- David Pritchard (chess player)
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David Pritchard Born 19 October 1919 Died 12 December 2005 (aged 86) Occupation writer Nationality British Subjects chess Notable work(s) The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants David Brine Pritchard (19 October 1919 – 12 December 2005)[1] was a British chess writer and indoor games consultant. He "gained pre-eminence as an indoor games and mind sports consultant, a role that he in effect created. A natural games player, it was to him that inventors or publishers would turn to organise a championship of a new game, write about it or generally promote it."[1]
Though nearly a million copies of his chess books have been sold, Pritchard is best known for authoring The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, where he describes more than 1400 different variants. In his second book on variants, Popular Chess Variants, he focuses on 20 (such as Extinction Chess, Kriegspiel and Progressive Chess), describing them in more detail. He was close to finishing the second edition of The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants when he died in 2005. (The book was subsequently completed by John Beasley.)
Besides being author of books, Pritchard was editor of Games and Puzzles magazine from 1972 to 1981. He was also a games director for Mind Sports Organisation, and president of the British Chess Variants Society.
Contents
Personal
"Pritchard was the father of Wanda Dakin and was married to former British Ladies Chess Champion, Elaine Saunders."[2]
"Pritchard became a leading chess player when he beat the British Grandmasters Jonathan Penrose and Tony Miles, but his interests covered all indoor games."[1] "He was a life fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and his love of travel took him many times around the world."[1]
Pritchard "flew with the RAF during and after the Second World War, serving mainly in the Far East, and reached the rank of squadron leader."[1] "During his service he won the chess championship of Singapore in 1954 and Malaysia in 1955."[1] "He was for some time the president of the Battle of Britain Chess Competition, and held its championship on more than one occasion."[1] "He also won the Southern Counties Championship."[1]
Pritchard died in 2005 at age 86 and was "survived by his wife, Elaine, whom he married in 1952, and their daughter. Elaine was a chess prodigy who won the British Women's Championship at the age of 13, having already won the World Girls' Championship in 1937 and coming close to drawing an exhibition game with the world champion, Alexander Alekhine, when she was 11."[1] He has five grandchildren.[3]
Career
"His books for beginners, Begin Chess and The Right Way to Play Chess, sold many hundreds of thousands of copies since their publication in the 1950s."[1] "He also wrote on Go (the Japanese territory game) and other games and puzzles."[1] "He edited the Games & Puzzles magazine for ten years and his most recent publication was Teach Yourself Mahjong."[1]
"He served as games director of the Mind Sports Olympiad, an annual event bringing together international competitors in dozens of new and classic board games and other mental skills."[1] "He was president of the British Chess Variants Society and wrote The Encyclopaedia of Chess Variants (1994) - his magnum opus - which became the definitive work in the field."[1]
"His essays on Japanese chess (shogi) and Chinese chess (xiangqi) are regarded as masterpieces and an easy portal to understanding two of the world's oldest and most subtle board games, regarded by many as equal if not superior to the form of chess played in the West."[1]
"In his tribute on the English Chess Federation website, Stewart Reuben, a former president of the federation, described Pritchard as 'an affable man with a dry sense of humour who was in no sense old-fashioned in his views'."[1]
Archival material
According to the British Chess Variants Society, five boxes of archival material related to Pritchard's research for The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants will be held by the Ken Whyld Library of the Musée Suisse du Jeu.[4]
Books
- Go: A guide to the game (1973), ISBN 0-8117-0740-7
- Brain Games: The World's Best Games for Two (1982), ISBN 0-14-005682-3
- Puzzles for Geniuses (1984), ISBN 0-13-744632-2
- First Moves: How to Start a Chess Game (1986), ISBN 0-06-463718-2
- Puzzles and Teasers for the Easy Chair (1988), ISBN 0-7160-0796-7
- Beginning Chess (1992), ISBN 0-451-17438-0
- The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants (1994), ISBN 0-9524142-0-1
- Card Games (1995), ISBN 0-7136-3816-8
- Patience Games with David Parlett (1996), ISBN 0-7136-4208-4
- The Right Way to Play Chess (2000), ISBN 1-58574-046-2
- Popular Chess Variants (2000), ISBN 0-7134-8578-7
- Honeycomb Chess with Douglas Graham Reid (2002), ISBN 095241421X
- The New Mahjong: The International Game (2004), ISBN 0-7160-2164-1
- A Family Book of Games (2007), ISBN 1-902407-52-0
- The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants (2007), ISBN 0-95551-680-3 (second edition of The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, edited and completed by John Beasley after Pritchard's death)
- Teach Yourself Mahjong (2007), ISBN 0-07-147882-5
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p David Pritchard. The Times (London). Features; Pg. 66. 17 January 2006.
- ^ Rooks are suffering with white away. The Gloucester Citizen. Pg. 43. 22 December 2005.
- ^ www.chessvariants.com 1999 Interview
- ^ British Chess Variants Society http://www.bcvs.ukf.net/ "David Pritchard’s files have been prepared for transfer to the Musée Suisse du Jeu, where they will be kept in the Ken Whyld Library and made available to future researchers." "Site updated 17 January 2010", retrieved 13 March 2010
External links
- David Pritchard 1919–2005 by John Beasley, Variant Chess, N 51, January 2006, pp 98, 99.
- David Brine Pritchard
Categories:- British non-fiction writers
- Chess variants
- 1919 births
- 2005 deaths
- British chess writers
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