Dr Andrew Walker (1943-2026)

[Neil Graham]

I am sorry to report the death of Andy Walker earlier today. Andy was a great servant of the Nottinghamshire Chess Association having served two terms as President plus many more years as Association Secretary, League Management Committee and Executive Committee member & Chairman.

As a player he was a formidable opponent representing Nottingham University where he was employed as Senior Lecturer in Mathematics & Computer Sciences. In addition he played nearly 60 games for Ashfield in the 4NCL, losing just 12. He attended Nottingham High School as a Junior in the fifties & early sixties when the chess team was one of the strongest in the country and his contemporaries there included Keith Richardson. Andy had not played for a couple of years because of failing health; nevertheless the ECF grading data shows him still in the top 20 players in the Over 80 list.

My last contact with Andy was following the death of another Notts stalwart Tony Gillam recently when Andy wrote , " I was an exact contemporary of Tony’s at school —- he was at Derby Bemrose when I was at Nottingham High. We made the mistake of letting Tony organise a joint High School - Bemrose expedition to the 1961 British Championships at Aberystwyth. There were eight of us and he booked two rooms with a total of four double beds! Somehow we survived."

https://chessprogramming.org/Andy_Walker

[John Swain]

I am very saddened to hear this news.

I played Andy numerous times in Notts league matches over the years and always found him very affable and good-humoured. He was a strong county player and became Nottinghamshire under 18 Champion in 1960-61. Just before the pandemic, Andy wrote an interesting piece on his sixty years playing county chess and how things had changed over the years; he included some informative comments about how the early grading system worked in the 1960s: https://www.nottinghamshirechess.org/wp ... _chess.pdf

As Neil Graham has commented, Andy did a huge amount of administrative work for the Nottinghamshire Chess Association over sixty years, starting as Grading Officer and occupying six other roles, including President twice (1974-77 and 2015-18) and an amazing seventeen years on the League Management Committee and fifteen years as NCA Secretary. Andy was made an Honorary Life Vice President of the NCA in July 2023 in recognition of his many contributions.

One of his games may be seen (v B.H. Wood) at https://www.nottinghamshirechess.org/wp ... s-List.pdf pp.9-10.

My sincere condolences to Andy's widow, Anne, his family and friends.

P.S. To avoid any doubt, Dr Andy Walker RIP of Nottinghamshire is unconnected with Andrew Walker of the ECF.

[Jonathan Rogers]

I remember him from from my time as a student at Nottingham. He was a solid board one for the staff. Funny to reflect that the University had both a staff and a student team in the eight team first division back then; presumably, no longer.

He seemed very nice. My condolences to his family.