In Memoriam

Brian Eley (1946–2022)

British Chess Champion,

Suspected paedophile

So. Farewell

Then, Brian Eley,

Fugitive chess master,

Touch and move suspect,

Reported to the BCF for alleged misconduct

in 1979.

 

Fifty years ago

You were the British Chess Champion

In Brighton.

 

Thirty years ago

You enjoyed your 15 minutes of TV infamy

On Crimewatch.

 

Then you disappeared

First from Yorkshire

Then from the Interpol wanted list.

 

Now you’ve turned up dead

In an ashram near Amsterdam

Where the authorities

Knew you were

All along.

 

You may have escaped justice

But not the Great Arbiter

In the sky.

 

Now you can play dodgy gambits with Claude Bloodgood

And other past masters of ill repute.

 

What will you come back as next?

We don’t know

But when you’re next sighted

The police will be alerted.

 

E.J. Thribb (17½ when I quit chess for some reason)

 

 

Kingpin 27 (Summer 1997)