Norman  Young  1928 – 2012

Obituaries

Published 20 January 2012

Norman Young learned chess at Paisley Grammar School and also played at Glasgow University. He met Ilse at the Glasgow Hospital where they both worked and they were married in 1951. After his National Service they moved to Walsall in 1953 and Norman practised as a Doctor in Leamore until he retired in 1990.

He joined Walsall Kipping Chess Club in 1953 and was a leading and active member of the Club until a few weeks before his death on 16th January. He was particularly proud of having been the Captain of most club teams (35) from 1961 onwards; and during his continuous time as President from 1977, the club became Birmingham League First Division Champions of 2003, 2004 & 2005. He also served as President of Staffordshire Chess Association for the 25 years, 1973-98.

He was a strong player and represented the County on many occasions. He had a notable collection of “scalps” of the leading Midland Players collected mainly in the 1960s and 1970s.

Norman and Ilse were always generous hosts to the chess community, opening their beautiful house and manicured gardens not only for matches and committee meetings but also putting up international players who competed in the major events staged by the Club and the County to mark their respective 50th (1992) and 100th (1997) anniversaries.  For the former he played host to GM Alexey Suetin of Russia and was fond of recounting anecdotes of the visit and his subsequent exchanges of correspondence with him.

His other passions were sailing, to which he brought his same competitive spirit as for chess, fly fishing and gardening. He will be fondly remembered and sorely missed by all of his friends in the Chess World.

David Anderton