Narelle Kellner ( Jorgensen, 18 October 1934 – 20 December 1987) was an Australian

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player who held the title of

Woman International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(WIM, 1977). She was a two-time winner of the Australian Women's Chess Championship (1972, 1974).

Biography

Narelle Kellner won the Women's Chess Championships of

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21 times. Also she two times won Australian Women's Chess Championship (1972, 1974). In 1977, she was awarded the FIDE

(WIM) title. Narelle Kellner two times participated in the Women's World Chess Championship Interzonal Tournaments: * In 1976, at Interzonal Tournament in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

ranked 11th place; * In 1979, at Interzonal Tournament in

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

shared 17th-18th place. Narelle Kellner played for Australia in the Women's Chess Olympiads: * In 1972, at first board in the 5th Chess Olympiad (women) in

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

(+1, =3, -4), * In 1976, at second board in the 7th Chess Olympiad (women) in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

(+3, =4, -2), * In 1978, at second board in the 8th Chess Olympiad (women) in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

(+4, =3, -4), * In 1984, at second board in the 26th Chess Olympiad (women) in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

(+3, =3, -5). She worked as a primary school teacher. From 1961 she was married to Australian

correspondence chess Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, traditionally through the postal system. Today it is usually played through a correspondence chess server, a public internet chess forum, or email. Less common ...

champion and Correspondence International Master John Vincent Kellner (1931-1987). In 1986, she co-authored ''Guide to Coaching Junior Chess Players'' with Kevin Harrison which was updated in 1993.

Murder-suicide

Kellner died by suicide in the early hours of 20 December 1987. Initially responding to reports of a house fire at Kellner's address in Hurstville at around 4am on 20 December, firefighters found the decomposing body of Kellner's husband John Kellner in a bedroom. Narelle Kellner was found still alive but with a self-inflicted bullet wound to her forehead in the loungeroom. Kellner died from her injuries on the way to hospital. It was believed she had deliberately set fire to the house. Police said they believed Kellner had murdered her husband about a week earlier and had been living in the house with his dead body. They indicated that they would be treating the deaths as a murder-suicide. Neighbours described the couple as reclusive. The president of the New South Wales Chess Association described the couple as an "odd pair who were suited to each other" and suggested the game of chess had become an obsession. Australian chess champion Ian Rogers claimed that John Kellner had previously suggested there had been conspiracies against him, which did not exist. On 24 December 1987, a statement was issued by the Australian Chess Federation in which they said they wished to record their deep regret at the deaths of both John Kellner and Narelle Kellner before detailing their respective achievements. Kellner was cremated at the

Rookwood Crematorium Rookwood Cemetery (officially named Rookwood Necropolis) is a heritage-listed cemetery in Rookwood, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest List of necropolises, necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere and is the world's largest ...

on 5 January 1988.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kellner, Narelle 1934 births 1987 deaths Australian female chess players Chess Woman International Masters Chess Olympiad competitors 20th-century chess players