John Foley

The Alexander Cup semi-final match on 5 February 2025 started with a one-minute silence following the sad news of the death of Stewart Reuben, a stalwart of English chess and a former resident of Twickenham. He was on a cruise when he died in Jamaica.

Stewart played an enormous role in the development of British and then English chess. He introduced Swiss tournaments to the UK where previously all-play-alls were standard. He built relationships with sponsors and got City funding for several major tournaments. He professionalised the governance of chess as president of the British Chess Federation. He wrote the book on how to organise chess tournaments. He introduced the titles of Candidate Master, International Organiser and International Arbiter. Prior to arbiters, chess had “judges”. 

Stewart was responsible for drafting many of the official Laws of Chess. As a small example, it was at his behest that the rules require players to write a “=” on the scoresheet whenever a draw offer is made. His contributions are too numerous to mention. He was a strong player in his own right and sparred with Bobby Fischer when he lived in New York in the early 1960s. Apart from his chess career, Stewart was a professional poker player. He wrote many books on both chess and poker.

He did have his detractors, perhaps due to his tendency to dominate conversations and make his interlocutors feel somewhat inferior. On the other hand, he had a wealth of anecdotes with which he entertained colleagues during the evenings at chess events.