173:. At the end of his allotted tenure, he took control of the SCA, appointed himself President and retained the right to choose who joined him on the board. For a while, this was an improvement over the muddled state that the SCA had previously endured. Later however, his influence became overbearing and following a controversy about team selection for the
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and consequently his playing style was based, for the most part, on dogmatic strategic concepts. By eighteen, he was
Cheshire County Champion and a little later, moved to Lancashire, where he established a reputation as one of the leading players in the North of England. As an amateur, he had little
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As the best of his playing days drew to a close, Fairhurst continued to give generously of his time and money, for the furtherance of
Scottish Chess. He was made President of the Scottish Chess Association (SCA) from 1956 and forged new links with the
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41:(21 August 1903 – 13 March 1982) was a British bridge designer and international chess master. He was highly accomplished in both disciplines and for many years successfully divided his time between two careers. He was appointed a
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His engineering company continues to thrive today, working out of 15 principal offices and employing 500 staff. Today it is one of the largest private consultancy companies in the UK, trading since 1 January 2012 under the name
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In 1950, chess organisers took advantage of the fact that the leading players of
England, Scotland, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa were all gathered in Britain at the same time. An impromptu first (unofficial)
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player, he held a twelve-board simultaneous blindfold exhibition in 1932 at the
Glasgow Polytechnic Club, winning nine games and drawing three. A year later, he drew a six-game match with the then Austrian master
200:, Fairhurst became the senior partner in his own engineering consultancy, W. A. Fairhurst and Partners. Specialising in bridge design, the largest and most prestigious of his projects was the design of the new
228:. There were many other bridges in Scotland and also in New Zealand, where he was lured to advise on a particularly difficult structure in the early 1970s, and where he made a home for his retirement.
61:, Cheshire, Fairhurst was thirteen when he taught himself to play chess from a collection of books at the family home. During this developmental stage, he was inspired by the teachings of
212:. It was, at the time, the longest river crossing in Europe, measuring approximately 1.4 miles. Costing £6 million, the bridge was opened in 1966 at a ceremony performed by the
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133:, who was close to his peak. In 1947, he played in a radio match with Australia and at the end of the year, achieved a creditable fifth place at the
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235:'s honours list, a CBE. At the pinnacle of his profession, Fairhurst was honoured with the Presidency of the Scottish Branch of the
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of 1947/48. His next performance at
Hastings was similarly praiseworthy, finishing the 1948/49 event in a tie for fourth place.
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team on six occasions between 1933 and 1968; his victims included the Danish champion and future world championship contender
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for his new adopted country, playing board one and registering a 40% score; an outstanding result for a seventy-year-old.
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110:, a player of noted strength and very much a rising star in world chess. In 1937, Fairhurst won a fiercely contested
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and decided that he liked the country so much, it would make an ideal venue for his retirement. He competed at the
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In 1931, he went to live in
Scotland and laid the foundations for a chess boom north of the border, winning the
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for his services to engineering, and in chess he was several times champion of
Scotland, gaining the title of
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90:. It was around this time, in his twenties, that he edited a well-respected games section in the magazine
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His business interests caused him to move to New
Zealand around 1970. While there, he played in the
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Playing team chess, he represented Great
Britain many times, in a series of matches with
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opportunity to play in international tournaments, but he did compete at
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For his engineering achievements, he received a doctorate, and through
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After building a career and reputation for himself in civil and
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Fairhurst
Consulting Structural and Civil Engineers website
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Olimpbase – Olympiads and other Team event information
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a record eleven times between 1932 and 1962. A gifted
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161:, among others. He later lost a match to Wade in
375:Vol. 47 Nos. 877–8, May/June 1982 – Obituary by
74:, ahead of several recognised masters including
494:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
239:. In his time, he was the author of the text
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245:Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland
216:. Other notable projects included the
135:Hastings International Chess Congress
70:in 1927, finishing second, tied with
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149:. Fairhurst won the event, ahead of
279:Chess Personalia, A Biobibliography
237:Institution of Structural Engineers
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423:A Golden Jubilee of British Chess
331:The Penguin Encyclopedia of Chess
16:For the English footballer, see
222:Queen Elizabeth II Metro Bridge
143:Commonwealth Chess Championship
182:New Zealand Chess Championship
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484:British structural engineers
410:player profile and games at
469:Chess International Masters
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504:Sportspeople from Cheshire
474:Chess Olympiad competitors
352:The Encyclopaedia of Chess
281:, McFarland, p. 113,
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499:People from Alderley Edge
464:New Zealand chess players
145:was arranged and held in
479:British bridge engineers
218:Kingston Bridge, Glasgow
171:British Chess Federation
34:William Albert Fairhurst
489:English civil engineers
398:Tay Road Bridge Website
459:Scottish chess players
241:Arch Design Simplified
198:structural engineering
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454:English chess players
99:Scottish championship
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243:and a member of the
175:Lugano 1968 Olympiad
112:British Championship
47:International Master
226:Newcastle-upon-Tyne
159:Wolfgang Heidenfeld
186:Nice 1974 Olympiad
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408:William Fairhurst
340:978-0-14-046452-8
333:, Penguin Books,
302:"Tay Road Bridge"
208:with the city of
63:Siegbert Tarrasch
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29:Fairhurst age 34
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420:(9 June 2002),
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327:Golombek, Harry
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320:Further reading
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220:(1970) and the
202:Tay Road Bridge
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192:Bridge designer
151:Daniel Yanofsky
108:Erich Eliskases
76:Efim Bogoljubov
72:Frederick Yates
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348:Sunnucks, Anne
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449:1982 deaths
444:1903 births
155:Robert Wade
131:Bent Larsen
68:Scarborough
438:Categories
377:B. H. Wood
261:References
224:(1980) in
254:Fairhurst
233:The Queen
165:in 1953.
116:Blackpool
103:blindfold
49:in 1951.
354:, Hale,
350:(1970),
307:21 April
277:(1987),
57:Born in
163:Glasgow
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210:Dundee
147:Oxford
78:, Sir
427:(PDF)
356:ISBN
335:ISBN
309:2018
283:ISBN
206:Fife
157:and
82:and
114:in
43:CBE
38:CBE
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