Ian Ponter, who died on 1st December after a long illness, was well known to players in the Bristol and North Gloucestershire Leagues, and on the South West tournament circuit, as a combative player who sought perfection from his moves and as a consequence frequently fought (and often won) unbelievable time scrambles. He was a lifelong member of Gloucester Chess Club and played for Downend and Fishponds for over twenty years.

Ian was brought up in Staunton, a small village near Gloucester, and spent his life in the county. He was educated at Kings School, and joined Gloucester Chess Club at the age of 15. After graduating in Philosophy from Warwick University he returned to Staunton and later moved to a flat in Cheltenham which was his home for the rest of his life. Around 1998 he was delighted to land a job with Gloucestershire County Council as political adviser to the Liberal Democrats, where he stayed for about 10 years.

Ian joined Downend Chess Club in 1995, joining a cohort of players from Gloucestershire who liked the tougher schedule of the Bristol League. For many years he played in Division One with occasional seasons helping the B-team to get promoted back from Division Two. In the B-team he was able to play with his longstanding friends Paul Spiller and Richard Allen and the trio were frequently seen together at congresses in Bristol and Gloucester as well as the popular Devon congresses.

Throughout his adult life Ian was at a level that would be described as 'strong club player. ' He achieved respectable games against titled players but his main interest was in league matches and weekend opens. A particular highlight was a game (albeit one he eventually lost) against Matthew Turner at the Cotswold Congress. He also played a couple of seasons of 4NCL matches for Bristol before moving to Gloucestershire Gambits in 2005. As recently as 2013 he achieved his lifetime best with a grade of 178. In the 2011/12 season he scored 4.5/5 in the Majors at both Frome and the Bristol Winter Congress.

Ian was also a very respectable poker player, and played in tournaments in Birmingham long before the Internet made the game fashionable. More recently he was frequently to be seen at Gala casino in Bristol on a Saturday night. As in chess, his views on the correct play were often forthright and convincing, and he showed a deep understanding of the game.

As a member of the Liberal Democrats he took a great interest in party conferences and events, and was also often to be seen at cultural events and festivals, particularly the Edinburgh Festival which he visited regularly.

In 2006 Ian was taken ill and had to undergo dialysis but his health was largely restored after major surgery. Five years later he became ill again and this time the prognosis was worse and he found himself unable to return to work. He still continued to play a large amount of chess and eventually worked his way back to top strength, playing for Downend A right up to the time he was taken into a hospice. His final match was on 16 October against Clifton A.

Games

Ian was not afraid of sharp openings and was happy to play both sides of the Scotch Mieses. In publicly available games over the last 10 years he had the astonishing record of +5 -0 =7 with this opening. In this game he beats a former Bristol University Board 1.

The second game is also a strongly theoretical opening, a Lasker-Pelikan in which he outplays a 200 standard opponent.

The third is his classic game against Matthew Turner. Ian always claimed he had clawed his way back to a draw and his assessment seems correct, at least at one point in the game.

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