Chess Notebook Author Burgess Dead at 47
James Burgess, for 12 years author of the Globe's Chess Notebook, died of a heart attack at the age of 47, in his Dorchester home last week.
Considered by many to be dean of New England Chess, he had been officer and senior advisor to the Massachusetts State Chess Assn. for more than a decade. Famous for his superlative wit, articulation and style, he was Massachusetts's only literary representative to the chess world.
Burgess started Chess Notebook in 1952, with Harry Lyman, U.S. amateur chess champion, serving in an advisory capacity. Lyman moved out of state and withdrew from the column 10 years ago, and Burgess authored it alone.
Ironically, Burgess was forced to give up serious chess when the emotional toll of tournament play proved too much for his health. He continued, however, to add to the pleasure thousands of New Englanders find in the game through his writing.
Always significant to Burgess was the fact that during World War II, he was stationed not in any major theatre, but on lonely Baffin Island, which he decried as a black and God forsaken spot.
After the war, he attended Boston University. He worked at various minor jobs and in the leather business, while authoring three novels, numerous short stories and poems, which he never published. He is survived by his wife, Mildred and a son, Charles.
