Leicestershire & Rutland Chess Association is the body recognised by the English Chess Federation as being responsible for chess in the city of Leicester and the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The Association is affiliated to the Midland Counties Chess Union.
The AGM will take place on Tuesday 20th May at 19:30. For the first time this will be held online with a link being provided to club secretaries and the General Committee the week prior to the meeting. All are welcome to attend (virtually).
Mick Stokes adds greater detail and a couple of corrections to earlier tributes about this period of Roland Graf's life:
There used to be an annual junior chess tournament in Alderman Newton's School at Easter. It was there that I met Roland who wanted to establish a Leicester C team at Leicester Chess Club from some of the competitors and he asked me to be the team captain. It was 1962. I was a pupil of City Boys', aged 16 and about to leave school to go to work. I ran the team which won Division 4 and then 3. At the Club's AGM they increased membership subscriptions which included the doubling of the fees for junior players. I knew that this was the end of Leicester C as my players would not pay the increased amount. I told Roland who was at this time still at Cambridge University. We decided to start our own chess club. We had no money, no venue, no sets or clocks and just a few players. Roland used to come home from Cambridge every other weekend and we would go round pubs having a half pint and asking if they had a room available for free where we could play matches. Eventually we came across The Red Lion on Highcross Street where there was a store room upstairs which we could have if we cleaned it out and decorated it. Highcross Chess Club was thus formed in 1964 by Roland, myself and Kingsley Harmer, another Leicester C player. A lot of begging letters produced the funds to enable us to get set up.
The league accepted us in Division 2 as that was where Leicester C had been heading. Two years later we were promoted to Division 1. We were strengthened by the addition of Dave Mackey, John Robinson, Keith McLaughlin and the Cowley brothers but they weren't there at the start. We became league champions in 1968 and won the Midland Club Championship in 1970. As we grew we moved around to the Swan & Rushes, The Dover Castle, The Manchester Hotel amongst other premises. At our peak we had 4 teams in the league including a ladies' team. Later we changed the name to Foxhunters Chess Club in response to the manager of one of our main rivals who Roland had nicknamed The Fox. Alan Edwards was one of several guest members as was Mick Broadhurst who joined forces with us.
I moved to Harrogate in 1977 and two years later Mick and Roland set up separate chess clubs. I lost touch with Roland and I think I have only seen him once since I left Leicester but I have many memories of these days.
Brian Foreman writes:
Andy Morley’s excellent account and Ray Burgess’ interesting memories provide a fitting tribute to the achievements of Roland Graf, the almost legendary figure who was so prominent in Leics. chess for several decades. However, whilst facts are important, and I refer to a few, they don’t entirely explain Roland’s “uniqueness” [ almost as an aside, it should be said that he was an often skillful, always optimistic player, who greatly enjoyed his OTB encounters. He took part in junior sections at British Championships, u15, u18, u21, from 1958 to 1964, and could be a difficult opponent for anyone. His return to the league, following a long absence, was remarkable ] Full article
Ray Burgess writes:
Roland Graf passed away peacefully on Tuesday March 25th 2025.
Roland was a unique character in Leicester Chess responsible for running or being part of several clubs in the League. They include Highcross, Foxhunters, Grasshoppers, Leicester Academicals and I think Leicester University.
I recall Roland playing in the first H.E Atkins tournament in the open section in1972 and I was able to watch one of his games. He opened with the Orang Utan (1b4) which proved to be entertaining viewing.
Looking at the ‘Chess’ magazine from October 1972 they had a grading list and Roland’s rating is given as 192 BCF.
None of the people who attended the Leicestershire League AGM’s during the 1970’s and 1980’s could forget Roland coming up with his own radical and ‘innovative’ proposals!
From our club records he first played against Thurnby1 for Foxhunters1 on 21-11-1978, where he beat Colin Horsley on board 4. At this point his grade had dropped down to 160 BCF.
After being out of Leicester Chess for quite a while, Alan Edwards persuaded him to come and play for us. His first game being in the 2008/2009 season was against Loughborough1 and his opponent was Otto Hardy. So, it was commendable that he was able to win this encounter. Roland’s last League game for us was against Braunstone1 on 24-4-2024 which resulted in a loss against D Wilkinson.
Although Roland was looking forward to playing for Thurnby this season, ill health and mobility problems meant he was unable to do so. And he was badly missed by all at the club.
Leicestershire have lost another long serving player, with the death of Roland Graf, at the age of 82. Roland was involved in chess in Leicestershire since his schooldays, as a pupil at the Wyggeston Boys Grammar school. He and a number of his schoolmates joined the Leicester Club and were part of a successful young team, winning the division 1 title as Leicester “B” in 1963 – just after Roland himself had gone off to Cambridge University. On his return to Leicester he founded the Highcross club, along with John Robinson, Dennis and Mike Cowley and Mick Stokes. Many people will not remember Roland as the organiser he was, but he went on to establish the Foxhunters Club in 1972, then merged with the Highfields Club in 1980 to form the Grasshoppers. He then attended Leicester University as a PhD student and was the organiser of the club for a number of years, giving the club the continuity and the out of term contact a university team needs. Under the title of the Leicester Academicals (not all of the players attended the University) the club won division 1 in 1985/6 and were runners up the following year. The University formed its own team, consisting wholly of students in 1989 and Roland transferred the club to the (then) Polytechnic, before moving back to the Highfields Community Centre where the club became Kingfishers. During that period, in 1995,
Roland also won the County Individual Championship. Shortly afterwards, he gave up league chess until, in 2008, he was tempted to make a comeback, at the age of 65, joining Thurnby. He played regularly for Thurnby right up until last season , maintaining his rating around 1900 – quite an achievement for a man of his age and declining health. Personally, I had many interesting games against Roland and found him tricky because he always played quickly. Away from the chess board he was quite an eccentric character, with a similarly eccentric sense of humour and we have lost someone who was, I think, unique!
Andy Morley
Last night (26 March), Loughborough ran a quickplay tournament for its members. Our thanks go to Jim Miller for running it. Keir Hayden won the competition. Full article
Ray Burgess writes:
It is with sadness that I have just learned that Mick Tate passed away at the end of November 2023 at the age of 82.
My first memory of him was that he played for the works team, Samuel Pegg along with Barry Walker who were the mainstays of that side. And according to our club records the first game he played against Thurnby was for Humberstone 1 on 12-11-74 against Greg Hutchinson. Full article
The Staffordshire Chess Congress is returning in August. The Congress will be held at King’s Hall, Kingsway, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 9SB on Saturday 16th and Thursday 17th of August 2025. This is a prestigious venue, and its use has been generously donated by the City of Stoke-on-Trent as part of the City’s centenary celebrations.
Entry forms and further information may be found on the congress website:
Congress Website
Many congratulations (and apologies for the delay in posting) go to Ted Ronald, who, within a very strong field, won the U1850 section outright at the International Isle of Wight tournament. Whilst your author doesn't understand the tie-break rules, the fact is that Ted finished number 1 and earned a well deserved victory.
Well done Ted!
Market Harborough’s Ron Cooper, Syston’s Aron English and Anstey’s Zara Mehta finished joint first in the Coventry Congress minor section (u1500). All but one of Cooper’s opponents were from LRCA – he defeated Melton’s Peter North and Latimer’s Granville Hill either side of a draw with Aron English. Cooper and Mehta split the point in a tense final round, giving them both 4/5. The impressive Mehta had beaten the top seed in round one before defeating two other opponents rated more than 100 points higher. Aron English also made it 4/5 with a win v LRCA junior Aadharshini Amudhavel in the final round to take a slice of the first-place spoils.