HULL CHESS CLUB (UK)
'Yorkshire's Premier Club'©
Eric Fisher - chess historian, writer, magazine editor and veteran Hull Club member - playing in 1960 in a Simultaneous Chess Exhibition by the doyen of chess columnists Leonard Barden (who is still writing the Guardian's chess column in 2020!). Also playing, and on the right of the picture, is the man who did more than any to build the Hull Chess Club into the strongest Club in the area, and whose financial legacy is helping secure a strong future for the game in the Hull and District - R. P (Bob) Ross
Those were the days...
A celebration dinner , for husbands and wives, at the Dorchester Hotel in 1962 - after the Hull Club wins the Yorkshire League
Back then the chess clocks used to be paused half-way through Yorkshire League matches - for a sit-down, 3-course meal with the visiting side!
Where's Eric in this one!
Bob Allen (grey suit, 3rd in from right, 2nd row) once walked from Hull to Leeds to play a Yorkshire League match!
A new age ... and the sign of things to come
Hull Club's next triumph in the Yorkshire league comes in 1975. Several stalwarts of the club's domination of Yorkshire chess in the 1980s and 90s were already in the side...
... John Atkinson - the tallest figure on the back row in the photo (and to the left of what many believe is a ghostly apparition - behind bespectacled physicist Gerry Hildred?!). John was already a long-standing member of the Club in 1975 - and is still a playing in the top divisions of Yorkshire and Hull leagues in 2020! A remarkable achievement!
... Roelof Westra (furthest right and the photo below)The top player in Hull for much of the 1960s to 2000s. A Dutchman who raised the playing strength and ambitions (and alcohol consumption) of generations of local players. Still an active player on-line as he approaches 90.
Where's Eric in this one!
Top (then) Czechoslovakian Grandmaster Vlastimil Hort takes on John Cooper and Roelof Westra in 1978.
In the picture on the right, you might just make out (in the crook of Hort's arm!) a young Colin Hailstone - a key figure (as captain) in many of the Club's triumphs in the late 2Oth century
Another Eric !? ...
... plays Derek ...
Eric Gardiner plays Derek Shepherd
Derek is the second generation of Shepherds - after his father Trevor - to play at and serve the club for many years
... plays John ...
Tackling John Atkinson for the Peter Hughes Trophy
... and looks on!
whilst top Grand Master Luke McShane plays Roelof Westra
The Hull Club's Shaun Culkin ...
...playing (arguably) Britain's strongest ever player (Michael Adams)...
... and, at a recent junior congress,
helping develop some future champions
Stotty concentrates ... David Stothard, ace captain of multi-championship-winning Hull C team, in deep-thought mode with the white pieces