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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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Kenneth M. Duff, 83, died December 10, 2015 at the Saint John Regional Hospital following a brief illness.
...
Ken was a lifelong, avid chess player, and was a founding member of the Saint John Chess Club, helping to establish it not long after his arrival in Saint John. He helped direct the club and many of its tournaments for decades and was instrumental in bringing the month-long World Chess Festival to Saint John in 1988. He was still actively organizing and participating in chess tournaments and club activities as recently as this past October, when he was involved in the NB Blitz tournament
Just checking the old files here.
In 1995 I interviewed Ken for Chess Monthly, Saint John. He won the Maritime Championship in 68, claiming modestly that his success was due to the absence of Paul Selick. Apparently Ken and young Paul hung out for a bit, playing innumerable off-hand games.
From the early 70’s at least, Ken held a steel grip on the Saint John Chess Club once it came under the auspices of the University of New Brunswick SJ where he was chief librarian. Before that the Saint John Chess Club was directed and maintained by Dan Elman.
In late ’91 or so we were in Edmundston for the NBO. It was between rounds and a bunch of chess players were gathered in the lounge having a beer. An impromptu election for governors was called. (You know how these things happen, very informal and happenstance with no agenda.) I nominated Ken Duff. One of the Edmundston players nominated me. The vote was cast: 7 to 6 for Ken. Afterwards I said to him, “Ken, I voted for you.” He had a surprised look on his face.
He came out in October 2015 to christen the new chess tables in Queen Square Saint John, even though diabetes had already taken part of his leg and some members of the club considered the area “too dangerous” to play chess in. I set up a Philidor K&Q vs. K&R position and asked Ken what he would do. “I’d just take the rook and call it a draw,” he said.
I never met Mr. Duff, but his contributions to chess in New Brunswick were evidently quite significant.
A couple of points:
1) I had the impression that the Saint John Chess Club had been a viable entity from well BEFORE Mr. Duff arrived in that city in the early 1960s, based on information provided to me, through then-Editor FM Robert Hamilton, when I wrote a Spotlight feature on chess in Saint John for Chess Canada magazine, circa 2006. The obituary quoted said he had founded the Club. Perhaps others with closer knowledge can confirm this.
2) He had served as a Governor of the CFC representing New Brunswick, an important fact not mentioned so far in this thread.
Chess in Saint John dates back to the 1830's when the first club was formed. I have no idea how long it was in continuous operation, but here are some notes from the later part of the 1800's:
Ken moved to Saint John from the US around 1968 to establish the library and serve as Head Librarian of the new Saint John Campus of UNB. At the time of his passing he had been a continuous member of the chess club for almost 50 years !! When I joined the club in 1973, Ken was firmly established as one of the top players in the city and province. We worked together on the WCF in 1988 and Ken took firm control of the results function of that event. After that he became a keen chess organizer and TD with Executive positions in both the Saint John Chess Club and NB Chess Association, up until his death. He also served as a CFC Governor several years.
I have read your article Spotlight on Saint John and shown it to Larry Fyffe who had not seen it before. He recognizes a lot of his own research work and asks me to question you about the 1872 date. I consider it a typo for 1877 and the establishment of the Philidor Chess Club in the city on the hundredth anniversary of Philidor's 1777 book.
I wish that the history of chess in Saint John was as well documented as you state. There is a big gap from the turn of the century to the outbreak of the second world war.
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