Chess Scotland

Associated with chess in Central Scotland in general, but in particular with Falkirk Chess Club (founded 1896).

Joined Falkirk CC in 1947 and soon proved his worth by winning the club championship in season 1947-48 (and many times thereafter).

Associated with the Falkirk teams that won Glasgow League Division 3 in 1958-59 and Division 2 in 1959-60.

Winner of the Major tournament at the 1954 Scottish Chess Association Congress in Stirling.

One of the organisers of the 1966 Scottish Chess Association Congress in Falkirk.

Organised the first Chess Congress held in the Central Region, thereafter held annually in Grangemouth.

A powerful tribute to Mr Campbell appeared in the May 1983 issue of the Falkirk CC's newsletter, Fried Liver. It was compiled by Alan Glass and it is worth showing in full.

J. Campbell (BCCA) - R.J. Mark (Middlesex)
Match, 1949

1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 c5 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nge2 O-O 7. a3 dxc4 8. Bxc4 cxd4 9. exd4 Be7 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Nf4 Nb6 12. Bb3 Bd7 13. Qd3 Bc6 14. Re1 Re8 15. Rxe6 fxe6 16. Bxe6+ Kh8 17. Qh3 h6 18. Ng6+ Kh7 19. Qf5 1-0

[The Cathcart-Falkirk match was the last of the 1962-63 season. Cathcart's loss resulted in them finishing in second place, one point behind the winner, University Union. Ed]

Jack Campbell Rosebowl
Presented to Jack at a club social night in February 1983

Jack Campbell was a bright young man. He did very well at school and before World War II was training to be a metallurgist at Carron Company in Falkirk

However, in his late teens he was hit by a severe arthritic condition and was hospitalised during the early years of the war. Over a two year period he was moved from hospital to hospital and had around 20 operations which were unsuccessful. Hip and knee replacements are far more effective nowadays.

He ended up in Peel Hospital near Galashiels where he met a nurse from Jedburgh who became his wife. However, when in Peel Hospital he was in bed next to a Polish gentleman who was a very strong chess player – sorry I don’t know his name. My Dad could play chess but learned a lot from this Polish chap.

When he returned to Falkirk, complete with crutches, he kept up his interest in chess and joined the Falkirk Chess Club and played a lot of correspondence chess.

After the war he got a job on the weighbridge at the British Aluminium Company. This was shift work and there were few items to be weighed on the night shift and that gave him time to study his games!

In the 1950s, being a strong player though not quite as strong as he was in correspondence chess, he stirred up a group of local players to join the Glasgow League, playing all of their games in Glasgow. When pushed for time to catch the train two of the team would run to Queen Street with my Dad on their shoulders. “Drunk again!” was the cry of the ticket collector.

In the 1960s the Falkirk Club met in the Temperance Cafe in town and played in the Central League, but in a cost cutting exercise they moved to his place of work, the British Aluminium Company where they remained until my Dad retired in the 1980s.

Around 1970/71 he played a simultaneous display against 20 schoolboys, including myself, at Falkirk High, many of whom came to the Falkirk Club.

My Dad was a strong player and club champion for many years and gave a lot to the chess world in Central Scotland. I was easy to forget that he was severely disabled. He was a remarkably positive man. I don't think that I can remember him being down or cross, and for a supporter of Falkirk Football Club that is remarkable.

He was Treasurer of the Disabled Drivers Association, who had meetings in Stirling and in Falkirk, and was also Treasurer of the British Aluminium Social Club which had Licensed Premises opposite the factory which meant quite a lot of extra work. Looking back, I don't know how he fitted everything in but he did and was one of the cheeriest blokes around.

Sources
Several people were involved in helping to prepare this biography: John Campbell, son of Jack; Bill Gray; John McLay.
Scottish Chess No. 111, July 1989, p19.