EDGAR D. HILL
(1907 - 1982)


Edgar Hill about 1966

I can't tell you much about the 1950 club champion, as I only knew him for a short time in 1981, when he returned briefly to Durban and took part in the 1981 club championship. He played remarkably well for a 74 year old, and finished a surprising second to myself in that event (our individual game was drawn). Surprising, as he finished ahead of the 1982 champion Van den Berg, and also many times champions Blackburn and Boulle! He may have been the oldest ever player in the A section.

Edgar scored 10½ out of 11 in the 1950 club championships, ahead of McBride and Earp, who both scored 9 points. As a result of this victory, Edgar was invited to play in the 1951 South African championships held that year in East London. He finished in a tie for 9th place with 4½ out of 12. He must have liked it in the Eastern Cape, as he moved to Port Elizabeth in 1951 (winning their club championship in 1951 and in some later years).

In his early years, Edgar served as Secretary for FIDE and helped organise their Olympiad of 1928. Excerpts from his memoirs concerning those years were reprinted in the magazine "Chess in the RSA" in 1989. They are an entertaining read!

Hill was highly regarded as a tournament director, and was the director of the third South African open, held in Durban in 1966. I have written a separate article on the 1966 open and history of the South African Open.

Games

Hill's win vs Zeegers was given in "The Durban Chess Club Bulletin" of 1981:

[Event "Championship"] [Site "Durban"] [Date "1981.06.25"] [Round "?"] [White "Hill, Edgar D"] [Black "Zeegers, Roland"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.0-0 e6 7.d3 Nge7 8.Ne2 0-0 9.c3 f5 10.Qc2 fxe4 11.dxe4 Qc7 12.Nf4 {provoking the reply} e5 $2 13.Qb3+ Kh8 14.Ne6 Bxe6 15.Qxe6 Rf6 16.Qh3 Qc8 17.Qxc8+ Rxc8 18.Bg5 Rf7 19.Rad1 Rd8 20.Ne1 h6 21.Bc1 b5 22.Nc2 b4 23.Ne3 bxc3 24.bxc3 g5 25.Nc4 Rf6 26.Rd3 Nc8 27.Bh3 Nb6 28.Ne3 Na5 29.Ba3 Na4 30.Rfd1 c4 31.Rd5 Nb7 32.Rb1 Nbc5 33.Bxc5 Nxc5 34.Bf5 Na4 35.Ra5 Nxc3 36.Rb7 d5 37.Raxa7 Bf8 38.Ng4 Rxf5 39.exf5 Ne4 40.Nxe5 Kg8 41.Rf7 Nd6 42.Rh7 Nxf5 43.Ng6 Bg7 44.Raxg7+ Nxg7 45.Rh8+ Kf7 46.Rxd8 Kxg6 47.Rxd5 1-0

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