Danny Kopec

[Alex McFarlane]

I have received news that IM Danny Kopec who played in Edinburgh in the 70s and 80s died yesterday.

He won the Scottish Championship at Troon in 1980

I believe he had been fighting cancer.

[Alan Bell]

Very sad news.

[George Neave]

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btw - The Kopec system lives on in Scotland to this day.

[Craig Pritchett]

As a good friend and Danny's co-author of 'Chess World Contenders and their Styles', a 2002 Dover reprint of our earlier 1980 Bell & Hyman work, 'Best Games of the Young Grandmasters', I am especially sad to hear this news (only just now, via a chessbase.com article this morning).

I last spoke to Danny in a very lengthy, catch-up phone-call last year, in which he spoke about his recent health problems but emphasised that he was in remission. My deepest sympathy goes to his wife, Sylvia, and son, David.

[Keith Ruxton]

Dr. Kopec gave me a lesson in the early 80s...81 I think. during one of the discussions he offered me a piece of advice that I have never forgotten and try to implement in all my games even to this day..."don't give away your pieces".

I highly recommend this approach. RIP

[Geoff Chandler]

HI,

Sad and sudden news.

We were in contact right up until April this year discussing a new chess idea.


I'm left with many happy and fond memories. He was quite a funny guy with a droll
sense of humour. Very straight forward in approach, I recall our first meeting.

The Edinburgh Club AGM 1979. A packed club meeting chaired by Bill Smerdon, Dr Ratcliffe and Peter Shaw.

Danny turns up right in the middle of it, he had not been in the door two minutes when he announced
who he is and the club were going to pay him to play for them and he would be giving be lessons
here once a week....which day would suit everyone.

Stunned silence!

When putting together 'Mastering Chess' we had to meet at the University building in the Meadows.
Danny would be on the tennis court firing these 100 MPH serves over the net at some hapless
chap. Though if he got one back he often scored because Danny was not into running about doing rally's.

After the match we would all tuck into these massive cartons of ice cream he had in the University fridge.
He loved his ice cream as much as he loved chess.

I as a player learned a lot from him though I should have taken much more on board. He spent quite
a bit a time on me talking about pawn structures and endings which were subsequently ignored as I
went way playing for traps and cheapo's. (I still do.)

I remember once he turned up on a Christmas Day and we played blitz all day.

At first he was balancing my two year old daughter on his lap...then I won one.
The daughter was gently placed down and the fun began. Out came the pipe and tobacco
(he called them his weapons.) I was now in trouble. He probably won the next 10 till he eased off.

Rest in Peace Danny and Thank You.