Sadly, Brian Fortney Has Passed Away

[Garvin Nunes]

It is with regret that I inform the chess community that Brian Fortney has passed away. Personally I consider him a friend and a really nice guy.

His generosity is also something I experienced first hand when one year I was unexpectedly stuck in North Bay and he gave me a ride back to Hamilton.

He wasn’t a bad chess player either. In our last Club Championship he scored 5 points (out of 8) and won the u1900 prize.


Here is the memorandum from the Hamilton Spectator:

FORTNEY, Brian Suddenly at the Henderson Hospital on May 8, 2010 at the age of 67 years. Survived by his loving wife of 39 years Helen. Son of Earl and the late LaVerne Fortney. Cherished brother of Pat Fortney and Val (Ron) Castello. Son-in-law of Rose and the late Gord Booker. Brother-in-law of Gord (Marianne) Booker, Darlene Watson and Lorraine Booker. Dear friend of Bob Watson. Uncle of Ron, Rob, Jason, Jamie, Shawn, Richie, Mark, Richard, Ryan and Shaun. Brian will be dearly missed by his extended family and many friends. Visitation will be held at CRESMOUNT FUNERAL HOME, 322 Fennell Avenue East on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. A Funeral Service will be held in the chapel of the funeral home on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 1 p.m. Interment to follow at Mount Hamilton Cemetery. Online tributes can be made at www.cresmountfennellchapel.com

[Tony Ficzere]

Re: Sadly, Brian Fortney Has Passed Away

Sad news indeed. I remember Brian from my years in Brantford. Always a gentleman. He played in many Brantford tournaments. Too young in my opinion.

[Bob Gillanders]

Re: Sadly, Brian Fortney Has Passed Away

This is very sad news indeed. Brian has been a valued member of the Hamilton chess community for many years. A true gentleman, always a smile.

I always enjoyed my games with Brian. He had some novel opening systems that were interesting to play against. He wasn't afraid to stray from the book, and his creative play caught me unawares many times. Win or lose, it was always an enjoyable game.

Brian will be missed by all that knew him.

[Hans Jung]

Re: Sadly, Brian Fortney Has Passed Away

I'll echo Bob's good words: "always a gentleman and always a nod or a smile".
Over 30 years at tournaments I would see Brian and there was always a smile or nod and the 5 or 6 times we played I realized the contents of each game was the source of greatest pleasure for Brian. Over the years he beat me once and drew once and the last time we played was similar to all the others. Original openings (usually more original than mine!), creative play, bizarre positions. Brian was a very tricky player and you could never count him out and I thought I learned that the first time but even in the last game we played I needed to relearn the lesson. Brian Fortney - Hans Jung, Hamilton Open, March 2009 1.d3 d5 2.f4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bg4 (Chigorins Defence for me, there was no book on what Brian was playing) 4.c3 Bxf3 5.exf3 d4 6.Qa4 e6 7.Be2 Bc5!?! (provoking but maybe dubious) 8.b4 Be7 9.b5 Nb8 10.Qxd4 Qxd4 11.cxd4 Bf6 12.Bb2 Ne7 (I originally had planned ...c5 but only the "normal" en passant capture is bad for White, after Nd2 I realized my position was terrible) 13.O-O? (Brian probably saw all the different ways I could use the Ne7 and decided to play "normal" moves such as castles and rook placing because he couldnt see how to prevent my knight from doing damage but still 13.Nd2 was correct. If 13...Nf5 14.Nb3 Ne3 15.Kf2 or 13...Nd5 14.g3 Nb4 15.Kf2 and 16.Ne4) 13...Nf5 14.Re1 Nxd4 15.Bd1 Nc2 16.Bxf6 Nxe1 17.Be5 Nd7 (now I thought it would be easy after 18.Bxc7 Rc8 but Brian started playing tricky again) 18.Nd2 Nxe5 19.fxe5 Nxd3 20.Nc4 Ke7 21.Bc2 Rhd8 22.Na5 Rd5 23.Nxb7 Rb8 24.Bxd3 Rxd3 25.Nc5 Rd5 26.Rc1 Rxb5 27.Na6 Rb7 28.f4 c5 29.a4 Kd8!? (the things we try to make the win easier) 30.Kf2 Rb2+ 31.Kf3 Rd3+ 32.Ke4!?? (one square from checkmate but no farther, Brian was playing for time hoping I would use up all my time trying for checkmate) 32...Ra3 33.Rd1+ Kc8 34.Nxc5 Rb4+ 35.Rd4 Rxd4+ 36.Kxd4 Ra2 37.g3 Rxh2 (Picking around the edges) 38.Ne4 Ra2 39.Nc3 Rd2+ 40.Kc5 Rc2 41.Kd4 Rxc3 42.Kxc3 Kc7 43.g4 h6 44.Kb3 g6 45.Kc4 Kc6 46.Kb4 h5 0-1 Strong play at age 65 and still very tricky. All my games with Brian were full of that kind of "spiciness". I will post Brian's win against me if I can find it. Rest in peace Brian, I hope you can still get a game somewhere. We will miss you.

[Mikhail Egorov]

Re: Sadly, Brian Fortney Has Passed Away

This is really sad news. I played Brian few times and both times he had a solid position. No matter what color he plays he always aimed for same opening position.

Brian playing black: 1. e4 d6 2. d4 f5
2. d4 d6 2. e4 f5

Brian playing white: 1. d3 d5 2. f4
1. d3 e5 2. f4

He played this system with both colors against anybody. Doesn't matter if it
is a weak or very strong player. He put his system to the the test against
IM Artem Samsonki (in Niagara Falls Open 2009), Hans Hung, Alex Friedman and myself. In all games he managed to walk away from the opening with solid semi-closed position. Brian was very creative player. His true strength as chess player was in manoeuvring. In HCCC 2009 Club Championship I watched he completely out manoeuvred Alex Friedman and won a very nice game to finish with 5 points with myself and Keith Wight. He only managed to allow 3 players to slip ahead of him in the field of 31 players: FM Doug Bailey, Experts Raymond Sigh Raymond and Ian Finlay. I officially called this system 'Fortney's system', due to Brian's contribution. Our next weekend tournament and HCCC 2010 Club Championship will be in Brian's memory. We will be planning to implement a regular club tournament in Brian's memory. That will be discussed in our HCCC general meeting in September.

Rest in peace Brian!