Colin Crouch

[Wayne Komer]

Colin Crouch

April 18, 2015

The news has come that Colin Crouch has passed away.

I have been enjoying his daily blog for the past year. It is still online with the last entry being The So-Rich-Akobian dispute, on April 11.

http://crouchnotes.blogspot.ca

It was apparent that he was carrying on with his blog despite a stroke that left him partially sighted. One could see misspellings and some confusion but still be impressed with the strength of his writing against all odds.

This from an interview:

Colin Crouch, an international master of chess, is living in London but grew up in Durham. Colin became partially sighted due to a stroke, but that didn't stop his determination to keep playing chess and now takes part in the blind international tournaments as well.

"I learned [how to play chess] when I was young, carried on playing, became a British champion and a London champion. I've played quite a lot of international tournaments, but this is my first time at a blind international.

"I'm partially sighted as a result of a stroke which has been difficult for me ... I realise I'm not as strong as I would have been a few years back but I'm hoping to improve."

He was 58 years old.
_____

Some quotes from around the Internet:

From chessgames.com:

Dr Colin Crouch's chess books have received big acclaim for their thoroughness and originality, but he is also writing about things other than chess, such as economic and politic history. He completed doctoral thesis on "The Economic Geography of Recession in the UK: the early 1980s and historical perspectives" (1989, University of Durham).

"The readers will find that my basic patterns of thought show similarities, whether I am trying to analyse a game of chess, or whether I am trying to analyse current political questions. It is the "thinking" that is central" (Colin Crouch, The Shakthinking project - a chessplayer thinks)

Crouch's chess books:

-Rate Your Endgame

-Chess Secrets: Great Attackers

-Modern Chess: Move by Move

-Why We Lose at Chess

-Analyse Your Chess

-Fighting Chess: Move by Move

-Magnus Force: How Carlsen beat Kasparov's record.

From the E.C. Forum:

Jonathan Rogers: That's very sad. He played a large part in (London) Barbican's various successes in the 1990s, including four National Club wins at a time when the event was highly competitive, and played for Barbican 4NCL until 2002. He still holds a Club record of sorts for GM slaying: he beat three (Norwood, Baburin and Spraggett) in the space of four rounds in 1999/2000.

He was very creative too, and had his own way of assessing positions, and played his own variations. Neverov v Crouch, Hastings 1992 would be an obvious game to dig out for anyone writing proper obituaries, along with Chandler v Crouch, 4NCL 1994.

I think he had medical problems throughout most of his life, sadly; but as we know, chess can be a lifeline for many such people.

Christopher Kreuzer: Very sad news. I greatly enjoyed two of his books that I read, one on Carlsen (Magnus Force) and the classic Rate Your Endgame (which he co-authored with Edmar Mednis). I also greatly enjoyed reading his thoughts on current top-level chess, especially where he tried to gauge which of the up-and-coming young players might challenge Carlsen. I didn't know Colin well (though I would see him at some Middlesex county matches), but it was inspirational to see how he took on the challenge of resuming playing and writing about chess following his stroke in 2004.

RIP Colin

Jon Manley:

I share everyone's sorrow. Not only was Colin a friendly, thoughtful and sensitive person, but he had a magnificent, mischievous sense of humour. He penned one of the funniest parodies of a chess writer I have read

http://www.kingpinchess.net/2014/11/che ... -fine-art/

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Colin Crouch

That is sad news. I quite enjoyed his books.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Colin Crouch

From John Swain on the EC Forum:

This is very sad news. I remember Colin well from university days and afterwards (late 70s/80s) but lost touch until recently when we exchanged a few ideas via twitter. Colin was great company, with a fine sense of humour. He was never full of himself and always very willing to share his love of the game and analyse with those of us who were far below his level. He also had the ability to combine very strong chess with very strong beer, winning several seven round pint-a-point tournaments I recollect from undergraduate days. He was a real character who will be greatly missed.

My condolences to his family and friends. R.I.P. Colin.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Colin Crouch

Colin Crouch

This memoir of Colin may bring back recollections of the ’70 and ‘80s. It was posted on the EC Forum today:

Some personal memories of Colin

1. Colin was a junior member of Harrow Chess Club. In 1971, although I was new to Harrow, I took over the captaincy of the Harrow first team in the London League. I don’t think Colin had been asked to play in the team at that point but the 1971/72 season was a remarkable one for Colin. He played board one for Harrow in the London League and the season culminated in him beating Andrew Whitely (then 219) in the National Club Championship and winning the British under 16 championship in Brighton.

2. Colin completed his PhD at Durham. I believe he started it in 1978, I believe that it was about unemployment trends in the North East. Bearing in mind what happened in 1979, the thesis became 3 very large A4 volumes.

3. Colin was not the tidiest individual. He (like me) was a member of the local Fabian Society and I succeeded him as treasurer of the local society about 20 years ago. This was not an arduous task as the annual turnover was about £200 with about 20 transactions per annum. The room in his house that he used as an office had an amazing amount of clutter. It took him ages to find the Fabian Society paperwork and me ages to then sort it out.

4. Around this time I suggested that he should start using a word processor to write his books rather than his old manual typewriter. I suggested he use my computer at my house to see how he got on with it. Colin would arrive at my house most evenings with a pile of paper and sit upstairs in my office. He did not take to computers easily, my wife and I used to listen to him hit the keys as if hitting a manual typewriter and call down occasionally for help when the computer did its best to sabotage his work. I think it was his QGD 5.Bf5! that he produced. I lent him an old computer and installed it in his office. I believe he bought his own very soon afterwards and judging by the books that he produced, had no further problems.

5. Up until the early 90s Colin was a member of the Labour Party and stood unsuccessfully as a local councillor in Harrow. I can remember helping him on his campaign and attending one of the frequent quiz-night fundraisers that he organised. One that sadly I missed became infamous as the “Albanian Night”. All the questions were about Albania. I think that around this time Colin was rather fond of an eastern European woman chess player, I've always suspected that the two were not unconnected.

I will miss Colin, It’s true that he was very quiet spoken but there are also memories that reflect the more competitive side of his personality. I will remember him fondly, as a friend and someone that was always happy to discuss ideas both within and outside the world of chess. His work locally coaching young players at Harrow Chess Club will be missed.

Bill Phillips

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Colin Crouch

Colin Crouch Obituary

David Crouch April 29, 2015

My cousin Colin Crouch, who has died aged 58 of a brain haemorrhage, won the British under-16 chess championship in 1972 at the age of 15, soon after he had started playing club chess in north London. He became an international master two decades later and scored memorable wins against grandmasters. He wrote 15 books on chess and blogged daily until the end of his life. The subtitle of his website, Crouchnotes, summed up his modesty and humour: “Mainly on the evolution of top-level chess, or at least to the limited extent that I am able to understand what is going on. ”

Colin’s books attracted players at all levels. His final work on Norwegian chess wunderkind Magnus Carlsen was well received. “Readers could relate to him because he was a very honest writer, critical of his own mistakes and willing to admit to them; he never lectured readers, ” said John Emms, editor of Colin’s last five books for Everyman Chess.

Born in Bushey, Hertfordshire, Colin was the son of John, a civil servant, and Audrey (nee Jackson). As a small boy he learned to play chess from his father at the family home in Harrow Weald, London, where he continued to live until his death. He began to play competitively at Haberdashers’ Aske’s school in Elstree and then at Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he took geography, completing a doctorate at Durham University on unemployment in mining communities. He was an active Fabian and Labour party member.

In 2004 a stroke severely damaged his health, leaving him barely able to walk, and with damaged arms and “only half of one eye working”. While others might have given up the game, his instincts were to play chess seriously “to recover my thought processes”, he wrote.
In 2008 and 2012 he won silver medals at international chess Olympiads for blind and visually impaired people in Greece and India. “It meant a great deal to him that he’d actually been able to prove that he could still achieve at the top, ” said Chris Ross of the Braille Chess Association.

Colin’s burly, bearded form and distinctive chuckle were well known in chess circles. He had a passionate dedication to coaching younger players every week in Harrow Chess Club, among them the future international master Lorin D’Costa.

He is survived by a brother, Richard, and a sister, Elizabeth.

http://www.scorescan.com/2015/04/colin-crouch-obituary/