Andrew Pye who has died aged 55 was the Luton Chess Club chairperson and a regular chess player at the club, league and tournament matches. Please see below for a tribute written by Tim Hayden, Captain of the University of Bedfordshire team in Andrew enjoyed playing for, and a good friend.
It is with great sadness that I am writing this note to talk about a dear friend, Andrew (Andy) Pye. Someone who I stumbled across at the Luton Chess Club, but with whom I had built a great friendship. Andrew really loved coming to Luton Chess Club, and I remember the night of the last AGM, when we had arrived together agreeing not to get caught up in taking on large roles. Andrew being elected as Chairman, and myself at the C team captain. So much for that then.
Andy had some great ideas about how he wanted to spread the word of the Luton Chess Club, and increase the number of young players, something we have already seen happen this past year. Chess was a great release for Andy, and he took massive pride in bringing his fantastic chess set along to the club to play on. He was really enjoying himself evaluating past games and exploring new openings. His most recent favourite being the Jobava, a variation on the London System, which he knew was my favourite. We spent many hours together talking about our past careers, and football, but most conversations always led back to chess.
Andrew had started running a chess session at a local day centre (pictured above), which I was also able to attend on a few occasions. He was a popular figure there and was looking forward to helping people learn chess for the first time, he was such an enthusiastic teacher. Andrew had taken part in numerous chess congresses, in Cambridge, Northamptonshire and Newmarket (pictured below wearing his trademark baseball cap), and was planning on attending Milton Keynes. He just loved to be playing over the board chess, no matter when or where it was.
Keep practising Andy, I will expect you to have a good response to my London System opening when I see you next.
Tim Hayden