He earned degrees from Auckland University and Harvard Law School. He was employed by the University of Auckland Law School and in 1980 became a full professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Otago in Dunedin. At Otago he served on two occasions as dean of the faculty. He became an emeritus professor in 2005.
He was the New Zealand champion in 1962–63, 1970/71 and 1971–72. In the 1962/63 championship he held Ortvin Sarapu to a draw in the last round and so the two were declared co-champions. He won the other championships outright.
He represented New Zealand at the 1966 Zonal tournament in Auckland and the 1972 Olympiad in Skopje, Yugoslavia.
Sutton was also a correspondence player of renown. He was the New Zealand Correspondence Champion in 1970 and in 1975 he lost to Jorn Sloth in the final of the world CC championship.
He was a foundation trustee of the Chess Friends of New Zealand Trust and the founder of the Otago Chess Club. In addition to holding the FM title with FIDE, Sutton also held the Master title in both New Zealand and the United States. Sutton lost his battle with cancer and passed away in Dunedin, New Zealand in 2009.
His scrappy attacking play is seen the following wild game that was played in the 1961/62 New Zealand Championship.
Richard Sutton–Christopher A Evans1–0C3561-62 New Zealand Champ, WellingtomWellington NZL1962Stockfish 16
C35: King's Gambit Accepted 1.e4 e5 2.f4 Boris Spassky beat Fischer with
the King’s Gambit at Mar del Plata in 1960. That defeat caused Fischer to
begin analyzing it and he calimed toi have discovered a bust. He even claimed
that the King's Gambit loses by force. exf4 3.f3 e7 Fischer advocated 3...
d6 and wrote, "This is the key to a troublesome position, a high-class
"waiting move. At Mar Del Plata, 1959, I played 3...g5 against Spassky, but
this is inexact because it gives white drawing chances in the ensuing ending."
Fischer went on to show analysis and concluded by saying, "Of course white can
always play differently, in which case he merely loses differently." 4.c4 f6 4...h4+ is frequently played, but it leads nowhere after 5.f1 5.g3 is risky because after fxg3 6.0-0 6.hxg3 should be avoided. xg3+ 7.f1 d5 8.exd5 g4 White; position is no fun to play. 6...d5 7.exd5 h3 8.e1+ f8 black has an aggressive position. 5...d5 6.xd5 and black's
position is rather harmless because he has no forceful followup. 5.c3
This routine move gives black a clear advantage. 5.e5 g4 6.d4 d5 with
equal chances. 5...xe4 6.e5 6.xe4 favors black. d5 7.xd5 xd5 8.d3 f5 9.e2 c6 10.xf4 0-0-0 with an active position. 6.0-0 0-0 7.xe4 d5 8.d3 dxe4 9.xe4 Black is slightly better. Sogaard,S (2270)
-Pedersen,N (2295) Aarhus DEN 1995 6...g5 This well played move gives
black a promising position. 6...d6 is sold and it, too, leaves black with
slightly the better of it, but Evans' move is more aggressive. 7.b3 c6 8.d4 0-0 9.xf4 a5 Black's slight advantage didn't mean much in Honfi,
K-Pogats,J Budapest 1955 though because white went on to win. 7.d4 d6
8.d3 Black is clearly better. c6 9.xf4 d5 10.d3 e6 11.0-0 0-0 11...xd4 allows white too much play... 12.h5 d6 13.fxd5 g6 14.h6 cxd5 15.g7 f8 16.xd4 and white has at least succeeded in equalizing.,
12.ce2 d7 The strange looking retreat 12...Nc7 was better because it
would not have allowed black to get a backward e-Pawm. 13.c3 13.xe6
keeps the balance. fxe6 14.f4 Black's e-Pawn has become a target and so
white can be considered to have equalized. 13...f6 14.g3 xf4 15.xf4 e6 16.c2 g6 While this can hardly be considered bad, it contains a bad
seed...a weakened K-side. 16...c5 17.dxc5 xc5+ 18.h1 h6 is a better
line. 19.d2 d4 20.xh6 Tempting, but it's harmless. dxc3 20...gxh6
loses of course. 21.xh6 e4 22.xe4 f5 23.xe6+ f7 24.xf5 21.xc3
The best defense. 21.g5 e8 22.h7+ xh7 23.xc5 d6 Black is safe. 23...gxh6 24.xf8 21...d4 22.g5 g4 Surprisingly, black's position is
far from overwhelming! AFter 23.e4 b6 24.h3 e5 25.c2 Black's attack
has been beaten back. 17.ae1 Black's position has drifted from promising
to no more than equal after, say, 17...Qd7, but white's last move contains a
drop of poison that Evans is unaware of! e8 This is bad! 18.xg6 Luckily
for black, so is this! 18.xe6 This is the correct sequence. fxe6
and now... 19.xg6 g7 20.xh7+ h8 21.d3 and black's position is
precarious at best. 18...hxg6 19.xe6 fxe6 Finally, black
makes a fatal error. 19...d7 and black stays safe. 20.e3 d6 Black's
position holds and white has no forced win. 19...g7 also proves
sufficient. 20.e2 d6 with equal chances. 20.xg6+ Now black has no
escape, but only if white's play is precise. g7 21.h5 And precise it is! 21.e5 Threatening mate is really bad. xf1+ 22.xf1 f8 and white is a
R down. 21...f7 22.xg7 xg7 23.xe6+ h7 Does white have enough to
finish off his opponent? 24.h3+ He does, but not with this mvoe! 24.h6+ g8 25.e5 f8 25...h7 26.g6+ g7 27.xg7# 26.e6+ h7 27.f3
wraps it up. 24...g8 In his turn, black counter-blunders! 24...h4 and black is quite safe. 25.g3 g5 26.f4 e8 27.xh4+ g8 28.h8+ f7 29.xe8 xe8 30.c8+ d8 The result from this position could be
anything. 25.e5 White counters black's counter-blunder with
yet another blunder! 25.e6+ was the only winning move. h8 26.e5 f8 27.f6 Black has no move 25...f8 Will the blunders ever
cease?! 25...c8 not only avoids disaster, but secures what should be (or
should it be might be?) a winning position. 26.f5 26.xc8+ xc8 27.xg7 xg7 with what amounts to a theoretical win. 26...f8 27.xg7 xg7 28.g4 c7 29.g5 e8 with a theoretical win. 26.e6+ Finally! After this any
more blunders are unlikely. h7 27.f3 Black resigned. Spirited, if
inaccurate, play by both sides. 1–0
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