Young british chess star

In hotel death plunge

By David Wilkes, Last updated at 20:09pm on 27th July 2006

P romising young star: Jessie Gilbert

A child chess prodigy who was once ranked as one of the most intelligent people on earth, Jessie Gilbert had a glittering future ahead of her.

But today the 19 year old's devastated family was in mourning after she plunged to her death from her eighth floor hotel room.

The tragedy happened while Miss Gilbert, a popular member of England's women's chess squad who planned to read medicine at Oxford University, was competing in the Czech Open international tournament.

It is understood she was alone in her room before the fall. Police sources and tournament organisers described the death as an apparent suicide.

But friends of Miss Gilbert insist taking her own life was not in her character. They say she had a problem with sleepwalking which could have led to a terrible accident.

Her body was found stuck in the branches of a tree beneath the window she fell from at the Hotel Labe in Paradubice, 65 miles east of Prague, at 3.30am on Wednesday morning.

Miss Gilbert shot to fame in 1999 when she became an adult world chess champion at the age of 11, just three years after she started playing. She shrugged off competition from mainly adult opponents to claim the World Women's Amateur title.

As a result she was awarded a £4,000 chess scholarship to America, where she studied with Grand Master Edmar Mednis for a week.

The same year she was finalist in the Brain of the Year competition run by the Brain Trust charity, where she was beaten to the title by the American astronaut John Glenn.

A former pupil of £9,000 a year Croydon High School, an independent school for girls, she was due to play her next game in the Czech Open on the day her body was found. Fellow British players there abandoned matches as a mark of respect.

Until three months ago Miss Gilbert, who has one elder and two younger sisters, lived with her parents Angela, 52, a doctor, and Ian, 48, a city banker, at their detached £700,000 house in the village of Woldingham, near Caterham, Surrey.

Neighbours said the couple had recently divorced, sold the family home and moved to separate properties.

'The family have been through a very difficult time recently,' said one neighbour.

'I don't know how it affected the girls but it must have been very stressful for them.'

Miss Gilbert was close to Nicholas Pert, a top English men's player and International Grand Master. They both played at the Olympiad chess tournament in Turin, Italy, in May and June this year, but he denies they had a sexual relationship.

Mr. Pert, 25, a trainee actuary, said: 'We were just friends. She was a very popular, outgoing girl.

'I haven't seen her since Turin. She seemed fine, perfectly happy the last time I saw her.

'It's very sad news. I feel terrible for her family. I wouldn't like to speculate on what happened, but she'd told me and I think quite a lot of other people that she suffered from sleepwalking.'

John Saunders, editor of British Chess Monthly magazine, said he had also heard from a number of 'reliable sources' that she had a problem with sleepwalking.

He thought Miss Gilbert was a well-balanced individual who coped well with the pressure of top class chess.

Mr. Saunders, who played her a number of times, said: 'People who know her are horrified at the suggestion it was suicide and simply won't believe it. She had everything to live for.

'You can very often psycho-analyse someone when you are playing them at chess, and she gave the impression of someone who was really hard working, with a serious manner, who wanted to get better.

'She was a very together person. She struck me as quite quiet, reserved, but very polite. Some teenage chess players dress like they are 25 but not Jessie, in fact she was just the opposite. She was younger than her age and not one for drinking and dancing the night away.'

In the Czech Open, Miss Gilbert was playing in the second-tier competition of the tournament. After five rounds she was 129th out of 329 taking part. She had beaten one female opponent and drawn with four different male players.

Jiri Petruzalek of the Ave Kontakt agency which is organising the tournament said it appeared Gilbert had committed suicide.

'There are no signs of anyone else being involved or an accident,' he said.

'She was playing quite well, certainly up to her usual standards, and there was no hint that something like this was about to happen. No one noticed anything strange in her behaviour or manner while she was here.

'As far as I know she was here with her family but they have now left.'

Miss Gilbert's mother was too upset to comment at her home in Reigate, Surrey. Her father was unavailable to comment.

In a short statement issued through their solicitor, the family paid tribute to the 'much loved' and 'exceptionally talented' teenager.

The solicitor, Wendy Ryle, declined to comment on the state of Mr. and Mr. Gilbert's marriage or the circumstances of their daughter's death.

In a recent entry on her website, Miss Gilbert said: 'I am currently taking a year out to play and study chess.... I will be starting medical school at Oxford in October 2006 but plan to continue actively participating in the chess world!'

A Pardubice police spokesman said officers are investigating whether a criminal act took place. A post mortem is to be carried out.

Article 4. THE SUN