Two Masters, Two Grim Fates
For quite a while now, my blog page has been filled with tragic and inspiring stories from the chess world. Some very sad, some very encouraging, writing these blogs has become my forte. Whether it be the story of Peter Winston whose sudden disappearance even 47 years later has remained a total mystery, or Reginald Bonham, who in my eyes is one of the most inspiring figures in chess history. Marcel Duchamp, who was not afraid to follow his heart, or the tragedy of Abe Turner. And the latest one, the story of three spectacular ladies who left no stones unturned and made the very first international tournament for women chess players a total banger.
Before you start losing your patience and think of giving up reading because of me advertising my blog posts, let me tell you that today's no different. In this post, I bring you the upsetting stories of two very good and respected chess players whose lives had a sudden, tragic and violent end. Stay with me for the next 10-15 minutes, because here, just as in chess, not everything is black and white.
Table of Contents
ONE OF AUSTRALIA'S MOST PUZZLING MURDER MYSTERIES
One of the most amenity-rich suburbs in all of Sydney, Hurtsville, just like the whole of Australia, was offering a warm and sunny climate in December 1987, one of the months which is reckoned to be the best time to visit the country. But the comforting warmth soon turned into a darkened blaze not only disturbing the suburb's peaceful morning but also sending shockwaves through the chess world when a grim scene was discovered at the Kellner house after the reports of a house fire at 4 am.
Before returning to that fateful night and what was discovered after the firefighters arrived to bring the fire down, let the flashback begin.
Narelle Kellner: An Exceptional Chess Talent
Narelle Kellner (born 18 October 1934) was an Australian chess player known for winning the state championship of New South Wales a record 21 times and winning the Australia's Women's Chess Championship two times in 1972 and 1974. Described as a towering figure in Australian chess by The Australian, she is a two-time participant (1976 and 1979) of the Women's World Chess Championship Interzonal Tournaments. She was awarded the title of WIM (Woman International Master) by FIDE in 1977.
Along with focusing on her chess and competing overseas in four Chess Olympiads for Australia (in 1972 where she competed as board number one and finished with 2.5/8, and in 1976, 1978, and 1984 where she competed as board number two and finished with scores of 5/9, 5.5/11, and 4.5/11 respectively), she also worked as a primary school teacher at the Belmore South Public School in New South Wales.
She was the better half of John Vincent Kellner, an Australian correspondence chess champion and Correspondence International Master, a big national champ, a television commentator, and regular columnist, having married him in 1961. In 1986, alongside Kevin Harrison, she co-authored the book Guide to Coaching Junior Chess Players. This valuable resource was updated in 1993.
Murder-Suicide, or Something Else?
Coming back to the main scene, firefighters reached the Kellner residence in Hurtsville around 4 a.m. on December 20, 1987 in response to reports of a house fire and smoke coming out of the window, only to discover a shocking and disturbing scene: the decomposing body of John Kellner in a bedroom and an alive Narelle but with a self-inflicted gun wound on her forehead in the living room. She succumbed to her injuries on the way to the hospital. At that time there were claims that she intentionally set fire to the house.
We Believe that Kellner had murdered her seriously unwell husband about a week earlier and had been living in the house with his dead body. For now we are going to treat the deaths as a murder-suicide.
- The Police that investigated the case
Further investigations revealed that it was indeed Narelle who had set the fire using Jiffy barbecue firelighters placed throughout the house before turning the gun on herself. The neighbours characterized the couple as being quite isolated or withdrawn from the outside world.
They were an odd pair suited to each other.
- President of the New South Wales Chess Association
The President of the New South Wales further mentioned that the game of chess had turned into something of a thirst for the couple. Australian chess champion Ian Rogers stated that John Kellner had alleged conspiracies against him, which actually did not even exist.
At the time their deaths were front page news and on December 24, 1987, before highlighting their accomplishments, the Australian Chess Federation expressed their heartfelt sorrow over the passing of John Kellner and Narelle Kellner. Kellner was laid to rest at the Rookwood Crematorium on 5 January 1988.
Almost four decades later, the questions surrounding the events of that tragic day still remain under the category of being unsolved. Was it really a murder-suicide? Or something else which everyone has been unaware of? Unfortunately, due to the reclusive nature of the couple, very few were able to describe the two. What could have pulled this couple, once at the pinnacle of their success, to such a violent conclusion? This incident is one of Australia's most puzzling murder mysteries to date.
IM SIMON WEBB: THE TIGER'S TRAGIC END
Simon Webb was born on 10 October 1949 in London and learned how to play chess at seven. The chess community soon started recognizing Webb as one of England's most promising talents when he became the joint British U-18 champion in 1966. His talent continued to shine as he secured the fourth position in the European Junior Championship in 1969. He is the brother of Roger Webb, also a professional chess player. Webb had a brief professional chess career in the 1970s, where he finished joint second in the 1975 British Championship, trailing behind William Hartston.
One of his most notable tournament achievements and perhaps his best tournament was in Hamburg 1977, where he tied for first place with Liuben Spassov, placing ahead of well-known players like István Csom and Milan Matulovic. Webb's skill of escaping from dire positions and sometimes even turning certain lost positions into unexpected victories earned him the nickname "Houdini". Fide awarded him the title of IM (International Master) in 1977. His peak rating was 2445 which he achieved in January 1978.
He faced 17-year old Kasparov in 1980 at the European Team Championship and lost, but not before giving the future world champ a tough competition!
Webb began playing correspondence chess in the early 1980s, stepping back from over-the-board play for many years. He became England's fourth International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster in 1983 and achieved several notable results. In the 14th World Correspondence Chess Championship, where Tõnu Õim emerged as the winner, Webb scored 8.5 out of 14 points, placing fifth out of the 15 participants. His final ICCF Elo rating reached 2609, with his peak being 2665 which he had achieved in October 2001.
Talking about his personal life, at one event, a lady translator was appointed to assist Webb in translating a language and for interpretation purposes, named Anna. They eventually married and moved to England together. In the 1980s, Webb relocated to Sweden. He competed in the Swedish Team Championship since the late 1990s.
Webb is perhaps best known for his insightful and humorous exploration of practical tournament play in his book, Chess For Tigers, which was published in 1978. It is known as one of the most influential chess books ever written.
THE TIGER'S FINAL (AND BRUTAL) CHAPTER
On 15th March 2005, Webb entered his fifth floor apartment in Stockholm after playing in the finals of the Swedish Chess League in Malmö and travelling by train to where he lives. He reached home around 1 am. Swedish chess player Per Soederberg, who played the Swedish Chess League finals alongside Webb, said that Webb engaged in an argument with his son as soon as he entered the house.
In 2005, Webb's 25-year-old son Dennis had just finished serving a four-year prison sentence. He was a convicted drug dealer and despite multiple arrests, he continued to engage in illegal activities. He had a long history of arrests for drug-related offenses.
It's not known if Soederberg's statements regarding the argument were true or not, but disaster occurred very soon as Simon Webb, was unexpectedly attacked and brutally assassinated by his son, a few minutes after he entered the house. His wife, Anna, soon got into the place and saw her husband lying on the floor. According to the investigation, Dennis pushed his father away and then grabbed a kitchen knife. The Swedish police stated that Webb suffered more than 20 knife wounds from the hands of his own son as per the medical reports.
Something happened because his wife heard screaming and came down and found Mr Webb had been stabbed and she immediately realised it was the son who did it. There was very much hate in the way he behaved.
- Inspector Hans Strindlund
Soon after the incident, Dennis tried to commit suicide by driving the car at 130 kmph into a bus shelter. Emergency services and the fire department had to spend hours in order to extract him from the wreckage. He suffered a broken nose after the accident. Though within a few days, he had recovered enough to be presented in the court. He was charged with murdering his father.
The police were unclear about the motive behind the crime. Some reports indicate that Mrs. Webb heard her husband screaming and found him stabbed multiple times. She claimed her son confessed to the murder before stealing the family car and fleeing. Some accounts suggest she witnessed the attack. After the tragedy, Anna Webb received treatment for mental trauma in a hospital in Stockholm.
RIP, Narelle Kellner and Simon Webb, two very great chess players and respected individuals. I am out of words, and I don't think I can say anything about these two stories as of now.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. I hope I was able to widen your knowledge about chess history. I can only hope that tragedies like these never occur, not only for the people associated with chess but on the whole planet.
I am open to honest feedback, whether positive or negative, so do share them in the comments if you want. Also, if you find any mistakes in the blog, do tell me.
This will be the end of this blog. Here are the sources used: Wikipedia, The Australian, ChessBase, Tartajubow's blog, and British Chess News.
Once again, thank you for reading this blog, and until next time, I am outta here.
