb 74 bulletin. The report mentions him briefly as being "obviously out of form" and how he "frittered away his advantages".

Interesting to see William A. Fairhurst pop up there as well. It was already well-known that he went to New Zealand in his retirement. Did he live out his final years there and is he buried there? (EDIT: He died in Howick, New Zealand, 0n 13 March 1982.)

Good to see the Fairhust (engineering) company he founded still going strong.

[Gerard Killoran]

Aavelaid eventually appealed for reinstatement and did get reinstated at some point.

Not for long...

From
The Victoria Government Gazette
GENERALNo. G 45
Thursday 7 November 2002

Urmas.png (28.46 KiB) Viewed 1527 times

[IanRogers]

I believe Aavelaid died over a decade ago. He was notorious as an overservicing dentist and an enthusiastic litigant - working in London, NSW and Victoria. According to Max Fuller, Aavelaid unnecessarily removed all of his teeth over a period of years. Aavelaid enjoyed hanging out with chessplayers but the last tournament I know of him playing was the 1982 Doeberl Cup in Canberra.

[Roger de Coverly]

IA hard man to trace, that Aavelaid! I haven't been able to turn up birth or (if applicable) death dates. But I can say that he popped up in the 1973-74 New Zealand championship, apparently affiliated to Great Britain, and finishing 10th out of 12 with a score of 2/11.

I seem to recall the name as a member of the Slough club and sometime player in the Bucks county team. This would have been in the period soon after Bognor 1968. His other claim to fame would have been that he would be either the first name, or almost the first name in any rating list.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

You can see some photos of Urmas Aavelaid and also his father, Aavo, on this page:
https://www.meediateek.ee/en/photo/sear ... velaid&l=0

[Paul Habershon]

I played Aavelaid twice in British Championship Qualifiers (Beds/Bucks/Herts County Stage) when you had to arrange games privately. Black had choice of venue, usually his own home. On the second occasion, as Aavelaid had Black, I had a long drive to South Buckinghamshire (Slough, as above, sounds about right). I remember a well appointed penthouse flat, fitting for a high earning dentist. For some reason we must have started quite late as we played until well after 11 p.m.. I had missed easy wins in an opposite colour bishop ending. At move 40 (see attached game) he wouldn't agree a draw and insisted on adjourning as he had to work next day (so did I, for that matter). For a second session I would have to travel again. If I had been the home player I would certainly have seen out the few moves required, work next day or not, out of courtesy to my travelling opponent. I considered sealing a move, but thought I could be losing so reluctantly resigned rather than face another journey for a likely loss. In fact I now see the position is drawn. For the record in that section I also lost to J E Vickery but beat E W Woolford, M O'Leary, D A Curtis and N M Stewart. I can't remember how many went through to the Zonal Stage. I'll be seeing Jim Vickery in the O-65s shortly.

Driving back into Bedford after 1 a.m. I was stopped by the police, purely to enquire what I was doing in my Morris 1000 in the early hours. I expect they had never heard an explanation like mine but I was presumed innocent.

[Event "British Ch Qualifying County Stage"] [Site "?"] [Date "1971.01.24"] [Round "?"] [White "Habershon, Paul"] [Black "Aavelaid, U.O.."] [Result "0-1"] [PlyCount "80"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. d4 fxe4 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nxe5 Qh4 7. O-O Bd6 8. f4 Be6 9. f5 Bd5 10. Bf4 O-O-O 11. Qe2 Nf6 12. c4 Bg8 13. Nd2 Re8 14. Rac1 c5 15. Nxe4 cxd4 16. Nxf6 gxf6 17. Qg4 Qxg4 18. Nxg4 Re4 19. Bxd6 Rxg4 20. Be7 Bf7 21. Bxf6 Re8 22. b3 Rge4 23. Rcd1 Re2 24. Rxd4 Rxa2 25. Rfd1 b5 26. Rd8+ Kb7 27. Rxe8 Bxe8 28. Bd8 Bc6 29. f6 Rxg2+ 30. Kf1 Rg4 31. Ke2 Rf4 32. cxb5 Bf3+ 33. Ke3 Bxd1 34. Kxf4 Bxb3 35. Kg5 Kb6 36. Kh6 Kxb5 37. Kg7 $4 (37. Kxh7 $18) 37... c5 38. f7 $4 (38. Kxh7 $18) 38... Bxf7 39. Kxf7 c4 40. Ke6 c3 {Engine analysis 0.00} 0-1

[Roger de Coverly]

I played Aavelaid twice in British Championship Qualifiers (Beds/Bucks/Herts County Stage)

I haven't done an extensive search, but is name appears in county match reports in the 1968-69 season playing for Bucks. He's usually around boards 15-20
https://sccu-chess.com/bulletins/SCCUBu ... 969_67.pdf

[Neil Graham]

I played in this event in the "Open Swiss". There are two or three comments to add.

Firstly regarding Louis de Veauce. I have clear recollection of Louis in a brilliant yellow flowery shirt (think Milton Jones currently) spending most post matches playing Walter Browne at five minute chess for money.

Secondly from the cross tables you might note that Seth Saverymuttu who was a pupil at St.John's College, Southsea, played in the Churchill Memorial Tournament but also seeming to appear in the Open Swiss as well. This, of course, is incorrect. It was Seth's sister Manel Saverymuttu who played in this event (we drew in Round Four). She went on to be British Under 18 Girls Champion the same year in Bristol.

Finally the winner of the Open Swiss was David Browning who went on to represent Guernsey in the 1976 Haifa Olympiad. John Saunders notes he passed away in 1998 at a young age https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/244 ... k-browning.

[Julie Denning]

"Finally the winner of the Open Swiss was David Browning who went on to represent Guernsey in the 1976 Haifa Olympiad."

As did my father, who was listed as 1st, of 2, reserves, further confirming the point made elsewhere recently that in the past Olympiad teams had 6 members, including 2 reserves.

Also from the list of Bognor 1968 players, I wonder whether the J O'dell is James E O'dell who now plays for Eastbourne and / or the Jim O'dell who played for Manchester University c.1970