David Jackson 1953 - 2021

[Hans Jung]

Long time London (Ontario) chess player David Jackson passed away on July 30, 2021. He played in the 1970 and 1972 Canadian Juniors and reach a peak rating in the 90's of 2300.
RIP Dave.

[Peter McKillop]

I'm very sorry to hear this. Always liked Dave. RIP.

[Brian Hartman]

I spent many interesting times with Dave. He always made me laugh. I recall the time he played the Witaker variation against a GM...the many road trips...when he introduced me at the Beehive Restaurant (#5/#6) to his then girlfriend who was chain-smoking and constantly coughing, and informed me she had just a few weeks left due to lung cancer...to the time we were driving to Ottawa in the wee hours and he told me it was his turn to drive, so I attempted to sleep in the back, when I felt the car moving back and forth, I sat up and asked Dave why he was driving right-left between the 2 lanes, and he said "well, there is no one else on the road, why not use all of it". I recall when he made the papers, he was a taxi driver and was kidnapped by a fare and forced into the trunk...I can only hope I encounter Dave again...a beautiful person, a genuine person, someone I always thought fondly of. My sincere condolences to all who knew Dave and loved him, as I did.

Brian

[Roger Patterson]

Long time London (Ontario) chess player David Jackson passed away on July 30, 2021. He played in the 1970 and 1972 Canadian Juniors and reach a peak rating in the 90's of 2300.
RIP Dave.

Dave was my opponent in my longest (timewise) ever game. Something like 8 hours. My sister who was waiting for me to go for drinks was continually reassured that I was winning, shouldn't be long now, was well and truely pissed off. Up a few pawns in Q vs Q ending back in the bad old days of 40 in 2 following by repeating 20 in 1 time controls. Those days are gone thankfully.

We played numerous times. I have this photo from a tournament in the early 80's (Guelph probably).. Dave is in the red shirt on the left playing me (I have my back to the camera). On the far right you can see a young Dean Hergott. Don't recognize anyone else but the empty chair is probably Hartman's game.

RIP

[Stephen Wright]

Alex Kuznecov(?) on Dave's left, Gord Olheiser facing the camera between Alex and Deen.

[Frank Dixon]

This is very sad news. I never played David in a tournament game, but recall having a very enjoyable analysis session with him between rounds at a Toronto event, circa 1980. Here was a Master helping a much less experienced player; I learned a lot from him. He didn't have to do it. Very kindly fellow. There is a really nice picture of David in one of the older magazine issues, with Jonathan Berry editor; David was leading an Ontario Grand Prix standing, and the short piece had the standings of other contenders. I will see if I can find the reference.
Rest In Peace, David.
Frank Dixon, NTD, Kingston.

[Hans Jung]

Dave was my opponent in my longest (timewise) ever game. Something like 8 hours. My sister who was waiting for me to go for drinks was continually reassured that I was winning, shouldn't be long now, was well and truely pissed off. Up a few pawns in Q vs Q ending back in the bad old days of 40 in 2 following by repeating 20 in 1 time controls. Those days are gone thankfully.

We played numerous times. I have this photo from a tournament in the early 80's (Guelph probably).. Dave is in the red shirt on the left playing me (I have my back to the camera). On the far right you can see a young Dean Hergott. Don't recognize anyone else but the empty chair is probably Hartman's game.

RIP

Brian's victim was probably me.

[Hans Jung]

David Jackson's funeral is tomorrow, Friday, August 6th at 1pm at Woodland Cemetery, 493 Springbank Drive, London, Ontario.

[Hans Jung]

Some of Dave's games:

[Event "London, Canada (ch)"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1992.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Jackson, D."]
[Black "Surlan, D."]
[Result "1-0"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "1992.??.??"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 a6 3. Nf3 b5 4. Bd3 {#} 4... Bb7 {
[N 4...c5 Large,P-Fraser Mitchell,J; England (ch); 1988 {CB-C0 ]} 5. O-O Be7 6.
e5 d6 7. Nc3 Nd7 8. a4 b4 9. Ne4 d5 10. Ng3 g6 11. Be3 Kf8 12. Qd2 Kg7 13. a5
c5 14. dxc5 Nxc5 15. Qxb4 Nxd3 16. Qxb7 Rb8 17. Qxa6 Nxb2 18. Rfb1 Nc4 19. Bb6
Qd7 20. Ne2 Nh6 21. Ned4 Ng4 22. Re1 Rhc8 23. h3 Nh6 24. Reb1 Nf5 25. Nxf5+
gxf5 26. Bd4 Bb4 27. c3 Ra8 28. Qxc8 Qxc8 29. cxb4 Qc6 30. b5 Qc7 31. b6 Qd8
32. b7 Rb8 33. a6 1-0

[Event "London, Canada (op)"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1993.??.??"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Jackson, D."]
[Black "Bevand, L."]
[Result "1-0"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "1993.??.??"]

{[105]} 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Bc4 Bg7 5. Qe2 e5 6. Nf3 exd4 7. Nxd4
O-O 8. O-O Re8 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bxf6 Qxf6 11. Ndb5 Na6 12. Rad1 Be6 13. Nd4 Nc5
14. Nxe6 Nxe6 15. f4 Nd4 16. Qd3 Rf8 17. Nd5 Qd8 18. f5 gxf5 19. exf5 Be5 20.
f6 Qd7 21. Ne7+ Kh8 22. Qe3 1-0

[Hans Jung]

London (Ontario) chess has been full of interesting characters and three of the most telling and hilarious were Grant Evans, Dave Jackson, and Dan Surlan.

Grant Evans was a brilliant lawyer, graduating first in his law class at Western, and a first class legal mind. He was also a chess enthusiast and his passion was blindfold chess. He liked to play tournament chess blindfolded under the alias A Fisch and the games were rated by the CFC. One large bonus for me for many years was I could seek legal advice from Grant at the price of a drink (or if longer advice several drinks). I would show up at his home pub and he was always tickled pink to see me. (literally he would turn pink because he was so happy) Grant would welcome me: Please step into my humble office (which would be two conveniently placed barstools). Grant would always find something humorous in almost every situation. He would start laughing and chuckle would lead to a cackle and then a guffaw (I didnt know what a guffaw was until I met Grant) and tears would stream from his eyes, his glasses would end up crooked and he would have a shaking fit of laughter. Grant's drinking led to disbarment but then he got the perfect job as researcher with a well known law firm and his cheque went to his favorite pub. He was happy, the pub was happy, and the judge was relieved. Why am I mentioning Grant Evans - because Grant and Dave Jackson were drinking buddies and roomed together for a long time. Often when I went to see Grant, Dave would also be there and he would greet me with: Your Honour, what can I do you for? It took me a while to realize that your Honour was in reference to judge and he was alluding to my judging him which I often was. Dave and Grant shared a sense of humour that fed off each other. When Dave got wound up he would get off his stool and his body would go limp and then he would do the mad machine gunner - you know like a kid with a tommy gun - he would hold his hands just so and go ratatatatat and spray imaginary bullets and then he would yell "We'll get those ****ards yet! (usually about government bureaucracy or people who were obstacles to humanity) and dissolve into laughter.

Early on in the 80"s Dave started a chess club on Dundas Street in the old downtown. It was the perfect club for him. It had a large hall on the second floor which was a good size for tournaments, a room at the back where he could crash, and best part a bar downstairs which would give him food and drinks. At the first tournament Dan Surlan showed up but not to play, instead to show analysis on his latest pet opening. Dont get me wrong, Dan Surlan would spend hours on these openings cooking up traps and tricks and he was very proud of his analysis and would encourage it to be tested by other players. (Peter Murray, several time London Champion and master won many games from Surlans analysis - of course this was long before computers were a help) There was a joke which had some truth that Surlan was 2500 in the opening but then his strength would begin to slide until if the game got long it would end up somewhere around 1900. Anyways Dan S. was showing his analysis to all interested and Dave Jackson came over, leaned on the table and said: All forces being equal and players ranked equal the game will be a draw. Forever afterward one of Dan S. favorite quips was: Everything leads to a draw. Peter Murray w hen ever he would see Dan would ask: So have you been invited to Jacksons club yet? and Dan with a look of horror on his face would say No but pointing at another player would then say : He has. (continued)

[Hans Jung]

Dan had the misfortune of losing a lot of games to Dave Jackson. He came up with the saying that Dave Jackson "would Jacksonize the position" and there was some truth to that. The opponent would be playing a nice positional strategic game and Dave would find counterplay leading to either wild tactics or his opponent desperately trying to stop his counterplay. One time I had just won a London championship and finished my last round game (and it was a nice game) and Dan Surlan came over and said " so you Jacksonized the position? (except he pronounced it Yawksonized)
Jacksonized became almost a household word in London chess.
Dave Jackson was a free spirit and he led his life the way he wanted to. He enjoyed life and you learned to get out of his way or join him in enjoying it.

First Grant Evans passed on and then a couple of years later Dan Surlan. Now Dave Jackson has left us. The end of an era.

[Brad Thomson]

Thanks Hans! I have many fond memories of the Canadian Open in London, 1993, when I had the pleasure of spending lots of time with Grant, Bob Kiviaho and others. Grant and Bob went way back and used to play simultaneous blindfold games against each other. There are lots of names I recall from those days: Mike Coleman, Kosta Elief, Glen Redhead, Dan Mastorovich, Mon Fei Lee, Jay Zendrowski, Don Armstrong, Ian Langlands... good old days!

[Hans Jung]

Yes Brad they were the good old days and you met a lot of the characters. The Canadian Open 1993 brought all the London players together, many of them helped organize and got friends to play.
Joe Kool's, Victoria Park and great summer weather. It was a highlight event and fond memories for me on many levels.

[Hans Jung]

White "Jackson, D."]
[Black "Zendrowski, J."]
[Result "1-0"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "1992.??.??"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. g4 Bg6 5. f4 {[N]} (5. h4 {ECO}) 5... e6 6. h4
h5 7. g5 Qa5+ 8. c3 Bxb1 9. Rxb1 Qxa2 10. Bd3 g6 11. Nf3 Qa5 12. O-O c5 13. Qe2
c4 14. Bc2 Ne7 15. Bd2 b5 16. b3 Nbc6 17. bxc4 bxc4 18. Ra1 Qc7 19. Ra6 Rb8 20.
Rfa1 Rb6 21. Rxb6 Qxb6 22. Rb1 Qc7 23. Ne1 Kd7 24. Ng2 Nf5 25. Bxf5 gxf5 26.
Ne3 Na5 27. Kh1 Qc6 28. Rg1 Be7 29. g6 fxg6 30. Rxg6 Qb5 31. Qg2 Qb1+ 32. Kh2
Nb3 33. Rxe6 Qe4 34. Rxe7+ Kxe7 35. Qg7+ Ke6 36. Qxh8 Qxf4+ 37. Kg1 Qg3+ 38.
Ng2 Nxd2 39. Qe8# 1-0

[Bob Armstrong]

In 1964-5, Grant Evans was the president of the chess club of what was then called the University of Western Ontario, in London (Now Western University). I was a member that year.

Grant played Western's first board in the Feb., 1965 Canadian University Teams Championships in Montreal (I played 2nd board).

The club was not all that strong that year, and I won the club championship (Defeated Grant and the then champion of Peterborough).

It was a fun year in chess!

Bob