Chess player, musician Craig Van Tilbury is no more

R.I.P. - Craig Van Tilbury

Hello Everyone,

It is sad news that Craig Van Tilbury - rock musician and FIDE master is no more. Tilbury was both a professional chess player and musician. He had performed with several groups from Florida. He toured the United States and Germany with Joey Dee and the Starliters (who had a big hit with 'Peppermint Twist' in 1961).

Tilbury played 10 Chess Olympiads on board 1 for his team - the United States Virgin Islands - winning the gold medal for best individual score on Board 1 at the Olympiad in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1984. He also later played for the British Virgin Islands. He won the Washington, D.C., Open in 1977 and the Jamaican Open in 1981. He also taught chess at several schools in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area.

He is survived by his partner Annie Waddey, their 17-month-old daughter, Annabelle; his mother, Constance Van Tilbury; his sister, Julie Van Tilbury Orr; and his brother, Eric Van Tilbury.

Here is one of Tilbury's memorable games that he played against GM Darryl Keith Johansen at the Bled Olympiad in 2002. You can run the moves in pgnplayer or watch in flash below.

PGN: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 e4 5.Ng5 Bf5 6.g4 Bg6 7.Bg2 Nxg4 8.Ngxe4 f5 9.Ng5 c6 10.Bf4 Qd7 11.d5 c5 12.Nb5 Na6 13.Qa4 Ne5 14.Bxe5 dxe5 15.Nf3 e4 16.Ne5 Qe7 17.Nd4+ Kd8 18.Ndc6+ bxc6 19.Nxc6+ Kc7 20.Nxe7 Bxe7 21.Qc6+ Kb8 22.Qxa6 Be8 23.d6 Bd8 24.a4 Rf8 25.d7 Bxd7 26.0-0-0 Rf6 27.Qxf6 Bxf6 28.Rxd7 1-0

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com