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[A few months ago there was a proposal to produce a regular email newsletter for NSWCA members. Brian Jones and Peter Parr were asked to write a personal profile for the first issue which has now been released and we are now able to bring you Brian's profile. Many thanks, Brian.]
 Brian Jones |
I was born in Manchester England in 1947 and learned to play chess at eight, at around the same time as I started to go to football matches on Saturday afternoons (Manchester United of course). By the time I was twelve I was playing chess regularly at school and went on to win the Lancashire Junior Championship at sixteen. In those days, it was not uncommon for the local junior chess congresses to attract big fields and I remember the Liverpool Junior Congress regularly had over 1000 players.
At eighteen, I played chess at the historic Manchester Chess Club and went on to represent Manchester University in the British Universities Championships. In the late sixties, my employment took me to Sheffield where I played for the local chess club in the week and Rotherham at weekends. During this period, I met and married Margaret and together we raised our two children, Nancy and Lee.
 Nancy Lane |
By the end of the seventies, I had won the Yorkshire Championship three times and had twice qualified to play in the prestigious British Championship. I travelled the English weekend circuit (winning occasionally) and took the family on holidays to chess festivals whenever the opportunity arose!
In the mid-eighties, as the children also started to play chess, the family moved back to Manchester and I began to experience working overseas. At the British Championships in Swansea in 1987, Lee won the British U14 and shared the British U15 titles. Nancy played against tough sub-continental opposition in the British Women's Championship.
That same year (1987) we permanently migrated to Sydney where both children had instant success. Nancy won the 1988 Australian Girls Championship in Adelaide and subsequently won the Silver Medal for Australia in the Asian Girls Championship in Medan. Lee won his first Australian Junior title in Adelaide at age 14 and joined his dad in his first Australian Championship in Gosford.
 Lee Jones |
In 1991 we started our chess business, Australian Chess Enterprises (ACE). It had always been a dream of mine to do this, but it took two moves of premises and ten more years before I was able to go into chess full-time. Today we run ACE as a typical family business - as the father I do all the work, whilst the rest of the family make all the important decisions. Nancy has now married, changed her name to Lane and introduced a new family member, he's called Ryan. After a life devoted to chess, I think of the famous quote by Liverpool football manager Bill Shankly: "this game is not just a matter of life and death - it's much more important than that!" and I wonder whether Ryan will take up chess or golf?
To show my fighting spirit, despite a real lack of talent, here is a game from Brighton (1984) against an improving young player by the name of Michael Adams! CLICK HERE to play through the game with Chess Genie.
And here's the written score: Adams, M - Jones, B British Major Open, Brighton, 1984 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Nge2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.h3 Re8 9.Be3 Bd7 10.Qd2 Qc8 11.Kh2 a6 12.a4 Rb8 13.a5 exd4 14.Nxd4 Ne5 15.Qe2 c5 16.Nb3 Be6 17.Nd2 b5 18.axb6 Rxb6 19.Rab1 Rb4 20.Rfe1 Nc6 21.Nd5 Bxd5 22.exd5 Nd4 23.Qd3 Qf5 24.Qxf5 Nxf5 25.c3 Ra4 26.Bf4 Rb8 27.Ne4 Rb6 28.Bg5 Nxe4 29.Bxe4 Rb8 30.g4 Nh6 31.Bc2 Ra2 32.Bb3 Ra5 33.Bc4 f5 34.Bf4 Nf7 35.gxf5 Ne5 36.Bxe5 Bxe5+ 37.Kh1 Ra4 38.Bd3 Rh4 39.Kg2 g5 40.Bxa6 c4 41.f3 Kf7 42.Re4 Bxc3 43.Bxc4 Rxe4 44.fxe4 Rxb2+ 45.Rxb2 Bxb2 46.Kf3 Kf6 47.Kg4 h5+ 48.Kxh5 Ba1 49.Bb5 Bb2 50.Bd7 Ba1 51.h4 gxh4 52.Kxh4 Bb2 53.Be6 Ba1 54.Kh5 Bb2 55.Kh6 Ba1 56.Kh7 Bb2 57.Kg8 Ba1 58.Kf8 Bb2 59.Ke8 Ba1 60.e5+ Bxe5 ½-½