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Last update: Wednesday December 6, 2006 15:00
David Bronstein died 5 December 2006 in Minsk.
It is unusual for the ECF to carry obituaries of foreign players, but David loved to come to England and made many visits, sometimes staying for protracted periods.
He was one of the colossi of post war chess and drew a World Championship match with Botvinnik 12-12 in 1951. There still remains controversy about whether he was 'persuaded' by the Soviet authorities not to win the match.
His loss to C.H. O'D Alexander at Hastings in 1953-4 where they shared first
place, created huge media attention. The 120 move game, which lasted three days
because of adjournments, was published on the front page of several newspapers.
Later he played many times at Hastings, but also at Teesside (where memorably
on one occasion he volunteered to act as a demonstration board operator), in
the British Rapidplay Championship, NatWest International, Vera Menchik Memorial
and so on.
Latterly he also did a certain amount of chess coaching, particularly in Hastings. He once said, 'Hastings is part of your National Heritage and should receive lottery money.'
The cornucopia of ideas that gushed forth made him a joy to analyse with and a delightful dinner companion.
Our condolences to his wife and other members of the family.
Stewart Reuben