DAVID ("DAVE") CREEMER (5 October 1902 - 21 December 1953)
Sixty years ago, in the space of a few months, B.C. chess experienced two grievous losses. In September Canon Henry Roy passed away (see Bulletin #269), followed in December by Dave Creemer. This is his story.
Born in Bessarabia, Russia (now largely Moldova). Trained as a tailor, Creemer emigrated to Canada in 1920 and first lived in Toronto, working for Tip Top Tailors, etc. He married in 1927; shortly thereafter the couple moved to Winnipeg, where Creemer started his own tailoring business. In October 1941 the family moved to Vancouver, where Creemer's brother and sister already lived. He started the Fashion Garment Co., a made-to-measure ladies tailoring establishment whose clientele included visiting celebrities such as Martha Rae and Ella Fitzgerald. Tailoring seems to have been the family trade: Dave's brother Max was also in the profession, as president of the Reliable Garment Co. Dave Creemer died at age fifty-one of complications from an ulcerated stomach.
Creemer learnt to place chess in Russia; while in Toronto he was secretary of the Judean Chess Club, and played against Emanuel Lasker in a simul. He won the Manitoba championship in 1934 and the Winnipeg championship in 1937, and was an early coach for Abe Yanofsky. After moving to Vancouver Creemer won the Vancouver Chess Club championship in 1942 and was instrumental in the founding of the Vancouver Jewish Chess Club; he was Vancouver champion 1946-48, but his greatest achievement as a player was winning the Open tournament held to celebrate the Vancouver Diamond Jubilee in July 1946.
Although Creemer was a strong player, his lasting legacy lies in the realm of chess organization
and promotion. He held various positions on the BCCF Executive, including president, secretary, and publicity manager, and was chairman of the organizing committee which brought the Canadian Championship to the West Coast for the first time in 1951. From the summer of 1947 until his death Creemer wrote a weekly chess column in the Vancouver Province newspaper: each saturday the column included a chess problem ladder, news from local, Canadian, and international events, and usually several games. This did much to publicize the BCCF and chess in general throughout B.C.
The current trophy for the B.C. Junior Championship is the Dave Creemer Trophy. After his death a Dave Creemer Memorial Fund was established "for the purpose of introducing and encouraging chess in the schools of Vancouver and throughout B.C., also in high schools and among other youth groups or organizations" (BCCF Special Meeting, 13 January 1954). Monies from the fund were used to supply chess sets to schools and trophies for school competitions; in 1967 a BCCF motion was passed which stated "that the Trustees of the Dave Creemer Fund be instructed to wind up the Fund and to make the money left in the fund available to the Junior Chess Co-ordinator, and that the Junior Chess Co-ordinator ensure that the name of Dave Creemer is suitably perpetuated in the field of Junior Chess." This was done by holding the 2003 junior championship and naming the current trophy in his memory, on the fiftieth anniversary of his passing.
Thomas, Sir George Alan - Creemer, Dave [E61] Simul Winnipeg, 19.11.1930
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 0–0 6.Bd3 b6 7.0–0 Bb7 8.e4 d6 9.Bg5 Nbd7 10.Qd2 Qc8 11.Bh6 c5 12.Qg5 cxd4 13.Nb5 Qc5 14.Qh4 e5 15.Ng5 Rfe8 16.Rae1 Nf8 17.f4 a6 18.Na3 Bxh6 19.Qxh6 Ng4 20.Qh3 Ne3 21.Rf2 f6 22.Nf3 exf4 23.Nc2 Bxe4 24.Bxe4 Rxe4 25.Nd2 Nxc2 26.Nxe4 Qxc4 27.Nxd6 Qc6 28.Rc1 Qxd6 29.Rfxc2 Re8 30.Qd3 Re3 31.Qc4+ Ne6 32.Qc8+ Kg7 33.Qxa6 Kh6 34.Rd1 Nc5 35.Qc8 f5 36.Rcd2 Ne4 37.Rd3 Qb4 38.Qc1 g5 39.Rxd4 Re1+ 40.Rxe1 Qxd4+ 0–1
Yanofsky, Abe - Creemer, Dave [E00] Winnipeg City ch (2), 1937
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4 Bb4 5.Qc2 d5 6.e5 Ne4 7.Bd3 f5 8.Nge2 Qh4 9.0–0 0–0 10.f3
Ng5 11.a3 Be7 12.Be3 b6 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.Nb5 Bd7 15.Qd2 Nc6 16.Rac1 Nf7 17.g3 Qh3
18.Nf4 Qh6 19.Nc7 g5 20.Nxa8 Rxa8 21.Ne2 Qh3 22.f4 h6 23.Bb5 Ncxe5 24.Bxd7 Nxd7
25.Rc7 Rd8 26.Rfc1 Nd6 27.Rxa7 Ne4 28.Qe1 Bd6 29.Qf1 Qh5 30.Nc3 Ndf6 31.Nxe4 dxe4
32.Rc2 Nd5 33.Bc1 gxf4 34.gxf4 Kh8 35.Rg2 Bc7 36.Kh1 e3 37.Qe2 Qxe2 38.Rxe2 Bxf4
39.Kg2 Rc8 40.Re1 Rc2+ 41.Kh1 Rxh2+ 42.Kg1 Rc2 43.Bxe3 Bxe3+ 44.Kh1 f4 45.Ra8+ Kg7
46.Re8 Kf7 47.Rh8 f3 48.Rf1 f2 49.Rb1 Bc1 50.Kg2 Ne3+ 0–1
Creemer, Dave - Taylor, Jack [D11] Diamond Jubilee tournament Vancouver, 07.1946
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 c6 4.Bf4 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Nc3 e6 7.e3 Bb4 8.Bxc4 Ne4 9.Qb3 Qa5
10.Rc1 0–0 11.0–0 Bxc3 12.bxc3 b6 13.Rfe1 h6 14.Qb4 Qxb4 15.cxb4 Nd7 16.Ba6 c5 17.Bb7
Rae8 18.Bxe4 Bxe4 19.Bd6 Bxf3 20.gxf3 Rc8 21.Bxf8 Kxf8 22.dxc5 bxc5 23.bxc5 Rxc5
24.Rxc5 Nxc5 25.Rc1 Nxa4 26.Rc8+ Ke7 27.Rc7+ Kf6 28.Rxa7 Nb6 29.f4 Nd5 30.Kg2 Kg6
31.Kf3 f5 32.Kg3 Nf6 33.f3 Nh5+ 34.Kh4 Nf6 35.Re7 Kh7 36.Rxe6 Kg6 37.Rd6 Kf7 38.Rxf6+
Kxf6 39.Kh5 Kf7 40.e4 fxe4 41.fxe4 Kf6 42.h4 Kf7 43.e5 g5 44.hxg5 hxg5 45.Kxg5 1–0
Bever, V.W. - Creemer, Dave [C59] BC - WA m Washington, 08.08.1948
1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 e5 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Be2 h6 9.Nf3 e4
10.Ne5 Qd4 11.Ng4 Nd5 12.c3 Qb6 13.d4 Bd6 14.0–0 Qc7 15.g3 0–0 16.Nd2 f5 17.Ne5 Bxe5
18.dxe5 Qxe5 19.Nc4 Nxc4 20.Bxc4 Be6 21.Qe2 Rad8 22.f3 Kh8 23.fxe4 Nxc3 24.bxc3 Qc5+
25.Qe3 Qxc4 26.exf5 Bxf5 27.Qe5 Bh3 28.Rxf8+ Rxf8 29.Bf4 Qd3 30.Re1 Kh7 31.Qd4 Qf3
32.Qd2 Re8 33.Qc2+ g6 34.Qf2 Rxe1+ 0–1
Duval, Leo M. - Creemer, Dave [A18] Interclub team match Vancouver, 02.1953
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 d5 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Nf3 d4 6.Nxd4 Nxe5 7.Nf3 Nxf3+ 8.Qxf3 Nc6 9.Be2
Nd4 10.Qd3 c5 11.0–0 Bd7 12.Bf3 Qc7 13.Ne2 Nxf3+ 14.Qxf3 Bd6 15.Ng3 h5 16.h3 Bc6
17.Qe3 Bf4 18.Qc3 h4 19.Ne2 Bh2+ 20.Kh1 0–0–0 21.f4 Bg3 22.d4 Be4 23.Be3 Qd7 24.dxc5
Qc6 25.Rg1 Rd3 26.Qxg7 Qe8 27.Nxg3 Rg8 28.Nxe4 Rxg7 29.Nd6+ Rxd6 30.cxd6 Qc6 31.Bd4
Rg3 32.Kh2 Qxd6 33.Be5 Qd2 34.c5 f6 35.Bd6 Qxb2 36.Rae1 Qxa2 37.f5 e5 38.Re4 Qf2
39.Rxh4 Rxg2+ 40.Rxg2 Qxh4 41.Rg8+ Kd7 42.Rg7+ Kc6 43.Rc7+ Kd5 44.Rxb7 Qf2+ 45.Kh1
e4 0–1
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