You may have heard the sad news that David Everington died a few days ago. I have collected a few comments together from club members, as well as including a few pictures and games. Given that we are devastated at this loss to the Shropshire Chess Community, we can only imagine the loss to Jen and the rest of the family; our deepest sympathy and loving thoughts to them at this difficult time.
Mark, our Club Secretary, wrote as follows:
I’m sorry to have to report that David Everington has passed away. Most of you will have your own memories of David and I believe that Francis is going to put something suitable on the club website. (This posting – FB)
David has been part of our club for many years. He had been a mainstay for a long time even when I first joined the club in 1985!
David was also one of our strongest players throughout this time and had a terrific memory of opening lines. He was also reigning club champion at the time of his passing. Much more importantly, David was a courteous, kind and friendly man. There were no airs and graces from David because he happened to be a strong player. This made him a popular figure throughout Shropshire chess and rightly so. David also served in just about every official capacity for the club, at one time or another, and was club president when he died.
Mark Smith
I think Ile’s straight forward expression of shock reflects most people’s reaction to the news:
Oh my! May he rest in perfect peace. He was a perfect gentleman. This is such a shock.
Olusegun Ilesanmi
Jamie’s comments set out a little more detail:
Playing away matches were always fun as David would share interesting chess stories from his past. His knowledge of the historical chess greats was second to none.
I have always been jealous of David’s ability to enjoy the game he has just played irrespective of the result. On the few occasions he lost a game he would always praise his opponent for the good moves they made rather than dwell on any errors he may have made along the way. I wished I could love the game of chess as much as he clearly did.
Rest in peace David and thanks for all your company over the years.
Jamie Hopkins
Finally, Peter expresses David’s inimitable social nature:
David was a lovely man and inspirational both with his humour and his wonderful attacking style at the chess board.
He was A team captain when I joined the club in 2005 and is someone I’ve always looked up to and was definitely looking forward to renewing duels over the board post-Covid. Not to mention discussing local current affairs, the state of journalism and the fortunes of Man Utd.
I’ll have so many fond memories of David, playing games at his house and sharing the odd glass of wine after. Still sinking in that this won’t happen again.
Peter Kitchen
Time for a game! One of the things that a number of people have mentioned is David’s knowledge of openings and offbeat lines in particular. For many years, David would produce an annual bulletin of the season just finished, including games and anecdotes. I have been through some of these back issues, which make for entertaining reading and have picked up a game David played against Mark Smith, using the Latvian Gambit, an opening he used with success on a number of occasions, despite its dubious reputation. Anyway, here is the game, with the notes taken from David’s annotations in the bulletin.
A game that I liked (ChessBase 16)
[Event “Cox Trophy Round 2”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2009.05.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Smith, Mark”]
[Black “Everington, David”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C40”]
[Annotator “David Everington”]
[PlyCount “42”]
[EventDate “2017.??.??”]
[SourceVersionDate “2014.09.27”]
[WhiteTeam “Shrewsbury B”]
[BlackTeam “Shrewsbury A”]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f5 3. Nxe5 {There
are many other good moves, of course, but this is the main line.} Nc6 ({
Normal is} 3… Qf6 {but this – Fraser’s variation – is a real gamble which
challenges White to smash the Black Kingside – but he has to have a good idea
of what he’s doing.}) 4. Qh5+ ({Bravo! Everone else in this position, even
including Trevor Brotherton, has opted out with the tamer (though perfectly
good) line} 4. d4 Qh4 $1) ({In a previous Latvian encounter, in 2005, Mark
tried} 4. Nxc6 {but this time he goes for it.}) 4… g6 5. Nxg6 Nf6 6. Qh4 Rg8
7. Nxf8 Rg4 $1 8. Qh6 Rxe4+ 9. Kd1 $2 ({A natural move, but a pity from Mark’s
point of view. After} 9. Be2 $1 Qe7 10. Nc3 Rxe2+ 11. Nxe2 Nd4 12. O-O Nxe2+
13. Kh1 d6 14. Nxh7 Nxh7 15. Qh5+ Kf8 16. d3 Nxc1 17. Raxc1 {White has the
better game.}) 9… Ng4 $1 10. Qh5+ Kxf8 11. Qxf5+ Kg7 12. d3 {realising that
the Rook is untouchable because of the Knight fork on f2.} Nd4 13. Qd5 Nxf2+
14. Kd2 c6 $1 {The Queen now has no good square.} 15. Qxe4 (15. Qc4 Qa5+) (15.
Qc5 d6) (15. Qh5 Re6 (15… d6 {is actually even better.}) 16. Rg1 Qf6 {
and in all cases White is in dire straits. Mark therefore gives up his Queen
for Rook and Knight but is just too far behind in development.}) 15… Nxe4+
16. dxe4 Qg5+ 17. Kd1 Qg4+ 18. Kd2 Qxe4 19. Nc3 Qxc2+ 20. Ke1 d5 21. Bf4 Qf5 {
When I first tried the Latvian, against Nigel Ferrington in 2001, he answered
with the fairly tame 3.ef and I drew comfortably. When I asked him about this
his reply was interesting: “It simply isn’t worth learning long, complicated
variations in an opening I might only meet two or three times in a lifetime.”
Fair comment – but that view confirmed it might be worth my while to take up
the opening with Black!} 0-1
David was always encouraging of the junior players. My son, Matt, comments on his early experiences in this regard:
Truly devastating to hear about David, whose loss will be sorely felt by all he met. I can’t really add much more what everyone else has said – a real gentleman. The only time I ever managed to beat him, I must have been about 13 and fairly terrible. David dropped a piece and, although he could have almost certainly turned it back around, chose to resign immediately and give me a win I treasured for years. All the other times I faced him in “proper” games, they never went my way. David’s games were invariably a treat to watch. His mental database of obscure openings never failed to astound me and there was an anecdote for every occasion.
Such longevity at the club and as one of the finest players in the county – even as his grade went down slightly, he remained a match for anyone – really was remarkable. I wonder if the club could name something in his memory – he must have the record for most wins of the club championship!
Matt Best
Any suggestions on that last point would be welcomed!
I took over from David as A Team captain and I often joked that I only felt comfortable when David was a Pawn or two down, as he invariably seemed to win from those positions! This next game is a nice win in a sacrificial line against the Caro Kann. The annotations are taken from David’s comments.
A game that I liked (ChessBase 16)
[Event “Shropshire League Division 1”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2014.10.10”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Everington, David”]
[Black “Lewis, Chris”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B11”]
[Annotator “David Everington”]
[PlyCount “71”]
[SourceVersionDate “2014.09.27”]
[WhiteTeam “Shrewsbury A”]
[BlackTeam “Newport A”]
1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Qf3 {
Warren Goldman’s line which aims to make the development of Black’s QB
difficult.} dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. d4 Ngf6 6. Bc4 Nb6 7. Bb3 Qxd4 8. Ng5 e6 9. Ne2
Qg4 10. Qd3 Qxg2 11. Rg1 Qxh2 12. Bf4 Qh5 13. O-O-O {For three pawns White has
every piece in action with four of Black’s still at home. Not everyone’s
cup of tea but a hard fight follows.} Bd7 14. Rh1 Qg6 15. Bxe6 $5 Bxe6 16. Nxe6
Nbd5 (16… Qxd3 17. Nc7+ Ke7 18. Rxd3 {with good practical chances.}) 17. Qxg6
fxg6 {Houdini rates this position as about equal.} 18. c4 Nxf4 19. N2xf4 Kf7
20. Nd8+ Kg8 21. Nxb7 Re8 22. Nd8 Ng4 23. Rhe1 Rxe1 24. Rxe1 h5 $14 25. Re8 ({
With the threat of 26.Ne6.} 25. f3 Nf6 26. Nxg6 Rh6 27. Nxf8 Kxf8 28. Nxc6 {
is the prosaic way the computer wants to play at this point.}) 25… Nf6 26.
Rxf8+ Kxf8 27. Nxg6+ Kg8 28. Nxh8 Kxh8 $2 ({On the night Chris thought that my
idea of 28….h4 wasn’t good enough but it seems to win after} 28… h4 29.
Ng6 h3 30. Ne7+ Kf8 31. Nf5 Ne4 $1 $19 {so I was lucky.}) 29. Nxc6 a6 (29… h4
{is better again, although not so devastating as earlier.}) 30. Ne5 h4 $4 {
The wrong moment.} 31. Ng6+ Kg8 32. Nxh4 Kf7 33. Kc2 Ng4 34. b4 Nxf2 35. a4 Ke6
36. Ng2 {and here I had to stop recording with under four minutes left. Chris
offered a draw which was reasonable given my lack of time but I decided to
push on and he resigned around move 50. [Just as well David pressed on, as we
would only have drawn the match otherwise – FB]} 1-0
Shown below is a picture of David, presenting the club championship trophy to Ted Eales a couple of years ago.
You may be interested to see a piece written by Carl Portman, who used to play in Shropshire, has subsequently moved to Oxfordshire, but still keeps contact with the Shropshire crowd. A link to Carl’s document is below:
I would like to finish this posting with a game won by David against Trevor Brotherton. As mentioned earlier, David remained a worthy opponent for any Shropshire player. This example shows David’s resourcefulness, even in a slightly inferior position, always the mark of a skilful player. There are a number of examples of David’s play in the “Interesting Games” section of the site (just click on the tab above).
A game that I liked (ChessBase 16)
[Event “Shropshire Championship Round 5”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2002.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Brotherton, Trevor”]
[Black “Everington, David”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “D05”]
[Annotator “David Everington”]
[PlyCount “70”]
[EventDate “2017.??.??”]
[SourceVersionDate “2014.09.27”]
1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 c5 4. Bd3 d5 5. b3 {
Unusual but quite playable – and used by Capablanca, age 12, in his match with
Corzo for the Cuban Championship in 1900! Trevor loves out of the way lines
and should probably have won this one.} Nbd7 6. Bb2 Be7 7. Nbd2 Qc7 8. O-O b6
9. Ne5 Bb7 10. f4 Nxe5 11. fxe5 Ne4 12. c4 Bg5 13. Qe2 Nxd2 14. Qxd2 cxd4 15.
Bxd4 dxc4 16. Rac1 O-O 17. Rxc4 Qd7 $2 {A simple mistake. Better was Qd8.} 18.
Bxb6 $1 Qd5 ({and not} 18… axb6 $4 19. Bxh7+) 19. Bd4 Rad8 20. Rc7 a5 (20…
Qxd4 $1 21. exd4 Bxd2 22. Rxb7 Rxd4 23. Bc4 Re4 {gives an advantage to Black
(FPB)}) 21. Qf2 Rd7 22. Rc5 ({Rightly or wrongly, both players here thought
that} 22. Bc4 Rxc7 23. Bxd5 Bxd5 {followed by doubling Rooks gave Black too
much play. (In hindsight, the computer assesses this as the best line for
White and pretty much winning. However, computer lines aren’t always so easy
to play for humans! FB)}) 22… Bxe3 $1 23. Bxh7+ Kxh7 24. Bxe3 Qe4 25. Rxa5 $6
({Stronger was} 25. Rc4 {ready to swith the Rook to the Kingside.
(Interestingly, the computer assesses this position as dead level, after …
Qxe5, preferring instead}) (25. Re1 Ra8 26. Qg3 {although White’s advantage
here is fairly minimal, principally thanks to Black’s strong control and
potential threats along the a8-h1 diagonal FB)}) 25… Rfd8 26. Bg5 Rc8 27. Ra4
Qg6 {(Now White has to tread really carefully. His Rooks are split and Black’s
counterparts are poised, ready to invade along the second rank. Objectively,
the position is still level here, though. FB)} 28. Qh4+ Kg8 29. Rg4 Rc2 30. Qh3
({If} 30. Bf6 Rxg2+ {wins for Black}) 30… Rd3 {Trevor had now used up too
much time trying to find a winning line when he had a better position – a
frequent cause of loss at chess.} 31. Qh4 Rd4 32. Rf2 Rc1+ 33. Rf1 Rxf1+ 34.
Kxf1 Qd3+ 35. Kg1 Qd1+ 0-1
We will miss David’s chess, his humour, his great company and generosity of spirit.
