We remember IM Michael Basman who passed away on October 26th, 2022 from pancreatic cancer in St. Helier Hospital in Carshalton aged 76 years. The funeral service was attended by a number of Michael’s chess contemporaries including IM David Levy plus many of his UKCC “family”.
His Legacy(s)
Without any doubt Michael contributed a huge amount to English chess as a player but especially as an organiser of junior chess and as an innovator in the world of chess publishing. Apart (!) from those achievements he was an extremely strong player, played and popularised unconventional openings and had a enormously fertile chess mind for the middlegame. He scored considerable chess success (some would say) despite being handicapped by off-the-wall openings that a modern day chess engine would not be complimentary about.
Talent
The sixth world champion, Mikhail Botvinnik declared Michael to be a huge talent following their 76 move hard-fought draw at the Hastings International tournament of 1967. Michael thrived in English chess at a time when Jonathan Penrose was nearing the end of period of domination to be taken over by Bill Hartston and Ray Keene. This was the generation prior to but overlapping with “The English Chess Explosion”. More details of notable games will be found further down.
Early Years and Family
Michael John Basman was born on Saturday, March 16th 1946 in St. Pancras, Camden, London and was therefore a “Baby Boomer”. His Armenian father, John Onik Basman (originally Basmadjian) had married Bridgette Bettina Marks and Michael was the third of four siblings, Jeannette Baynes (Michael called her Janny), Rosemary Moore and Robert Moore (who died on June 3rd 2022 four months prior to Michael aged 74). Michael is survived by his ex-wife, Rosemary Moore, his son Antranig and his grandson.
John Basman left the family home (Glebelands Farm, Claygate) quite early and Charles Moore entered their lives as an informal Step Father. In the very early years Michael had singer Cleo Laine as a babysitter Cleo living nearby in Southall, Middlesex.
Michael and Robert Basman at the family home in 1952. Courtesy of Antranig Basman
Mike J. Basman on the right as he is to-day; in the centre with the cup he won by taking the London under-14 championship. Left : admiring sister in 1960. From CHESS, August 1973, page 322.
Following school Michael graduated from The University of Leeds with a degree in history then earning a scholarship to study medicine in Yerevan within the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. This proved to be a dead end career choice since Michael discovered an aversion to blood and all things medical. He stayed on in Yerevan where he played chess winning local events and he met his future wife Berdjouhi Kuiumdjian (divorced in 1986) and they had their son, Antranig.
Michael Basman and son Antranig in 1976 at their family home. Courtesy of Antranig Basman.
Early Chess Career
1967: Getty Images: Before making a move, Michael Basman, 21, rests his head in his hands. Michael was the highest placed of the British entrants. (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)Michael contemplates a wonderful trophy from 1967 from the Central Committee and Student Council of the Czechoslovak Union of Youth1967 trophy from the Central Committee and Student Council of the Czechoslovak Union of Youth
1973 saw Michael’s best ever placing in the British Championships in Eastbourne. After two weeks Michael tied for first place with Bill Hartston on 8.5/11. Bill won the six game play-off sponsored by Cutty Sark Scotch Whisky.
Mike Basman plays William Hartston during the play-off for the 1973 British Championship in EastbourneJoel Benjamin plays Mike Basman in round 2 of the 1978 Lloyds Bank OpenMichael and friends during the 1978 Lloyds Bank Masters
Audio Chess
A year or so earlier in late 1974 Michael hit upon the idea of analysing students games via compact Philips type audio cassettes. The student would submit a game or two and Michael would arrange for a tutor to analyse the game and send (by Royal Mail) to the student the cassette tape for a modest fee. This was way ahead of its time and he formed a company called “Audio Chess” based at his home at 7 Billockby Close, Chessington, Surrey, KT9 2ED.
Audio Chess membership card
Michael added to his product range by selling pre-recorded C60 cassettes with chess coaching advice, mostly on openings but also endgame technique, middlegame strategy and eventually all manner of titles. A huge variety of players recorded tapes for Michael resulting in a library of more than 100 titles. The very first pair of tapes were by Michael himself. “Black Opening” covered Michael’s interesting variation of the Sicilian Defence called the Basman Variation in those days (but in the 2020s) it might be known as the Paulsen-Basman Variation or more controversially the Basman-Sale Variation:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cd: 4. Nd4: Bc5!?
His “White Opening” was much quieter: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 anything almost 3. Be2
An early Audio Chess part product catalogue from 1979.
(British Land) UK Chess Challenge
Wey Valley Chess
Together with UKCC stalwart Pat Armstrong, Michael took over the running of Wey Valley Junior Chess from Keith Powell in the 1986. Wey Valley is actually located near Farnham (was Hampshire, now Surrey) and this was an organisation for primary school chess in Surrey. At the time the Surrey County Chess Association (SCCA) did not take much interest in junior chess and largely left things up to Mike and Pat. Sadly there were territorial disputes with the Coulsdon Chess Fellowship run by ex-Reverend Howard Curtis (we suggest that don’t look him up in a public location!).
Mike and Pat took Wey Valley Junior Chess from strength to strength and established after-school and lunchtime clubs in many Surrey schools which helped to build-up the strength of the Surrey junior teams to a dominating position. Mike and Pat employed many, many tutors in the Surrey area with possibly the highest number of school chess clubs per square mile of any county in England. Their success in EPSCA competitions was marked and Mike added sponsorship to EPSCA from Audio Chess. Mike and Pat ran Wey Valley until 2019 and is now run by Emma-Jane Billington-Philips.
The Inland Revenue and the Customs & Excise Years
It would be fair to say that Mike had a “laissez faire” attitude towards financial matters. He was not interested in making himself rich or hoarding cash (contrary to detractors who thought they knew him better). He was generous with money, always paid his helpers well and on time and generally preferred cash transactions. Indeed at the end of each Gigafinal and Terafinal Mike would summon helpers to him to form a queue where he would hand them wads of cash from a battered Sainsbury’s bag that certainly was a “bag for life”!
Following separation from his wife Mike moved into a second-hand caravan located in a nearby field. At one point that caravan was in a Leatherhead Sports Centre car park to facilitate daily ablutions.
Mike ran the UKCC business from his personal bank account and did not register for VAT. He explained his reasoning to me that he paid enough VAT when he bought stuff and did not owe Customs and Excise any more. In fact it all ought to have balanced out! Consequently UKCC ran successfully and had a turnover way in excess of that required for VAT registration.
Eventually and inevitably Her Majesties’s Revenue & Customs became aware of UKCC and several difficult meetings took place. The rest is painful history for Mike and his UKCC family with it coming to a head at the Terafinal of 2016. Michael was declared bankrupt unable to meet the liability of £300,000. He nearly lost the family home but chess friends from all round the world rallied round and made donations to help avoid this catastrophe.
Unavoidably, the business was sold by an HMRC type auction for £25,000 to Alex and Sarah Longson who have taken it from strength to strength and are current curators of this gem of junior chess in England.
Despite all of this we cannot and should not forget the legacy created by Mike for junior chess in England. He was a true hero.
“Michael John Basman was born in St Pancras, London, England. He was awarded the IM title in 1980 and having dual nationality won the Erevan Championship whilst living there in the early 1970s. He was also a pioneer in the production of audio tapes for chess.
He is noted for his use of unorthodox flank openings, such as 1.g4, 1.h3, 1.e4 g5, etc. He expanded on the work of Henri Grob with his book on the topic of 1.g4, The Killer Grob.
He created the UK Chess Challenge, a tournament for juniors of all standards and ages progressing over four stages.”
These stages become well-known as the Schools Stage, The Megafinal stage, The Gigafinal Stage and the Terafinal.
Being the constant innovator Mike introduced the 3,2,1 (as opposed to 1,1/2, 0) scoring system to junior chess to reward children for playing games even if they lost. This was welcomed up and down the country.
We have this obituary from The UK Chess Challenge web site.
David Rowson wrote this obituary for the Kingston Chess Club web site
And from behind a paywall we have this obituary courtesy of The Daily Telegraph.
Mike wrote this article (Chess Scenes at a Death Bed) about his brother Robert Moore, a former member of Chertsey and Addlestone chess clubs who was wheelchair bound sadly following a suicide attempt.
Michael was both extremely prolific and innovative with his huge catalogue of publications.
Play the St. George, Michael Basman, Pergamon Press, 1983, ISBN 0-08-029717-XThe Killer Grob, Michael Basman, Pergamon Chess, 1989, ISBN 10: 0080371310Manual for Chess Teachers, Michael Basman, Audio Chess, 198?, £5.95Two Birds.. With One Stone: The art of chess tactics, Michael Basman, Audio Chess, January 1989, £3.95
Chess from Beginner to Winner in Two Months, Michael Basman, Audio Chess, May 1990, £6.95Chess, Michael Basman, super.activ, 1999, ISBN 0 340 791 624
By this time Michael had moved away from main stream publishers and branched out on his own self-publishing (via Audio Chess) a range of teaching materials for children:
100 KIller Moves, Michael Basman, Audio Chess, November 2014, £1.95
Michael’s final publication was published in April 2022 and was a record of a talk at Kingston Chess Club in 2022 about Henry Bird:
Everybody’s Talking About the Bird, Michael Basman, Audio Chess, April 2022, £4.95
BCN remembers Philip Walsingham Sergeant who passed away on Monday, October 20th 1952.
PWS was born in Kensington on Saturday, January 27th, 1872 to Lewis Sergeant and Emma Louisa Sergeant (née Robertson) and was baptised at All Saints Church, Notting Hill. According to PWS’s baptism record Lewis was an author.
According to PWS in A Century of British Chess :
“When I was seven years of age – about the period, by the way, in which my father began to teach me Greek – he began also to initiate me into chess. Not that he designed it as a consolatory set-off to my application to Greek; for he loved the Classics well, though, going up to Cambridge with small classical exhibition, he had turned to Mathematics, and therein took his degree. ”
According to the 1881 census PWS (aged 9) lived with his parents and numerous siblings : Dorothy (aged 7), Winifred (6), Hilda (5), Bernard (2), John (his grandfather aged 76) and Mary (his grandmother aged 75). They had staff, Elizabeth Fraser and Sarah Martin. They lived at 10, Addison Road, North, Kensington.
According to “Joseph Foster. Oxford Men and Their Colleges, 1880-1892. 2 vols. Oxford, England: James Parker and Co, 1893″ :
PWS attended St. Paul’s School and then Trinity College, Oxford to read Classics where he attained Honour Moderations.
and here is the record from the above publication :
Entry for Philip Walsingham Sergeant in Joseph Foster. Oxford Men and Their Colleges, 1880-1892. 2 vols. Oxford, England: James Parker and Co, 1893
We do not know if PWS played in the Varsity matches of 1892 – 1895 : Britbase does not (yet) include player details for these matches.
PWS married Minnie Boundford (born 27th February 1889) in 1909 in Hampstead and they lived at 5, Dukes Avenue, Chiswick where PWS was listed as an author and Minnie as someone who carried out “unpaid domestic duties”. Minnie was 17 years younger than PWS. Minnie’s father was a joiner and a carpenter.
They had two daughters Margaret (born 1910) and Kathleen (born 1911).
In October 1946 Minnie and PWS remarried. Presumably this was rather unusual in that day and age.
According to The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP, 2nd edition, 1996) by Hooper and Whyld :
PWS was an English author of biographical games collections for Charousek, Morphy and Pillsbury as well as other works of importance such as A Century of British Chess (1943) and Championship Chess (1938).
From The Encyclopedia of Chess (BT Batsford, 1977) by Harry Golombek :
“A professional writer on chess and popular historical subjects. Without any pretentions to mastership, he represented Oxford University in the years 1892 – 5 and assisted RC Griffith in preparing three editions of Modern Chess Openings.
In chess he dealt with a number of important subjects : Morphy’s Games of Chess, London, 1916; Charousek’s Games of Chess, London, 1919; Pillsbury’s Chess Career (in collaboration with WH Watts), London, 1923; Championship Chess, London, 1938.
All these are lucidly and carefully written but suffer from the defect that, being neither a master player nor a professional annotator, he was not competent to deal with the annotational part of the work. Probably his best book on chess was A Century of British Chess, London, 1934.
From British Chess Magazine, Volume LXX11 (72), Number 11 (November), page 324 we have this rather brief obituary (presumably written by Brian Reilly):
“We regret to have to report the death, at the age of eighty-one of Philip W. Sergeant, the author of A Century of British Chess, which we imagine is in most chess libraries. He was the author of several well-known historical books – but we are only concerned here with his chess activities, which included representing Oxford University 1892-5; helping RC Griffith with two editions of Modern Chess Openings; playing for Middlesex, winning the chess championship of the authors’ club for several year, and latterly as an honoured member; and occasionally obtaining the championship of the Guildford Chess Club. Our sympathy with his widow and two daughters is sincere.”
”
“Philip Walsingham Sergeant (27 January 1872, Notting Hill, London[1] – 20 October 1952)[2] was a British professional writer on chess and popular historical subjects.[3][4] He collaborated on the fifth (1933), sixth (1939), and seventh (1946) editions of Modern Chess Openings, an important reference work on the chess openings. He also wrote biographical game collections of Paul Morphy (Morphy’s Games of Chess (1916) and Morphy Gleanings), Rudolf Charousek (Charousek’s Games of Chess (1919)), and Harry Nelson Pillsbury (Pillsbury’s Chess Career, with W. H. Watts, 1922), and other important books such as A Century of British Chess (1934) and Championship Chess (1938).”
Harry Golombek writes that, “Without any pretensions to mastership, he represented Oxford University in the years 1892-5”.[3] Golombek considers A Century of British Chess probably Sergeant’s best chess book, but opines that although Sergeant’s chess books are lucidly written, they suffer from the defect that, as a non-master, he was not competent to deal with the annotational aspect of his work.
Philip Walsingham SergeantCharousek’s Games of ChessThe Rice Memorial Chess Tournament, 1916Pillsbury’s Chess Career, London, 1923A Century of British Chess, London, 1934An Introduction to the Endgame at Chess
We remember WIM Eileen Betsy Tranmer who passed away on September 26th, 1983.
Eileen Tranmer
She was the first English woman to be awarded by FIDE the Woman’s International Master title in 1950.
“From The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by Klein and Winter :
Miss E. Tranmer was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1910, and learned chess at the age of six. She did not take it up seriously, however, until 1936. Under the tuition of W. Winter she has made notable progress, and her performances include a second prize in the British Correspondence Championship 1944, as well as first prize in one of the subsidiary tournaments at Hastings, 1945.
By profession Miss Tranmer is a musician and has played principal clarinet in the Scottish and Sadler’s Wells Orchestras.”
From British Chess Magazine, Volume CIII (103, 1983), Number 11 (November), page 482-83 (presumably written by Bernard Cafferty) :
“Eileen Tranmer died in hospital at Ticehurst on September 26th after a long illness. Born in Scarborough, May 5th 1910, she was a professional clarinet player and played in a number of prominent British orchestras till forced to retire by deafness.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (3880870a) Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Chess Champion Pictured Here Playing A Clarinet In The Orchestra While Appearing At The Theatre Royal Glasgow.
One of the leading British players in the two decades after the war, Eileen won the British Ladies Championship in 1947, 1949 (with a 100% score), 1953 and 1961, and played in the British Championship at Buxton, 1950. Her international record was sparse, as was the case with nearly all English players of that period. Nevertheless, she made her mark in the 1949-50 first post-war Women’s World Championship where she finished 5-7th in a field of 16, beating Bykova, again, and finished 7th in the field of 16.
37th Hastings International Chess Congress, 1962. USA Ladies champion Lisa Lane (L) playing against British Champion Eileen Tranmer
We are grateful to WCM Dinah Norman for sending us these memories :
“Eileen Tranmer was one of the best English chess lady players of her generation.
I only played her once at Oxford in an International Ladies Tournament held between 24 July and 1 August 1971. Eileen totally outplayed me and I lost the game.
Eileen was a member of Acton Chess Club where there were three active lady players at that time. They were Jean Rogers, Olive Chataway and Eileen. Eileen lived in Acton then.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (3880957a) Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Chess Champion. Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Chess Champion.
Eileen was a professional musician and had to stop playing when she became deaf which was dreadful for her.
In 1969 Eileen, Rowena Bruce and I were selected to play in the Ladies Chess Olympiad Team in Lublin, Poland. Sadly Eileen was taken ill just before the event so Rowena and I had to play all 13 rounds without a break. I was on Board 1 and at the end Rowena and I were exhausted and I had to withdraw from a tournament in the Czech Republic without playing a game. The food in Poland was awful so we said never again!
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (3880958a) Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Champion Chess Player Pictured Playing Some Of The Glasgow Ladies Chess Club At The Green’s Playhouse Cafe Glasgow. Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Champion Chess Player Pictured Playing Some Of The Glasgow Ladies Chess Club At The Green’s Playhouse Cafe Glasgow.
Eileen was very friendly with Harry Golombek. The expectation among the lady chess players was that they would get married but she never did. Harry did not drive and Eileen was very kind driving Harry and his elderly mother around.
Very sadly Eileen’s brother was killed in a car crash and after that Eileen suffered mental problems. Eileen lived near John and Jean Rogers and John said Eileen would turn up at their home in the middle of the night wanting to play chess.
At Hastings 1959-1960 : Yugoslavia’s red-haired Milanka Lazarevic and Britain’s Eileen Tranmer ran away with the Premier Reserves (afternoon event).
The last time I saw Eileen was at Paignton. Her friend Olive Chataway brought her to Paignton and Eileen played in the bottom tournament and did badly. Eileen did not recognise myself or Rowena which was very sad.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (4745287a) Miss Eileen Tranmer 43-year-old British Women’s Chess Champion. Box 556. Miss Eileen Tranmer 43-year-old British Women’s Chess Champion. Box 556.
Eileen later left Acton and moved to Tring. Eileen was a pleasant and modest person and was well liked. She had a good sense of humour.”
From the obituary in The Times of London we learn that her last few years were over-shadowed by an illness that preyed on her mind.
We take the following game from the August 1944 issue of BCM. The game was played in the BCCA Championship, and curiously enough there was an enquiry about that event to the BCF only a short while ago – a Georgian journalist wishes to quote that wartime performance as an early example of success by a woman in male chess company! ”
Gerald Abrahams in Not only Chess, wrote about Eileen (Chapter 18 : What Achilles Saw Among Women) as follows :
“To revert to the British Ladies, they were joined in the late 1930s by a very able pupil of Miss Menchik, the Yorkshire Clarinettist Eileen Tranmer; a woman whose chess I have seen to express some admirable qualities of mind and character. I had the privilege of watching her is Moscow in 1949-50, when, handicapped by influenza of a particularly virulent kind – what the Russians call “grippe” – she won some five or six consecutive games, to finish in the prize list of the new official Women’s World Championship. There had been two championships before, which Vera has won easily. Since Vera had unhappily perished in the Blitz, they looked at Moscow for her successor.”
John Eric Littlewood was born in Sheffield on Monday, May 25th 1931. His mother’s maiden name was Wheeldon. He last resided in the WN8 postal area of Skelmersdale, West Lancashire.
He became a FIDE Master in 1989 at the age of 58. According to Felice (and ChessBase) his peak FIDE rating was 2395 in January 1980. However, it is certain that it would have been higher than that, in the 1960s and 1970s : more likely 2450 or possibly higher.
John, Jenny and Paul Littlewood, circa 1962. Kindly supplied by Paul Littlewood.
He coached his son Paul who became British Champion in 1981. His brother Norman was also a very strong player.
John and Paul on Skegness beach circa 1958. Kindly supplied by Paul Littlewood. George and Ringo are out of shot !
From “Chess Coaching” :
John Littlewood is a National Coach and the Director of Junior Chess to the British Chess Federation. He is a FIDE Master with national and international playing experience, and is an established chess writer, translator and journalist.
03-01-1962 37th Hastings International Chess Congress, 1962. World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik (R) playing against John Littlewood of England
From “Learn Chess 2”
“A British Master, formerly Northern Counties Champion and currently (1984) a National Coach for the British Chess Federation. John Littlewood has played for England in several international tournaments, including two Olympiads”
John Littlewood giving a simultaneous display
John wrote the “Test Your Chess” column in British Chess Magazine under the editorship of Murray Chandler
John Was Northern Counties Chess Union (NCCU) Champion in 1971, 1972, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1981 : a record seven times !
{[%evp 0,95,19,38,25,7,30,29,28,3,36,3,-6,5,6,-11,12,8,22,-11,48,3,18,-3,13,-5,
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39,24,204,210,200,210,283,277,290,290,306,302,353,335,348,355,358,370,368,383,
389,361,353,350,405,362]} {This game was from round 1 of the Hastings Premier.
Before the round Tournament Judge (Arbiter) William Ritson Morry jestingly
asked John “How many unsound sacrifices are you going to make this year?” To
this he replied “None at all” So we must assume that all of the offers made to
Gligoric were completely sound despite the uncharitable scepticism of the
“knowledgeable” spectators. First annotated by WRM in February 1962 BCM, page
34 The in October 2009 BCM, page 539 by John Saunders} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.
Bb5 a6 (3… d6 {Steinitz Defence}) 4. Ba4 d6 {Steinitz Defence Deferred} (4…
Nf6 5. O-O d6 {Steinitz Defence Doubly Deferred or Russian Defence}) 5. c3 Nf6
6. d4 Bd7 7. O-O Be7 8. Re1 O-O 9. Nbd2 Re8 10. Bb3 h6 11. Nf1 Bf8 12. Ng3 Bg4
$146 {[#] Not repeated since!} ({More usual is} 12… Na5 13. Bc2 c5) {
Littlewood now offered his Queen’s pawn with} 13. h3 (13. d5 Na5) 13… Bxf3
14. Qxf3 exd4 {and went for the King-side attack with} 15. Nf5 $5 $40 {and
after Gligoric took counter measures in the centre with} d5 (15… dxc3 16. Qg3
Kh8 17. Qh4 $40 {[%cal Gb3f7]}) {he tried to tempt him with a piece by} 16.
Bxh6 {Whether or not the sacrifice can be safely accepted Black preferred to
leave the analysts to decide} {and continued} Nxe4 ({If} 16… gxh6 {then
probably} 17. Qg3+ Kh8 18. exd5 Ne7 (18… Nxd5 $2 19. Rxe8 Qxe8 20. Bxd5) 19.
Nxd4 Nexd5 $17) 17. Bf4 Ne5 (17… dxc3 $142 18. bxc3 Ne5 19. Qd1 c6 $17) 18.
Bxe5 Rxe5 {John develops his last piece.} 19. Rad1 (19. cxd4 Re6) 19… Qd7 {
[%csl Gf5]} 20. Nxd4 Rae8 $15 {WRM : which not only repelled attack but also
obliged White to offer the exchange of queens. JS : Black has eschewed the
proffered material in order to reach a more than playable (arguably better)
position. Black threatens c5 and he takes over the initiative.} 21. Qg4 (21.
Rxe4) (21. a3) 21… Qxg4 ({JS : Here Fritz interjects with} 21… Nf6 22. Rxe5
{(forced)} Nxg4 23. Rxd5 Bd6 24. hxg4 Qxg4 $17 {and concludes the Black is
simply winning. It is perhaps not quite that straightforward, as White seems
to have active pieces.}) 22. hxg4 c6 {WRM : whereupon everyone expected
Gligoric to reach an advantageous ending since his Queen’s side majority was
much more valuable than White’s crippled King side.} 23. f3 Nc5 {[%cal Ge5e1]}
24. Rxe5 Rxe5 25. Bc2 g6 26. Kf2 Bg7 {Let us pause here and consider the
position….} 27. a4 {to stymie the b7 pawn.} Re7 28. a5 Be5 29. b4 Nd7 {
threatening c5 and smashing up White’s structure.} 30. Bb3 $11 Nf8 31. Rd3 (31.
g3) {WRM : and now Black played} 31… Kg7 {quite unconscious of the subtle
trap which was being laid for him.} {After} 32. Ne2 Ne6 33. c4 dxc4 34. Bxc4 {
[#]} {Black was now in time trouble and played} Nc7 {which Ritson Morry
(erroneously) gives a ?? annotation.} ({Better was} 34… Bf6) 35. f4 {Which,
at first sight, appears very strong.} Bb2 (35… Ba1 {WRM : similarly fails} {
against} 36. Ra3 {etc.} {Actually Black is OK after} Re4 37. Bxa6 Nxa6 38. Rxa1
Rxb4 $15) ({However, Black should continue} 35… Bxf4 $1 36. Nxf4 Re4 {
[%cal Ge4f4,Ge4c4]} 37. Ne6+ (37. g3 Rxc4 38. Rd7 Nd5 39. Nxd5 cxd5 40. Rxb7
Kf6 $11 {JS}) 37… Nxe6 38. Bxe6 Rxe6 39. Rd7 {and Black is OK.}) 36. Rb3 {
BCN : and the real blunder was now made by Black} Re4 $2 (36… Ba1 37. Rb1 Re4
38. Bd3 Bd4+ 39. Kf1 Re3 {and Black remains in the game according to BH Wood
in CHESS.}) 37. Bd3 $18 {and Black is lost} Bd4+ 38. Kf1 Re3 39. Nxd4 {WRM :
and “nine more moves ended Black’s misery”} Nd5 40. Kf2 Re7 {BHW : “With
characteristic calmness, Littlewood although he had plenty of time, carried on
playing at full speed. No scurrying for the adjournment!”} 41. g3 Rd7 42. Nc2
Nf6 43. Kf3 Rd5 44. g5 Ne8 45. Ne3 Rd4 46. f5 Nd6 47. Bc2 Ne8 48. f6+ {JS : In
some ways, this game does not conform to the stereotypical image of a John
Littlewood game. Though he initially tried to go for all-out attack., his
sacrificial attempts were rebuffed and it actually seems to have been his calm,
accurate positional play between moves 22 and 34 which lured his illustrious
opponent into trouble.} 1-0
[/pgn]
John won the Appleby-Frodingham Chess Club tournament in 1962 with 3.5/5 :
Appleby-Frodingham Tournament of 1962 crosstable
and then, in the same year came 3= in the British Championships with 7.5/11 :
Truncated crosstable from the 1962 British Championship in Whitby
and in 1969 in Rhyl John was unfortunate not to share the title with Dr. Jonathan Penrose after losing to Frank Parr in the final round :
Truncated crosstable of the British Championships of Rhyl 1969John Littlewood at Hastings 1963-4. Still taken from Pathe news reel footageJohn Littlewood playing Wolfgang Unzicker in round one of the 1969-70 Hastings International Congress
John won the Southport Open in 1972 and the picture below was taken shortly afterwards :
John and family following winning the 1972 Southport Open. See the BCM article below for a full caption
John won the Chorley tournament of 1977 with 7/9
Chorley 1977 tournament crosstable
JEL won the British Chess Federation’s President’s Award in 2000.
[pgn]
[Event “Christmas Congress 1961/62-37 Premier”]
[Site “Hastings”]
[Date “1962.01.03”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Bisguier, Arthur Bernard”]
[Black “Littlewood, John Eric”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “D07”]
[Annotator “John Littlewood, John Saunders, Andrew Martin & BCN”]
[PlyCount “56”]
[EventDate “1961.12.27”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “MCL”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
{[%evp 0,46,20,27,19,16,27,-11,25,19,4,21,21,29,30,33,48,14,18,54,55,52,52,20,
34,22,19,32,40,28,36,-16,-21,-93,-25,-463,-463,-821,-887,-887,-868,-887,-879,
-1206,-1206,-29987,-29988,-29989,-29990]} 1. d4 {Annotations from BCM, 1962,
February, page 59 and BCM, 2009, October, page 540.} d5 2. Nf3 (2. c4 e5 {
was JELs intention.}) 2… Nc6 $1 {JL: Amusingly enough, Bisguier had played
his 2nd move to prevent the Albin Counter Gambit, and he grinned when he
thought I was still intent upon this design, However, on the spur of the
moment I decided to pay a tribute to the other two Russians in the tournament
by adopting the unusual Tchigorin Defence.} 3. c4 Bg4 4. cxd5 {A surprise for
me.} ({I had expected} 4. Qa4 {the move Alekhine had played in two games
against Colle, and I was planning to try out Bronstein’s idea of} {(after} Bxf3
5. exf3 e6 6. Nc3 {)} Nge7 $1 {followed by 7…g6}) 4… Bxf3 (4… Qxd5 5. Nc3
Qd7 6. e3 {is another possibility}) 5. gxf3 (5. dxc6 Bxc6 6. Nc3 e6 7. e4 Bb4
8. f3 f5 {As played by Tchigorin against Pillsbury (St. Petersburg, 1895)} {
then} 9. Bc4 fxe4 10. O-O $1 {JEL : (Karelov – Aronson, Lenningrad, 1958)
seems a strong continuation for White, pointed out to me recently by the young
Sheffield player JE Scholes.}) 5… Qxd5 6. e3 e5 {BCN : Justifying Nc6 and
the main raison d’être of the Chigorin Defence. JEL : I am now committed to
giving up my other Bishop for a Knight, but this sets the stage for an
interesting struggle.} (6… e6 {JEL : on the other hand, and would probably
lose.}) 7. Nc3 Bb4 8. Bd2 Bxc3 {BCN : more or less forced other e4 and d5 will
happen.} 9. bxc3 exd4 {quick development is the order of the day.} ({BCN :
Nowadays Morozevic’s is the preferred idea anticipating d5 and e4.} 9… Qd6
10. Rb1 (10. Rg1 g6 11. Qb3) 10… b6 11. f4 exf4 12. e4 Nge7 13. Qf3 O-O 14.
Bxf4 Qa3) (9… Nge7 {is the older move which is less popular these days.}) (
9… O-O-O) (9… Qd7 {Richard Rapport}) 10. cxd4 Nf6 {[#] JEL : A fascinating
position, White’s two Bishops and three half-open files seem at first sight to
give him an overwhelming advantage, but matter are not so simple. Black
controls the centre and means to increase this control in the next few moves,
thereby restraining White’s weakened “huddle” of pawns. The Bishop’s need room
: it is Black’s job to see that they don’t get it. In my opinion, chances
are even. Theory, however, gives White the preference, although in the only
games I have seen quoted supporting this view, Black (Fichtl and Dückstein)
played the artificial 10…Nge7, a move based on fear.} (10… Nge7 {JEL : A
move based on fear.}) 11. Rb1 {JEL : This move is indicative of White’s
over-confidence in his position.} ({He would be better advised to see to the
centre by} 11. Be2 O-O 12. O-O Rad8 13. Bc3 {threatening e4. Even then,
however, Black can maintain pressure by 14….Qe6! as 15} Qe6 {as} 14. e4 Nxd4
15. Bxd4 c5 {would be obviously bad for White.}) 11… O-O (11… O-O-O {
would be very brave indeed!}) 12. Be2 Rfe8 ({Strangely enough, as I discovered
later, this same position has occurred in a game Tarrasch-Schiffers (Nuremberg,
1896), where Black here played} 12… Qxa2 {and the game continued} 13. Rxb7
Rab8 14. Rb5 Rxb5 15. Bxb5 Rb8 16. Bd3 Rb2 17. Qc1 g6 18. Bc4 {with better
end-game prospects for White. It seems more logical to complete development
before “mixing it” in this way.}) 13. O-O ({If now} 13. Rxb7 {then} Nxd4 {
is good for Black}) (13. Rg1 Qxa2 14. Rxb7 Nxd4 15. exd4 Rxe2+ 16. Kxe2 (16.
Qxe2 Qa1+ 17. Qd1 Re8+ 18. Be3 Qa5+ 19. Qd2 Qa1+ 20. Qd1 Qa5+ 21. Kf1 Qa6+ 22.
Qe2 Qxb7 $17) 16… Qa6+) 13… Rad8 {Black has now completed his development
and is ready to gobble up White’s Queen’s Rook’s pawn} 14. a4 {[%cal Gb1b5]
taking the pawn off prise and setting up ideas of Rb5.} (14. Rxb7 {would lose
to} Nxd4) 14… Rd6 15. e4 $5 {Bisguier now realises he is drifting into a
lost postion, so he courageously takes the bull by the horns.At the costs of a
pawn , he hopes to exploit the end game advanatge of the two Bishops.} (15. Rb5
Qe6 {[%cal Ge6h3]} 16. Rxb7 $2 Qh3 $19 17. f4 Nd5 {[%cal Gd6g6]}) {Fortunately
I have better than taking the d-pawn.} 15… Qh5 $1 {This strong move reveals
just how weak White’s centre pawns are.} (15… Qxd4 {Indeed, after} 16. Bf4 {
Black’s initiative is snuffed out.} Qxd1 17. Bxd1 Rd7 18. Rxb7 {I prefer
White’s game.}) 16. d5 ({If now} 16. f4 Qg6+ {and} 17. Kh1 Qxe4+) ({If} 16. e5
Rxd4 17. exf6 Red8 18. Rb2 Rxd2 $1 19. Rxd2 Qg5+ 20. Kh1 Qxd2) ({After the
game Bisguier queried his 16th move and suggested the line} 16. Be3 Nxd4 17.
Bxd4 c5 18. Rxb7 cxd4 19. Bc4 {but after} Nd7 20. Qb3 Ne5 {Black stands far
better with mate in the offing.}) (16. Rb5 Qh3) 16… Nd4 (16… Nxd5 17. exd5
Rg6+ 18. Kh1 Nd4 $19 {[%cal Ge8e2]}) 17. Rxb7 {[#] What else?.} Nxe4 $1 ({
White is lost now, whatever he plays, so he sets a little trap. If} 17… Nxd5
$2 18. exd5 Nxe2+ 19. Qxe2 Rxe2 20. Rb8+ {is mating}) {White could now resign
but sportingly decides to give the spectators their money’s worth.} 18. Bf4 ({
If} 18. fxe4 Nxe2+ 19. Kg2 Qg4+ 20. Kh1 Qf3#) ({If} 18. Rb4 Rg6+ 19. Kh1 Qh3
20. Rg1 Nxf2#) 18… Rg6+ 19. Bg3 ({If} 19. Kh1 Qh3 20. Bg3 Rxg3 21. fxg3 Nxg3+
22. Kg1 Ndxe2+ 23. Kf2 Qxh2+ 24. Ke1 Nc3+ 25. Qe2 Rxe2#) 19… Nc3 20. Qd3
Ncxe2+ 21. Kh1 Qh3 {[%cal Gh3f1]} 22. Rfb1 Rxg3 23. fxg3 Nxg3+ {and White
resigned as it is mate in 5} {For example :} 24. Kg1 Nde2+ 25. Kf2 Qxh2+ 26.
Ke1 Nc3+ 27. Qe4 Qe2+ 28. Qxe2 Rxe2# {[%csl Gc3,Ge2,Gg3] Undoubtedly this was
my best game at Hastings. At the end of the game Bisguier asked “What do you
feed this guy on : raw meat !”} 0-1
[/pgn]
FM John Littlewood at 4NCL courtesy of Helen Milligan
In 2006 John won the BCF Veterans / Seniors title for the first time repeating the feat in 2008 sharing with George Dickson.
With the White pieces John almost exclusively played 1.e4 favouring the Wormald Attack, Open Sicilians and the Rossolimo variation.
As the second player John played the Closed Ruy Lopez, the Sicilian Dragon and the Grünfeld defence.
In the following video IM Andrew Martin discusses the game Bisguier – Littlewood, 1962.
Rather than reinventing an already round wheel we reproduce the following ten page tribute in the October 2009 issue of British Chess Magazine. The tribute is by John Saunders :
How to Play the Middle Game in Chess by John Littlewood, Collins, 1974Chess Coaching by John Littlewood, The Crowood Press, 1991Learn Chess by Edward Penn and John Littlewood, Pitman House, 1980Learn Chess : Teacher’s Book, by Edward Penn & John Littlewood, Pitman House, 1980Learn Chess 2 by John Littlewood, Adam & Charles Black, 1984FM John Littlewood (25-v-1931 16-ix-2009)
We remember IM Imre (Mirko) König on the anniversary of his death, this day (September 9th) in 1992.
His “obituary” in British Chess Magazine, Volume 112 (1992), Number 11 (November), page 542 was disappointingly brief:
“RIP Imre König: The great veteran died on 9 September at his home in California. Our last link with the Hypermoderns is broken – he associated with Réti in the 1920s.” There was no detailed follow-up as you might expect. Can you imagine Brian Reilly publishing this?
From The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by E.Klein and W.Winter :
“Born in 1901 in Hungary when it still belonged to the old pre-World War I Austria, spent most of his life in Vienna, where he became a promising player at an early age. After World War I and the various geographical adjustments in the map of Europe, he became Yugoslav by nationality and represented that country three times in international team tournaments.
Imre Konig at the Mechanics’ Institute in the 1950s (Photo: Mechanics’ Chess Club Archives)
He has competed in a great number of international tournaments, some of them in this country, where he has lived since 1938. He won the Premier Reserves at Hastings, 1938, in a strong international field, finished fourth and fifth with the late Landau at Bournemouth, 1939, and shared first and second prizes with Milner-Barry in the National Chess Centre tournament, 1939. His last performance was in the London International Tournament, 1946, where he shared fourth, fifth and sixth places with Sir George Thomas and Gerald Abrahams. He is now a professional player.
König’s special strength lies in the openings, of which he has a deep knowledge.”
Imre König
From The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks :
“International Master (1951). Born in Kula, Hungary (now Serbia). König became a Yugoslav citizen when the territory in which he lived was ceded to Yugoslavia after the First World War. In 1938 he emigrated to England and became a naturalised British subject in 1949. He found that the English climate affected his health and in 1953 went to live in the USA.
König learnt to play chess when he was 10. In 1920, while studying at Vienna University, he met Spielmann, Tartakover and Réti, and became became interested in the hypermodern school of chess, which they represented.
IM Imre (Mirko) König (2-ix-1901 9-ix-1992)
He played for Yugoslavia in the chess Olympiads of 1931 and 1935 and came 2nd in the Yugoslav national tournament of 1922. His results in international tournaments include =4th at Bournemouth 1939; =4th at London 1946 and 2nd at Hastings 1948-49. These results do not do justice to his strength as a player. He was handicapped by a poor temperament for tournament chess, which prevented him from achieving greater success in the international field.
IM Imre (Mirko) König (2-ix-1901 9-ix-1992)
A chess professional, König was a first-class teacher of the game (Anne was a student of his), as well as being a leading theoretician. He is author of The Queen’s Indian Defence (Pitman, 1947) and Chess from Morphy to Botvinnik (Bell, 1951).”
From The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsford, 1977) by Harry Golombek:
“An international master since 1951, born at Gyula in Austro-Hungary. After the first world war König became a Yugoslav citizen and represented that country in the Olympiads of 1931 and 1935. He emigrated to England in 1938 and was naturalised in 1949. Since 1953 he has resided in the USA. Tournament results include 2nd prize at Hastings 1948/9. His publications include a monograph on the Queen’s Indian Defence, London 1947, and a longer work, Chess from Morphy to Botvinnik, London, 1951 ”
Hooper & Whyld are silent on König for some strange reason.
From Wikipedia:
“Imre König (Koenig) aka Mirko Kenig (Sept 2, 1901, Gyula, Hungary – 1992, Santa Monica, California) was a Hungarian chess master.
He was born in Gyula, Hungary, and also lived in Austria, England and the USA during the troubled times between the two world wars.
In 1921, he took 2nd in Celje. In 1920s König played in several tournaments in Vienna; he was 3rd in 1921, 14th in 1922 (Akiba Rubinstein won), 3rd-4th in 1925, 4-5th in 1926 (Rudolf Spielmann won), and 3rd-5th in 1926. He took 12th in Rogaška Slatina (Rohitsch-Sauerbrunn) in 1929. The event was won by Rubinstein. In 1929/30, he took 7th in Vienna (Hans Kmoch and Spielmann won). In 1931, he took 4th in Vienna (Albert Becker won). In 1936, he tied for 6-7th in Novi Sad (Vasja Pirc won). In 1937, he tied for 2nd-4th in Belgrade (Vasilije Tomović won).
Mirko Kenig represented Yugoslavia in the 4th Chess Olympiad at Prague 1931 (+5 –1 =2), the 6th Chess Olympiad at Warsaw 1935 (+5 –2 =8),[2] and in 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad at Munich 1936 (+7 –4 =7).”
“In 1938, Imre König emigrated to England. In 1939, he tied for 4-5th in Bournemouth (Max Euwe won), and shared 1st with Philip Stuart Milner-Barry in Hampstead. In 1946, he took 4th in London. In 1948/49, he took 2nd, behind Nicolas Rossolimo, in the Hastings International Chess Congress.
In 1949, he became a naturalized British citizen. However, in 1953 he moved to the United States.
König was awarded the International Master title in 1951.”
Queen’s Indian Defence, König, Pitman, 1947Chess from Morphy to Botwinnik by Imre KönigChess from Morphy to Botwinnik by Imre KönigThe Right Way to Play ChessImre König by John Donaldson
We note today (September 8th) in 1854 marks the passing of Elijah Williams.
We are not aware of a verified image / likeness of Elijah Williams. Possibly the archives of Bristol based newspapers would help?
From The Complete Chess Addict (Faber & Faber, 1987, page 147-8) by Mike Fox and Richard James :
“The most boring games of all time? We turn to the London tournament of 1851, and the interminable encounters between Elijah (The Bristol Sloth) Williams and the deservedly unknown James Mucklow (‘a player from the country’ says the tournament book sniffily).
Elijah introduced the concept of Sitzkrieg into chess : he’d sit there, taking two and a half hours on a single move until his opponent dropped from boredom. The tournament book records games in excess of twenty hours (one was adjourned after a whole day, at the twenty-ninth move). Mucklow (a much worse player) was no swifter, and when they got together it must have been like watching an oil painting. (‘Both players nearly asleep,’ recorded a drowsy secretary midway through one mind-grinding marathon.)
Howard Staunton’s commentary says it all : ‘Each…exhibits the same want of depth and inventive powers in his combinations, and the same tiresome prolixity in manoeuvring his men. It need hardly be said that the games, from first to last, are remarkable only for their unvarying and unexampled dullness”
From The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP, 1983) by Hooper and Whyld :
“English player. A native of Bristol, from where he edited one of the earliest newspaper columns (Bath and Cheltenham Gazette, 1840-6), Williams gave up his job as an apothecary in 1844, moved to London, and attempted to earn a living at chess. In the London international tournament of 1851, a knock-out event, Williams defeated Lowenthal in the first round (4-2—1) but lost to Wyvill in the third and penultimate round (+3-4), He was awarded third prize after defeating Staunton (+4=1 — 3), He admired Staunton’s play and like several of his contemporaries adopted the positional style of the English school; but after this match the master never forgave his pupil, Williams played matches against Lowenthal in 1851 (+5 = 4-7), Horwitz in 1852 ( + 5 = 9—3), and Harrwitz in 1852 ( = 3—7),
and he again lost to Harrwitz in 1853.
In 1851 Williams won a handicap match against Staunton, who conceded a three-game start; of the games actually played Williams won four, drew three, and
lost six. When cholera broke out in London he posted a notice on his door offering preventive medication free. Supplies had run out when, feeling unwell, he left home for the last time; seized with violent pain when in the Strand he entered Charing Cross Hospital where he died of the disease two days later, leaving his wife and children destitute.
He wrote two books, Souvenir of the Bristol Chess Club (1846) and Horae Divanianae (1852). He also edited a chess column in The Field from Jan. 1853, when the magazine was founded, until his death.”
Souvenir of the Bristol Chess Club
From The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsford, 1977) by Harry Golombek:
“A prominent British master of the mid-nineteenth century who was famed for the slowness of his play at a period when chess clocks for important competitions had not yet come into fashion. Williams was born in Bristol where he practised as an apothecary but soon became so attached to chess (he was president of the Bristol Chess Club and also conducted a chess-column in the Bath and Cheltenham Gazette (from 8 September 1840 to 21 October 1946) that he made the game his profession.
Abandoning Bristol for London where the life of a chess professional was considerably more profitable than in the provinces, he contested a number of matches with varying success; e.g. 1846 v. Kennedy (+4-2=0) and 1852 v. Horwitz (+5-3=9). In three matches v. Harrwitz he met with decisive reverses (a total of +2-17=8) but gained a curious triumph over Staunton in 1851. Although losing on games played by +4-6=3 Williams emerged a technical victor as the result of Staunton’s rash decision to offer starting odds of three games ! This match, however, produced much fine chess.
Williams also participated in the first international tournament at London 1851 where he took third prize behind Anderssen and Wyvill. An analysis of his games from the important events of 1851 reveals that Williams had developed a most sophisticated playing style, employing positional devices which were not to
become current for a further sixty years. While in London in 1852, Williams published a collection of games under the title of Horae Divanianae being a selection of 150 games by leading masters, most of which had been played at Simpson’s Divan. He wrote the chess-column for The Field, from 1853 to 1857.
He died in London at Charing cross Hospital of cholera on 8 September 1854. we emphasize this date since the usual date given is that of I September 1854. But we are indebted to Mr. Kenneth Whyld for the information about the correct date on the death certificate which also states he was forty-four when he died.
Up to now his date of birth was not known and was assumed to have been considerably earlier. (R.D.K.)”
Sunnucks is silent on EW for an unknown reason.
From Wikipedia :
“Elijah Williams (7 October 1809 – 8 September 1854) was an eminent British chess player of the mid-19th century. He was the first president of the Clifton Chess Club, and publisher of a book of games from the Divan Club. His most notable result was at the 1851 London tournament, in which he defeated the celebrated British player Howard Staunton in the play-off for third place.
He was accused by Staunton of taking an average of 2½ hours per move during some matches, a strategy thought to cause opponents to lose their focus on the match. According to Staunton, following a particularly dilatory performance by Williams in the London 1851 tournament, a 20-minute per turn time limit was adopted for standard play the next year. However other sources contradict this viewpoint and indeed it was not uncommon for Staunton to attribute his losses to the intolerable dilatory play of his opponents. Staunton is quoted as remarking while playing against Williams, ‘… Elijah, you’re not just supposed to sit there – you’re supposed to sit there and think!'”
BCN remembers Joseph Blackburne (10-xii-1841 01-ix-1924)
The following (excerpts of) information were obtained via ancestry.co.uk / findmypast.co.uk:
Joseph Henry Blackburne was born on Friday, December 10th, 1841 in Chorlton, Manchester. His father was Joseph Blackburn (aged 23, a temperance reformer) and his mother was Ann Pritchard (aged 24).
His brother Frederick Pritchard Blackburn died on 11 October 1847 in Lancashire, Lancashire, when Joseph Henry was 5 years old.
His sister Clara was born on 4 November 1847 in Street, Lancashire, when Joseph Henry was 5 years old.
His mother Ann passed away on 26 November 1857 in Manchester, Lancashire, at the age of 40.
His half-brother William Thomas was born on 17 June 1865 when Joseph Henry was 23 years old.
Joseph Henry Blackburne married Eleanor Driscoll on 10 December 1865 when he was 24 years old.
Joseph Henry Blackburne married Beatrice Lapham on 3 October 1876 when he was 34 years old.
His wife Beatrice passed away in January 1880 in St Olave Southwark, London, at the age of 26. They had been married 3 years.
Joseph Henry Blackburne married Mary Jane Fox in St Olave Southwark, London, on 16 December 1880 when he was 39 years old.
Joseph Henry Blackburne lived in Everton, Lancashire, in 1891.
According to Edward Winter in Chess Notes JHB lived at the following addresses :
16 Lucey Road, London SE, England (The Chess Amateur, October 1924, page 32 (address in 1879) and the 1881 British census (C.N. 4756)*).
116 Barkworth Road, Camberwell, London, England (1891 British census (C.N. 4756)*).
7 Whitbread Road, Lewisham, London, England (1901 British census (C.N. 4756)*).
45 Sandrock Road, Lewisham, London SE, England (Ranneforths Schach-Kalender, 1915, page 56, and Hastings Chess Club address list, 1922*).
“Joseph Henry Blackburne was born in Chorlton, Manchester. He came to be known as “The Black Death”. He enjoyed a great deal of success giving blindfold and simultaneous exhibitions. Tournament highlights include first place with Wilhelm Steinitz at Vienna 1873, first at London 1876, and first at Berlin 1881 ahead of Johannes Zukertort. In matchplay he lost twice to Steinitz and once to Emanuel Lasker. He fared a little better with Zukertort (Blackburne – Zukertort (1881)) and Isidor Gunsberg, by splitting a pair of matches, and defeating Francis Joseph Lee, ( Blackburne – Lee (1890) ). One of the last successes of his career was at the age of 72, when he tied for first place with Fred Dewhirst Yates at the 1914 British Championship.
Joseph Blackburne (10-xii-1841 01-ix-1924)
In his later years, a subscription by British chess players provided an annuity of £100 (approximately £4,000 in 2015 value), and a gift of £250 on his 80th birthday.”
In 1923 he suffered a stroke, and the next year he died of a heart attack.”
Joseph Henry Blackburne (10-xii-1841 01-ix-1924)
From The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP, 1984) by Hooper and Whyld :
“For more than 20 years one of the first six players in the world and for even longer the leading English born player. Draughts was the most popular indoor game in his home town, Manchester; he learned this game as a child and became expert in his youth.
He was about 18 when, inspired by Morphy’s exploits, he learned the moves of chess. In July 1861 he lost all live games of a match against the Manchester chess club champion Edward Pindar, but he improved so rapidly that he defeated Pindar three months later (-1-5=2—1), and in 1862 he became champion of the club ahead of Pindar and Horwitz.
Instructed by Horwitz, Blackburne became one of the leading endgame players of his time; and wishing to emulate the feats of L. Paulsen, who visited the club in November 1861, he developed exceptional skill at blindfold chess. He spent most of the 1860s developing his chess and toying with various occupations.
After winning the British championship, 1868-9, ahead of de vere, he became a full-time professional player.
Blackburne achieved excellent results in many tournaments: Baden-Baden 1870, third equal with Neumann after Anderssen and Steinitz; London 1872, second (+5-2) after Steinitz ahead of Zukertort; Vienna 1873, second to Steinitz after a play-off; Paris 1878, third after Winawer and Zukertort: Wiesbaden 1880, first equal with Englisch and Schwarz; Berlin 1881, first (+13=2 — 1), three points ahead of Zukertort, the second prize winner (Blackburne’s greatest achievement); London 1883, third after Zukertort and Steinitz; Hamburg 1885, second equal with Englisch, Mason, Tarrasch, and Weiss half a point after Gunsberg; Frankfurt 1887, second equal with Weiss after Mackenzie; Manchester 1890, second after Tarrasch; Belfast 1892, first equal with Mason; London 1892, second ( + 6-2) after Lasker; London 1893, first ( + 2=3).
He was in the British team in 11 of the Anglo-American cable matches, meeting Pillsbury on first board six times (+2-3 — 1), and he continued to play internationally until he was 72, long enough to meet the pioneer of the hypermodern movement Nimzowitsch, whom he defeated at St Petersburg 1914.
Blackburne had remarkable combinative powers and is remembered for his swingeing king’s side attacks, often well prepared but occasionally consisting of an ingenious swindle that would deceive even the greatest all his contemporaries. The tournament book of Vienna 1873 refers to him as ‘der schrwarze Tod [Black death] der Schachspieler’, a nickname that became popular.
{[%evp 9,92,66,58,63,69,20,16,-2,20,16,24,-15,-12,-18,65,65,65,56,44,46,36,37,
72,68,125,89,112,113,112,108,113,79,112,75,104,97,174,169,155,36,32,0,0,0,85,
-117,-95,-265,-138,-143,-129,-253,-302,-572,-569,-576,-551,-549,-552,-571,-515,
-571,-562,-660,-670,-694,-702,-695,-671,-708,-750,-733,-691,-803,-800,-850,
-839,-913,-908,-905,-905,-1020,-994,-1537,-1482] C62: Ruy Lopez: Steinitz
Defence Sources: Tartakower & du Mont, 500 Master Games of Chess, pp. 66-67;
Evans, The World’s Greatest Chess Games, pp43-44. All comments are
Tartakower’s unless otherwise noted. In the following game the preliminary
sparring (moves 8-21) is characterised by desperate pawn skirmishes. The real
battle begins with a double pawn sacrifice (22….g5), which gives Black the
mastery over the g and h files, on which he stages an impressive regrouping of
forces (28….Rh8). His powerful strategy culminates in the sacrifice of a
Rook (31….Rh1+), the sequel to which is the loss by White of his queen.} 1.
e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 {The Steinitz Defence, which gives Black a cramped
but playable game.} 4. d4 {Creating tension in the centre.} ({The play would
be simplified by} 4. Bxc6+ bxc6 5. d4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Bd7 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nc3 Be7 {
etc., but then neither} 9. f4 ({nor} 9. Bg5 c5) 9… O-O {etc., hold any
terrors for Black.}) 4… Bd7 ({If, impulsively} 4… exd4 5. Qxd4 Bd7 6. Bxc6
Bxc6 7. Bg5 f6 8. Bh4 {etc., would give White a lasting positional advantage,
chiefly owing to his queen’s centralised position.}) 5. d5 {Blocking the
centre is not to be recommended.} ({He should continue his development with} 5.
Nc3 {reserving the option of castling on either side.}) 5… Nb8 {[#]} 6. Bd3
$146 ({Relevant:} 6. Bxd7+ Nxd7 7. c4 Ngf6 8. Nc3 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. h3 Ne8 11.
Qc2 g6 12. Bh6 Ng7 13. g4 Qe8 14. Kh2 f6 15. h4 Rf7 16. Rg1 Nb6 17. Rac1 Qd7
18. Nd2 Raf8 19. Rg2 Bd8 20. Qd3 Nc8 21. Nd1 Ne7 22. Ne3 Kh8 23. Rh1 Ng8 24.
Bxg7+ Rxg7 25. Qb3 b6 26. Qd1 Nh6 27. b4 f5 28. g5 Ng8 29. b5 Rgf7 30. exf5
gxf5 31. Kg1 f4 32. Nc2 f3 33. Rg3 Rf4 34. Ne3 Qf7 35. Rhh3 e4 {Baird,D-Hodges,
A New York 1893 1-0 (67)}) 6… Be7 7. Nc3 ({As the advanced infantryman will
soon need strong support, the continuation} 7. c4 {followed by Nc3 would be
more logical.}) 7… Nf6 8. Ne2 c6 {A routine player would have castled here
and submitted to White’s positional superiority. Being an imaginative player,
Black prefers to put the whole battlefield on fire.} 9. c4 Na6 10. Ng3 ({
Here again} 10. Nc3 {would be better adapted to keep watch on the important
points e4, d5 and b5.}) 10… Nc5 11. Bc2 b5 {Evans: Positionally poor, but he
stakes everything on the attack.} 12. b4 ({White is not satisfied with the
defensive} 12. b3 {but himself “starts something” on the queen side.}) 12…
Nb7 13. dxc6 Bxc6 14. cxb5 Bxb5 15. a4 Bd7 {[#] Evans: Certainly not a
position in which anyone planing Black would expect to beat a Lasker.} 16. O-O
g6 17. h3 ({If} 17. Bh6 Ng4 {but now Black resolutely prevents any inroad into
his own territory.}) ({As, however, the text move weakens the king’s field, it
would have been better, for instance, to continue with} 17. h4 {(threatening
18.h6)} a6 18. Bg5 {with various threats.}) 17… h5 {The beginning of an
attack, conducted by Black with extraordinary virtuosity.} 18. Be3 a5 {Keeping
both wings in mind. By the text move he contests the square c5.} 19. b5 Rc8 20.
Rc1 Nc5 {With renewed pressure against the adverse e pawn.} 21. Nd2 h4 22. Ne2
{[#]} g5 {A line clearance sacrifice. Evans: The attack begins!} 23. Bxg5 ({
Accepting the sacrifice in preference to the timorous continuations} 23. Kh1 g4
{etc.}) ({or} 23. f3 Nh5 {followed by ….Nf4 and Black still succeeds in
opening the g-file.}) 23… Rg8 24. Bxh4 Bxh3 $1 $14 25. Bg3 {Closing up one
of the open files (g), and not suspecting the possibility of danger on the
other. 25….} Be6 {Evans: Black has strong Knights — and open files} 26. Re1
({If} 26. f3 Nh5) 26… Ng4 27. Nf1 Bg5 28. Rb1 Rh8 {Black’s intentions are
taking shape.} 29. Nc3 {Evans: So that if ….Qf6 30. f3.} Bf4 30. Nd5 Qg5 {
Threatening 31….Qh6.} 31. f3 {Too late, for now Black is in a position to
win the adverse queen by a brilliant sacrifice. 31….} Rh1+ 32. Kxh1 Bxg3 33.
Nxg3 ({If} 33. fxg4 Qh4+ 34. Kg1 Bf2#) 33… Nf2+ 34. Kg1 Nxd1 35. Nf5 Bxf5 36.
exf5 Qd2 {The final link in Black’s combination, without which White might
have obtained almost an equivalent (rook, bishop, pawn) for his queen.} 37.
Rexd1 Qxc2 38. Rbc1 Qxf5 39. Nb6 Rd8 40. Nc4 Nb7 41. Ne3 Qf4 42. Kf2 Qxa4 43.
Rc7 Nc5 44. Rh1 Rd7 45. Rc8+ Ke7 46. Rhh8 Qd4 {White resigns.} 0-1
[/pgn]
His unflappable temperament also earned him the soubriquet “the man with the iron nerves’. Even so, neither his temperament nor his style was suited to set matches, in which he was rarely successful against world-class players. He had other chess talents: a problem composer, he was also a fast solver, allegedly capable of outpacing the great Sam Loyd. Blackburne earned his livelihood by means of simultaneous displays, for this purpose touring Britain twice-yearly, with a few breaks, for more than 50 years.
Chess, circa 1896, JH Blackburne, well known chess player, who had toured both on the Continent and America, able to make between 40 to 60 moves when blindfolded by sheer memory (Photo by Bob Thomas/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Before this time such displays were solemn affairs; Lowenthal, who would appear in formal dress and play for several hours in silence, was shocked when Blackburne turned up in ordinary clothes, chatting and making jokes as he played, and refreshing him self with whisky, (Blackburne confessed, however, that when fully absorbed in a game he never noticed whether he was drinking water instead,) Once, walking round the boards, he drained his opponent’s glass, saying when rebuked He left it en prise and I took it en passant‘
The illustrator Julius Hess depicted Blackburne in a New Yorker Staats Zeitung evening edition as sitting at a chesstable and beckoning: “Waitah! A whiskey and limejuice!”
He played his blindfold displays quickly, and with little sign of the stress that besets most blindfold players. Probably the leading blindfold expert of his time, he challenged Zukertort, a close rival in this field, to a match of ten games, played simultaneously, both players blindfold; but Zukertort declined. Many who knew and liked Blackburne subscribed to a fund which sustained him in his last years.
Image Supplied by a reader of the book ‘Eminent Victorian Chess Players’ to Tim Harding
P. A. Graham, Mr Blackburne’s Games at Chess (1899) contains 407 games annotated by Blackburne and 28 three-movers composed by him.
Mr Blackburne’s Games at Chess by PA Graham
A reprint, styled Blackburne*s Chess Games (1979), has a new introduction and two more games.
One of Blackburne’s contributions was the suggestion of using chess clocks rather than the archaic hourglasses.
Here follows a reproduction of an article from British Chess Magazine, Volume LXXX1 (1961), Number 12 (December), page 340-342 written by RN Coles entitled “Early Days of a Great Master” :
“The only record of how J. H. Blackburne first, entered the chess world is the one provided by P. Anderson Graham in the introduction to his collection of Blackburne’s games. This has all the ingredients of a romanticized version of the truth-the first casual games in a temperance hotel, then entry to the important Manchester Club and a series of victories over ever stronger opponents until at last Pindar, Champion of the Provinces, comes along, plays the unknown youth and is defeated.
Reference to C. H. Stanley’s column in the Weekly Guardian and Express helps to supply a more accurate version. Young Blackburne’s earliest interest was in problems and he submitted one to the Guardian and Express which appeared in January, 1861, only to be found by several solvers to be cooked, Then silence till May 11th, when the column carries a note:
J. H. B. Problems received with much pleasure…Shall be glad to see you at the Club.”
Here are a couple of published problems. For a complete listing see below.
Manchester Express, 1861
[fen] 8/1p6/1B3R2/1P2p3/2Pp4/4k3/2K3B1/8 w – – 0 1 [/fen]
#4. 6+4
The Field, 1893
[fen] 8/3b2q1/Q2Rpb2/2k3N1/2N1P3/2p5/7B/7K w – – 0 1 [/fen]
#3, 7+6
Not yet a member, clearly. Nevertheless, he contrived somehow to meet Pindar outside the club and played some games-with him (two scores appear in the Guardian and Express, July 20th), and a set-match of five up was then arranged, still played in private (Guardian and Express, August 3lst), which “was terminated by Mr. Pindar winning a clear victory, the score being Pindar 5, Blackburne 0” (one game was quoted in the July “B.C.M.” and another score can be found in the Guardian and Express, July 27th.
“A second match was agreed upon, level games to entitle either player to the victor’s palm. The result … is calculated positively, to startle the chess world. The first game was scored by Mr. Pindar; of the next seven, Blackburne won five and the two remaining were drawn. ‘At this point Mr. Pindar resigned the match.” (Guardian and Express, September 7th, with the score of a Blackburne win from this match quoted February 1st, 1962.)
Only now does Blackburne appear to have joined the Manchester Club, meeting such players as Stanley himself for the first time (Guardian and Express gives the score of a casual game, November 9th), though Stanley later claimed personally to have discovered the young prodigy.
In November, 1861, Paulsen visited the club and the score survives of a casual game in which he beat Blackburne, who played a Winawer Variation of the French Defence long before Winawer ever came on the-scene (Guardian and Express, December,1861); Paulsen concluded his visit with one of his celebrated ten-board blindfold displays and not unnaturally the young Blackburne eagerly took a board; his defeat is No.25O in his games collection. This so stimulated him that he himself tried blindfold play and by January 20th, 1862, was able to give his first display against four boards, winning them all (Guardian and Express, January 25th, with one of the scores). This he followed with seven games on February 8th,
winning five and losing two. (Guardian and Express, February 8th) and finally ten games on February 8th, winning five, losing two, and drawing three (Guardian and Express,February 15th, which quotes the score of one game in addition to No. 254 in his games).
Inter-club matches were something of a rarity in those days and were regarded as of considerable importance when they occurred; one such was the annual Manchester-Liverpool match and in 1862 Blackburne took part for the first time, being matched against Wellington, another young player of promise who seems to have got no further; as many games were played between opponents as time allowed and these two young men played three, all won by Blackburne. (Guardian and Express, February 22nd, which quotes the score of one game in addition to No. 138 in the collection).
During this spring the rivalry with Pindar was renewed in a third match for the first five wins and after eleven games the score stood at 4 each, with three drawn (Guardian and Express, March 15th, quoting the score of the eleventh game), but I cannot find who won the last game. Since Blackburne was hailed as club champion this season, one must suppose he was the victor.
Such was his first club season. ln June, 1862, he played in the London lnternational Tournament and from then on his chess career was public property.
To conclude, here is the score of the eleventh game of his third match with Pindar, a critical struggle in which his budding mastery appears at the-end. From an inferior opening he struggles into an equal ending but by a rash exchange of Rooks on the 36th move gives Pindar a clear advantage, which could have been held by 41. P-R4. Blackburne seizes on this omission like a real master to switch into a most accurately calculated queen ending.
{[%evp 0,100,19,38,25,7,30,29,18,-1,-1,-78,-24,-21,-2,-2,17,0,68,4,71,92,98,98,
98,122,139,125,201,229,301,105,170,8,-10,-7,-7,-14,29,29,68,7,9,2,5,-30,11,5,0,
14,15,20,35,11,-11,-7,-7,-47,-50,-42,-7,-2,-6,-4,-1,0,2,12,21,14,26,39,50,24,
54,112,119,119,170,279,196,311,319,-26,-8,-15,-12,-5,0,-1014,-1077,-1194,-1177,
-1924,-28430,-28431,-29972,-29977,-29978,-29989,-29990,-29991,-29992]} {
Game #12946 sourced from British Chess Magazine, Volume LXXX1 (1961), Number
12 (December), page 340-342 by RN Coles. Edward Pindar was a lesser known but
strong player, active in the mid 19th century. He resided in Britain but was
born in Russia, grew up in what is now Estonia and returned there in later
life. From 1856, Pindar was a rising force in the Manchester Chess Club. In
1859, Morphy deigned to give him knight odds and was promptly crushed. He won
the club’s championship in 1861, defeating Bernhard Horwitz 3½-1½ in the
final. His star, however, was soon eclipsed by the emerging Joseph Henry
Blackburne. Pindar was also a language teacher and in this connection he
achieved notoriety when, in 1877, he attacked and seriously wounded a female
student who rebuffed his offer of marriage. He was sentenced to five years,
and upon release drifted into obscurity.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4
Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. O-O {[#]} Bc5 $146 ({Relevant:} 6… Be7 7. e5 Ne4 8. c3 dxc3
9. Nxc3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 O-O 11. Qd3 d5 12. Bc2 g6 13. Qe3 Re8 14. Nd4 Bc5 15.
Nxc6 Bxe3 16. Nxd8 Bxc1 17. Raxc1 Rxd8 18. f4 b5 19. h3 c5 20. g4 a5 21. a3 c4
22. Rfd1 b4 23. cxb4 axb4 24. axb4 Ra3 25. Be4 Rxh3 26. Kg2 Bxg4 27. Rxd5 Ra8
28. Rxc4 Raa3 29. Rd2 h5 30. Rf2 h4 31. b5 Ra1 32. Rf1 Rg3+ 33. Kf2 Ra2+ 34.
Rc2 Ra4 35. Re1 Rb4 36. Rc5 {Lelie-Anderssen,A Amsterdam 1861 0-1}) 7. e5 Nd5
8. Bb3 Nce7 9. Bg5 Nb6 10. Nbd2 d5 11. exd6 Bxd6 12. Ne4 c5 13. Re1 Be6 14.
Bxe6 fxe6 15. Qe2 O-O 16. Nxd6 Qxd6 17. Qxe6+ Qxe6 18. Rxe6 Ned5 19. Rae1 Na4
20. b3 Nac3 21. a3 a5 22. Bd2 Nb5 23. R1e5 Rfd8 24. Bg5 Nbc7 25. Bxd8 Nxe6 26.
Be7 Nxe7 27. Rxe6 Nc6 28. Ne5 Nxe5 29. Rxe5 Rc8 30. Kf1 Kf7 31. Ke2 Rc6 32. Kd3
b6 33. Kc4 Rd6 34. f4 Rh6 35. h3 Rg6 36. Re2 Re6 $2 37. Rxe6 Kxe6 $18 {[#]} 38.
g4 (38. a4 $1 $18 {and white it totally winning.}) 38… h5 39. Kb5 (39. a4 $18
) 39… hxg4 40. hxg4 Kd6 41. Kxb6 $2 {White converts a totalling winning
position into a lost one.} (41. a4 $18) 41… a4 $1 42. bxa4 c4 43. a5 d3 44.
cxd3 cxd3 45. a6 d2 46. a7 d1=Q 47. a8=Q Qb3+ 48. Ka6 Qa4+ 49. Kb7 Qb5+ 50. Ka7
Kc7 0-1
[/pgn]
and here is the original article:
British Chess Magazine, Volume LXXX1 (1961), Number 12 (December), page 340British Chess Magazine, Volume LXXX1 (1961), Number 12 (December), page 341
Many juniors and beginners will know the Blackburne Shilling Gambit (or Kostić Gambit) in some circles known (named by Julian Hodgson) as the ‘Oh My God’:
According to The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsford, 1977) by Harry Golombek :
“British grandmaster and highly successful tournament player who was one of the most prominent masters of the nineteenth century. He did not learn to play chess until the age of nineteen, but his natural gifts soon brought him into the front rank of British players, and in 1868 he abandoned his business interests and adopted chess as a profession.
Blackburne’s international tournament career spans an impressive fifty-two years from London 1862 to St. Petersburg 1914 – a total of 53 events in which he played 814 games, scoring over 62%. Although he rarely won international events, he generally finished in the top half of the table and his fierce competitive spirit coupled with his great combinative ability earned the pleasant nickname of ‘the Black Death’.
Joseph Blackburne (10-xii-1841 01-ix-1924). Photograph from The Encyclopedia of Chess by Harry Golombek
His most notable successes were =1st with Steinitz at Vienna 1873 (Blackburne lost the play-off match), 1st at Berlin 1881 ahead of Paulsen, Schallopp, Chigorin, Winawer and Zukertort, and 2nd to Tarrasch at Manchester 1890.
Blackburne won the BCA Championship in 1868 and for many years was ranked as Britain’s foremost player. In 1914 – at the age of 72 – he shared first place at the BCF congress in Chester.
In match play his success was mixed. He defeated Bird in 1888 (+4-1) and Gunsberg in 1881 (+7-4=3) but lost a second match to Gunsberg in 1886 (+2-5=6). He lost to Lasker (+0-6=4) in 1892 and was defeated heavily twice by Steinitz : in 1862/3 (+1-7=2) and in 1876 (+0-7=0), the latter of these matches being for the World Championship.
Blackburne excelled at blindfold play and in simultaneous exhibitions, which provided a major portion of his income. He died in Lewisham, a much respected veteran of eighty-three.”
Eminent Victorian Chess Players, Tim Harding, McFarland & Co; 1st edition (20 April 2012), ISBN-13 : 978-0786465682Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography, Tim Harding, McFarland & Co; Annotated edition (30 July 2015), ISBN-13 : 978-0786474738Blackburne : The Black Death in Spades by Bob Long
We remember FM Jimmy Adams who passed away on Saturday, June 6th 2026 in London. His funeral was in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire on 20th July. Here is the online tribute page that you are welcome to contribute to.
Jimmy was married to Sharon and they have a daughter, Charlotte.
In 1958 Jimmy at the age of 11 joined his local Islington Chess Club (at the time Islington & North London Chess Club) and soon afterwards became a London Junior Champion. Following this Jimmy played little chess and was working for John Lewis (echoes of CHO’D Alexander and Leonard Barden). Following John Lewis Jimmy worked as a Health and Safety Officer for Islington Council.
At this time Islington Chess Club was one of the strongest in England and included such members as Kenny Harman, Ron Harman, Danny Wright, Stewart Reuben and others. Its most famous member was probably IM Simon Webb
The Spassky-Fischer match of 1972 re-kindled his lapsed interest and he won with a 100% score the London Amateur Championship.
He joined and was a staunch member of London Central YMCA (CENTYMCA) chess club and he wrote a privately published history of the club entitled The CENTYMCA Story. This is now a much sought after publication. His membership continued during the 1970s until around 1979.
The CentYMCA Story by Jimmy Adams, 1976The CentYMCA Story by Jimmy Adams, 1976
During this period Jimmy was extremely active at the Endell Street premises.
Here is Jimmy playing Viktor Korchnoi at Endell Street (in the Phase Two classrooms) :
Jimmy plays Viktor Korchnoi at the Endell Street premises of London Central YMCA on January 18th, 1976. Photographer potentially John Yeo
In 1974 Jimmy embarked on a highly successful career as a writer and journalist. He contributed articles to both CHESS and the British Chess Magazine and authored a number of acclaimed books for Batsford, The Chess Player, Caissa Books and latterly, New in Chess. He also self-published the first book on Bobby Fischer’s successor entitled K is for Karpov! His books on Chigorin, Zukertort and Breyer are universally regarded as some of the finest chess biographies published.
In 1979 Jimmy joined Metropolitan Chess Club to play in the London League A Division. He played top board and scored very highly with many significant scalps.
Jimmy gained his FM title in 2014 (at the age of 67!). 67 must be one of the most advanced ages to acquire an FM title. According to Felice his peak rating was 2300 in January 1981 aged 34.
Jimmy giving a simultaneous display
He joined Metropolitan Chess Club. He joined Barbican, as did many other CENTYMCA players, following the hiatus over their Tottenham Court Road venue loss.
Jimmy records a game between David Howell and Andrew Whiteley in 2000.
In December 2009 Jimmy visited the London Chess Classic and was photographed with VIP guest Viktor Korchnoi :
Viktor Korchnoi in conversation with Jimmy Adams at the 2009 London Chess Classic. Photograph by Mark Huba
Jimmy was Editor of Middlesex Chessletter and Bayswater Chess in the early 1970s and produced major bulletins on the hugely successful Islington Congresses of the same period. He then worked for Pergamon Chess Books which led to his editorship of CHESS / CHESS Monthly magazine from until 2010 although his name remained on the masthead until February 2012.
In 2012 Jimmy and Ray Cannon attended a meeting of the Ken Whyld Association in Norwich :
Jimmy Adams and Michael Negele at the 2012 meeting of the Ken Whyld AssociationJimmy and Ray Cannon at a 2012 meeting in Norwich of the Ken Whyld Association
In January 2016 Jimmy (together with Josip Asik) became co-editors of British Chess Magazine taking over from James Pratt and John Upham.
Jimmy also jointly edited Chess Informants 109-132 up to 2017 before taking on the role of Deputy Editor of the newly created American Chess Magazine whilst continuing to work as editor for Batsford Chess which had changed ownership over the years and had now been taken under the umbrella of Pavillion Books.
In 2014 Jimmy and Ray attended an event organised by the father of Emma Bentley
Jimmy Adams and Ray Cannon at an event organised by Emma Bentley’s father.
The Games of Anatoly Karpov, Batsford, Jimmy Adams, 1974The Complete Games of World Champion Anatoly Karpov, Jimmy Adams, 1976The Complete Games of World Champion Anatoly Karpov, Jimmy Adams, 1976Sicilian Defence Najdorf Poisoned Pawn, Jimmy Adams, The Chess Player, 1977Sicilian Defence 10 : Main Line Najdorf, Jimmy Adams, The Chess Player, 1977Sicilian Najdorf Polugaevsky Variation, Jimmy Adams, The Chess Player, 1978The Richter Veresov System, The Chess Player, Jimmy Adams, 1978Trompovsky Attack, The Chess Player, Jimmy Adams, 1979Torre Attack, Jimmy Adams, The Chess Player, July 1981Schliemann/Jaenisch Gambit, The Chess Player, Jimmy Adams, 1982Paris 1900, The Chess Player, Jimmy Adams, 1986ISAAC BOLESLAVSKY Selected Games, Caissa Books, Jimmy Adams, 1988Johannes Zukertort: Artist of the Chessboard, New in Chess, Jimmy Adams, 2014Mikhail Chigorin, the Creative Genius: New in Chess, Jimmy Adams, 2016Gyula Breyer : The Chess Revolutionary, Jimmy Adams, New in Chess, 2017Salo Flohr: From Chess Fighter to Chess Writer, Jimmy Adams, New in Chess, 2026
BCN remembers IMCC Barry Barnes who passed away on Tuesday, January 14th 2025 aged 87.Barry Peter Barnes was born in Brighton and his mother’s maiden name was Simpole. (Barry is a cousin of Julian Ivan Peter Simpole, who was a Brighton school teacher and who taught Edward Gerard Winter to play chess).
Barry most recently lived in Halling, Rochester, Kent with his wife Jean.
From The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks :
“International Master of FIDE for Chess Compositions (1967) and International Judge of FIDE for Chess Compositions (1967).
Born on 1st August 1937, Barnes works in transport advertising. He has composed about 250 two-move problems. With Lipton and Rice, he has contributed to the advance of the modern two-mover. Problem Editor of Two-Move and Twin sections of The Problemist. Co-author with M.Lipton and JM Rice of The Two-Move Chess Problem : Tradition and Development (Faber and Faber 1966).
Barry Peter Barnes
BP Barnes 2nd Prize Problem T.T. 1964
[fen]6q1/5p2/1Q6/8/3rPN2/5P1P/2PP1NPp/R1B1K1kr w – – 0 1[/fen]
“A promising career as a county chess player came to an end when I was given Brian Harley’s classic book Mate in Two Moves in the belief that it would help my chess, but it had quite the opposite effect. My interest in competitive chess waned, and I was on the road to an an International Master title for problems!
Early influences in my problem career were the weekly chess problem solving competition in The Observer (my first problem published there was in 1955), a teenage friendship with J. M. Rice and M. Lipton (both now lnternational Masters), Herbert Grasemann’s book Problem Schach / with its near revolutionary post-war German problem ideas, and the expert British problemist, A. R. Gooderson who had I but known it only a few years earlier was the officiating master when my Hove Grammar School played Steyning Grammar at chess.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the genuinely original problems I was making in cooperation and in competition with Rice and Lipton were being published mostly abroad in such specialist problem magazines as Die Schwatbe (with its inspired two-move editor, Hermann Albrecht) where I gained the epithet the English prize-snatcher’! It was also written that the work of the avant-garde composers, Rice, Lipton and Barnes, was like a fresh two-move wind blowing from our island. It was sad but true at that time that the specialist magazine of the British Chess problem Society (founded 1918), The problemist, was unreceptive to change and our often bizarre ideas.
A milestone of sorts was reached when I won lst prize for problem I in 1958, a prize for the best new problem by a member of the British Commonwealth aged under 21. In 1966, I was invited by problemist Grandmaster Comins Mansfield, who was President of the FIDE Problem Commission, to act as Secretary at the Barcelona meeting. With Mr. Mansfield’s retirement, I became the British Member to the Commission, and at the Wiesbaden meeting, 1974, I was elected 2nd Vice-President. (1st Vice-President from 1982)
The FIDE Problem Commission meets annually to discuss matters relating to all branches of problem chess, to organize the World Chess Composing Tournament (WCCT), the World Chess Solving Competition (WCSC), and to publish FIDE Album anthologies of the best problems. It was on the strength of my success in these FIDE Albums that the Commission granted me the titles in 1967 of ‘lnternational Master of the FIDE for Chess Composition’ and ‘lnternational Judge of the FIDE for Chess Composition’. Since 1974, I have been Chairman of the Titles Sub-Committee of the Commission.
Since 1965, I have been the two-move editor of The Problemist and have served almost without break on the BCPS Committee. I have contributed to The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks (Robert Hale, 1970), I am co-author, with J. M. Rice and M. Lipton, of The Two-Move Chess Problem: Tradition & Development‘ (Faber A Faber, 1966), and I am the sole author of Comins Mansfield MBE: Chess Problems of a Grandmaster: (British Chess Problem Society, 1976) and Pick of the Best Chess Problems (Elliot Right Way Books, 1976)
To date I have made just over 300 two-movers and some helpmates.”
From The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford, 1977), Harry Golombek OBE, John Rice writes:
“British problem composer, output about 400, nearly all modern style two-movers. Two-move sub-editor of The Problemist. Secretary of the FIDE Problem Commission during C. Mansfield’s Presidency. Co-author of The Two-Move Chess Problem: Tradition and Development (1966).”
The Two Move Chess Problem : Tradition and Development
Author of Pick of the Best Chess Problems (1976)
Pick of the best Chess Problems
Comins Mansfield MBE : Chess Problems of a Grandmaster (1976).
Comins Mansfield MBE: Chess Problems of a Grandmaster, BP Barnes, 1976
International Judge (1967); international master (1967).
Source: The Problemist, May 1996. Photo taken March 1996 at the Mansfield Centenary Meeting at Paisley, when Barry Barnes delivered a lecture on Comins Mansfield. Left to right: Geoffrey Mansfield (son of Comins), Robert Gray and Barry Barnes, International Master of Chess Composition.
BCN is sorry to report the passing of FM Mike Franklin on Tuesday April 25th 2023: one of England’s most respected and well regarded players.
Growing Up
Michael John Franklin was born on Monday, February 2nd, 1931 in Battersea, London to Albert George (27 ix 1906, Dover – ? iii 1983, Wandsworth) and Helen Ann Franklin (née Colson, 1908-2003) who married in the third quarter of 1928 in Wandsworth. Albert was a clerk as was his father.
FM Michael Franklin, Photo by Cathy Rogers
At the commencement of the Second World War, when eight years old, Michael was evacuated to Frome in Somerset. As a consequence Michael would delight in playing in the Frome Congress whenever possible. He played in the first event in 1990 organised by Leon York (whose name is the memorial trophy for the Major section). The story of Michael’s return to Frome made its’ way in to the local newspaper and was reported by Gary Lane as follows :
From British Chess Magazine, Volume CX (110, 1990), Number 7 (July), page 296 :
“A special presentation by the sponsor, Mrs. Jean Mackereth, Managing Director of Keyford Frames, was made to Londoner Michael Franklin, who was returning for the first time in 51 years to the town to which he was evacuated during the war. His final appearance at Frome was in the 2010 event.
The Early Years
Michaels interest in chess started in 1944 aged 13 when he witnessed games being played on Clapham Common. He was fascinated by the pieces and taught himself to play, never receiving any formal coaching. He joined the Clapham Common Chess Club in 1944. (CCCC became incorporated into Battersea Chess Club some time later).
CHECK MATES: Elderly members of the Clapham Common Open Air Chess and Draughts Club, circa 1920. The club met regularly during the afternoons to play on Clapham Common in south London. Copyright : Keystone
Apart from summer events such as the above the club had a Winter Section that played matches in the London League. The club won the first division (now known as the Brian Smith Trophy) of the London League in the 1946-47 and 1947-48 seasons. Michael played his final game in the London Chess League for Richmond & Twickenham on April 14th 2010 drawing with John Hodgson, giving a sixty year span.
In his formative years he played at the Gambit Chess Café, Budge Row, Cannon Street, London, EC4N. Many strong players regularly visited the Gambit to play skittles, blitz and the frequently held lightning tournaments hosted by the proprietor Mr GH White.
Events such as these enabled Michael to develop his quick sight of the board and his flair for tactical play.
Leonard Barden added :
“Michael made his name as a young player first by his successes in the Saturday evening Gambit Guinea speed events at the Gambit Chess Café in Cannon Street which he often won ahead of master level rivals. He remained a strong speed player all his life.”
In the early 1950s Michael was persuaded by his friends Aird Thomson (who was Scottish Boys’ Champion in 1932, and 1933 ( equal-first). In 1951 he was Scottish Champion. In 1954 he moved to London. He married Susan Mary Hamilton in 1961 who went on to become Scottish Ladies’ Champion in 1965.) and oriental carpet expert Robert Pinner to join the Richmond and Twickenham Chess Club playing for the club in the London League, Surrey Trophy and National Club Championship until he retired from competitive play 2010.
Making Progress
Michael’s first appearance in British Chess Magazine was in Volume LXVI (66, 1946), Number 2 (February). Page 52 contained this report of the 1945 London Boy’s Championship in which Michael reached the final A section :
British Chess Magazine, Volume LXVI (66, 1946), Number 2 (February), page 52
On leaving school Michael joined a firm of Patent Agents remaining in their employ in the accounts department for around forty years before retiring in the late 1980s. His retirement was prompted by the firm’s adoption of electronic computers. When he retired he was Chief Cashier.
On June 18th 1960 Michael’s happiest day was when he married Jean Fey. They celebrated their diamond anniversary in 2020.
To the present day Michael has maintained an aversion toward modern technology. He did, however, concede to the ownership of a mobile telephone. This was for the specific purpose of updating Jean on his days progress in any chess tournaments where he was away from home.
In 1946 (aged 15) Michael won the Felce Cup awarded by the Surrey County Chess Association. A result indicating rapid improvement since Michael had only started playing competitively in 1944.
The Felce Cup held by the hands of Stephen Moss in 2014
In 1951 Michael finished third in the Surrey Championships behind the winner Frank Parr and runner-up David Hooper. In 1961, 1966, 1968, 1969 and 1970 Michael won the Surrey Championship outright and made many appearences in county matches for Surrey from 1950 onwards until 2010.
Unfortunately Michael’s rapid progress was threatened by two bouts of ill health. In 1948 aged 17 Michael was diagnosed with Tuberculosis which lasted for eighteen months including a twelve month stay in the Royal National Hospital for Diseases of the Chest in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. Aged twenty the TB returned leading to yet another twelve months illness.
Michael has suffered from ill health all of his life interrupting his chess career at various times. Fortunately the TB has not returned.
Michael won the National Chess Centre Championship in 1953 and 1955 being runner-up in 1954. The venue was Hill’s Restaurant, 158 Bishopsgate, London, EC2 opposite Liverpool Street Station since the original John Lewis department store venue was bombed in 1940.
The British Chess Federation first published a National Grading list in 1953 (using the Richard Clarke system). In the 1954 list MF appeared with a grade of 2A (225-232) and from then on with a grade of either 2A or 2B. In 1964 a numeric system had him at 225 ranking Michael 4th in England behind Penrose 244, Kottnauer 238 and Clarke 231.
Michael played many times in the annual Battle of Britain Tournament organised by Squadron Leader David Pritchard and his committee. He won it four times : 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1962.
The Ilford Whitsun Congress was a regular part of Michael’s season throughout the sixties. He won the Premier Reserves in 1961 ahead of Hilton, Hindle, Howson, Sales and Blaine and was runner-up to Kottnauer in 1962. In 1963 he went one step better by winning the Premier :
A report of Mike Franklin’s success at the 1963 Ilford Whitsun Congress by Peter Clarke. Source : British Chess Magazine, Volume LXXXIII, Number 7 (July), page 193
This buoyant, optimistic attitude of his is a great strength and always makes him a dangerous opponent.
Away from Home : International Progress
1964 saw selection by the BCF to play in the Tel Aviv Olympiad :
The 1964 England Olympiad (Tel Aviv) Team : Owen Hindle, Čeněk Kottnauer, Peter Clarke, Michael Franklin, Norman Littlewood & Michael Haygarth
and scored a creditable 4/6. This was followed in 1965 with 3/5 in Clare Benedict tournament held in Berlin.
He played in the annual Anglo-Dutch match on no less than six occasions in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968 and finally in 1969. His aggregate score was an impressive 8/12.
Hugh Alexander, Čeněk Kottnauer, Michael Franklin and Owen Hindle
On the national scene Michael repeated his 1963 victory at the 1969 Ilford Premier with a clear first place : Franklin 4; RG Wade and D Wright 3; JB Howson 2.5; BH Wood 2; PH Clarke 0.5.
In 1970 Michael won the London Championship which was also known as the Budget Cup which had last been held in 1956 . He followed this in 1972 by rightly earning the (now defunct) title of British Master.
Michael’s final appearance for England was in 1971 in the Cheltenham based Anglo-German match with a somewhat disappointing 0.5/2 against Juergen Dueball.
Owen Hindle, Michael Franklin, Harry Golombek and Michael Haygarth
Michael played board two for London in a Telex match versus Belgrade playing Marjanovic. The game was drawn.
Michael Franklin playing board two in the London – Belgrade Telex Match on April 3rd, 1976 from the St. James Hotel, Buckingham Gate. Sourced from BCM, Volume XCVI (96), Number 5, page 192. Photographer probably Freddy Reilly.
The Ultimate Prize : The Aaronson Masters
The Aaronson Masters at *Imperial Hotel, Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London, 1978 brought his best individual success at the age of 47, sharing first place with IM Aldo Haik of France and to boot, earning an IM norm.
(*Venue location thanks to Ken Norman)
Joint winners of the 1978 Aaronson Masters : Michael Franklin and IM Aldo Haik
Michael scored an undefeated 7.5/10 and finished ahead of Short, Speelman, Nunn, Hartston, Mestel, Webb, Basman, Botterill and numerous other illustrious players. Michael remarked of his lifetime best result that it was
just one of those occasions when everything went right!
But he scored 3.5/5 against the IMs, was alert to every opportunity, and the games show he owed little to luck.
Leonard Barden, Stewart Reuben and Michael Franklin at the 1978 Aaronson Masters
Like many others Michael made appearences in Lloyds Bank events of 1977, 1978, 1984, 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1994.
Michael Franklin (left) at the 1978 Lloyds Bank Masters playing IGM Leonid ShamkovichMichael and friends during the 1978 Lloyds Bank Masters
The Hastings Years
Michael first played at Hastings in 1964 when he was invited to play in the Premier Tournament. The tournament was won by Mikhail Tal and Michael finished in last place.
Undaunted he returned to Hastings in 1968 to play in the Challengers tournament. One of the attractions of playing in the Challengers was that the winner received a place the following years Premier. Frustratingly Michael finished second three years in a row! In 1968 the Challengers was won by Danny Wright, in 1969 by Martyn Corden and in 1970 by Peter Markland. Finally, in 1971 his patience was rewarded and he won the Challengers and qualified to the following years Premier.
The 47th Hastings Premier of 1971-72 had been changed from the traditional 10 player all-play-all to a 16 player tournament. Also, having obtained sponsorship from various organisations the committee were able to invite some of the top names of the day. The sponsors were:
So, the entry included Karpov, Korchnoi, Andersson, Najdorf, Mecking, Gligoric, Unzicker and Robert Byrne to name but a few. This was undoubtedly the strongest Hastings Premier since World War Two and possibly the strongest Hastings Tournament since 1895.
Michael started well with a draw against the Rumanian GM Ciocaltea followed by a draw in with the Brazilian prodigy Mecking. In round three he surprised everyone by beating Ray Keene. With 2/3 things were looking promising. However, after this bright start Michael only managed a draw against Unzicker and a draw with Hartston finishing in a disappointing last place with a score of 3/15.
In the tournament report Peter Clarke opined
Franklin suffered the usual fate of the gifted amateur in a professional field of simply not being accustomed to this kind of chess.
Despite this Michael continued to play in the Hastings Challengers. He played in nineteen out of the next twenty-five years! He came close to winning the tournament in 1982: he was leading the tournament with a score of 7/8 when he was informed that Jean’s Father had passed away. Having drawn his ninth round game and needing only a draw in the last round to ensure at least a tie for first place he withdrew from the tournament and immediately left for home.
The Weekend Scene
Like all players with a full time job Michael had to play most of his chess at the weekend so the explosion of weekends tournaments in the early 1970’s gave him ample opportunities. His habit of playing quickly was ideally suited to the fast time limits of the weekend tournament. During the 1970 and 1980’s he was very successful. He won numerous events and was more often than not in the prize list.
FM Michael Franklin, Photo by Cathy Rogers
In later years he restricted himself to London based tournaments and those in the West Country. His regular tournaments being Exeter, Torquay and old favourite, Frome. Michael at the age of 78 shared first place at Frome 2009. Frome 2010 was his farewell appearance.
FM Michael Franklin
Michael played for a number of clubs viz : Richmond & Twickenham, Coulsdon CF, Surrey CCA, 4NCL Richmond, 4NCL Bristol and Richards Butler to name but a few.
Finally, in 1980, Michael was awarded the FIDE Master title and achieved his highest rating (in the Elo era) of 2345 in January 1979. It is most likely that his highest ever rating would have been more like 2450.
FM Michael Franklin vs Paul Helbig
Appropriately enough Michael was the inaugural winner of the BCF/ECF Senior Prix in 2000 and won it again in 2002 and 2003. The event last ran in 2006.
When Surrey won the counties championship a few years back the team took the trophy around to Michael’s home in Norbury, such was their regard for his contributions.
The London System
Any currently active club player cannot have missed the explosive rise to prominence of the system for White he developed :
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The London System and Accelerated London System has acquired a huge cohort of followers in recent times probably not realising the debt they (and many authors, book and DVD publishers!) owe to Michael. If only he could have earnt a royalty every time it was played!
Also Michael had notable success as Black with the O’Kelly Sicilian 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6.
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Life Outside of Chess
Michael had many interests apart from Chess. He was for many years a member of the Surrey County Cricket Club. After he retired he would arrange to meet fellow Surrey Member Frank Parr at the Oval and after lunch in the Pavilion they would spend the day enjoying the Cricket. Tennis was another sport that Michael followed. Michael was also interested in horseracing. Several players were surprised when visiting one of the racetracks around London to find Michael also attending the race meeting.
Michael was the typical “natural” player. He never studied the game and his only sources of opening information were the British Chess Magazine and the chess columns in The Times and the Guardian. He never kept the scores of his games. Once the game was finished it was time to move on. One of Michael’s greatest strengths was his optimistic attitude at the chessboard. No matter how bad the position he was confident of ultimate success.
Michael Franklin receives £220 from Councillor Robert Dickson at the 1980 Nottinghamshire CongressCaption for above photograph
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