John Upham is the founder of British Chess News, staff photographer and the IT Manager.
John performed similar roles for British Chess Magazine from 2011 until 2015.
John is an English Chess Federation accredited coach and has taught in schools and privately since 2009. John started chess relatively late(!) at the age of twelve following the huge interest in the Spassky-Fischer World Championship match in 1972.
John is Membership Secretary of Camberley Chess Club and an ordinary member of Crowthorne and Guildford Chess Clubs.
John plays for Hampshire and for 4NCL Crowthorne.
John is Secretary of the Hampshire Junior Chess Association and the Berkshire Chess Association and manages the Chess for Schools partnership.
Grandmaster Milos Pavlovic was born in Belgrade in 1964 and was Yugoslav Champion in 2002. He is a well known theoretician specialising in opening theory and has written many chess books and magazine articles.
GM Milos Pavlovic
This is his fifth title in the “Modernized” series from Thinkers Publishing with a fourth on the Scotch Game having being published on November 17th. We first reviewed a title in this series with The Modernized Caro-Kann from GM Daniel Fernandez and then we reviewed The Modernised Colle-Zuckertort from Pavlovic.
As with every recent Thinkers Publishing publication high quality paper is used and the printing is clear. The book can easily be laid flat next to the board and does not require weights to prevent it from “self-closing” (a particular bugbear of ours !). Each diagram is clear and the instructional text is typeset in two column format, which, we find, enables the reader to maintain their place easily. Figurine algebraic notation is used throughout and the diagrams are placed adjacent to the relevant text and each diagram has a “to move” indicator.
There is no index which, unfortunately, is a standard omission of Thinkers Publishing books. Also missing is a bibliography.
The main content is divided into eleven chapters organised into four parts :
Part I -Systems with g3 and Nh3
Chapter 1 – 5.Nh3
Part II – Systems with g3 and Nf3 (Classicial approach with …Be7
Chapter 2 – 7.Nc3
Chapter 3 – 7.b3
Chapter 4 – The Surprising 6…Ne4!?
Part III – Systems with g3 and Nf3 (Modern approach with Bd6
Chapter 5 7.Qc2
Chapter 6 7.b3
Chapter 7 7.Nbd2
Part IV – Other White setups
Chapter 8 – White plays d4, c4 and Nc3
Chapter 9 – White plays d4, Nf3 and e3
Chapter 10 – London System
Chapyter 11 – Irregular 3rd moves
The Stonewall Dutch has not hitherto had many books published about it. Popularised by Botvinnik it has found most support by club players rather than by elite Grandmasters. The well known structure for Black is typically :
arrived at by numerous move orders. In his Introduction the author emphasises the strategical nature of games played in this structure and its legendary reliability : perhaps viewed as a system to avoid losing rather than playing for a win. He goes on to layout the material covered.
The “Modernized” refers to an emphasis in which there is a more active set-up for Black :
rather than the older development on e7 :
As you can infer from the chapter titles the bulk of the book covers lines for White in which the f1 bishop is fianchettoed.
The approach of each chapter is to examine a variation move by move citing example games in sidenotes and the analysis is reinforced by an engine.
This is not a complete repertoire book on how to play the Dutch in general. The student will need to study and learn all of White’s popular second move alternatives such as
and
and, of course
to name but a few. However, there is a stand-alone chapter on
no doubt because of the London System’s huge popularity at club level in the last few years.
This book is ideal perhaps for someone who plays the Classical Dutch (or even the Lenningrad Dutch) who wishes to add the Stonewall to their repertoire. The treatment of the main lines in the Bd6 and Be7 Stonewalls is detailed and up-to-date as of 2020.
If you have never played the Dutch before (as Black) then this book forms the basis of your study with perhaps another Dutch book which covers the pesky second move alternatives. A common trick by Stonewall and Classical Dutch players (to circumvent some of these ideas) is to play 1…e6 rather than 1…f5 but, you will need to be happy playing the Black side of a French Defence after 2.e4.
Playing the Stonewall Dutch will add to your understanding of positional chess and strategy and, of course, Black has won many games with this weapon using a King side attack especially with the g pawn !
We like this book and so will you.
John Upham, Cove, Hampshire, 7th May, 2020
John Upham
Book Details :
Hardcover : 198 pages
Publisher: Thinkers Publishing; 01 edition (19 May 2020)
“Timothy David Harding was born in London. He has been playing both over-the-board and correspondence chess since the 1960s. Harding played on the Irish team at the 1984 FIDE Olympiad in Thessaloniki, scoring 50%. In 2002 he achieved the title of Senior International Master of Correspondence Chess. He is also a Candidate Master (2015).
As a chess historian, Harding has authored dozens of books on chess since 1973. He is also the author of the “The Kibitzer”, a popular chess column published at ChessCafe.com.
“Timothy David Harding (born 6 May 1948 in London)[1] is a chess player and author with particular expertise in correspondence chess. He published a correspondence chess magazine Chess Mail from 1996 to 2006[2] and authored “The Kibitzer”, a ChessCafe.com column from 1996 until 2015.[3] In 2002, he was awarded the title Senior International Master of Correspondence Chess by the International Correspondence Chess Federation. Harding has lived in Dublin since 1976,[2] writing a weekly column for The Sunday Press from then until 1995.
In 2009, Harding received a PhD degree in history from University of Dublin, with his thesis on correspondence chess in Britain and Ireland, 1824–1914.[4]
He is credited with coining the name Frankenstein–Dracula Variation in his 1975 Vienna Game book.”
Timothy David Harding (06-v-1948)
Tim has written / co-authored at least forty chess books and here is a selection :
The Velimirovic Attack, Sozin Sicilian, TD Harding and RG Wade, Chessman Publications Ltd., 1969.Counter gambits by Timothy D. Harding (1974)Sicilian:…e5 by TD Harding & PR MarklandThe Sicilian Sozin, TD Harding, GS Botterill, C. Kottnauer, Batsford, 1974Sicilian Richter-RauzerThe Leningrad Dutch, BT Batsford, Tim Harding, 1976Colle, London and Blackmar-Diemer Systems, BT Batsford Ltd, Tim Harding, 1979French: MacCutcheon and Advance Lines, Batsford, 1979French: Classical Lines, Batsford, 1979Queen’s Gambit Declined : Semi-Slav, Tim Harding, BT Batsford Ltd., 1981Guide to the Chess OpeningsBritish Chess Literature to 1914 : A Handbook for HistoriansEminent Victorian Chess PlayersJoseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography
BCN wishes Happy Birthday to GM Joseph Gerald Gallagher (04-v-1964)
Streatham & Brixton becoming BCF National Club Champions in 1989. The team was Tony Kosten, Mark Hedben, Daniel King, Nigel Povah (Captain), Joe Gallagher and Julian Hodgson : quite a strong team
GM Joe GallagherWinning With the King’s Gambit, Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-6944-7Beating the Anti-Sicilians, Batsford/Henry Holt and Company, ISBN 0-8050-3575-3Beating the Sicilian 3Beating the Anti-King’s Indians, Batsford/International Chess Enterprises, ISBN 1-879479-36-2The Trompovsky, Chess Press, ISBN 1-901259-09-9101 Attacking Ideas in Chess, Gambit Publications, ISBN 1-901983-20-XThe Magic of Mikhail Tal, Everyman Chess, ISBN 1-85744-266-0Starting Out: the Caro-Kann, Everyman Chess, ISBN 1-85744-303-9Starting Out: King’s Indian, Everyman Chess, ISBN 1-85744-234-2Starting Out: The Pirc/Modern, Everyman Chess, ISBN 1-85744-336-5Play the King’s Indian, Everyman Chess, ISBN 1-85744-324-1
Signature of S Fazekas from a Brian Reilly “after dinner” postcard from Southsea 1951.
BCN remembers Dr. IM István (Stefan) Fazekas who passed away in Buckhurst Hill, Essex on Wednesday, May 3rd, 1967 and the death was recorded in the district of Redbridge.
The probate record of June 7th, 1967 is thus:
June 7th 1967 probate record for Dr. Stefan Fazekas
István Fazekas was born in Satoraljaujhely, Hungary on Wednesday, March 23rd 1898. He adopted the name Stefan subsequently. Satoraljaujhely is very much on the Hungary – Czechoslovakian border and records for Fazekas variously show both countries as his country of birth.
The September 1939 register records Stephen Fazekas as being married, a refugee, and a general practitioner living with his wife Helen (born 17th July 1900) at 21, Old Gloucester Street, Bloomsbury, Camden, London WC1. The “household” had a total of fourteen residents and this building in 2021 appears to be part of the Mary Ward Centre and presumably was providing temporary accommodation.
The 1948 London Gazette records that on June 16th he lived at 281 Buckhurst Way, Buckhurst Hill, Essex and that he and Helen had a son, George. On this day Stefan was granted UK naturalisation following the swearing of an oath of allegiance:
The London Gazette, 1948
The above notice is further validated by the official record stored at The National Archive, Kew, reference HO 334/234/4061.
281, Buckhurst Way, Buckhurst Hill, Redbridge, Essex, IG9 6JB
From British Chess Magazine, Volume LXXXVII, Number 7 (July), pages 195-6 we have an obituary written by Peter Clarke :
The death of Dr. Fazekas on May 3rd has deprived British chess of one of its leading and most colourful figures. Ever since he came to this country nearly thirty years ago he took an active part, in the game at all levels, from club to international, rarely missing the chance – even when not in the best of health- to test his strength in competition and express his ideas afresh.
Stefan Fazekas was born on March 23rd, 1898, at Sitoraljaujhely on the Hungarian-Czechoslovak border, but it was not until a few years after the Great War, in which he served and was wounded, that he got the opportunity to play serious tournament chess. By present-day standards, however, events were few and far between, and the game always had to take second place to his medical work.
The Doctor’s best international performances, for which he was later awarded the master title by F.I.D.E., came in the ‘thirties. In 1931, for instance, he was 2nd at Kosice, 3rd at Brno and 3rd at Prague. As it remained throughout his career, his play was excessively variable: fine conceptions were always liable to be ruined by blunders or impetuosity. The following game, played at Munchentratz in 1933, shows all going well; it earned inclusion in Le Lionnais’ anthology Les Prix de beauté aux échecs.
In 1939 Dr. Fazekas brought his family to England and established himself as a successful and much loved G.P. at Buckhurst Hill, Essex. He soon took a dominating part in county chess and went on to win the championship eleven times. In national events his inconsistency seemed too great a handicap, but at Plymouth in 1957, after so many tries, he astounded everyone by winning the British Championship in front of, among others, Alexander and Penrose.
(Ed. He was the oldest person to win the British Championship at 59 years of age.)
The next year fate struck him a cruel blow when he was left out of the B.C.F. team for the Munich Olympiad. Yet after returning the trophy in protest he overcame his bitterness and took his place once more in the championship tournament-he could not resist the thrill of the struggle.
Knowing that his best over-the-board days were behind him, the Doctor decided to go in for correspondence chess in 1959, and he at once found himself surprisingly at home in it. Here his old weaknesses could be set aside and his vast experience put to good use. Moreover, his great love for chess enabled him to devote hours of work to the analysis of a single move if necessary.
His rapid successes in this field won him a place in the Semi-Finals of the 5th World Correspondence Championship (where he finished 4th out of 14) and led to his being chosen as Board 1 for the British team in the 5th Olympiad. On the results of these events he was awarded the title of international C.C. master. That he deserved it may be judged from this fine strategic win against a grandmaster (C.C.) opponent in the individual tournament.
At the time of his death Dr. Fazekas had made a score of 5 out of 7 in the Olympiad Final and was still engaged with Zagorovsky of the U.S.S.R., a performance which showed his correspondence play to be close to grandmaster standard. And to end one’s days actually playing a World Champion is a distinction which I am sure would have appealed to this Doctor’s rich sense of humour.
While Dr. Fazekas’ social work as a humanist was for the peace of the world, in chess he was noted as a great fighter, in some ways reminiscent of Lasker. There was no retirement for him.
At Ilford in 1965 and 1966 he eagerly took on and held his own with a generation fifty years his junior, and this year he had once again qualified to play in the British Championship. The tournament at Oxford will not seem quite the same without him. I and his many friends will miss his wit and ebullience, his generosity, his love of life and chess.-P. H. C.
From The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford, 1977), Harry Golombek OBE:
“International Master and British Champion 1957. A dangerous attacking player but weak in positional play. Fazekas was born at Satoraljaujhely on the Hungarian-Czechoslovakian border. In the earlier part of his career he was Czechoslovak. This period comprised his international career and he was awarded the title of international master many years later after he had emigrated to England in 1939.
It was his results in 1931 that gained him the title: 2nd at Kosice, 3rd at Prague and 3rd at Brno ahead of Honlinger, Mikenas, Noteboom and Rellstab.
In England he became much-respected general medical practitioner, and was therefore really an amateur at chess since he devoted himself to his profession. But he played much club and county chess and was eleven times champion of his county, Essex.
In 1957, almost out of the blue, he won the British Championship in a strong year that included Penrose and Alexander.
He played a number of times in the championship after that, but never looked like gaining the title since increasing years took their toll. He was in fact the oldest player ever to have won the British Championship.
In 1959 he took up correspondence chess and became an international correspondence chess master.”
From The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Robert Hale, 1970 & 1976), Anne Sunnucks:
“International Master (1953), International Correspondence Chess Master and British Chess Champion in 1957.
Fazekas was born in Satoraljaujhely on the Hungarian-Czechoslovakian border, on 23rd March 1898. He was awarded the title of International Master for his performances in the 1930s, which included 2nd at Kosice 1931; 3rd at Brno 1931 and 3rd at Prague 1931.
In 1939 he emigrated to England, where he practised as a general medical practitioner at Buckhurst Hill in Essex. Chess always took second place to his profession, and his tournament appearences were limited. He played regularly in county and club events and was 11 times champion of Essex.
In 1957, to everyone’s surprise, he won the British Championship, ahead of such players as Penrose, Alexander, Clarke, Wade and Milner-Barry. Shortly after this victory came a bitter blow to Fazekas when he was not selected as a member of the British Chess Federation team for the 1958 chess Olympiad at Munich.
Fazekas returned the championship trophy in protest at his exclusion and the controversy over whether he should or should not have been selected raged for many months.
Dr. Fazekas’s love of chess eventually overcame his resentment and he continued to appear regularly in the British Championship, but never again repeated his success.
In 1959, he took up correspondence chess and reached the semi-finals of the fifth World Correspondence Chess Championship and was selected to play on top board for the British team in the Fifth Correspondence Chess Olympiad. This event was still in progress at the time of this death. He died on 3rd May 1967, at his home in Buckhurst Hill.”
In his early days he was a successful composer of problems:
Fazekas, Istvan Magyar Sakkvilag, 191, Meson database PID: 191037Fazekas, Istvan Pesti Naplo, 1913, Meson database PID: 190116
From Chessgames.com :
“Dr Stefan (ne Istvan) Fazekas was born in Satoraljaujhely, Hungary. Awarded the IM title in 1953 and the IMC title in 1964, he was British Champion in 1957 and is the oldest player ever to have won the title. He passed away in 1967 in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, England.”
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