E. H. Flear

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E. H. Flear

Club President from 1963-1968.

A retired army officer, he came to Hastings and joined the Club in 1946. His father was a chess champion of Hertfordshire and was still playing in matches at the age of 90!

At an early stage he showed a great deal of interest in the Boys Tournament and was soon taking an active part in all the Club's affairs.

Major Flear, as he was always respectfully called, was very much the military man, very precise and dignified in all he did. Over the board, he used his knowledge of strategy and tactics to great effect and was a strong player.

He was also very interested in cricket and was the local Sussex secretary for 10 years.

He died on 5th June 1971, aged 80.


Major E. H. Flear

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Major E. H. Flear

By Brian Denman

Eric Howard Flear was born on 11.8.1890. It appears that he joined the Hastings CC when he was approaching 60.

The Hastings and St Leonards Observer only tells us a little about his chess career outside Hastings. In the Hastings newspaper of 20.10.1956 it is reported that he presented an illuminated address to the veteran E M Jackson and the article mentions that Flear's earliest memory of big time chess came in 1896, when as a small boy he was at the Savoy Hotel, London to watch the first GB v USA cable match in which Jackson was playing.

The Hastings newspaper of 9.5.1964 tells us that Flear was a member of the Bristol and Clifton CC 50 years previously. More interesting is a story about the man during WW1 as related in the Hastings and St Leonards Observer of 2.1.1960. There was BBC coverage (probably radio) of the Hastings Congress and Leonard Parkin (presumably on air) told how Flear went to France in the 1914-18 war as an infantry private. Whilst in the trenches he continued to play correspondence matches. After two years as a stretcher bearer he was in the mood to take any job which would bring him a few miles back from the lines and he was pleased when the company commander recommended him for a vacancy as a draughtsman at Brigade headquarters. The commander told him not to let him down as he would have to blame chess. Puzzling over this remark, it dawned on Flear that there must have been some connection or confusion between chess, draughtsmanship and the game of draughts. Anyway he got the job. On 21st March 1918 at St Quentin Flear's battallion was hit for six. At midnight the Brigade was virtually surrounded and the Brigadier said that the clerks and orderlies must man the redoubt and the Brigade would not surrender. As an afterthought, he gave orders that the draughtsmen should be evacuated with the maps and intelligence documents. Flear stated that he got away because he was a draughtsman and because he was a chess player.

In the 1930s Flear was connected with chess in Essex and he played for the Colchester CC and sometimes for Leyton. In this period he does not seem to have carried a military title and this was probably bestowed on him in World War II. In April 1940 a Capt Flear played a match for Hastings v Brighton. Perhaps he was temporarily stationed in the Hastings area. About two years later the Borough of West Ham, East Ham and Stratford Express made a reference to Major E H Flear in its correspondence section. The edition of 30.10.1942 stated: 'Hearty congratulations. Many of your old fellow Essex players will be pleased to hear, not only of your success, second in the Jewish chess championship, as a guest, but also to know that you conducted the choir in the Christmas morning service from Bethlehem broadcast to the Empire to which many of us listened with so much pleasure.' Presumably Flear had been stationed at Bethlehem with the army.

Reg's article on Flear states that he became a member of the Hastings CC in 1946 and this follows a statement to this effect in the obituary of the Hastings and St Leonards Observer. However, Flear himself stated in 1957 that he became a member of the club in May 1950 and joined the committee in September of that year. He soon became a great help to the young players of the area. He gave instruction at the club and he also came to run a local schoolboys' league. As well as this he played a major part in the running of the Hastings Christmas Congresses.

In the Hastings and St Leonards Observer of 31.3.1962 it was reported that he was going to make an appearance on Network Three (I believe that the radio had a chess programme at the time) telling how he made an April fool of Nimzowitsch. Unfortunately I do not know how he embarassed the master.

Major Flear's health seems to have generally held up quite well during his presidency, but in the Hastings and St Leonards Observer of 24.4.1965 it was reported that he had been incapacitated by 'some fiendish sciatical aftermath that keeps him in constant and excruciating pain.' The columnist stated that it appears that warmth and rest are the only curative combination. He would not be at the club for some time. In the Hastings newspaper of 26.10.1968 it is stated that he decided to retire to 'make way for new blood.' Not long after this he won a game against George Anslow (cf games below), but admitted that he had played quickly as the 'weight of years' meant that the strain of playing a longish game was too much for a senior citizen. He died on 5.6.1971 as given in Reg's article, although the British Chess Magazine makes a mistake in stating that he died on 12th June.

Major Flear seems to have played a number of interesting games and it appears that he was an attacking player. He won the Sussex Correspondence Championship in 1952 and seems to have quite liked this type of chess.

A selection of his games can be found at.....