David E. Burris
March 29, 1944 - January 29, 2001
Postal Senior Master David E. Burris was a USCF Absolute Postal Chess Champion and the Director of the Greater Knoxville Chess Club's Community Outreach Program — an initiative to teach chess to children and Senior Citizens. He was the program's founder and devoted much time and money to it. He was a wonderful man, full of life, who helped a lot of people.
Dave was born in Knoxville but later moved away to pursue his career as a mathematician who specialized in statistics. He and his wife moved back to Knoxville when Dave was forced into early retirement by a reoccurrence of the polio he contracted in early life.
Dave had a lifelong interest in chess. As a High School student in the early 1960s, he joined the old Knoxville Chess Club. He went on to earn an OTB master title and won the Tennessee State Championship in 1965, 1966, and 1967. During the same period he won several Knoxville City titles. After leaving Tennessee in 1968, Dave captured several other state titles, in other states. His final tournament was the 2000 Knoxville City Championship, just a month before his death.
Dave was a great fan of Internet chess and could be found on the ICC every night, where he played under the handle Fianchetto.
Dave
was a fine writer and won several awards while
serving as editor of the Atlantic Chess News.
He was a serious collector of chess literature
for more than thirty five years, and amassed
a collection of thousands of chess books and
magazines. He also collected chess art, chess
stamps, chess software, and Staunton chess sets.
No one has ever loved the game more.
David's chess games, both OTB and postal, are included in the
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