MacTutor
Hugh Alexander
Times obituary
Twice British chess champion
Mr. C. H. O'D. Alexander, CMG, CBE, one of the most gifted British chess masters, has died at the age of 64. He was twice British chess champion.
Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander was born in Cork on April 19, 1909, the son of Professor C. W. L. Alexander. He was educated at King Edward's High School and King's College, Cambridge, where he took first-class honours in mathematics. From 1932 to 1938 he taught at Winchester, and from 1938 to 1939 he worked for the John Lewis Partnership.
During the Second World War he was attached to the Foreign Office. After the war, until 1971, he worked for the Government Communications Headquarters at Cheltenham.
He married Enid Constance Crichton Neate in 1934, and they had two sons.
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Harry Golombek writes:
C. H. O'D. Alexander was one of the most gifted, possibly the most gifted, of all British chess masters. Although he managed to play a considerable amount of chess, especially in the earlier part of his career, the demands of his profession left him with comparatively little time for its practice and study; otherwise he would certainly have been of true grandmaster class, and possibly even of world stature.
He first came on the chess scene when he won the British Boys' Championship at Hastings in 1926. Rapidly improving after his admission to Cambridge University, he won the university championship four times and distinguished himself by winning a beautiful game in the annual match with Oxford University against R. H. Newman. By 1932, when he came second in the British championship, he was recognized as this country's leading young player. In 1938 he won the British Championship at Brighton; he repeated that success at Blackpool in 1956.
But it was in the international field that he really found his forte. It seemed that the more formidable the opposition, the greater his spirits mounted to overcome it. He played with great distinction for his country in the Olympiads at Folkestone 1933, Warsaw 1935, Stockholm 1937, and Buenos Aires 1939, and also after the war in 1954 and 1958. In individual international tournaments, his greatest successes were equal second at Hastings 1938 with Keres, ahead of Fine and Flohr; first at Hastings 1947, and equal fifth at the Hilversum Zonal Tournament of that year; equal fifth at the Staunton Memorial Tournament of 1951; and equal first with Bronstein at Hastings 1953
Possessor of an attractive and incisive style, he won many brilliant games, notably against Botvinnik, Gligoric, Pachman, and Szabo. He was a chess correspondent for The Sunday Times and always wrote felicitously and lucidly about the game.
Among his writings were Chess (1937), Alekhine's Best Games of Chess, Vol. III (1946), Learn Chess (1963, with T. J. Beach), and Spassky and Fischer (World Chess Championship 1972).
With his passing, the world of chess is bereft of a most valiant spirit, and I have lost a firm and lifelong friend. He was a symbol of all that is best in British chess and will be remembered as such by those who knew him.
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P. S. M-B. writes:
Perhaps an even older friend may add a footnote to the just and moving tribute by your Chess Correspondent
Without doubt, Hugh Alexander could have been a grandmaster at chess, but not even he could be a grandmaster in two professions, and he rightly gave priority to the civil service, in which he first made such a notable contribution during the war. After his retirement, he intended to devote himself to writing about chess, but he had only just embarked on the Fischer/Spassky book when he became desperately ill. Perhaps only Hugh himself thought that he could recover, but through the skill of his doctors and fortified by the sympathy and devotion of his friends (which greatly astonished him, for he had little idea of the affection and admiration which he inspired) he not only did so, but from his sick room completed against time the whole of this brilliant work—a remarkable example of the tenacity, resourcefulness, and sheer stamina which made him such a formidable opponent, especially in unfavourable positions.
For a further 18 months he enjoyed great happiness and contentment at his new home in Cheltenham. He wrote two more splendid books and was well on the way with a third; and he made at gruelling cost a major personal contribution to the organization of the European Team Tournament at Bath in July. When a short while ago he was again stricken down, his illness was mercifully brief. He continued working to the end, he maintained as always the liveliest interest in the doings of his family and friends, and he never realized that this was a game that even he could not save.
One could have wished for nothing else, but that vivid and vigorous presence, that quick, clear, and energetic mind, the passion for intellectual argument, the practical kindness and spontaneous understanding with the young—all this will be sadly missed. To have been so close a friend for 50 years is indeed good fortune.
Twice British chess champion
Mr. C. H. O'D. Alexander, CMG, CBE, one of the most gifted British chess masters, has died at the age of 64. He was twice British chess champion.
Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander was born in Cork on April 19, 1909, the son of Professor C. W. L. Alexander. He was educated at King Edward's High School and King's College, Cambridge, where he took first-class honours in mathematics. From 1932 to 1938 he taught at Winchester, and from 1938 to 1939 he worked for the John Lewis Partnership.
During the Second World War he was attached to the Foreign Office. After the war, until 1971, he worked for the Government Communications Headquarters at Cheltenham.
He married Enid Constance Crichton Neate in 1934, and they had two sons.
________________________
Harry Golombek writes:
C. H. O'D. Alexander was one of the most gifted, possibly the most gifted, of all British chess masters. Although he managed to play a considerable amount of chess, especially in the earlier part of his career, the demands of his profession left him with comparatively little time for its practice and study; otherwise he would certainly have been of true grandmaster class, and possibly even of world stature.
He first came on the chess scene when he won the British Boys' Championship at Hastings in 1926. Rapidly improving after his admission to Cambridge University, he won the university championship four times and distinguished himself by winning a beautiful game in the annual match with Oxford University against R. H. Newman. By 1932, when he came second in the British championship, he was recognized as this country's leading young player. In 1938 he won the British Championship at Brighton; he repeated that success at Blackpool in 1956.
But it was in the international field that he really found his forte. It seemed that the more formidable the opposition, the greater his spirits mounted to overcome it. He played with great distinction for his country in the Olympiads at Folkestone 1933, Warsaw 1935, Stockholm 1937, and Buenos Aires 1939, and also after the war in 1954 and 1958. In individual international tournaments, his greatest successes were equal second at Hastings 1938 with Keres, ahead of Fine and Flohr; first at Hastings 1947, and equal fifth at the Hilversum Zonal Tournament of that year; equal fifth at the Staunton Memorial Tournament of 1951; and equal first with Bronstein at Hastings 1953
Possessor of an attractive and incisive style, he won many brilliant games, notably against Botvinnik, Gligoric, Pachman, and Szabo. He was a chess correspondent for The Sunday Times and always wrote felicitously and lucidly about the game.
Among his writings were Chess (1937), Alekhine's Best Games of Chess, Vol. III (1946), Learn Chess (1963, with T. J. Beach), and Spassky and Fischer (World Chess Championship 1972).
With his passing, the world of chess is bereft of a most valiant spirit, and I have lost a firm and lifelong friend. He was a symbol of all that is best in British chess and will be remembered as such by those who knew him.
______________________________________________________________
P. S. M-B. writes:
Perhaps an even older friend may add a footnote to the just and moving tribute by your Chess Correspondent
Without doubt, Hugh Alexander could have been a grandmaster at chess, but not even he could be a grandmaster in two professions, and he rightly gave priority to the civil service, in which he first made such a notable contribution during the war. After his retirement, he intended to devote himself to writing about chess, but he had only just embarked on the Fischer/Spassky book when he became desperately ill. Perhaps only Hugh himself thought that he could recover, but through the skill of his doctors and fortified by the sympathy and devotion of his friends (which greatly astonished him, for he had little idea of the affection and admiration which he inspired) he not only did so, but from his sick room completed against time the whole of this brilliant work—a remarkable example of the tenacity, resourcefulness, and sheer stamina which made him such a formidable opponent, especially in unfavourable positions.
For a further 18 months he enjoyed great happiness and contentment at his new home in Cheltenham. He wrote two more splendid books and was well on the way with a third; and he made at gruelling cost a major personal contribution to the organization of the European Team Tournament at Bath in July. When a short while ago he was again stricken down, his illness was mercifully brief. He continued working to the end, he maintained as always the liveliest interest in the doings of his family and friends, and he never realized that this was a game that even he could not save.
One could have wished for nothing else, but that vivid and vigorous presence, that quick, clear, and energetic mind, the passion for intellectual argument, the practical kindness and spontaneous understanding with the young—all this will be sadly missed. To have been so close a friend for 50 years is indeed good fortune.
