Peter Marshall and Len Walters – Obituary

A number of obituaries which were included on the original Hampshire Chess Association website are being added to the website. I am looking to add profiles on Peter and Len in the future, as they were key chess players in Hampshire and particularly for Southampton Chess. Photograph above is of Peter at the Hampshire Chess Championship.

A Tribute to Two Chess Players

Recently there was sad news of the loss of two well-known Hampshire chess players. Peter Marshall died on 8th September 2010 aged 87 and his great friend Len Walters who was about the same age, died six weeks earlier. They were both long standing members of Southampton Chess club and gave great service to chess over a long period. Peter was president of the West of England Chess Union (1986-1988) and subsequently both he and Len were vice presidents up to this year.
Peter was President, Match Captain and top board player of the Hampshire County Chess team for many years, with a grade of around 200, retiring from office in 1992, whilst Len (Hampshire Secretary whilst Peter was President) was also a strong player for the same team. Both players were also members of their club’s 1st team in the Southampton Chess League and most of the time during the last 50 – 60 years were active as players, team captains and organisers of teams in various competitions.
Peter also captained the County team that reached the national final in 1992, before losing to Staffordshire.
As a player, Peter won the Southampton Individual Tournament in both 1956/57 and 1957/58 and was Southampton Club Champion in 1964, while Len was Southampton Club Champion in both 1961 and 1963.
A notable achievement was their enormous joint efforts in bringing the British Chess Championships to Southampton in 1986.
Peter was generous with donations to local chess and they both left awards for local competitions.
Peter was also the club’s treasurer for a number of years and was given life membership of the club for the last few years.
When not taking part in a serious game Peter and Len were often seen at the club together carrying out a post mortem on one of their games. Peter was not a driver and at the end of the evening Len usually gave him a lift to the pub (often with a few others) en route to Peter’s home or on the way to a county match or weekend tournament. Stopping for a beer and some food usually turned out to be at a place selected more for the quality of its one-armed bandits than its food! The last few years Len became very frail and needed a lift himself to and from the club by the club’s secretary and the use of the newly installed lift to play chess on the 2nd floor, but he still played a reasonable game.
Peter was a pipe-smoker – apparently, he gave it up after retirement from Bramtoco, when his erstwhile employer no longer gave him free tobacco!
He was proud that he had gone for two years without losing with the black pieces using the Modern Defence. He would always go on about this, although in an entirely modest way.
Peter was often seen trying to recruit players to play for the county team and his cheerful approach usually succeeded. If a player with other demands on his time said something like “I’ll play if you’re short” Peter would say “Actually I’m quite tall but I still want, you to play”.

I have obtained additional information on Len Walters from Britbase, which details his Varsity match from 1994 as well as his career. I have included below.

Leonard Charles Walters (14 November 1923 – 29 June 2010). St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. Unofficial Varsity match 1944. B.A. 1945. Played in the unofficial Varsity match of 1944.

His December 1957 letter published in the 1958 St Catharine’s Magazine: “After going down in 1944 I worked for the Ministry of Supply on valve development and research until 1947 when I took a four-year Short Service Commission in the Royal Navy as an Instructor Officer. On returning to civilian life in February 1951, I joined the Plessey Co., Ltd, as a development engineer. I left Plesseys and worked as Senior Engineer in the microwave research laboratory of Decca Radar, Ltd, from October 1954 to September 1955, when I returned to Plesseys as Project Leader in a new research group which moved to Hampshire in 1956. Since October last year we have been living at Hazeldene, Botley Road, near Baddesley, Hampshire. Apart from a briefly renewed acquaintance with Graham Rushton in 1946, occasional contact with J. M. Bee at chess gatherings or matches, and spasmodic meetings at technical exhibitions or lectures with David Paul, my contact with Cath’s men has been confined to the annual dinner of the London Group, but even this, I regret to say, has had to be omitted for the past two years.”
John Saunders – Britbase