James Rodney Phillips (1942 – 19 September 1969) was a New Zealand chess player, who in January 1957 at age 14 became the youngest player ever to win that country's national championship, a record that stands to this day.[1]

He was coached by the Estonian-born master Ortvin Sarapu, who spotted his talent at the age of 10.[2] He played in the World Junior Championship in The Hague in 1961. He finished fourth in his preliminary group, thereby missing out on a place in the final group of 12, however he won the reserve group to finish 13th overall.[3] Phillips competed in the 1967 British championship, won by Jonathan Penrose, where he finished in a tie for 10th place of the 36 competitors with a score of 6/11.[4] He was found drowned in Wellington Harbour on 19 September 1969, a suspected suicide.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Peter Stuart, The New Zealand Championships: A Brief History, poisonpawn.co.nz
  2. ↑ Alan Aldridge,History of Chess, New Zealand Chess magazine, p34-35, October 2009
  3. ↑ Kažić, B.M., International Championship Chess: A Complete Record of FIDE Events, Pitman Publishing, 1974, pp. 275-76. ISBN 0-273-07078-9
  4. ↑ John Saunders, 54th British chess championship, Britbase
  5. ↑ Phillips, James Rodney, 1942-1969, New Zealand National Library
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