BCN remembers IMC James Adams who passed away aged 91 on July 27th, 2013 in Worcester Park, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey.

James Frederick Adams was born on September 4th, 1921 in Lambeth. His parents were James J Adams (DoB: 10th October 1884) who was a plumber’s mate and Lucy M Adams (née Ayres, DoB: 22nd December 1886). He had an older brother who was William A Adams who was also a plumber’s mate and and Uncle George T (DoB: 8th March 1882) who was the plumber who presumably had many mates.

At the time of the 1939 register James was a telephone operator.

The Adams family lived at 52, Broadway Gardens, Mitcham, Surrey, CR4 4EE (rather than 001 Cemetery Lane)

From CHESS, 1991, March, page 91 we have:

“Whatever Happened to Human Effort?

I am giving up postal chess after 57 years for the reason that, like Jonathan Penrose and recently Nigel Short, I am increasingly disturbed over the increase in the use of computers in correspondence play. It is impossible to prove but one has the feeling that many opponents see nothing wrong in using a machine and I see no pleasure in having to bash one’s brains out against a computer. I am happy in the knowledge that I won my FIDE IM title long before dedicated chess computers were ever heard of. I shudder to think of the proliferation in the use of computers in a competition like the World CC Championship. I don’t wonder that Penrose objects.

Unfortunately, this is the sort of thing against which it is impossible to legislate. The BCCA has banned their use but it doesn’t mean a thing.

The latest monstrosity is where Kasparov plays a match against another GM and both are allowed to use computers whilst the game is in progress. To me, this is absolutely shocking. Dr. Nunn admits to the use of computers in the compilation of one of his books and I see that even ordinary annotators use a programme like Fritz to assist with their notes to a game. What happened to human effort?

Anyway, I have about five postal games left in progress and when they are finished I will call it a day.

Jim Adams
Worcester Park, Surrey

So who was Jim Adams?

From British Chess (Pergamon Press, 1983) Botterill, Levy, Rice and Richardson we have this:

The smoke-laden atmosphere of the chess rooms of St. Bride’s Institute, in the heart of the City of London, could hardly be considered a positive encouragement to any ambitions to become an International Master, but certainly this was so in my case. Let me explain the sequence of events.

Face-to-face, or over-the-board chess, had been my main interest since my war-time days as a member of the Civil Defence. Passing time between air-raids led to the adoption of many pastimes and an absorbing game such as chess was ideal. Fortunately for me, one of my ambulance station colleagues was a very fine player named A. F. (Algy) Battersby, later to become General Secretary of the British Correspondence Chess Association.

He had spent the greater part of the First World War playing chess in the Sinai Desert and, with his tremendous experience, he brought to the game strategical ideas and tactical skills that, in those early days, were well beyond my comprehension.

‘Algy’ was kind enough to say some years afterwards that I was ‘the best pupil he ever had’, but whether this was true or not, he certainly passed on to me the theoretical groundwork that was to be so useful to me in later years. Among other books, he encouraged me to purchase the Nimzowitch classic My System, with the kindly warning that I would not understand it at first reading but would perhaps get some grasp of the ideas at a second or third attempt.

My System was a revelation to me and proved to be the greatest help to an understanding of the game that I had ever received. Up to my fortuitous meeting with ‘Algy’, my games had been of a simple tactical nature. Pieces were left en prise, oversights and blunders were the order of the day and an actual checkmate came as a surprise not only to the loser but often to the winner as well!

To win a game through sheer strength of position was completely unknown to me, but ‘Algy’ and Nimzowitch changed all that! Under their combined influence my general playing strength improved enormously and I was soon second only to ‘Algy’ in such tournaments as were held in my home town of Mitcham, where the local chess club was revived after the war.

Our club soon attracted a few strong players and we played regularly in county competitions and, later, the London Chess League. During those years chess was an absolute joy to me and all my spare time was spent at the local club or at chess matches, whilst Saturday afternoons were spent at the now defunct Gambit Chess Room, in Budge Row, where I passed countless hours playing chess, pausing only to order light refreshment from the indefatigable ‘Eileen’, a waitress of somewhat uncertain age who almost certainly regarded all chess players as raving lunatics!

The ‘Gambit’ could never have been a viable commercial proposition on what we bought and it was eventually thought necessary to introduce a minimum charge depending on the time of day. Gone for ever were the days when one could spend the entire evening playing chess, analysing, or having a crack at the local Kriegspiel experts, all for the price of two cups of tea and the occasional sandwich. Sadly, it all disappeared in the aftermath of the
war.

By 1950 I had become Match Captain of the Mitcham Chess Club and, of course, responsible for arranging various matches. Getting a team together was not difficult as the club membership was quite large for such a lowly club. The playing standard too was surprisingly high and whilst I, myself, was fortunate enough to win the club championship several times it was never easy.

On one occasion a ‘friendly’ match had been arranged with the BBC and all was well until a ‘flu epidemic a few days before the date of the match laid most of the Mitcham players low. On the morning of the match I was left with five players for a 1O-board match! As it was only a ‘friendly’ and in order to avoid disappointing all concerned I took myself off to the Gambit and recruited a few of the ‘regulars’ to help us out. It must be remembered that most of the strongest players in London frequented the ‘Gambit’ and since those pressganged into service were extremely strong players it seemed only courteous to give them the honour of playing on the top five boards, leaving the Mitcham ‘stars’ who, coincidentally, were our usual top board players, to bring up the rear.

Now this composite team, in my judgement, was probably good enough to win the London League A Division and it was no surprise when we won 10-0. Only a friendly indeed! Any Match Captain would have given his queen’s rook for such a team but, whilst the BBC players were warned beforehand of the composition of our team, they were not amused and further matches were not arranged!

Round about this time I was playing regularly in London League matches, nearly all of which were held at St. Bride’s Institute, where my story began. A non-smoker myself, I found the conditions intolerable. The place seemed to be completely airless and Government warnings about the dangers of smoking did not exist! not exist! Consequently, the entire playing area was reminiscent of the Black Hole of Calcutta! Always susceptible to headaches, I began to return home physically ill after every match. If this was playing chess for pleasure then something was wrong!

However, salvation was at hand. Ever since the war I had been playing a few games by post under the auspices of the BCCA (British Correspondence Chess Association ), and my somewhat traumatic experiences at St. Bride’s were beginning to make postal chess a far more attractive way of playing the
game. And so my chess career started all over again!

My correspondence chess activities up to the 1960s were not particularly successful, although I had managed to win three Premier Sections and finish
equal third in the British Correspondence Championship of 1962-63. However, during that time a group of BCCA players, of whom I was one, were
becoming somewhat dissatisfied with the Association’s attitude towards international chess and eventually a splinter group formed a rival organization which became known as the British Correspondence Chess Society.

The BCCS was, almost from the start, internationally orientated and it was possible to play foreign players, many of master strength. With strong opposition it seemed easier to improve and my first real success came in the Eberhardt Wilhelm Cup in 1966-67 when I was able to obtain the lM norm giving me a half=master title. However, gone were the days when a superficial analysis was enough before posting a move, which even if it was not the best, was generally good enough to hold one’s own with even the best of British CC players at that time. Fortunately for British chess, the situation is now vastly different and the strongest British CC players are recognized as being among the best in the world.

The Eberhardt Wilhelm Cup consisted of players all of master or near-master strength and it was in one of the games I played in this tournament that I played probably the most surprising move of my life.

[pgn]
[Event “Eberhardt Wilhelm Cup”]
[Site “Correspondence”]
[Date “1967.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “John F Adams”]
[Black “E Ott”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B18”]
[Annotator “James Adams”]
[PlyCount “39”]
[EventDate “1967.??.??”]
[SourceTitle “British Chess, page 13”]
[WhiteTeam “England”]
[BlackTeam “Hungary”]

{[%evp 0,39,19,38,60,60,55,40,50,35,39,46,55,55,38,26,27,18,22,36,31,28,62,31,
18,19,24,15,19,5,66,26,30,38,38,18,30,17,34,210,203,204]} {This game appears
on page 13 of British Chess, Pergamon Press.} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4.
Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. h5 Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Qc7 11.
Bd2 Ngf6 12. O-O-O e6 13. Kb1 O-O-O 14. c4 c5 15. Bc3 cxd4 16. Nxd4 {[#] So
far this is all “book” and whilst White has more space in the centre, Black’s
position is quite sound and he can look forward to a good game. The normal
move for Black is now 16…a6 which also has the recommendation of the World
Champion Botvinnik. My opponent had the quite laudable idea of saving a
“tempo” and clearly did not fear Nb5 by White. Unfortunately for him there was
a gigantic flaw in his reasoning.} Bc5 $6 $146 ({Relevant:} 16… a6 17. Qe2
Bd6 18. Nf1 Nc5 19. Nb3 Nxb3 20. axb3 Qb6 21. Nd2 Bc5 22. f4 a5 23. Be5 Qc6 24.
Rhf1 Bb4 25. f5 Bxd2 26. Bxf6 gxf6 27. Rxd2 Rxd2 28. Qxd2 Rd8 29. Qxa5 Qxg2 30.
Qa8+ Kc7 31. Qa5+ Kc8 32. Qa8+ Kc7 33. Qa5+ {1/2-1/2 (33) Reshevsky,S-Sherwin,
J New York 1966}) 17. Nb5 (17. Qe2) 17… Qb6 $2 ({Much better was} 17… Qf4
$11 18. Qd2 Qxd2 19. Rxd2) 18. b4 $18 a6 ({Black had undoubtedly seen all this
and also seen that} 18… Bxf2 {would lose to} 19. Nd6+ Kb8 20. Nxf7) 19. bxc5
Nxc5 {Black must have awaited my next move with some complacency.} 20. Qd6 $3 (
20. Bd4 axb5 21. Qe3 bxc4+ 22. Kc2 Rd5 {with full equality. Unhappily for his
dreams I had prepared a move which he had obviously not anticipated.}) 1-0
[/pgn]

To win the full IM title involved getting one more IM norm and happily for my prospects, I was selected for the British team in both the Olympiad Preliminary of 1972 and the European Team Championships of 1973.

Although I was trifle unlucky to miss the IM norm by half a point in the European Championship I finally clinched the coveted IM title in the Olympiad Preliminary which, although starting a few months before the European tournament, went on so long that I was in suspense long after the European games finished.

[pgn]
[Event “olm8 qual GP3 B6 corr”]
[Site “ICCF corr”]
[Date “1973.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Adams, James F”]
[Black “Butnaru, Corneliu”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B96”]
[Annotator “James Frederick Adams”]
[PlyCount “57”]
[EventDate “1973.??.??”]
[EventType “team (corr)”]
[EventRounds “10”]
[SourceTitle “Corr 2002”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2002.05.23”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2002.05.23”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
[WhiteTeam “Great Britain”]
[BlackTeam “Rumania”]

{[%evp 0,55,19,29,40,40,80,76,70,26,29,26,61,47,68,14,46,51,76,79,79,9,-22,-17,
0,0,0,-5,27,4,132,-41,45,172,248,253,253,274,274,260,256,263,263,275,260,245,
262,255,283,273,439,544,483,494,568,578,600,643]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5 8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. Qe2 ({
If now} 10. exf6 Qe5+ {recovers the piece with a good game}) 10… Nfd7 11.
O-O-O Bb7 12. Qg4 {A promising pawn sacrifce} Qxe5 $6 (12… Nxe5 $2 13. Nxe6
Nxg4 14. Nxc7#) (12… Qb6 13. Be2 Nxe5 14. Qh3 Nbd7 15. Rhe1 $16) 13. Bd3 (13.
Bxb5 axb5 14. Rhe1 h5 15. Qh4 Qc5 16. Qg3 Bc6 $15) (13. Be2 Bc5 14. Rhe1 Bxd4
15. Rxd4 Nc6 16. Rd2 $16) 13… Nf6 $2 {Losing} ({Relevant:} 13… h6 14. Bh4
g5 15. Nxe6 h5 16. Qxg5 Bh6 17. Rhe1 fxe6 18. Bg6+ Kf8 19. Rf1+ Kg8 20. Bf7+
Kh7 21. Bg6+ Kg8 22. Bf7+ Kh7 23. Bg6+ {1/2-1/2 (23) Dueball,J-Kerr,B Skopje
1972}) 14. Bxf6 {[#]} Qxf6 $146 ({Predecessor:} 14… gxf6 15. Bf5 Qe3+ 16. Kb1
h5 17. Nxe6 Qxe6 18. Qd4 Nc6 19. Qd7+ Qxd7 20. Bxd7+ Ke7 21. Bxc6 Bxc6 22.
Rhe1+ {1-0 (22) Kogan-Kotenko,G corr 1971}) 15. Rhe1 $18 (15. Nxe6 $1) 15… h5
{[#]} 16. Nxe6 $18 {It is interesting to note that ex-World Champion M. Tal
played this same sacrifice a few months later in a simultaneous display at
Teeside.} (16. Qg3 $18) 16… hxg4 ({Tal’s opponent, fearful of the great man,
declined the sacrifice by} 16… Be7 {but after} 17. Bxb5+ {had to resign.}
axb5 18. Nc7+ Kf8 19. Rd8+ Bxd8 20. Re8#) {My opponent, unfettered by such
considerations of invincibility, decided to say “Show me”.} 17. Bxb5+ Ke7 {
In this position I now spent hours upon hours of simply delightful analysis.
Surelt there was a forced mate? But it was not to be found and so….} (17…
axb5 {Obviously not} 18. Nc7#) 18. Nxf8+ Qe6 ({or} 18… Kxf8 19. Re8#) 19.
Nxe6 fxe6 20. Bc4 Rh6 21. Nd5+ Bxd5 22. Rxd5 Nd7 23. Rg5 Kf6 {After all the
blood and thunder White is a pawn up and proceeds to win another.} 24. Rxg4
Rxh2 25. Rxe6+ Kf5 26. Reg6 Nf8 27. Bd3+ Ke5 {Black has been driven into a
mating net.} 28. R4g5+ {and Black resigned} {For, if} Kd4 ({whilst} 28… Kf4 {
leads to} 29. Rf5+ Ke3 30. Rg3+ Kd4 31. c3#) 29. Kd2 $1 {and mates} 1-0
[/pgn]

One of my most interesting games in the European Team Championship of 1973 was against F. Grzeskowiak, himself an IM and a feared attacking player.

[pgn]
[Event “EU-chT1 qual 2-08 corr”]
[Site “ICCF corr”]
[Date “1973.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Grzeskowiak, Felix”]
[Black “Adams, James F”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C99”]
[Annotator “James Fredeick Adams”]
[PlyCount “90”]
[EventDate “1973.??.??”]
[EventType “team (corr)”]
[EventRounds “10”]
[SourceTitle “Corr 2002”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2002.05.23”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2002.05.23”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,90,19,31,34,25,34,15,18,-10,2,-5,24,-4,4,7,0,-46,-16,-9,-7,-7,2,17,23,
-23,-11,-18,27,0,27,46,41,44,40,55,45,17,29,26,8,14,41,27,12,8,13,-12,6,-26,
-35,-88,-89,-43,-44,-84,-31,-82,-31,-34,-18,-87,-87,-89,-97,-75,0,-95,-129,
-147,-114,-114,-107,-207,-194,-182,-231,-269,-141,-257,-108,-216,-166,-253,
-304,-291,-476,-476,-456,-475,-501,-581,-695]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4.
Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d6 9. h3 Na5 {Chigorin Variation}
10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 cxd4 13. cxd4 Nc6 14. a3 Bd7 15. Nb3 ({Relevant:
} 15. Nf1 Rfc8 16. Bb3 Be8 17. Ng3 g6 18. Bg5 Nd7 19. Bxe7 Nxe7 20. Qd2 Nc6 21.
Qh6 Nf8 22. Nf5 gxf5 23. exf5 Nd8 24. Re4 Nde6 25. Rg4+ {1-0 (25) Gutierrez
Castillo,J-Henao,R Medellin 1972}) 15… a5 16. Be3 a4 17. Nbd2 Rfc8 18. Bd3 {
[#]} Qb7 $146 {at the time in correspondence chess} ({Predecessor:} 18… Qb8
19. Nf1 Na5 20. Rc1 Rxc1 21. Qxc1 Nb3 22. Qc2 Bd8 23. dxe5 dxe5 24. Bg5 Nh5 25.
Bxd8 Qxd8 26. Ne3 Rc8 27. Qb1 Nd4 28. Qd1 Nb3 29. Bc2 Be6 30. Qxd8+ Rxd8 31.
Nxe5 Nf4 32. Nf3 h6 33. h4 Bc4 34. g3 Ne6 35. Rd1 Rc8 36. Bxb3 Bxb3 37. Rd2 Rb8
38. Ne5 b4 39. axb4 Rxb4 40. f3 Rb5 41. Nd5 a3 42. bxa3 Ra5 43. Ne7+ Kf8 44.
N7c6 Rxa3 45. Rd7 Ra1+ 46. Kf2 Ra2+ 47. Ke3 Kg8 48. Rxf7 {Watzl,L-Madsen,S
ICCF corr 1950 1-0}) 19. Qe2 exd4 20. Nxd4 Ne5 21. Bc2 $146 Nc4 22. Bg5 {
Setting a little trap} Rc5 ({so that if} 22… Nxb2 23. Rab1 Nc4 24. Nxc4 Rxc4
25. Qxc4 {and wins.}) {It must be remembered here that, in order to get the IM
title, I had to play for a win in practically every game and Black’s aggressive
play from now on should be viewed in that context.} 23. f4 {I had hoped for
tis natural reply which, however, leaves the white king dangerously exposed
and gives Black many tactical chances.} Nxd2 24. Qxd2 Qa7 {threatening …Rxc2!
} 25. Kh1 h6 $1 {At the right time.} 26. Bxf6 ({White cannot play} 26. Bh4 {
because of} Nxe4 $1 {and so is forced to concede Black the two bishops, thus
greatly enhancing my attacking prospects.}) 26… Bxf6 27. Bd1 Rac8 28. Rb1 d5
{Although allowing} 29. e5 {this move opens up more lines for the deadly
bishops.} Bh4 30. Rf1 Rc4 31. Ne2 Bf5 32. Ra1 ({I had expected} 32. Rc1 {
here to try to exchange a pair of rooks but Black is obviously well on top in
any case.}) 32… Qd7 33. Kh2 d4 {With complete command of the c-file, two
beautifully-placed bishops, a lurking, menacing queen plus a pawn with the
Nimzowitsch “lust to expand”, Black has an easily won game.} 34. b3 axb3 35.
Bxb3 d3 $1 {Black can afford to give up the exchange but White declines with
thanks!} 36. Ng1 Rc3 37. Bd1 Be7 $1 {Black hammers at White’s many weaknesses
and forces White’s pieces into awkward positions.} 38. Qb2 Rc2 $1 {Played with
hardly any thought. If the exchange sacrifice does not work here there’s no
justice!} 39. Qb3 Qd4 {Grzeskowiak is in terrible trouble and at last decides
to win some material in the hopes of salvaging something from the position.
but it is all too late now!} 40. Bxc2 Rxc2 41. Rab1 Be6 42. Qxb5 Bd5 43. Rf3 ({
The attempt to preserve material by} 43. Nf3 {would soon lose} {after} Qxf4+
44. Kh1 Qg3 45. Rg1 (45. Ne1 Bxg2+ {etc}) 45… Bxf3 {and it is all over.})
43… Bxf3 44. Nxf3 Qf2 45. Rg1 ({If} 45. Ne1 {Black soon wins by} Qxf4+ 46.
Kh1 Qf1+ 47. Kh2 Re2 {for if now} 48. Qxd3 Rxg2+ {wins the queen.}) 45… Qxf3
{and White resigned. A most satisfactory win.} 0-1
[/pgn]

Here is a discussion of James Adams on the English Chess Forum initiated by Matt Mackenzie (Millom, Cumbria)

Here is his entry on the ICCF web site.

Here is his entry from chessgames.com

39 Games of James Adams (27) of thirty nine of his games.