Alan Edwards (1950-2010)

Leicestershire &
Rutland
Chess
Association

Louis Alan Edwards (1950-2010)

I first met Alan in 1964 when he came to our local club and he joined our chess team known as Leicester Cedars. It was fairly apparent after a year or so that he was a rising talent and he soon established himself in the Leicestershire County team as a regular player.

By 1967 he was recognised as a leading British junior and played for England in the Glorney Cup. This was further confirmed when he won the Northern Junior Championship at Whitby later that year and in that tournament drawing a game of 132 moves against the Rumanian master Drimer of which he was so proud to show me.

However a year later signs of his lifelong illness started to manifest itself and this was to affect his results and himself. Despite the problems he laboured under he was still able to play to a high standard and went on to win the Midlands Championship (Forrest Cup) and also the Leicestershire Championship jointly with Taberkiernik in 1970, jointly with Wicker and myself in 1974 and then two outright wins in both 1989 and 1991 and a shared title in 1990 with Dean Overton.

He still continued to play until April last year but then took ill and passed away peacefully on Tuesday September 3rd. He will be missed by both his local club Scraptoft Valley and all of his friends and colleagues.

Rest in peace Alan.

Written by John K Robinson.