BCN remembers CGM Adrian Hollis who passed away in Wells, Somerset on Tuesday, February 26th 2013  at the age of seventy-two.

Adrian Swayne Hollis was born in Bristol, Avon on Friday, August 2nd 1940. During this critical period the Luftwaffe was wisely extending its Battle of Britain targets to include Britain’s airfields. Furthermore, Bristol was bombed heavily between June 1940 and May 1944. The longest period of regular bombing, known as the ‘Bristol Blitz’ began in autumn 1940 and ended the following spring. The first bombs of the Bristol Blitz fell at around 6 pm on Sunday 24 November 1940.

Adrian was the only child of MI5 director general Roger Henry Hollis KB CBE (later to become Sir Roger Hollis) and Evelyn Esme Hollis (née Swayne) who was Roger’s first wife. Roger was from Wells and Evelyn from Burnham-on-Sea and they were married on July 17th 1937 in Wells Cathedral with Evelyn’s father performing the ceremony.

Adrian won a scholarship in classics to Eton College and then went up to Keble College, Oxford where he took a first in mods and greats. Whilst at Keble Adrian represented Oxford in four varsity matches between 1959 and 1962. Indeed, his support for varsity matches was maintained for many years attending a large number into and beyond the Lloyds Bank era. Stalwart organiser Henry Mutkin would always be sure to extend an invitation.

In 1961 Adrian become the youngest ever West of England Champion at the age of 21.

Adrian met Margaret Mair Cameron Edwards in 1967 at St. Andrew’s University where he taught Classics and she taught German. They married and had two daughters, Jennifer (b. 1974) and Veronica (b. 1977) and a son.

He was the Games Editor for the British Correspondence Chess Association (BCCA) resigning in 1969.

In 1984 Adrian was forced to endure allegations against his father by Chapman Pincher (in CPs book Too Secret too Long) that Sir Roger had been a Soviet spy / mole. These allegations were demonstrated to be false. He may well also have been aware of allegations against his friend and chess mentor Graham Mitchell earlier in 1963. Ironically, it was Adrian’s father who initiated the investigation into Graham. Again, the rumours were shown to be unfounded.

Adrian became a director of the company Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Limited on the September 1st 1996 and resigned on May 12th 2007. He was also a Vice President of the West of England Chess Union (WECU).

Between 2003 and 2007 (according to the Electoral Roll) Adrian lived at 63, Bainton Road, Oxford, OX2 7AG :

and following his retirement (and the time of the 2008 electoral roll) Adrian had moved to Pound House, Southover, Wells, BA5 1UH :

Adrian has written many learned papers and has had two books published :

and

During his time at Keble College, Adrian engaged with and mentored many chess players including Jonathan Rowson (1996), David Norwood (1988), Julian Way, David Goodman (1977) and Dharshan Kumaran (1993).

Julian was a personal student of Adrian’s and was kind enough to tell us :

I do remember Adrian well. He could quote Latin verse ad infinitum. He was an expert on Ovid.
In terms of chess he had a huge pile of Informators in his study still in their cardboard packaging. He was very kind to me and insisted I play above him for Keble in the intercollegiate matches.

I gave him a copy of Developments in the Orthodox QGD which I had written in 1987. He was quite taken back when I didn’t want any money for it. He seemed to have quite a lot of respect for me.

I once asked him why he had given me a place at Oxford. He replied that he couldn’t have rejected someone with my passion and enthusiasm.
I kept in touch with Adrian until his passing. He gave me a lovely reference when I resumed my studies in 2007 at Kingston University.
I remember him as a kind and unassuming man. He became a lifelong friend.

From British Chess (Pergamon Press, 1983) Botterill, Levy, Rice and Richardson :

“I was born on August 2nd, 1940, educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford and now teach Classics at Keble College, Oxford. I learned the moves at the advanced age of thirteen from a cousin who himself could have made a good chess player had he not been seduced by Philosophy and brain-teasers; all that remains in the mind from these encounters is a vision of perpetually losing my rooks to fianchettoed bishops.

My first ever tournament was the London Boys’ Championship 1956-7. In the opening round fate allotted me Black against David Rumens. As it happened, the brochure included a game of his from the previous year in which he had answered 1.d4 with 1…Nc6, quite enough, in my opinion, to condemn his utterly.

[fen]r1bqkbnr/pppppppp/2n5/8/3P4/8/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq – 0 1[/fen]

(Ed: The above position did not impress Adrian hugely.)

This view seemed confirmed when within twelve moves of an advance French I was two pawns up. Then, however, aided by my over confidence he worked up a fierce attack, and I just escaped with a draw. Nevertheless, I won the tournament; an opponent remarked how quickly I played my moves.

Thereafter the game was never so easy, but I did reasonably, well, winning the championships of the British Universities, West of England and East of Scotland, and playing for England quite regularly during the 1960s (including 7.5/12 in six Anglo-Dutch matches).

The high spot of my over-the-board chess was the series of World Student team championships from 1960 to 1964 in glamorous places (Leningrad, Helsinki, Mariánské Lázně, Budva and Cracow); most enjoyable of these being Budva, 1963 where one could bathe every day in the Adriatic and I won the (?) gold medal on Board 1 with 7.5/9., the year after Spassky (this must look good in the records, unless they happen to reveal that for the first time in preliminary and final sections, and that England did not qualify for the top final).

[pgn]
[Event “Paignton”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1966.09.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Black “Beach, Richard A”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “E63”]
[Annotator “BCN”]
[PlyCount “35”]
[SourceTitle “BCM, 1966, page 289, game”]

{[%evp 0,25,61,14,28,-9,54,37,37,18,25,20,27,19,18,29,45,2,38,27,5,20,14,3,7,
-4,24,-17]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3
a6 8. b3 Rb8 9. Bb2 b5 10. cxb5 axb5 11. d5 Na5 12. Nd4 b4 13. Nb1 $11 {[#]} (
13. Na4 e5 14. Nc2 Bd7 15. Ne3 Bh6 16. Bc1 Bxa4 17. bxa4 b3 18. Bd2) 13… e6 (
13… e5) 14. a3 bxa3 15. Rxa3 c5 $2 ({Correct was} 15… e5 16. Rxa5 exd4 17.
Ra3 $16) 16. dxc6 {[#]} {Black punted} Nc4 $2 {but had missed} 17. Qc1 $1 $18 (
{Black was hoping for} 17. bxc4 Rxb2 18. Nc3 $18) 17… Bh6 18. Qxc4 $1 {
and Black resigned} 1-0
[/pgn]

My best chess was probably played at Mariánské Lázně, 1962, where in successive rounds I had favourable draws with Radulov and Hort, coming close to beating the latter. Ironically, I was awarded the British Master title after I had virtually retired from over-the-board chess.

[pgn]
[Event “Paignton”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1966.09.??”]
[Round “3”]
[White “Hartston, William Roland”]
[Black “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “A05”]
[Annotator “Hollis, Keene & BCN”]
[PlyCount “80”]
[SourceTitle “The Spectator, 20th April”]

{[%evp 0,18,19,-22,0,-31,-9,-5,9,-19,-25,-22,-34,-17,-10,5,21,21,31,5,13]} {
This game appeared in The Spectator, April 20th, 2013 as part of an obituary
from Ray Keene. The original source was British Chess Magazine, 1966, page 302,
game #14,225.} 1. g3 Nf6 2. Bg2 d5 3. Nf3 g6 4. b4 {ASH : This set-up, in fact
a primitive form of the Reti, has been patronised recently by Smyslov, among
others. RDK : This set-up, a form of the Reti, has been championed by,
amongst others, Vassily Smyslov.} Bg7 5. Bb2 O-O 6. O-O a5 ({BCN : Nowadays}
6… c6 7. d3 a5 8. a3 axb4 9. axb4 Rxa1 10. Bxa1 Qb6 11. c3 Nbd7 12. Nbd2 e5
13. e4 Re8 {is the modern (2020) continuation.}) 7. b5 ({ASH :} 7. a3 {, or}) (
{even} 7. c3 {came into consideration here.}) 7… c5 $146 {BCN : This was the
first game to feature this position.} 8. d3 (8. bxc6 {ASH: was quite possible.}
) 8… b6 $146 {BCN : This is the only recorded game with this move.} 9. c4 e6
{ASH : Black decides to maintain a pawn centre, without worrying if the pawns
should hang. RDK : Black decides to create a pawn centre without worrying if
the pawns will end up hanging.} 10. Qc2 Bb7 11. Nbd2 Nbd7 {[#]} 12. e3 {
RDK : White has to prevent … d4 and … e5.} Qc7 13. Rad1 ({ASH : Harston
later preferred RDK: Hartston later preferred} 13. Rac1 Rad8) 13… Rad8 14.
Qb1 e5 {ASH : Somewhat risky, but the only way to progress. RDK : Somewhat
risky, but the only way to make progress.} 15. cxd5 Nxd5 16. Nc4 Rfe8 17. Qa1
f6 18. Rc1 Nf8 19. d4 exd4 20. exd4 Ne6 21. Rfd1 {[#]} Ndf4 $1 $17 {ASH :
Seizing his chance. This sacrifice is necessary because the central position
is beginning to look rickety, and appears to be sound. White has terrible
weaknesses and his queen is marooned far away. RDK : Seizing his chance.
This sacrifice is necessary because the central position is beginning to look
rickety. The sacrifice looks sound as White has terrible weaknesses and his
queen is miles away.} 22. gxf4 Nxf4 23. Ne3 (23. Bh1 Qd7 {ASH : is too slow.})
(23. d5 {ASH : Might be a shade better – see next note.}) 23… Nxg2 $19 24.
Kxg2 Be4 $1 (24… Qf4 {ASH : is also possible but the win would not be so
easy after} 25. d5 Rxd5 26. Rxd5 Bxd5 27. Nxd5 Qg4+ {ASH : etc}) 25. Nf1 Qf4
26. Rc3 cxd4 27. Rcd3 Rd5 28. Qc1 Qg4+ 29. Ng3 Rf5 30. h3 {ASH : There is
nothing better} Bxf3+ 31. Kh2 Rh5 32. Rxf3 Qxf3 33. Nxh5 {ASH : The rest is
straightforward} Qxf2+ {RDK : Now it’s straightforward for Black.} 34. Kh1
Qf3+ 35. Kg1 gxh5 36. Bxd4 Qg3+ 37. Kh1 Qxh3+ 38. Kg1 Qg4+ 39. Kh1 Rc8 40. Qd2
Rd8 {and White resigned.} 0-1
[/pgn]

In 1964 I decided that henceforth for me ‘serious’ chess would mean correspondence, while OTB became a pleasant social activity. My introduction to the postal game had been made about 1955 by a colleague of my father’s, International Master Graham Mitchell, to whom I owe an enormous debt for the patience and kindness with which he played a series of games, bearing with me when I lost interest in worsening positions. The switch to postal play was caused by a number of factors, negative and positive : an impending move to Scotland, where there was less OTB chess, frustration at constantly spoiling good positions through mistakes in time pressure – on the other hand a feeling that correspondence chess should suit an academic temperament, and a particularly fascinating game played in 1963-4 with Michael Haygarth (see below) on which I spent so much time and energy that I almost feared it would ruin my post-graduate exams.

[pgn]
[Event “County Correspondence Championship”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1963.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Haygarth, Michael John”]
[Black “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B78”]
[Annotator “ASH & British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “106”]
[SourceTitle “British Chess, page 104”]
[WhiteTeam “Yorkshire”]
[BlackTeam “Somerset”]

{[%evp 0,20,19,38,40,41,66,77,66,55,55,20,70,53,40,34,30,28,47,32,47,-3,30]} 1.
e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Bc4 (
8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 e5 13. Bc5 Be6 14.
Ne4 Re8 15. h4 h6 16. g4 Qc7 17. g5 h5 18. Bc4 Red8 19. Qf2 {is modern
practise.}) 8… Nc6 9. Qd2 Bd7 10. h4 (10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. h4 h5 13.
Bg5 Rc5 14. Kb1 b5 15. g4 hxg4 16. h5 Nxh5 17. Nd5 Re8 18. Rxh5 gxh5 19. Qh2
Rxd5 20. Bxd5 Qb6 21. Qxh5 e6 22. Bb3) 10… Rc8 {ASH : At that time people
always played the queen’s rook to c8. Later it became the custom to play …
Qa5 and …Rfc8. Later still fashion swung back.} 11. Bb3 Ne5 (11… h5 12.
O-O-O Ne5) 12. Bh6 {ASH : Of all the attacking possibilities, White chooses a
relatively ineffective one.} ({The modern way is} 12. O-O-O h5 13. Bg5 Rc5 14.
Kb1 b5 15. g4 hxg4 16. h5 Nxh5 17. Nd5 Re8 18. Rxh5 gxh5 19. Qh2 Rxd5 20. Bxd5
Qb6 {transposes to a previous line.}) 12… Nc4 {ASH : A nice little finesse.}
13. Bxc4 Bxh6 ({more usual is} 13… Rxc4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. h5 Qa5 16. hxg6
fxg6 (16… hxg6 $4 17. Qh6+ Kg8 18. Qh8#) 17. O-O-O) 14. Qxh6 ({Believe it or
not,} 14. Bxf7+ $4 Kg7 $1 {ASH : Resigns, has actually occurred in an
international (over-the-board!) tournament. BCN : It was, in fact, Zuidema
– Lee, Zurich Junior, 1964.} (14… Kxf7 $2 15. Qxh6) (14… Rxf7 $2 15. Qxh6
$14)) 14… Rxc4 15. O-O-O Rxc3 16. bxc3 Qa5 {ASH : Black has carried out his
exchange sacrifice under unusually favourable circumstances.} 17. Kb2 Rc8 {[#]}
18. Rd3 ({ASH : In a later game (British Correspondence Championship 1965-6).
S.Milan played against me} 18. Qd2 Rc4 19. Nb3 {, keeping more active chances
(the game was drawnin 50 moves).}) 18… Bb5 19. Nxb5 {The exchange of minor
peices suite Black.} (19. Qg5 Rc5 {would be ingenious but not better.}) 19…
Qxb5+ 20. Ka1 Rc5 21. Rb1 Qa6 22. Qc1 Ra5 23. Rb2 b6 24. Qb1 Nd7 25. Rb4 Ne5
26. Re3 Nc4 {[#] ASH : Black’s knight has reached ideal squares, and for the
next few moves makes the White rooks dance to his tune.} 27. Rd3 Rc5 28. Qe1
Ra5 29. Qb1 Ne5 30. Re3 ({ASH : Not} 30. Rd5 Rxd5 31. exd5 Qe2 {and White’s
position collapses.}) 30… Rc5 31. Rb3 b5 32. Qd1 Qc6 33. Qd4 Nc4 34. Rd3 a5
35. g4 {ASH : Natural, but in the end providing a target.} a4 36. Rb4 Ne5 37.
Re3 Qc8 $1 38. Kb1 {[#] ASH : Something must fall so White decides to return
the exchange.} h5 $1 39. gxh5 Nc6 40. Qd3 Nxb4 41. cxb4 Rxh5 42. e5 {Unable to
protect his weaknesses, White tries to break out.} Rxe5 43. Rxe5 dxe5 44. Qxb5
Qc3 45. Qxa4 Qxf3 46. b5 e4 47. b6 e3 48. Qb3 Qf1+ 49. Kb2 e2 50. b7 e1=Q 51.
b8=Q+ Kh7 52. Q8b6 Qc1+ 53. Kc3 Qcf4 {White resigns. A remarkable position,
with four queens on the board. Material is level, but the exposed White king
is helpless. This game was played just before I left Oxford to teach in
Scotland (where, at that time, over-the-board chess was not so strong as it
has since become), and it was to a great extent responsible for turning my
main interest to postal chess.} 0-1
[/pgn]

In 1964-5 I qualified for the British Championship by winning a candidates’ section with 100%, and then competed three times in the British Championship itself (1965-6, 1966-7, 1970-71), winning on each occasion (the first time jointly with S. Milan) and remaining unbeaten. International play also proved successful, and I soon collected the two norms necessary for the IM title (Ed: awarded in 1970).

The first chance for the Grandmaster title came on Board 1 in the Seventh Olympiad final. Despite a rare loss with the White pieces(my only defeat with white for a stretch of 15 years), things went well, including a lucky win against the reigning World Champion, Horst Rittner, and the enticing prospect beckoned if only I could beat the Russian Moiseyev. He held a slight advantage since the opening, but I thought I saw the chance of tempting him to an incorrect sacrifice. Back came his move; he had indeed made the sacrifice and the envelope burnt a hole in my pocket during an important meeting (my mind was elsewhere). After a mere two days’ thought I sent my reply. The post between England and the USSR takes about a month for the return trip. Soon after posting my move, as I was walking from the Ashmolean Museum to Keble, just passing the front gate of St. John’s, the realisation of what I had overlooked hit me, and there followed an inexorable wait for the death blow which I now saw only too clearly.

So no Grandmaster title, but Great Britain still took the bronze medals, and I scored 6/9 (+5=1-2).

Another opportunity came when the British Postal Chess Federation organised a tournament (1974-6) in memory of its former secretary RJ Potter.  This started inauspiciously for me with a heavy defeat at the hands of Grandmaster Endzelins of Australia., a country which has so far provided my least favourite opposition (not only is the postage extremely expensive, but my score to date is 0/2).

From The Potter Memorial, Ken Messere, Chess (Sutton Coldfield), 1979 we have this potted biography from Ken Messere :

“Adrian Hollis is 36, was educated at Eton and Oxford, has written two books on the poet Ovid and is a Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Keble College, Oxford. He is a British Master at over the board chess and has been Champion of British Universities, West of England and East Scotland.

In 1964, he went to teach at St. Andrews University where his wife, Margaret, taught German. They were married and moved to Keble College in 1967 and now have two daughters. Jennifer is nearly five and Veronica is two.

Adrian began to concentrate on correspondence chess in 1964 and won the British Correspondence Chess Championship jointly in 1966 and outright in 1967 and 1971. He won the I.M. title in 1970 and his fine score of 6/9 on top board for Great Britain in the I.C.C.F. VIIth Correspondence Chess Olympiad Final contributed to the team’s winning the bronze medal in this event.”

and now back to Adrian’s British Chess article…

Thereafter my fortunes improved; one opponent accepted too trustingly some faulty analysis by Szabo in Informator (for a while it seemed that the Hungarian might earn me not one but two points). The East German Dr. Baumbach failed to find an improvement in a line with which I had been successful in the Seventh Olympiad Final.

[pgn]
[Event “Potter Memorial corr7376”]
[Site “corr”]
[Date “1973.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Black “Baumbach, Fritz”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D44”]
[Annotator “Baumbach, ASH and BCN”]
[PlyCount “63”]
[EventDate “1973.??.??”]
[EventType “tourn (corr)”]
[EventRounds “12”]
[SourceTitle “Myers”]
[Source “Myers”]
[SourceDate “2012.11.12”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2012.11.12”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%mdl 33284][%evp 0,63,19,31,32,-10,25,31,29,4,44,-4,-8,27,27,28,23,24,23,20,
42,40,29,37,29,-15,64,23,79,45,12,14,15,24,38,32,81,93,66,30,25,25,35,-38,122,
205,196,191,184,184,272,340,340,293,333,518,527,532,534,534,534,534,527,533,
537,541] Speelman: Really serious correspondence chess players are a breed
apart. In order to play “over-the-board” chess one must be able to maintian a
reasonable level of concentration for up to five hours at a time; and also
possibly to produce a quite prodigious amount of energy after (say) about four
and a half hours. Correspondence players, however, must require a quite
different nervous system. In their case a game may last months or even years.
It will be necessary to sustain sufficient interest in, and contact with,
possibly dozens of games simultaneously. There will not be a sudden explosion
of frenetic activity in any game–i.e., time trouble–but rather a long hard
grind of analytical work, work which can involve many hours of analysis on a
single critical move. Adrian Hollis is, together with Keith Richardson and
Peter Clarke, one of Great Britian’s three correspondence Grandmasters. A
classics don at Keble College, Oxford, he makes the time to play up to thirty
(!) correspondence games simultaneously. This game, against the East German
Fritz Baumbach, is from the Potter Memorial tournament which Hollis won to
gain the Grandmaster title. It is a very fine example of correspondence chess.
An exceedingly complicated theoretical opening leaves White with a clear
advantage, which he exploits with beautifully precise middlegame play.} 1. d4 {
Myers Speelman Baumbach} d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5
7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Nxg5 {ASH : More natural} ({than} 9. exf6 {which also
has its supporters.}) 9… hxg5 ({ASH : Round about 1957 I spent many happy
hours analysing} 9… Nd5 {, a move which has recently been played and
recommended by George Botterill.} {is an intriguing possibility, which remains
quite unclear after} 10. Nxf7 Qxh4 11. Nxh8 Bb4) 10. Bxg5 Nbd7 11. exf6 ({
ASH : The immediate} 11. g3 {avoids any danger on the long white diagonal, but
black can cause complications by} Qa5 12. exf6 b4) 11… Bb7 12. g3 $1 Qb6 ({
ASH : Whites move order may seem peverse, in that it invites} 12… c5 {
Answered by} 13. d5 {However, Black should look again at 12…c5, and after 13.
d5 probably 13…Ne5.}) 13. Bg2 O-O-O 14. O-O Ne5 {ASH : Botvinnik’s move in
the fifth game of the 1954 World Championship match against Smyslov, who
declined to put the idea to the test,} (14… c5 {is still possible.}) 15. dxe5
$1 ({ASH : Smyslov replied} 15. Qe2 {with a minimal advantage. Presumably
Botvinnik had taken into account white’s queen sacrifice, but it still seems
very strong.} Qxd4 16. Be3 Qd3 17. Rfd1 Qxe2 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Nxe2 Nd3 20. b3
Kc7 21. bxc4 bxc4 22. Bxa7 c5 23. Rb1 Bxg2 24. Bb8+ Kc6 25. Kxg2 Bh6 26. f4 e5
27. a4 exf4 28. gxf4 c3 29. Nxc3 Bxf4 30. Bxf4 Nxf4+ 31. Kg3 Nh5+ 32. Kg4 Nxf6+
33. Kg5 Nd5 34. Nxd5 Kxd5 35. h4 f6+ 36. Kg4 c4 37. a5 c3 38. a6 Ra8 39. Kf5
Rxa6 40. h5 Ra2 41. Kxf6 {Smyslov – Botvinnink, 1954.}) 15… Rxd1 {[#]} 16.
Rfxd1 {MegaBase 2020 has moved the wrong rook to d1 but the position
transposes. Attempting to hack the pgn breaks many of the sub-variations as
there would be positions where either rook may move to e1 but the notation
says merely Re1. Ho hum!} ({The actual game move order was} 16. Raxd1 Bc5 17.
Ne4 Bd4 18. Nd6+ Kc7 19. Bf4 Rf8 20. Bh6 Rh8 21. Bg7 Rd8 22. Nxf7 Bxf2+ 23. Kh1
Rxd1 24. Rxd1 {transposes.}) 16… Bc5 (16… c5 17. Bf4 (17. Ne4 Bd5 18. h4 (
18. Bf4 Qb7 19. Rxd5 exd5 20. Nc3 Bh6 21. Bxh6 Rxh6 22. Rd1 b4 23. Nxd5 Qa6 24.
Ne7+ Kc7 25. h4 Rh8 26. Rd6 Qa5 27. Nd5+ Kb8 28. Rd7 b3 29. axb3 Qe1+ 30. Bf1
Rg8 31. Rxf7 Rxg3+ 32. fxg3 Qxg3+ 33. Bg2 Qe1+ 34. Bf1 Qg3+ 35. Kh1 Qxh4+ 36.
Kg2 {1/2-1/2 Eldridge,M-Van Damme,L/corr ICCF 2009/}) 18… Qc6 19. Re1 Kb8 20.
f3 a5 21. Kf2 a4 22. Nc3 Qa6 23. Nxd5 exd5 24. e6 fxe6 25. Bh3 a3 26. Rab1 Qa4
27. Re2 e5 28. bxa3 Kc7 29. Rbe1 Bd6 30. f7 Rf8 31. Be6 d4 32. Bh6 d3 33. Bxf8
Bxf8 34. Rd2 c3 35. Rxd3 Qc2+ 36. Ke3 c4 37. Rd7+ Kb6 38. Red1 Bc5+ {0-1
Rutkowski,P-Konieczny,A/corr ICCF 2009/}) (17. Bxb7+ Qxb7 18. Rd2 (18. Re1 a5
19. Ne4 a4 20. Bf4 Qa8 21. a3 Kc7 22. Rac1 Qc6 23. Rc2 Qa8 24. f3 Bh6 25. Bxh6
Rxh6 26. Rd1 Rh5 27. Rdd2 Rxe5 28. h4 Rxe4 29. fxe4 Qxe4 30. Re2 Qg4 31. Kh2 b4
32. Rcd2 c3 33. bxc3 b3 34. Kg2 Qf5 35. Re1 Qxf6 {0-1 Hassim,U-Kireev,S/corr
IECG 2009/}) 18… b4 19. Rad1 Qc6 20. Rd8+ Kc7 21. Ne2 Qa4 22. Be3 Bh6 23.
R1d7+ Qxd7 24. Rxd7+ Kxd7 25. f4 Kc6 26. Kg2 a5 27. h4 Bf8 28. Kf3 Kd5 29. Bc1
c3 30. bxc3 c4 31. Ng1 b3 32. a4 Kc6 33. Bb2 Bc5 34. Ne2 Rd8 35. Nd4+ Bxd4 36.
cxd4 Kd5 37. Ke3 Rg8 38. Kf3 c3 39. Bxc3 Rc8 40. Bb2 Rc2 41. Ba3 Ra2 42. Bc1
Rxa4 43. Ke3 Ra2 44. Kd3 b2 45. Bxb2 Rxb2 46. f5 a4 47. fxe6 Kxe6 {0-1 Epiney,
F-Zielinski,S/corr IECG 2003/}) 17… b4 (17… Bc6 18. Rd2 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 a6
20. Rad1 Qc7 21. Ne4 a5 22. f3 a4 23. h4 a3 24. bxa3 Rh5 25. Kh3 Rh8 26. g4 Qa5
27. Rd7 c3 28. Rxf7 c2 29. Rc1 Qxa3 30. Kg3 c4 31. g5 Qd3 32. Rxf8+ Rxf8 33. g6
{1-0 Ingersol,H-Almeida,R/corr IECG 2009/}) 18. Ne4 Bd5 (18… Qb5 19. Rac1
Bxe4 20. Bxe4 Qa4 21. Rd2 c3 22. bxc3 bxc3 23. Re2 c4 24. Kg2 Qa5 25. h4 Ba3
26. Rh1 Bf8 27. g4 Qd8 28. h5 Qd4 29. g5 Rg8 30. Kf3 Rh8 31. Kg4 {1-0 Lehnhoff,
H-Djoudi,A/corr IECG 2006/}) 19. Rxd5 exd5 20. Ng5 Bh6 21. Nxf7 Bxf4 22. gxf4
Rf8 23. Bxd5 c3 24. Nd6+ (24. bxc3 bxc3 25. Nd6+ Kc7 26. Rc1 c2 27. Bb3 Rg8+
28. Kf1 Rg4 29. Rxc2 Qc6 30. Be6 Rxf4 31. Kg1 Qf3 32. Rxc5+ Kb6 33. Rb5+ Kc6
34. Bd5+ Qxd5 35. Rxd5 Kxd5 36. Nc8 Kxe5 37. Nxa7 Rxf6 {1/2-1/2 Schrancz,
I-Kireev,S/corr IECG 2009/}) 24… Kd8 25. Nc4 Qb5 26. bxc3 bxc3 27. Ne3 Qb4
28. Bb3 Qxf4 29. Rd1+ Kc8 30. Rd5 Kb8 31. Rxc5 Qg5+ 32. Kf1 Rxf6 33. exf6 Qxc5
34. f7 a5 35. Nd5 a4 36. Nb6 Kc7 37. Nxa4 c2 38. Bxc2 Qc4+ 39. Kg2 Qxf7 40. Bb3
Qg7+ 41. Kf3 Qd4 42. Kg3 Kd6 43. Kg2 Ke5 44. Kg3 Qe4 45. h3 Qf4+ 46. Kg2 Qd4
47. Kg3 Ke4 48. Bc2+ Kd5 49. Bb3+ Ke5 50. Kf3 Kf5 51. Kg3 Kg5 52. Kf3 Kh4 53.
Kg2 Qf6 54. Kf1 Kxh3 55. Ke2 Qd4 56. Be6+ Kg2 57. Bb3 Qe4+ 58. Kd2 Kxf2 59. Nb2
Qe2+ 60. Kc3 Qe5+ 61. Kc2 Ke2 62. Nc4 Qd4 63. a4 Qf4 64. Kc3 Qf6+ 65. Kc2 Qd4
66. Na3 Qd2+ 67. Kb1 Qc3 68. Ka2 Qf6 69. Nc4 Kd3 70. Nb2+ Kc3 {0-1 Skeels,
J-Kireev,S/corr IECG 2008/}) (16… b4 17. Ne4 c5 (17… Qa5 18. Bf4 Bc5 19.
Rac1 (19. h4 c3 20. bxc3 bxc3 21. Rac1 Bb4 22. Nd6+ Bxd6 23. Rxd6 Rd8 24. Rxd8+
Kxd8 25. h5 Qxa2 26. h6 Qe2 27. h7 Qh5 28. Be4 Ba6 29. Kg2 {1-0 Borisenko
Belovba,V-Matveeva,S/Tbilisi URS 1973/}) 19… c3 20. bxc3 bxc3 21. Rxc3 Bb4
22. Rb3 Rd8 23. Rdb1 c5 24. Nd6+ Rxd6 25. Bxb7+ Kxb7 26. exd6 Kc6 27. Rd1 Kd7
28. a3 Qa4 29. Rdb1 a5 30. axb4 c4 31. Rc3 Qa2 32. Rbc1 axb4 33. Rxc4 {1-0
Kolin,J-Menges,G/corr ICCF 2003/}) 18. a3 Bd5 (18… c3 19. bxc3 b3 20. c4 Qa6
21. Nd2 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Qb7+ 23. f3 a5 24. a4 Qb4 25. Rab1 b2 26. Ne4 Qxa4 27.
Rd2 Qxc4 28. Rdxb2 a4 29. Be3 a3 30. Rb8+ Kc7 31. R1b7+ Kc6 32. Rxf7 a2 33. Ra7
{1-0 Rensen,M-Schild,R/corr IECG 2009/}) 19. axb4 Qb7 20. Rxd5 exd5 21. Nc3
cxb4 22. Nxd5 Qd7 23. Be3 Kb8 24. Bf4 Qe6 25. Be3 Qd7 26. Ra5 c3 27. bxc3 b3
28. Bxa7+ Qxa7 29. Rxa7 Kxa7 30. Be4 b2 31. f4 Ba3 32. Kg2 Rc8 33. h4 Rc5 34.
Ne7 Rxc3 35. h5 Re3 36. Bf5 Re2+ 37. Kf3 Rh2 38. Kg4 Kb6 39. Kg5 Rh3 40. g4 Bc5
41. Be4 Kb5 42. h6 Bf2 43. Nf5 Kc4 44. h7 Kb3 45. Nh6 Re3 46. Bb1 Re1 47. h8=Q
Rxb1 48. Qb8+ Kc2 49. Qc7+ Kd2 50. Qa5+ Kc2 51. Qa4+ Kc3 52. Qc6+ Kd2 53. Qd5+
Kc1 54. Qh1+ Kc2 55. Qg2 {1-0 Illescas Cordoba,M-Morovic Fernandez,I/Spain ESP
1993/}) (16… Qc5 17. Bf4 b4 18. Ne4 Qa5 19. Rd4 c5 20. Rxc4 Bd5 21. Rcc1 Bxe4
22. Bxe4 Bh6 23. Bxh6 Rxh6 24. Rc4 Kc7 25. Rac1 Kb6 26. a3 bxa3 27. bxa3 Qxa3
28. Rb1+ Kc7 29. Rb5 Rh5 30. Rcxc5+ Kd7 31. Kg2 Qa1 32. Bc6+ Kd8 33. Rb8+ Kc7
34. Rb7+ Kd8 35. Bd7 {1-0 Budde,V-Hoffmann,H/BL GER 1982/}) (16… Bb4 17. Ne4
Rd8 18. h4 Rd3 19. h5 Qd8 20. Rxd3 cxd3 21. Rd1 Kc7 22. a3 Ba5 23. Nd6 Qg8 24.
Be3 Bb6 25. Bxb6+ Kxb6 26. Bf3 Qh7 27. b4 Ba8 28. g4 a5 29. Kg2 axb4 30. axb4
Bb7 31. Kg3 Ba6 32. Be4 Qg8 33. h6 c5 34. h7 Qf8 35. bxc5+ Kxc5 36. Nxf7 {
1-0 Mollov,E-Thierry,C/Orange FRA 1994/}) (16… Qa5 17. Ne4 Bb4 (17… c5 18.
Nd6+ Bxd6 19. Bxb7+ Kxb7 20. Rxd6 c3 21. bxc3 Qxc3 22. Rad1 Rc8 23. Rd7+ Rc7
24. Re7 Kc8 25. h4 b4 26. Rc1 Qb2 27. h5 Qe2 28. h6 Qh5 29. Be3 Rd7 30. Kg2 Rd3
31. Rxc5+ Kd8 32. Rb5 Kc8 33. Bxa7 Qf3+ 34. Kh2 Qh5+ 35. Kg2 Qf3+ {1/2-1/2
Loskamp,S-Behle,B/Porz GER 1995/}) 18. h4 Qc7 19. a3 Bf8 20. Nd6+ Bxd6 21. exd6
Qd7 22. a4 a6 23. Be3 Rh5 24. Bf3 Rf5 25. Bg4 Rd5 26. Bf4 Rxd1+ 27. Rxd1 c5 28.
axb5 axb5 29. h5 b4 30. h6 Be4 31. Ra1 c3 32. bxc3 bxc3 33. f3 Bh7 34. Ra5 c2
35. Rxc5+ Kd8 36. Rc7 Qa4 37. Bxe6 Qa1+ 38. Kf2 Qd4+ 39. Kg2 c1=Q 40. Bxc1 fxe6
41. Rxh7 Qxd6 42. Ra7 Qc5 43. h7 Qxa7 44. h8=Q+ {1-0 Poletov,V-Kuznezov,A/Tula
RUS 2006/}) 17. Ne4 $1 Bd4 (17… Rd8 $2 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Rd1+ Kc7 20. h4 $16
Bd4 21. h5 c5 22. h6 Bxe4 23. Bxe4 Bxe5 24. h7 Qb8 25. Kg2 Qh8 26. Rh1 Kb6 27.
Rd1 Kc7 28. Bf4 Bxf4 29. gxf4 Qxf6 30. Rh1 Qh8 31. f5 exf5 32. Bxf5 Kd6 33. Rh5
f6 34. f4 Qe8 35. Bg4 Qh8 36. Kf1 b4 37. Bf5 Kd5 38. Rh3 Kd4 39. Rg3 Qa8 40.
Rh3 Qh8 41. Kf2 a5 42. Rh1 c3 43. Rd1+ Kc4 44. b3+ Kb5 45. Rd6 c4 46. Rd5+ Kc6
47. bxc4 a4 48. Be4 Kc7 49. Rc5+ Kd6 50. Rc6+ Ke7 51. Bf5 Qd8 52. Kg3 b3 53.
axb3 axb3 54. Rc8 Qxc8 55. Bxc8 c2 56. h8=Q c1=Q 57. Qg7+ Kd6 58. c5+ Kd5 59.
Qb7+ Kd4 60. Qb4+ Kd5 61. Bb7+ Ke6 62. Qe4+ Kf7 63. Qh7+ Ke6 64. f5+ Ke5 65.
Qe7+ Kd4 66. Qxf6+ Kc4 67. Qe6+ Kb4 68. f6 Qg1+ 69. Bg2 b2 70. Qe4+ Kc3 71. f7
b1=Q 72. Qxb1 Qxb1 73. f8=Q Qe1+ 74. Kh2 Qe5+ 75. Kg1 Qe1+ 76. Qf1 Qe3+ 77. Qf2
Qc1+ 78. Bf1 Qg5+ 79. Kh2 Qh5+ 80. Kg2 Qd5+ 81. Qf3+ Kd4 82. c6 Qg5+ 83. Kh3
Qh6+ 84. Kg3 Kc5 85. Bg2 Qg5+ 86. Qg4 Qe5+ 87. Kh4 Qe1+ 88. Qg3 Qb4+ 89. Kh5
Qb2 90. Qg5+ Kd6 91. Qd5+ Ke7 92. Qd7+ Kf6 93. Qd6+ Kf5 94. Qg6+ {1-0 Alster,
L-Kupka,S/Prague CSR 1963/}) 18. Nd6+ $1 (18. Rd2 Rd8 19. Rad1 c5 20. Nd6+ Rxd6
21. Bxb7+ Qxb7 22. exd6 Qf3 23. Re1 e5 24. d7+ Kd8 25. h4 Qxg3+ 26. Kf1 Qh3+
27. Ke2 Bxb2 28. Rb1 Bc3 29. Rd6 Bd4 30. Be3 Qg4+ 31. Kf1 a6 32. Ra1 Qh3+ 33.
Kg1 Qf5 34. h5 Qxh5 {0-1 Tan Hiong Liong-Sydor,A/Warsaw POL 1959/}) (18. Be3
Bxe3 19. fxe3 Qxe3+ 20. Kh1 Kb8 21. Re1 Qd4 22. Nd6 Qf2 23. Nxf7 c5 24. Rg1 Rh5
25. Rad1 Qxg3 26. Rd8+ Kc7 {0-1 Vente,J-Officier,T/corr NED 1995/}) (18. Bf4
Bxb2 19. Nd6+ Kc7 20. Nxf7 Rf8 21. Ng5 Bc8 22. Rab1 Bd4 23. Ne4 a5 24. g4 Bd7
25. h4 b4 26. h5 c3 27. Rd3 a4 28. g5 c2 29. Rf1 b3 30. axb3 axb3 31. g6 b2 32.
g7 Ra8 33. f7 b1=Q 34. f8=Q Rxf8 35. gxf8=Q Q1b4 36. Qxb4 Qxb4 37. h6 {1-0
Moscoso,F-Brunet,R/corr IECG 1996/}) 18… Kc7 (18… Kb8 19. Nxf7 Rf8 20. Rxd4
$6 (20. Nh6 $2 Bxf2+ 21. Kf1 Bd4 $19) (20. Nd6 $1 Bxf2+ 21. Kh1 Be3 22. Bh4 $16
) 20… Qxd4 21. Nd6 $8 Qxb2 22. Re1 Qc3 23. Rb1 Qxe5 24. Bf4 Qe2 25. Nxb5+ e5
26. Nd6 Ka8 27. Be3 c3 $17 {Myers}) 19. Bf4 (19. Nxf7 $1 Rf8 20. Nd6 Bxe5 21.
Be3 Qa6 22. Ne4 Bc8 23. Bc5 Rxf6 24. Nxf6 Bxf6 25. Bd4 Bxd4 26. Rxd4 c5 27.
Rdd1 Bb7 28. Bxb7 Qxb7 29. Re1 Kd6 30. Rad1+ Ke7 31. Re3 a5 32. Rde1 a4 33.
Rxe6+ Kf7 34. R6e5 Qd7 35. h4 b4 36. Rxc5 Qd2 37. Re3 c3 38. bxc3 b3 39. axb3
Qc1+ 40. Kg2 axb3 {1-0 Vilela,J-Frey Beckman,K/Havana CUB 1985/}) 19… Rf8 (
19… Bxf2+ $1 20. Kh1 Be3 21. Nxf7 Rg8 22. a4 $1 Bxf4 23. gxf4 Qf2 $132 {Myers
}) 20. Bh6 $1 Rh8 {[#]} 21. Bg7 $2 (21. Nxf7 $142 Bxf2+ 22. Kh1 Rh7 23. Nd8
Rxh6 24. Nxe6+ Kc8 25. Rd8+ Qxd8 26. Nxd8 Kxd8 27. Rf1 $16 {[%cal Gf6f7] Myers}
) 21… Rd8 $4 (21… Bxf2+ $1 22. Kh1 Rh7 23. Rd2 (23. Nxf7 $2 Rxh2+ $1 24.
Kxh2 Qe3 $19 {[%cal Re3g3]}) 23… Qe3 {[%cal Ye3g3]} 24. Rxf2 Qxf2 25. Nxf7
Qxg3 26. Bh6 Qh4 $19 {Myers}) 22. Nxf7 $1 Bxf2+ (22… Rd7 23. Ng5 Kb8 (23…
Bxe5 24. Rxd7+ Kxd7 25. Rd1+ $18) 24. Bf8 Bc8 25. f7 Bxf2+ 26. Kh1 Rxf7 27.
Nxf7 Bd4 28. Bd6+ Kb7 29. a4 $18 {Myers}) 23. Kh1 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Qe3 (24… c5
$2 25. Nd6 Bxg2+ 26. Kxg2 Bd4 27. f7 Qc6+ 28. Kh3 Qf3 29. Rxd4 cxd4 30. f8=Q
$18 {Myers}) 25. Nd6 Qe2 {[#]} 26. Ra1 $3 (26. Rf1 $2 Ba8 $1 27. Ne4 (27. f7
$140 c5 28. f8=Q Qxf1#) 27… c5 $1 28. Rxf2 Qe1+ 29. Rf1 Qe2 30. Kg1 Bxe4 31.
Bxe4 Qe3+ $1 $11) (26. Rb1 $6 Qh5 27. f7 (27. g4 $2 Qh7 28. Rf1 $8 Bg3 $8 29.
h3 Bxe5 30. f7 c5 $11) 27… Bxg3 28. h3 c5 $1 29. Nxb7 Qxf7 30. Nd6 Qg6 31.
Rf1 $18) 26… Qh5 (26… Qxb2 27. Rf1 c3 28. f7 c2 29. Bh6 $18) 27. g4 $1 (27.
f7 $2 Bxg3 28. h3 c5 29. Nxb7 Qxf7 {Speelman} 30. Nd6 Qg6 31. Bf6 Qc2 32. Nxb5+
Kd7 33. Nxa7 Bf2 34. Nc6 Be3 35. h4 $1 $18 {Myers}) 27… Qh7 28. f7 Bg3 29. h3
c5 30. Nxb7 Qxg7 31. Rf1 Qf8 32. Nxc5 $1 1-0
[/pgn]

Also, I had a win with the Black pieces against the Russian Kopylov. The result was a score of 9/12 (+8=2-2), which sufficed for the grandmaster title and first place half a point ahead of the Finn Kauranen.

Since then I have played quite well on second board behind Keith Richardson in the Eighth Olympiad Final (+5=7-0), and very badly indeed (scoring just about 50% in the Heilimo Memorial Tournament organised from Finland (I was much impressed by the strength of the Finnish players, most of whom I had not encountered before). Having twice narrowly failed, I would still like to qualify for the Final of the Individual World Championship. Of course life becomes increasingly busy, but the examples of Hugh Alexander and Graham Mitchell encourage me to believe that one can continue to play well at postal chess longer than over-the-board. So perhaps around the year 2000, when the children are grown up….”

[pgn]
[Event “olm7 fin B1 corr”]
[Site “ICCF corr”]
[Date “1972.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Black “Florian, Tibor”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D76”]
[Annotator “Averbakh/Hollis/Howell & BCN”]
[PlyCount “121”]
[EventDate “1972.??.??”]
[EventType “team (corr)”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[SourceTitle “Corr 2002”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2002.05.23”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2002.05.23”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,121,18,26,36,-22,54,32,37,19,27,28,30,3,26,19,17,42,20,13,27,31,31,31,
19,24,27,11,47,61,50,85,90,77,66,63,67,54,73,53,40,43,55,36,46,65,45,46,49,49,
48,54,48,69,83,93,102,102,103,112,98,89,114,100,99,91,98,98,94,79,79,82,90,87,
91,85,91,82,78,76,96,101,96,75,100,91,92,103,118,118,118,118,118,118,121,139,
179,182,206,240,191,212,205,205,205,192,192,192,192,183,192,104,155,96,96,96,
100,527,537,28911,29983,29984,29985,29986]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3
d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 O-O ({ASH : It is rather more challenging for Black to
postpone castling, and to organise an immediate attack on White’s d-pawn with}
6… Nb6 7. Nc3 Nc6) 7. O-O Nb6 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. d5 Na5 ({ASH : I have never yet
found an opponent to accept the pawn with} 9… Bxc3 $6 {too risky to accept P}
10. dxc6 Bg7 11. Qc2 bxc6 12. Rd1 Bf5 13. Qb3 Qe8 14. Nd4 Bd7 15. Qc2 {BCN :
is a typical line.}) 10. Bf4 c6 11. dxc6 {ASH : Such are the subtleties of
transposition that, although occasionally played before, this line does not
appear in the Grunfeld books of Hartston or Richardson and Boyd.} Nxc6 ({
ASH : In Olympiad VIII Finals (1977) Dr. S. Aarseth (Norway) played against me
} 11… Qxd1 12. Rfxd1 Nxc6 13. Nd2 $1 Bf5 (13… Be6 {Hollis}) 14. Rac1 Rac8
15. Nde4 Nc4 16. b3 Na3 $6 (16… N4e5 {wastes two tempi}) 17. Nd5 Rfe8 (17…
Kh8 18. Nxe7 $1 Nxe7 19. Bd6) 18. Bg5 Kf8 (18… f6 $5 {although Hollis says
it “hardly appeals”}) 19. Nxe7 Nxe7 20. Nd6 b6 (20… Rxc1 21. Bxc1 {xNa3}) 21.
Nxc8 Bxc8 22. Bxe7+ Kxe7 23. Rc7+ Kf6 24. Bc6 Rf8 25. Rxa7 Nc2 26. Be4 $18 {
Hollis-Aarseth, corr-CCOL8 fin 1975-77}) 12. Qc1 e5 13. Be3 {13 Rd1 was theory
but why drive Black Q where she wants to go?} Nd4 {An outpost which cannot be
maintained.} 14. Rd1 Be6 15. Nxd4 exd4 16. Bxd4 Bxd4 17. e3 Bxe3 18. Qxe3 $14 {
[#] ASH : So White emerges with a small but clear advantage (better placed
pieces, pressure on the b-pawn and on the Black squares).} Qe7 19. Ne4 Bd5 20.
Qc5 Qxc5 21. Nxc5 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Rac8 $6 {ASH : A difficult decision. Black
surrenders a pawn for some counterplay.} ({ASH : He might have had better
chances of a draw with the passive} 22… Rab8 {better drawing chance despite}
23. Nd7 Nxd7 24. Rxd7 {not sufficient to win}) 23. Nxb7 Rc2 24. b4 Re8 25. Rd8
Rxd8 26. Nxd8 Na4 27. a3 Rc3 28. Re1 Kf8 29. Re5 Rc7 30. h4 h6 31. Ra5 Nc3 32.
Ra6 {threat Nc6 forces play} Rd7 33. Nc6 Rd6 34. a4 Nxa4 35. Rxa4 Rxc6 36. Rxa7
Rc3 37. b5 Rb3 {See page 80 in Essential Chess Endings by Howell.} 38. Rb7 Kg7
39. b6 h5 {This move produces a model endgame as analysed by Hollis etc. [#]
cf ending in Portisch-Petrosian [INF 17-0568] after Portisch’s 47th move.
White plan is to play K to d-file, Black captures f-pawn but then K goes to
c-file and R cannot return behind passed P (only works with b-pawn)} ({Hollis
suspected Black should have played} 39… g5 $5 {not fearing h4-h5}) 40. Kf1 {
The general case of a draw is threatened but not overturned. Averbakh
“Comprehensive Chess Endings” vol 5 (Pergamon ed) analyses both the Hollis and
Portisch endgames (see pp291-292)} Rb2 41. Ke1 Kf6 {As White threatens to
support the advance of his passed P with his K, it is very important for Black
to seek counterplay on the other wing – Averbakh} 42. f3 Rb3 43. Kd2 Rxf3 44.
Kc2 {ASH : The idea is realized.} Rf5 $2 (44… Ke6 $2 45. Rc7 $1 (45. Re7+ $6
Kxe7 46. b7 Rf5 47. b8=Q {hard to see how White can win}) 45… Rf5 {see game})
(44… Rxg3 $6 45. Rc7 $1 {Howell wrongly attributes this move to Hollis but I
don’t find it in Hollis’ notes. Averbakh claims as his?} (45. Rxf7+ Kxf7 46. b7
{Hollis said this may win as Pg6 weak but Averbakh gives:} Rg2+ $1 47. Kc3 Rg3+
48. Kc4 Rg4+ 49. Kc5 Rf4 $1 50. b8=Q Rf5+ 51. Kd6 Kg7 $1 {“Black creates an
impregnable fortress” – Averbakh}) 45… Rg2+ $140 46. Kb3 Rg1 47. Kb2 Rg2+ 48.
Rc2 $1 Rg4 49. Rc3 Rxh4 50. Ka3 Re4 51. b7 Re8 52. Rc8 Re3+ 53. Kb2 Re2+ 54.
Kc3 Re3+ 55. Kc2 Re2+ 56. Kd3 Rb2 57. b8=Q Rxb8 58. Rxb8 Kf5 59. Rf8 f6 60. Ke3
g5 61. Kf3 $18 {Averbakh}) (44… Re3 $3 {is the right plan:} 45. Rc7 Re8 46.
b7 Rb8 {Hollis thought White could now win:} 47. Kd3 Kf5 $1 48. Rxf7+ Kg4 49.
Rf4+ $1 Kxg3 50. Rb4 {[#]} g5 $1 {The saving move not considered in Hollis
article, but later discovered by Russian analysts. Black creates a
countervailing passed pawn.} (50… Kh3 $2 51. Ke2 $1 Kg3 (51… Kg2 52. Rb3) (
51… Re8+ 52. Kf2 Rf8+ 53. Ke3 Rb8 54. Kf3 {as in main line}) 52. Ke3 Kh3 53.
Kf3 Rf8+ 54. Ke4 Rb8 55. Ke5 $18) 51. hxg5 h4 52. g6 (52. Ke2 h3 53. Kf1 h2 54.
Rb3+ Kf4 55. Kg2 Kxg5 $11) 52… h3 53. g7 h2 54. Rb1 Kg2 $11 {Averbakh}) 45.
Rc7 Rb5 46. b7 {“The outwardly active position of Black R prevents his K from
approaching the pawns” – Averbakh} Ke6 (46… Kf5 {according to Fine’s recipe
(idea 47 Rxf7+? Kg4) but..} 47. Kc3 $1 {threat 48 Rxf7+ Kg4 49 Rf4+ and 50 Rb4;
prevents …Kg4 by same idea} f6 $140 (47… Kg4 48. Rc4+ $1 Kxg3 49. Rb4 Rxb7
50. Rxb7 Kxh4 (50… f5 51. Rg7) 51. Rxf7 Kg3 52. Kd2 g5 53. Ke1 $18) 48. Kc4
Rb1 49. Rc5+ Kg4 50. Rb5) 47. Kc3 f6 48. Kc4 Rb1 49. Kc5 Kf5 50. Rd7 $1 $18 {
prevents Kg4 and threatens Rd5+ followed by either Rd6+ or Rd4+ and then
inserting R on b-file} Rc1+ 51. Kd6 Rb1 52. Kc7 Rc1+ 53. Kd8 Rb1 54. Kc8 Kg4
55. Rd6 g5 56. Rxf6 gxh4 57. gxh4 Kxh4 58. Rg6 $1 Kh3 59. Kc7 {According to
Howell, Black resigned here but Hollis gives further moves, see e.g. ‘British
Chess’ pp105-107} Rxb7+ 60. Kxb7 h4 61. Kc6 {ASH : It would be extremely rash
to claim this ending as a theoretical win. The outcome nearly always depends
on a single tempo, and may be swayed by secondary factors (e.g. it proved
vital in the above for White’s rook to be on the seventh rather than the
eighth). But at least this game can be added to the example for future
research. Perhaps this is the kind of problem that one day computers might be
able to solve.} 1-0
[/pgn]

From British Chess Magazine, Volume CXXXIII (133, 2013), Number 4 (April), pp.194-5 we have this obituary written by James Pratt :

Adrian Swayne Hollis (2 viii 1940 Bristol – 26 ii 2013 Wells), British Master and Correspondence Grandmaster (1976), three times British Correspondence Champion, has died. He played most of his OTB chess as a young man, finishing seventh equal at the British Aberystwyth, 1961, when he beat, amongst others, A.R.B. Thomas and former champion, Alan Phillips. He gave future champion, Jonathan Penrose, a tough fight in the last round before conceding the half-point. He played in the Hastings Premier, 1962/3 and emerged with a plus score in the Anglo-Dutch matches. He was an occasional reviewer for BCM.

It was, of course, in the realm of postal player that he shone most brightly!

In 1966 we see him playing board two for England, below Slade Milan, and, two years later, Adrian scored 9/12 in a World Postal Qualifier, narrowly missing a place in the final. In 1971 he won the British Correspondence Championship, easily outdistancing a tough field. He played top board for England in the 1972-7 Olympiad. In 1974-6 he won the Reg Potter Memorial. In the ninth Olympiad – 1982-5 – Adrian Hollis was undefeated on board two. And England took the Gold Medal!

[pgn]
[Event “Alekhine mem-A corr9196”]
[Site “corr”]
[Date “1991.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Gipslis, Aivars P”]
[Black “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B81”]
[Annotator “Hawkes”]
[PlyCount “64”]
[EventDate “1991.??.??”]
[EventType “tourn (corr)”]
[EventRounds “12”]
[SourceTitle “Corr Nr. 1”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1997.09.01”]
[SourceVersion “2”]
[SourceVersionDate “2000.04.19”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,64,32,37,46,50,80,80,71,47,43,38,82,21,81,78,77,54,60,63,69,68,77,41,
27,22,70,6,6,3,12,33,18,-2,3,-47,-62,-45,-59,-59,-70,-53,-53,-108,-27,-27,-1,
-116,-143,-148,-88,-204,-180,-252,-271,-247,-199,-231,-468,-531,-562,-531,-638,
-660,-627,-704,-510]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g4
a6 (6… Nc6 7. g5 Nd7 8. Be3 Nde5 9. Be2 a6 10. f4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Nc6 12. Qd2
b5 13. Bf3 Qa5 14. O-O Be7 15. Qf2 Rb8 16. Ne2 O-O 17. Bg2 Re8 18. c3 Bd7 19.
Rfd1 Qd8 20. Rd2 Bf8 21. Rad1 $14 {Haag-Penrose, 9 Olympiad}) (6… Be7 7. g5
Nfd7 8. Be3 Nc6 9. Rg1 Nb6 10. Qd2 O-O 11. f4 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 e5 13. Be3 d5 14.
fxe5 Bb4 15. O-O-O Be6 16. Rg3 Na4 17. Bd4 Bxc3 18. Bxc3 Nxc3 19. Rxc3 dxe4 20.
Qf4 Qb6 21. Qxe4 Rac8 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Kb1 g6 24. Bd3 $6 Rd8 $1 {0-1 (43)
Palciauskas-Bang, Axelson mem.}) 7. g5 Nfd7 8. Bg2 (8. Be3 b5 9. a3 Bb7 10. h4
Be7 11. Qd2 Nc6 12. f4 h6 13. Bg2 hxg5 14. hxg5 Rxh1+ 15. Bxh1 Nxd4 16. Qxd4 e5
17. Qd2 exf4 18. Bxf4 Ne5 19. O-O-O Nc4 20. Qg2 Qa5 21. Nd5 b4 $1 {1/2-1/2 (44)
Franzen-Hollis, 10 Olympiad bd.2}) (8. h4 b5 9. a3 Nb6 10. Be3 N8d7 11. h5 Bb7
12. Rh3 $1 Ne5 13. g6 Nbc4 $2 14. Bxc4 Nxc4 15. gxf7+ Kxf7 16. Qg4 Qe7 $2 (
16… Qd7) 17. Bg5 Qd7 18. Nd5 $1 Ra7 19. Rf3+ Ke8 20. Nc7+ $1 {1-0
Kauranen-Estrin, 10 world ch. final}) 8… b5 (8… Nc6 9. f4 h6 10. h4 hxg5
11. hxg5 Rxh1+ 12. Bxh1 Qb6 13. Nf3 g6 14. Qd2 Qc7 15. b3 b5 16. Bb2 Bb7 17.
O-O-O O-O-O 18. Nh2 Nb6 19. Ng4 d5 20. e5 d4 21. Ne4 Nd5 22. Qf2 Qa5 23. Nd6+
Bxd6 24. Bxd5 Bc5 $1 {1/2-1/2 Khasin-Walter, 8 world ch. final}) 9. f4 b4 10.
Nce2 Bb7 11. h4 Nc5 12. Ng3 g6 13. b3 Bg7 14. Bb2 O-O 15. Qd2 Qb6 16. O-O-O a5
17. Nde2 Bxb2+ 18. Kxb2 a4 19. Nc1 axb3 20. cxb3 Nc6 21. h5 Qa5 22. Kb1 {[#]}
Na7 $1 23. Qb2 Nb5 24. Ka1 Nc3 25. Rd2 Ra7 26. Rh2 Rfa8 27. Bf3 Qc7 28. Rc2
Nxa2 29. Nxa2 Rxa2+ 30. Qxa2 Rxa2+ 31. Kxa2 Qa5+ 32. Kb1 Qa3 {Hawkes} (32…
Nxb3 $4 33. Ra2 Qc5 34. Rhc2 Qg1+ 35. Kb2 Qxg3 $4 36. Ra8+ $1 Bxa8 37. Rc8+ Kg7
38. h6# {(Hollis)}) 0-1
[/pgn]

Obituary from Raymond Keene in The Specatator

Obituary from Kenneth Shelton in The Independent

Obituary from ? in The Times

Obituary from John Rhodes in The Chess Improver

Obituary from Bob Jones of Keverel Chess.

Wikipedia article.

BCN remembers CGM Adrian Hollis who passed away in Wells, Somerset on Tuesday, February 26th 2013  at the age of seventy-two.

Adrian Swayne Hollis was born in Bristol, Avon on Friday, August 2nd 1940. During this critical period the Luftwaffe was wisely extending its Battle of Britain targets to include Britain’s airfields. Furthermore, Bristol was bombed heavily between June 1940 and May 1944. The longest period of regular bombing, known as the ‘Bristol Blitz’ began in autumn 1940 and ended the following spring. The first bombs of the Bristol Blitz fell at around 6 pm on Sunday 24 November 1940.

Adrian was the only child of MI5 director general Roger Henry Hollis KB CBE (later to become Sir Roger Hollis) and Evelyn Esme Hollis (née Swayne) who was Roger’s first wife. Roger was from Wells and Evelyn from Burnham-on-Sea and they were married on July 17th 1937 in Wells Cathedral with Evelyn’s father performing the ceremony.

Adrian won a scholarship in classics to Eton College and then went up to Keble College, Oxford where he took a first in mods and greats. Whilst at Keble Adrian represented Oxford in four varsity matches between 1959 and 1962. Indeed, his support for varsity matches was maintained for many years attending a large number into and beyond the Lloyds Bank era. Stalwart organiser Henry Mutkin would always be sure to extend an invitation.

In 1961 Adrian become the youngest ever West of England Champion at the age of 21.

Adrian met Margaret Mair Cameron Edwards in 1967 at St. Andrew’s University where he taught Classics and she taught German. They married and had two daughters, Jennifer (b. 1974) and Veronica (b. 1977) and a son.

He was the Games Editor for the British Correspondence Chess Association (BCCA) resigning in 1969.

In 1984 Adrian was forced to endure allegations against his father by Chapman Pincher (in CPs book Too Secret too Long) that Sir Roger had been a Soviet spy / mole. These allegations were demonstrated to be false. He may well also have been aware of allegations against his friend and chess mentor Graham Mitchell earlier in 1963. Ironically, it was Adrian’s father who initiated the investigation into Graham. Again, the rumours were shown to be unfounded.

Adrian became a director of the company Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Limited on the September 1st 1996 and resigned on May 12th 2007. He was also a Vice President of the West of England Chess Union (WECU).

Between 2003 and 2007 (according to the Electoral Roll) Adrian lived at 63, Bainton Road, Oxford, OX2 7AG :

and following his retirement (and the time of the 2008 electoral roll) Adrian had moved to Pound House, Southover, Wells, BA5 1UH :

Adrian has written many learned papers and has had two books published :

and

During his time at Keble College, Adrian engaged with and mentored many chess players including Jonathan Rowson (1996), David Norwood (1988), Julian Way, David Goodman (1977) and Dharshan Kumaran (1993).

Julian was a personal student of Adrian’s and was kind enough to tell us :

I do remember Adrian well. He could quote Latin verse ad infinitum. He was an expert on Ovid.
In terms of chess he had a huge pile of Informators in his study still in their cardboard packaging. He was very kind to me and insisted I play above him for Keble in the intercollegiate matches.

I gave him a copy of Developments in the Orthodox QGD which I had written in 1987. He was quite taken back when I didn’t want any money for it. He seemed to have quite a lot of respect for me.

I once asked him why he had given me a place at Oxford. He replied that he couldn’t have rejected someone with my passion and enthusiasm.
I kept in touch with Adrian until his passing. He gave me a lovely reference when I resumed my studies in 2007 at Kingston University.
I remember him as a kind and unassuming man. He became a lifelong friend.

From British Chess (Pergamon Press, 1983) Botterill, Levy, Rice and Richardson :

“I was born on August 2nd, 1940, educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford and now teach Classics at Keble College, Oxford. I learned the moves at the advanced age of thirteen from a cousin who himself could have made a good chess player had he not been seduced by Philosophy and brain-teasers; all that remains in the mind from these encounters is a vision of perpetually losing my rooks to fianchettoed bishops.

My first ever tournament was the London Boys’ Championship 1956-7. In the opening round fate allotted me Black against David Rumens. As it happened, the brochure included a game of his from the previous year in which he had answered 1.d4 with 1…Nc6, quite enough, in my opinion, to condemn his utterly.

[fen]r1bqkbnr/pppppppp/2n5/8/3P4/8/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq – 0 1[/fen]

(Ed: The above position did not impress Adrian hugely.)

This view seemed confirmed when within twelve moves of an advance French I was two pawns up. Then, however, aided by my over confidence he worked up a fierce attack, and I just escaped with a draw. Nevertheless, I won the tournament; an opponent remarked how quickly I played my moves.

Thereafter the game was never so easy, but I did reasonably, well, winning the championships of the British Universities, West of England and East of Scotland, and playing for England quite regularly during the 1960s (including 7.5/12 in six Anglo-Dutch matches).

The high spot of my over-the-board chess was the series of World Student team championships from 1960 to 1964 in glamorous places (Leningrad, Helsinki, Mariánské Lázně, Budva and Cracow); most enjoyable of these being Budva, 1963 where one could bathe every day in the Adriatic and I won the (?) gold medal on Board 1 with 7.5/9., the year after Spassky (this must look good in the records, unless they happen to reveal that for the first time in preliminary and final sections, and that England did not qualify for the top final).

[pgn]
[Event “Paignton”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1966.09.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Black “Beach, Richard A”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “E63”]
[Annotator “BCN”]
[PlyCount “35”]
[SourceTitle “BCM, 1966, page 289, game”]

{[%evp 0,25,61,14,28,-9,54,37,37,18,25,20,27,19,18,29,45,2,38,27,5,20,14,3,7,
-4,24,-17]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3
a6 8. b3 Rb8 9. Bb2 b5 10. cxb5 axb5 11. d5 Na5 12. Nd4 b4 13. Nb1 $11 {[#]} (
13. Na4 e5 14. Nc2 Bd7 15. Ne3 Bh6 16. Bc1 Bxa4 17. bxa4 b3 18. Bd2) 13… e6 (
13… e5) 14. a3 bxa3 15. Rxa3 c5 $2 ({Correct was} 15… e5 16. Rxa5 exd4 17.
Ra3 $16) 16. dxc6 {[#]} {Black punted} Nc4 $2 {but had missed} 17. Qc1 $1 $18 (
{Black was hoping for} 17. bxc4 Rxb2 18. Nc3 $18) 17… Bh6 18. Qxc4 $1 {
and Black resigned} 1-0
[/pgn]

My best chess was probably played at Mariánské Lázně, 1962, where in successive rounds I had favourable draws with Radulov and Hort, coming close to beating the latter. Ironically, I was awarded the British Master title after I had virtually retired from over-the-board chess.

[pgn]
[Event “Paignton”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1966.09.??”]
[Round “3”]
[White “Hartston, William Roland”]
[Black “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “A05”]
[Annotator “Hollis, Keene & BCN”]
[PlyCount “80”]
[SourceTitle “The Spectator, 20th April”]

{[%evp 0,18,19,-22,0,-31,-9,-5,9,-19,-25,-22,-34,-17,-10,5,21,21,31,5,13]} {
This game appeared in The Spectator, April 20th, 2013 as part of an obituary
from Ray Keene. The original source was British Chess Magazine, 1966, page 302,
game #14,225.} 1. g3 Nf6 2. Bg2 d5 3. Nf3 g6 4. b4 {ASH : This set-up, in fact
a primitive form of the Reti, has been patronised recently by Smyslov, among
others. RDK : This set-up, a form of the Reti, has been championed by,
amongst others, Vassily Smyslov.} Bg7 5. Bb2 O-O 6. O-O a5 ({BCN : Nowadays}
6… c6 7. d3 a5 8. a3 axb4 9. axb4 Rxa1 10. Bxa1 Qb6 11. c3 Nbd7 12. Nbd2 e5
13. e4 Re8 {is the modern (2020) continuation.}) 7. b5 ({ASH :} 7. a3 {, or}) (
{even} 7. c3 {came into consideration here.}) 7… c5 $146 {BCN : This was the
first game to feature this position.} 8. d3 (8. bxc6 {ASH: was quite possible.}
) 8… b6 $146 {BCN : This is the only recorded game with this move.} 9. c4 e6
{ASH : Black decides to maintain a pawn centre, without worrying if the pawns
should hang. RDK : Black decides to create a pawn centre without worrying if
the pawns will end up hanging.} 10. Qc2 Bb7 11. Nbd2 Nbd7 {[#]} 12. e3 {
RDK : White has to prevent … d4 and … e5.} Qc7 13. Rad1 ({ASH : Harston
later preferred RDK: Hartston later preferred} 13. Rac1 Rad8) 13… Rad8 14.
Qb1 e5 {ASH : Somewhat risky, but the only way to progress. RDK : Somewhat
risky, but the only way to make progress.} 15. cxd5 Nxd5 16. Nc4 Rfe8 17. Qa1
f6 18. Rc1 Nf8 19. d4 exd4 20. exd4 Ne6 21. Rfd1 {[#]} Ndf4 $1 $17 {ASH :
Seizing his chance. This sacrifice is necessary because the central position
is beginning to look rickety, and appears to be sound. White has terrible
weaknesses and his queen is marooned far away. RDK : Seizing his chance.
This sacrifice is necessary because the central position is beginning to look
rickety. The sacrifice looks sound as White has terrible weaknesses and his
queen is miles away.} 22. gxf4 Nxf4 23. Ne3 (23. Bh1 Qd7 {ASH : is too slow.})
(23. d5 {ASH : Might be a shade better – see next note.}) 23… Nxg2 $19 24.
Kxg2 Be4 $1 (24… Qf4 {ASH : is also possible but the win would not be so
easy after} 25. d5 Rxd5 26. Rxd5 Bxd5 27. Nxd5 Qg4+ {ASH : etc}) 25. Nf1 Qf4
26. Rc3 cxd4 27. Rcd3 Rd5 28. Qc1 Qg4+ 29. Ng3 Rf5 30. h3 {ASH : There is
nothing better} Bxf3+ 31. Kh2 Rh5 32. Rxf3 Qxf3 33. Nxh5 {ASH : The rest is
straightforward} Qxf2+ {RDK : Now it’s straightforward for Black.} 34. Kh1
Qf3+ 35. Kg1 gxh5 36. Bxd4 Qg3+ 37. Kh1 Qxh3+ 38. Kg1 Qg4+ 39. Kh1 Rc8 40. Qd2
Rd8 {and White resigned.} 0-1
[/pgn]

In 1964 I decided that henceforth for me ‘serious’ chess would mean correspondence, while OTB became a pleasant social activity. My introduction to the postal game had been made about 1955 by a colleague of my father’s, International Master Graham Mitchell, to whom I owe an enormous debt for the patience and kindness with which he played a series of games, bearing with me when I lost interest in worsening positions. The switch to postal play was caused by a number of factors, negative and positive : an impending move to Scotland, where there was less OTB chess, frustration at constantly spoiling good positions through mistakes in time pressure – on the other hand a feeling that correspondence chess should suit an academic temperament, and a particularly fascinating game played in 1963-4 with Michael Haygarth (see below) on which I spent so much time and energy that I almost feared it would ruin my post-graduate exams.

[pgn]
[Event “County Correspondence Championship”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1963.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Haygarth, Michael John”]
[Black “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B78”]
[Annotator “ASH & British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “106”]
[SourceTitle “British Chess, page 104”]
[WhiteTeam “Yorkshire”]
[BlackTeam “Somerset”]

{[%evp 0,20,19,38,40,41,66,77,66,55,55,20,70,53,40,34,30,28,47,32,47,-3,30]} 1.
e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Bc4 (
8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 e5 13. Bc5 Be6 14.
Ne4 Re8 15. h4 h6 16. g4 Qc7 17. g5 h5 18. Bc4 Red8 19. Qf2 {is modern
practise.}) 8… Nc6 9. Qd2 Bd7 10. h4 (10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. h4 h5 13.
Bg5 Rc5 14. Kb1 b5 15. g4 hxg4 16. h5 Nxh5 17. Nd5 Re8 18. Rxh5 gxh5 19. Qh2
Rxd5 20. Bxd5 Qb6 21. Qxh5 e6 22. Bb3) 10… Rc8 {ASH : At that time people
always played the queen’s rook to c8. Later it became the custom to play …
Qa5 and …Rfc8. Later still fashion swung back.} 11. Bb3 Ne5 (11… h5 12.
O-O-O Ne5) 12. Bh6 {ASH : Of all the attacking possibilities, White chooses a
relatively ineffective one.} ({The modern way is} 12. O-O-O h5 13. Bg5 Rc5 14.
Kb1 b5 15. g4 hxg4 16. h5 Nxh5 17. Nd5 Re8 18. Rxh5 gxh5 19. Qh2 Rxd5 20. Bxd5
Qb6 {transposes to a previous line.}) 12… Nc4 {ASH : A nice little finesse.}
13. Bxc4 Bxh6 ({more usual is} 13… Rxc4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. h5 Qa5 16. hxg6
fxg6 (16… hxg6 $4 17. Qh6+ Kg8 18. Qh8#) 17. O-O-O) 14. Qxh6 ({Believe it or
not,} 14. Bxf7+ $4 Kg7 $1 {ASH : Resigns, has actually occurred in an
international (over-the-board!) tournament. BCN : It was, in fact, Zuidema
– Lee, Zurich Junior, 1964.} (14… Kxf7 $2 15. Qxh6) (14… Rxf7 $2 15. Qxh6
$14)) 14… Rxc4 15. O-O-O Rxc3 16. bxc3 Qa5 {ASH : Black has carried out his
exchange sacrifice under unusually favourable circumstances.} 17. Kb2 Rc8 {[#]}
18. Rd3 ({ASH : In a later game (British Correspondence Championship 1965-6).
S.Milan played against me} 18. Qd2 Rc4 19. Nb3 {, keeping more active chances
(the game was drawnin 50 moves).}) 18… Bb5 19. Nxb5 {The exchange of minor
peices suite Black.} (19. Qg5 Rc5 {would be ingenious but not better.}) 19…
Qxb5+ 20. Ka1 Rc5 21. Rb1 Qa6 22. Qc1 Ra5 23. Rb2 b6 24. Qb1 Nd7 25. Rb4 Ne5
26. Re3 Nc4 {[#] ASH : Black’s knight has reached ideal squares, and for the
next few moves makes the White rooks dance to his tune.} 27. Rd3 Rc5 28. Qe1
Ra5 29. Qb1 Ne5 30. Re3 ({ASH : Not} 30. Rd5 Rxd5 31. exd5 Qe2 {and White’s
position collapses.}) 30… Rc5 31. Rb3 b5 32. Qd1 Qc6 33. Qd4 Nc4 34. Rd3 a5
35. g4 {ASH : Natural, but in the end providing a target.} a4 36. Rb4 Ne5 37.
Re3 Qc8 $1 38. Kb1 {[#] ASH : Something must fall so White decides to return
the exchange.} h5 $1 39. gxh5 Nc6 40. Qd3 Nxb4 41. cxb4 Rxh5 42. e5 {Unable to
protect his weaknesses, White tries to break out.} Rxe5 43. Rxe5 dxe5 44. Qxb5
Qc3 45. Qxa4 Qxf3 46. b5 e4 47. b6 e3 48. Qb3 Qf1+ 49. Kb2 e2 50. b7 e1=Q 51.
b8=Q+ Kh7 52. Q8b6 Qc1+ 53. Kc3 Qcf4 {White resigns. A remarkable position,
with four queens on the board. Material is level, but the exposed White king
is helpless. This game was played just before I left Oxford to teach in
Scotland (where, at that time, over-the-board chess was not so strong as it
has since become), and it was to a great extent responsible for turning my
main interest to postal chess.} 0-1
[/pgn]

In 1964-5 I qualified for the British Championship by winning a candidates’ section with 100%, and then competed three times in the British Championship itself (1965-6, 1966-7, 1970-71), winning on each occasion (the first time jointly with S. Milan) and remaining unbeaten. International play also proved successful, and I soon collected the two norms necessary for the IM title (Ed: awarded in 1970).

The first chance for the Grandmaster title came on Board 1 in the Seventh Olympiad final. Despite a rare loss with the White pieces(my only defeat with white for a stretch of 15 years), things went well, including a lucky win against the reigning World Champion, Horst Rittner, and the enticing prospect beckoned if only I could beat the Russian Moiseyev. He held a slight advantage since the opening, but I thought I saw the chance of tempting him to an incorrect sacrifice. Back came his move; he had indeed made the sacrifice and the envelope burnt a hole in my pocket during an important meeting (my mind was elsewhere). After a mere two days’ thought I sent my reply. The post between England and the USSR takes about a month for the return trip. Soon after posting my move, as I was walking from the Ashmolean Museum to Keble, just passing the front gate of St. John’s, the realisation of what I had overlooked hit me, and there followed an inexorable wait for the death blow which I now saw only too clearly.

So no Grandmaster title, but Great Britain still took the bronze medals, and I scored 6/9 (+5=1-2).

Another opportunity came when the British Postal Chess Federation organised a tournament (1974-6) in memory of its former secretary RJ Potter.  This started inauspiciously for me with a heavy defeat at the hands of Grandmaster Endzelins of Australia., a country which has so far provided my least favourite opposition (not only is the postage extremely expensive, but my score to date is 0/2).

From The Potter Memorial, Ken Messere, Chess (Sutton Coldfield), 1979 we have this potted biography from Ken Messere :

“Adrian Hollis is 36, was educated at Eton and Oxford, has written two books on the poet Ovid and is a Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Keble College, Oxford. He is a British Master at over the board chess and has been Champion of British Universities, West of England and East Scotland.

In 1964, he went to teach at St. Andrews University where his wife, Margaret, taught German. They were married and moved to Keble College in 1967 and now have two daughters. Jennifer is nearly five and Veronica is two.

Adrian began to concentrate on correspondence chess in 1964 and won the British Correspondence Chess Championship jointly in 1966 and outright in 1967 and 1971. He won the I.M. title in 1970 and his fine score of 6/9 on top board for Great Britain in the I.C.C.F. VIIth Correspondence Chess Olympiad Final contributed to the team’s winning the bronze medal in this event.”

and now back to Adrian’s British Chess article…

Thereafter my fortunes improved; one opponent accepted too trustingly some faulty analysis by Szabo in Informator (for a while it seemed that the Hungarian might earn me not one but two points). The East German Dr. Baumbach failed to find an improvement in a line with which I had been successful in the Seventh Olympiad Final.

[pgn]
[Event “Potter Memorial corr7376”]
[Site “corr”]
[Date “1973.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Black “Baumbach, Fritz”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D44”]
[Annotator “Baumbach, ASH and BCN”]
[PlyCount “63”]
[EventDate “1973.??.??”]
[EventType “tourn (corr)”]
[EventRounds “12”]
[SourceTitle “Myers”]
[Source “Myers”]
[SourceDate “2012.11.12”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2012.11.12”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%mdl 33284][%evp 0,63,19,31,32,-10,25,31,29,4,44,-4,-8,27,27,28,23,24,23,20,
42,40,29,37,29,-15,64,23,79,45,12,14,15,24,38,32,81,93,66,30,25,25,35,-38,122,
205,196,191,184,184,272,340,340,293,333,518,527,532,534,534,534,534,527,533,
537,541] Speelman: Really serious correspondence chess players are a breed
apart. In order to play “over-the-board” chess one must be able to maintian a
reasonable level of concentration for up to five hours at a time; and also
possibly to produce a quite prodigious amount of energy after (say) about four
and a half hours. Correspondence players, however, must require a quite
different nervous system. In their case a game may last months or even years.
It will be necessary to sustain sufficient interest in, and contact with,
possibly dozens of games simultaneously. There will not be a sudden explosion
of frenetic activity in any game–i.e., time trouble–but rather a long hard
grind of analytical work, work which can involve many hours of analysis on a
single critical move. Adrian Hollis is, together with Keith Richardson and
Peter Clarke, one of Great Britian’s three correspondence Grandmasters. A
classics don at Keble College, Oxford, he makes the time to play up to thirty
(!) correspondence games simultaneously. This game, against the East German
Fritz Baumbach, is from the Potter Memorial tournament which Hollis won to
gain the Grandmaster title. It is a very fine example of correspondence chess.
An exceedingly complicated theoretical opening leaves White with a clear
advantage, which he exploits with beautifully precise middlegame play.} 1. d4 {
Myers Speelman Baumbach} d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5
7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Nxg5 {ASH : More natural} ({than} 9. exf6 {which also
has its supporters.}) 9… hxg5 ({ASH : Round about 1957 I spent many happy
hours analysing} 9… Nd5 {, a move which has recently been played and
recommended by George Botterill.} {is an intriguing possibility, which remains
quite unclear after} 10. Nxf7 Qxh4 11. Nxh8 Bb4) 10. Bxg5 Nbd7 11. exf6 ({
ASH : The immediate} 11. g3 {avoids any danger on the long white diagonal, but
black can cause complications by} Qa5 12. exf6 b4) 11… Bb7 12. g3 $1 Qb6 ({
ASH : Whites move order may seem peverse, in that it invites} 12… c5 {
Answered by} 13. d5 {However, Black should look again at 12…c5, and after 13.
d5 probably 13…Ne5.}) 13. Bg2 O-O-O 14. O-O Ne5 {ASH : Botvinnik’s move in
the fifth game of the 1954 World Championship match against Smyslov, who
declined to put the idea to the test,} (14… c5 {is still possible.}) 15. dxe5
$1 ({ASH : Smyslov replied} 15. Qe2 {with a minimal advantage. Presumably
Botvinnik had taken into account white’s queen sacrifice, but it still seems
very strong.} Qxd4 16. Be3 Qd3 17. Rfd1 Qxe2 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Nxe2 Nd3 20. b3
Kc7 21. bxc4 bxc4 22. Bxa7 c5 23. Rb1 Bxg2 24. Bb8+ Kc6 25. Kxg2 Bh6 26. f4 e5
27. a4 exf4 28. gxf4 c3 29. Nxc3 Bxf4 30. Bxf4 Nxf4+ 31. Kg3 Nh5+ 32. Kg4 Nxf6+
33. Kg5 Nd5 34. Nxd5 Kxd5 35. h4 f6+ 36. Kg4 c4 37. a5 c3 38. a6 Ra8 39. Kf5
Rxa6 40. h5 Ra2 41. Kxf6 {Smyslov – Botvinnink, 1954.}) 15… Rxd1 {[#]} 16.
Rfxd1 {MegaBase 2020 has moved the wrong rook to d1 but the position
transposes. Attempting to hack the pgn breaks many of the sub-variations as
there would be positions where either rook may move to e1 but the notation
says merely Re1. Ho hum!} ({The actual game move order was} 16. Raxd1 Bc5 17.
Ne4 Bd4 18. Nd6+ Kc7 19. Bf4 Rf8 20. Bh6 Rh8 21. Bg7 Rd8 22. Nxf7 Bxf2+ 23. Kh1
Rxd1 24. Rxd1 {transposes.}) 16… Bc5 (16… c5 17. Bf4 (17. Ne4 Bd5 18. h4 (
18. Bf4 Qb7 19. Rxd5 exd5 20. Nc3 Bh6 21. Bxh6 Rxh6 22. Rd1 b4 23. Nxd5 Qa6 24.
Ne7+ Kc7 25. h4 Rh8 26. Rd6 Qa5 27. Nd5+ Kb8 28. Rd7 b3 29. axb3 Qe1+ 30. Bf1
Rg8 31. Rxf7 Rxg3+ 32. fxg3 Qxg3+ 33. Bg2 Qe1+ 34. Bf1 Qg3+ 35. Kh1 Qxh4+ 36.
Kg2 {1/2-1/2 Eldridge,M-Van Damme,L/corr ICCF 2009/}) 18… Qc6 19. Re1 Kb8 20.
f3 a5 21. Kf2 a4 22. Nc3 Qa6 23. Nxd5 exd5 24. e6 fxe6 25. Bh3 a3 26. Rab1 Qa4
27. Re2 e5 28. bxa3 Kc7 29. Rbe1 Bd6 30. f7 Rf8 31. Be6 d4 32. Bh6 d3 33. Bxf8
Bxf8 34. Rd2 c3 35. Rxd3 Qc2+ 36. Ke3 c4 37. Rd7+ Kb6 38. Red1 Bc5+ {0-1
Rutkowski,P-Konieczny,A/corr ICCF 2009/}) (17. Bxb7+ Qxb7 18. Rd2 (18. Re1 a5
19. Ne4 a4 20. Bf4 Qa8 21. a3 Kc7 22. Rac1 Qc6 23. Rc2 Qa8 24. f3 Bh6 25. Bxh6
Rxh6 26. Rd1 Rh5 27. Rdd2 Rxe5 28. h4 Rxe4 29. fxe4 Qxe4 30. Re2 Qg4 31. Kh2 b4
32. Rcd2 c3 33. bxc3 b3 34. Kg2 Qf5 35. Re1 Qxf6 {0-1 Hassim,U-Kireev,S/corr
IECG 2009/}) 18… b4 19. Rad1 Qc6 20. Rd8+ Kc7 21. Ne2 Qa4 22. Be3 Bh6 23.
R1d7+ Qxd7 24. Rxd7+ Kxd7 25. f4 Kc6 26. Kg2 a5 27. h4 Bf8 28. Kf3 Kd5 29. Bc1
c3 30. bxc3 c4 31. Ng1 b3 32. a4 Kc6 33. Bb2 Bc5 34. Ne2 Rd8 35. Nd4+ Bxd4 36.
cxd4 Kd5 37. Ke3 Rg8 38. Kf3 c3 39. Bxc3 Rc8 40. Bb2 Rc2 41. Ba3 Ra2 42. Bc1
Rxa4 43. Ke3 Ra2 44. Kd3 b2 45. Bxb2 Rxb2 46. f5 a4 47. fxe6 Kxe6 {0-1 Epiney,
F-Zielinski,S/corr IECG 2003/}) 17… b4 (17… Bc6 18. Rd2 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 a6
20. Rad1 Qc7 21. Ne4 a5 22. f3 a4 23. h4 a3 24. bxa3 Rh5 25. Kh3 Rh8 26. g4 Qa5
27. Rd7 c3 28. Rxf7 c2 29. Rc1 Qxa3 30. Kg3 c4 31. g5 Qd3 32. Rxf8+ Rxf8 33. g6
{1-0 Ingersol,H-Almeida,R/corr IECG 2009/}) 18. Ne4 Bd5 (18… Qb5 19. Rac1
Bxe4 20. Bxe4 Qa4 21. Rd2 c3 22. bxc3 bxc3 23. Re2 c4 24. Kg2 Qa5 25. h4 Ba3
26. Rh1 Bf8 27. g4 Qd8 28. h5 Qd4 29. g5 Rg8 30. Kf3 Rh8 31. Kg4 {1-0 Lehnhoff,
H-Djoudi,A/corr IECG 2006/}) 19. Rxd5 exd5 20. Ng5 Bh6 21. Nxf7 Bxf4 22. gxf4
Rf8 23. Bxd5 c3 24. Nd6+ (24. bxc3 bxc3 25. Nd6+ Kc7 26. Rc1 c2 27. Bb3 Rg8+
28. Kf1 Rg4 29. Rxc2 Qc6 30. Be6 Rxf4 31. Kg1 Qf3 32. Rxc5+ Kb6 33. Rb5+ Kc6
34. Bd5+ Qxd5 35. Rxd5 Kxd5 36. Nc8 Kxe5 37. Nxa7 Rxf6 {1/2-1/2 Schrancz,
I-Kireev,S/corr IECG 2009/}) 24… Kd8 25. Nc4 Qb5 26. bxc3 bxc3 27. Ne3 Qb4
28. Bb3 Qxf4 29. Rd1+ Kc8 30. Rd5 Kb8 31. Rxc5 Qg5+ 32. Kf1 Rxf6 33. exf6 Qxc5
34. f7 a5 35. Nd5 a4 36. Nb6 Kc7 37. Nxa4 c2 38. Bxc2 Qc4+ 39. Kg2 Qxf7 40. Bb3
Qg7+ 41. Kf3 Qd4 42. Kg3 Kd6 43. Kg2 Ke5 44. Kg3 Qe4 45. h3 Qf4+ 46. Kg2 Qd4
47. Kg3 Ke4 48. Bc2+ Kd5 49. Bb3+ Ke5 50. Kf3 Kf5 51. Kg3 Kg5 52. Kf3 Kh4 53.
Kg2 Qf6 54. Kf1 Kxh3 55. Ke2 Qd4 56. Be6+ Kg2 57. Bb3 Qe4+ 58. Kd2 Kxf2 59. Nb2
Qe2+ 60. Kc3 Qe5+ 61. Kc2 Ke2 62. Nc4 Qd4 63. a4 Qf4 64. Kc3 Qf6+ 65. Kc2 Qd4
66. Na3 Qd2+ 67. Kb1 Qc3 68. Ka2 Qf6 69. Nc4 Kd3 70. Nb2+ Kc3 {0-1 Skeels,
J-Kireev,S/corr IECG 2008/}) (16… b4 17. Ne4 c5 (17… Qa5 18. Bf4 Bc5 19.
Rac1 (19. h4 c3 20. bxc3 bxc3 21. Rac1 Bb4 22. Nd6+ Bxd6 23. Rxd6 Rd8 24. Rxd8+
Kxd8 25. h5 Qxa2 26. h6 Qe2 27. h7 Qh5 28. Be4 Ba6 29. Kg2 {1-0 Borisenko
Belovba,V-Matveeva,S/Tbilisi URS 1973/}) 19… c3 20. bxc3 bxc3 21. Rxc3 Bb4
22. Rb3 Rd8 23. Rdb1 c5 24. Nd6+ Rxd6 25. Bxb7+ Kxb7 26. exd6 Kc6 27. Rd1 Kd7
28. a3 Qa4 29. Rdb1 a5 30. axb4 c4 31. Rc3 Qa2 32. Rbc1 axb4 33. Rxc4 {1-0
Kolin,J-Menges,G/corr ICCF 2003/}) 18. a3 Bd5 (18… c3 19. bxc3 b3 20. c4 Qa6
21. Nd2 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Qb7+ 23. f3 a5 24. a4 Qb4 25. Rab1 b2 26. Ne4 Qxa4 27.
Rd2 Qxc4 28. Rdxb2 a4 29. Be3 a3 30. Rb8+ Kc7 31. R1b7+ Kc6 32. Rxf7 a2 33. Ra7
{1-0 Rensen,M-Schild,R/corr IECG 2009/}) 19. axb4 Qb7 20. Rxd5 exd5 21. Nc3
cxb4 22. Nxd5 Qd7 23. Be3 Kb8 24. Bf4 Qe6 25. Be3 Qd7 26. Ra5 c3 27. bxc3 b3
28. Bxa7+ Qxa7 29. Rxa7 Kxa7 30. Be4 b2 31. f4 Ba3 32. Kg2 Rc8 33. h4 Rc5 34.
Ne7 Rxc3 35. h5 Re3 36. Bf5 Re2+ 37. Kf3 Rh2 38. Kg4 Kb6 39. Kg5 Rh3 40. g4 Bc5
41. Be4 Kb5 42. h6 Bf2 43. Nf5 Kc4 44. h7 Kb3 45. Nh6 Re3 46. Bb1 Re1 47. h8=Q
Rxb1 48. Qb8+ Kc2 49. Qc7+ Kd2 50. Qa5+ Kc2 51. Qa4+ Kc3 52. Qc6+ Kd2 53. Qd5+
Kc1 54. Qh1+ Kc2 55. Qg2 {1-0 Illescas Cordoba,M-Morovic Fernandez,I/Spain ESP
1993/}) (16… Qc5 17. Bf4 b4 18. Ne4 Qa5 19. Rd4 c5 20. Rxc4 Bd5 21. Rcc1 Bxe4
22. Bxe4 Bh6 23. Bxh6 Rxh6 24. Rc4 Kc7 25. Rac1 Kb6 26. a3 bxa3 27. bxa3 Qxa3
28. Rb1+ Kc7 29. Rb5 Rh5 30. Rcxc5+ Kd7 31. Kg2 Qa1 32. Bc6+ Kd8 33. Rb8+ Kc7
34. Rb7+ Kd8 35. Bd7 {1-0 Budde,V-Hoffmann,H/BL GER 1982/}) (16… Bb4 17. Ne4
Rd8 18. h4 Rd3 19. h5 Qd8 20. Rxd3 cxd3 21. Rd1 Kc7 22. a3 Ba5 23. Nd6 Qg8 24.
Be3 Bb6 25. Bxb6+ Kxb6 26. Bf3 Qh7 27. b4 Ba8 28. g4 a5 29. Kg2 axb4 30. axb4
Bb7 31. Kg3 Ba6 32. Be4 Qg8 33. h6 c5 34. h7 Qf8 35. bxc5+ Kxc5 36. Nxf7 {
1-0 Mollov,E-Thierry,C/Orange FRA 1994/}) (16… Qa5 17. Ne4 Bb4 (17… c5 18.
Nd6+ Bxd6 19. Bxb7+ Kxb7 20. Rxd6 c3 21. bxc3 Qxc3 22. Rad1 Rc8 23. Rd7+ Rc7
24. Re7 Kc8 25. h4 b4 26. Rc1 Qb2 27. h5 Qe2 28. h6 Qh5 29. Be3 Rd7 30. Kg2 Rd3
31. Rxc5+ Kd8 32. Rb5 Kc8 33. Bxa7 Qf3+ 34. Kh2 Qh5+ 35. Kg2 Qf3+ {1/2-1/2
Loskamp,S-Behle,B/Porz GER 1995/}) 18. h4 Qc7 19. a3 Bf8 20. Nd6+ Bxd6 21. exd6
Qd7 22. a4 a6 23. Be3 Rh5 24. Bf3 Rf5 25. Bg4 Rd5 26. Bf4 Rxd1+ 27. Rxd1 c5 28.
axb5 axb5 29. h5 b4 30. h6 Be4 31. Ra1 c3 32. bxc3 bxc3 33. f3 Bh7 34. Ra5 c2
35. Rxc5+ Kd8 36. Rc7 Qa4 37. Bxe6 Qa1+ 38. Kf2 Qd4+ 39. Kg2 c1=Q 40. Bxc1 fxe6
41. Rxh7 Qxd6 42. Ra7 Qc5 43. h7 Qxa7 44. h8=Q+ {1-0 Poletov,V-Kuznezov,A/Tula
RUS 2006/}) 17. Ne4 $1 Bd4 (17… Rd8 $2 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Rd1+ Kc7 20. h4 $16
Bd4 21. h5 c5 22. h6 Bxe4 23. Bxe4 Bxe5 24. h7 Qb8 25. Kg2 Qh8 26. Rh1 Kb6 27.
Rd1 Kc7 28. Bf4 Bxf4 29. gxf4 Qxf6 30. Rh1 Qh8 31. f5 exf5 32. Bxf5 Kd6 33. Rh5
f6 34. f4 Qe8 35. Bg4 Qh8 36. Kf1 b4 37. Bf5 Kd5 38. Rh3 Kd4 39. Rg3 Qa8 40.
Rh3 Qh8 41. Kf2 a5 42. Rh1 c3 43. Rd1+ Kc4 44. b3+ Kb5 45. Rd6 c4 46. Rd5+ Kc6
47. bxc4 a4 48. Be4 Kc7 49. Rc5+ Kd6 50. Rc6+ Ke7 51. Bf5 Qd8 52. Kg3 b3 53.
axb3 axb3 54. Rc8 Qxc8 55. Bxc8 c2 56. h8=Q c1=Q 57. Qg7+ Kd6 58. c5+ Kd5 59.
Qb7+ Kd4 60. Qb4+ Kd5 61. Bb7+ Ke6 62. Qe4+ Kf7 63. Qh7+ Ke6 64. f5+ Ke5 65.
Qe7+ Kd4 66. Qxf6+ Kc4 67. Qe6+ Kb4 68. f6 Qg1+ 69. Bg2 b2 70. Qe4+ Kc3 71. f7
b1=Q 72. Qxb1 Qxb1 73. f8=Q Qe1+ 74. Kh2 Qe5+ 75. Kg1 Qe1+ 76. Qf1 Qe3+ 77. Qf2
Qc1+ 78. Bf1 Qg5+ 79. Kh2 Qh5+ 80. Kg2 Qd5+ 81. Qf3+ Kd4 82. c6 Qg5+ 83. Kh3
Qh6+ 84. Kg3 Kc5 85. Bg2 Qg5+ 86. Qg4 Qe5+ 87. Kh4 Qe1+ 88. Qg3 Qb4+ 89. Kh5
Qb2 90. Qg5+ Kd6 91. Qd5+ Ke7 92. Qd7+ Kf6 93. Qd6+ Kf5 94. Qg6+ {1-0 Alster,
L-Kupka,S/Prague CSR 1963/}) 18. Nd6+ $1 (18. Rd2 Rd8 19. Rad1 c5 20. Nd6+ Rxd6
21. Bxb7+ Qxb7 22. exd6 Qf3 23. Re1 e5 24. d7+ Kd8 25. h4 Qxg3+ 26. Kf1 Qh3+
27. Ke2 Bxb2 28. Rb1 Bc3 29. Rd6 Bd4 30. Be3 Qg4+ 31. Kf1 a6 32. Ra1 Qh3+ 33.
Kg1 Qf5 34. h5 Qxh5 {0-1 Tan Hiong Liong-Sydor,A/Warsaw POL 1959/}) (18. Be3
Bxe3 19. fxe3 Qxe3+ 20. Kh1 Kb8 21. Re1 Qd4 22. Nd6 Qf2 23. Nxf7 c5 24. Rg1 Rh5
25. Rad1 Qxg3 26. Rd8+ Kc7 {0-1 Vente,J-Officier,T/corr NED 1995/}) (18. Bf4
Bxb2 19. Nd6+ Kc7 20. Nxf7 Rf8 21. Ng5 Bc8 22. Rab1 Bd4 23. Ne4 a5 24. g4 Bd7
25. h4 b4 26. h5 c3 27. Rd3 a4 28. g5 c2 29. Rf1 b3 30. axb3 axb3 31. g6 b2 32.
g7 Ra8 33. f7 b1=Q 34. f8=Q Rxf8 35. gxf8=Q Q1b4 36. Qxb4 Qxb4 37. h6 {1-0
Moscoso,F-Brunet,R/corr IECG 1996/}) 18… Kc7 (18… Kb8 19. Nxf7 Rf8 20. Rxd4
$6 (20. Nh6 $2 Bxf2+ 21. Kf1 Bd4 $19) (20. Nd6 $1 Bxf2+ 21. Kh1 Be3 22. Bh4 $16
) 20… Qxd4 21. Nd6 $8 Qxb2 22. Re1 Qc3 23. Rb1 Qxe5 24. Bf4 Qe2 25. Nxb5+ e5
26. Nd6 Ka8 27. Be3 c3 $17 {Myers}) 19. Bf4 (19. Nxf7 $1 Rf8 20. Nd6 Bxe5 21.
Be3 Qa6 22. Ne4 Bc8 23. Bc5 Rxf6 24. Nxf6 Bxf6 25. Bd4 Bxd4 26. Rxd4 c5 27.
Rdd1 Bb7 28. Bxb7 Qxb7 29. Re1 Kd6 30. Rad1+ Ke7 31. Re3 a5 32. Rde1 a4 33.
Rxe6+ Kf7 34. R6e5 Qd7 35. h4 b4 36. Rxc5 Qd2 37. Re3 c3 38. bxc3 b3 39. axb3
Qc1+ 40. Kg2 axb3 {1-0 Vilela,J-Frey Beckman,K/Havana CUB 1985/}) 19… Rf8 (
19… Bxf2+ $1 20. Kh1 Be3 21. Nxf7 Rg8 22. a4 $1 Bxf4 23. gxf4 Qf2 $132 {Myers
}) 20. Bh6 $1 Rh8 {[#]} 21. Bg7 $2 (21. Nxf7 $142 Bxf2+ 22. Kh1 Rh7 23. Nd8
Rxh6 24. Nxe6+ Kc8 25. Rd8+ Qxd8 26. Nxd8 Kxd8 27. Rf1 $16 {[%cal Gf6f7] Myers}
) 21… Rd8 $4 (21… Bxf2+ $1 22. Kh1 Rh7 23. Rd2 (23. Nxf7 $2 Rxh2+ $1 24.
Kxh2 Qe3 $19 {[%cal Re3g3]}) 23… Qe3 {[%cal Ye3g3]} 24. Rxf2 Qxf2 25. Nxf7
Qxg3 26. Bh6 Qh4 $19 {Myers}) 22. Nxf7 $1 Bxf2+ (22… Rd7 23. Ng5 Kb8 (23…
Bxe5 24. Rxd7+ Kxd7 25. Rd1+ $18) 24. Bf8 Bc8 25. f7 Bxf2+ 26. Kh1 Rxf7 27.
Nxf7 Bd4 28. Bd6+ Kb7 29. a4 $18 {Myers}) 23. Kh1 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Qe3 (24… c5
$2 25. Nd6 Bxg2+ 26. Kxg2 Bd4 27. f7 Qc6+ 28. Kh3 Qf3 29. Rxd4 cxd4 30. f8=Q
$18 {Myers}) 25. Nd6 Qe2 {[#]} 26. Ra1 $3 (26. Rf1 $2 Ba8 $1 27. Ne4 (27. f7
$140 c5 28. f8=Q Qxf1#) 27… c5 $1 28. Rxf2 Qe1+ 29. Rf1 Qe2 30. Kg1 Bxe4 31.
Bxe4 Qe3+ $1 $11) (26. Rb1 $6 Qh5 27. f7 (27. g4 $2 Qh7 28. Rf1 $8 Bg3 $8 29.
h3 Bxe5 30. f7 c5 $11) 27… Bxg3 28. h3 c5 $1 29. Nxb7 Qxf7 30. Nd6 Qg6 31.
Rf1 $18) 26… Qh5 (26… Qxb2 27. Rf1 c3 28. f7 c2 29. Bh6 $18) 27. g4 $1 (27.
f7 $2 Bxg3 28. h3 c5 29. Nxb7 Qxf7 {Speelman} 30. Nd6 Qg6 31. Bf6 Qc2 32. Nxb5+
Kd7 33. Nxa7 Bf2 34. Nc6 Be3 35. h4 $1 $18 {Myers}) 27… Qh7 28. f7 Bg3 29. h3
c5 30. Nxb7 Qxg7 31. Rf1 Qf8 32. Nxc5 $1 1-0
[/pgn]

Also, I had a win with the Black pieces against the Russian Kopylov. The result was a score of 9/12 (+8=2-2), which sufficed for the grandmaster title and first place half a point ahead of the Finn Kauranen.

Since then I have played quite well on second board behind Keith Richardson in the Eighth Olympiad Final (+5=7-0), and very badly indeed (scoring just about 50% in the Heilimo Memorial Tournament organised from Finland (I was much impressed by the strength of the Finnish players, most of whom I had not encountered before). Having twice narrowly failed, I would still like to qualify for the Final of the Individual World Championship. Of course life becomes increasingly busy, but the examples of Hugh Alexander and Graham Mitchell encourage me to believe that one can continue to play well at postal chess longer than over-the-board. So perhaps around the year 2000, when the children are grown up….”

[pgn]
[Event “olm7 fin B1 corr”]
[Site “ICCF corr”]
[Date “1972.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Black “Florian, Tibor”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D76”]
[Annotator “Averbakh/Hollis/Howell & BCN”]
[PlyCount “121”]
[EventDate “1972.??.??”]
[EventType “team (corr)”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[SourceTitle “Corr 2002”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2002.05.23”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2002.05.23”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,121,18,26,36,-22,54,32,37,19,27,28,30,3,26,19,17,42,20,13,27,31,31,31,
19,24,27,11,47,61,50,85,90,77,66,63,67,54,73,53,40,43,55,36,46,65,45,46,49,49,
48,54,48,69,83,93,102,102,103,112,98,89,114,100,99,91,98,98,94,79,79,82,90,87,
91,85,91,82,78,76,96,101,96,75,100,91,92,103,118,118,118,118,118,118,121,139,
179,182,206,240,191,212,205,205,205,192,192,192,192,183,192,104,155,96,96,96,
100,527,537,28911,29983,29984,29985,29986]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3
d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 O-O ({ASH : It is rather more challenging for Black to
postpone castling, and to organise an immediate attack on White’s d-pawn with}
6… Nb6 7. Nc3 Nc6) 7. O-O Nb6 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. d5 Na5 ({ASH : I have never yet
found an opponent to accept the pawn with} 9… Bxc3 $6 {too risky to accept P}
10. dxc6 Bg7 11. Qc2 bxc6 12. Rd1 Bf5 13. Qb3 Qe8 14. Nd4 Bd7 15. Qc2 {BCN :
is a typical line.}) 10. Bf4 c6 11. dxc6 {ASH : Such are the subtleties of
transposition that, although occasionally played before, this line does not
appear in the Grunfeld books of Hartston or Richardson and Boyd.} Nxc6 ({
ASH : In Olympiad VIII Finals (1977) Dr. S. Aarseth (Norway) played against me
} 11… Qxd1 12. Rfxd1 Nxc6 13. Nd2 $1 Bf5 (13… Be6 {Hollis}) 14. Rac1 Rac8
15. Nde4 Nc4 16. b3 Na3 $6 (16… N4e5 {wastes two tempi}) 17. Nd5 Rfe8 (17…
Kh8 18. Nxe7 $1 Nxe7 19. Bd6) 18. Bg5 Kf8 (18… f6 $5 {although Hollis says
it “hardly appeals”}) 19. Nxe7 Nxe7 20. Nd6 b6 (20… Rxc1 21. Bxc1 {xNa3}) 21.
Nxc8 Bxc8 22. Bxe7+ Kxe7 23. Rc7+ Kf6 24. Bc6 Rf8 25. Rxa7 Nc2 26. Be4 $18 {
Hollis-Aarseth, corr-CCOL8 fin 1975-77}) 12. Qc1 e5 13. Be3 {13 Rd1 was theory
but why drive Black Q where she wants to go?} Nd4 {An outpost which cannot be
maintained.} 14. Rd1 Be6 15. Nxd4 exd4 16. Bxd4 Bxd4 17. e3 Bxe3 18. Qxe3 $14 {
[#] ASH : So White emerges with a small but clear advantage (better placed
pieces, pressure on the b-pawn and on the Black squares).} Qe7 19. Ne4 Bd5 20.
Qc5 Qxc5 21. Nxc5 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Rac8 $6 {ASH : A difficult decision. Black
surrenders a pawn for some counterplay.} ({ASH : He might have had better
chances of a draw with the passive} 22… Rab8 {better drawing chance despite}
23. Nd7 Nxd7 24. Rxd7 {not sufficient to win}) 23. Nxb7 Rc2 24. b4 Re8 25. Rd8
Rxd8 26. Nxd8 Na4 27. a3 Rc3 28. Re1 Kf8 29. Re5 Rc7 30. h4 h6 31. Ra5 Nc3 32.
Ra6 {threat Nc6 forces play} Rd7 33. Nc6 Rd6 34. a4 Nxa4 35. Rxa4 Rxc6 36. Rxa7
Rc3 37. b5 Rb3 {See page 80 in Essential Chess Endings by Howell.} 38. Rb7 Kg7
39. b6 h5 {This move produces a model endgame as analysed by Hollis etc. [#]
cf ending in Portisch-Petrosian [INF 17-0568] after Portisch’s 47th move.
White plan is to play K to d-file, Black captures f-pawn but then K goes to
c-file and R cannot return behind passed P (only works with b-pawn)} ({Hollis
suspected Black should have played} 39… g5 $5 {not fearing h4-h5}) 40. Kf1 {
The general case of a draw is threatened but not overturned. Averbakh
“Comprehensive Chess Endings” vol 5 (Pergamon ed) analyses both the Hollis and
Portisch endgames (see pp291-292)} Rb2 41. Ke1 Kf6 {As White threatens to
support the advance of his passed P with his K, it is very important for Black
to seek counterplay on the other wing – Averbakh} 42. f3 Rb3 43. Kd2 Rxf3 44.
Kc2 {ASH : The idea is realized.} Rf5 $2 (44… Ke6 $2 45. Rc7 $1 (45. Re7+ $6
Kxe7 46. b7 Rf5 47. b8=Q {hard to see how White can win}) 45… Rf5 {see game})
(44… Rxg3 $6 45. Rc7 $1 {Howell wrongly attributes this move to Hollis but I
don’t find it in Hollis’ notes. Averbakh claims as his?} (45. Rxf7+ Kxf7 46. b7
{Hollis said this may win as Pg6 weak but Averbakh gives:} Rg2+ $1 47. Kc3 Rg3+
48. Kc4 Rg4+ 49. Kc5 Rf4 $1 50. b8=Q Rf5+ 51. Kd6 Kg7 $1 {“Black creates an
impregnable fortress” – Averbakh}) 45… Rg2+ $140 46. Kb3 Rg1 47. Kb2 Rg2+ 48.
Rc2 $1 Rg4 49. Rc3 Rxh4 50. Ka3 Re4 51. b7 Re8 52. Rc8 Re3+ 53. Kb2 Re2+ 54.
Kc3 Re3+ 55. Kc2 Re2+ 56. Kd3 Rb2 57. b8=Q Rxb8 58. Rxb8 Kf5 59. Rf8 f6 60. Ke3
g5 61. Kf3 $18 {Averbakh}) (44… Re3 $3 {is the right plan:} 45. Rc7 Re8 46.
b7 Rb8 {Hollis thought White could now win:} 47. Kd3 Kf5 $1 48. Rxf7+ Kg4 49.
Rf4+ $1 Kxg3 50. Rb4 {[#]} g5 $1 {The saving move not considered in Hollis
article, but later discovered by Russian analysts. Black creates a
countervailing passed pawn.} (50… Kh3 $2 51. Ke2 $1 Kg3 (51… Kg2 52. Rb3) (
51… Re8+ 52. Kf2 Rf8+ 53. Ke3 Rb8 54. Kf3 {as in main line}) 52. Ke3 Kh3 53.
Kf3 Rf8+ 54. Ke4 Rb8 55. Ke5 $18) 51. hxg5 h4 52. g6 (52. Ke2 h3 53. Kf1 h2 54.
Rb3+ Kf4 55. Kg2 Kxg5 $11) 52… h3 53. g7 h2 54. Rb1 Kg2 $11 {Averbakh}) 45.
Rc7 Rb5 46. b7 {“The outwardly active position of Black R prevents his K from
approaching the pawns” – Averbakh} Ke6 (46… Kf5 {according to Fine’s recipe
(idea 47 Rxf7+? Kg4) but..} 47. Kc3 $1 {threat 48 Rxf7+ Kg4 49 Rf4+ and 50 Rb4;
prevents …Kg4 by same idea} f6 $140 (47… Kg4 48. Rc4+ $1 Kxg3 49. Rb4 Rxb7
50. Rxb7 Kxh4 (50… f5 51. Rg7) 51. Rxf7 Kg3 52. Kd2 g5 53. Ke1 $18) 48. Kc4
Rb1 49. Rc5+ Kg4 50. Rb5) 47. Kc3 f6 48. Kc4 Rb1 49. Kc5 Kf5 50. Rd7 $1 $18 {
prevents Kg4 and threatens Rd5+ followed by either Rd6+ or Rd4+ and then
inserting R on b-file} Rc1+ 51. Kd6 Rb1 52. Kc7 Rc1+ 53. Kd8 Rb1 54. Kc8 Kg4
55. Rd6 g5 56. Rxf6 gxh4 57. gxh4 Kxh4 58. Rg6 $1 Kh3 59. Kc7 {According to
Howell, Black resigned here but Hollis gives further moves, see e.g. ‘British
Chess’ pp105-107} Rxb7+ 60. Kxb7 h4 61. Kc6 {ASH : It would be extremely rash
to claim this ending as a theoretical win. The outcome nearly always depends
on a single tempo, and may be swayed by secondary factors (e.g. it proved
vital in the above for White’s rook to be on the seventh rather than the
eighth). But at least this game can be added to the example for future
research. Perhaps this is the kind of problem that one day computers might be
able to solve.} 1-0
[/pgn]

From British Chess Magazine, Volume CXXXIII (133, 2013), Number 4 (April), pp.194-5 we have this obituary written by James Pratt :

Adrian Swayne Hollis (2 viii 1940 Bristol – 26 ii 2013 Wells), British Master and Correspondence Grandmaster (1976), three times British Correspondence Champion, has died. He played most of his OTB chess as a young man, finishing seventh equal at the British Aberystwyth, 1961, when he beat, amongst others, A.R.B. Thomas and former champion, Alan Phillips. He gave future champion, Jonathan Penrose, a tough fight in the last round before conceding the half-point. He played in the Hastings Premier, 1962/3 and emerged with a plus score in the Anglo-Dutch matches. He was an occasional reviewer for BCM.

It was, of course, in the realm of postal player that he shone most brightly!

In 1966 we see him playing board two for England, below Slade Milan, and, two years later, Adrian scored 9/12 in a World Postal Qualifier, narrowly missing a place in the final. In 1971 he won the British Correspondence Championship, easily outdistancing a tough field. He played top board for England in the 1972-7 Olympiad. In 1974-6 he won the Reg Potter Memorial. In the ninth Olympiad – 1982-5 – Adrian Hollis was undefeated on board two. And England took the Gold Medal!

[pgn]
[Event “Alekhine mem-A corr9196”]
[Site “corr”]
[Date “1991.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Gipslis, Aivars P”]
[Black “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B81”]
[Annotator “Hawkes”]
[PlyCount “64”]
[EventDate “1991.??.??”]
[EventType “tourn (corr)”]
[EventRounds “12”]
[SourceTitle “Corr Nr. 1”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1997.09.01”]
[SourceVersion “2”]
[SourceVersionDate “2000.04.19”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,64,32,37,46,50,80,80,71,47,43,38,82,21,81,78,77,54,60,63,69,68,77,41,
27,22,70,6,6,3,12,33,18,-2,3,-47,-62,-45,-59,-59,-70,-53,-53,-108,-27,-27,-1,
-116,-143,-148,-88,-204,-180,-252,-271,-247,-199,-231,-468,-531,-562,-531,-638,
-660,-627,-704,-510]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g4
a6 (6… Nc6 7. g5 Nd7 8. Be3 Nde5 9. Be2 a6 10. f4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Nc6 12. Qd2
b5 13. Bf3 Qa5 14. O-O Be7 15. Qf2 Rb8 16. Ne2 O-O 17. Bg2 Re8 18. c3 Bd7 19.
Rfd1 Qd8 20. Rd2 Bf8 21. Rad1 $14 {Haag-Penrose, 9 Olympiad}) (6… Be7 7. g5
Nfd7 8. Be3 Nc6 9. Rg1 Nb6 10. Qd2 O-O 11. f4 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 e5 13. Be3 d5 14.
fxe5 Bb4 15. O-O-O Be6 16. Rg3 Na4 17. Bd4 Bxc3 18. Bxc3 Nxc3 19. Rxc3 dxe4 20.
Qf4 Qb6 21. Qxe4 Rac8 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Kb1 g6 24. Bd3 $6 Rd8 $1 {0-1 (43)
Palciauskas-Bang, Axelson mem.}) 7. g5 Nfd7 8. Bg2 (8. Be3 b5 9. a3 Bb7 10. h4
Be7 11. Qd2 Nc6 12. f4 h6 13. Bg2 hxg5 14. hxg5 Rxh1+ 15. Bxh1 Nxd4 16. Qxd4 e5
17. Qd2 exf4 18. Bxf4 Ne5 19. O-O-O Nc4 20. Qg2 Qa5 21. Nd5 b4 $1 {1/2-1/2 (44)
Franzen-Hollis, 10 Olympiad bd.2}) (8. h4 b5 9. a3 Nb6 10. Be3 N8d7 11. h5 Bb7
12. Rh3 $1 Ne5 13. g6 Nbc4 $2 14. Bxc4 Nxc4 15. gxf7+ Kxf7 16. Qg4 Qe7 $2 (
16… Qd7) 17. Bg5 Qd7 18. Nd5 $1 Ra7 19. Rf3+ Ke8 20. Nc7+ $1 {1-0
Kauranen-Estrin, 10 world ch. final}) 8… b5 (8… Nc6 9. f4 h6 10. h4 hxg5
11. hxg5 Rxh1+ 12. Bxh1 Qb6 13. Nf3 g6 14. Qd2 Qc7 15. b3 b5 16. Bb2 Bb7 17.
O-O-O O-O-O 18. Nh2 Nb6 19. Ng4 d5 20. e5 d4 21. Ne4 Nd5 22. Qf2 Qa5 23. Nd6+
Bxd6 24. Bxd5 Bc5 $1 {1/2-1/2 Khasin-Walter, 8 world ch. final}) 9. f4 b4 10.
Nce2 Bb7 11. h4 Nc5 12. Ng3 g6 13. b3 Bg7 14. Bb2 O-O 15. Qd2 Qb6 16. O-O-O a5
17. Nde2 Bxb2+ 18. Kxb2 a4 19. Nc1 axb3 20. cxb3 Nc6 21. h5 Qa5 22. Kb1 {[#]}
Na7 $1 23. Qb2 Nb5 24. Ka1 Nc3 25. Rd2 Ra7 26. Rh2 Rfa8 27. Bf3 Qc7 28. Rc2
Nxa2 29. Nxa2 Rxa2+ 30. Qxa2 Rxa2+ 31. Kxa2 Qa5+ 32. Kb1 Qa3 {Hawkes} (32…
Nxb3 $4 33. Ra2 Qc5 34. Rhc2 Qg1+ 35. Kb2 Qxg3 $4 36. Ra8+ $1 Bxa8 37. Rc8+ Kg7
38. h6# {(Hollis)}) 0-1
[/pgn]

Obituary from Raymond Keene in The Specatator

Obituary from Kenneth Shelton in The Independent

Obituary from ? in The Times

Obituary from John Rhodes in The Chess Improver

Obituary from Bob Jones of Keverel Chess.

Wikipedia article.

BCN remembers CGM Adrian Hollis who passed away in Wells, Somerset on Tuesday, February 26th 2013  at the age of seventy-two.

Adrian Swayne Hollis was born in Bristol, Avon on Friday, August 2nd 1940. During this critical period the Luftwaffe was wisely extending its Battle of Britain targets to include Britain’s airfields. Furthermore, Bristol was bombed heavily between June 1940 and May 1944. The longest period of regular bombing, known as the ‘Bristol Blitz’ began in autumn 1940 and ended the following spring. The first bombs of the Bristol Blitz fell at around 6 pm on Sunday 24 November 1940.

Adrian was the only child of MI5 director general Roger Henry Hollis KB CBE (later to become Sir Roger Hollis) and Evelyn Esme Hollis (née Swayne) who was Roger’s first wife. Roger was from Wells and Evelyn from Burnham-on-Sea and they were married on July 17th 1937 in Wells Cathedral with Evelyn’s father performing the ceremony.

Adrian won a scholarship in classics to Eton College and then went up to Keble College, Oxford where he took a first in mods and greats. Whilst at Keble Adrian represented Oxford in four varsity matches between 1959 and 1962. Indeed, his support for varsity matches was maintained for many years attending a large number into and beyond the Lloyds Bank era. Stalwart organiser Henry Mutkin would always be sure to extend an invitation.

In 1961 Adrian become the youngest ever West of England Champion at the age of 21.

Adrian met Margaret Mair Cameron Edwards in 1967 at St. Andrew’s University where he taught Classics and she taught German. They married and had two daughters, Jennifer (b. 1974) and Veronica (b. 1977) and a son.

He was the Games Editor for the British Correspondence Chess Association (BCCA) resigning in 1969.

In 1984 Adrian was forced to endure allegations against his father by Chapman Pincher (in CPs book Too Secret too Long) that Sir Roger had been a Soviet spy / mole. These allegations were demonstrated to be false. He may well also have been aware of allegations against his friend and chess mentor Graham Mitchell earlier in 1963. Ironically, it was Adrian’s father who initiated the investigation into Graham. Again, the rumours were shown to be unfounded.

Adrian became a director of the company Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Limited on the September 1st 1996 and resigned on May 12th 2007. He was also a Vice President of the West of England Chess Union (WECU).

Between 2003 and 2007 (according to the Electoral Roll) Adrian lived at 63, Bainton Road, Oxford, OX2 7AG :

and following his retirement (and the time of the 2008 electoral roll) Adrian had moved to Pound House, Southover, Wells, BA5 1UH :

Adrian has written many learned papers and has had two books published :

and

During his time at Keble College, Adrian engaged with and mentored many chess players including Jonathan Rowson (1996), David Norwood (1988), Julian Way, David Goodman (1977) and Dharshan Kumaran (1993).

Julian was a personal student of Adrian’s and was kind enough to tell us :

I do remember Adrian well. He could quote Latin verse ad infinitum. He was an expert on Ovid.
In terms of chess he had a huge pile of Informators in his study still in their cardboard packaging. He was very kind to me and insisted I play above him for Keble in the intercollegiate matches.

I gave him a copy of Developments in the Orthodox QGD which I had written in 1987. He was quite taken back when I didn’t want any money for it. He seemed to have quite a lot of respect for me.

I once asked him why he had given me a place at Oxford. He replied that he couldn’t have rejected someone with my passion and enthusiasm.
I kept in touch with Adrian until his passing. He gave me a lovely reference when I resumed my studies in 2007 at Kingston University.
I remember him as a kind and unassuming man. He became a lifelong friend.

From British Chess (Pergamon Press, 1983) Botterill, Levy, Rice and Richardson :

“I was born on August 2nd, 1940, educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford and now teach Classics at Keble College, Oxford. I learned the moves at the advanced age of thirteen from a cousin who himself could have made a good chess player had he not been seduced by Philosophy and brain-teasers; all that remains in the mind from these encounters is a vision of perpetually losing my rooks to fianchettoed bishops.

My first ever tournament was the London Boys’ Championship 1956-7. In the opening round fate allotted me Black against David Rumens. As it happened, the brochure included a game of his from the previous year in which he had answered 1.d4 with 1…Nc6, quite enough, in my opinion, to condemn his utterly.

[fen]r1bqkbnr/pppppppp/2n5/8/3P4/8/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq – 0 1[/fen]

(Ed: The above position did not impress Adrian hugely.)

This view seemed confirmed when within twelve moves of an advance French I was two pawns up. Then, however, aided by my over confidence he worked up a fierce attack, and I just escaped with a draw. Nevertheless, I won the tournament; an opponent remarked how quickly I played my moves.

Thereafter the game was never so easy, but I did reasonably, well, winning the championships of the British Universities, West of England and East of Scotland, and playing for England quite regularly during the 1960s (including 7.5/12 in six Anglo-Dutch matches).

The high spot of my over-the-board chess was the series of World Student team championships from 1960 to 1964 in glamorous places (Leningrad, Helsinki, Mariánské Lázně, Budva and Cracow); most enjoyable of these being Budva, 1963 where one could bathe every day in the Adriatic and I won the (?) gold medal on Board 1 with 7.5/9., the year after Spassky (this must look good in the records, unless they happen to reveal that for the first time in preliminary and final sections, and that England did not qualify for the top final).

[pgn]
[Event “Paignton”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1966.09.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Black “Beach, Richard A”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “E63”]
[Annotator “BCN”]
[PlyCount “35”]
[SourceTitle “BCM, 1966, page 289, game”]

{[%evp 0,25,61,14,28,-9,54,37,37,18,25,20,27,19,18,29,45,2,38,27,5,20,14,3,7,
-4,24,-17]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3
a6 8. b3 Rb8 9. Bb2 b5 10. cxb5 axb5 11. d5 Na5 12. Nd4 b4 13. Nb1 $11 {[#]} (
13. Na4 e5 14. Nc2 Bd7 15. Ne3 Bh6 16. Bc1 Bxa4 17. bxa4 b3 18. Bd2) 13… e6 (
13… e5) 14. a3 bxa3 15. Rxa3 c5 $2 ({Correct was} 15… e5 16. Rxa5 exd4 17.
Ra3 $16) 16. dxc6 {[#]} {Black punted} Nc4 $2 {but had missed} 17. Qc1 $1 $18 (
{Black was hoping for} 17. bxc4 Rxb2 18. Nc3 $18) 17… Bh6 18. Qxc4 $1 {
and Black resigned} 1-0
[/pgn]

My best chess was probably played at Mariánské Lázně, 1962, where in successive rounds I had favourable draws with Radulov and Hort, coming close to beating the latter. Ironically, I was awarded the British Master title after I had virtually retired from over-the-board chess.

[pgn]
[Event “Paignton”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1966.09.??”]
[Round “3”]
[White “Hartston, William Roland”]
[Black “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “A05”]
[Annotator “Hollis, Keene & BCN”]
[PlyCount “80”]
[SourceTitle “The Spectator, 20th April”]

{[%evp 0,18,19,-22,0,-31,-9,-5,9,-19,-25,-22,-34,-17,-10,5,21,21,31,5,13]} {
This game appeared in The Spectator, April 20th, 2013 as part of an obituary
from Ray Keene. The original source was British Chess Magazine, 1966, page 302,
game #14,225.} 1. g3 Nf6 2. Bg2 d5 3. Nf3 g6 4. b4 {ASH : This set-up, in fact
a primitive form of the Reti, has been patronised recently by Smyslov, among
others. RDK : This set-up, a form of the Reti, has been championed by,
amongst others, Vassily Smyslov.} Bg7 5. Bb2 O-O 6. O-O a5 ({BCN : Nowadays}
6… c6 7. d3 a5 8. a3 axb4 9. axb4 Rxa1 10. Bxa1 Qb6 11. c3 Nbd7 12. Nbd2 e5
13. e4 Re8 {is the modern (2020) continuation.}) 7. b5 ({ASH :} 7. a3 {, or}) (
{even} 7. c3 {came into consideration here.}) 7… c5 $146 {BCN : This was the
first game to feature this position.} 8. d3 (8. bxc6 {ASH: was quite possible.}
) 8… b6 $146 {BCN : This is the only recorded game with this move.} 9. c4 e6
{ASH : Black decides to maintain a pawn centre, without worrying if the pawns
should hang. RDK : Black decides to create a pawn centre without worrying if
the pawns will end up hanging.} 10. Qc2 Bb7 11. Nbd2 Nbd7 {[#]} 12. e3 {
RDK : White has to prevent … d4 and … e5.} Qc7 13. Rad1 ({ASH : Harston
later preferred RDK: Hartston later preferred} 13. Rac1 Rad8) 13… Rad8 14.
Qb1 e5 {ASH : Somewhat risky, but the only way to progress. RDK : Somewhat
risky, but the only way to make progress.} 15. cxd5 Nxd5 16. Nc4 Rfe8 17. Qa1
f6 18. Rc1 Nf8 19. d4 exd4 20. exd4 Ne6 21. Rfd1 {[#]} Ndf4 $1 $17 {ASH :
Seizing his chance. This sacrifice is necessary because the central position
is beginning to look rickety, and appears to be sound. White has terrible
weaknesses and his queen is marooned far away. RDK : Seizing his chance.
This sacrifice is necessary because the central position is beginning to look
rickety. The sacrifice looks sound as White has terrible weaknesses and his
queen is miles away.} 22. gxf4 Nxf4 23. Ne3 (23. Bh1 Qd7 {ASH : is too slow.})
(23. d5 {ASH : Might be a shade better – see next note.}) 23… Nxg2 $19 24.
Kxg2 Be4 $1 (24… Qf4 {ASH : is also possible but the win would not be so
easy after} 25. d5 Rxd5 26. Rxd5 Bxd5 27. Nxd5 Qg4+ {ASH : etc}) 25. Nf1 Qf4
26. Rc3 cxd4 27. Rcd3 Rd5 28. Qc1 Qg4+ 29. Ng3 Rf5 30. h3 {ASH : There is
nothing better} Bxf3+ 31. Kh2 Rh5 32. Rxf3 Qxf3 33. Nxh5 {ASH : The rest is
straightforward} Qxf2+ {RDK : Now it’s straightforward for Black.} 34. Kh1
Qf3+ 35. Kg1 gxh5 36. Bxd4 Qg3+ 37. Kh1 Qxh3+ 38. Kg1 Qg4+ 39. Kh1 Rc8 40. Qd2
Rd8 {and White resigned.} 0-1
[/pgn]

In 1964 I decided that henceforth for me ‘serious’ chess would mean correspondence, while OTB became a pleasant social activity. My introduction to the postal game had been made about 1955 by a colleague of my father’s, International Master Graham Mitchell, to whom I owe an enormous debt for the patience and kindness with which he played a series of games, bearing with me when I lost interest in worsening positions. The switch to postal play was caused by a number of factors, negative and positive : an impending move to Scotland, where there was less OTB chess, frustration at constantly spoiling good positions through mistakes in time pressure – on the other hand a feeling that correspondence chess should suit an academic temperament, and a particularly fascinating game played in 1963-4 with Michael Haygarth (see below) on which I spent so much time and energy that I almost feared it would ruin my post-graduate exams.

[pgn]
[Event “County Correspondence Championship”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1963.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Haygarth, Michael John”]
[Black “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B78”]
[Annotator “ASH & British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “106”]
[SourceTitle “British Chess, page 104”]
[WhiteTeam “Yorkshire”]
[BlackTeam “Somerset”]

{[%evp 0,20,19,38,40,41,66,77,66,55,55,20,70,53,40,34,30,28,47,32,47,-3,30]} 1.
e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Bc4 (
8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 e5 13. Bc5 Be6 14.
Ne4 Re8 15. h4 h6 16. g4 Qc7 17. g5 h5 18. Bc4 Red8 19. Qf2 {is modern
practise.}) 8… Nc6 9. Qd2 Bd7 10. h4 (10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. h4 h5 13.
Bg5 Rc5 14. Kb1 b5 15. g4 hxg4 16. h5 Nxh5 17. Nd5 Re8 18. Rxh5 gxh5 19. Qh2
Rxd5 20. Bxd5 Qb6 21. Qxh5 e6 22. Bb3) 10… Rc8 {ASH : At that time people
always played the queen’s rook to c8. Later it became the custom to play …
Qa5 and …Rfc8. Later still fashion swung back.} 11. Bb3 Ne5 (11… h5 12.
O-O-O Ne5) 12. Bh6 {ASH : Of all the attacking possibilities, White chooses a
relatively ineffective one.} ({The modern way is} 12. O-O-O h5 13. Bg5 Rc5 14.
Kb1 b5 15. g4 hxg4 16. h5 Nxh5 17. Nd5 Re8 18. Rxh5 gxh5 19. Qh2 Rxd5 20. Bxd5
Qb6 {transposes to a previous line.}) 12… Nc4 {ASH : A nice little finesse.}
13. Bxc4 Bxh6 ({more usual is} 13… Rxc4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. h5 Qa5 16. hxg6
fxg6 (16… hxg6 $4 17. Qh6+ Kg8 18. Qh8#) 17. O-O-O) 14. Qxh6 ({Believe it or
not,} 14. Bxf7+ $4 Kg7 $1 {ASH : Resigns, has actually occurred in an
international (over-the-board!) tournament. BCN : It was, in fact, Zuidema
– Lee, Zurich Junior, 1964.} (14… Kxf7 $2 15. Qxh6) (14… Rxf7 $2 15. Qxh6
$14)) 14… Rxc4 15. O-O-O Rxc3 16. bxc3 Qa5 {ASH : Black has carried out his
exchange sacrifice under unusually favourable circumstances.} 17. Kb2 Rc8 {[#]}
18. Rd3 ({ASH : In a later game (British Correspondence Championship 1965-6).
S.Milan played against me} 18. Qd2 Rc4 19. Nb3 {, keeping more active chances
(the game was drawnin 50 moves).}) 18… Bb5 19. Nxb5 {The exchange of minor
peices suite Black.} (19. Qg5 Rc5 {would be ingenious but not better.}) 19…
Qxb5+ 20. Ka1 Rc5 21. Rb1 Qa6 22. Qc1 Ra5 23. Rb2 b6 24. Qb1 Nd7 25. Rb4 Ne5
26. Re3 Nc4 {[#] ASH : Black’s knight has reached ideal squares, and for the
next few moves makes the White rooks dance to his tune.} 27. Rd3 Rc5 28. Qe1
Ra5 29. Qb1 Ne5 30. Re3 ({ASH : Not} 30. Rd5 Rxd5 31. exd5 Qe2 {and White’s
position collapses.}) 30… Rc5 31. Rb3 b5 32. Qd1 Qc6 33. Qd4 Nc4 34. Rd3 a5
35. g4 {ASH : Natural, but in the end providing a target.} a4 36. Rb4 Ne5 37.
Re3 Qc8 $1 38. Kb1 {[#] ASH : Something must fall so White decides to return
the exchange.} h5 $1 39. gxh5 Nc6 40. Qd3 Nxb4 41. cxb4 Rxh5 42. e5 {Unable to
protect his weaknesses, White tries to break out.} Rxe5 43. Rxe5 dxe5 44. Qxb5
Qc3 45. Qxa4 Qxf3 46. b5 e4 47. b6 e3 48. Qb3 Qf1+ 49. Kb2 e2 50. b7 e1=Q 51.
b8=Q+ Kh7 52. Q8b6 Qc1+ 53. Kc3 Qcf4 {White resigns. A remarkable position,
with four queens on the board. Material is level, but the exposed White king
is helpless. This game was played just before I left Oxford to teach in
Scotland (where, at that time, over-the-board chess was not so strong as it
has since become), and it was to a great extent responsible for turning my
main interest to postal chess.} 0-1
[/pgn]

In 1964-5 I qualified for the British Championship by winning a candidates’ section with 100%, and then competed three times in the British Championship itself (1965-6, 1966-7, 1970-71), winning on each occasion (the first time jointly with S. Milan) and remaining unbeaten. International play also proved successful, and I soon collected the two norms necessary for the IM title (Ed: awarded in 1970).

The first chance for the Grandmaster title came on Board 1 in the Seventh Olympiad final. Despite a rare loss with the White pieces(my only defeat with white for a stretch of 15 years), things went well, including a lucky win against the reigning World Champion, Horst Rittner, and the enticing prospect beckoned if only I could beat the Russian Moiseyev. He held a slight advantage since the opening, but I thought I saw the chance of tempting him to an incorrect sacrifice. Back came his move; he had indeed made the sacrifice and the envelope burnt a hole in my pocket during an important meeting (my mind was elsewhere). After a mere two days’ thought I sent my reply. The post between England and the USSR takes about a month for the return trip. Soon after posting my move, as I was walking from the Ashmolean Museum to Keble, just passing the front gate of St. John’s, the realisation of what I had overlooked hit me, and there followed an inexorable wait for the death blow which I now saw only too clearly.

So no Grandmaster title, but Great Britain still took the bronze medals, and I scored 6/9 (+5=1-2).

Another opportunity came when the British Postal Chess Federation organised a tournament (1974-6) in memory of its former secretary RJ Potter.  This started inauspiciously for me with a heavy defeat at the hands of Grandmaster Endzelins of Australia., a country which has so far provided my least favourite opposition (not only is the postage extremely expensive, but my score to date is 0/2).

From The Potter Memorial, Ken Messere, Chess (Sutton Coldfield), 1979 we have this potted biography from Ken Messere :

“Adrian Hollis is 36, was educated at Eton and Oxford, has written two books on the poet Ovid and is a Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Keble College, Oxford. He is a British Master at over the board chess and has been Champion of British Universities, West of England and East Scotland.

In 1964, he went to teach at St. Andrews University where his wife, Margaret, taught German. They were married and moved to Keble College in 1967 and now have two daughters. Jennifer is nearly five and Veronica is two.

Adrian began to concentrate on correspondence chess in 1964 and won the British Correspondence Chess Championship jointly in 1966 and outright in 1967 and 1971. He won the I.M. title in 1970 and his fine score of 6/9 on top board for Great Britain in the I.C.C.F. VIIth Correspondence Chess Olympiad Final contributed to the team’s winning the bronze medal in this event.”

and now back to Adrian’s British Chess article…

Thereafter my fortunes improved; one opponent accepted too trustingly some faulty analysis by Szabo in Informator (for a while it seemed that the Hungarian might earn me not one but two points). The East German Dr. Baumbach failed to find an improvement in a line with which I had been successful in the Seventh Olympiad Final.

[pgn]
[Event “Potter Memorial corr7376”]
[Site “corr”]
[Date “1973.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Black “Baumbach, Fritz”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D44”]
[Annotator “Baumbach, ASH and BCN”]
[PlyCount “63”]
[EventDate “1973.??.??”]
[EventType “tourn (corr)”]
[EventRounds “12”]
[SourceTitle “Myers”]
[Source “Myers”]
[SourceDate “2012.11.12”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2012.11.12”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%mdl 33284][%evp 0,63,19,31,32,-10,25,31,29,4,44,-4,-8,27,27,28,23,24,23,20,
42,40,29,37,29,-15,64,23,79,45,12,14,15,24,38,32,81,93,66,30,25,25,35,-38,122,
205,196,191,184,184,272,340,340,293,333,518,527,532,534,534,534,534,527,533,
537,541] Speelman: Really serious correspondence chess players are a breed
apart. In order to play “over-the-board” chess one must be able to maintian a
reasonable level of concentration for up to five hours at a time; and also
possibly to produce a quite prodigious amount of energy after (say) about four
and a half hours. Correspondence players, however, must require a quite
different nervous system. In their case a game may last months or even years.
It will be necessary to sustain sufficient interest in, and contact with,
possibly dozens of games simultaneously. There will not be a sudden explosion
of frenetic activity in any game–i.e., time trouble–but rather a long hard
grind of analytical work, work which can involve many hours of analysis on a
single critical move. Adrian Hollis is, together with Keith Richardson and
Peter Clarke, one of Great Britian’s three correspondence Grandmasters. A
classics don at Keble College, Oxford, he makes the time to play up to thirty
(!) correspondence games simultaneously. This game, against the East German
Fritz Baumbach, is from the Potter Memorial tournament which Hollis won to
gain the Grandmaster title. It is a very fine example of correspondence chess.
An exceedingly complicated theoretical opening leaves White with a clear
advantage, which he exploits with beautifully precise middlegame play.} 1. d4 {
Myers Speelman Baumbach} d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5
7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Nxg5 {ASH : More natural} ({than} 9. exf6 {which also
has its supporters.}) 9… hxg5 ({ASH : Round about 1957 I spent many happy
hours analysing} 9… Nd5 {, a move which has recently been played and
recommended by George Botterill.} {is an intriguing possibility, which remains
quite unclear after} 10. Nxf7 Qxh4 11. Nxh8 Bb4) 10. Bxg5 Nbd7 11. exf6 ({
ASH : The immediate} 11. g3 {avoids any danger on the long white diagonal, but
black can cause complications by} Qa5 12. exf6 b4) 11… Bb7 12. g3 $1 Qb6 ({
ASH : Whites move order may seem peverse, in that it invites} 12… c5 {
Answered by} 13. d5 {However, Black should look again at 12…c5, and after 13.
d5 probably 13…Ne5.}) 13. Bg2 O-O-O 14. O-O Ne5 {ASH : Botvinnik’s move in
the fifth game of the 1954 World Championship match against Smyslov, who
declined to put the idea to the test,} (14… c5 {is still possible.}) 15. dxe5
$1 ({ASH : Smyslov replied} 15. Qe2 {with a minimal advantage. Presumably
Botvinnik had taken into account white’s queen sacrifice, but it still seems
very strong.} Qxd4 16. Be3 Qd3 17. Rfd1 Qxe2 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Nxe2 Nd3 20. b3
Kc7 21. bxc4 bxc4 22. Bxa7 c5 23. Rb1 Bxg2 24. Bb8+ Kc6 25. Kxg2 Bh6 26. f4 e5
27. a4 exf4 28. gxf4 c3 29. Nxc3 Bxf4 30. Bxf4 Nxf4+ 31. Kg3 Nh5+ 32. Kg4 Nxf6+
33. Kg5 Nd5 34. Nxd5 Kxd5 35. h4 f6+ 36. Kg4 c4 37. a5 c3 38. a6 Ra8 39. Kf5
Rxa6 40. h5 Ra2 41. Kxf6 {Smyslov – Botvinnink, 1954.}) 15… Rxd1 {[#]} 16.
Rfxd1 {MegaBase 2020 has moved the wrong rook to d1 but the position
transposes. Attempting to hack the pgn breaks many of the sub-variations as
there would be positions where either rook may move to e1 but the notation
says merely Re1. Ho hum!} ({The actual game move order was} 16. Raxd1 Bc5 17.
Ne4 Bd4 18. Nd6+ Kc7 19. Bf4 Rf8 20. Bh6 Rh8 21. Bg7 Rd8 22. Nxf7 Bxf2+ 23. Kh1
Rxd1 24. Rxd1 {transposes.}) 16… Bc5 (16… c5 17. Bf4 (17. Ne4 Bd5 18. h4 (
18. Bf4 Qb7 19. Rxd5 exd5 20. Nc3 Bh6 21. Bxh6 Rxh6 22. Rd1 b4 23. Nxd5 Qa6 24.
Ne7+ Kc7 25. h4 Rh8 26. Rd6 Qa5 27. Nd5+ Kb8 28. Rd7 b3 29. axb3 Qe1+ 30. Bf1
Rg8 31. Rxf7 Rxg3+ 32. fxg3 Qxg3+ 33. Bg2 Qe1+ 34. Bf1 Qg3+ 35. Kh1 Qxh4+ 36.
Kg2 {1/2-1/2 Eldridge,M-Van Damme,L/corr ICCF 2009/}) 18… Qc6 19. Re1 Kb8 20.
f3 a5 21. Kf2 a4 22. Nc3 Qa6 23. Nxd5 exd5 24. e6 fxe6 25. Bh3 a3 26. Rab1 Qa4
27. Re2 e5 28. bxa3 Kc7 29. Rbe1 Bd6 30. f7 Rf8 31. Be6 d4 32. Bh6 d3 33. Bxf8
Bxf8 34. Rd2 c3 35. Rxd3 Qc2+ 36. Ke3 c4 37. Rd7+ Kb6 38. Red1 Bc5+ {0-1
Rutkowski,P-Konieczny,A/corr ICCF 2009/}) (17. Bxb7+ Qxb7 18. Rd2 (18. Re1 a5
19. Ne4 a4 20. Bf4 Qa8 21. a3 Kc7 22. Rac1 Qc6 23. Rc2 Qa8 24. f3 Bh6 25. Bxh6
Rxh6 26. Rd1 Rh5 27. Rdd2 Rxe5 28. h4 Rxe4 29. fxe4 Qxe4 30. Re2 Qg4 31. Kh2 b4
32. Rcd2 c3 33. bxc3 b3 34. Kg2 Qf5 35. Re1 Qxf6 {0-1 Hassim,U-Kireev,S/corr
IECG 2009/}) 18… b4 19. Rad1 Qc6 20. Rd8+ Kc7 21. Ne2 Qa4 22. Be3 Bh6 23.
R1d7+ Qxd7 24. Rxd7+ Kxd7 25. f4 Kc6 26. Kg2 a5 27. h4 Bf8 28. Kf3 Kd5 29. Bc1
c3 30. bxc3 c4 31. Ng1 b3 32. a4 Kc6 33. Bb2 Bc5 34. Ne2 Rd8 35. Nd4+ Bxd4 36.
cxd4 Kd5 37. Ke3 Rg8 38. Kf3 c3 39. Bxc3 Rc8 40. Bb2 Rc2 41. Ba3 Ra2 42. Bc1
Rxa4 43. Ke3 Ra2 44. Kd3 b2 45. Bxb2 Rxb2 46. f5 a4 47. fxe6 Kxe6 {0-1 Epiney,
F-Zielinski,S/corr IECG 2003/}) 17… b4 (17… Bc6 18. Rd2 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 a6
20. Rad1 Qc7 21. Ne4 a5 22. f3 a4 23. h4 a3 24. bxa3 Rh5 25. Kh3 Rh8 26. g4 Qa5
27. Rd7 c3 28. Rxf7 c2 29. Rc1 Qxa3 30. Kg3 c4 31. g5 Qd3 32. Rxf8+ Rxf8 33. g6
{1-0 Ingersol,H-Almeida,R/corr IECG 2009/}) 18. Ne4 Bd5 (18… Qb5 19. Rac1
Bxe4 20. Bxe4 Qa4 21. Rd2 c3 22. bxc3 bxc3 23. Re2 c4 24. Kg2 Qa5 25. h4 Ba3
26. Rh1 Bf8 27. g4 Qd8 28. h5 Qd4 29. g5 Rg8 30. Kf3 Rh8 31. Kg4 {1-0 Lehnhoff,
H-Djoudi,A/corr IECG 2006/}) 19. Rxd5 exd5 20. Ng5 Bh6 21. Nxf7 Bxf4 22. gxf4
Rf8 23. Bxd5 c3 24. Nd6+ (24. bxc3 bxc3 25. Nd6+ Kc7 26. Rc1 c2 27. Bb3 Rg8+
28. Kf1 Rg4 29. Rxc2 Qc6 30. Be6 Rxf4 31. Kg1 Qf3 32. Rxc5+ Kb6 33. Rb5+ Kc6
34. Bd5+ Qxd5 35. Rxd5 Kxd5 36. Nc8 Kxe5 37. Nxa7 Rxf6 {1/2-1/2 Schrancz,
I-Kireev,S/corr IECG 2009/}) 24… Kd8 25. Nc4 Qb5 26. bxc3 bxc3 27. Ne3 Qb4
28. Bb3 Qxf4 29. Rd1+ Kc8 30. Rd5 Kb8 31. Rxc5 Qg5+ 32. Kf1 Rxf6 33. exf6 Qxc5
34. f7 a5 35. Nd5 a4 36. Nb6 Kc7 37. Nxa4 c2 38. Bxc2 Qc4+ 39. Kg2 Qxf7 40. Bb3
Qg7+ 41. Kf3 Qd4 42. Kg3 Kd6 43. Kg2 Ke5 44. Kg3 Qe4 45. h3 Qf4+ 46. Kg2 Qd4
47. Kg3 Ke4 48. Bc2+ Kd5 49. Bb3+ Ke5 50. Kf3 Kf5 51. Kg3 Kg5 52. Kf3 Kh4 53.
Kg2 Qf6 54. Kf1 Kxh3 55. Ke2 Qd4 56. Be6+ Kg2 57. Bb3 Qe4+ 58. Kd2 Kxf2 59. Nb2
Qe2+ 60. Kc3 Qe5+ 61. Kc2 Ke2 62. Nc4 Qd4 63. a4 Qf4 64. Kc3 Qf6+ 65. Kc2 Qd4
66. Na3 Qd2+ 67. Kb1 Qc3 68. Ka2 Qf6 69. Nc4 Kd3 70. Nb2+ Kc3 {0-1 Skeels,
J-Kireev,S/corr IECG 2008/}) (16… b4 17. Ne4 c5 (17… Qa5 18. Bf4 Bc5 19.
Rac1 (19. h4 c3 20. bxc3 bxc3 21. Rac1 Bb4 22. Nd6+ Bxd6 23. Rxd6 Rd8 24. Rxd8+
Kxd8 25. h5 Qxa2 26. h6 Qe2 27. h7 Qh5 28. Be4 Ba6 29. Kg2 {1-0 Borisenko
Belovba,V-Matveeva,S/Tbilisi URS 1973/}) 19… c3 20. bxc3 bxc3 21. Rxc3 Bb4
22. Rb3 Rd8 23. Rdb1 c5 24. Nd6+ Rxd6 25. Bxb7+ Kxb7 26. exd6 Kc6 27. Rd1 Kd7
28. a3 Qa4 29. Rdb1 a5 30. axb4 c4 31. Rc3 Qa2 32. Rbc1 axb4 33. Rxc4 {1-0
Kolin,J-Menges,G/corr ICCF 2003/}) 18. a3 Bd5 (18… c3 19. bxc3 b3 20. c4 Qa6
21. Nd2 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Qb7+ 23. f3 a5 24. a4 Qb4 25. Rab1 b2 26. Ne4 Qxa4 27.
Rd2 Qxc4 28. Rdxb2 a4 29. Be3 a3 30. Rb8+ Kc7 31. R1b7+ Kc6 32. Rxf7 a2 33. Ra7
{1-0 Rensen,M-Schild,R/corr IECG 2009/}) 19. axb4 Qb7 20. Rxd5 exd5 21. Nc3
cxb4 22. Nxd5 Qd7 23. Be3 Kb8 24. Bf4 Qe6 25. Be3 Qd7 26. Ra5 c3 27. bxc3 b3
28. Bxa7+ Qxa7 29. Rxa7 Kxa7 30. Be4 b2 31. f4 Ba3 32. Kg2 Rc8 33. h4 Rc5 34.
Ne7 Rxc3 35. h5 Re3 36. Bf5 Re2+ 37. Kf3 Rh2 38. Kg4 Kb6 39. Kg5 Rh3 40. g4 Bc5
41. Be4 Kb5 42. h6 Bf2 43. Nf5 Kc4 44. h7 Kb3 45. Nh6 Re3 46. Bb1 Re1 47. h8=Q
Rxb1 48. Qb8+ Kc2 49. Qc7+ Kd2 50. Qa5+ Kc2 51. Qa4+ Kc3 52. Qc6+ Kd2 53. Qd5+
Kc1 54. Qh1+ Kc2 55. Qg2 {1-0 Illescas Cordoba,M-Morovic Fernandez,I/Spain ESP
1993/}) (16… Qc5 17. Bf4 b4 18. Ne4 Qa5 19. Rd4 c5 20. Rxc4 Bd5 21. Rcc1 Bxe4
22. Bxe4 Bh6 23. Bxh6 Rxh6 24. Rc4 Kc7 25. Rac1 Kb6 26. a3 bxa3 27. bxa3 Qxa3
28. Rb1+ Kc7 29. Rb5 Rh5 30. Rcxc5+ Kd7 31. Kg2 Qa1 32. Bc6+ Kd8 33. Rb8+ Kc7
34. Rb7+ Kd8 35. Bd7 {1-0 Budde,V-Hoffmann,H/BL GER 1982/}) (16… Bb4 17. Ne4
Rd8 18. h4 Rd3 19. h5 Qd8 20. Rxd3 cxd3 21. Rd1 Kc7 22. a3 Ba5 23. Nd6 Qg8 24.
Be3 Bb6 25. Bxb6+ Kxb6 26. Bf3 Qh7 27. b4 Ba8 28. g4 a5 29. Kg2 axb4 30. axb4
Bb7 31. Kg3 Ba6 32. Be4 Qg8 33. h6 c5 34. h7 Qf8 35. bxc5+ Kxc5 36. Nxf7 {
1-0 Mollov,E-Thierry,C/Orange FRA 1994/}) (16… Qa5 17. Ne4 Bb4 (17… c5 18.
Nd6+ Bxd6 19. Bxb7+ Kxb7 20. Rxd6 c3 21. bxc3 Qxc3 22. Rad1 Rc8 23. Rd7+ Rc7
24. Re7 Kc8 25. h4 b4 26. Rc1 Qb2 27. h5 Qe2 28. h6 Qh5 29. Be3 Rd7 30. Kg2 Rd3
31. Rxc5+ Kd8 32. Rb5 Kc8 33. Bxa7 Qf3+ 34. Kh2 Qh5+ 35. Kg2 Qf3+ {1/2-1/2
Loskamp,S-Behle,B/Porz GER 1995/}) 18. h4 Qc7 19. a3 Bf8 20. Nd6+ Bxd6 21. exd6
Qd7 22. a4 a6 23. Be3 Rh5 24. Bf3 Rf5 25. Bg4 Rd5 26. Bf4 Rxd1+ 27. Rxd1 c5 28.
axb5 axb5 29. h5 b4 30. h6 Be4 31. Ra1 c3 32. bxc3 bxc3 33. f3 Bh7 34. Ra5 c2
35. Rxc5+ Kd8 36. Rc7 Qa4 37. Bxe6 Qa1+ 38. Kf2 Qd4+ 39. Kg2 c1=Q 40. Bxc1 fxe6
41. Rxh7 Qxd6 42. Ra7 Qc5 43. h7 Qxa7 44. h8=Q+ {1-0 Poletov,V-Kuznezov,A/Tula
RUS 2006/}) 17. Ne4 $1 Bd4 (17… Rd8 $2 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Rd1+ Kc7 20. h4 $16
Bd4 21. h5 c5 22. h6 Bxe4 23. Bxe4 Bxe5 24. h7 Qb8 25. Kg2 Qh8 26. Rh1 Kb6 27.
Rd1 Kc7 28. Bf4 Bxf4 29. gxf4 Qxf6 30. Rh1 Qh8 31. f5 exf5 32. Bxf5 Kd6 33. Rh5
f6 34. f4 Qe8 35. Bg4 Qh8 36. Kf1 b4 37. Bf5 Kd5 38. Rh3 Kd4 39. Rg3 Qa8 40.
Rh3 Qh8 41. Kf2 a5 42. Rh1 c3 43. Rd1+ Kc4 44. b3+ Kb5 45. Rd6 c4 46. Rd5+ Kc6
47. bxc4 a4 48. Be4 Kc7 49. Rc5+ Kd6 50. Rc6+ Ke7 51. Bf5 Qd8 52. Kg3 b3 53.
axb3 axb3 54. Rc8 Qxc8 55. Bxc8 c2 56. h8=Q c1=Q 57. Qg7+ Kd6 58. c5+ Kd5 59.
Qb7+ Kd4 60. Qb4+ Kd5 61. Bb7+ Ke6 62. Qe4+ Kf7 63. Qh7+ Ke6 64. f5+ Ke5 65.
Qe7+ Kd4 66. Qxf6+ Kc4 67. Qe6+ Kb4 68. f6 Qg1+ 69. Bg2 b2 70. Qe4+ Kc3 71. f7
b1=Q 72. Qxb1 Qxb1 73. f8=Q Qe1+ 74. Kh2 Qe5+ 75. Kg1 Qe1+ 76. Qf1 Qe3+ 77. Qf2
Qc1+ 78. Bf1 Qg5+ 79. Kh2 Qh5+ 80. Kg2 Qd5+ 81. Qf3+ Kd4 82. c6 Qg5+ 83. Kh3
Qh6+ 84. Kg3 Kc5 85. Bg2 Qg5+ 86. Qg4 Qe5+ 87. Kh4 Qe1+ 88. Qg3 Qb4+ 89. Kh5
Qb2 90. Qg5+ Kd6 91. Qd5+ Ke7 92. Qd7+ Kf6 93. Qd6+ Kf5 94. Qg6+ {1-0 Alster,
L-Kupka,S/Prague CSR 1963/}) 18. Nd6+ $1 (18. Rd2 Rd8 19. Rad1 c5 20. Nd6+ Rxd6
21. Bxb7+ Qxb7 22. exd6 Qf3 23. Re1 e5 24. d7+ Kd8 25. h4 Qxg3+ 26. Kf1 Qh3+
27. Ke2 Bxb2 28. Rb1 Bc3 29. Rd6 Bd4 30. Be3 Qg4+ 31. Kf1 a6 32. Ra1 Qh3+ 33.
Kg1 Qf5 34. h5 Qxh5 {0-1 Tan Hiong Liong-Sydor,A/Warsaw POL 1959/}) (18. Be3
Bxe3 19. fxe3 Qxe3+ 20. Kh1 Kb8 21. Re1 Qd4 22. Nd6 Qf2 23. Nxf7 c5 24. Rg1 Rh5
25. Rad1 Qxg3 26. Rd8+ Kc7 {0-1 Vente,J-Officier,T/corr NED 1995/}) (18. Bf4
Bxb2 19. Nd6+ Kc7 20. Nxf7 Rf8 21. Ng5 Bc8 22. Rab1 Bd4 23. Ne4 a5 24. g4 Bd7
25. h4 b4 26. h5 c3 27. Rd3 a4 28. g5 c2 29. Rf1 b3 30. axb3 axb3 31. g6 b2 32.
g7 Ra8 33. f7 b1=Q 34. f8=Q Rxf8 35. gxf8=Q Q1b4 36. Qxb4 Qxb4 37. h6 {1-0
Moscoso,F-Brunet,R/corr IECG 1996/}) 18… Kc7 (18… Kb8 19. Nxf7 Rf8 20. Rxd4
$6 (20. Nh6 $2 Bxf2+ 21. Kf1 Bd4 $19) (20. Nd6 $1 Bxf2+ 21. Kh1 Be3 22. Bh4 $16
) 20… Qxd4 21. Nd6 $8 Qxb2 22. Re1 Qc3 23. Rb1 Qxe5 24. Bf4 Qe2 25. Nxb5+ e5
26. Nd6 Ka8 27. Be3 c3 $17 {Myers}) 19. Bf4 (19. Nxf7 $1 Rf8 20. Nd6 Bxe5 21.
Be3 Qa6 22. Ne4 Bc8 23. Bc5 Rxf6 24. Nxf6 Bxf6 25. Bd4 Bxd4 26. Rxd4 c5 27.
Rdd1 Bb7 28. Bxb7 Qxb7 29. Re1 Kd6 30. Rad1+ Ke7 31. Re3 a5 32. Rde1 a4 33.
Rxe6+ Kf7 34. R6e5 Qd7 35. h4 b4 36. Rxc5 Qd2 37. Re3 c3 38. bxc3 b3 39. axb3
Qc1+ 40. Kg2 axb3 {1-0 Vilela,J-Frey Beckman,K/Havana CUB 1985/}) 19… Rf8 (
19… Bxf2+ $1 20. Kh1 Be3 21. Nxf7 Rg8 22. a4 $1 Bxf4 23. gxf4 Qf2 $132 {Myers
}) 20. Bh6 $1 Rh8 {[#]} 21. Bg7 $2 (21. Nxf7 $142 Bxf2+ 22. Kh1 Rh7 23. Nd8
Rxh6 24. Nxe6+ Kc8 25. Rd8+ Qxd8 26. Nxd8 Kxd8 27. Rf1 $16 {[%cal Gf6f7] Myers}
) 21… Rd8 $4 (21… Bxf2+ $1 22. Kh1 Rh7 23. Rd2 (23. Nxf7 $2 Rxh2+ $1 24.
Kxh2 Qe3 $19 {[%cal Re3g3]}) 23… Qe3 {[%cal Ye3g3]} 24. Rxf2 Qxf2 25. Nxf7
Qxg3 26. Bh6 Qh4 $19 {Myers}) 22. Nxf7 $1 Bxf2+ (22… Rd7 23. Ng5 Kb8 (23…
Bxe5 24. Rxd7+ Kxd7 25. Rd1+ $18) 24. Bf8 Bc8 25. f7 Bxf2+ 26. Kh1 Rxf7 27.
Nxf7 Bd4 28. Bd6+ Kb7 29. a4 $18 {Myers}) 23. Kh1 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Qe3 (24… c5
$2 25. Nd6 Bxg2+ 26. Kxg2 Bd4 27. f7 Qc6+ 28. Kh3 Qf3 29. Rxd4 cxd4 30. f8=Q
$18 {Myers}) 25. Nd6 Qe2 {[#]} 26. Ra1 $3 (26. Rf1 $2 Ba8 $1 27. Ne4 (27. f7
$140 c5 28. f8=Q Qxf1#) 27… c5 $1 28. Rxf2 Qe1+ 29. Rf1 Qe2 30. Kg1 Bxe4 31.
Bxe4 Qe3+ $1 $11) (26. Rb1 $6 Qh5 27. f7 (27. g4 $2 Qh7 28. Rf1 $8 Bg3 $8 29.
h3 Bxe5 30. f7 c5 $11) 27… Bxg3 28. h3 c5 $1 29. Nxb7 Qxf7 30. Nd6 Qg6 31.
Rf1 $18) 26… Qh5 (26… Qxb2 27. Rf1 c3 28. f7 c2 29. Bh6 $18) 27. g4 $1 (27.
f7 $2 Bxg3 28. h3 c5 29. Nxb7 Qxf7 {Speelman} 30. Nd6 Qg6 31. Bf6 Qc2 32. Nxb5+
Kd7 33. Nxa7 Bf2 34. Nc6 Be3 35. h4 $1 $18 {Myers}) 27… Qh7 28. f7 Bg3 29. h3
c5 30. Nxb7 Qxg7 31. Rf1 Qf8 32. Nxc5 $1 1-0
[/pgn]

Also, I had a win with the Black pieces against the Russian Kopylov. The result was a score of 9/12 (+8=2-2), which sufficed for the grandmaster title and first place half a point ahead of the Finn Kauranen.

Since then I have played quite well on second board behind Keith Richardson in the Eighth Olympiad Final (+5=7-0), and very badly indeed (scoring just about 50% in the Heilimo Memorial Tournament organised from Finland (I was much impressed by the strength of the Finnish players, most of whom I had not encountered before). Having twice narrowly failed, I would still like to qualify for the Final of the Individual World Championship. Of course life becomes increasingly busy, but the examples of Hugh Alexander and Graham Mitchell encourage me to believe that one can continue to play well at postal chess longer than over-the-board. So perhaps around the year 2000, when the children are grown up….”

[pgn]
[Event “olm7 fin B1 corr”]
[Site “ICCF corr”]
[Date “1972.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Black “Florian, Tibor”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D76”]
[Annotator “Averbakh/Hollis/Howell & BCN”]
[PlyCount “121”]
[EventDate “1972.??.??”]
[EventType “team (corr)”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[SourceTitle “Corr 2002”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2002.05.23”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2002.05.23”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,121,18,26,36,-22,54,32,37,19,27,28,30,3,26,19,17,42,20,13,27,31,31,31,
19,24,27,11,47,61,50,85,90,77,66,63,67,54,73,53,40,43,55,36,46,65,45,46,49,49,
48,54,48,69,83,93,102,102,103,112,98,89,114,100,99,91,98,98,94,79,79,82,90,87,
91,85,91,82,78,76,96,101,96,75,100,91,92,103,118,118,118,118,118,118,121,139,
179,182,206,240,191,212,205,205,205,192,192,192,192,183,192,104,155,96,96,96,
100,527,537,28911,29983,29984,29985,29986]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3
d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 O-O ({ASH : It is rather more challenging for Black to
postpone castling, and to organise an immediate attack on White’s d-pawn with}
6… Nb6 7. Nc3 Nc6) 7. O-O Nb6 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. d5 Na5 ({ASH : I have never yet
found an opponent to accept the pawn with} 9… Bxc3 $6 {too risky to accept P}
10. dxc6 Bg7 11. Qc2 bxc6 12. Rd1 Bf5 13. Qb3 Qe8 14. Nd4 Bd7 15. Qc2 {BCN :
is a typical line.}) 10. Bf4 c6 11. dxc6 {ASH : Such are the subtleties of
transposition that, although occasionally played before, this line does not
appear in the Grunfeld books of Hartston or Richardson and Boyd.} Nxc6 ({
ASH : In Olympiad VIII Finals (1977) Dr. S. Aarseth (Norway) played against me
} 11… Qxd1 12. Rfxd1 Nxc6 13. Nd2 $1 Bf5 (13… Be6 {Hollis}) 14. Rac1 Rac8
15. Nde4 Nc4 16. b3 Na3 $6 (16… N4e5 {wastes two tempi}) 17. Nd5 Rfe8 (17…
Kh8 18. Nxe7 $1 Nxe7 19. Bd6) 18. Bg5 Kf8 (18… f6 $5 {although Hollis says
it “hardly appeals”}) 19. Nxe7 Nxe7 20. Nd6 b6 (20… Rxc1 21. Bxc1 {xNa3}) 21.
Nxc8 Bxc8 22. Bxe7+ Kxe7 23. Rc7+ Kf6 24. Bc6 Rf8 25. Rxa7 Nc2 26. Be4 $18 {
Hollis-Aarseth, corr-CCOL8 fin 1975-77}) 12. Qc1 e5 13. Be3 {13 Rd1 was theory
but why drive Black Q where she wants to go?} Nd4 {An outpost which cannot be
maintained.} 14. Rd1 Be6 15. Nxd4 exd4 16. Bxd4 Bxd4 17. e3 Bxe3 18. Qxe3 $14 {
[#] ASH : So White emerges with a small but clear advantage (better placed
pieces, pressure on the b-pawn and on the Black squares).} Qe7 19. Ne4 Bd5 20.
Qc5 Qxc5 21. Nxc5 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Rac8 $6 {ASH : A difficult decision. Black
surrenders a pawn for some counterplay.} ({ASH : He might have had better
chances of a draw with the passive} 22… Rab8 {better drawing chance despite}
23. Nd7 Nxd7 24. Rxd7 {not sufficient to win}) 23. Nxb7 Rc2 24. b4 Re8 25. Rd8
Rxd8 26. Nxd8 Na4 27. a3 Rc3 28. Re1 Kf8 29. Re5 Rc7 30. h4 h6 31. Ra5 Nc3 32.
Ra6 {threat Nc6 forces play} Rd7 33. Nc6 Rd6 34. a4 Nxa4 35. Rxa4 Rxc6 36. Rxa7
Rc3 37. b5 Rb3 {See page 80 in Essential Chess Endings by Howell.} 38. Rb7 Kg7
39. b6 h5 {This move produces a model endgame as analysed by Hollis etc. [#]
cf ending in Portisch-Petrosian [INF 17-0568] after Portisch’s 47th move.
White plan is to play K to d-file, Black captures f-pawn but then K goes to
c-file and R cannot return behind passed P (only works with b-pawn)} ({Hollis
suspected Black should have played} 39… g5 $5 {not fearing h4-h5}) 40. Kf1 {
The general case of a draw is threatened but not overturned. Averbakh
“Comprehensive Chess Endings” vol 5 (Pergamon ed) analyses both the Hollis and
Portisch endgames (see pp291-292)} Rb2 41. Ke1 Kf6 {As White threatens to
support the advance of his passed P with his K, it is very important for Black
to seek counterplay on the other wing – Averbakh} 42. f3 Rb3 43. Kd2 Rxf3 44.
Kc2 {ASH : The idea is realized.} Rf5 $2 (44… Ke6 $2 45. Rc7 $1 (45. Re7+ $6
Kxe7 46. b7 Rf5 47. b8=Q {hard to see how White can win}) 45… Rf5 {see game})
(44… Rxg3 $6 45. Rc7 $1 {Howell wrongly attributes this move to Hollis but I
don’t find it in Hollis’ notes. Averbakh claims as his?} (45. Rxf7+ Kxf7 46. b7
{Hollis said this may win as Pg6 weak but Averbakh gives:} Rg2+ $1 47. Kc3 Rg3+
48. Kc4 Rg4+ 49. Kc5 Rf4 $1 50. b8=Q Rf5+ 51. Kd6 Kg7 $1 {“Black creates an
impregnable fortress” – Averbakh}) 45… Rg2+ $140 46. Kb3 Rg1 47. Kb2 Rg2+ 48.
Rc2 $1 Rg4 49. Rc3 Rxh4 50. Ka3 Re4 51. b7 Re8 52. Rc8 Re3+ 53. Kb2 Re2+ 54.
Kc3 Re3+ 55. Kc2 Re2+ 56. Kd3 Rb2 57. b8=Q Rxb8 58. Rxb8 Kf5 59. Rf8 f6 60. Ke3
g5 61. Kf3 $18 {Averbakh}) (44… Re3 $3 {is the right plan:} 45. Rc7 Re8 46.
b7 Rb8 {Hollis thought White could now win:} 47. Kd3 Kf5 $1 48. Rxf7+ Kg4 49.
Rf4+ $1 Kxg3 50. Rb4 {[#]} g5 $1 {The saving move not considered in Hollis
article, but later discovered by Russian analysts. Black creates a
countervailing passed pawn.} (50… Kh3 $2 51. Ke2 $1 Kg3 (51… Kg2 52. Rb3) (
51… Re8+ 52. Kf2 Rf8+ 53. Ke3 Rb8 54. Kf3 {as in main line}) 52. Ke3 Kh3 53.
Kf3 Rf8+ 54. Ke4 Rb8 55. Ke5 $18) 51. hxg5 h4 52. g6 (52. Ke2 h3 53. Kf1 h2 54.
Rb3+ Kf4 55. Kg2 Kxg5 $11) 52… h3 53. g7 h2 54. Rb1 Kg2 $11 {Averbakh}) 45.
Rc7 Rb5 46. b7 {“The outwardly active position of Black R prevents his K from
approaching the pawns” – Averbakh} Ke6 (46… Kf5 {according to Fine’s recipe
(idea 47 Rxf7+? Kg4) but..} 47. Kc3 $1 {threat 48 Rxf7+ Kg4 49 Rf4+ and 50 Rb4;
prevents …Kg4 by same idea} f6 $140 (47… Kg4 48. Rc4+ $1 Kxg3 49. Rb4 Rxb7
50. Rxb7 Kxh4 (50… f5 51. Rg7) 51. Rxf7 Kg3 52. Kd2 g5 53. Ke1 $18) 48. Kc4
Rb1 49. Rc5+ Kg4 50. Rb5) 47. Kc3 f6 48. Kc4 Rb1 49. Kc5 Kf5 50. Rd7 $1 $18 {
prevents Kg4 and threatens Rd5+ followed by either Rd6+ or Rd4+ and then
inserting R on b-file} Rc1+ 51. Kd6 Rb1 52. Kc7 Rc1+ 53. Kd8 Rb1 54. Kc8 Kg4
55. Rd6 g5 56. Rxf6 gxh4 57. gxh4 Kxh4 58. Rg6 $1 Kh3 59. Kc7 {According to
Howell, Black resigned here but Hollis gives further moves, see e.g. ‘British
Chess’ pp105-107} Rxb7+ 60. Kxb7 h4 61. Kc6 {ASH : It would be extremely rash
to claim this ending as a theoretical win. The outcome nearly always depends
on a single tempo, and may be swayed by secondary factors (e.g. it proved
vital in the above for White’s rook to be on the seventh rather than the
eighth). But at least this game can be added to the example for future
research. Perhaps this is the kind of problem that one day computers might be
able to solve.} 1-0
[/pgn]

From British Chess Magazine, Volume CXXXIII (133, 2013), Number 4 (April), pp.194-5 we have this obituary written by James Pratt :

Adrian Swayne Hollis (2 viii 1940 Bristol – 26 ii 2013 Wells), British Master and Correspondence Grandmaster (1976), three times British Correspondence Champion, has died. He played most of his OTB chess as a young man, finishing seventh equal at the British Aberystwyth, 1961, when he beat, amongst others, A.R.B. Thomas and former champion, Alan Phillips. He gave future champion, Jonathan Penrose, a tough fight in the last round before conceding the half-point. He played in the Hastings Premier, 1962/3 and emerged with a plus score in the Anglo-Dutch matches. He was an occasional reviewer for BCM.

It was, of course, in the realm of postal player that he shone most brightly!

In 1966 we see him playing board two for England, below Slade Milan, and, two years later, Adrian scored 9/12 in a World Postal Qualifier, narrowly missing a place in the final. In 1971 he won the British Correspondence Championship, easily outdistancing a tough field. He played top board for England in the 1972-7 Olympiad. In 1974-6 he won the Reg Potter Memorial. In the ninth Olympiad – 1982-5 – Adrian Hollis was undefeated on board two. And England took the Gold Medal!

[pgn]
[Event “Alekhine mem-A corr9196”]
[Site “corr”]
[Date “1991.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Gipslis, Aivars P”]
[Black “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B81”]
[Annotator “Hawkes”]
[PlyCount “64”]
[EventDate “1991.??.??”]
[EventType “tourn (corr)”]
[EventRounds “12”]
[SourceTitle “Corr Nr. 1”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1997.09.01”]
[SourceVersion “2”]
[SourceVersionDate “2000.04.19”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,64,32,37,46,50,80,80,71,47,43,38,82,21,81,78,77,54,60,63,69,68,77,41,
27,22,70,6,6,3,12,33,18,-2,3,-47,-62,-45,-59,-59,-70,-53,-53,-108,-27,-27,-1,
-116,-143,-148,-88,-204,-180,-252,-271,-247,-199,-231,-468,-531,-562,-531,-638,
-660,-627,-704,-510]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g4
a6 (6… Nc6 7. g5 Nd7 8. Be3 Nde5 9. Be2 a6 10. f4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Nc6 12. Qd2
b5 13. Bf3 Qa5 14. O-O Be7 15. Qf2 Rb8 16. Ne2 O-O 17. Bg2 Re8 18. c3 Bd7 19.
Rfd1 Qd8 20. Rd2 Bf8 21. Rad1 $14 {Haag-Penrose, 9 Olympiad}) (6… Be7 7. g5
Nfd7 8. Be3 Nc6 9. Rg1 Nb6 10. Qd2 O-O 11. f4 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 e5 13. Be3 d5 14.
fxe5 Bb4 15. O-O-O Be6 16. Rg3 Na4 17. Bd4 Bxc3 18. Bxc3 Nxc3 19. Rxc3 dxe4 20.
Qf4 Qb6 21. Qxe4 Rac8 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Kb1 g6 24. Bd3 $6 Rd8 $1 {0-1 (43)
Palciauskas-Bang, Axelson mem.}) 7. g5 Nfd7 8. Bg2 (8. Be3 b5 9. a3 Bb7 10. h4
Be7 11. Qd2 Nc6 12. f4 h6 13. Bg2 hxg5 14. hxg5 Rxh1+ 15. Bxh1 Nxd4 16. Qxd4 e5
17. Qd2 exf4 18. Bxf4 Ne5 19. O-O-O Nc4 20. Qg2 Qa5 21. Nd5 b4 $1 {1/2-1/2 (44)
Franzen-Hollis, 10 Olympiad bd.2}) (8. h4 b5 9. a3 Nb6 10. Be3 N8d7 11. h5 Bb7
12. Rh3 $1 Ne5 13. g6 Nbc4 $2 14. Bxc4 Nxc4 15. gxf7+ Kxf7 16. Qg4 Qe7 $2 (
16… Qd7) 17. Bg5 Qd7 18. Nd5 $1 Ra7 19. Rf3+ Ke8 20. Nc7+ $1 {1-0
Kauranen-Estrin, 10 world ch. final}) 8… b5 (8… Nc6 9. f4 h6 10. h4 hxg5
11. hxg5 Rxh1+ 12. Bxh1 Qb6 13. Nf3 g6 14. Qd2 Qc7 15. b3 b5 16. Bb2 Bb7 17.
O-O-O O-O-O 18. Nh2 Nb6 19. Ng4 d5 20. e5 d4 21. Ne4 Nd5 22. Qf2 Qa5 23. Nd6+
Bxd6 24. Bxd5 Bc5 $1 {1/2-1/2 Khasin-Walter, 8 world ch. final}) 9. f4 b4 10.
Nce2 Bb7 11. h4 Nc5 12. Ng3 g6 13. b3 Bg7 14. Bb2 O-O 15. Qd2 Qb6 16. O-O-O a5
17. Nde2 Bxb2+ 18. Kxb2 a4 19. Nc1 axb3 20. cxb3 Nc6 21. h5 Qa5 22. Kb1 {[#]}
Na7 $1 23. Qb2 Nb5 24. Ka1 Nc3 25. Rd2 Ra7 26. Rh2 Rfa8 27. Bf3 Qc7 28. Rc2
Nxa2 29. Nxa2 Rxa2+ 30. Qxa2 Rxa2+ 31. Kxa2 Qa5+ 32. Kb1 Qa3 {Hawkes} (32…
Nxb3 $4 33. Ra2 Qc5 34. Rhc2 Qg1+ 35. Kb2 Qxg3 $4 36. Ra8+ $1 Bxa8 37. Rc8+ Kg7
38. h6# {(Hollis)}) 0-1
[/pgn]

Obituary from Raymond Keene in The Specatator

Obituary from Kenneth Shelton in The Independent

Obituary from ? in The Times

Obituary from John Rhodes in The Chess Improver

Obituary from Bob Jones of Keverel Chess.

Wikipedia article.

BCN remembers CGM Adrian Hollis who passed away in Wells, Somerset on Tuesday, February 26th 2013  at the age of seventy-two.

Adrian Swayne Hollis was born in Bristol, Avon on Friday, August 2nd 1940. During this critical period the Luftwaffe was wisely extending its Battle of Britain targets to include Britain’s airfields. Furthermore, Bristol was bombed heavily between June 1940 and May 1944. The longest period of regular bombing, known as the ‘Bristol Blitz’ began in autumn 1940 and ended the following spring. The first bombs of the Bristol Blitz fell at around 6 pm on Sunday 24 November 1940.

Adrian was the only child of MI5 director general Roger Henry Hollis KB CBE (later to become Sir Roger Hollis) and Evelyn Esme Hollis (née Swayne) who was Roger’s first wife. Roger was from Wells and Evelyn from Burnham-on-Sea and they were married on July 17th 1937 in Wells Cathedral with Evelyn’s father performing the ceremony.

Adrian won a scholarship in classics to Eton College and then went up to Keble College, Oxford where he took a first in mods and greats. Whilst at Keble Adrian represented Oxford in four varsity matches between 1959 and 1962. Indeed, his support for varsity matches was maintained for many years attending a large number into and beyond the Lloyds Bank era. Stalwart organiser Henry Mutkin would always be sure to extend an invitation.

In 1961 Adrian become the youngest ever West of England Champion at the age of 21.

Adrian met Margaret Mair Cameron Edwards in 1967 at St. Andrew’s University where he taught Classics and she taught German. They married and had two daughters, Jennifer (b. 1974) and Veronica (b. 1977) and a son.

He was the Games Editor for the British Correspondence Chess Association (BCCA) resigning in 1969.

In 1984 Adrian was forced to endure allegations against his father by Chapman Pincher (in CPs book Too Secret too Long) that Sir Roger had been a Soviet spy / mole. These allegations were demonstrated to be false. He may well also have been aware of allegations against his friend and chess mentor Graham Mitchell earlier in 1963. Ironically, it was Adrian’s father who initiated the investigation into Graham. Again, the rumours were shown to be unfounded.

Adrian became a director of the company Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Limited on the September 1st 1996 and resigned on May 12th 2007. He was also a Vice President of the West of England Chess Union (WECU).

Between 2003 and 2007 (according to the Electoral Roll) Adrian lived at 63, Bainton Road, Oxford, OX2 7AG :

and following his retirement (and the time of the 2008 electoral roll) Adrian had moved to Pound House, Southover, Wells, BA5 1UH :

Adrian has written many learned papers and has had two books published :

and

During his time at Keble College, Adrian engaged with and mentored many chess players including Jonathan Rowson (1996), David Norwood (1988), Julian Way, David Goodman (1977) and Dharshan Kumaran (1993).

Julian was a personal student of Adrian’s and was kind enough to tell us :

I do remember Adrian well. He could quote Latin verse ad infinitum. He was an expert on Ovid.
In terms of chess he had a huge pile of Informators in his study still in their cardboard packaging. He was very kind to me and insisted I play above him for Keble in the intercollegiate matches.

I gave him a copy of Developments in the Orthodox QGD which I had written in 1987. He was quite taken back when I didn’t want any money for it. He seemed to have quite a lot of respect for me.

I once asked him why he had given me a place at Oxford. He replied that he couldn’t have rejected someone with my passion and enthusiasm.
I kept in touch with Adrian until his passing. He gave me a lovely reference when I resumed my studies in 2007 at Kingston University.
I remember him as a kind and unassuming man. He became a lifelong friend.

From British Chess (Pergamon Press, 1983) Botterill, Levy, Rice and Richardson :

“I was born on August 2nd, 1940, educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford and now teach Classics at Keble College, Oxford. I learned the moves at the advanced age of thirteen from a cousin who himself could have made a good chess player had he not been seduced by Philosophy and brain-teasers; all that remains in the mind from these encounters is a vision of perpetually losing my rooks to fianchettoed bishops.

My first ever tournament was the London Boys’ Championship 1956-7. In the opening round fate allotted me Black against David Rumens. As it happened, the brochure included a game of his from the previous year in which he had answered 1.d4 with 1…Nc6, quite enough, in my opinion, to condemn his utterly.

[fen]r1bqkbnr/pppppppp/2n5/8/3P4/8/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq – 0 1[/fen]

(Ed: The above position did not impress Adrian hugely.)

This view seemed confirmed when within twelve moves of an advance French I was two pawns up. Then, however, aided by my over confidence he worked up a fierce attack, and I just escaped with a draw. Nevertheless, I won the tournament; an opponent remarked how quickly I played my moves.

Thereafter the game was never so easy, but I did reasonably, well, winning the championships of the British Universities, West of England and East of Scotland, and playing for England quite regularly during the 1960s (including 7.5/12 in six Anglo-Dutch matches).

The high spot of my over-the-board chess was the series of World Student team championships from 1960 to 1964 in glamorous places (Leningrad, Helsinki, Mariánské Lázně, Budva and Cracow); most enjoyable of these being Budva, 1963 where one could bathe every day in the Adriatic and I won the (?) gold medal on Board 1 with 7.5/9., the year after Spassky (this must look good in the records, unless they happen to reveal that for the first time in preliminary and final sections, and that England did not qualify for the top final).

[pgn]
[Event “Paignton”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1966.09.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Black “Beach, Richard A”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “E63”]
[Annotator “BCN”]
[PlyCount “35”]
[SourceTitle “BCM, 1966, page 289, game”]

{[%evp 0,25,61,14,28,-9,54,37,37,18,25,20,27,19,18,29,45,2,38,27,5,20,14,3,7,
-4,24,-17]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3
a6 8. b3 Rb8 9. Bb2 b5 10. cxb5 axb5 11. d5 Na5 12. Nd4 b4 13. Nb1 $11 {[#]} (
13. Na4 e5 14. Nc2 Bd7 15. Ne3 Bh6 16. Bc1 Bxa4 17. bxa4 b3 18. Bd2) 13… e6 (
13… e5) 14. a3 bxa3 15. Rxa3 c5 $2 ({Correct was} 15… e5 16. Rxa5 exd4 17.
Ra3 $16) 16. dxc6 {[#]} {Black punted} Nc4 $2 {but had missed} 17. Qc1 $1 $18 (
{Black was hoping for} 17. bxc4 Rxb2 18. Nc3 $18) 17… Bh6 18. Qxc4 $1 {
and Black resigned} 1-0
[/pgn]

My best chess was probably played at Mariánské Lázně, 1962, where in successive rounds I had favourable draws with Radulov and Hort, coming close to beating the latter. Ironically, I was awarded the British Master title after I had virtually retired from over-the-board chess.

[pgn]
[Event “Paignton”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1966.09.??”]
[Round “3”]
[White “Hartston, William Roland”]
[Black “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “A05”]
[Annotator “Hollis, Keene & BCN”]
[PlyCount “80”]
[SourceTitle “The Spectator, 20th April”]

{[%evp 0,18,19,-22,0,-31,-9,-5,9,-19,-25,-22,-34,-17,-10,5,21,21,31,5,13]} {
This game appeared in The Spectator, April 20th, 2013 as part of an obituary
from Ray Keene. The original source was British Chess Magazine, 1966, page 302,
game #14,225.} 1. g3 Nf6 2. Bg2 d5 3. Nf3 g6 4. b4 {ASH : This set-up, in fact
a primitive form of the Reti, has been patronised recently by Smyslov, among
others. RDK : This set-up, a form of the Reti, has been championed by,
amongst others, Vassily Smyslov.} Bg7 5. Bb2 O-O 6. O-O a5 ({BCN : Nowadays}
6… c6 7. d3 a5 8. a3 axb4 9. axb4 Rxa1 10. Bxa1 Qb6 11. c3 Nbd7 12. Nbd2 e5
13. e4 Re8 {is the modern (2020) continuation.}) 7. b5 ({ASH :} 7. a3 {, or}) (
{even} 7. c3 {came into consideration here.}) 7… c5 $146 {BCN : This was the
first game to feature this position.} 8. d3 (8. bxc6 {ASH: was quite possible.}
) 8… b6 $146 {BCN : This is the only recorded game with this move.} 9. c4 e6
{ASH : Black decides to maintain a pawn centre, without worrying if the pawns
should hang. RDK : Black decides to create a pawn centre without worrying if
the pawns will end up hanging.} 10. Qc2 Bb7 11. Nbd2 Nbd7 {[#]} 12. e3 {
RDK : White has to prevent … d4 and … e5.} Qc7 13. Rad1 ({ASH : Harston
later preferred RDK: Hartston later preferred} 13. Rac1 Rad8) 13… Rad8 14.
Qb1 e5 {ASH : Somewhat risky, but the only way to progress. RDK : Somewhat
risky, but the only way to make progress.} 15. cxd5 Nxd5 16. Nc4 Rfe8 17. Qa1
f6 18. Rc1 Nf8 19. d4 exd4 20. exd4 Ne6 21. Rfd1 {[#]} Ndf4 $1 $17 {ASH :
Seizing his chance. This sacrifice is necessary because the central position
is beginning to look rickety, and appears to be sound. White has terrible
weaknesses and his queen is marooned far away. RDK : Seizing his chance.
This sacrifice is necessary because the central position is beginning to look
rickety. The sacrifice looks sound as White has terrible weaknesses and his
queen is miles away.} 22. gxf4 Nxf4 23. Ne3 (23. Bh1 Qd7 {ASH : is too slow.})
(23. d5 {ASH : Might be a shade better – see next note.}) 23… Nxg2 $19 24.
Kxg2 Be4 $1 (24… Qf4 {ASH : is also possible but the win would not be so
easy after} 25. d5 Rxd5 26. Rxd5 Bxd5 27. Nxd5 Qg4+ {ASH : etc}) 25. Nf1 Qf4
26. Rc3 cxd4 27. Rcd3 Rd5 28. Qc1 Qg4+ 29. Ng3 Rf5 30. h3 {ASH : There is
nothing better} Bxf3+ 31. Kh2 Rh5 32. Rxf3 Qxf3 33. Nxh5 {ASH : The rest is
straightforward} Qxf2+ {RDK : Now it’s straightforward for Black.} 34. Kh1
Qf3+ 35. Kg1 gxh5 36. Bxd4 Qg3+ 37. Kh1 Qxh3+ 38. Kg1 Qg4+ 39. Kh1 Rc8 40. Qd2
Rd8 {and White resigned.} 0-1
[/pgn]

In 1964 I decided that henceforth for me ‘serious’ chess would mean correspondence, while OTB became a pleasant social activity. My introduction to the postal game had been made about 1955 by a colleague of my father’s, International Master Graham Mitchell, to whom I owe an enormous debt for the patience and kindness with which he played a series of games, bearing with me when I lost interest in worsening positions. The switch to postal play was caused by a number of factors, negative and positive : an impending move to Scotland, where there was less OTB chess, frustration at constantly spoiling good positions through mistakes in time pressure – on the other hand a feeling that correspondence chess should suit an academic temperament, and a particularly fascinating game played in 1963-4 with Michael Haygarth (see below) on which I spent so much time and energy that I almost feared it would ruin my post-graduate exams.

[pgn]
[Event “County Correspondence Championship”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1963.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Haygarth, Michael John”]
[Black “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B78”]
[Annotator “ASH & British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “106”]
[SourceTitle “British Chess, page 104”]
[WhiteTeam “Yorkshire”]
[BlackTeam “Somerset”]

{[%evp 0,20,19,38,40,41,66,77,66,55,55,20,70,53,40,34,30,28,47,32,47,-3,30]} 1.
e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Bc4 (
8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 e5 13. Bc5 Be6 14.
Ne4 Re8 15. h4 h6 16. g4 Qc7 17. g5 h5 18. Bc4 Red8 19. Qf2 {is modern
practise.}) 8… Nc6 9. Qd2 Bd7 10. h4 (10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. h4 h5 13.
Bg5 Rc5 14. Kb1 b5 15. g4 hxg4 16. h5 Nxh5 17. Nd5 Re8 18. Rxh5 gxh5 19. Qh2
Rxd5 20. Bxd5 Qb6 21. Qxh5 e6 22. Bb3) 10… Rc8 {ASH : At that time people
always played the queen’s rook to c8. Later it became the custom to play …
Qa5 and …Rfc8. Later still fashion swung back.} 11. Bb3 Ne5 (11… h5 12.
O-O-O Ne5) 12. Bh6 {ASH : Of all the attacking possibilities, White chooses a
relatively ineffective one.} ({The modern way is} 12. O-O-O h5 13. Bg5 Rc5 14.
Kb1 b5 15. g4 hxg4 16. h5 Nxh5 17. Nd5 Re8 18. Rxh5 gxh5 19. Qh2 Rxd5 20. Bxd5
Qb6 {transposes to a previous line.}) 12… Nc4 {ASH : A nice little finesse.}
13. Bxc4 Bxh6 ({more usual is} 13… Rxc4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. h5 Qa5 16. hxg6
fxg6 (16… hxg6 $4 17. Qh6+ Kg8 18. Qh8#) 17. O-O-O) 14. Qxh6 ({Believe it or
not,} 14. Bxf7+ $4 Kg7 $1 {ASH : Resigns, has actually occurred in an
international (over-the-board!) tournament. BCN : It was, in fact, Zuidema
– Lee, Zurich Junior, 1964.} (14… Kxf7 $2 15. Qxh6) (14… Rxf7 $2 15. Qxh6
$14)) 14… Rxc4 15. O-O-O Rxc3 16. bxc3 Qa5 {ASH : Black has carried out his
exchange sacrifice under unusually favourable circumstances.} 17. Kb2 Rc8 {[#]}
18. Rd3 ({ASH : In a later game (British Correspondence Championship 1965-6).
S.Milan played against me} 18. Qd2 Rc4 19. Nb3 {, keeping more active chances
(the game was drawnin 50 moves).}) 18… Bb5 19. Nxb5 {The exchange of minor
peices suite Black.} (19. Qg5 Rc5 {would be ingenious but not better.}) 19…
Qxb5+ 20. Ka1 Rc5 21. Rb1 Qa6 22. Qc1 Ra5 23. Rb2 b6 24. Qb1 Nd7 25. Rb4 Ne5
26. Re3 Nc4 {[#] ASH : Black’s knight has reached ideal squares, and for the
next few moves makes the White rooks dance to his tune.} 27. Rd3 Rc5 28. Qe1
Ra5 29. Qb1 Ne5 30. Re3 ({ASH : Not} 30. Rd5 Rxd5 31. exd5 Qe2 {and White’s
position collapses.}) 30… Rc5 31. Rb3 b5 32. Qd1 Qc6 33. Qd4 Nc4 34. Rd3 a5
35. g4 {ASH : Natural, but in the end providing a target.} a4 36. Rb4 Ne5 37.
Re3 Qc8 $1 38. Kb1 {[#] ASH : Something must fall so White decides to return
the exchange.} h5 $1 39. gxh5 Nc6 40. Qd3 Nxb4 41. cxb4 Rxh5 42. e5 {Unable to
protect his weaknesses, White tries to break out.} Rxe5 43. Rxe5 dxe5 44. Qxb5
Qc3 45. Qxa4 Qxf3 46. b5 e4 47. b6 e3 48. Qb3 Qf1+ 49. Kb2 e2 50. b7 e1=Q 51.
b8=Q+ Kh7 52. Q8b6 Qc1+ 53. Kc3 Qcf4 {White resigns. A remarkable position,
with four queens on the board. Material is level, but the exposed White king
is helpless. This game was played just before I left Oxford to teach in
Scotland (where, at that time, over-the-board chess was not so strong as it
has since become), and it was to a great extent responsible for turning my
main interest to postal chess.} 0-1
[/pgn]

In 1964-5 I qualified for the British Championship by winning a candidates’ section with 100%, and then competed three times in the British Championship itself (1965-6, 1966-7, 1970-71), winning on each occasion (the first time jointly with S. Milan) and remaining unbeaten. International play also proved successful, and I soon collected the two norms necessary for the IM title (Ed: awarded in 1970).

The first chance for the Grandmaster title came on Board 1 in the Seventh Olympiad final. Despite a rare loss with the White pieces(my only defeat with white for a stretch of 15 years), things went well, including a lucky win against the reigning World Champion, Horst Rittner, and the enticing prospect beckoned if only I could beat the Russian Moiseyev. He held a slight advantage since the opening, but I thought I saw the chance of tempting him to an incorrect sacrifice. Back came his move; he had indeed made the sacrifice and the envelope burnt a hole in my pocket during an important meeting (my mind was elsewhere). After a mere two days’ thought I sent my reply. The post between England and the USSR takes about a month for the return trip. Soon after posting my move, as I was walking from the Ashmolean Museum to Keble, just passing the front gate of St. John’s, the realisation of what I had overlooked hit me, and there followed an inexorable wait for the death blow which I now saw only too clearly.

So no Grandmaster title, but Great Britain still took the bronze medals, and I scored 6/9 (+5=1-2).

Another opportunity came when the British Postal Chess Federation organised a tournament (1974-6) in memory of its former secretary RJ Potter.  This started inauspiciously for me with a heavy defeat at the hands of Grandmaster Endzelins of Australia., a country which has so far provided my least favourite opposition (not only is the postage extremely expensive, but my score to date is 0/2).

From The Potter Memorial, Ken Messere, Chess (Sutton Coldfield), 1979 we have this potted biography from Ken Messere :

“Adrian Hollis is 36, was educated at Eton and Oxford, has written two books on the poet Ovid and is a Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Keble College, Oxford. He is a British Master at over the board chess and has been Champion of British Universities, West of England and East Scotland.

In 1964, he went to teach at St. Andrews University where his wife, Margaret, taught German. They were married and moved to Keble College in 1967 and now have two daughters. Jennifer is nearly five and Veronica is two.

Adrian began to concentrate on correspondence chess in 1964 and won the British Correspondence Chess Championship jointly in 1966 and outright in 1967 and 1971. He won the I.M. title in 1970 and his fine score of 6/9 on top board for Great Britain in the I.C.C.F. VIIth Correspondence Chess Olympiad Final contributed to the team’s winning the bronze medal in this event.”

and now back to Adrian’s British Chess article…

Thereafter my fortunes improved; one opponent accepted too trustingly some faulty analysis by Szabo in Informator (for a while it seemed that the Hungarian might earn me not one but two points). The East German Dr. Baumbach failed to find an improvement in a line with which I had been successful in the Seventh Olympiad Final.

[pgn]
[Event “Potter Memorial corr7376”]
[Site “corr”]
[Date “1973.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Black “Baumbach, Fritz”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D44”]
[Annotator “Baumbach, ASH and BCN”]
[PlyCount “63”]
[EventDate “1973.??.??”]
[EventType “tourn (corr)”]
[EventRounds “12”]
[SourceTitle “Myers”]
[Source “Myers”]
[SourceDate “2012.11.12”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2012.11.12”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%mdl 33284][%evp 0,63,19,31,32,-10,25,31,29,4,44,-4,-8,27,27,28,23,24,23,20,
42,40,29,37,29,-15,64,23,79,45,12,14,15,24,38,32,81,93,66,30,25,25,35,-38,122,
205,196,191,184,184,272,340,340,293,333,518,527,532,534,534,534,534,527,533,
537,541] Speelman: Really serious correspondence chess players are a breed
apart. In order to play “over-the-board” chess one must be able to maintian a
reasonable level of concentration for up to five hours at a time; and also
possibly to produce a quite prodigious amount of energy after (say) about four
and a half hours. Correspondence players, however, must require a quite
different nervous system. In their case a game may last months or even years.
It will be necessary to sustain sufficient interest in, and contact with,
possibly dozens of games simultaneously. There will not be a sudden explosion
of frenetic activity in any game–i.e., time trouble–but rather a long hard
grind of analytical work, work which can involve many hours of analysis on a
single critical move. Adrian Hollis is, together with Keith Richardson and
Peter Clarke, one of Great Britian’s three correspondence Grandmasters. A
classics don at Keble College, Oxford, he makes the time to play up to thirty
(!) correspondence games simultaneously. This game, against the East German
Fritz Baumbach, is from the Potter Memorial tournament which Hollis won to
gain the Grandmaster title. It is a very fine example of correspondence chess.
An exceedingly complicated theoretical opening leaves White with a clear
advantage, which he exploits with beautifully precise middlegame play.} 1. d4 {
Myers Speelman Baumbach} d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5
7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Nxg5 {ASH : More natural} ({than} 9. exf6 {which also
has its supporters.}) 9… hxg5 ({ASH : Round about 1957 I spent many happy
hours analysing} 9… Nd5 {, a move which has recently been played and
recommended by George Botterill.} {is an intriguing possibility, which remains
quite unclear after} 10. Nxf7 Qxh4 11. Nxh8 Bb4) 10. Bxg5 Nbd7 11. exf6 ({
ASH : The immediate} 11. g3 {avoids any danger on the long white diagonal, but
black can cause complications by} Qa5 12. exf6 b4) 11… Bb7 12. g3 $1 Qb6 ({
ASH : Whites move order may seem peverse, in that it invites} 12… c5 {
Answered by} 13. d5 {However, Black should look again at 12…c5, and after 13.
d5 probably 13…Ne5.}) 13. Bg2 O-O-O 14. O-O Ne5 {ASH : Botvinnik’s move in
the fifth game of the 1954 World Championship match against Smyslov, who
declined to put the idea to the test,} (14… c5 {is still possible.}) 15. dxe5
$1 ({ASH : Smyslov replied} 15. Qe2 {with a minimal advantage. Presumably
Botvinnik had taken into account white’s queen sacrifice, but it still seems
very strong.} Qxd4 16. Be3 Qd3 17. Rfd1 Qxe2 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Nxe2 Nd3 20. b3
Kc7 21. bxc4 bxc4 22. Bxa7 c5 23. Rb1 Bxg2 24. Bb8+ Kc6 25. Kxg2 Bh6 26. f4 e5
27. a4 exf4 28. gxf4 c3 29. Nxc3 Bxf4 30. Bxf4 Nxf4+ 31. Kg3 Nh5+ 32. Kg4 Nxf6+
33. Kg5 Nd5 34. Nxd5 Kxd5 35. h4 f6+ 36. Kg4 c4 37. a5 c3 38. a6 Ra8 39. Kf5
Rxa6 40. h5 Ra2 41. Kxf6 {Smyslov – Botvinnink, 1954.}) 15… Rxd1 {[#]} 16.
Rfxd1 {MegaBase 2020 has moved the wrong rook to d1 but the position
transposes. Attempting to hack the pgn breaks many of the sub-variations as
there would be positions where either rook may move to e1 but the notation
says merely Re1. Ho hum!} ({The actual game move order was} 16. Raxd1 Bc5 17.
Ne4 Bd4 18. Nd6+ Kc7 19. Bf4 Rf8 20. Bh6 Rh8 21. Bg7 Rd8 22. Nxf7 Bxf2+ 23. Kh1
Rxd1 24. Rxd1 {transposes.}) 16… Bc5 (16… c5 17. Bf4 (17. Ne4 Bd5 18. h4 (
18. Bf4 Qb7 19. Rxd5 exd5 20. Nc3 Bh6 21. Bxh6 Rxh6 22. Rd1 b4 23. Nxd5 Qa6 24.
Ne7+ Kc7 25. h4 Rh8 26. Rd6 Qa5 27. Nd5+ Kb8 28. Rd7 b3 29. axb3 Qe1+ 30. Bf1
Rg8 31. Rxf7 Rxg3+ 32. fxg3 Qxg3+ 33. Bg2 Qe1+ 34. Bf1 Qg3+ 35. Kh1 Qxh4+ 36.
Kg2 {1/2-1/2 Eldridge,M-Van Damme,L/corr ICCF 2009/}) 18… Qc6 19. Re1 Kb8 20.
f3 a5 21. Kf2 a4 22. Nc3 Qa6 23. Nxd5 exd5 24. e6 fxe6 25. Bh3 a3 26. Rab1 Qa4
27. Re2 e5 28. bxa3 Kc7 29. Rbe1 Bd6 30. f7 Rf8 31. Be6 d4 32. Bh6 d3 33. Bxf8
Bxf8 34. Rd2 c3 35. Rxd3 Qc2+ 36. Ke3 c4 37. Rd7+ Kb6 38. Red1 Bc5+ {0-1
Rutkowski,P-Konieczny,A/corr ICCF 2009/}) (17. Bxb7+ Qxb7 18. Rd2 (18. Re1 a5
19. Ne4 a4 20. Bf4 Qa8 21. a3 Kc7 22. Rac1 Qc6 23. Rc2 Qa8 24. f3 Bh6 25. Bxh6
Rxh6 26. Rd1 Rh5 27. Rdd2 Rxe5 28. h4 Rxe4 29. fxe4 Qxe4 30. Re2 Qg4 31. Kh2 b4
32. Rcd2 c3 33. bxc3 b3 34. Kg2 Qf5 35. Re1 Qxf6 {0-1 Hassim,U-Kireev,S/corr
IECG 2009/}) 18… b4 19. Rad1 Qc6 20. Rd8+ Kc7 21. Ne2 Qa4 22. Be3 Bh6 23.
R1d7+ Qxd7 24. Rxd7+ Kxd7 25. f4 Kc6 26. Kg2 a5 27. h4 Bf8 28. Kf3 Kd5 29. Bc1
c3 30. bxc3 c4 31. Ng1 b3 32. a4 Kc6 33. Bb2 Bc5 34. Ne2 Rd8 35. Nd4+ Bxd4 36.
cxd4 Kd5 37. Ke3 Rg8 38. Kf3 c3 39. Bxc3 Rc8 40. Bb2 Rc2 41. Ba3 Ra2 42. Bc1
Rxa4 43. Ke3 Ra2 44. Kd3 b2 45. Bxb2 Rxb2 46. f5 a4 47. fxe6 Kxe6 {0-1 Epiney,
F-Zielinski,S/corr IECG 2003/}) 17… b4 (17… Bc6 18. Rd2 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 a6
20. Rad1 Qc7 21. Ne4 a5 22. f3 a4 23. h4 a3 24. bxa3 Rh5 25. Kh3 Rh8 26. g4 Qa5
27. Rd7 c3 28. Rxf7 c2 29. Rc1 Qxa3 30. Kg3 c4 31. g5 Qd3 32. Rxf8+ Rxf8 33. g6
{1-0 Ingersol,H-Almeida,R/corr IECG 2009/}) 18. Ne4 Bd5 (18… Qb5 19. Rac1
Bxe4 20. Bxe4 Qa4 21. Rd2 c3 22. bxc3 bxc3 23. Re2 c4 24. Kg2 Qa5 25. h4 Ba3
26. Rh1 Bf8 27. g4 Qd8 28. h5 Qd4 29. g5 Rg8 30. Kf3 Rh8 31. Kg4 {1-0 Lehnhoff,
H-Djoudi,A/corr IECG 2006/}) 19. Rxd5 exd5 20. Ng5 Bh6 21. Nxf7 Bxf4 22. gxf4
Rf8 23. Bxd5 c3 24. Nd6+ (24. bxc3 bxc3 25. Nd6+ Kc7 26. Rc1 c2 27. Bb3 Rg8+
28. Kf1 Rg4 29. Rxc2 Qc6 30. Be6 Rxf4 31. Kg1 Qf3 32. Rxc5+ Kb6 33. Rb5+ Kc6
34. Bd5+ Qxd5 35. Rxd5 Kxd5 36. Nc8 Kxe5 37. Nxa7 Rxf6 {1/2-1/2 Schrancz,
I-Kireev,S/corr IECG 2009/}) 24… Kd8 25. Nc4 Qb5 26. bxc3 bxc3 27. Ne3 Qb4
28. Bb3 Qxf4 29. Rd1+ Kc8 30. Rd5 Kb8 31. Rxc5 Qg5+ 32. Kf1 Rxf6 33. exf6 Qxc5
34. f7 a5 35. Nd5 a4 36. Nb6 Kc7 37. Nxa4 c2 38. Bxc2 Qc4+ 39. Kg2 Qxf7 40. Bb3
Qg7+ 41. Kf3 Qd4 42. Kg3 Kd6 43. Kg2 Ke5 44. Kg3 Qe4 45. h3 Qf4+ 46. Kg2 Qd4
47. Kg3 Ke4 48. Bc2+ Kd5 49. Bb3+ Ke5 50. Kf3 Kf5 51. Kg3 Kg5 52. Kf3 Kh4 53.
Kg2 Qf6 54. Kf1 Kxh3 55. Ke2 Qd4 56. Be6+ Kg2 57. Bb3 Qe4+ 58. Kd2 Kxf2 59. Nb2
Qe2+ 60. Kc3 Qe5+ 61. Kc2 Ke2 62. Nc4 Qd4 63. a4 Qf4 64. Kc3 Qf6+ 65. Kc2 Qd4
66. Na3 Qd2+ 67. Kb1 Qc3 68. Ka2 Qf6 69. Nc4 Kd3 70. Nb2+ Kc3 {0-1 Skeels,
J-Kireev,S/corr IECG 2008/}) (16… b4 17. Ne4 c5 (17… Qa5 18. Bf4 Bc5 19.
Rac1 (19. h4 c3 20. bxc3 bxc3 21. Rac1 Bb4 22. Nd6+ Bxd6 23. Rxd6 Rd8 24. Rxd8+
Kxd8 25. h5 Qxa2 26. h6 Qe2 27. h7 Qh5 28. Be4 Ba6 29. Kg2 {1-0 Borisenko
Belovba,V-Matveeva,S/Tbilisi URS 1973/}) 19… c3 20. bxc3 bxc3 21. Rxc3 Bb4
22. Rb3 Rd8 23. Rdb1 c5 24. Nd6+ Rxd6 25. Bxb7+ Kxb7 26. exd6 Kc6 27. Rd1 Kd7
28. a3 Qa4 29. Rdb1 a5 30. axb4 c4 31. Rc3 Qa2 32. Rbc1 axb4 33. Rxc4 {1-0
Kolin,J-Menges,G/corr ICCF 2003/}) 18. a3 Bd5 (18… c3 19. bxc3 b3 20. c4 Qa6
21. Nd2 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Qb7+ 23. f3 a5 24. a4 Qb4 25. Rab1 b2 26. Ne4 Qxa4 27.
Rd2 Qxc4 28. Rdxb2 a4 29. Be3 a3 30. Rb8+ Kc7 31. R1b7+ Kc6 32. Rxf7 a2 33. Ra7
{1-0 Rensen,M-Schild,R/corr IECG 2009/}) 19. axb4 Qb7 20. Rxd5 exd5 21. Nc3
cxb4 22. Nxd5 Qd7 23. Be3 Kb8 24. Bf4 Qe6 25. Be3 Qd7 26. Ra5 c3 27. bxc3 b3
28. Bxa7+ Qxa7 29. Rxa7 Kxa7 30. Be4 b2 31. f4 Ba3 32. Kg2 Rc8 33. h4 Rc5 34.
Ne7 Rxc3 35. h5 Re3 36. Bf5 Re2+ 37. Kf3 Rh2 38. Kg4 Kb6 39. Kg5 Rh3 40. g4 Bc5
41. Be4 Kb5 42. h6 Bf2 43. Nf5 Kc4 44. h7 Kb3 45. Nh6 Re3 46. Bb1 Re1 47. h8=Q
Rxb1 48. Qb8+ Kc2 49. Qc7+ Kd2 50. Qa5+ Kc2 51. Qa4+ Kc3 52. Qc6+ Kd2 53. Qd5+
Kc1 54. Qh1+ Kc2 55. Qg2 {1-0 Illescas Cordoba,M-Morovic Fernandez,I/Spain ESP
1993/}) (16… Qc5 17. Bf4 b4 18. Ne4 Qa5 19. Rd4 c5 20. Rxc4 Bd5 21. Rcc1 Bxe4
22. Bxe4 Bh6 23. Bxh6 Rxh6 24. Rc4 Kc7 25. Rac1 Kb6 26. a3 bxa3 27. bxa3 Qxa3
28. Rb1+ Kc7 29. Rb5 Rh5 30. Rcxc5+ Kd7 31. Kg2 Qa1 32. Bc6+ Kd8 33. Rb8+ Kc7
34. Rb7+ Kd8 35. Bd7 {1-0 Budde,V-Hoffmann,H/BL GER 1982/}) (16… Bb4 17. Ne4
Rd8 18. h4 Rd3 19. h5 Qd8 20. Rxd3 cxd3 21. Rd1 Kc7 22. a3 Ba5 23. Nd6 Qg8 24.
Be3 Bb6 25. Bxb6+ Kxb6 26. Bf3 Qh7 27. b4 Ba8 28. g4 a5 29. Kg2 axb4 30. axb4
Bb7 31. Kg3 Ba6 32. Be4 Qg8 33. h6 c5 34. h7 Qf8 35. bxc5+ Kxc5 36. Nxf7 {
1-0 Mollov,E-Thierry,C/Orange FRA 1994/}) (16… Qa5 17. Ne4 Bb4 (17… c5 18.
Nd6+ Bxd6 19. Bxb7+ Kxb7 20. Rxd6 c3 21. bxc3 Qxc3 22. Rad1 Rc8 23. Rd7+ Rc7
24. Re7 Kc8 25. h4 b4 26. Rc1 Qb2 27. h5 Qe2 28. h6 Qh5 29. Be3 Rd7 30. Kg2 Rd3
31. Rxc5+ Kd8 32. Rb5 Kc8 33. Bxa7 Qf3+ 34. Kh2 Qh5+ 35. Kg2 Qf3+ {1/2-1/2
Loskamp,S-Behle,B/Porz GER 1995/}) 18. h4 Qc7 19. a3 Bf8 20. Nd6+ Bxd6 21. exd6
Qd7 22. a4 a6 23. Be3 Rh5 24. Bf3 Rf5 25. Bg4 Rd5 26. Bf4 Rxd1+ 27. Rxd1 c5 28.
axb5 axb5 29. h5 b4 30. h6 Be4 31. Ra1 c3 32. bxc3 bxc3 33. f3 Bh7 34. Ra5 c2
35. Rxc5+ Kd8 36. Rc7 Qa4 37. Bxe6 Qa1+ 38. Kf2 Qd4+ 39. Kg2 c1=Q 40. Bxc1 fxe6
41. Rxh7 Qxd6 42. Ra7 Qc5 43. h7 Qxa7 44. h8=Q+ {1-0 Poletov,V-Kuznezov,A/Tula
RUS 2006/}) 17. Ne4 $1 Bd4 (17… Rd8 $2 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Rd1+ Kc7 20. h4 $16
Bd4 21. h5 c5 22. h6 Bxe4 23. Bxe4 Bxe5 24. h7 Qb8 25. Kg2 Qh8 26. Rh1 Kb6 27.
Rd1 Kc7 28. Bf4 Bxf4 29. gxf4 Qxf6 30. Rh1 Qh8 31. f5 exf5 32. Bxf5 Kd6 33. Rh5
f6 34. f4 Qe8 35. Bg4 Qh8 36. Kf1 b4 37. Bf5 Kd5 38. Rh3 Kd4 39. Rg3 Qa8 40.
Rh3 Qh8 41. Kf2 a5 42. Rh1 c3 43. Rd1+ Kc4 44. b3+ Kb5 45. Rd6 c4 46. Rd5+ Kc6
47. bxc4 a4 48. Be4 Kc7 49. Rc5+ Kd6 50. Rc6+ Ke7 51. Bf5 Qd8 52. Kg3 b3 53.
axb3 axb3 54. Rc8 Qxc8 55. Bxc8 c2 56. h8=Q c1=Q 57. Qg7+ Kd6 58. c5+ Kd5 59.
Qb7+ Kd4 60. Qb4+ Kd5 61. Bb7+ Ke6 62. Qe4+ Kf7 63. Qh7+ Ke6 64. f5+ Ke5 65.
Qe7+ Kd4 66. Qxf6+ Kc4 67. Qe6+ Kb4 68. f6 Qg1+ 69. Bg2 b2 70. Qe4+ Kc3 71. f7
b1=Q 72. Qxb1 Qxb1 73. f8=Q Qe1+ 74. Kh2 Qe5+ 75. Kg1 Qe1+ 76. Qf1 Qe3+ 77. Qf2
Qc1+ 78. Bf1 Qg5+ 79. Kh2 Qh5+ 80. Kg2 Qd5+ 81. Qf3+ Kd4 82. c6 Qg5+ 83. Kh3
Qh6+ 84. Kg3 Kc5 85. Bg2 Qg5+ 86. Qg4 Qe5+ 87. Kh4 Qe1+ 88. Qg3 Qb4+ 89. Kh5
Qb2 90. Qg5+ Kd6 91. Qd5+ Ke7 92. Qd7+ Kf6 93. Qd6+ Kf5 94. Qg6+ {1-0 Alster,
L-Kupka,S/Prague CSR 1963/}) 18. Nd6+ $1 (18. Rd2 Rd8 19. Rad1 c5 20. Nd6+ Rxd6
21. Bxb7+ Qxb7 22. exd6 Qf3 23. Re1 e5 24. d7+ Kd8 25. h4 Qxg3+ 26. Kf1 Qh3+
27. Ke2 Bxb2 28. Rb1 Bc3 29. Rd6 Bd4 30. Be3 Qg4+ 31. Kf1 a6 32. Ra1 Qh3+ 33.
Kg1 Qf5 34. h5 Qxh5 {0-1 Tan Hiong Liong-Sydor,A/Warsaw POL 1959/}) (18. Be3
Bxe3 19. fxe3 Qxe3+ 20. Kh1 Kb8 21. Re1 Qd4 22. Nd6 Qf2 23. Nxf7 c5 24. Rg1 Rh5
25. Rad1 Qxg3 26. Rd8+ Kc7 {0-1 Vente,J-Officier,T/corr NED 1995/}) (18. Bf4
Bxb2 19. Nd6+ Kc7 20. Nxf7 Rf8 21. Ng5 Bc8 22. Rab1 Bd4 23. Ne4 a5 24. g4 Bd7
25. h4 b4 26. h5 c3 27. Rd3 a4 28. g5 c2 29. Rf1 b3 30. axb3 axb3 31. g6 b2 32.
g7 Ra8 33. f7 b1=Q 34. f8=Q Rxf8 35. gxf8=Q Q1b4 36. Qxb4 Qxb4 37. h6 {1-0
Moscoso,F-Brunet,R/corr IECG 1996/}) 18… Kc7 (18… Kb8 19. Nxf7 Rf8 20. Rxd4
$6 (20. Nh6 $2 Bxf2+ 21. Kf1 Bd4 $19) (20. Nd6 $1 Bxf2+ 21. Kh1 Be3 22. Bh4 $16
) 20… Qxd4 21. Nd6 $8 Qxb2 22. Re1 Qc3 23. Rb1 Qxe5 24. Bf4 Qe2 25. Nxb5+ e5
26. Nd6 Ka8 27. Be3 c3 $17 {Myers}) 19. Bf4 (19. Nxf7 $1 Rf8 20. Nd6 Bxe5 21.
Be3 Qa6 22. Ne4 Bc8 23. Bc5 Rxf6 24. Nxf6 Bxf6 25. Bd4 Bxd4 26. Rxd4 c5 27.
Rdd1 Bb7 28. Bxb7 Qxb7 29. Re1 Kd6 30. Rad1+ Ke7 31. Re3 a5 32. Rde1 a4 33.
Rxe6+ Kf7 34. R6e5 Qd7 35. h4 b4 36. Rxc5 Qd2 37. Re3 c3 38. bxc3 b3 39. axb3
Qc1+ 40. Kg2 axb3 {1-0 Vilela,J-Frey Beckman,K/Havana CUB 1985/}) 19… Rf8 (
19… Bxf2+ $1 20. Kh1 Be3 21. Nxf7 Rg8 22. a4 $1 Bxf4 23. gxf4 Qf2 $132 {Myers
}) 20. Bh6 $1 Rh8 {[#]} 21. Bg7 $2 (21. Nxf7 $142 Bxf2+ 22. Kh1 Rh7 23. Nd8
Rxh6 24. Nxe6+ Kc8 25. Rd8+ Qxd8 26. Nxd8 Kxd8 27. Rf1 $16 {[%cal Gf6f7] Myers}
) 21… Rd8 $4 (21… Bxf2+ $1 22. Kh1 Rh7 23. Rd2 (23. Nxf7 $2 Rxh2+ $1 24.
Kxh2 Qe3 $19 {[%cal Re3g3]}) 23… Qe3 {[%cal Ye3g3]} 24. Rxf2 Qxf2 25. Nxf7
Qxg3 26. Bh6 Qh4 $19 {Myers}) 22. Nxf7 $1 Bxf2+ (22… Rd7 23. Ng5 Kb8 (23…
Bxe5 24. Rxd7+ Kxd7 25. Rd1+ $18) 24. Bf8 Bc8 25. f7 Bxf2+ 26. Kh1 Rxf7 27.
Nxf7 Bd4 28. Bd6+ Kb7 29. a4 $18 {Myers}) 23. Kh1 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Qe3 (24… c5
$2 25. Nd6 Bxg2+ 26. Kxg2 Bd4 27. f7 Qc6+ 28. Kh3 Qf3 29. Rxd4 cxd4 30. f8=Q
$18 {Myers}) 25. Nd6 Qe2 {[#]} 26. Ra1 $3 (26. Rf1 $2 Ba8 $1 27. Ne4 (27. f7
$140 c5 28. f8=Q Qxf1#) 27… c5 $1 28. Rxf2 Qe1+ 29. Rf1 Qe2 30. Kg1 Bxe4 31.
Bxe4 Qe3+ $1 $11) (26. Rb1 $6 Qh5 27. f7 (27. g4 $2 Qh7 28. Rf1 $8 Bg3 $8 29.
h3 Bxe5 30. f7 c5 $11) 27… Bxg3 28. h3 c5 $1 29. Nxb7 Qxf7 30. Nd6 Qg6 31.
Rf1 $18) 26… Qh5 (26… Qxb2 27. Rf1 c3 28. f7 c2 29. Bh6 $18) 27. g4 $1 (27.
f7 $2 Bxg3 28. h3 c5 29. Nxb7 Qxf7 {Speelman} 30. Nd6 Qg6 31. Bf6 Qc2 32. Nxb5+
Kd7 33. Nxa7 Bf2 34. Nc6 Be3 35. h4 $1 $18 {Myers}) 27… Qh7 28. f7 Bg3 29. h3
c5 30. Nxb7 Qxg7 31. Rf1 Qf8 32. Nxc5 $1 1-0
[/pgn]

Also, I had a win with the Black pieces against the Russian Kopylov. The result was a score of 9/12 (+8=2-2), which sufficed for the grandmaster title and first place half a point ahead of the Finn Kauranen.

Since then I have played quite well on second board behind Keith Richardson in the Eighth Olympiad Final (+5=7-0), and very badly indeed (scoring just about 50% in the Heilimo Memorial Tournament organised from Finland (I was much impressed by the strength of the Finnish players, most of whom I had not encountered before). Having twice narrowly failed, I would still like to qualify for the Final of the Individual World Championship. Of course life becomes increasingly busy, but the examples of Hugh Alexander and Graham Mitchell encourage me to believe that one can continue to play well at postal chess longer than over-the-board. So perhaps around the year 2000, when the children are grown up….”

[pgn]
[Event “olm7 fin B1 corr”]
[Site “ICCF corr”]
[Date “1972.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Black “Florian, Tibor”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D76”]
[Annotator “Averbakh/Hollis/Howell & BCN”]
[PlyCount “121”]
[EventDate “1972.??.??”]
[EventType “team (corr)”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[SourceTitle “Corr 2002”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2002.05.23”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2002.05.23”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,121,18,26,36,-22,54,32,37,19,27,28,30,3,26,19,17,42,20,13,27,31,31,31,
19,24,27,11,47,61,50,85,90,77,66,63,67,54,73,53,40,43,55,36,46,65,45,46,49,49,
48,54,48,69,83,93,102,102,103,112,98,89,114,100,99,91,98,98,94,79,79,82,90,87,
91,85,91,82,78,76,96,101,96,75,100,91,92,103,118,118,118,118,118,118,121,139,
179,182,206,240,191,212,205,205,205,192,192,192,192,183,192,104,155,96,96,96,
100,527,537,28911,29983,29984,29985,29986]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3
d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 O-O ({ASH : It is rather more challenging for Black to
postpone castling, and to organise an immediate attack on White’s d-pawn with}
6… Nb6 7. Nc3 Nc6) 7. O-O Nb6 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. d5 Na5 ({ASH : I have never yet
found an opponent to accept the pawn with} 9… Bxc3 $6 {too risky to accept P}
10. dxc6 Bg7 11. Qc2 bxc6 12. Rd1 Bf5 13. Qb3 Qe8 14. Nd4 Bd7 15. Qc2 {BCN :
is a typical line.}) 10. Bf4 c6 11. dxc6 {ASH : Such are the subtleties of
transposition that, although occasionally played before, this line does not
appear in the Grunfeld books of Hartston or Richardson and Boyd.} Nxc6 ({
ASH : In Olympiad VIII Finals (1977) Dr. S. Aarseth (Norway) played against me
} 11… Qxd1 12. Rfxd1 Nxc6 13. Nd2 $1 Bf5 (13… Be6 {Hollis}) 14. Rac1 Rac8
15. Nde4 Nc4 16. b3 Na3 $6 (16… N4e5 {wastes two tempi}) 17. Nd5 Rfe8 (17…
Kh8 18. Nxe7 $1 Nxe7 19. Bd6) 18. Bg5 Kf8 (18… f6 $5 {although Hollis says
it “hardly appeals”}) 19. Nxe7 Nxe7 20. Nd6 b6 (20… Rxc1 21. Bxc1 {xNa3}) 21.
Nxc8 Bxc8 22. Bxe7+ Kxe7 23. Rc7+ Kf6 24. Bc6 Rf8 25. Rxa7 Nc2 26. Be4 $18 {
Hollis-Aarseth, corr-CCOL8 fin 1975-77}) 12. Qc1 e5 13. Be3 {13 Rd1 was theory
but why drive Black Q where she wants to go?} Nd4 {An outpost which cannot be
maintained.} 14. Rd1 Be6 15. Nxd4 exd4 16. Bxd4 Bxd4 17. e3 Bxe3 18. Qxe3 $14 {
[#] ASH : So White emerges with a small but clear advantage (better placed
pieces, pressure on the b-pawn and on the Black squares).} Qe7 19. Ne4 Bd5 20.
Qc5 Qxc5 21. Nxc5 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Rac8 $6 {ASH : A difficult decision. Black
surrenders a pawn for some counterplay.} ({ASH : He might have had better
chances of a draw with the passive} 22… Rab8 {better drawing chance despite}
23. Nd7 Nxd7 24. Rxd7 {not sufficient to win}) 23. Nxb7 Rc2 24. b4 Re8 25. Rd8
Rxd8 26. Nxd8 Na4 27. a3 Rc3 28. Re1 Kf8 29. Re5 Rc7 30. h4 h6 31. Ra5 Nc3 32.
Ra6 {threat Nc6 forces play} Rd7 33. Nc6 Rd6 34. a4 Nxa4 35. Rxa4 Rxc6 36. Rxa7
Rc3 37. b5 Rb3 {See page 80 in Essential Chess Endings by Howell.} 38. Rb7 Kg7
39. b6 h5 {This move produces a model endgame as analysed by Hollis etc. [#]
cf ending in Portisch-Petrosian [INF 17-0568] after Portisch’s 47th move.
White plan is to play K to d-file, Black captures f-pawn but then K goes to
c-file and R cannot return behind passed P (only works with b-pawn)} ({Hollis
suspected Black should have played} 39… g5 $5 {not fearing h4-h5}) 40. Kf1 {
The general case of a draw is threatened but not overturned. Averbakh
“Comprehensive Chess Endings” vol 5 (Pergamon ed) analyses both the Hollis and
Portisch endgames (see pp291-292)} Rb2 41. Ke1 Kf6 {As White threatens to
support the advance of his passed P with his K, it is very important for Black
to seek counterplay on the other wing – Averbakh} 42. f3 Rb3 43. Kd2 Rxf3 44.
Kc2 {ASH : The idea is realized.} Rf5 $2 (44… Ke6 $2 45. Rc7 $1 (45. Re7+ $6
Kxe7 46. b7 Rf5 47. b8=Q {hard to see how White can win}) 45… Rf5 {see game})
(44… Rxg3 $6 45. Rc7 $1 {Howell wrongly attributes this move to Hollis but I
don’t find it in Hollis’ notes. Averbakh claims as his?} (45. Rxf7+ Kxf7 46. b7
{Hollis said this may win as Pg6 weak but Averbakh gives:} Rg2+ $1 47. Kc3 Rg3+
48. Kc4 Rg4+ 49. Kc5 Rf4 $1 50. b8=Q Rf5+ 51. Kd6 Kg7 $1 {“Black creates an
impregnable fortress” – Averbakh}) 45… Rg2+ $140 46. Kb3 Rg1 47. Kb2 Rg2+ 48.
Rc2 $1 Rg4 49. Rc3 Rxh4 50. Ka3 Re4 51. b7 Re8 52. Rc8 Re3+ 53. Kb2 Re2+ 54.
Kc3 Re3+ 55. Kc2 Re2+ 56. Kd3 Rb2 57. b8=Q Rxb8 58. Rxb8 Kf5 59. Rf8 f6 60. Ke3
g5 61. Kf3 $18 {Averbakh}) (44… Re3 $3 {is the right plan:} 45. Rc7 Re8 46.
b7 Rb8 {Hollis thought White could now win:} 47. Kd3 Kf5 $1 48. Rxf7+ Kg4 49.
Rf4+ $1 Kxg3 50. Rb4 {[#]} g5 $1 {The saving move not considered in Hollis
article, but later discovered by Russian analysts. Black creates a
countervailing passed pawn.} (50… Kh3 $2 51. Ke2 $1 Kg3 (51… Kg2 52. Rb3) (
51… Re8+ 52. Kf2 Rf8+ 53. Ke3 Rb8 54. Kf3 {as in main line}) 52. Ke3 Kh3 53.
Kf3 Rf8+ 54. Ke4 Rb8 55. Ke5 $18) 51. hxg5 h4 52. g6 (52. Ke2 h3 53. Kf1 h2 54.
Rb3+ Kf4 55. Kg2 Kxg5 $11) 52… h3 53. g7 h2 54. Rb1 Kg2 $11 {Averbakh}) 45.
Rc7 Rb5 46. b7 {“The outwardly active position of Black R prevents his K from
approaching the pawns” – Averbakh} Ke6 (46… Kf5 {according to Fine’s recipe
(idea 47 Rxf7+? Kg4) but..} 47. Kc3 $1 {threat 48 Rxf7+ Kg4 49 Rf4+ and 50 Rb4;
prevents …Kg4 by same idea} f6 $140 (47… Kg4 48. Rc4+ $1 Kxg3 49. Rb4 Rxb7
50. Rxb7 Kxh4 (50… f5 51. Rg7) 51. Rxf7 Kg3 52. Kd2 g5 53. Ke1 $18) 48. Kc4
Rb1 49. Rc5+ Kg4 50. Rb5) 47. Kc3 f6 48. Kc4 Rb1 49. Kc5 Kf5 50. Rd7 $1 $18 {
prevents Kg4 and threatens Rd5+ followed by either Rd6+ or Rd4+ and then
inserting R on b-file} Rc1+ 51. Kd6 Rb1 52. Kc7 Rc1+ 53. Kd8 Rb1 54. Kc8 Kg4
55. Rd6 g5 56. Rxf6 gxh4 57. gxh4 Kxh4 58. Rg6 $1 Kh3 59. Kc7 {According to
Howell, Black resigned here but Hollis gives further moves, see e.g. ‘British
Chess’ pp105-107} Rxb7+ 60. Kxb7 h4 61. Kc6 {ASH : It would be extremely rash
to claim this ending as a theoretical win. The outcome nearly always depends
on a single tempo, and may be swayed by secondary factors (e.g. it proved
vital in the above for White’s rook to be on the seventh rather than the
eighth). But at least this game can be added to the example for future
research. Perhaps this is the kind of problem that one day computers might be
able to solve.} 1-0
[/pgn]

From British Chess Magazine, Volume CXXXIII (133, 2013), Number 4 (April), pp.194-5 we have this obituary written by James Pratt :

Adrian Swayne Hollis (2 viii 1940 Bristol – 26 ii 2013 Wells), British Master and Correspondence Grandmaster (1976), three times British Correspondence Champion, has died. He played most of his OTB chess as a young man, finishing seventh equal at the British Aberystwyth, 1961, when he beat, amongst others, A.R.B. Thomas and former champion, Alan Phillips. He gave future champion, Jonathan Penrose, a tough fight in the last round before conceding the half-point. He played in the Hastings Premier, 1962/3 and emerged with a plus score in the Anglo-Dutch matches. He was an occasional reviewer for BCM.

It was, of course, in the realm of postal player that he shone most brightly!

In 1966 we see him playing board two for England, below Slade Milan, and, two years later, Adrian scored 9/12 in a World Postal Qualifier, narrowly missing a place in the final. In 1971 he won the British Correspondence Championship, easily outdistancing a tough field. He played top board for England in the 1972-7 Olympiad. In 1974-6 he won the Reg Potter Memorial. In the ninth Olympiad – 1982-5 – Adrian Hollis was undefeated on board two. And England took the Gold Medal!

[pgn]
[Event “Alekhine mem-A corr9196”]
[Site “corr”]
[Date “1991.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Gipslis, Aivars P”]
[Black “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B81”]
[Annotator “Hawkes”]
[PlyCount “64”]
[EventDate “1991.??.??”]
[EventType “tourn (corr)”]
[EventRounds “12”]
[SourceTitle “Corr Nr. 1”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1997.09.01”]
[SourceVersion “2”]
[SourceVersionDate “2000.04.19”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,64,32,37,46,50,80,80,71,47,43,38,82,21,81,78,77,54,60,63,69,68,77,41,
27,22,70,6,6,3,12,33,18,-2,3,-47,-62,-45,-59,-59,-70,-53,-53,-108,-27,-27,-1,
-116,-143,-148,-88,-204,-180,-252,-271,-247,-199,-231,-468,-531,-562,-531,-638,
-660,-627,-704,-510]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g4
a6 (6… Nc6 7. g5 Nd7 8. Be3 Nde5 9. Be2 a6 10. f4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Nc6 12. Qd2
b5 13. Bf3 Qa5 14. O-O Be7 15. Qf2 Rb8 16. Ne2 O-O 17. Bg2 Re8 18. c3 Bd7 19.
Rfd1 Qd8 20. Rd2 Bf8 21. Rad1 $14 {Haag-Penrose, 9 Olympiad}) (6… Be7 7. g5
Nfd7 8. Be3 Nc6 9. Rg1 Nb6 10. Qd2 O-O 11. f4 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 e5 13. Be3 d5 14.
fxe5 Bb4 15. O-O-O Be6 16. Rg3 Na4 17. Bd4 Bxc3 18. Bxc3 Nxc3 19. Rxc3 dxe4 20.
Qf4 Qb6 21. Qxe4 Rac8 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Kb1 g6 24. Bd3 $6 Rd8 $1 {0-1 (43)
Palciauskas-Bang, Axelson mem.}) 7. g5 Nfd7 8. Bg2 (8. Be3 b5 9. a3 Bb7 10. h4
Be7 11. Qd2 Nc6 12. f4 h6 13. Bg2 hxg5 14. hxg5 Rxh1+ 15. Bxh1 Nxd4 16. Qxd4 e5
17. Qd2 exf4 18. Bxf4 Ne5 19. O-O-O Nc4 20. Qg2 Qa5 21. Nd5 b4 $1 {1/2-1/2 (44)
Franzen-Hollis, 10 Olympiad bd.2}) (8. h4 b5 9. a3 Nb6 10. Be3 N8d7 11. h5 Bb7
12. Rh3 $1 Ne5 13. g6 Nbc4 $2 14. Bxc4 Nxc4 15. gxf7+ Kxf7 16. Qg4 Qe7 $2 (
16… Qd7) 17. Bg5 Qd7 18. Nd5 $1 Ra7 19. Rf3+ Ke8 20. Nc7+ $1 {1-0
Kauranen-Estrin, 10 world ch. final}) 8… b5 (8… Nc6 9. f4 h6 10. h4 hxg5
11. hxg5 Rxh1+ 12. Bxh1 Qb6 13. Nf3 g6 14. Qd2 Qc7 15. b3 b5 16. Bb2 Bb7 17.
O-O-O O-O-O 18. Nh2 Nb6 19. Ng4 d5 20. e5 d4 21. Ne4 Nd5 22. Qf2 Qa5 23. Nd6+
Bxd6 24. Bxd5 Bc5 $1 {1/2-1/2 Khasin-Walter, 8 world ch. final}) 9. f4 b4 10.
Nce2 Bb7 11. h4 Nc5 12. Ng3 g6 13. b3 Bg7 14. Bb2 O-O 15. Qd2 Qb6 16. O-O-O a5
17. Nde2 Bxb2+ 18. Kxb2 a4 19. Nc1 axb3 20. cxb3 Nc6 21. h5 Qa5 22. Kb1 {[#]}
Na7 $1 23. Qb2 Nb5 24. Ka1 Nc3 25. Rd2 Ra7 26. Rh2 Rfa8 27. Bf3 Qc7 28. Rc2
Nxa2 29. Nxa2 Rxa2+ 30. Qxa2 Rxa2+ 31. Kxa2 Qa5+ 32. Kb1 Qa3 {Hawkes} (32…
Nxb3 $4 33. Ra2 Qc5 34. Rhc2 Qg1+ 35. Kb2 Qxg3 $4 36. Ra8+ $1 Bxa8 37. Rc8+ Kg7
38. h6# {(Hollis)}) 0-1
[/pgn]

Obituary from Raymond Keene in The Specatator

Obituary from Kenneth Shelton in The Independent

Obituary from ? in The Times

Obituary from John Rhodes in The Chess Improver

Obituary from Bob Jones of Keverel Chess.

Wikipedia article.

BCN remembers CGM Adrian Hollis who passed away in Wells, Somerset on Tuesday, February 26th 2013  at the age of seventy-two.

Adrian Swayne Hollis was born in Bristol, Avon on Friday, August 2nd 1940. During this critical period the Luftwaffe was wisely extending its Battle of Britain targets to include Britain’s airfields. Furthermore, Bristol was bombed heavily between June 1940 and May 1944. The longest period of regular bombing, known as the ‘Bristol Blitz’ began in autumn 1940 and ended the following spring. The first bombs of the Bristol Blitz fell at around 6 pm on Sunday 24 November 1940.

Adrian was the only child of MI5 director general Roger Henry Hollis KB CBE (later to become Sir Roger Hollis) and Evelyn Esme Hollis (née Swayne) who was Roger’s first wife. Roger was from Wells and Evelyn from Burnham-on-Sea and they were married on July 17th 1937 in Wells Cathedral with Evelyn’s father performing the ceremony.

Adrian won a scholarship in classics to Eton College and then went up to Keble College, Oxford where he took a first in mods and greats. Whilst at Keble Adrian represented Oxford in four varsity matches between 1959 and 1962. Indeed, his support for varsity matches was maintained for many years attending a large number into and beyond the Lloyds Bank era. Stalwart organiser Henry Mutkin would always be sure to extend an invitation.

In 1961 Adrian become the youngest ever West of England Champion at the age of 21.

Adrian met Margaret Mair Cameron Edwards in 1967 at St. Andrew’s University where he taught Classics and she taught German. They married and had two daughters, Jennifer (b. 1974) and Veronica (b. 1977) and a son.

He was the Games Editor for the British Correspondence Chess Association (BCCA) resigning in 1969.

In 1984 Adrian was forced to endure allegations against his father by Chapman Pincher (in CPs book Too Secret too Long) that Sir Roger had been a Soviet spy / mole. These allegations were demonstrated to be false. He may well also have been aware of allegations against his friend and chess mentor Graham Mitchell earlier in 1963. Ironically, it was Adrian’s father who initiated the investigation into Graham. Again, the rumours were shown to be unfounded.

Adrian became a director of the company Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Limited on the September 1st 1996 and resigned on May 12th 2007. He was also a Vice President of the West of England Chess Union (WECU).

Between 2003 and 2007 (according to the Electoral Roll) Adrian lived at 63, Bainton Road, Oxford, OX2 7AG :

and following his retirement (and the time of the 2008 electoral roll) Adrian had moved to Pound House, Southover, Wells, BA5 1UH :

Adrian has written many learned papers and has had two books published :

and

During his time at Keble College, Adrian engaged with and mentored many chess players including Jonathan Rowson (1996), David Norwood (1988), Julian Way, David Goodman (1977) and Dharshan Kumaran (1993).

Julian was a personal student of Adrian’s and was kind enough to tell us :

I do remember Adrian well. He could quote Latin verse ad infinitum. He was an expert on Ovid.
In terms of chess he had a huge pile of Informators in his study still in their cardboard packaging. He was very kind to me and insisted I play above him for Keble in the intercollegiate matches.

I gave him a copy of Developments in the Orthodox QGD which I had written in 1987. He was quite taken back when I didn’t want any money for it. He seemed to have quite a lot of respect for me.

I once asked him why he had given me a place at Oxford. He replied that he couldn’t have rejected someone with my passion and enthusiasm.
I kept in touch with Adrian until his passing. He gave me a lovely reference when I resumed my studies in 2007 at Kingston University.
I remember him as a kind and unassuming man. He became a lifelong friend.

From British Chess (Pergamon Press, 1983) Botterill, Levy, Rice and Richardson :

“I was born on August 2nd, 1940, educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford and now teach Classics at Keble College, Oxford. I learned the moves at the advanced age of thirteen from a cousin who himself could have made a good chess player had he not been seduced by Philosophy and brain-teasers; all that remains in the mind from these encounters is a vision of perpetually losing my rooks to fianchettoed bishops.

My first ever tournament was the London Boys’ Championship 1956-7. In the opening round fate allotted me Black against David Rumens. As it happened, the brochure included a game of his from the previous year in which he had answered 1.d4 with 1…Nc6, quite enough, in my opinion, to condemn his utterly.

[fen]r1bqkbnr/pppppppp/2n5/8/3P4/8/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq – 0 1[/fen]

(Ed: The above position did not impress Adrian hugely.)

This view seemed confirmed when within twelve moves of an advance French I was two pawns up. Then, however, aided by my over confidence he worked up a fierce attack, and I just escaped with a draw. Nevertheless, I won the tournament; an opponent remarked how quickly I played my moves.

Thereafter the game was never so easy, but I did reasonably, well, winning the championships of the British Universities, West of England and East of Scotland, and playing for England quite regularly during the 1960s (including 7.5/12 in six Anglo-Dutch matches).

The high spot of my over-the-board chess was the series of World Student team championships from 1960 to 1964 in glamorous places (Leningrad, Helsinki, Mariánské Lázně, Budva and Cracow); most enjoyable of these being Budva, 1963 where one could bathe every day in the Adriatic and I won the (?) gold medal on Board 1 with 7.5/9., the year after Spassky (this must look good in the records, unless they happen to reveal that for the first time in preliminary and final sections, and that England did not qualify for the top final).

[pgn]
[Event “Paignton”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1966.09.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Black “Beach, Richard A”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “E63”]
[Annotator “BCN”]
[PlyCount “35”]
[SourceTitle “BCM, 1966, page 289, game”]

{[%evp 0,25,61,14,28,-9,54,37,37,18,25,20,27,19,18,29,45,2,38,27,5,20,14,3,7,
-4,24,-17]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3
a6 8. b3 Rb8 9. Bb2 b5 10. cxb5 axb5 11. d5 Na5 12. Nd4 b4 13. Nb1 $11 {[#]} (
13. Na4 e5 14. Nc2 Bd7 15. Ne3 Bh6 16. Bc1 Bxa4 17. bxa4 b3 18. Bd2) 13… e6 (
13… e5) 14. a3 bxa3 15. Rxa3 c5 $2 ({Correct was} 15… e5 16. Rxa5 exd4 17.
Ra3 $16) 16. dxc6 {[#]} {Black punted} Nc4 $2 {but had missed} 17. Qc1 $1 $18 (
{Black was hoping for} 17. bxc4 Rxb2 18. Nc3 $18) 17… Bh6 18. Qxc4 $1 {
and Black resigned} 1-0
[/pgn]

My best chess was probably played at Mariánské Lázně, 1962, where in successive rounds I had favourable draws with Radulov and Hort, coming close to beating the latter. Ironically, I was awarded the British Master title after I had virtually retired from over-the-board chess.

[pgn]
[Event “Paignton”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1966.09.??”]
[Round “3”]
[White “Hartston, William Roland”]
[Black “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “A05”]
[Annotator “Hollis, Keene & BCN”]
[PlyCount “80”]
[SourceTitle “The Spectator, 20th April”]

{[%evp 0,18,19,-22,0,-31,-9,-5,9,-19,-25,-22,-34,-17,-10,5,21,21,31,5,13]} {
This game appeared in The Spectator, April 20th, 2013 as part of an obituary
from Ray Keene. The original source was British Chess Magazine, 1966, page 302,
game #14,225.} 1. g3 Nf6 2. Bg2 d5 3. Nf3 g6 4. b4 {ASH : This set-up, in fact
a primitive form of the Reti, has been patronised recently by Smyslov, among
others. RDK : This set-up, a form of the Reti, has been championed by,
amongst others, Vassily Smyslov.} Bg7 5. Bb2 O-O 6. O-O a5 ({BCN : Nowadays}
6… c6 7. d3 a5 8. a3 axb4 9. axb4 Rxa1 10. Bxa1 Qb6 11. c3 Nbd7 12. Nbd2 e5
13. e4 Re8 {is the modern (2020) continuation.}) 7. b5 ({ASH :} 7. a3 {, or}) (
{even} 7. c3 {came into consideration here.}) 7… c5 $146 {BCN : This was the
first game to feature this position.} 8. d3 (8. bxc6 {ASH: was quite possible.}
) 8… b6 $146 {BCN : This is the only recorded game with this move.} 9. c4 e6
{ASH : Black decides to maintain a pawn centre, without worrying if the pawns
should hang. RDK : Black decides to create a pawn centre without worrying if
the pawns will end up hanging.} 10. Qc2 Bb7 11. Nbd2 Nbd7 {[#]} 12. e3 {
RDK : White has to prevent … d4 and … e5.} Qc7 13. Rad1 ({ASH : Harston
later preferred RDK: Hartston later preferred} 13. Rac1 Rad8) 13… Rad8 14.
Qb1 e5 {ASH : Somewhat risky, but the only way to progress. RDK : Somewhat
risky, but the only way to make progress.} 15. cxd5 Nxd5 16. Nc4 Rfe8 17. Qa1
f6 18. Rc1 Nf8 19. d4 exd4 20. exd4 Ne6 21. Rfd1 {[#]} Ndf4 $1 $17 {ASH :
Seizing his chance. This sacrifice is necessary because the central position
is beginning to look rickety, and appears to be sound. White has terrible
weaknesses and his queen is marooned far away. RDK : Seizing his chance.
This sacrifice is necessary because the central position is beginning to look
rickety. The sacrifice looks sound as White has terrible weaknesses and his
queen is miles away.} 22. gxf4 Nxf4 23. Ne3 (23. Bh1 Qd7 {ASH : is too slow.})
(23. d5 {ASH : Might be a shade better – see next note.}) 23… Nxg2 $19 24.
Kxg2 Be4 $1 (24… Qf4 {ASH : is also possible but the win would not be so
easy after} 25. d5 Rxd5 26. Rxd5 Bxd5 27. Nxd5 Qg4+ {ASH : etc}) 25. Nf1 Qf4
26. Rc3 cxd4 27. Rcd3 Rd5 28. Qc1 Qg4+ 29. Ng3 Rf5 30. h3 {ASH : There is
nothing better} Bxf3+ 31. Kh2 Rh5 32. Rxf3 Qxf3 33. Nxh5 {ASH : The rest is
straightforward} Qxf2+ {RDK : Now it’s straightforward for Black.} 34. Kh1
Qf3+ 35. Kg1 gxh5 36. Bxd4 Qg3+ 37. Kh1 Qxh3+ 38. Kg1 Qg4+ 39. Kh1 Rc8 40. Qd2
Rd8 {and White resigned.} 0-1
[/pgn]

In 1964 I decided that henceforth for me ‘serious’ chess would mean correspondence, while OTB became a pleasant social activity. My introduction to the postal game had been made about 1955 by a colleague of my father’s, International Master Graham Mitchell, to whom I owe an enormous debt for the patience and kindness with which he played a series of games, bearing with me when I lost interest in worsening positions. The switch to postal play was caused by a number of factors, negative and positive : an impending move to Scotland, where there was less OTB chess, frustration at constantly spoiling good positions through mistakes in time pressure – on the other hand a feeling that correspondence chess should suit an academic temperament, and a particularly fascinating game played in 1963-4 with Michael Haygarth (see below) on which I spent so much time and energy that I almost feared it would ruin my post-graduate exams.

[pgn]
[Event “County Correspondence Championship”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1963.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Haygarth, Michael John”]
[Black “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B78”]
[Annotator “ASH & British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “106”]
[SourceTitle “British Chess, page 104”]
[WhiteTeam “Yorkshire”]
[BlackTeam “Somerset”]

{[%evp 0,20,19,38,40,41,66,77,66,55,55,20,70,53,40,34,30,28,47,32,47,-3,30]} 1.
e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Bc4 (
8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 e5 13. Bc5 Be6 14.
Ne4 Re8 15. h4 h6 16. g4 Qc7 17. g5 h5 18. Bc4 Red8 19. Qf2 {is modern
practise.}) 8… Nc6 9. Qd2 Bd7 10. h4 (10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. h4 h5 13.
Bg5 Rc5 14. Kb1 b5 15. g4 hxg4 16. h5 Nxh5 17. Nd5 Re8 18. Rxh5 gxh5 19. Qh2
Rxd5 20. Bxd5 Qb6 21. Qxh5 e6 22. Bb3) 10… Rc8 {ASH : At that time people
always played the queen’s rook to c8. Later it became the custom to play …
Qa5 and …Rfc8. Later still fashion swung back.} 11. Bb3 Ne5 (11… h5 12.
O-O-O Ne5) 12. Bh6 {ASH : Of all the attacking possibilities, White chooses a
relatively ineffective one.} ({The modern way is} 12. O-O-O h5 13. Bg5 Rc5 14.
Kb1 b5 15. g4 hxg4 16. h5 Nxh5 17. Nd5 Re8 18. Rxh5 gxh5 19. Qh2 Rxd5 20. Bxd5
Qb6 {transposes to a previous line.}) 12… Nc4 {ASH : A nice little finesse.}
13. Bxc4 Bxh6 ({more usual is} 13… Rxc4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. h5 Qa5 16. hxg6
fxg6 (16… hxg6 $4 17. Qh6+ Kg8 18. Qh8#) 17. O-O-O) 14. Qxh6 ({Believe it or
not,} 14. Bxf7+ $4 Kg7 $1 {ASH : Resigns, has actually occurred in an
international (over-the-board!) tournament. BCN : It was, in fact, Zuidema
– Lee, Zurich Junior, 1964.} (14… Kxf7 $2 15. Qxh6) (14… Rxf7 $2 15. Qxh6
$14)) 14… Rxc4 15. O-O-O Rxc3 16. bxc3 Qa5 {ASH : Black has carried out his
exchange sacrifice under unusually favourable circumstances.} 17. Kb2 Rc8 {[#]}
18. Rd3 ({ASH : In a later game (British Correspondence Championship 1965-6).
S.Milan played against me} 18. Qd2 Rc4 19. Nb3 {, keeping more active chances
(the game was drawnin 50 moves).}) 18… Bb5 19. Nxb5 {The exchange of minor
peices suite Black.} (19. Qg5 Rc5 {would be ingenious but not better.}) 19…
Qxb5+ 20. Ka1 Rc5 21. Rb1 Qa6 22. Qc1 Ra5 23. Rb2 b6 24. Qb1 Nd7 25. Rb4 Ne5
26. Re3 Nc4 {[#] ASH : Black’s knight has reached ideal squares, and for the
next few moves makes the White rooks dance to his tune.} 27. Rd3 Rc5 28. Qe1
Ra5 29. Qb1 Ne5 30. Re3 ({ASH : Not} 30. Rd5 Rxd5 31. exd5 Qe2 {and White’s
position collapses.}) 30… Rc5 31. Rb3 b5 32. Qd1 Qc6 33. Qd4 Nc4 34. Rd3 a5
35. g4 {ASH : Natural, but in the end providing a target.} a4 36. Rb4 Ne5 37.
Re3 Qc8 $1 38. Kb1 {[#] ASH : Something must fall so White decides to return
the exchange.} h5 $1 39. gxh5 Nc6 40. Qd3 Nxb4 41. cxb4 Rxh5 42. e5 {Unable to
protect his weaknesses, White tries to break out.} Rxe5 43. Rxe5 dxe5 44. Qxb5
Qc3 45. Qxa4 Qxf3 46. b5 e4 47. b6 e3 48. Qb3 Qf1+ 49. Kb2 e2 50. b7 e1=Q 51.
b8=Q+ Kh7 52. Q8b6 Qc1+ 53. Kc3 Qcf4 {White resigns. A remarkable position,
with four queens on the board. Material is level, but the exposed White king
is helpless. This game was played just before I left Oxford to teach in
Scotland (where, at that time, over-the-board chess was not so strong as it
has since become), and it was to a great extent responsible for turning my
main interest to postal chess.} 0-1
[/pgn]

In 1964-5 I qualified for the British Championship by winning a candidates’ section with 100%, and then competed three times in the British Championship itself (1965-6, 1966-7, 1970-71), winning on each occasion (the first time jointly with S. Milan) and remaining unbeaten. International play also proved successful, and I soon collected the two norms necessary for the IM title (Ed: awarded in 1970).

The first chance for the Grandmaster title came on Board 1 in the Seventh Olympiad final. Despite a rare loss with the White pieces(my only defeat with white for a stretch of 15 years), things went well, including a lucky win against the reigning World Champion, Horst Rittner, and the enticing prospect beckoned if only I could beat the Russian Moiseyev. He held a slight advantage since the opening, but I thought I saw the chance of tempting him to an incorrect sacrifice. Back came his move; he had indeed made the sacrifice and the envelope burnt a hole in my pocket during an important meeting (my mind was elsewhere). After a mere two days’ thought I sent my reply. The post between England and the USSR takes about a month for the return trip. Soon after posting my move, as I was walking from the Ashmolean Museum to Keble, just passing the front gate of St. John’s, the realisation of what I had overlooked hit me, and there followed an inexorable wait for the death blow which I now saw only too clearly.

So no Grandmaster title, but Great Britain still took the bronze medals, and I scored 6/9 (+5=1-2).

Another opportunity came when the British Postal Chess Federation organised a tournament (1974-6) in memory of its former secretary RJ Potter.  This started inauspiciously for me with a heavy defeat at the hands of Grandmaster Endzelins of Australia., a country which has so far provided my least favourite opposition (not only is the postage extremely expensive, but my score to date is 0/2).

From The Potter Memorial, Ken Messere, Chess (Sutton Coldfield), 1979 we have this potted biography from Ken Messere :

“Adrian Hollis is 36, was educated at Eton and Oxford, has written two books on the poet Ovid and is a Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Keble College, Oxford. He is a British Master at over the board chess and has been Champion of British Universities, West of England and East Scotland.

In 1964, he went to teach at St. Andrews University where his wife, Margaret, taught German. They were married and moved to Keble College in 1967 and now have two daughters. Jennifer is nearly five and Veronica is two.

Adrian began to concentrate on correspondence chess in 1964 and won the British Correspondence Chess Championship jointly in 1966 and outright in 1967 and 1971. He won the I.M. title in 1970 and his fine score of 6/9 on top board for Great Britain in the I.C.C.F. VIIth Correspondence Chess Olympiad Final contributed to the team’s winning the bronze medal in this event.”

and now back to Adrian’s British Chess article…

Thereafter my fortunes improved; one opponent accepted too trustingly some faulty analysis by Szabo in Informator (for a while it seemed that the Hungarian might earn me not one but two points). The East German Dr. Baumbach failed to find an improvement in a line with which I had been successful in the Seventh Olympiad Final.

[pgn]
[Event “Potter Memorial corr7376”]
[Site “corr”]
[Date “1973.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Black “Baumbach, Fritz”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D44”]
[Annotator “Baumbach, ASH and BCN”]
[PlyCount “63”]
[EventDate “1973.??.??”]
[EventType “tourn (corr)”]
[EventRounds “12”]
[SourceTitle “Myers”]
[Source “Myers”]
[SourceDate “2012.11.12”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2012.11.12”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%mdl 33284][%evp 0,63,19,31,32,-10,25,31,29,4,44,-4,-8,27,27,28,23,24,23,20,
42,40,29,37,29,-15,64,23,79,45,12,14,15,24,38,32,81,93,66,30,25,25,35,-38,122,
205,196,191,184,184,272,340,340,293,333,518,527,532,534,534,534,534,527,533,
537,541] Speelman: Really serious correspondence chess players are a breed
apart. In order to play “over-the-board” chess one must be able to maintian a
reasonable level of concentration for up to five hours at a time; and also
possibly to produce a quite prodigious amount of energy after (say) about four
and a half hours. Correspondence players, however, must require a quite
different nervous system. In their case a game may last months or even years.
It will be necessary to sustain sufficient interest in, and contact with,
possibly dozens of games simultaneously. There will not be a sudden explosion
of frenetic activity in any game–i.e., time trouble–but rather a long hard
grind of analytical work, work which can involve many hours of analysis on a
single critical move. Adrian Hollis is, together with Keith Richardson and
Peter Clarke, one of Great Britian’s three correspondence Grandmasters. A
classics don at Keble College, Oxford, he makes the time to play up to thirty
(!) correspondence games simultaneously. This game, against the East German
Fritz Baumbach, is from the Potter Memorial tournament which Hollis won to
gain the Grandmaster title. It is a very fine example of correspondence chess.
An exceedingly complicated theoretical opening leaves White with a clear
advantage, which he exploits with beautifully precise middlegame play.} 1. d4 {
Myers Speelman Baumbach} d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5
7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Nxg5 {ASH : More natural} ({than} 9. exf6 {which also
has its supporters.}) 9… hxg5 ({ASH : Round about 1957 I spent many happy
hours analysing} 9… Nd5 {, a move which has recently been played and
recommended by George Botterill.} {is an intriguing possibility, which remains
quite unclear after} 10. Nxf7 Qxh4 11. Nxh8 Bb4) 10. Bxg5 Nbd7 11. exf6 ({
ASH : The immediate} 11. g3 {avoids any danger on the long white diagonal, but
black can cause complications by} Qa5 12. exf6 b4) 11… Bb7 12. g3 $1 Qb6 ({
ASH : Whites move order may seem peverse, in that it invites} 12… c5 {
Answered by} 13. d5 {However, Black should look again at 12…c5, and after 13.
d5 probably 13…Ne5.}) 13. Bg2 O-O-O 14. O-O Ne5 {ASH : Botvinnik’s move in
the fifth game of the 1954 World Championship match against Smyslov, who
declined to put the idea to the test,} (14… c5 {is still possible.}) 15. dxe5
$1 ({ASH : Smyslov replied} 15. Qe2 {with a minimal advantage. Presumably
Botvinnik had taken into account white’s queen sacrifice, but it still seems
very strong.} Qxd4 16. Be3 Qd3 17. Rfd1 Qxe2 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Nxe2 Nd3 20. b3
Kc7 21. bxc4 bxc4 22. Bxa7 c5 23. Rb1 Bxg2 24. Bb8+ Kc6 25. Kxg2 Bh6 26. f4 e5
27. a4 exf4 28. gxf4 c3 29. Nxc3 Bxf4 30. Bxf4 Nxf4+ 31. Kg3 Nh5+ 32. Kg4 Nxf6+
33. Kg5 Nd5 34. Nxd5 Kxd5 35. h4 f6+ 36. Kg4 c4 37. a5 c3 38. a6 Ra8 39. Kf5
Rxa6 40. h5 Ra2 41. Kxf6 {Smyslov – Botvinnink, 1954.}) 15… Rxd1 {[#]} 16.
Rfxd1 {MegaBase 2020 has moved the wrong rook to d1 but the position
transposes. Attempting to hack the pgn breaks many of the sub-variations as
there would be positions where either rook may move to e1 but the notation
says merely Re1. Ho hum!} ({The actual game move order was} 16. Raxd1 Bc5 17.
Ne4 Bd4 18. Nd6+ Kc7 19. Bf4 Rf8 20. Bh6 Rh8 21. Bg7 Rd8 22. Nxf7 Bxf2+ 23. Kh1
Rxd1 24. Rxd1 {transposes.}) 16… Bc5 (16… c5 17. Bf4 (17. Ne4 Bd5 18. h4 (
18. Bf4 Qb7 19. Rxd5 exd5 20. Nc3 Bh6 21. Bxh6 Rxh6 22. Rd1 b4 23. Nxd5 Qa6 24.
Ne7+ Kc7 25. h4 Rh8 26. Rd6 Qa5 27. Nd5+ Kb8 28. Rd7 b3 29. axb3 Qe1+ 30. Bf1
Rg8 31. Rxf7 Rxg3+ 32. fxg3 Qxg3+ 33. Bg2 Qe1+ 34. Bf1 Qg3+ 35. Kh1 Qxh4+ 36.
Kg2 {1/2-1/2 Eldridge,M-Van Damme,L/corr ICCF 2009/}) 18… Qc6 19. Re1 Kb8 20.
f3 a5 21. Kf2 a4 22. Nc3 Qa6 23. Nxd5 exd5 24. e6 fxe6 25. Bh3 a3 26. Rab1 Qa4
27. Re2 e5 28. bxa3 Kc7 29. Rbe1 Bd6 30. f7 Rf8 31. Be6 d4 32. Bh6 d3 33. Bxf8
Bxf8 34. Rd2 c3 35. Rxd3 Qc2+ 36. Ke3 c4 37. Rd7+ Kb6 38. Red1 Bc5+ {0-1
Rutkowski,P-Konieczny,A/corr ICCF 2009/}) (17. Bxb7+ Qxb7 18. Rd2 (18. Re1 a5
19. Ne4 a4 20. Bf4 Qa8 21. a3 Kc7 22. Rac1 Qc6 23. Rc2 Qa8 24. f3 Bh6 25. Bxh6
Rxh6 26. Rd1 Rh5 27. Rdd2 Rxe5 28. h4 Rxe4 29. fxe4 Qxe4 30. Re2 Qg4 31. Kh2 b4
32. Rcd2 c3 33. bxc3 b3 34. Kg2 Qf5 35. Re1 Qxf6 {0-1 Hassim,U-Kireev,S/corr
IECG 2009/}) 18… b4 19. Rad1 Qc6 20. Rd8+ Kc7 21. Ne2 Qa4 22. Be3 Bh6 23.
R1d7+ Qxd7 24. Rxd7+ Kxd7 25. f4 Kc6 26. Kg2 a5 27. h4 Bf8 28. Kf3 Kd5 29. Bc1
c3 30. bxc3 c4 31. Ng1 b3 32. a4 Kc6 33. Bb2 Bc5 34. Ne2 Rd8 35. Nd4+ Bxd4 36.
cxd4 Kd5 37. Ke3 Rg8 38. Kf3 c3 39. Bxc3 Rc8 40. Bb2 Rc2 41. Ba3 Ra2 42. Bc1
Rxa4 43. Ke3 Ra2 44. Kd3 b2 45. Bxb2 Rxb2 46. f5 a4 47. fxe6 Kxe6 {0-1 Epiney,
F-Zielinski,S/corr IECG 2003/}) 17… b4 (17… Bc6 18. Rd2 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 a6
20. Rad1 Qc7 21. Ne4 a5 22. f3 a4 23. h4 a3 24. bxa3 Rh5 25. Kh3 Rh8 26. g4 Qa5
27. Rd7 c3 28. Rxf7 c2 29. Rc1 Qxa3 30. Kg3 c4 31. g5 Qd3 32. Rxf8+ Rxf8 33. g6
{1-0 Ingersol,H-Almeida,R/corr IECG 2009/}) 18. Ne4 Bd5 (18… Qb5 19. Rac1
Bxe4 20. Bxe4 Qa4 21. Rd2 c3 22. bxc3 bxc3 23. Re2 c4 24. Kg2 Qa5 25. h4 Ba3
26. Rh1 Bf8 27. g4 Qd8 28. h5 Qd4 29. g5 Rg8 30. Kf3 Rh8 31. Kg4 {1-0 Lehnhoff,
H-Djoudi,A/corr IECG 2006/}) 19. Rxd5 exd5 20. Ng5 Bh6 21. Nxf7 Bxf4 22. gxf4
Rf8 23. Bxd5 c3 24. Nd6+ (24. bxc3 bxc3 25. Nd6+ Kc7 26. Rc1 c2 27. Bb3 Rg8+
28. Kf1 Rg4 29. Rxc2 Qc6 30. Be6 Rxf4 31. Kg1 Qf3 32. Rxc5+ Kb6 33. Rb5+ Kc6
34. Bd5+ Qxd5 35. Rxd5 Kxd5 36. Nc8 Kxe5 37. Nxa7 Rxf6 {1/2-1/2 Schrancz,
I-Kireev,S/corr IECG 2009/}) 24… Kd8 25. Nc4 Qb5 26. bxc3 bxc3 27. Ne3 Qb4
28. Bb3 Qxf4 29. Rd1+ Kc8 30. Rd5 Kb8 31. Rxc5 Qg5+ 32. Kf1 Rxf6 33. exf6 Qxc5
34. f7 a5 35. Nd5 a4 36. Nb6 Kc7 37. Nxa4 c2 38. Bxc2 Qc4+ 39. Kg2 Qxf7 40. Bb3
Qg7+ 41. Kf3 Qd4 42. Kg3 Kd6 43. Kg2 Ke5 44. Kg3 Qe4 45. h3 Qf4+ 46. Kg2 Qd4
47. Kg3 Ke4 48. Bc2+ Kd5 49. Bb3+ Ke5 50. Kf3 Kf5 51. Kg3 Kg5 52. Kf3 Kh4 53.
Kg2 Qf6 54. Kf1 Kxh3 55. Ke2 Qd4 56. Be6+ Kg2 57. Bb3 Qe4+ 58. Kd2 Kxf2 59. Nb2
Qe2+ 60. Kc3 Qe5+ 61. Kc2 Ke2 62. Nc4 Qd4 63. a4 Qf4 64. Kc3 Qf6+ 65. Kc2 Qd4
66. Na3 Qd2+ 67. Kb1 Qc3 68. Ka2 Qf6 69. Nc4 Kd3 70. Nb2+ Kc3 {0-1 Skeels,
J-Kireev,S/corr IECG 2008/}) (16… b4 17. Ne4 c5 (17… Qa5 18. Bf4 Bc5 19.
Rac1 (19. h4 c3 20. bxc3 bxc3 21. Rac1 Bb4 22. Nd6+ Bxd6 23. Rxd6 Rd8 24. Rxd8+
Kxd8 25. h5 Qxa2 26. h6 Qe2 27. h7 Qh5 28. Be4 Ba6 29. Kg2 {1-0 Borisenko
Belovba,V-Matveeva,S/Tbilisi URS 1973/}) 19… c3 20. bxc3 bxc3 21. Rxc3 Bb4
22. Rb3 Rd8 23. Rdb1 c5 24. Nd6+ Rxd6 25. Bxb7+ Kxb7 26. exd6 Kc6 27. Rd1 Kd7
28. a3 Qa4 29. Rdb1 a5 30. axb4 c4 31. Rc3 Qa2 32. Rbc1 axb4 33. Rxc4 {1-0
Kolin,J-Menges,G/corr ICCF 2003/}) 18. a3 Bd5 (18… c3 19. bxc3 b3 20. c4 Qa6
21. Nd2 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Qb7+ 23. f3 a5 24. a4 Qb4 25. Rab1 b2 26. Ne4 Qxa4 27.
Rd2 Qxc4 28. Rdxb2 a4 29. Be3 a3 30. Rb8+ Kc7 31. R1b7+ Kc6 32. Rxf7 a2 33. Ra7
{1-0 Rensen,M-Schild,R/corr IECG 2009/}) 19. axb4 Qb7 20. Rxd5 exd5 21. Nc3
cxb4 22. Nxd5 Qd7 23. Be3 Kb8 24. Bf4 Qe6 25. Be3 Qd7 26. Ra5 c3 27. bxc3 b3
28. Bxa7+ Qxa7 29. Rxa7 Kxa7 30. Be4 b2 31. f4 Ba3 32. Kg2 Rc8 33. h4 Rc5 34.
Ne7 Rxc3 35. h5 Re3 36. Bf5 Re2+ 37. Kf3 Rh2 38. Kg4 Kb6 39. Kg5 Rh3 40. g4 Bc5
41. Be4 Kb5 42. h6 Bf2 43. Nf5 Kc4 44. h7 Kb3 45. Nh6 Re3 46. Bb1 Re1 47. h8=Q
Rxb1 48. Qb8+ Kc2 49. Qc7+ Kd2 50. Qa5+ Kc2 51. Qa4+ Kc3 52. Qc6+ Kd2 53. Qd5+
Kc1 54. Qh1+ Kc2 55. Qg2 {1-0 Illescas Cordoba,M-Morovic Fernandez,I/Spain ESP
1993/}) (16… Qc5 17. Bf4 b4 18. Ne4 Qa5 19. Rd4 c5 20. Rxc4 Bd5 21. Rcc1 Bxe4
22. Bxe4 Bh6 23. Bxh6 Rxh6 24. Rc4 Kc7 25. Rac1 Kb6 26. a3 bxa3 27. bxa3 Qxa3
28. Rb1+ Kc7 29. Rb5 Rh5 30. Rcxc5+ Kd7 31. Kg2 Qa1 32. Bc6+ Kd8 33. Rb8+ Kc7
34. Rb7+ Kd8 35. Bd7 {1-0 Budde,V-Hoffmann,H/BL GER 1982/}) (16… Bb4 17. Ne4
Rd8 18. h4 Rd3 19. h5 Qd8 20. Rxd3 cxd3 21. Rd1 Kc7 22. a3 Ba5 23. Nd6 Qg8 24.
Be3 Bb6 25. Bxb6+ Kxb6 26. Bf3 Qh7 27. b4 Ba8 28. g4 a5 29. Kg2 axb4 30. axb4
Bb7 31. Kg3 Ba6 32. Be4 Qg8 33. h6 c5 34. h7 Qf8 35. bxc5+ Kxc5 36. Nxf7 {
1-0 Mollov,E-Thierry,C/Orange FRA 1994/}) (16… Qa5 17. Ne4 Bb4 (17… c5 18.
Nd6+ Bxd6 19. Bxb7+ Kxb7 20. Rxd6 c3 21. bxc3 Qxc3 22. Rad1 Rc8 23. Rd7+ Rc7
24. Re7 Kc8 25. h4 b4 26. Rc1 Qb2 27. h5 Qe2 28. h6 Qh5 29. Be3 Rd7 30. Kg2 Rd3
31. Rxc5+ Kd8 32. Rb5 Kc8 33. Bxa7 Qf3+ 34. Kh2 Qh5+ 35. Kg2 Qf3+ {1/2-1/2
Loskamp,S-Behle,B/Porz GER 1995/}) 18. h4 Qc7 19. a3 Bf8 20. Nd6+ Bxd6 21. exd6
Qd7 22. a4 a6 23. Be3 Rh5 24. Bf3 Rf5 25. Bg4 Rd5 26. Bf4 Rxd1+ 27. Rxd1 c5 28.
axb5 axb5 29. h5 b4 30. h6 Be4 31. Ra1 c3 32. bxc3 bxc3 33. f3 Bh7 34. Ra5 c2
35. Rxc5+ Kd8 36. Rc7 Qa4 37. Bxe6 Qa1+ 38. Kf2 Qd4+ 39. Kg2 c1=Q 40. Bxc1 fxe6
41. Rxh7 Qxd6 42. Ra7 Qc5 43. h7 Qxa7 44. h8=Q+ {1-0 Poletov,V-Kuznezov,A/Tula
RUS 2006/}) 17. Ne4 $1 Bd4 (17… Rd8 $2 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Rd1+ Kc7 20. h4 $16
Bd4 21. h5 c5 22. h6 Bxe4 23. Bxe4 Bxe5 24. h7 Qb8 25. Kg2 Qh8 26. Rh1 Kb6 27.
Rd1 Kc7 28. Bf4 Bxf4 29. gxf4 Qxf6 30. Rh1 Qh8 31. f5 exf5 32. Bxf5 Kd6 33. Rh5
f6 34. f4 Qe8 35. Bg4 Qh8 36. Kf1 b4 37. Bf5 Kd5 38. Rh3 Kd4 39. Rg3 Qa8 40.
Rh3 Qh8 41. Kf2 a5 42. Rh1 c3 43. Rd1+ Kc4 44. b3+ Kb5 45. Rd6 c4 46. Rd5+ Kc6
47. bxc4 a4 48. Be4 Kc7 49. Rc5+ Kd6 50. Rc6+ Ke7 51. Bf5 Qd8 52. Kg3 b3 53.
axb3 axb3 54. Rc8 Qxc8 55. Bxc8 c2 56. h8=Q c1=Q 57. Qg7+ Kd6 58. c5+ Kd5 59.
Qb7+ Kd4 60. Qb4+ Kd5 61. Bb7+ Ke6 62. Qe4+ Kf7 63. Qh7+ Ke6 64. f5+ Ke5 65.
Qe7+ Kd4 66. Qxf6+ Kc4 67. Qe6+ Kb4 68. f6 Qg1+ 69. Bg2 b2 70. Qe4+ Kc3 71. f7
b1=Q 72. Qxb1 Qxb1 73. f8=Q Qe1+ 74. Kh2 Qe5+ 75. Kg1 Qe1+ 76. Qf1 Qe3+ 77. Qf2
Qc1+ 78. Bf1 Qg5+ 79. Kh2 Qh5+ 80. Kg2 Qd5+ 81. Qf3+ Kd4 82. c6 Qg5+ 83. Kh3
Qh6+ 84. Kg3 Kc5 85. Bg2 Qg5+ 86. Qg4 Qe5+ 87. Kh4 Qe1+ 88. Qg3 Qb4+ 89. Kh5
Qb2 90. Qg5+ Kd6 91. Qd5+ Ke7 92. Qd7+ Kf6 93. Qd6+ Kf5 94. Qg6+ {1-0 Alster,
L-Kupka,S/Prague CSR 1963/}) 18. Nd6+ $1 (18. Rd2 Rd8 19. Rad1 c5 20. Nd6+ Rxd6
21. Bxb7+ Qxb7 22. exd6 Qf3 23. Re1 e5 24. d7+ Kd8 25. h4 Qxg3+ 26. Kf1 Qh3+
27. Ke2 Bxb2 28. Rb1 Bc3 29. Rd6 Bd4 30. Be3 Qg4+ 31. Kf1 a6 32. Ra1 Qh3+ 33.
Kg1 Qf5 34. h5 Qxh5 {0-1 Tan Hiong Liong-Sydor,A/Warsaw POL 1959/}) (18. Be3
Bxe3 19. fxe3 Qxe3+ 20. Kh1 Kb8 21. Re1 Qd4 22. Nd6 Qf2 23. Nxf7 c5 24. Rg1 Rh5
25. Rad1 Qxg3 26. Rd8+ Kc7 {0-1 Vente,J-Officier,T/corr NED 1995/}) (18. Bf4
Bxb2 19. Nd6+ Kc7 20. Nxf7 Rf8 21. Ng5 Bc8 22. Rab1 Bd4 23. Ne4 a5 24. g4 Bd7
25. h4 b4 26. h5 c3 27. Rd3 a4 28. g5 c2 29. Rf1 b3 30. axb3 axb3 31. g6 b2 32.
g7 Ra8 33. f7 b1=Q 34. f8=Q Rxf8 35. gxf8=Q Q1b4 36. Qxb4 Qxb4 37. h6 {1-0
Moscoso,F-Brunet,R/corr IECG 1996/}) 18… Kc7 (18… Kb8 19. Nxf7 Rf8 20. Rxd4
$6 (20. Nh6 $2 Bxf2+ 21. Kf1 Bd4 $19) (20. Nd6 $1 Bxf2+ 21. Kh1 Be3 22. Bh4 $16
) 20… Qxd4 21. Nd6 $8 Qxb2 22. Re1 Qc3 23. Rb1 Qxe5 24. Bf4 Qe2 25. Nxb5+ e5
26. Nd6 Ka8 27. Be3 c3 $17 {Myers}) 19. Bf4 (19. Nxf7 $1 Rf8 20. Nd6 Bxe5 21.
Be3 Qa6 22. Ne4 Bc8 23. Bc5 Rxf6 24. Nxf6 Bxf6 25. Bd4 Bxd4 26. Rxd4 c5 27.
Rdd1 Bb7 28. Bxb7 Qxb7 29. Re1 Kd6 30. Rad1+ Ke7 31. Re3 a5 32. Rde1 a4 33.
Rxe6+ Kf7 34. R6e5 Qd7 35. h4 b4 36. Rxc5 Qd2 37. Re3 c3 38. bxc3 b3 39. axb3
Qc1+ 40. Kg2 axb3 {1-0 Vilela,J-Frey Beckman,K/Havana CUB 1985/}) 19… Rf8 (
19… Bxf2+ $1 20. Kh1 Be3 21. Nxf7 Rg8 22. a4 $1 Bxf4 23. gxf4 Qf2 $132 {Myers
}) 20. Bh6 $1 Rh8 {[#]} 21. Bg7 $2 (21. Nxf7 $142 Bxf2+ 22. Kh1 Rh7 23. Nd8
Rxh6 24. Nxe6+ Kc8 25. Rd8+ Qxd8 26. Nxd8 Kxd8 27. Rf1 $16 {[%cal Gf6f7] Myers}
) 21… Rd8 $4 (21… Bxf2+ $1 22. Kh1 Rh7 23. Rd2 (23. Nxf7 $2 Rxh2+ $1 24.
Kxh2 Qe3 $19 {[%cal Re3g3]}) 23… Qe3 {[%cal Ye3g3]} 24. Rxf2 Qxf2 25. Nxf7
Qxg3 26. Bh6 Qh4 $19 {Myers}) 22. Nxf7 $1 Bxf2+ (22… Rd7 23. Ng5 Kb8 (23…
Bxe5 24. Rxd7+ Kxd7 25. Rd1+ $18) 24. Bf8 Bc8 25. f7 Bxf2+ 26. Kh1 Rxf7 27.
Nxf7 Bd4 28. Bd6+ Kb7 29. a4 $18 {Myers}) 23. Kh1 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Qe3 (24… c5
$2 25. Nd6 Bxg2+ 26. Kxg2 Bd4 27. f7 Qc6+ 28. Kh3 Qf3 29. Rxd4 cxd4 30. f8=Q
$18 {Myers}) 25. Nd6 Qe2 {[#]} 26. Ra1 $3 (26. Rf1 $2 Ba8 $1 27. Ne4 (27. f7
$140 c5 28. f8=Q Qxf1#) 27… c5 $1 28. Rxf2 Qe1+ 29. Rf1 Qe2 30. Kg1 Bxe4 31.
Bxe4 Qe3+ $1 $11) (26. Rb1 $6 Qh5 27. f7 (27. g4 $2 Qh7 28. Rf1 $8 Bg3 $8 29.
h3 Bxe5 30. f7 c5 $11) 27… Bxg3 28. h3 c5 $1 29. Nxb7 Qxf7 30. Nd6 Qg6 31.
Rf1 $18) 26… Qh5 (26… Qxb2 27. Rf1 c3 28. f7 c2 29. Bh6 $18) 27. g4 $1 (27.
f7 $2 Bxg3 28. h3 c5 29. Nxb7 Qxf7 {Speelman} 30. Nd6 Qg6 31. Bf6 Qc2 32. Nxb5+
Kd7 33. Nxa7 Bf2 34. Nc6 Be3 35. h4 $1 $18 {Myers}) 27… Qh7 28. f7 Bg3 29. h3
c5 30. Nxb7 Qxg7 31. Rf1 Qf8 32. Nxc5 $1 1-0
[/pgn]

Also, I had a win with the Black pieces against the Russian Kopylov. The result was a score of 9/12 (+8=2-2), which sufficed for the grandmaster title and first place half a point ahead of the Finn Kauranen.

Since then I have played quite well on second board behind Keith Richardson in the Eighth Olympiad Final (+5=7-0), and very badly indeed (scoring just about 50% in the Heilimo Memorial Tournament organised from Finland (I was much impressed by the strength of the Finnish players, most of whom I had not encountered before). Having twice narrowly failed, I would still like to qualify for the Final of the Individual World Championship. Of course life becomes increasingly busy, but the examples of Hugh Alexander and Graham Mitchell encourage me to believe that one can continue to play well at postal chess longer than over-the-board. So perhaps around the year 2000, when the children are grown up….”

[pgn]
[Event “olm7 fin B1 corr”]
[Site “ICCF corr”]
[Date “1972.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Black “Florian, Tibor”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D76”]
[Annotator “Averbakh/Hollis/Howell & BCN”]
[PlyCount “121”]
[EventDate “1972.??.??”]
[EventType “team (corr)”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[SourceTitle “Corr 2002”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2002.05.23”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2002.05.23”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,121,18,26,36,-22,54,32,37,19,27,28,30,3,26,19,17,42,20,13,27,31,31,31,
19,24,27,11,47,61,50,85,90,77,66,63,67,54,73,53,40,43,55,36,46,65,45,46,49,49,
48,54,48,69,83,93,102,102,103,112,98,89,114,100,99,91,98,98,94,79,79,82,90,87,
91,85,91,82,78,76,96,101,96,75,100,91,92,103,118,118,118,118,118,118,121,139,
179,182,206,240,191,212,205,205,205,192,192,192,192,183,192,104,155,96,96,96,
100,527,537,28911,29983,29984,29985,29986]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3
d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 O-O ({ASH : It is rather more challenging for Black to
postpone castling, and to organise an immediate attack on White’s d-pawn with}
6… Nb6 7. Nc3 Nc6) 7. O-O Nb6 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. d5 Na5 ({ASH : I have never yet
found an opponent to accept the pawn with} 9… Bxc3 $6 {too risky to accept P}
10. dxc6 Bg7 11. Qc2 bxc6 12. Rd1 Bf5 13. Qb3 Qe8 14. Nd4 Bd7 15. Qc2 {BCN :
is a typical line.}) 10. Bf4 c6 11. dxc6 {ASH : Such are the subtleties of
transposition that, although occasionally played before, this line does not
appear in the Grunfeld books of Hartston or Richardson and Boyd.} Nxc6 ({
ASH : In Olympiad VIII Finals (1977) Dr. S. Aarseth (Norway) played against me
} 11… Qxd1 12. Rfxd1 Nxc6 13. Nd2 $1 Bf5 (13… Be6 {Hollis}) 14. Rac1 Rac8
15. Nde4 Nc4 16. b3 Na3 $6 (16… N4e5 {wastes two tempi}) 17. Nd5 Rfe8 (17…
Kh8 18. Nxe7 $1 Nxe7 19. Bd6) 18. Bg5 Kf8 (18… f6 $5 {although Hollis says
it “hardly appeals”}) 19. Nxe7 Nxe7 20. Nd6 b6 (20… Rxc1 21. Bxc1 {xNa3}) 21.
Nxc8 Bxc8 22. Bxe7+ Kxe7 23. Rc7+ Kf6 24. Bc6 Rf8 25. Rxa7 Nc2 26. Be4 $18 {
Hollis-Aarseth, corr-CCOL8 fin 1975-77}) 12. Qc1 e5 13. Be3 {13 Rd1 was theory
but why drive Black Q where she wants to go?} Nd4 {An outpost which cannot be
maintained.} 14. Rd1 Be6 15. Nxd4 exd4 16. Bxd4 Bxd4 17. e3 Bxe3 18. Qxe3 $14 {
[#] ASH : So White emerges with a small but clear advantage (better placed
pieces, pressure on the b-pawn and on the Black squares).} Qe7 19. Ne4 Bd5 20.
Qc5 Qxc5 21. Nxc5 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Rac8 $6 {ASH : A difficult decision. Black
surrenders a pawn for some counterplay.} ({ASH : He might have had better
chances of a draw with the passive} 22… Rab8 {better drawing chance despite}
23. Nd7 Nxd7 24. Rxd7 {not sufficient to win}) 23. Nxb7 Rc2 24. b4 Re8 25. Rd8
Rxd8 26. Nxd8 Na4 27. a3 Rc3 28. Re1 Kf8 29. Re5 Rc7 30. h4 h6 31. Ra5 Nc3 32.
Ra6 {threat Nc6 forces play} Rd7 33. Nc6 Rd6 34. a4 Nxa4 35. Rxa4 Rxc6 36. Rxa7
Rc3 37. b5 Rb3 {See page 80 in Essential Chess Endings by Howell.} 38. Rb7 Kg7
39. b6 h5 {This move produces a model endgame as analysed by Hollis etc. [#]
cf ending in Portisch-Petrosian [INF 17-0568] after Portisch’s 47th move.
White plan is to play K to d-file, Black captures f-pawn but then K goes to
c-file and R cannot return behind passed P (only works with b-pawn)} ({Hollis
suspected Black should have played} 39… g5 $5 {not fearing h4-h5}) 40. Kf1 {
The general case of a draw is threatened but not overturned. Averbakh
“Comprehensive Chess Endings” vol 5 (Pergamon ed) analyses both the Hollis and
Portisch endgames (see pp291-292)} Rb2 41. Ke1 Kf6 {As White threatens to
support the advance of his passed P with his K, it is very important for Black
to seek counterplay on the other wing – Averbakh} 42. f3 Rb3 43. Kd2 Rxf3 44.
Kc2 {ASH : The idea is realized.} Rf5 $2 (44… Ke6 $2 45. Rc7 $1 (45. Re7+ $6
Kxe7 46. b7 Rf5 47. b8=Q {hard to see how White can win}) 45… Rf5 {see game})
(44… Rxg3 $6 45. Rc7 $1 {Howell wrongly attributes this move to Hollis but I
don’t find it in Hollis’ notes. Averbakh claims as his?} (45. Rxf7+ Kxf7 46. b7
{Hollis said this may win as Pg6 weak but Averbakh gives:} Rg2+ $1 47. Kc3 Rg3+
48. Kc4 Rg4+ 49. Kc5 Rf4 $1 50. b8=Q Rf5+ 51. Kd6 Kg7 $1 {“Black creates an
impregnable fortress” – Averbakh}) 45… Rg2+ $140 46. Kb3 Rg1 47. Kb2 Rg2+ 48.
Rc2 $1 Rg4 49. Rc3 Rxh4 50. Ka3 Re4 51. b7 Re8 52. Rc8 Re3+ 53. Kb2 Re2+ 54.
Kc3 Re3+ 55. Kc2 Re2+ 56. Kd3 Rb2 57. b8=Q Rxb8 58. Rxb8 Kf5 59. Rf8 f6 60. Ke3
g5 61. Kf3 $18 {Averbakh}) (44… Re3 $3 {is the right plan:} 45. Rc7 Re8 46.
b7 Rb8 {Hollis thought White could now win:} 47. Kd3 Kf5 $1 48. Rxf7+ Kg4 49.
Rf4+ $1 Kxg3 50. Rb4 {[#]} g5 $1 {The saving move not considered in Hollis
article, but later discovered by Russian analysts. Black creates a
countervailing passed pawn.} (50… Kh3 $2 51. Ke2 $1 Kg3 (51… Kg2 52. Rb3) (
51… Re8+ 52. Kf2 Rf8+ 53. Ke3 Rb8 54. Kf3 {as in main line}) 52. Ke3 Kh3 53.
Kf3 Rf8+ 54. Ke4 Rb8 55. Ke5 $18) 51. hxg5 h4 52. g6 (52. Ke2 h3 53. Kf1 h2 54.
Rb3+ Kf4 55. Kg2 Kxg5 $11) 52… h3 53. g7 h2 54. Rb1 Kg2 $11 {Averbakh}) 45.
Rc7 Rb5 46. b7 {“The outwardly active position of Black R prevents his K from
approaching the pawns” – Averbakh} Ke6 (46… Kf5 {according to Fine’s recipe
(idea 47 Rxf7+? Kg4) but..} 47. Kc3 $1 {threat 48 Rxf7+ Kg4 49 Rf4+ and 50 Rb4;
prevents …Kg4 by same idea} f6 $140 (47… Kg4 48. Rc4+ $1 Kxg3 49. Rb4 Rxb7
50. Rxb7 Kxh4 (50… f5 51. Rg7) 51. Rxf7 Kg3 52. Kd2 g5 53. Ke1 $18) 48. Kc4
Rb1 49. Rc5+ Kg4 50. Rb5) 47. Kc3 f6 48. Kc4 Rb1 49. Kc5 Kf5 50. Rd7 $1 $18 {
prevents Kg4 and threatens Rd5+ followed by either Rd6+ or Rd4+ and then
inserting R on b-file} Rc1+ 51. Kd6 Rb1 52. Kc7 Rc1+ 53. Kd8 Rb1 54. Kc8 Kg4
55. Rd6 g5 56. Rxf6 gxh4 57. gxh4 Kxh4 58. Rg6 $1 Kh3 59. Kc7 {According to
Howell, Black resigned here but Hollis gives further moves, see e.g. ‘British
Chess’ pp105-107} Rxb7+ 60. Kxb7 h4 61. Kc6 {ASH : It would be extremely rash
to claim this ending as a theoretical win. The outcome nearly always depends
on a single tempo, and may be swayed by secondary factors (e.g. it proved
vital in the above for White’s rook to be on the seventh rather than the
eighth). But at least this game can be added to the example for future
research. Perhaps this is the kind of problem that one day computers might be
able to solve.} 1-0
[/pgn]

From British Chess Magazine, Volume CXXXIII (133, 2013), Number 4 (April), pp.194-5 we have this obituary written by James Pratt :

Adrian Swayne Hollis (2 viii 1940 Bristol – 26 ii 2013 Wells), British Master and Correspondence Grandmaster (1976), three times British Correspondence Champion, has died. He played most of his OTB chess as a young man, finishing seventh equal at the British Aberystwyth, 1961, when he beat, amongst others, A.R.B. Thomas and former champion, Alan Phillips. He gave future champion, Jonathan Penrose, a tough fight in the last round before conceding the half-point. He played in the Hastings Premier, 1962/3 and emerged with a plus score in the Anglo-Dutch matches. He was an occasional reviewer for BCM.

It was, of course, in the realm of postal player that he shone most brightly!

In 1966 we see him playing board two for England, below Slade Milan, and, two years later, Adrian scored 9/12 in a World Postal Qualifier, narrowly missing a place in the final. In 1971 he won the British Correspondence Championship, easily outdistancing a tough field. He played top board for England in the 1972-7 Olympiad. In 1974-6 he won the Reg Potter Memorial. In the ninth Olympiad – 1982-5 – Adrian Hollis was undefeated on board two. And England took the Gold Medal!

[pgn]
[Event “Alekhine mem-A corr9196”]
[Site “corr”]
[Date “1991.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Gipslis, Aivars P”]
[Black “Hollis, Adrian Swayne”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B81”]
[Annotator “Hawkes”]
[PlyCount “64”]
[EventDate “1991.??.??”]
[EventType “tourn (corr)”]
[EventRounds “12”]
[SourceTitle “Corr Nr. 1”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1997.09.01”]
[SourceVersion “2”]
[SourceVersionDate “2000.04.19”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,64,32,37,46,50,80,80,71,47,43,38,82,21,81,78,77,54,60,63,69,68,77,41,
27,22,70,6,6,3,12,33,18,-2,3,-47,-62,-45,-59,-59,-70,-53,-53,-108,-27,-27,-1,
-116,-143,-148,-88,-204,-180,-252,-271,-247,-199,-231,-468,-531,-562,-531,-638,
-660,-627,-704,-510]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g4
a6 (6… Nc6 7. g5 Nd7 8. Be3 Nde5 9. Be2 a6 10. f4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Nc6 12. Qd2
b5 13. Bf3 Qa5 14. O-O Be7 15. Qf2 Rb8 16. Ne2 O-O 17. Bg2 Re8 18. c3 Bd7 19.
Rfd1 Qd8 20. Rd2 Bf8 21. Rad1 $14 {Haag-Penrose, 9 Olympiad}) (6… Be7 7. g5
Nfd7 8. Be3 Nc6 9. Rg1 Nb6 10. Qd2 O-O 11. f4 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 e5 13. Be3 d5 14.
fxe5 Bb4 15. O-O-O Be6 16. Rg3 Na4 17. Bd4 Bxc3 18. Bxc3 Nxc3 19. Rxc3 dxe4 20.
Qf4 Qb6 21. Qxe4 Rac8 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Kb1 g6 24. Bd3 $6 Rd8 $1 {0-1 (43)
Palciauskas-Bang, Axelson mem.}) 7. g5 Nfd7 8. Bg2 (8. Be3 b5 9. a3 Bb7 10. h4
Be7 11. Qd2 Nc6 12. f4 h6 13. Bg2 hxg5 14. hxg5 Rxh1+ 15. Bxh1 Nxd4 16. Qxd4 e5
17. Qd2 exf4 18. Bxf4 Ne5 19. O-O-O Nc4 20. Qg2 Qa5 21. Nd5 b4 $1 {1/2-1/2 (44)
Franzen-Hollis, 10 Olympiad bd.2}) (8. h4 b5 9. a3 Nb6 10. Be3 N8d7 11. h5 Bb7
12. Rh3 $1 Ne5 13. g6 Nbc4 $2 14. Bxc4 Nxc4 15. gxf7+ Kxf7 16. Qg4 Qe7 $2 (
16… Qd7) 17. Bg5 Qd7 18. Nd5 $1 Ra7 19. Rf3+ Ke8 20. Nc7+ $1 {1-0
Kauranen-Estrin, 10 world ch. final}) 8… b5 (8… Nc6 9. f4 h6 10. h4 hxg5
11. hxg5 Rxh1+ 12. Bxh1 Qb6 13. Nf3 g6 14. Qd2 Qc7 15. b3 b5 16. Bb2 Bb7 17.
O-O-O O-O-O 18. Nh2 Nb6 19. Ng4 d5 20. e5 d4 21. Ne4 Nd5 22. Qf2 Qa5 23. Nd6+
Bxd6 24. Bxd5 Bc5 $1 {1/2-1/2 Khasin-Walter, 8 world ch. final}) 9. f4 b4 10.
Nce2 Bb7 11. h4 Nc5 12. Ng3 g6 13. b3 Bg7 14. Bb2 O-O 15. Qd2 Qb6 16. O-O-O a5
17. Nde2 Bxb2+ 18. Kxb2 a4 19. Nc1 axb3 20. cxb3 Nc6 21. h5 Qa5 22. Kb1 {[#]}
Na7 $1 23. Qb2 Nb5 24. Ka1 Nc3 25. Rd2 Ra7 26. Rh2 Rfa8 27. Bf3 Qc7 28. Rc2
Nxa2 29. Nxa2 Rxa2+ 30. Qxa2 Rxa2+ 31. Kxa2 Qa5+ 32. Kb1 Qa3 {Hawkes} (32…
Nxb3 $4 33. Ra2 Qc5 34. Rhc2 Qg1+ 35. Kb2 Qxg3 $4 36. Ra8+ $1 Bxa8 37. Rc8+ Kg7
38. h6# {(Hollis)}) 0-1
[/pgn]

Obituary from Raymond Keene in The Specatator

Obituary from Kenneth Shelton in The Independent

Obituary from ? in The Times

Obituary from John Rhodes in The Chess Improver

Obituary from Bob Jones of Keverel Chess.

Wikipedia article.