FM Brian Jones has passed away in Sydney, at the age of 78. Born in the UK in 1947, Brian was a significant figure on the Australian chess scene after moving to Australia in 1987 with his wife Margaret and two children Lee and Nancy (who both became Australian junior champions shortly after their arrival). Originally working in the IT industry, Brian turned his passion for chess into a full time business (Australian Chess Enterprises) as well as being a chess administrator and tournament organiser.
Bringing his experience from the UK chess scene to the somewhat less developed Australian environment, Brian immediately began to make improvements. An early adopter of technology, Brian helped introduce the use of electronic clocks to the Australian chess scene, lending his stock of DGT clocks to organisers, before clubs were in a position to purchase their own. When the Australian National University began a series of matches between humans and computers (Carbon v Silicon) he provided a number of strong programs for the Silicon team. He also introduced a number of new tournament formats to Australia, including knockout events, and single day rapid events, which he had organised back in England. He was the Chief Organiser of the 2003 Australian Open Chess Championship in Penrith, and included a number of format changes that remain till this day. He then created the Sydney International Open in Parramatta, an important addition to the Australian Chess tournament scene, and organised the event from 2007 until 2014.
On the International stage, he was a great contributor to the development of chess in the Oceania region. He was the FIDE Zone 3.6 President and founded the Oceania Chess Confederation. Through his efforts he helped countries such as Palau, Guam and the Solomon Islands join FIDE. He travelled to many Pacific federations, both as a tournament participant, and as an administrator. He was the Team Captain for Papua New Guinea at the 2008 Chess Olympiad (Dresden), and was a Councillor on the FIDE Development Commission.
In 2003 he began publishing Chess Australia (later Australasian Chess) which was the national magazine for Australia and ran until 2013. A labour of love for Brian, it remains the last printed national magazine for Australian tournament chess. During this time he also resurrected the Australian Grand Prix series, obtaining sponsorship from both the Myer family and well known Malaysian chess sponsor, Dato Tan Chin Nam.
Later in life he developed an interest in Correspondence Chess , and served as the International Secretary for the Correspondence Chess League of Australia. Always the innovator, Brian organised the 2014 International Correspondence Chess Federations congress in Sydney, as a way of highlighting the contribution that Australia had made to international CC. He also pioneered the move away from postal chess to server based CC, introducing a number of new events and formats, including the very popular Bicycle (non engine) events. He was also the publisher of the Australian Correspondence Chess Quarterly, the official magazine of the CCLA.
In later years poor health curtailed his participation in chess events, but he still visited important events in Sydney and Canberra. He became a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2022 for his services to chess. He will be fondly remembered by both the Australian and international chess community and will be missed by wife Margaret, son Lee, daughter Nancy and son in law Gary Lane, and his grandchildren Jasmine and Ryan.
