Tribute by Phil Morgan
The Club has been informed today of the recent sudden death of club member, Steve Bak. Steve died on the 6th, February as a result of a massive cardiac event. His death was very quick and very painless.
Trevor Lewis wrote that the news of Steve’s death is a huge shock and sadness. Steve has been a club member for 5 years and was a third team regular. Steve’s last game was on the 16th January, when he told Trevor of his decision to give up League chess. Trevor was sorry to hear this as Steve was a fine , attacking chess player who was achieving some excellent results. It seems incredible that he should have died just 3 weeks later.
Trevor has passed on to the family his and our club’s condolences for their sad loss.
Steve set up our current Club website. It was entirely his creation, a product of his brains and I.T. expertise. The puzzles on the home page and anything other than text were put on by Steve. The site provides a fitting, living memento of this aspect of Steve’s contribution to our Club.
With this game (Steve Bak v Alex Webster 16/1/19) Steve bowed out from League chess on a very good note.
In 2018-19 he played 7 League games for Ashfield, with 3 wins, 3 losses and 1 draw. He played in the Isle Of Man International Tournament in October scoring 4/7. In previous years he played in the London Chess Classic.
He had a full life outside of chess and loved trips to Scotland and spending time with his grandchildren. He will be much missed.