Mark Carl Diesen

We were shocked and deeply saddened by the news of Mark Diesen's sudden passing. He was my son's chess coach 2 years ago. A gentle man. Rest in peace, Mark.You will be missed.

Mark Diesen was our daughters' chess coach for more than three years. The photo attached was taken after our girls were back from the 2006 World Youth Chess Championship. Coach Mark Diesen was a nice person, a brilliant chess player and coach. Our girls learnt a great deal of chess through his encouragement and world class knowledge. He is truly missed.

OMG, I was shocked to read that Mark passed away so young. I just happened to be surfing Wikipedia and read the tragic news. It's been about 3 decades since I led Mark and a talented group of young chess stars (incl The Fed, Rohde, Henley, Tisdall, Ken Regan, etc) on an exhibition tour of Scandinavia. My heart goes out to his family and I hope to see full coverage of his chess career in a future issue of Chess Life.

Mr Diesen was my son's coach. He was such a nice person and was a great chessmaster. We will miss him very much.

C Wong

Mr. Diesen coached my son; he was a brillaint person; he will be very much missed in Houston.
M.Iyer

A Reminiscence

YES, thou art gone! and never more
Thy sunny smile shall gladden me;
But I may pass the old church door,
And pace the floor that covers thee.

May stand upon the cold, damp stone,
And think that, frozen, lies below
The lightest heart that I have known,
The kindest I shall ever know.

Yet, though I cannot see thee more,
'Tis still a comfort to have seen;
And though thy transient life is o'er,
'Tis sweet to think that thou hast...

I worked with Mark on the Free Internet Chess Server. I am very sorry for your loss.

Sorry to hear of Mark's passing away. Mark served as a volunteer administrator on the Free Internet Chess Server up to 2005 and will be missed by those who knew him - David Flynn ('DAV')

I am very sorry to hear, belatedly, about Mark's all too early passing. I first met and played him at the 1969 Maryland Junior Championship, which he won at age 12! We in Maryland all watched his rapid progress in chess and were thrilled when he won the 1976 World Junior Championship !! I played Mark 2 more times, once in 1970 and last in 1981. I think he moved out of state shortly after that. I had the pleasure of meeting him again, though very briefly, at the 1996 U.S. Open in...