Ian Downie (1935-2009)

Leicestershire &
Rutland
Chess
Association

Ian played on and off for many years for Loughborough – perhaps for at least 40 years in all. At his best he was a good player, but he did not take the game too seriously, and on occasions he tended to play too quickly, and hence inevitably sometimes lost quickly! Ironically he was one of our members who did not like the idea of rapid-play finishes, though in practice his games would hardly ever have reached that stage! He also held various offices over his time with the club – most recently, he relinquished his long-standing role as auditor at the 2009 Club AGM.

Ian was born in Melbourne, Australia, but came to England when quite young, studied at Manchester University, and from the mid-sixties until his retirement worked as a Lecturer in Organic Chemistry at Loughborough University. He was a delightful person with many interests in addition to chess – history, music, politics and meteorology to name a few – and his behaviour at the board was always immaculate; he was generous and courteous in both victory and defeat.

Ian's recent poor health led to the end of his chess-playing career in 2008. He passed away at his home on 18 June 2009.

Based on an email from Jim Miller.