Richard Moore was a member of both Redcar Chess Club and the local chess association (under its various guises) for as long as anyone can remember - although 70 years has been mentioned.
Nobody ever had a bad word to say about Richard and I doubt anyone would ever have heard him criticise anybody else.
He was a model gentleman who never let his standards slip below the immaculate mark. He was always highly encouraging and very supportive to me, all the way from our first meeting back in the very early 1980s, when I made my debut for the county team.
At that time I played for Guisborough but attended Redcar Chess Club regularly too and I got know Richard a little more each week. I awkward had great respect for him and his standards. It was clear how much he enjoyed chess and how important it was to him to see everything done correctly.
Some of our openings were the same, such as the English Opening and Saemisch variation against the King’s Indian as White and the French Defence for Black. This gave us some common grounds for conversation, even though in those years Guisborough and Redcar were rivals in he league.
I know he was also very inspirational to Mike Closs, who started his chess life at Redcar Chess Club. In fact he used to take Mike to the county matches and Mike told me Richard always arrived at the end of the small road leading to Mike’s house at exactly the same time and parked in exactly the same place.
We played only four times in serious games. The first three I won but in our final encounter he outplayed me in a sharp middle game and I couldn’t shake off his advantage. I still think of that game as recent and was surprised to find it was fully 20 years ago.
Apart from that, our other games were friendly encounters. One day we played quite a few games. This was when Redcar Library (famous for its extraordinary number of chess books, thanks to the chief librarian there being another regular member of Redcar Chess Club) held a community day and we were two of the people there representing the club. I recall how Richard looked around all of the other groups and then looked at me and said: ‘Some people like to exercise; others like to wear chain mail; we like to play chess. It’s extraordinary, really; everyone likes doing different things.’
I spent three excellent years playing for Redcar when I returned after a decade away from the local scene. Richard took a very keen interest in my games, as did I with his.
Playing the game was, very clearly, much more important than the result, although he did not take defeat lightly within himself. Losing games hurt him just as did for everyone else, even though his competitive side was kept largely hidden.
Away from the chessboard, we were in touch for many years by traditional letter; a tradition which stopped just a few months ago. How quaint that will appear to readers now. He never mentioned to me that he was ill.
Richard was a serious collector of chess books. I visited his home on more than one occasion to view his magnificent library. He left me to browse but returned a number of times with more cups of tea. His collection never stopped growing. I cannot even begin to think just how many hundreds of books he had but I know the collection contained many rare items.
I surprised him once when I asked Yasser Seirawan to personalise a copy of his book, Chess Duels, immediately after I interviewed Yasser at Baker Street. I posted the book to Richard and he was so very grateful. Indeed, when he thanked me he was as excited as I had ever seen him. Yasser's inscription paid tribute to Richard’s many years of chess service.
At that time I played for Guisborough but attended Redcar Chess Club regularly too and I got know Richard a little more each week. I awkward had great respect for him and his standards. It was clear how much he enjoyed chess and how important it was to him to see everything done correctly.
Some of our openings were the same, such as the English Opening and Saemisch variation against the King’s Indian as White and the French Defence for Black. This gave us some common grounds for conversation, even though in those years Guisborough and Redcar were rivals in he league.
I know he was also very inspirational to Mike Closs, who started his chess life at Redcar Chess Club. In fact he used to take Mike to the county matches and Mike told me Richard always arrived at the end of the small road leading to Mike’s house at exactly the same time and parked in exactly the same place.
We played only four times in serious games. The first three I won but in our final encounter he outplayed me in a sharp middle game and I couldn’t shake off his advantage. I still think of that game as recent and was surprised to find it was fully 20 years ago.
Apart from that, our other games were friendly encounters. One day we played quite a few games. This was when Redcar Library (famous for its extraordinary number of chess books, thanks to the chief librarian there being another regular member of Redcar Chess Club) held a community day and we were two of the people there representing the club. I recall how Richard looked around all of the other groups and then looked at me and said: ‘Some people like to exercise; others like to wear chain mail; we like to play chess. It’s extraordinary, really; everyone likes doing different things.’
I spent three excellent years playing for Redcar when I returned after a decade away from the local scene. Richard took a very keen interest in my games, as did I with his.
Playing the game was, very clearly, much more important than the result, although he did not take defeat lightly within himself. Losing games hurt him just as did for everyone else, even though his competitive side was kept largely hidden.
Away from the chessboard, we were in touch for many years by traditional letter; a tradition which stopped just a few months ago. How quaint that will appear to readers now. He never mentioned to me that he was ill.
Richard was a serious collector of chess books. I visited his home on more than one occasion to view his magnificent library. He left me to browse but returned a number of times with more cups of tea. His collection never stopped growing. I cannot even begin to think just how many hundreds of books he had but I know the collection contained many rare items.
I surprised him once when I asked Yasser Seirawan to personalise a copy of his book, Chess Duels, immediately after I interviewed Yasser at Baker Street. I posted the book to Richard and he was so very grateful. Indeed, when he thanked me he was as excited as I had ever seen him. Yasser's inscription paid tribute to Richard’s many years of chess service.
Richard was 85 when he passed away. We all thought he would be around forever and, in many ways, he certainly will be as we strive to achieve and maintain the high standards he set and from which he never wavered.
Further tributes can be found here, from:
Ron Stather
David Baillie
I was just finishing this post when news reached me regarding the death of another gentleman. John Boyers, former county champion and undoubtedly one of the strongest players Teesside ever produced, had been ill for some time and passed away last night.
I only even played John once but that was enough to understand how strong he was. I didn't know him as well I knew Richard. John was away from the local chess scene for many years but when he returned we did chat between games even though, as with Richard, we played for rival teams (John was a stalwart of Middlesbrough Chess Club.)
Losing both Richard and John in a very short period of time is a heavy blow. We shall not see the like of such gentlemen again.
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