Many readers will know that Leonid Finkelstein passed away at the end of last year. Earlier this month Ray Keene published a fitting tribute in The Times, which can be seen in part at the end of this post (click on the image to expand).
Before that, two notes: firstly, you can find Leonid’s player profile on this website; secondly I am indebted to David Taylor of The Athenaeum who has kindly provided this interesting information, “The Hamilton Russell cup teams right up until shortly before Leonid’s death included no fewer than three active nonagenarians, the other two being Ben Hooberman of the Chelsea Arts Club, who coincidentally very recently won his game against the Athenaeum, and David Jones of the Oxford and Cambridge Club, a member of the formidable team that regularly battles it out with the RAC and MCC for the trophy. In recent memory, others who have turned out until close to or beyond their ninetieth birthday have been John Silvant (Hurlingham) and George Arthur (MCC). Indeed, there may be something in the air of Clubland which makes for a combination of longevity and continued chess: even after the loss of Leonid, the Athenaeum has recently fielded teams with players’ average age well into the seventies, and there are some notable achievements: Keith Richardson (MCC) was one of the joint winners of the ECF President’s Award for Services to Chess 2015 and Roger Emerson (RAC) was a joint winner of the 2015 British Chess Championships Over 65 section.”
Hamilton-Russell Chess Cup 