I received news this afternoon of the death on Saturday evening of Professor Nathan Divinsky, the Canadian mathematician and chess lover. Born on 29 October 1925, he was thus in his 87th year. As a player, he was strong enough to share 3-4th places in the 1945 Candian Closed Championship, and 6-7th in 1951. He also represented Canada in two Olympiads, including the 1966 Olympiad in Havana. A Professor of maths, he was never a chess professional, and was more famous in the chess world for his writings and occasional TV appearances. "Around the Chess World in 80 Years" was a popular first chess book. Sadly, some of his later chess publications incurred the wrath of a certain Swiss-based chess historian, with
Warriors of the Mind coming in for especially savage criticism (although the identity of Divinsky's co-author on this book may be presumed partly to explain the reviewer's hostility).
Photo: canadianchess.info
I never met Divinsky myself, but it was clear from one or two TV appearances that he loved chess enormously, and he came across as a warm and delightful man. Others who knew him all agree on this. Ray Keene described him as "a great guy", whilst Bernard Cafferty remembers him, as "a jolly fellow", who had "a kind word for everybody". RIP.
From his final Olympiad appearance:
