BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//British Chess News - ECPv6.17.3.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:British Chess News X-ORIGINAL-URL:http://britishchessnews.com X-WR-CALDESC:Events for British Chess News REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:UTC BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:UTC DTSTART:20190101T000000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210304 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210305 DTSTAMP:20210304T122602Z CREATED:20210301T142500Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210304T122602Z UID:14612-1614816000-1614902399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Nancy Elder MBE (25-v-1915 04-iii-1981) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Nancy Elder MBE who passed away on Wednesday\, March 4th 1981\, i.e\, forty years ago in Perth\, Western Australia. \nNancy Conchar Gordon was born on Tuesday\, May 25th 1915. On the same date was born Robin Day in High Wycombe who went on  to design the polypropylene stacking chair. \nNancy was born in Kirmabreck\, Kirkcudbrightshire in the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. \nIn the 1939 register Nancy was living at 18 Thornton Avenue\, Urmston. Manchester\, M41 5DJ with a married couple\, William Furnish (a railway time keeper) and Gertrude Furnish who performed unpaid domestic duties. Presumably Nancy was a lodger. \n18 Thornton Avenue\, Urmston. Manchester\, M41 5DJ\nHer occupation was given as a teacher of music and physical training. At this time she was single at the age of twenty-four. \nIn the mid-1940s Nancy relocated from Manchester to Dundee where she continued her teaching career at Dundee High School. During that time she encouraged and coached a number of players some of whom represented Scotland. \nIn 1950 in Tealing\, Angus\, Scotland Nancy married David Livie Elder. They had a daughter Christine who played chess as a junior. Tealing has a strong connection with the Elder family. \nAccording to Alan McGowan (Chess Scotland): “She was the main instigator in forming both the Schools’ and Primary League in Dundee\, and she assisted in the organisation of the Dundee 1967 International Centenary Tournament.” \nWhen she passed away Nancy was living at 39 Whitefauld Road\, Dundee\, DD2 1RJ : \n39 Whitefauld Road\, Dundee\, DD2 1RJ\nHer passing was reported in the Dundee Courier and Advertiser  on March 6th 1981 as follows : \nNancy Elder dies after heart attack on flight\nMrs Nancy Elder 39 Whitefauld Road\, Dundee\, a former music teacher at Dundee High School and one of Scotland’s best known chess players\, has died after taking ill on a flight to Australia.\nShe was off for a long holiday which she planned to spend with relatives and friends from the world of international chess\, but\, after suffering a heart attack on a plane from Singapore\, had been in intensive care in Perth\, Western Australia. \nHer daughter Christine\, a primary school teacher in Tighnabruaich\, received daily telephone reports on her mother’s condition from a cousin and\, at the weekend\, heard that she was improving gradually. \nThe shock news of her mother’s death came late on Wednesday night. \nMrs. Elder\, who went into semi-retirement recently\, has been to the fore in chess for about 35 years at local\, national and international levels. \nNancy Elder MBE. Source : Milos Petronic\nShe has represented her country five times\, having taken part in the chess Olympiad in Yugoslavia in 1963 and 1973\, in Israel in 1976\, in Buenos Aires in 1978 and in Malta last year. \nBuenos Aires Olympiad 1978. From left: Morag McGhee\, Nancy Elder\, Owen Hindle\, Kathleen Hindle and Lynne Houston. Courtesy of Chess Scotland\nShe turned down the chance to take part on three other occasions. \nHaifa Olympiad 1976 – Scotland v Switzerland. From left: Nancy Elder\, Kathleen Hindle\, Lynne Houston. Courtesy of Chess Scotland\nShe was awarded the MBE for her services to chess in 1974. \nShe was President of Dundee Chess Club\, chairman of the congress committee of the Scottish Chess Association and on the council of the Scottish Junior Chess Association. \nSelf-taught\nShe started playing chess during her school days with her brother and the two of them were more-or-less self taught. \nIt wasn’t until after the Second World War that she received any sort of coaching\, by which time she had established her own style. \nShe retired on April 14th last year after 24 years in the music department of Dundee High School\, where she specialised in teaching the oboe. \nShe continued to teach privately. \nDundee Courier and Advertiser\, March 6th 1981\nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CI (101\, 1981)\, Number 6 (June)\, pp. 219-220 we have this obituary from Bernard Cafferty : \n“Nancy C. Elder\, MBE\, died in Perth\, Western Australia on March 4th 1981. Mrs. Elder had recently retired after a lifetime of teaching\, her last post being in Dundee. I well remember her account of teaching under difficult conditions in World War 2 in Manchester. 15 Scottish Women’s Champion (the record for the event which she set-up at Troon in 1980). \nPrizegiving at the 1966 Scottish Championships. From the left: Michael Fallone\, Nancy Elder\, W.P. McColl\, President of Dundee Chess Club\, Kathleen Patterson\, Gerald Bonner. Courtesy of Chess Scotland\nMrs Elder was a regular competitor in the British Women’s Championship (sometimes in rivalry with her daughter Christine) and showed her playing strength with a score of 5.5/12 on board two for Scotland at the Women’s Chess Olympiad\, Malta\, 1980. \nMalta Olympiad 1980 Left-right: Kathleen\, Rosie Giulian\, Owen Hindle (Team Captain)\, Nancy Elder\, Lynne Houston. Courtesy of Chess Scotland\nI am sure she will be best remembered though for her decades of effort in the organising of chess in Scotland\, particularly for juniors and in schools\, in recognition of which she was awarded the MBE\, the only such honour ever given for services to chess ‘north of the border’ as Alan Borwell puts it in his Newsflash obituary.” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nChess Scotland award the Nancy Elder Cup annually for an individual competition for “club level” players. \nWe are grateful to Helen Milligan who told BCN : \nMy most memorable incident was when I refused to play in the Scottish Ladies at the annual Congress\, preferring to try to improve my chess by playing in the Open section (really the B-Grade\, below the Championship proper). I got given a piece of Nancy’s mind for that – she did not approve! \nHere are her playing records from the Olympiads. \nHere is a potted biography from Chess Scotland. \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-nancy-elder-mbe-25-v-1915-04-iii-1981/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Honours,Player,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Eld02271.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200305 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200306 DTSTAMP:20210305T153853Z CREATED:20200625T101854Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T153853Z UID:6686-1583366400-1583452799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of GM Daniel Yanofsky OC QC (25-iii-1925 05-iii-2000) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of GM Daniel Abraham Yanofsky OC QC (25-iii-1925 05-iii-2000) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-gm-daniel-yanofsky-oc-qc-25-iii-1925-05-iii-2000/ CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,Hastings,History,Player,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/IMG_0940-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210309 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210310 DTSTAMP:20210309T102629Z CREATED:20190930T130829Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210309T102629Z UID:1433-1615248000-1615334399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Dr. Richard Guy (30-ix-1916 09-iii-2020) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Richard Guy who passed away in Calgary\, Alberta\, Canada on Monday\, March 9th\, 2020 at the splendid age of 103. \nEarly Life\nRichard Kenneth Guy was born on Saturday\, 30th September 1916. On this day construction on the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City was completed. \nHe was born in Nuneaton\, Warwickshire to William Alexander Charles Guy and  Augusta Adeline Guy (née Tanner). RKGs parents had married in the final quarter of 1915 in Solihull. William was headmaster of Atherstone Elementary School. \nRichard Guy\nGrowing Up\nRichard attended Warwick School excelling in mathematics where he was a boarder and prefect.  In December 1934 He obtained  a County Major Scholarship for Mathematics provided by the Lord Kitchener Memorial Fund gaining his Northern Universities Higher School Certificate in July 1935. \nWarwick and Warwickshire Advertiser 25 May 1935\nHe went up to Gonville and Caius College\, Cambridge University in October 1935 graduating in 1938. Stephen  Hawking was also an alumni of Caius College. \nRichard Guy\nThe 1939 register records Richard aged 23 living as a lodger in the  Blower household of six  at 436 Buxton Road\, Stockport\, Cheshire\, England. This address has since been converted to residential flats. He was  a teacher of mathematics in a local secondary school. \nRAF and the Weather Years\nDuring the second world war Richard saw non-combative service in the Royal Air Force working on forecasting the weather and improving the methodologies.  This work was a critical component of the British war effort. \nIn the final quarter of 1940 Richard married Nancy Louise Thirian in Bingham\, Nottingham. Nancy (in fact\, she was known as Louise) was born in Islington in the third quarter of 1918 and passed away in 2010.  They had three children and Michael JT Guy was also a significant mathematician. \nAccording to Wikipedia : “In November 1942\, Guy received an emergency commission in the Meteorological Branch of the Royal Air Force\, with the rank of flight lieutenant.  He was posted to Reykjavik\, and later to Bermuda\, as a meteorologist. He tried to get permission for Louise to join him but was refused. While in Iceland\, he did some glacier travel\, skiing\, and mountain climbing\, marking the beginning of another long love affair\, this one with snow and ice.” \nRichard Guy\nTeaching and Research\nIn August 1951 Richard relocated to Singapore and taught for ten years at The University of Malaya and following that he worked at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi. Finally\, in 1965\, he moved to Calgary and taught  in the Mathematics Department at The University of Calgary.  For fuller details of his extensive mathematical career see the many links at the foot of this article. \nRKGs final address in England was 145 Sunderland Road\, Forest Hill\, London SE23 2PX: \n145 Sunderland Road\, Forest Hill\, London SE23 2PX\nChess Playing\nRichard’s chess career was active whilst at Warwick School.  As a boarder and prefect he played for the school “eight” in matches against teams such as Birmingham University and King Edward’s School\, Birmingham. \nRichard Guy\nRichard’s interest turned away from over-the-board play but he did find time to compete in the Major Open of the August 1946 British Championships in Nottingham. Only two game scores are known where he lost to Dr. Fazekas and Gordon Crown: both very strong opponents. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nRichard Guy\nChess Writing and Composing\nThe December 1947 edition of British Chess Magazine contains RKGs very first Endings column taking over from TR Dawson. The column was introduced thus: \n“Mr RK Guy has kindly consented to take over the Endings Section. All communications should now be sent to him at 33 Westwood Park Forest Hill London SE23.” TRD went on to write: \n“With this page I reluctantly terminate on health grounds some forty years of work in the Endings field\, and my contributions to this corner of the British Chess Magazine. To the many readers of these pages\, a Merry Christmas and steadily improving years.” \n33 Westwood Park\, Forest Hill\, London SE23 3QG\nRKG was to edit this column until his final piece in June 1951. RKG wrote in the July 1951 column (now edited by HF Blandford): “My address after August will be University of Malaya\, Singapore. I have enjoyed these few years\, and am sorry to leave you\, although you will be in capable hands. HFB is player and problemist\, but his greatest love is for endings\, and he has won many international prizes.” \nRKG is known for almost 200 endgame studies. \nThis is  study #53\, page 57 from Test Tube Chess by AJ Roycroft: \nRK Guy\nThe Field\, 28 xii 1940 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nwin\, 3+2 \nThe win is by a white king march from the h-file onto the same file as the pawn\, instead of the reverse! \n1.Bb4!/i Rh2+;\n2.Kg7 Rg2+;\n3.Kf7 Rf2+;\n4.Ke6 Re2+/ii;\n5.Kd5 Re3;\n6.Kd4 wins\n(i) Why not 1.d8=Q. Because of 1…Rb8; 2.Qxb8 stalemate!\n(ii) 4…Rf8 not on because of 5.Bxf8 \nand this one is study #148\, page 106 of the same publication: \nRK Guy\nBritish Chess Magazine\, x 1943 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nwin\, 6+4 \n1.Sc1+ Kc4;\n2.b3+ Kd4;\n3.Se2+ Ke4/i;\n4.Sg3+ Kd4/ii;\n5.Rf4+ Ke5/iii;\n6.Re4+ Kd5;\n7.Rd4+ Kxd4;\n8.Sf5+ Ke5;\n9.Sxd6 Kxd6;\n10.h4 wins. \n(i) 3…Kd3;4.Rd5+ Qd5;5.Sf4+ Ke4;6.Sxd5 Kxd5;7.h4 wins.\n(ii) 4…Kd3;5.Rf3+ Kxd2;6.Se4+\, or 5…Kd4;6.Sf5+.\n(iii) 5…Kd5;6.Rd4+ Kxd4;7.Sf5+.\nA lot of checks\, but also a lot of play. \nFor more examples of RKGs work we recommend his AVRES database entry. \nIn 2020 John Beasley wrote: “Richard did not achieve the same renown in our field as he has in the field of recreational mathematics\, but his studies are neat and many are also instructive\, a point which he considered important. We have been the richer for his presence.” \nAlong with Hugh Blandford and John Roycroft\, RKG was one of the inventors of the GBR code (Guy–Blandford–Roycroft code)\, a system of representing the position of chess pieces on a chessboard. Publications such as EG magazine use it to classify endgame types and to index endgame studies. \nRichard Kenneth Guy\nWinning Ways\nThe Unity of Combinatorics\, Ezra Brown and RK Guy\, American Mathematical Society (30 May 2020)\nUnsolved Problems in Geometry\, RK Guy\, Springer Verlag\, 1994\nHere is an appreciation from John Beasley \nRKGs entry on the AVRES database \nRKGs entry on chesscomposers.blogspot.com \nAn Interview with a mathematician \nAn obituary from The Calgary Herald \nA tribute from The University of Calgary \nA tribute from A Periodical \nA tribute from the American Mathematical Society \n100th birthday tribute from the Mathematical Association of America \nRKGs Wikipedia article \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/happy-birthday-richard-kenneth-guy/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Guy_younger.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210313 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210314 DTSTAMP:20210305T181544Z CREATED:20190823T092441Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T181544Z UID:1062-1615593600-1615679999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of William Potter (27-viii-1840 13-iii-1895) DESCRIPTION:William Norwood Potter\nDeath Anniversary of William Norwood Potter\, (27-viii-1840 13-iii-1895) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-william-norwood-potter/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/WilliamNorwoodPotter.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210313 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210314 DTSTAMP:20210305T182112Z CREATED:20200322T194222Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T182112Z UID:3668-1615593600-1615679999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of IM William Fairhurst CBE (21-viii-1903 13-iii-1982) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of IM William Albert Fairhurst CBE (21-viii-1903 13-iii-1982) \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \n“International chess master\, British Champion in 1937 and Scottish Champion in 1932\, 1933\, 1934\, 1936\, 1937\, 1938\, 1946\, 1947\, 1948\, 1949 and 1962. \nBorn in Alderney Edge in Cheshire on 21st August 1903\, Fairhurst taught himself to play chess from books on the game\, when he was 13\, when he was 18 he won the Cheshire Championship. \nHis first major international success was at Scarborough in 1927\, where he tied for Yates for 2nd prize\, ahead of Bogoljubov\, Sir George Thomas\, Buerger\, among others. \nIn 1931 he went to live to Scotland\, quickly established himself as a leader of Scottish chess and played a major role in agreements between the British Chess Federation and the Scottish Chess Association. In 1932 he gave a blindfold simultaneous display\, winning nine games and drawing three\, in the Polytechnic Club in Glasgow\, and in 1933 he drew match of six games against Eliskases. \nFairhurst has represented Great Britain in matches against Czechoslovakia and the USSR in 1946 and 1947; against the Netherlands in 1937\, 1938\, 1949 and 1952 and against the USSR in 1954. He also played in the Great Britain v. Australia radio match in 1947. He has represented Scotland in six chess Olympiads\, those of 1933\, 1956\, 1958\, 1964\, 1966 and 1968. \nAt Hastings in 1947 he came 5th and went through the tournament without losing a game. \nSenior partner of a leading firm of engineers and designer of the new bridge over the River Tay at Dundee (the longest river crossing in Europe)\, Fairhurst was Chairman of the Scottish Branch of the Institute of Structural Engineers and author of Arch Design Simplified. He was also a member of the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland.” \nArch Design Simplified\nHere are his games \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/remembering-im-william-albert-fairhurst-cbe-21-viii-1903-13-iii-1982/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/fairhurst_1937.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210314 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210315 DTSTAMP:20210314T123254Z CREATED:20200410T133033Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210314T123254Z UID:4348-1615680000-1615766399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of IM Simon Webb (10-vi-1949 14-iii-2005) DESCRIPTION:We remember IM Simon Webb (10-vi-1949 14-iii-2005) \nDavid Nixon and Simon Webb at the London Evening Standard Congress\nSimon became England’s fourth Correspondence Grandmaster in 1983 following Keith Richardson\, Adrian Hollis and Peter Clarke. \nIM Jonathan Speelman vs IM Simon Webb at the 1978 British Championships in Ayr\, Courtesy of John Upham\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nSimon Webb (above Stewart Reuben at the Lloyds Bank Masters\nJoint winners of the 1973 Strasbourg Open : N. Karaklaic and Simon Webb. Photography by Mike Rose. CHESS\, Volume 88\, June\, page 283\nChess for Tigers\nChess for Tigers\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-im-simon-webb-10-vi-1949-14-iii-2005/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/img_0310_lv.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210315 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210316 DTSTAMP:20210315T174308Z CREATED:20190822T150351Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210315T174308Z UID:966-1615766400-1615852799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Gerald Abrahams (15-iv-1907 15-iii-1980) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Gerald Abrahams who passed away in Liverpool on Saturday\, March 15th 1980. He was buried in the Allerton Cemetery in the Jewish Springwood plot. \nGerald Abrahams was born in Liverpool on Monday\, April 15th 1907.  On this day the Triangle Fraternity was formed at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. \nHis parents were Harry (b. 10th September 1880) and Leah (b. 12th March 1884) Abrahams (née Rabinowitz) who married in West Derby in the third quarter of 1903. \nGerald learnt chess at the age of ten during the first world war. He obtained an Open Scholarship to Wadham College\, Oxford in 1925 reading PPE and earning himself an MA in Law in 1928. He became a practising barrister at Law. \nFrom the 1939 register we learnt that Harry was a Drapery manufacturer and Leah carried out “unpaid domestic duties”. Gerald was not an only child: the first born was Winnie (b. 22nd November 1903) who was a Secretary and Clerk Typist and factory assistant. Elsie Abrahams (b. 14th April 1905) helped her mother with “unpaid domestic duties”. Blanche was Gerald’s older brother and he was “General Assistant In Fathers Business Drapery Manufacturer”. Gerald is listed (aged 32) as a Barrister at Law and author. The family resided at 51 Prince Alfred Road\, Liverpool\, Lancashire (now L15 6TQ) and their original property has been since replaced. \nHistorical map showing the 1939 residence of Gerald Abrahams\nWe learn from “Philanthropy\, Consensus\, and broiges: managing a Jewish Community A history of the Southport Jewish Community\nby John Cowell” of an incident in January 1942 that was to cause ripples in the community. The headline was \nPOLICE RAID DISTURBS CLUB CARD PLAYERS \nThe full list of people present seems to have been largely or entirely Jewish in religion or ethnicity: it included a famous chess-playing barrister from Liverpool\, Gerald Abrahams\, representing himself\, who had taken a First in P.P.E. at Oxford\, and later married Elsie Krengel\, who had also been present\, and with Leslie Black representing the rest of the defendants\, apart from the hosts and Captain Lionel Husdan\, who sent a letter to the court. \nThe full list of those present\, charged with “resorting and playing in a common gaming house\,” and bound over was as follows:- Mott Alexander\, Fannie Finn\, Maxwell Glassman\, Kate Lippa\, Myer Lister\, Gertrude Mannheim\, Joseph Mannheim\, Rita Mannheim\, Simon Mannheim\, Harry Peters\, Sadie Peters\, Lily Leah Ross\, Harry Sapiro\, Benjamin Stone. Those charged with “resorting in a common gaming house” and bound over\, were:- Gerald Abrahams\, Joseph Appleton Bach\, Samuel Myer Barnett\, Herbert Solomon Isaacson\, Elsie Krengel\, Manuel Mannheim\, Louis Michaelson\, Abraham Ross\, Bernard and Elsie Ross. \n“Gerald Abrahams\, the barrister charged\, said he was interested to protect his reputation from being stigmatised by a conviction\, and asked Sergeant Laycock about alcohol: the latter replied that none was being consumed. He submitted that the club was not a gaming house\, and that draw poker had not been proved other than as a game of skill. Charges were dismissed against Henry\, Eva and Marjorie Black\, Myer Waldman\, and Captain Lionel Husdan\, of Ryde\, Isle of Wight\, all of whom had said that they were merely taking refreshments in the club\, and had not played. David Platt said that he had not the slightest idea that they were breaking the law\, and Mrs Platt said that it had not been a paying venture.” \nThe Complete Chess Addict (Faber& Faber\, 1987)\, Fox & James notes: that Gerald Abrahams as authority on bridge cast doubt on assertions that Emanuel Lasker “was good enough to represent Germany” \nGerald’s comparisons of chess and bridge are discussed by Edward Winter in Chess Facts and Fables (McFarland\, 2005) page 130 in GAs 1962 book Brains in Bridge: \nBrains in Bridge\, Gerald Abrahams\, Constable and Company\, 1962\, ISBN ?\nGerald eventually married Elsie Krengel (born 15th January 1909) in the fourth quarter of 1971 in Liverpool at the age of 64. Elsie had lived in the Southport area for most of her life and her family was associated with the manufacture of handbags.  They had known each other for many years (at least since 1942 as mentioned previously). \nGerald Abrahams\nLeonard Barden modestly recounts : \n“At the end of Nottingham 1954  Gerald claimed that Alan Phillips had accepted his draw offer so tieing Gerald for the British championship with some rabbit whose name escapes me.  When Phillips strongly denied having accepted the draw\, Gerald collapsed on the floor and had to be aided by his old enemy Dr. Fazekas.” \nFrom The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match (1946) by Klein and Winter: \n“G. Abrahams was born in Liverpool in 1907. He learned chess at the age of ten\, and showed an early aptitude for tactical complications. He has played with varying success\, his best performances being third and fourth with Rossolimo\, behind Klein and Najdorf\, but head of List at Margate\, 1938\, and fourth\, fifth and sixth with Sir George A. Thomas and König in London\, 1946. He has made two valiant bids for the British Championship. \nA graduate of Oxford\, he is a barrister by profession and has written several books\, including some fiction. He has solidified his chess without allowing it to become dry. Indeed\, most of his games sparkle with interesting complications.” \nHarry Golombek OBE wrote (in The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977)): \n“Brilliant British amateur who in the 1930s was playing master-chess. In that period he was the most dangerous attacking player in England. \nGerald Abrahams watching the opening at the Hastings Chess Congress 1947. Also watching is Sir George Thomas who was GAs round one opponent. The Mayor was Alderman W. J. Fellows and he is opposite Sir Edmund McNeill Cooper-Key. Second from left is Percy J. Morren who was the Hasting’s Club President\nHe was in the prize-list (i.e. in the first four) in the British championship on three occasions 1933\, 1946 and 1954. His best international performance was in the Major Open at Nottingham in 1936 where he came =3rd with Opocensky. Another fine result was his score of 1.5-0.5 against the Soviet Grandmaster Ragozin\, in the 1946 Anglo-Soviet radio match. \nHe is the inventor of the Abrahams variation in the Semi-Slav Defence to the Queen’s Gambit: 1.P-Q4\, P-Q4;2.P-QB4\, P-QB3;3.N-QB3\, P-K3;4.N-B3\, PXP;5.P-QR4\, B-N4;6.P-K3\,P-QN4;7.B-Q2\, P-QR4; 8.PxP\, BxN;9.BxB\,PxP;10.P-QN3\,B-N2; \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nThis is sometimes known as the Noteboom variation after the Dutch master who played it in the 1930s\, but Abrahams was playing it in 1925 long before Noteboom. \nHe is a witty and prolific writer on many subjects: on law (he is a barrister by profession)\, philosophy\, and chess; he also writes fiction. His main chess works are: The Chess Mind\, London 1951 and 1960 \nThe Chess Mind\, Gerald Abrahams\, The English Universities Press\, 1951\, ISBN 0 340 19492 8\nand here is a later cover: \nThe Chess Mind\, Gerald Abrahams\, The English Universities Press\, 1951\, ISBN 0 340 19492 8\nand Not Only Chess\, London 1974. \nNot Only Chess\, Gerald Abrahams\, George Allen & Unwin Ltd.\, 1974\, ISBN 0 04 794005 0\nEdward Winter in Kings\, Commoners and Knaves\, cites the subtitle of the above book in his page 235 list of chessy words: “A selection of Chessays”. \nFrom Not Only Chess we learn that GAs favourite game was played in 1930 against Edmund Spencer of Liverpool. “Edmund Spencer was a man who is remembered with affection by all players who ever met him\, and who is remarkable in that his strength developed in what should have been hid middle life. When he died\, lamentably early\, in the 1930s\, at about 53 he was at his best\, and of recognised master status. \nThis game was played in 1930.” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nand for an alternative view of the same game: \n\nGA is amongst a rare breed of game annotators claiming the title of An Immortal for one of his own games. Edward Winter devotes a couple of column inches discussing exactly which year the game was played between 1929 and 1936. Here is the game: \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nFor more of GAs excellent games see the superb article further on by Steve Cunliffe. Also\, Not Only Chess in Chapter 28 (“A Score of my Scores”) contains a veritable feast of entertaining games of GAs). \nGerald famously fell out with Anne Sunnucks when he discovered she had omitted him from her 1970 Encyclopaedia of Chess. Despite this the 1976 edition was also devoid of a mention. \nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP\, 1984 & 1996)\, Hooper & Whyld: \n“The English player Gerald Abrahams (1907-80) introduced the move when playing against Dr. Holmes in the Lancastrian County Championship in 1925 (ed: January 31st in fact) . Abrahams played the variation against his countryman William Winter (1898-1955) in 1929 and in the same year Winter played it against Noteboom\, after whom it is sometimes named. (Dr\, Holmes was the favourite pupil of Amos Burn and a leading ophthalmologist). \nGerald Abrahams\nThe precursor\, known from a 16th-century manuscript\, was published by Salvio in 1604: \n1.d4 d5;2.c4 dxc4;3.e4 b5;4.a4 c6;5.axb5 cxb5;6.b3 b4;7.bxc4 a5; 8.Bf4 Nd7;9.Nf3 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWriting in 1617\, Carrera made his only criticism of Salvio’s analysis in this variation. He suggested 8…Bd7 instead of 8…Nd7\, or 9.Qa4 instead of 9.Nf3. Salvio nursed his injured pride for seventeen years and then devoted a chapter of his book to a bitter attack on Carrera. The argument was pointless: all these variations give White a won game.” \nGA famously wrote : \nChess is a good mistress\, but a bad master \nand also \nThe tactician knows what to do when there is something to do; whereas the strategian knows what to do when there is nothing to do. \nand \nIn chess there is a world of intellectual values \nand \nGood positions don’t win games\, good moves do \nand \nWhy some persons are good at chess\, and others bad at it\, is more mysterious than anything on chess board. \nIn the recently (February 25th\, 2020) published “Attacking with g2 – g4” by GM Dmitry Kryakvin writes about Abrahams as follows : \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n“It is believed that the extravagant 5.g2-g4 was first applied at a high level\, namely in the British Championship by Gerald Abrahams. Abrahams was a truly versatile person – a composer\, lawyer\, historian\, philosopher\, politician (for 40 years a member of the Liberal Party) and the author of several books. Of his legal work\, the most famous is the investigation into the murder of Julia Wallace in 1931 in Liverpool\, where her husband was the main suspect. As an alibi\, William Herbert Wallace claimed he was at a chess club. Dozens of books and films have been devote to the murder of Mrs. Wallace – indeed\, this is a script worthy of Arthur Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie! \nby Lafayette (Lafayette Ltd)\, whole-plate film negative\, 21 August 1933\nAbrahams played various card games with great pleasure and success\, but the main passion of the Liverpool resident was chess. Abrahams achieved his greatest success in the championships of Great Britain in 1933 and 1946\, when he won bronze medals. The peak of his career was undoubtedly his participation in the USSR-Great Britain radio match (1946) where on the 10th board Abrahams beat Botvinnik’s second and assistant grandmaster Viacheslav Ragozin with a score of 1.5-0.5 \nGerald Abrahams had a taste of studying opening theory\, and made a distinct contribution to the development of the Noteboom Variation\, which is often known as the Abrahams-Noteboom. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nTen years after he introduced the move 5.g2-g4 to the English public (1953)\, the famous grandmaster Lajos Portisch brought it into the international arena.” \nGerald Abrahams\nGerald was also a keen studies composer. Here are some examples of his work: \nGerald Abrahams\, 1923 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n1/2-1/2 \nSolution: 1. Ra3! Ra3 […a1=q;2.Ra1 Ba1;3.d7 Kf7;4.d8=q];2.e8=q a1=q;3.Qd7 \nand \nGerald Abrahams\, 1924 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n1-0 \nHere is an interesting article by Tim Harding on the naming of the Abrahams-Noteboom Variation of the Semi-Slav Defence \nHere is an article about GA and a blindfold exhibition \nGerald Abrahams contributed to opening theory in the Queen’s Gambit Declined / Semi-Slav Defence with his creation of the Abrahams-Noteboom Defence as discussed in the following video : \n\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nHere is a nine page article (Gerald Abrahams – Talent without Discipline) written by Steve Cunliffe that appeared in British Chess Magazine\, Volume CVIII (1988)\, Number 7 (July)\, pp. 292-300: \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CVIII (1988)\, Number 7 (July)\, pp. 292\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CVIII (1988)\, Number 7 (July)\, pp. 293\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CVIII (1988)\, Number 7 (July)\, pp. 294\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CVIII (1988)\, Number 7 (July)\, pp. 295\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CVIII (1988)\, Number 7 (July)\, pp. 296\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CVIII (1988)\, Number 7 (July)\, pp. 297\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CVIII (1988)\, Number 7 (July)\, pp. 298\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CVIII (1988)\, Number 7 (July)\, pp. 299\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CVIII (1988)\, Number 7 (July)\, pp. 300\n\nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nSee his games at Chessgames.com \nHow to Teach Yourself Chess\, Gerald Abrahams\, D Van Nostrand Company\, Inc\, New York\, 1950\nTechnique in Chess\, Gerald Abrahams\, George Bell & Sons Ltd.\, 1961\,\nTest Your Chess\, Gerald Abrahams\, Constable and co\, 1963\, ISBN 0 330 24336 5\nThe Pan Book of Chess\, Gerald Abrahams\, Pan\, 1965\, 10: ISBN 0330230735\nTeach Yourself Chess\, Gerald Abrahams\, The English Universities Press Ltd\, 1965\,\nTechnique in Chess\, Gerald Abrahams\, Dover\, 1973\, ISBN ISBN 13: 9780486229539\nBrilliance in Chess\, Gerald Abrahams\, Pitman Publishing\, 1977\, ISBN 10: 0273000349\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-gerald-abrahams/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG-3.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200316 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200317 DTSTAMP:20260817T141220Z CREATED:20201106T193152Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T141220Z UID:11055-1584316800-1584403199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Reginald Bonham MBE MA (31-i-1906 16-iii-1984) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Reginald Bonham (known as “Bon”) who passed away\, this day\, March 16th in 1984 in Worcester\, Worcestershire. \nIn 1970 New Years Honours\, Civil Division he was awarded the MBE for “Services to the blind”. Interestingly\, in 1992 his sister Mary also received an MBE for “Services to the blind” This is surely an unusual happening. \nReginald Walter Bonham was born on Wednesday\, January 31st 1906 : the same day as the Ecuador–Colombia earthquake which measured 8.8 on the Richter Scale. \nHe was born in St. Neots\, Huntingdonshire\, Cambridgeshire. \nIn the 1911 census aged 5 he lived in the High Street\, St. Neots with William R Bonham (father\, master butcher\, aged 45)\, Edith Mary Ann Bonham (mother\, 38)\, Howard William Bonham (6)\, Maurice George Bonham (3) and Ernest Charles Bonham (1). The family had a servant / domestic duties assistant called Elise Annie Goss aged 18. The census did not record any disability for Reginald. \nReg\, like others in his family\, suffered from deficient eyesight and was therefore unable to attend a “mainstream” school. \nFrom 1922 – 1925 he attended the Royal Worcester College for the Blind (originally Worcester College for the Blind Sons of Gentlemen) in Whittington Road\, Worcester\, WR5 2JX. The Headmaster (GC Brown) encouraged his chess and rowing talents and in 1926 he was sent up to St. Catherine’s College\, Oxford to read mathematics. \nReginald was a highly competant rower\, competing for his college and reaching the trial stage for the Oxford Varsity crew. \nIn 1934 Reg founded the Braille Chess Magazine. \nIn the 1939 census he was recorded as living at 4\, St. Catherine’s Hill\, Worcester\, WR5 with his wife\, Josephine Bonham (born 24th September 1904). Reginald was listed as being a Mathematics tutor at the Royal Worcester College for the Blind (originally Worcester College for the Blind Sons of Gentlemen) in Whittington Road\, Worcester\, WR5 2JX. The college is now named New College Worcester. Their home was around a mile from the College. Josephine was listed as carrying out “unpaid domestic duties”. \nHe taught a combination of Braille and mathematics and was an amateur thespian and keen bridge player. \nRW Bonham and a Braille chess set set-up incorrectly\nInterestingly RWB in 1939 was an ARP (Air Raid Precautions) Warden and a St. John Ambulance volunteer for the College. \nHe was Worcester champion twenty times and four times Midlands champion winning the Birmingham Post Cup twice. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nOn June 6th 1947 Bonham played in Birmingham in a match between Great Britain and Czechoslovakia playing Ladislav Alster and won this attractive game : \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nIn 1951 he founded the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA) and continued as its President for 23 years. The IBCA affiliated to FIDE in 1964. see http://www.schachkomet.de/ibcachp4.htm for historical detail. \nHe was Blind World Champion in 1958 and Correspondence Blind World Champion in 1957\, 1959\, 1961\, 1964 (jointly) and 1966. \nOne of his students was broadcaster Peter White MBE who described Bon in his autobiography See it My Way \nSee it My Way\, Peter White\, 1994\nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume XCII (92\, 1972) Number 6 (June)\, page 216 we have this item in News in Brief : \n“At the closing ceremony of the 4th Chess Olympiad for the Blind at Pula\, Yugoslavia (April 6-18) the International Braille Chess Association awarded the title of Correspondence Grandmaster of the Blind to R.W. Bonham of Worcester\, for having won the Postal Championship more than three times.” \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CIV (104\, 1984) Number 5 (May)\, page 194 we have this obituary : \n“We regret to announce the death in March of two early winners of the grandmaster title (the other was Comins Mansfield MBE). \nR.W.Bonham (31 i 1906 – 16 iii 1984) died at Worcester\, where he had long served as a Master at the Royal Worcester College for the Blind. In the 1950s he took part in the British Championship with success. Many older players will remember him fingering his special board before announcing his move and checking his clock with its markers outside the glass face. \nHe was also active in postal play\, taking part in international events in the decade after the war when few British players ventured “into Europe”. A note in the 1972 BCM (page 216) records the award of the title Correspondence GM of the Blind by the International Braille Chess Association\, so his omission from the recent book British Chess seems rather unfortunate. \nAmong the titles won by Reginald Bonham were British Correspondence Championship\, shared in 1947 with J. Cairncross and shared in 1951 with E. Brown) and Midland Champion (1947 and 1950). \nHe was also (with Wormald) joint author of those fine little books Chess Questions Answered and More Chess Questions Answered.” \nSadly\, RWB did not merit articles in Sunnucks or Golombek’s Encyclopedias or Hooper’s and Whyld’s Oxford Companion or\, as mentioned previously\, British Chess. \nHere is a short biography from Ray Collett and here is his Wikipedia article. \nMore information here. \nThe Braille Chess Association has this entry in its Hall of Fame. \nChess Questions Answered\, RW Bonham & RD Wormald\, Jordan & Sons Ltd\, London\, 1945\nMore Chess Questions Answered\, RW Bonham & RD Wormald\, Jordan & Sons Ltd\, London\, 1948\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/11055/ CATEGORIES:Blind,Death Anniversary,History,Honours,Player,Remembering,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CHESS-BULLETIN.-P5.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210318 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210319 DTSTAMP:20230317T091443Z CREATED:20200402T175239Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230317T091443Z UID:3990-1616025600-1616111999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of FM Steve Berry (18-iii-1951 04-i-2019) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of FM Stephen H Berry (18-iii-1951) \nObituary from Andrew Stone \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-stephen-h-berry-18-iii-1951/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,Player,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/319.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210325 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210326 DTSTAMP:20210321T164305Z CREATED:20190824T102732Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210321T164305Z UID:1155-1616630400-1616716799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Sir Stuart Milner-Barry KCVO CB OBE (20-ix-1906 25-iii-1995) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Sir Stuart Milner-Barry KCVO CB OBE who passed away on Saturday\, March 25th\, 1995 in Lewisham Hospital\, London aged 88. He was laid to rest in the Great Shelford Cemetery\, Cambridge Road\, Great Shelford\, Cambridge CB22 5JJ. \nA memorial service was held for him at Westminster Abbey on 15 June 1995. \nGreat Shelford Cemetery Gravestone of Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry KCVO CB OBE by Geoffrey Gillon\nSignature of PS Milner-Barry from a Brian Reilly “after dinner” postcard from Margate 1936.\nPhilip Stuart Milner-Barry was born on Thursday\, September 20th 1906 in Mill Hill in the London Borough of Barnet. Mill Hill falls under the Hendon Parliamentary constituency. \nParents\nHis parents were Lieutenant-Commander Edward Leopold (1867-1917) and Edith Mary Milner-Barry (born 17th May 1866\, died 1949\, née Besant). Edward was in the  Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve\, H.M.S. “Wallington.” Prior to his war service his father was a professor of modern languages at the University of Bangor and Edith was the daughter of Dr. William Henry Besant\, a renowned mathematical fellow of St John’s College\, Cambridge University. \nStuart was the second born of six children\, There was  an older sister Alda Mary (18th August 1893-1938) and four brothers Edward William Besant (?-1911) \, Walter Leopold (1904-1982)\, John O’Brien (4 December 1898 – 28 February 1954) and Patrick James . Many of the Milner-Barry family were laid to rest in the Great Shelford churchyard. \nStuart learned chess at the age of eight and his autobiographical article below goes into more depth. \nHe was educated at Cheltenham College\, and won a scholarship to Trinity College\, Cambridge\, where he obtained firsts in classics and moral sciences. \nOn leaving Cambridge in 1927 he went to work at the London Stock Exchange (LSE). \nAccording to the 1928 and 1929 electoral rolls he was living with his mother Edith  and his brothers Walter and John O’Brien at 50 De Freville Avenue\, Cambridge CB4 1HT: \n50 De Freville Avenue\, Cambridge CB4 1HT\nIn 1931 the family had relocated to 11\, Park Terrace\, Cambridge which is nearby to Emmanuel College. Now living  with the family was brother Patrick James. \n11\, Park Terrace\, Cambridge\, CB1 1JJ\nPeriod map of the area of 11\, Park Terrace\, Cambridge\, CB1 1JJ\nHe discovered that he did not enjoy his LSE work and switched careers to became chess correspondent of The Times in 1938. \nAt the time (September 29th) of the 1939 register he (aged 33) was living as a journalist in a household of three with his mother Edith who carried out “unpaid domestic duties” and sister Alda who was of “private means”. \nHonours\nIn 1946 Stuart was awarded the OBE from the Civil Division in the  New Years Honours . The citation reads that was “employed in a Department of the Foreign Office”. A modern translation of this was he was engaged in Top Secret work at Bletchley Park alongside Alan Turing\, Gordon Welchman and Hugh Alexander and was thus honoured for his war work. More on this later… \nAfter the war he worked in the Treasury\, and later in 1966 administered the British honours system where he helped to facilitate the award of honours to other chess players ultimately retiring in 1977. \nAs well as the OBE he was made Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1962 and Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCV0) in 1975. \nA conference room was named after him at the Civil Service Club\, 13 – 15 Great Scotland Yard\, London SW1A 2HJ. \nPeter Hennessy* and The Rewarding Career of Sir Stuart Milner-Barry\n*Peter Hennessy is a renowned historian and journalist. The following was originally published in The Times in 1977 following  PSMBs retirement. \n“Few careers can have been as varied and rewarding as that of Sir Stuart Milner-Barry\, who retires today as Ceremonial Officer to the Civil Service Department and custodian of the British honours system. \nInto the 48 years since he left Cambridge with a degrees in classics and moral sciences\, he has crammed spells as a stockbroker\, chess correspondent of  The Times and member of the British chess team\, a wartime codebreaker for MI6 and a senior Treasury official before taking over administration of the nations “gongs and bongs ” nearly 11 years ago. \nThe richness of Sir Stuart’s progression is all the more striking given the difficulty he experienced in finding a job at all after university because of the Wall Street crash in 1929. His first 10 years spanned the slump of the 1930s\, when there was little for a stockbroker to do\, but fill his days reading The Times. \nIn 1938 he joined the paper full time as chess correspondent and\, along with many of the world’s leading players\, he was nearly trapped in Buenos Aires when war broke out the next year (ed. should be month rather than year). Catching the first ship home\, he finished up with that brilliant collection of dons\, antique dealers\, mathematicians and chess players billeted in Nissen huts in the park of Buckinghamshire country house\, who broke the code transmitted by the German Enigma machine. \nThe original Hut 6 building (photographed in 2004). Milner-Barry joined Hut 6 in early 1940\, and worked in the section throughout World War II. He became head of Hut 6 in Autumn 1943.\nSir Stuart eventually rose to lead hut six\, which broke the most secret messages of the Luftwaffe. Quartered in a comfortable Bletchley public house with another formidable chess player\, C. H. O’D. Alexander\, and Gordon Welchman\, the Cambridge mathematician\, he acquired a taste  for rum\, the only alcohol in plentiful supply for some reason\, and a sense of guilt about enjoying\, his stimulating\, important job\, safe while other men faced the bullets. \nHe was not tempted to stay on in the arcane world of code-breaking after the war\, unlike his friend\, the late Hugh Alexander\, as he regards such activities in peacetime as akin to reading somebody’s private correspondence\, though he recognizes the necessity of such efforts for intelligence work. Instead\, he took the reconstruction competition for the administrative class of the Civil Service and entered the Treasury. \nWhile battling with the post-war dollar shortage in Treasury Chambers he “found a wife\, carried her off and lived happily ever after”\, as he cheerfully puts it. Apart from a spell as establishment officer to the Ministry of Health\, he stayed at the Treasury until he reached the normal retiring age of 60 in 1966. \nLord Helsby\, then Head of the Home Civil Service\, asked him to stay on and take over the smooth machine that underpins the honours system\, which had been built up over many years by Sir Robert Knox. Sir Stuart has loved every minute of it. \nHe looks every inch the part\, a tall stately man of immense natural dignity\, he is the incarnation of propriety. The stresses to which the honours system has been subjected to in recent years must have caused him great distress but he is far too proper a civil servant to talk about it. His retirement at 70 has nothing to do with the alarums and excursions stimulated by the honours lists associated with Harold Wilson. \n“One of my principal jobs has been the protection of the system”\, he says. “The pleasures are very great. It’s fascinating in itself. You see so much of the history of people in every walk of like”. \nSir Stuart waxes eloquent about the beauty and uniqueness of the British honours system. He is a confirmed monarchist\, so the spontaneity of the jubilee celebrations  provides the perfect backcloth for his departure. He is succeeded by Mr. Richard Sharp\, an under-secretary at the Treasury.” \nBelow is the original article: \nSir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry OBE\nMarriage to Thelma\nIn the third quarter of 1947 Stuart married Thelma Tennant Wells in Westminster. A consequence of the “rules of the day” of the marriage was that Thelma had to resign her post in the Treasury immediately.  (Ed: this somewhat antiquated view of life was finally corrected in 1972 when the Civil Service dispensed with this rule). \nLady Thelma was to support Stuart in his chess activities for their married life. She also served as the first UK Director of Women’s Chess and made many lasting friendships in the chess world. She was buried together with Stuart in 2007. Stuart himself was President of the British Chess Federation between 1970 and 1973 as well as being Director of International Chess following his presidency. \nStuart and Thelma had three children\, one son and two daughters: Philip O. (born 1953)\, Jane E (born 1950) and Alda M (born 1958). \nDave Rumens is pleased to accept a cheque for £200 from Lady Thelma Milner-Barry for winning the 1978 Nottingham Congress with 5.5/6. Photograph provided by Nottinghamshire County Council.\nStuart was knighted on January 1st 1975 for his role as the “Ceremonial Officer of  Civil Service Department” between 1966-77. Technically the knighthood is known as a KCVO. \nMilner-Barry was Southern Counties (SCCU) champion for the 1960-61 season. \nHe first competed in the British Championship in 1931 and made regular appearences as late as 1978: a span of 47 years! \nIn their retirement  years Stuart and Thelma lived at the salubrious location of 43 Blackheath Park\, Blackheath\, London SE3 9RW. \nAutobiography\nIn June of 1933 at the age of 27 Stuart wrote an autobiographical piece for British Chess Magazine to be found in Volume LIII (53\, 1933)\, Number 6 (June)\, pp. 241-2 as follows: \nStuart Milner-Barry in 1933 taken from BCM\, 1933\, June\nP.S. Milner-Barry\nChampion of the City of London Chess Club\nI learned chess at the age of eight and played regularly after that with members of my family. My first-class practise (with due respect to my family) began at fourteen\, when Mr. Bertram Goulding Brown and  started a series of serious friendly games which has continued ever since\, almost without interruption. The vast majority of these games were begun with 1 P-K4\, P-K4\, and as we both eschewed the Lopez and the Four Knights\, we have acquired  a fairly extensive knowledge of the older forms of the King’s side openings – King’s Gambit (all sorts)\, Vienna\, Guioco Piano\, Evans’s Gambit\, Danish Gambit\, Bishop’s Opening\, etc. These games have undoubtedly born the most important influence in my development\, apart from which the serious friendly game is to me much the most enjoyable form of chess. We each have runs of success\, and there has never been much to choose between us. \n(An aside : Stuart wrote a extensive obituary of Bertram Goulding Brown which appeared in British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXXV (85\, 1965)\, Number 12(December) pp.344-45 in which he noted: \nB. Goulding Brown was my oldest and closest Cambridge friend\, I started playing with him in 1920\, and we have played ever since\, though\, alas\, not nearly so often since the War as in the 1920s and 1930. Our last games\, when he was eighty three\, were played about a year ago in the same book-congested upstairs study at Brookside as all the others had been. Both were cut-and-thrust draws: a Kieseritzky Gambit from myself and Two Knights’ (with 4.P-Q4 for White) were typical of the openings we adopted. We were planning another this Autumn\, but he died suddenly and peacefully at the end of August\, ) \nI have also been very fortunate in playing a good deal with C.H.O’D. Alexander. Our games have taken the form of a series of short matches (first player to win three games) played with clocks. Alexander was already stronger than me when he came up to Cambridge\, and he won the University Championship from me in his first year and my fourth. \nCHO’D Alexander plays his old friend PS Milner-Barry\nAll three matches have been won by him\, the first easily and the last two by the narrowest possible margin; a fourth now in progress looks like coming to an early  and ignominious conclusion (Score 0-2-2). These results have neither surprised nor disappointed me : I would not back any player in England to do better. \n(ed. For more detail on PSMBs matches with Hugh we refer to you our article on Hugh). \nIn 1923 I won the first Boy’s Championship at Hastings\, but lost badly the following year (ed. Alexander won). \nBoy Chess Champion PS Milner-Barry (Cheltenham College)\, first boy chess champion of England\, receiving the cup from Mrs. AG Ginner\, the donor \, at the Hastings Chess Club\nSince then I have competed twice at Hastings\, once tieing with Miss Menchik in the Major Reserve for the first place and once for the last\, in the Major. In between I played in the Major Open at Tenby\, and came out fifth\, with my first important win against Znosko-Borovsky. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nMeanwhile I played four years against Oxford\, with somewhat chequered results. The first year I won against G. Abrahams\, the second and third years\, I played K.H. Bancroft and scored a (very fortunate) draw and a win\, while finally I permitted Abrahams to fork my King and Queen with a Knight\, a performance unhappily repeated by R.L. Mitchell in the following year (his Queen was pinned by a Bishop). Since then the spell has been broken. In 1931 I played in the British Championships at Worcester\, and was quite satisfied with my form\, though my score of 5 out of 11 was nothing to write home about. In February 1932\, I have the great good fortune to fill a vacant place in the Sunday Referee* London International Tournament\, an extremely exhausting but very valuable experience which I greatly appreciated. \n*The Sunday Referee was a newspaper of the time which was adsorbed into The Sunday Chronicle in 1939. \nFull Crosstable for the 1932 Sunday Referee or London International Masters Tournament\nMy score of 3.5 out of 11\, equal with Sir George Thomas and above W. Winter and V. Buerger\, was quite as good as I expected. After this came the Cambridge Tournament\, which\, though a very delightful little congress\, was a fiasco from my point of view. Three of my opponents were unkind enough to show their best form against me\, and two other games I spoilt by clock trouble. \nI do not expect to play much serious competitive chess in future. I admire sincerely the business man who is ready\, after a hard day at the office\, to undergo a further four hours of strenuous mental exertion; and who is also prepared to spend his all too brief holidays in the same exhausting pursuit. Moreover\, while many players find the atmosphere of match and tournament play a stimulus or an inspiration\, it only renders me nervous\, and though this does not affect my play it certainly interferes with my enjoyment. As long as I can play my week-end games with B.G.B.\, and inveigle Alexander from Winchester to add another to his monotonous series of victories\, I shall not much mind if I can only occasionally take part in congresses. ” \nPS Milner-Barry Cup\nIn issue #53 (April 1946)  of West London Chess Club’s Gazette we have a news item concerning a newly inaugurated trophy called the PS Milner-Barry Cup: \nissue #53 (April 1946)  of West London Chess Club’s Gazette\nSergeant on Milner-Barry\nWriting in A Century of British Chess (Hutchinson\, 1934)\, PW Sergeant records in Chapter XXI\, 1925 to 1934: \nThe City of London C.C.’s Championship Tournament which ended this (1933) spring deserves special mention; for it introduced an entirely new name on the list of champions\, that of P.S. Milner-Barry\, formerly of Cheltenham College and of Cambridge University.  Ten years previously he had won the first boys’ championship at Hastings. \nNow\, he won the City of London Championship with a score of 11 out of 14\, followed by the bearers of such noted names as R.P. Michell (10 points)\, Sir George Thomas (9)\, and E.G. Sergeant (8.5). It caused some surprise\, therefore\, when it was found that he was not selected as a British representative at Folkestone. \nGolombek on Milner-Barry\nSurprisingly and disappointingly there is no direct entry in either Hooper & Whyld or Sunnucks for Sir Stuart but (as you might expect) Harry Golombek OBE does not let us down  in The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977): \n“British master whose chess career was limited by his amateur status but whose abilities as a player and original theorist rendered him worthy of the title of international master. \nBorn at Mill Hill in London\, he showed early promise and in 1923 won the British Boys Championship\, then held at Hastings. \nHe studied classics at Cambridge and developed into the strongest player there. At the university he was to meet (ed. three years later) C. H. O’D. Alexander with whom he played much chess. \nThough nearly three years younger\, Alexander exerted a strong influence over him and both players cherished and revelled in the brilliance of play in open positions. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n24th April 1935: J Mieses of Germany in play against PS Milner-Barry during the Premier Tournament of the Kent County Chess Association in the Grand Hotel\, Margate. (Photo by F. Sayers/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)\nBy then along with Alexander and Golombek\, he had become recognized as one of the three strongest young players in the country. Whilst not as successful as they were in tournaments as the British championship in which stamina was essential\, he was a most formidable club and team match player\, as he had already shown in 1933 when he won the championship of the City of London Club ahead of R. P. Mitchell and Sir George Thomas. \nHarry Golombek OBE plays Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry OBE\nHe played in his first International Team tournament at Stockholm 1937 and was to play in three more such events : in 1939 at Buenos Aires where\, on third board\, he made the fine score of 4/5 ; in Helsinki 1952; and in Moscow 1956 where\, again on third board\, he was largely responsible for the team’s fine showing. \nLeft to right Baruch H Wood\, Stuart Milner-Barry\, Vera Menchik (playing in the women’s world championship (held concurrently with the 1939 Buenos Aires Olympiad) which she won with 17 wins and 2 draws)\, Sir George Thomas\, Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander and Harry Golombek. England withdrew after their preliminary group due to the outbreak of war despite qualifying for the top final. Thanks to Leonard Barden\nIn 1940 he shared first prize with Dr. List in the strong tournament of semi-international character in London and then\, like Alexander and (later) Golombek\, helped in the Foreign Office code-breaking activities at Bletchley Park for the duration of the Second World War. Staying in the Civil Service afterwards\, he rose to the rank of Under-Secretary in the Treasury and was knighted for his services in 1975. \nSir Stuart Milner-Barry talks about Malik Mir Sultan Khan\nBelow is footage (start at 1′ 55″) of Sir Stuart discussing the talent of Malik Mir Sultan Khan: \n\nAfter the war\, too\, he had some fine results in the British championship\, his best being second place at Hastings in 1953. \nHartston on Milner-Barry\nThe following article is sourced from November 1995 edition* of Dragon\, the Cambridge University Chess Club magazine: \n(*Edited by Jonathan Parker) \nA sample cover of Dragon\, the Cambridge University Chess Club Magazine\n“I first met Sir Stuart Milner-Barry when I was fifteen years old (1962) playing in a tournament in Bognor Regis who played some rustic king’s pawn opening against me\, sacrificing a pawn for nothing in particular and then astonished by writing “castles” in full on his scoresheet.  I think he used “kt” for a knight too. I thought I had discovered  a true relic from a bygone age and the more I got to know him I realised the more correct that judgement was. \nMilner-Barry was the last of the true gentlemen amateurs and was one of the few people I have ever met who played chess for the sheer love of the game. \nA few typical incidents may give a flavour of his unique personality. First and most typical was the way he would resign: with a firm handshake\, a smile and a booming whisper of ‘You are far too good for me I’m afraid!’ When I first heard those words I was totally taken aback : What was this\, a chessplayer acknowledging that his opponent was better than him? Impossible! \nOnce\, at close of play in a county match against Milner-Barry I had the extra pawn in a difficult queen and pawn ending.  We analysed a little with most variations suggesting I was winning. It was the kind of position you would send for adjudication even if you are convinced it is lost. It avoids having to resign anyway and the adjudicator may always discount the pawns. But\, Sir Stuart never thought like that. After ten minutes analysing he extended his hand and congratulated me. \nSir Stuart Milner-Barry in play against Daniel Yanofsky from round 6 of the British Championship in Hastings\, 15th August 1953\nFinally there was the splendid incident in Moscow during the (Ed. 6th) European Team Championships in the late 1970s (Ed. 1977) Stuart was then the President of the BCF and took up an invitation of his old friend the British Ambassador to the USSR (Ed. Sir Howard Smith) to visit the event.  Since he was staying at the Embassy he had a KGB tail assigned to him to follow him everywhere. On one of his morning walks Sir Stuart got lost and was not certain which bridge he should be on to get back to the Embassy. So\, he turned around and walked back to the not very secret policeman\, followed him and asked for directions! For the rest of his stay they walked practically hand-in-hand. \nWhilst most of us knew Stuart as an amiable old gent who played for Kent and in the Lloyds Bank Masters who could still play brilliant attacking games in his eighties  most knew little of his distinguished career in real life. \nSir Stuart Milner-Barry\nWe suspected with some justification  that in his civil service career he was responsible for doling out all those OBEs to chess players  in the 70s and 80s when he was in charge of the honours list. \nIt was the wartime work at Bletchley Park that was Milner-Barry’s greatest achievement. As everybody knows the allies won the Second World War mainly because of the brilliant code-breaking work of the Cambridge quartet of Alan Turing\, Gordon Welchman\, Hugh Alexander and Stuart Milner-Barry. Turing and Welchman were mathematical geniuses\, Milner-Barry was the supreme administrator and Alexander straddled the gap with great talents in both areas. \nThe astonishing achievement at Bletchley was not so  much in breaking enemy codes as maintaining complete secrecy of the entire operation for the duration of the war. Only with such people as Milner-Barry and Alexander in charge could such a large operation be run so successfully without anybody knowing about it. \nMilner-Barry’s importance in the running at Bletchley may be judged from the fact that he personally delivered the note to Winston Churchill stressing overriding importance of their work asking for more funds. \n\nCompared with that the invention of the Milner-Barry Gambit and the Milner-Barry variation of the Nimzo-Indian are minor achievements. \nSir Stuart was proof that nice guys can be chess players although one cannot help suspecting he would achieved even better results if he had even a slight streak of nastiness about him. He would surely have not let Capablanca off the hook in Margate in 1938 when the attacking player secured a winning position against the ex-champions dragon variation and he would have surely also not let the British Championship slip from his grasp in 1953 when he finished as runner-up  after losing his last two games. \nHe always performed well when playing in Olympiads (or Team Tournaments as they were known then) for England during the 1930s and 50s. He was\, after all\, one of the most naturally gifted players this county has produced.  What other Englishman has two opening (or even just one) named after him? \nWhile at Cambridge while he won the University Championship in 1928\, losing to Alexander in the following year\, Milner-Barry composed some fine problems\, a frivolity he never returned to later in his life. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nAn excellent though infrequent writer on the game\, he wrote a fine memoir of C.H.O’D. Alexander in Golombek’s and Hartston’s The Best Games of C.H.O’D. Alexander\, Oxford\, 1976.” \n\nThe Best Games of C.H.O’D. Alexander\, Harry Golombek and William Hartston. With A Memoir by Sir Stuart Milner-Barry\, Oxford University Press\, 1976\, ISBN 10: 0192175351 ISBN 13: 9780192175359\nAn Obituary from Bernard Cafferty\nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXV (115\, 1995)\, Number 5 (May)\, pp. 258-59 we have this obituary by Bernard Cafferty: \n“Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry KCVO CB  OBE (20 ix 1906 – 25 iii 1995) was the oldest of the British chess masters who came to prominence in the 1930s\, He was always thought of in conjunction with his great friends Hugh Alexander and Harry Golombek who both predeceased him. The length of Stuart’s career is amazing  – he was inaugural British Boy Champion in 1923 and was still playing for Kent first team in the Counties Championship  of recent years\, thus spanning a period of seven decades! Botvinnik spoke of him to me on my 1994 visit to Moscow. \nDavid Anderton OBE (rhs) congratulates Sir Stuart Milner-Barry OBE for winning the “Board of Honour ” game versus Edward Lasker at the 1976 Lloyds Bank Match by Telex\, London – New York. From BCM\, volume XCVI (96) Number 11 (August)\, Page 494. The venue was the Bloomsbury Hotel\, London. Photo courtesy of Lloyds Bank\nYet Stuart\, who never gained the IM title\, was always the true amateur and genuine English gentleman\, whose sense of duty and tradition was very great. It speaks volumes of him that he agonised over whether he should attend the Times Kasparov-Short match of 1993\, in a private capacity. He would have liked to watch the play\, but as a former British Chess Federation President\, 1970-73\, he felt it was his duty not to lend any extra recognition to the contest other than that assigned it by the BCF. \nBefore the war\, after graduating from Cambridge in Classics\, he took some fine scalps including those of Tartakower and Mieses and should have beaten Capablanca at Margate 1939. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nCapablanca and Stuart Milner-Barry at Margate\, England\, April 15\, 1936. AP Photos\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nHe worked\, rather unhappily\, in a stockbroking firm up to 1938 and it is in that capacity that his name appears on the official document that set-up the British Chess Magazine as a limited company in 1937. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nDuring the war he played his part in the Bletchley Park code-breaking undertaking along with Alexander and Golombek\, and after the war went into the Civil Service where he had a distinguished career at the Treasury. Then his career was extended as he spent his final working years in the patronage department that sifted recommendations for the honours list. \nI recall asking him in 1981 if there was any chance that Brian Reilly could qualify for an award. Stuart’s diplomatic answer was to the effect that he was now retired but would drop a word in the right quarter. \nStuart represented England at the Olympiads or 1936\, 1939\, 1952 and 1956. At the last of these he played particularly well on fourth board. He was conscious that his old friend Hugh Alexander could not take part in Moscow because of the sensitive nature of his work in the Intelligence Service. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nIn playing style Milner-Barry\, a tall gaunt figure\, delighted in an open tactical fight. \nHe was The Times correspondent 1938-45\, resigning the post to let Harry Golombek take over. His best result after the war\, apart from the 1956 Moscow Olympiad\, was probably his second place in the British Championships of 1953 at Hastings. The abiding impression of his opponents over the years must have been  that here was a player who greatly enjoyed the game\, win\, lose or draw. \nCertainly\, that was my idea of him in the tussles we had from the British Championship of 1957 up to county matches in the 1980s. \nWe shall not see his like again. The England that formed his character is no longer with us.” \nMilner-Barry Variations\nThough never at home in close(d) positions\, he was an outstanding strategist in the open game and it is significant that his most important contribution to opening theory was the Milner-Barry variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defence which is essentially as attempt to convert a close position into an open one (1.P-Q4\, N-KB3; 2.P-QB4\, P-K3; 3. N-QB3\, B-N5; 4.Q-B2\, N-B3).” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nHooper & Whyld (1996) note: \n“Sometimes called the Zurich or Swiss variation\, this is a line in the Nimzo-Indian Defence introduced by Milner-Barry in the Premier Reserves tournament\, Hastings 1928-9. This line became more widely known when it was played at Zurich 1934.” \nTwo famous opening lines are named after him – 4…Nc6 in the Nimzo-Indian (as above)\, and the gambit in the French Defence: 1.e4 e6;2.d4 d5;3.e5 c5;4.c3 Nc6;5.Nf3 Qb6;6.Bd3 cxd4;7.cxd4 Bd7;8.0-0 Nxd4; \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nStuart played this line both in correspondence and over-the-board play. If Black takes the pawn with 10…Qxe5\, White gets a fierce attack by 11\,Re1 Qd6 (else 12.Nxd5) 12.Nb5. \nThere is also a sub-variation of the Caro-Kann which is named after Sir Stuart viz: \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nwhich is a Blackmar-Diemer style pawn sacrifice. \nThere is also a Milner-Barry variation in the Falkbeer Counter Gambit to the King’s Gambit thus: \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nwhich is an ancient line that he revived at Margate 1937. \nand finally\, there is a Milner-Barry Variation in the Petroff Defence: \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\ngiving a total of five named variations. How many English players have that many? \nProblems and Compositions\nStuart developed an interest in problem composition in the 1920s \nSir Stuart Milner-Barry\, Problem\, Morning Post\, 1923\nSir Stuart Milner-Barry\, Problem\, The Observer\, 1925\nSir Stuart Milner-Barry\, Problem\, British Chess Magazine\, 1926\nFurther examples may be found on the excellent Meson Database maintained by Brian Stephenson \nMilner-Barry on The English Chess Explosion\nStuart was a great supporter of the development of British chess. Nothing would have given him more pleasure than to witness  the meteoric advances of English players in the 1970s. Indeed\, he wrote the foreword to the English Chess Explosion (Batsford\, 1980) by Murray Chandler and Ray Keene: \nThe English Chess Explosion (from Miles to Short)\, Murray Chandler & Ray Keene\, Batsford\, 1981\, ISBN 0 7134 4009 0\n“It gives me great pleasure to have been asked to write a foreword for this book. Nothing has given me more satisfaction than the flowering of British chess talent that has taken place in the past few years. \nBetween the wars\, though we had some splendid players like H. E. Atkins\, Sir George Thomas and F. D. Yates\, we were a second rate power at chess: in the great Nottingham tournament of 1936\, for example\, our quartet brought up the rear\, and that was where\, with occasional shining exceptions\, our representatives in international tournaments tended to find themselves. Similarly\, after the war in the 1950’s and 1960’s\, in spite of Alexander and Penrose\, we seldom achieved a really creditable place in the Olympiads. \nAlexander who retired early from the arena because of the exacting demands of his profession\, must have had rather a depressing time as non-playing captain. \nSir Stuart Milner-Barry OBE\nI myself date the renaissance from the Spring of 1974 when we won a closely contested match against West Germany at Elvetham Hall.\nThereafter we went from strength to strength\, with the appearance year by year of highly talented\, original and adventurous young men from the Universities – Keene and Hartston\, closely followed by Miles\, Stean\, Nunn\, Mestel\, Speelman\, and a still younger generation of schoolboy prodigies like Nigel Short. \nThe peak of our performance so far has been the third place (after the USSR and Hungary) last winter in the finals of the European Team Tournament at Skara (compared with our eighth and last place at Moscow in 1977). \nSir Stuart Milner-Barry OBE presents Dr. Jana Hartston with the ? prize\nHow did all this come about in the short space of six years? The Spassky-Fischer match of 1972 was a watershed. Since then\, and the first time\, it has been possible for able young men from universities to consider chess seriously as a full-time profession\, or at least as a career to which they devote the major part of their time and interest\, Secondly\, the fruits were being reaped of the unobtrusive but devoted spadework in junior training pioneered by Barden\, Wade and many others. Lastly\, no doubt\, sheer good fortune smiled upon us in the simultaneous emergence of a group of brilliant enthusiastic and likeable young men\, five of them already grandmasters and others likely to become so before long. \nIt is sad that Alexander\, who did so much to uphold the prestige of British chess in the doldrums\, did not survive to witness the transformation. I would like to wish the BCF President\, David Anderton\, and Alexander’s successor as captain\, all possible success for the future.” \nFooter from the foreword of The English Chess Explosion (from Miles to Short)\, Murray Chandler & Ray Keene\, Batsford\, 1981\, ISBN 0 7134 4009 0\nFurther Material\nAn obituary from The Independent by Bill Hartston \nAn article from Spartacus Educational \nHere are his games from chess.com \nMore on his time at Bletchley Park \nLocation of his grave \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \n\nSignature of Sir Stuart Milner-Barry\nAccording to Edward Winter in Chess Notes PSMB lived at these addresses : \n\n11 Park Terrace\, Cambridge\, England (Ranneforths Schachkalender\, 1938\, page 78).\n43 Blackheath Park\, Blackheath\, London SE3 9RW\, England (letter reproduced in C.N. 3809).\n\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-sir-philip-stuart-milner-barry-obe/ CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,English,History,Journalist,Player,Remembering,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Stuart-Milner-Barry-2.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210326 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210327 DTSTAMP:20210305T190618Z CREATED:20190823T102107Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T190618Z UID:1072-1616716800-1616803199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Percy Blake (6-xii-1873 26-iii-1936) DESCRIPTION:Remembering Percy Francis Blake (6-xii-1873 26-iii-1936) \nFrom his Italian Wikipedia entry : \n“Percy Francis Blake ( Manchester \, December 6\, 1873 – Grappenhall \, March 20\, 1936 ) was a British chess player and chess composer \, among the best English problem players of the period 1900 – 1936 . \nHe composed over 500 problems\, most in two and three moves\, of which around 160 were awarded (45 first prizes and 40 second prizes). [1] \nHe was famous for “quiet” keys and continuations\, which made his problems very difficult to solve. \nHe was also a good player and table. In 1890 he won the Manchester club championship and later several local tournaments. In 1894 he won a beauty prize offered by the Manchester Weekly Times . From 1898 to 1912 he was part of the Lancashire team in many team matches between that county and Yorkshire . In 1911 he won the Lancashire championship. [2]” \nand from the rather excellent Yorkshire Chess History we have \nThe following photograph was kindly supplied by Michael McDowell of the British Chess Problem Society : \nPercy Francis Blake\nPercy Francis Blake drawn by Orrett from Manchester Central Library. Known as an example of a “Bristol Board”. Supplied by Michael McDowell\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-percy-francis-blake/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Percy_Francis_Blake.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210328 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210329 DTSTAMP:20220328T115326Z CREATED:20190823T180814Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220328T115326Z UID:1092-1616889600-1616975999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Comins Mansfield MBE (14-vi-1896 28-iii-1984) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Comins Mansfield MBE who passed away on March 28th 1984 in Torbay\, Devon. \nComins was the first English born chess grandmaster when in 1972 he was awarded the the title of “International Grandmaster of the FIDE for Chess Composition” three years before the first correspondence GM and four years before the first English born OTB grandmaster. \nIn the 1976 New Years Honours list Civil Division Comins was awarded the MBE. The citation read simply “For services to Chess”. \nEarly Years\nComins Mansfield was born on Sunday\, June 14th 1896 in Witheridge\, North Devon. The birth was registered in the district of South Molton\, Devon. His parents were Herbert John (who was a banker) and Julia Emma Mansfield (née Frost). Miss Anne Comins was Herbert’s mother who he memorialised using her name for his only son. \nComins had two sisters Edith K and Margaret M plus a paternal step-sister Harriett C Mansfield. \nHe was baptised on the 18th July 1896 in Witheridge as an Anglican and the ceremony was performed by JT Benson. \nSt. John the Baptist Church\, Witheridge\, Devon courtesy of SIERKSMA’S SEQUENCES\nHe was admitted to Witheridge School on September 18th 1899 (aged three) and in 1901 Comins continued to live in Witheridge\, Devon attending Blundell’s School. The family “left the district” on August 13th 1909. \nAt the time of the 1911 Census Comins was a boarder at a school in Tiverton\, Cheshire. Possibly this was Tarporley High School. \nA Career Beckoned\nComins left school in 1914 and did not attend University. He started work at tobacco company W. D. & H. O. Wills (which became part of  Imperial Tobacco in 1901) in Bristol being a prime location for a company which relied on export markets of physical goods. \nInterruption by War\nAccording to RH Jones on the Chess Devon web site: \nIn September 1915 he joined the Royal Artillery\, and carried a small travelling set at all times\, with which to while away the long hours spent in the trenches. He never lost contact with Chandler during the war\, even though the latter was involved in a rather messy British invasion of Iraq\, (then Mesopotamia)\, and the two combined on problems by post\, one of which won 1st Prize in the Good Companions magazine in January 1918. Shortly after\, he was temporarily blinded by mustard gas\, requiring 12 months in hospital. \nGunner Mansfield courtesy of SIERKSMA’S SEQUENCES\nOn his release from hospital\, the war was over and he re-joined Wills in Bristol and his local chess club\, Bristol & Clifton. His skill over the board should not be overlooked – he soon became established in Gloucestershire as a very strong player\, winning his club championship for the first time in 1920 and the county championship continuously from 1927 – 34. From his return to Bristol he played for the county regularly\, never lower than Bd. 3 and from the time of his first county championship\, always on top board. From 1926 to the time of his move to Scotland he was also the Problem Editor of the Bristol Times and Mirror . \nAccording to the National Records Office: \nWith reference to the medal card of Comins Mansfield we have: \n\n\n\nRoyal Field Artillery\n3024\nGunner\n\n\nRoyal Field Artillery\n826184\nGunner\n\n\n\nCareer Resumption\nComins career with W. D. & H. O. Wills lasted 45 years and in 1934 relocated to Glasgow which halted his composition career until 1936 labelling his problems “Mansfield – Glasgow. His job in Scotland finished in 1950 returning to live in Carshalton Beeches\, near Croydon in South London working for a W. D. & H. O. Wills subsidiary. \nMarriage\nOn September 19th 1923 Comins married Marjorie Erica Ward (born 1899) at the Parish Church\, St. Paul\, Bedminster\, Bristol\, Gloucestershire. Marjorie died in 2003. Comins and Marjorie had three children\, Geoffrey\, Hilary and Roderick. \nComins Mansfield MBE in 1976\nAt the time of their marriage Comins was living at 25 Sommerville Road\, Bishopston\, Bristol\, BS7 9AD: \n25 Sommerville Road\, Bishopston\, Bristol\, BS7 9AD\nChess Beginnings\nComins interest in chess started at the age of nine with his father Herbert who played correspondence chess for Devon but his interest in the world of problems was initiated in 1910 with an article (First Steps In The Classification of Two-Movers by Alain C. White) on problems in British Chess Magazine. In 1914 aged 18 he joined the Bristol and Clifton Chess Club and following World War I he became club champion for the first time in 1920. Also\, Comins was Gloucestershire Champion from 1927 – 1934 before he relocated to Glasgow where he won the West of Scotland and Glasgow Championships.  At Cheltenham 1928 not only did he draw in 50 moves with FD Yates but he beat Sir George Thomas in 20 moves! \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nBCM Obituary\nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CIV (104\, 1984)\, Number 5 (May)\, p. 194 : \n“Comins Mansfield (14 v 1896 – 27 iii 1984) was an outstanding figure in chess problems\, notably in the field of two-movers. Awarded the IM title for problems in 1959 and the GM title in 1972\, he served for eight years as President of the FIDE Permanent Commission for Chess Compositions. In 1976 he was awarded an MBE for his services to chess. \nComins Mansfield courtesy of Chess Scotland\nAs an OTB (over-the-board) player he won the championship of the Bristol Club and of Gloucestershire. From 1964 to 1978 he contributed the weekly puzzle to the Sunday Telegraph.” \nChessboard Delights Selected from the Sunday Telegraph 1964-1974\, Comins Mansfield\, Routledge & Kegan Paul/Sunday Telegraph\, London \, 1976\, ISBN 10: 0710082878ISBN 13: 9780710082879\nCHESS Obituary by Colin Russ\nFrom CHESS\, Volume 48 (1984)\, Numbers 921-922\, page 316 we have this rather modest mention: \n“Problem Album\nWho was Britain’s first chess grandmaster? His name start with M\, but no\, the answer is Comins Mansfield\, to whom F.I.D.E. awarded its newly created title of grandmaster for Chess Composition in 1972\, and who died in March this year aged 87. In tribute to him we recall\, two of his masterpieces\, separated by over half a century.” \nComins Mansfield\nComins Mansfield\nBCF Tourney 1974 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite mates in two \nand \nComins Mansfield\nGood Companions 1918 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite mates in two \nInterestingly the July 1984 issue of CHESS publishes a letter from Ken Whyld taking issue with the above. Ken wrote: \nWho was Britain’s first chess grand master? His name starts with M but no\, the answer is not Comins Mansfield (page 316 in CHESS\, No. 921-2. No\, it isn’t. It is J. Mieses in 1950. The error is repeated on page 328. Why do we\, as a nation\, have to be so snotty about those who chose to be become naturalised? \nFrom page 328 we have this detailed obituary from Colin AH Russ: \nWe regret to report the death of Comins Mansfield MBE\, peacefully at his home in Torquay on 28 March 1984. During his long life of more than 86 years\, Mansfield received every possible honour in the realm of chess problem art. \nHe was born at Witheridge\, North Devon\, on 14 June 1896\, and at 9 was taught to play chess by his father\, a keen correspondence player. One of his earliest efforts won First Prize in 1912 in the Illustrated Western Weekly News. \nOther problems of his early period were published in the Folders of the Good Companion Chess Problem Club\, of Philadelphia\, USA. This brought him into contact with Alain C. White\, who also recognised his genius and gave him every encouragement. Some of the problems at this time were composed in the trenches\, “somewhere in France”\, while Mansfield was serving in the Royal Artillery with the British Army. He was severely gassed in May 1918\, and discharged from the Army. \nHe won the West of Scotland and Glasgow Championships while stationed in that city. He was one of the founder members of\nthe British Chess Problem Society\, and served as its President. In 1947\, he started a feature in The Problemist entitled “Selected with Comments” which continued in his hands for 35 years. His weekly column in the Sunday Telegraph\, mainly confined to game positions\, ran from 1964 to 1978. \n  \nMansfield’s other venture into publishing was his “Adventures in Composition” in which he takes the reader step by step through the Process that he went through in composing 20 of his problems. \nAdventures in Composition\, Comins Mansfield\, CHESS\, Sutton Coldfield\, 1948\nThe book was edited by A. C. White and first appeared in the USA in 1942\, and was published in Britain by CHESS\, Sutton Coldfield\, in 1948. it became a classic\, and many composers could testify to the help they have received from it. \nIn “Adventures in Composition“\, Mansfield expounded his principles for making good chess problems: originality\, economy\, and artistic finish. if he found that an idea could not be set without forfeiting one of these principles\, then he put it on one side\, and turned his attention to something else. Therefore\, although one can say that some of his problems are better than others\, it is impossible to find one that is bad. \nA. C. White made Comins Mansfield the subject of his last book in the Christmas Series: “A Genius of the Two-Mover” in which he gave some 100 of the master’s 300 problems. \nA Genius of the Two Mover\, C. Mansfield by AC White\, The Christmas Series\, 1936.\nHe wrote: “The key-note of his style lies in his freshness of outlook and in a clarity of vision with which few composers have been gifted.” Brian Harley\, the distinguished author and editor of the\nfamous Observer column for so many years\, continued the story with a further 100 of Mansfield’s Problems. \nIn view of his international reputation\, it was only fitting that Mansfield should represent the BCPS at the first meeting\nof the FIDE Problem Commission in Piran in 1958\, that he should serve as its President from 1963-71\, and that in 1972 he should be awarded one of the first grand master titles\, honoris causa\, in recognition of his contribution to problem chess. He thus became the first Briton to receive this title\, before any British chess players had reached any title norms. Four years later he received the recognition of his country\, when his name appeared in the Queen’s New Year Honours list as recipient of the MBE\, for services to chess. \nSource: 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.\nln 1975\, Gerhard Jensch\, editor of the problem column in Schach-Echo\, brought out a supplement to “Adventures in Composition”\, containing 63 of Mansfield’s later problems\, showing how he had reacted to the changing themes and styles of the post second World War period. Barry Barnes\, the following year\, brought out “Comins Mansfield MBE: Chess Problems of a Grandmaster“\, in which he presented 2O0 problems with full solutions and comments\, many of them culled from Mansfield’s private notes and correspondence. \nComins Mansfield MBE: Chess Problems of a Grandmaster\, BP Barnes\, 1976\nIt is appropriate to finish with the comment with which E. L. Umnov concluded his introduction to Barry Barnes’s book in 1976: “Mansfield’s work is a source of pride not only to British chess\, but to chess the world over”.\nC.A.H.R. \nHooper & Whyld on Mansfield\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP\, 1984) by Hooper & Whyld : \n“English two-mover composer widely regarded in his time as the greatest in this field. During the life of the GOOD COMPANION CHESS PROBLEM CLUB (1913—24) he was one of the pioneers who gave new life to the two-mover. The ideas then introduced have since become traditional\, and Mansfield has adhered to them\, continuing to gain successes although not always following the latest trend. In 1942 he wrote Adventures in Composition\, an excellent guide to the art of composing. In 1957 he was awarded the title of International Judge of Chess Compositions; in 1963 he accepted and held for eight years the presidency of the FIDE Commission for Chess Compositions; in 1972 he was one of the first four to he awarded the title of International Grandmaster for Chess Compositions. \nA. C. White\, A Genius of the Two-mover (1936) contains 113 problems by Mansfield; B. P. Barnes\, Comins Mansfield MBE: Chess Problems of a Grandmaster (1976) contains 200 problems. “ \n101 Chess Puzzles and How to Solve Them\, Brian Harley and Comins Mansfield\, Sterling Publishing\, New York\, 1960\nSunnucks on Mansfield\nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \n“International Grandmaster of the FIDE for Chess Compositions (1972)\, International Master of the FIDE for Chess Compositions (1959)\, International Judge of the FIDE for Chess Compositions (1957). President of the Permanent Commission of the FIDE for Chess Compositions from 1963 to 1971. President of the British Chess Problem Society from 1949 to 1951. \nBorn at Witheridge in North Devon on 14th June 1896. He has composed about 1\,000 problems\, nearly all of them two-movers\, since 1911. He is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. His outstanding ability was recognised early when A Genius of the Two-Mover in the A.C. White Christmas series of books was published in 1936. He is the author of Adventures in Composition (1944) and co-author with the late Brian Harley of The Modern Two-Move Problem. \nThe Modern Two- Move Chess Problem\, Brian Harley and Comins Mansfield\, Museum Press\, London\, 1944 & 1958\nFrom 1926-1932 he was Problem Editor of The Bristol Times and Mirror\, and he is at present Problem Editor of The Sunday Telegraph His feature “Selected with Comments” has been a permanent feature of The Problemist. A strong player\, Mansfield won the Gloucestershire Championship from 1927 to 1934. He has a recorded win over Sir George Thomas\, a late British Champion and International Master. \nMansfield made a life-times career with the tobacco firm of W.D. & H.O. Wills. He is a dedicated family man with three children. \nC. Mansfield\, 1st Prize\, Hampshire Post\, 1919 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite to play and mate in two moves.“ \nSolution to Two-Mover above : 1. Qf5 ! \nHarry Golombek on Mansfield\nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Harry Golombek we have: \nBritain’s most distinguished problem compose\, output about 859\, nearly all two-movers. Very active during the period of the Good Companions\, contributing to their folders many classic examples of half-pin\, cross-check\, and other important themes. Books include Adventures in Composition (1943)\, a fascinating expose of the composers methods. President of the British Chess Problem Society\, 1949-51. President of the FIDE Problem Commission\, 1963-71\, and Hon. President since 1972. International Judge (1957); international master (1959)\, grandmaster (1972). \nCuriously RH Jones wrote \n“At Paignton\, Mansfield seemed to know Milner-Barry quite well\, but Golombek kept his distance. It is noticeable that Golombek’s Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford 1977) is almost unique of its kind in containing no individual entry for Mansfield; even a long 3½ page article on the history of chess problems\, which mentions numerous half forgotten composers\, contains no reference to him. This is surely no oversight and must be interpreted as some kind of inexplicable snub.” \nWe too made initially made the same error and it is true that there in individual entry for CM outside of the Problemists section.  Did RHJ miss the above entry as we initially did? \nJohn Rice on Mansfield\nFrom British Chess (Pergamon Press\, 1984) John Rice writes: \n“Comins Mansfield was born at Witheridge\, Devon on 14th June 1896. At the age of 18 he joined the Bristol and Clifton Chess Club\, and after World War 1 he soon won the club championship and the Gloucester Championship several times. For 14 years until 1978 he conducted the weekly chess features in the Sunday Telegraph. \nIn 1959 he he became an ‘International Master of the FIDE for Chess Composition’ and in 1972 one of the first four grandmasters. For 7 years he was President of the FIDE’s Permanent Commission for Chess Compositions. \nMansfield is widely regarded as being one of the three greatest composers of chess problems of all time. In 1976 was awarded the MBE for his services to chess. \nMr. Mansfield worked for 45 years in the tobacco firm W.D & H.O. Wills – first in Bristol\, then in Glasgow and finally in London. He is now enjoying retirement in Torbay. \nMr. Mansfield writes: It was in 1959 that the FIDE decided to broaden their titles to include artificial positions such as ‘problems’ (the so-called poetry of chess)\, where mate has to be forced in a specified number of moves. The Master title then came into being\, while the ‘Grandmaster’ distinction was withheld until 1972. \nComins Mansfield\nI have always felt that life is too short to deal with anything but two-movers. Here is one of my earliest successes (ed: shown here in Desert Island Chess) composed in the trenches in World War 1.” \nDesert Island Chess\nFrom The Complete Chess Addict (Faber&Faber\, 1987\,p.222)\, Fox & James we have a section entitled Desert Island Chess which includes this problem: \nC. Mansfield \nFirst Prize Good Companions\, March 1917 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nMate in 2 \nOf it\, Alain White\, the world connoisseur wrote – ‘This may well be taken as the standard cross-check problem of the twentieth century’.  The key-move 1.Be4 looks senseless\, as it sets the black king free and apparently jeopardizes the white one by unpinning the black knight. But it threatens mate by 2.Nxc4 This knight can open fire on the white king in four ways. If 1…Ne5+\,2.Rd3 is mate. If 1…Nxd6+\, the mate is 2.Bd3. If 1…Nxe3+\, Nb5 mates\, while 1…Nd2+ is answered by 2.Nc4. \nThe next position is of a quite different type: \nCHESS\, 1950\, First Prize \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite to play and mate in two moves \nIt illustrates several quiet defences by a single black piece. This has a rather colourless key\, 1.Bb2\, which threatens mate by 2. Rg4. Moves of the black bishop stop this but give rises to six other mates. If 1…Bg1;2.Nc7. So the bishop must stay on its long diagonal. 1…Bg3 allows 2.Rxh4. If 1…Bf4 (unpinning the R)\, 2.Re5. If 1…Be5\, 2.Rd4. If 1…Bd6\, 2.Rc8. If 1…Bb8\, 2.Rb6. There are three other subsidiary mates\, after 1…Rf8\, 2.Rf4. If 1…d1=q\,2.Qd1 and finally if 1…Rg2  (or Rg1 or Rg3). \nIn the 1950s it became fashionable for composers to try to hoodwink solvers by arranging close tries which almost solved the problem. But this trend often militated against the merit and interest of the actual solution.  In  this problem the solver soon discovers that he must set-up a double-threat by 1.g4\,g3\,f4 or f3\, each move cutting off both a black rook and bishop. \nDie Schwalbe\, 1956\, First Prize \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite to play and mate in two moves \nBut which is the right move? 1.g4 threatens mate by 2.Qxe4 and Qd1\, but is defeated by 1…Nxf2. Similarly 1.g3 (threatening 2.Qe3 and Bxb3) is met by 1…Nc2. So try 1.f4 (threatening 2.Qxe4 and Bxb3)\, but this fails to 1…e3. This leaves the key-move 1.f3 which does the trick. There is a fair amount of by-play. 1…Rf4 forces 2.Bxb3.  1…Bf4 forces 2. Qxe4; while after 1.Kd4 and Nc4\, the mates are 2. Qxc3 and Bxe4 respectively. \nIn an ABC of Chess Problems\, Section III\, Composition and Solving\, page 266 onwards\,  John Rice discusses in detail the methods of Comin Mansfield and any student of solving and composition would do well to study this chapter. \nAn ABC of Chess Problems\, John Rice\, Faber & Faber\, London\, 1970\, SBN 571 08672 1\nOther Sources\nHere is an excellent biography from Chess Devon by RH Jones \nHere is a biography from Keverel Chess by RH Jones \nHere is the entry for CM from the BCPS web site \nBiography from Chess Scotland by Alan McGowan \nHere is the largest collection of his games from Britbase and John Saunders \nHere are his games from chessgames.com \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nAmerica Salutes Comins Mansfield MBE\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-comins-mansfield/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Comins_Mansfield_1.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210330 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210331 DTSTAMP:20220330T112305Z CREATED:20200412T103328Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220330T112305Z UID:4541-1617062400-1617148799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Augustus Mongredien (1807 - 30-iii-1888) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Augustus Mongredien (1807 – 30-iii-1888) \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-augustus-mongredien-1807-30-iii-1888/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/250px-LewisWalkerMongredien.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200331 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200401 DTSTAMP:20220401T132443Z CREATED:20200716T120224Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220401T132443Z UID:7455-1585612800-1585699199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of IMC Ken Messere OBE (16-iv-1928 31-iii-2005) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Ken Messere who passed away on Thursday\, March 31st 2005 aged 76 in Paris-16E-Arrondissement\, Paris\, France. \nKenneth Charles Messere was born on Monday\, April 16th\, 1928 in Richmond-on-Thames\, Surrey. His father was Charles (George) Messere (1901-1974) or Eisenberg and aged 26. His mother was Gertrude Marie Newman (1899-1978) and aged 29. \nKen had three siblings: Barbara Marie Messere (1930–2005)\, Hugh Martin Messere (1932–1985) and Derek R Messere (1934–2012) \nKen attended St. Peter’s College\, Oxford from 1946 – 1951 to read philosophy and is reported in the 1951 St. Edmund Hall Magazine\, as a member of the Trillick (debating) Society as follows: \n‘ That this House would rather be a live Communist than\na dead Democrat.’ The proposer established to his own satisfaction that democracy was founded on ‘selfishness\, capitalism and bourgeois hypocrisy.’ He did not satisfy J. F. R. Bonguard of St. Peter’s Hall who opposed\, using arguments taken from Hindu philosophy. K. C. Messere of St. Peter’s Hall\, spoke third and added some able arguments. \nIn June 1954 Ken married Mary Elizabeth Humphrey (1929-2003) in Ealing. They had a son Miles Jonathan Messere born in 1964 who passed away in 1965. \nPrior the time of his passing his wife Mary was living at 142B\, Herbert Road\, Woolwich\, London\, SE18 3PU. \nIn 1991 he was awarded the OBE (Civil Division) in the Queen’s Birthday honours list. The citation reads: Kenneth Charles Messere\, lately Head of Fiscal Affairs Division\, OECD\, Paris. \nKen appears each year from 1953 to 1967 in the noted publication Britain\, Royal And Imperial Calendars the function of which is to list entries for those engaged in UK public service. He worked for HM Customs and Excise. Prompted by this we consulted the venerable A History of Chess in the English Civil Service by Kevin Thurlow (Conrad Press\, 2021) on page 447 and found \n“He played for Customs. In 1964\, he went to work for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and was head of fiscal affairs from 1971 – 1991. In 1954 he began playing postal chess and became a leading player. He won a semi-final of the 5th World Correspondence Championship (1961 – 64) and became the first English player to compete in a World Championship Final.” \nThere are 31 games listed at his personal entry at chessgames.com starting with games from 1965. \nChessbase’s Correspondence Database 2020 records 69 games the earliest being from 1958 listing Ken’s federation as being France. \nFrom British Chess (Pergamon Press\, 1983) we have this lengthy contribution from Ken himself: \n“Between the ages of 6\, when I learnt to play and 23 (ed: 1951)\, when I ceased to be a student\, chess had a relatively low priority among various time-competing interests and activities\, so I never got around to studying theory. Things changed when I became a civil servant and needed a replacement for philosophy as an intellectually absorbing subject which could be argued about with friends over beers\, and for the next 12 years chess became my main interest. \nSince 1964 I have been working for the OECD in Paris\, where my friends are not chess enthusiasts and\, although chess remains a major pleasure\, my commitment to it has lessened. Nowadays\, out-side correspondence chess\, I play only occasional blitz games. \nComing late to serious chess has probably had at least some influence on my deficiencies and stylistic preferences. The deficiencies include an inability to visualize ahead with sufficient clarity to support accurate analysis\, slow sight of the board which leads to silly errors through time trouble or failing stamina and less familiarity with theory than my better opponents. As to chess style\, I have had to play romantically and subjectively to get good results. \nIf a game takes the form of a clear-cut position\, where strategical objectives are clear and superior technique prevails\, then mine generally does not. Consequently I have tended to play either sharp gambits or counter-gambits or to try to render the position sufficiently obscure for imagination and intuition to assume maximum importance. In keeping\, my chess heroes have been Alekhine\, Bronstein and Tal who revel in fantasy\, however much Alekhine may claim that it is logically based. \nWhen I took up competitive chess seriously in 1952\, I made some progress and won a few minor tournaments\, but in view of the defects already mentioned\, it soon became clear that my potential for improvement was limited and that nearly all my games were aesthetically flawed. Fortunately\, these defects represent no great handicap at correspondence chess\, where I found myself pleased with a reasonable proportion of the game I played\, and in addition\, capable on the day (or more accurately over the years) of winning against almost anyone. Thus\, against world champions I have two wins and one loss\, (see below). I also have 80 per cent from five games against Russian grandmasters\, even if a meagre 28 per cent from my eighteen games against all correspondence grandmasters. In 1954 when I began playing postal chess competitively\, I did sufficiently well in a few British Postal tournaments to be accepted at a reasonably high level in the official international tournaments. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nNot without luck (see Diagram l)\, I secured the 75 per cent necessary in two seven-player tournaments to qualify for the fourteen player preliminaries\, the winner of which was to qualify for the following world championship. In the 1961-64 preliminaries\, I played the best chess of my life\, including valid opening innovations\, imaginative pawn and piece sacrifices and even a technically efficient win in a queen and pawn end-game. I won the tournament with eleven wins\, one draw and one loss\, 1.5 points ahead of Maly of Czechoslovakia and two points ahead of Masseev\, the Russian favourite\, thereby obtaining my first norm towards the International Master title. My first annotated game is the win against Maly (ed: to be inserted once we have tracked down the game score!) which was typical stylistically and also crucial\, since if he had won it\, he would have qualified for the World Championship instead of me: the second against Bartha of the United States is the most compulsive and difficult tactical game I have ever played\, the last five moves alone requiring over 100 hours of analysis. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nIMC Ken Messere OBE (16-iv-1928 31-iii-2005)\nThe quality of my chess in the 1965-68 World Championship was much inferior. The tournament began disastrously. I went in for three losing variations as Black and made a suicidal clerical error in the opening so that after 3 months I had four losses from four games. Later\, there were compensations. I won against V. Zagarovsky\, the reigning world champion (the third annotated game) and obtained just (but only just) the necessary 33.3% per cent to obtain the correspondence chess international master title. For this I needed a win and draw from my last two games which\nafter 3.5 years\, had to be adjudicated. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nFortunately\, the win and draw were relatively clear\, though this would not have been so a few moves earlier. An an illustration of how the threat of adjudication breeds irrationality\, Diagram II gives the closing stages of my win against J.Estrin of the USSR – a more recent correspondence chess world champion. My only other game against a world champion was against the winner of this tournament\, Hans Berliner of the United States\, with whom I collaborated on a book of the tournament. The collaboration was stimulating but not without friction\, since I had to write 75 per cent of the book to see it ever finished. It took a year to complete\, 3 years to appear (published by BCM) but in the end was well-reviewed\, sold over 2000 copies and royalties are still (gently) drifting in. \nThe Fifth Correspondence Chess World Championship\, Hans Berliner & Ken Messere\, British Chess Magazine\, BCM Quarterly Nunber 14\, 5th December 1971\, ISBN 978-0-900846-05-2.\n  \nIn the early seventies\, in order to reduce numbers of games\, I retreated altogether from individual tournaments\, just playing twice for England in the Olympiads. Whether team play did not suit my style\, or whether my technique had improved but imagination withered\, I drew nine of my seventeen games from the two tournaments\, winning four and losing four. As England looked likely to aspire to medals for the first time ever\, my 50 per cent would not help matters and I gladly retreated to first reserve\, which to my dismay required taking over five unfinished games of Hugh Alexander\, who died during the tournament\, and who\, for me\, has always been England’s most attractive player and writer. My most uncomfortable decision in correspondence chess was a rejection of Hugh’s intended continuation in one of these games\, {Diagram III). Of these five games\, I lost one and drew four and England won a bronze medal. \nIn 1974 was invited to compete in the Potter Memorial Tournament of four postal grandmasters and nine international masters. After so many years of responsible’ team chess for England\, I went beserk and sacrificed a pawn in ten of the twelve games\, trying later to salvage inferior end-games. Result 33 % per cent. B. H. Wood invited me to write a book of the tournament\, to which a number of the players contributed and this was published in 1979. \nThe Potter Memorial\, Ken Messere\, CHESS (Sutton Coldfield)\, 1975\nAlso in 1979 I began to play in another invitation tournament of thirteen players organised by the Australian Correspondence Chess League\, which became a memorial to CJS Purdy\, its president and the first world postal champion\, who died soon after the tournament began. At the time of writing\, this tournament\, comprising four grandmasters (including one former world champion and two runners-up) and eight international masters\, is still in its early stages.” \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXV (125\, 2005)\, Number 5 (May)\, page 226 we have this obituary: \n“Kenneth Charles Messere (16 iv 1928\, Richmond – 31 iii 2005\, Paris) was one of Britain’s strongest correspondence players (he held the correspondence IM title) and well-known author of books on the subject. After graduating from Oxford University\, Ken Messere went to HM Customs and Excise\, and thence to the Organisation for Economic Development (OECD) where he became head of the fiscal affairs division and a world expert on fiscal law. He reached the final of 1965-8 world correspondence championship\, beating world champions Zagorovsky and Estrin\, and wrote the book of the tournament with Hans Berliner (published by BCM)” \nFrom The Potter Memorial by Ken Messere\, CHESS (Sutton Coldfield)\, “Chess for Modern Times” Series\, 1975 we have this potted biography: \n“Compiler of this book\, took 3rd place in 1957 and 2nd in 1968 in the championship of the Postal Chess Club. Scores of 4.5 out of 6 in the ICCF Masters 1957-8 and 4/6 in the 1959-61 Championship took him to victory with 11/5 out of 13 in the 1961-3 semi-finals\, securing him his first international master norm and qualifying him for the 5th World Championship 1964-7 in which he scored 5.5\, just enough for the IM title\, with wins over Zagorovsky\, then world champion and Estrin\, world champion now. Ken Messere collaborated with Berliner\, who won it\, in a book on the tournament. \nHe then switched to play exclusively as a member of the British Olympiad team\, taking over 2nd board when Alexander died. \nThe switch back from rather cautious team play to enterprising individual games in 1974-7 provides some of the subject matter of this book.” \n  \nThe Tax System in Industrialized Countries\, Ken Messere\, Oxford University Press\, 1998\, ISBN 10: 1982933135 / ISBN 13: 9781982933135\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-imc-kenneth-charles-messere-16-iv-1928-31-iii-2005/ CATEGORIES:Correspondence,Death Anniversary,History,Honours,Player,Remembering,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IMG_0001.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210401 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210402 DTSTAMP:20200428T094504Z CREATED:20191027T141505Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200428T094504Z UID:1683-1617235200-1617321599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Frederick Forrest Lawrie Alexander (13-XI-1879\, 01-IV-1965) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Frederick Forrest Lawrie Alexander (13-XI-1879\, 01-IV-1965) \nInteresting article from Woodseats Library \nHere is an article from the Chess Composers Blog \nHe was seven times champion of Battersea Chess Club \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-frederick-forrest-lawrie-alexander-13-xi-1879-01-iv-1965/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,Problemist END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210404 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210405 DTSTAMP:20220404T131515Z CREATED:20190823T192130Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220404T131515Z UID:1136-1617494400-1617580799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of BH Wood MSc FCS OBE (13-vii-1909 04-iv-1989) DESCRIPTION:We remember “BH” Wood MSc FCS OBE who passed away on Tuesday April 4th\, 1989 in the district of Birmingham. \nHe was buried alongside his wife Marjorie in the Sutton Coldfield Cemetery Extension which was opened in 1934 as an extension to the Holy Trinity Church. \nYorkshire Childhood\nBaruch Harold Wood (generally known as BH Wood\, or simply “BH”\, by the chess world) was born on Tuesday\, July 13th 1909 in Ecclesall\, Sheffield\, Yorkshire. The registration district was Ecclesall Bierlow. \nGravestone of BH & ME Wood\, photo by Glen Livet\nThe birth record suggests that he was baptised as Harold Baruch Wood. His parent’s were Baruch Talbot (1881-1951) and Florence Muriel Wood (née Herington). He appears as Harold Baruch on the 1911 census. \n1911 Census record for the Wood household\n1911 Census record for the Wood household\nInterestingly\, the Census form was signed by Talbot Wood so maybe BHs father also did not like his own first name! At the time of the Census the family lived at 30\, Violet Bank Road\, Nether Edge\, Sheffield\, S7 1RZ. \nWelsh School Days\nBaruch attended Friars School\, Bangor (established in 1557) along with William Ritson Morry. BHW was one year and three months older than WRM so it is entirely possible that they had met. \nMarriage to Marjory\nIn October 1936 BHW married Marjory Elizabeth Farrington in Ross\, Herefordshire. When Marjory died on 7th September 1977 they were living at 146\, Rectory Road\, Sutton Coldfield\, West Midlands. Baruch and Marjory had four children\, FM Christopher Wood\, Philip\, Frank and Peggy. \n146\, Rectory Road\, The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield\, West Midlands\, B75 7RS\nHonours\nIn the 1984 New Years Honours List\, Civil Division\, BHW was awarded the OBE. The citation read simply : “For services to Chess” \nHe won the BCF President’s Award in 1983 alongside TJ Beach and Brian Reilly. \nBH Wood playing board 9 in the Anglo team in the Anglo-Soviet Radio Team Match of 1946\nThe 1946 Anglo-Soviet Radio Match\nFrom The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by Klein and Winter : \n“BH Wood was born in Sheffield in 1909. A great lover of the game\, he founded the magazine Chess in 1935\, and has written a book for beginners. He scored a notable success by winning the British Correspondence Championship on one occasion. Wood has competed in the British Championship on several occasions\, and in a number of Premier Reserves tournaments. He also played for Great Britain in the international team tournament (ed. Olympiad) at Buenos Aires in 1939. \nLeft to right Baruch H Wood\, Stuart Milner-Barry\, Vera Menchik (playing in the women’s world championship (held concurrently with the 1939 Buenos Aires Olympiad) which she won with 17 wins and 2 draws)\, Sir George Thomas\, Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander and Harry Golombek. England withdrew after their preliminary group due to the outbreak of war despite qualifying for the top final. Thanks to Leonard Barden\nHe is a graduate of the University of Wales and Birmingham University. He has been very active in recent years in giving simultaneous exhibitions and in organising correspondence chess.” \nSignature of BH Wood from a Brian Reilly “after dinner” postcard from Margate 1936.\nBetween 1938 and 1957\, BH won the championship of Warwickshire eight times. He held the record (until 2006) for the most Birmingham & District Chess League Individual titles – nine\, all won in Division 1: 1937\, 1939\, 1954\, 1956\, 1958\, 1960\, 1966\, 1967\, and 1983. He was the Records Secretary for the League from 1951-61. \nBirth of a Magazine\nCHESS Cover for volume 1\, September 1935 – August 1936. Source : Michael Clapham\nFrom CHESS\, Volume 52 (1987)\, Number 1014-15 (Christmas)\, we have the very last issue of the magazine for which BH was the Editor before becoming Founding Editor (and Paul Lamford became Editor). BH Wrote: \n“Countless people have asked me ‘Why did you start CHESS?’ I was in love with university life and has just taken an M.Sc.\, a waste of time after a good first-class honours\, and decided to have a go at replacing the old Chess Amateur\, which had closed down.  I had edited the students’ magazine in both Bangor and Birmingham. The first had been produced by The Daily Post Printers in Liverpool\, who agreed to print  1\,000 copies for £90. That £90 would be nearly £2\,400 now. \nCHESS masthead for Volume 1\, Number 1\, 1935. Source : Michael Clapham\nA year’s subscription I announced as 10 shillings (50p). \nTwo bits of luck! J.H. Van Meurs\, a Dutchman who did a lot for British Chess\, had listed in his still young B.C.F. Year Book some hundreds of chess clubs. \nW.H. Watts\, another great figure of those days\, had floated a rather short-lived magazine The Chess Budget\, donated a ‘Budget Cup‘\, for knock-out team competition and published excellent books on big tournaments\, etc. He handed me a list of keen chess players all around the world. I spent a week addressing envelopes by hand to all the clubs and people. \nTo individuals I sent single copies of CHESS; to each club three copies\, inviting payment or subscriptions. Hardly anybody failed to pay. Obviously there was a demand for a chess magazine with a lighter touch than the B.C.M. \nYears later\, I learnt why Mr. Watts had been so generous. He had fallen out with the establishment and welcomed the arrival of a new publication. \nWithin three months I was selling 3\,000 copies an issue. \nSome early ideas were chessy short stories \, cartoons and a competition for humorous anecdotes. \nI soon went to Amsterdam for the first Euwe-Alekhine match. I traced Alekhine to his hotel room with difficulty. He was officially incommunicado. He came to the door in pyjamas\, and within five minutes we had agreed to a £5 article per month. I was\, of course\, already on conversational terms with him (and remained so!). \nNow I fell into trap. 3\,000 readers in four months meant 6\,000 in eight months\, 9\,000 in  a year…? \nNot so! This is extrapolation\, a matter of calculation full of risks. \nMy preparations had been too good. In the remaining eight months of the year I picked up only a thousand more readers. Alekhine lost the title. With three months to go\, my money ran out\, I struggled to the end of the year.  The twelfth issue was pathetically thin compared with the first few but renewals staring rolling in and CHESS blossomed again. \nThe fifty-two years since have been gruelling\, unremitting toil but fascinating interest. How we bought our own presses and the effect this had on the world’s chess press – A law suit that went to appeal – How CHESS linked people in Malta\, Australia\, Hungary – Adventures in ‘simuls’\, postal chess etc. How we helped police to identify a drowned man\, etc. So many tales to tell! \nBHW \nBCF Obituary\nHere is an obituary from the BCF Yearbook 1989 – 1990\, page 14 : \nB.H. Wood\, O.B.E\nBaruch H. Wood\, O.B.E.\, founder of CHESS\, and the magazines editor for 52 years\, died at the age of 79 on 4th April. \nBorn in Sheffield on 13 July 1909\, “B.H.”\, as he was widely known in chess circles\, took up the game early playing competitively at school and at University. After graduating from the University College of Wales\, Bangor with a 1st class honours degree in chemistry\, he took an MSc at Birmingham University. Soon\, however\, his love of chess took him away from a career in chemistry\, with his launch of CHESS in 1935.  He was to continue as editor\, publisher\, for many years printer\, and often major contributor\, for over half a century. \nCHESS\, Sutton Coldfield\nThe magazine quickly won an international reputation for its frankness and outspokenness. It speaks much for the character and determination of its editor that he was able to continue publishing CHESS throughout the difficult years of the Second World War\, whilst holding a full-time job as director of a chemical research laboratory in Lichfield. \nWood will be best remembered for the magazine\, and for his other journalistic activities. He was for many years chess correspondent of The Daily Telegraph and of The Illustrated London News\, and his best known book Easy Guide to Chess went through three editions and many impressions. \nEasy Guide to Chess\, BH Wood\, CHESS\, Sutton Coldfield\, 1945\nThe above book (albeit the later Cadogan version) is available online. \nEasy Guide to Chess\nNigel Davies wrote “One of the best beginners books on the market.” \nWood’s feat in writing\, publishing\, printing and selling his own book may be unique. However\, Wood was no mean player as his draw against the then world champion Max Euwe\, who became a life-long friend\, testifies. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nHe represented England in the International Team Championship at Buenos Aires in 1939\, scoring 50%. He also took first prize in international tournaments at Baarn 1947\, Paignton 1954\, Whitby 1963\, Thorshavn 1967 and Jersey 1975 and was second in the 1948 British Championship. He was British Correspondence Chess Champion in 1945. \nThe Cedars Chess Club May 1962 – Baruch is seated\, second from the right. Photograph sourced from ECF obituary.\nA life member of F.I.D.E. Wood was also an International Arbiter\, and organised 21 annual chess festivals at seaside venues from the 50’s onwards. In addition he was an active behind-the-scenes inspirer of many chess events\, and in particular was known as a driving spirit of university chess\, being until the time of his death President of the British University Chess Association. \nThe Author’s British Record Simultaneous Display. Some of the 127 schoolboys the author played simultaneously at Ilford County High School\, Winning over a a hundred of the games in 4 hours and 50 minutes.\nHe founded the Postal Chess Club and League and was for many years President of the British Postal Chess Federation. \nLetter from BH Wood to JE Upham dated 7th July 1983\n“B.H.” at Bournemouth in May 1971\nHe was awarded the O.B.E. for services to chess in 1984. \nHis wife Marjory\, predeceased him; he leaves three sons Christopher\, Frank and Philip\, and a daughter Peggy. \nBH Wood & his daughter Peggy\nand here is the article as it appeared in the Yearbook. \nBCF Yearbook\, 1989-90\, page 14\nBCF Yearbook\, 1989-90\, page 15\nGolombek on Wood\nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977)  by Harry Golombek : \n“A well known British player\, editor of Chess (starting 1935) and chess correspondent of The Daily Telegraph and Illustrated London News. A FIDE judge\, he has founded and conducted 21 annual chess festivals\, notably at Whitby\, Eastbourne and Southport. \nBH Wood playing AY “Johnnie” Green in the 1956 British Championships in Blackpool\, photographer unknown\nWinner of a number of small and semi-international tournaments : Baarn 1947\, Paignton 1954\, Whitby 1963\, Thorshavn 1967\, and Jersey 1975. \nPlayed for the BCF in the International Team Tournament at Buenos Aires 1939. His best tournament result was probably his equal second in the British Championship at London 1948. \nIn 1954 BHW was sued BH Wood for libel by William Ritson Morry over a letter BHW sent to Henry Golding of the Monmouthshire County Chess Association warning him of WRMs financial history. Here is a summary of the action : \nThe Birmingham Post\, July 15th\, 1954\nand two years in 1956 we have this telling photograph of Ritson and BH playing at the British Championships in Blackpool. It must have been an entertaining pairing for the organisers if no-one else! \nWilliam Ritson Morry playing BH Wood at the British Championships in Blackpool from 1956\nPossibly WRM was thinking this as they played: \nEverybody Loves Wood\nAmong his books are : Easy Guide to Chess\, Sutton Coldfield 1942 et seq; World Championship Candidates Tournament 1953\, Sutton Coldfield 1954. “ \nWorld Championship Candidates Tournament 1953\, BH Wood\, CHESS\, Sutton Coldfield\, 1954\nCafferty on Wood (1989)\nHere is the obituary from British Chess Magazine\, Volume CIX (1989\, 109)\, Number 5 (May)\, pages 210 – 211: \nB. H. WOOD\nBaruch Harold Wood (13 viii 1909-4 iv 1989) popularly known as “B. H.” was a significant figure of the last fifty-odd years in British chess. His life touched practically all aspects of the game as player\, both OTB and CC\, magazine publisher and editor\, organiser of club\, congress and university chess\, journalist . . . the list seems endless. In 1984 he was awarded the OBE for services to chess. \nBorn at Sheffield\, which he sometimes used as an excuse when he was accused of stubbornness\, (“It’s my Yorkshire blood\, you know”) he was educated in North Wales (Friar’s School\, and then University College\, Bangor) and at Birmingham University. \nHe started his chess magazine at Sutton Coldfield in 1935 as an impecunious graduate who could not find suitable work in the Depression\, and his lively style ensured that it was a beacon in British chess for fifty years to come! For many British chess fans he was “Mr Chess” yet it seems a miracle that he kept the magazine going in the difficult times when interest in the game was at a low ebb. He may well have subsidised it from his journalistic work (Birmingham Post\, Illustrated London News and Daily Telegraph) and from his wartime work as manager of a chemical laboratory (“The first time I ever earned a decent salary”). \nHis duodenal ulcer prevented him doing military service\, and later in life he suffered from failing eyesight and the inability to walk which resulted from his diabetes\, not diagnosed till he had suffered from it for decades. \nHe worked a seven-day week on the magazine\, and his wife who predeceased him was often unsure when he would be home such was his devotion to the work. At times he would take off for trips abroad or long simul tours through Britain while trying to keep the magazine on schedule. \nOne of his last long tours was in 1967 when he drove Botvinnik around the UK. The world champion was duly impressed by the work load and wrote a very favourable account of the trip\, revealing incidentally that Barry was still paying off the mortgage on his large house in Rectory Road\, Sutton Coldfield where the car was parked on the forecourt as the garage was the reserve storage for a large library of chess books! His ability to quote chemical formula from memory also impressed Botvinnik. \nHe brought up a family of four\, all of whom were skilled players\, apart\, perhaps from the youngest boy. Daughter Peggy\nwas prominent in women’s chess and married Peter Clarke at the time of the Botvinnik visit. Elder sons Chris and Frank were of over-200 strength\, but had seen too much of their father’s life at close hand to want to take over the business from him. He ultimately sold out to Pergamon in 1987 though negotiations had been started much earlier. It was probably too much of a wrench to let go until failing health left him with little alternative\, but he described\nthe terms as very generous. \nBarry was a gifted linguist who was welcome abroad for his un-English approach of having a go at the native tongue. As a player he was at his best in the late 1930s (a member of the 1939 Olympiad team in Buenos Aires) till the 1950s. He should really have won the 1948 British Championship when he had the enterprising idea of having Paul Schmidt as personal coach! Yet his tournament wins run on as late as Guernsey 1975 and he was playing in the First Division of the Birmingham League within a few weeks of his death. The flesh may have been weak but a great spirit kept him going to the end. \nShall we ever see his like again? \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nJulius Silverman former MP for Aston (Birmingham) writes: I am very sorry to learn of the death of Barry Wood. I knew him for about 55 years and I always found him a pleasant and interesting companion and a good friend. On the last few occasions that I have met him he seemed increasingly frail. I know that the death of his dear wife was a great blow to him. \nBarry’s contribution to Chess in this country has been enormous and his passing is the end of an era in chess journalism.\nBarry’s journalism and his imaginative editorship made Chess a fascinating journal which it was always a pleasure to read.\nIts survival for well over 50 years was a unique achievement which required persistence and dedication. He has had many\nhills to surmount. \nOne was “… the chess lawsuit of the Century …” (This ran for about two and a half years\, ending in 1940 in a victory for the magazine on appeal\, Ed). Jacques versus Chess which might have brought Chess to an end. I appeared for him as counsel. We won. I received a life subscription to Chess as part of my fee. My copy still comes to me regularly. I have never enjoyed a fee so much. \nHere is the article in its original form: \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CX (109)\, Number 5 (May)\, page 210\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CX (109)\, Number 5 (May)\, page 211\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nBernard on Barry (2004)\nREMEMBERING BARRY WOOD (1909-1939) \nby Bernard Cafferty \nOne of the most influential figures in British chess of the 20th century was B. H. Wood\, whom I knew personally from 1951\, and whom I played regularly\, over a period of three decades\, till l moved from Birmingham to Hastings in 1981. Here are some\nmemories of the man who was thought of by many in Britain as “Mr Chess”. \nBorn in Sheffield\, Baruch Harold Wood had his secondary education in North Wales at the same grammar school as W Ritson\nMorry who was later to become his Midlands colleague and bitter rival. BH always attributed his well-known stubbornness (he never resigned early) to “his Yorkshire blood”. Wood and Morry were to be students together at Birmingham University after BH gained his BSc in Wales. Then the pair faced the hard task of finding work in depression-struck mid-1930s England. BH founded his monthly magazine CHESS in 1935\, an act of amazing optimism which only his great appetite for work could justify. The magazine was based in Sutton Coldfield\, just north of Birmingham\, at gloomy premises known as Masonic Buildings. \nThe early decades of this publication were marked by the outpouring of glorious journalism of a popular sort. The man’s love\nof the game shone through his work and he recruited such contributors as the chatty Koltanowski and the prince of annotators\nAlexander Alekhine. Later he became the long-serving columnist of the Birmingham Post\, from 1949 of the weekly Illustrated London News\, and even later of the Daily Telegraph. A feature of the magazine was its lively letters from readers which made for more interesting reading than the equivalent occasional letter to be found in the staid\nBCM. The readers also made pertinent contributions to opening theory\, especially in going through the 1946 MCO with a fine toothcomb and reporting their discoveries to Sutton Coldfield. \nBH wrote a best-selling Easy Guide to Chess which went through several editions and was far more user-friendly than other primers on the market at the time. He also designed a luxury set\, the Coldfield\, and produced various chess clocks with new features. BH was a member of the BCF Olympiad side that played in the first part of the Buenos Aires Olympiad in the autumn of 1939. After the team’s withdrawal due to the outbreak of war\, he stayed on in Argentina for a short while\, taking part in a short tournament where he met the legendary Alekhine. \nOne Hundred Victorian Chess Problems\, BH Wood\, Wayland Publishers\, London\, 1972\nBH was married to Marjorie\, a Birmingham primary school teacher\, and had three sons and a daughter. The elder two boys\,\nChris and Frank\, were strong players but not Philip. His daughter Peggy was our leading girl player of the 1950s\, and married Peter Clarke in 1962. One should note that BH was not Jewish\, as many assumed from the name Baruch – he was generally addressed as Barry by his wife and close friends. Others called him just by the initials BH. Everyone in British chess knew exactly who you meant when you said BH. Many thought of him as a sharp business-man. In any event\, the fearsome workload he shouldered meant that none of his children\, seeing this at first hand\, aspired to carry on the magazine as a family business. To many in the British chess community who had never seen top players in action\, BH was their first contact with the wider chess world due to the exhausting simul tours he made to many clubs the length and breadth of the UK. \nLater\, he organized CHESS Festivals starting from 1953. These were our earliest open tournaments\, held at attractive venues such as Cheltenham\, Whitby\, Eastbourne and Southport. These events created the opportunity for British amateurs to meet continental grandmaster opposition like Donner and O’Kelly. BH had great confidence in his ability – his MSc at Birmingham University was in chemistry\, but in 1946-7 he started studying nuclear physics privately\, telling Brian Reilly\, who was employed by him at that time\, that it was the science of the future. I have to simply marvel at this – where did he find the time? In his self-portrait in connection with the GB-USSR match of 1946 he revealed that he had been studying Russian privately with a view to taking an external degree in it at Birmingham University. \nThe post-war decade saw him at his most active. He was BCF delegate at early FIDE meetings post-1946\, the period that saw the mighty Soviet Union admitted to membership in 1947. BH was instrumental in maintaining Spain’s membership of FIDE at the same time\, despite Soviet opposition to Franco’s fascism. He claimed to me he was always a most welcome guest in Spain thereafter. \nBattles with the BCF\nBH had been exempt from military service due to a duodenal ulcer. He spent the war keeping the magazine alive in his spare time as he was put in charge of a research laboratory at the Birmingham Chemical Company. During the war the government had the power under emergency legislation to direct citizens into any sort of work that would contribute to the war effort. His comment to me on that intensive period was: “It was the first time I ever drew a decent salary”. After a short spell as BCF FIDE delegate\, he fell out with the ruling body in the early 1950s. His view was that the national body was ultra-conservative and not open to fresh ideas such as the knockout championship open to all which he organised in 1949-50. Lo and behold\, a few months later the BCF started organising regional competitions to arrange for qualification for the British Championship! BH often criticised the BCF in his magazine. In June 1950 he wrote the first of a planned series of articles on the evergreen theme “Where is British Chess Going?” and forwarded a copy to the BCF just before publication. The BCF legal eagle Professor Wheatcroft immediately threatened to take out an injunction\, so putting the frighteners on the printers. Rather than delay the July issue (not that subscribers were not used to a rather irregular schedule!)\, BH brought out the issue with white space\, on two pages\, a dramatic way of alerting the readers to the dispute. The promised articles\, which he said would appear after the dispute was settled\, never appeared. \nDW Anderton OBE plays BH Wood MBE in 1981 in a Blitz tournament outside of the National Film Theatre. Photograph courtesy of John Saunders\nThere were also tensions with BCF figures like Alexander and Golombek\, in the latter case probably due to professional rivalry and Harry G’s identification with the BCM. Another prominent figure with whom BH crossed swords was the flamboyant Liverpool barrister Gerald Abrahams who threatened to sue over a report in CHESS of gambling debts incurred “on the turf’. \nBH was no stranger to litigation. For example he had had a lawsuit with Jaques culminating in 1940 over the use of the term\n“genuine Staunton-pattern sets” in his advertising. The case was initially lost\, a potentially crippling blow\, but then won on appeal with the aid of solicitor Julius Silverman (later a prominent Birmingham MP)\, Ritson Morry\, Sir George Thomas and\nother well-wishers. When Wood-Morry hostility was at its height in the early 1950s over pro- and anti-BCF views\, BH drew attention in a letter to a Welsh chess organiser to Ritson’s short period in jail. The uncomplimentary term ‘gaolbird’ was used. A court case followed which the penurious Ritson\, having been struck off as a solicitor could hardly afford\, yet BH was cleared on the defence of justification. My fellow students and I at Birmingham University could only marvel at the daily press reports on the wrangles between two of our patrons whom we had feted at a celebratory dinner only a short while before. \nHere is the point at which to mention BH’s support for chess in the universities. He was the long-time President of the\nBUCA (British Universities’ Chess Association) and turned up at many of their events with support. He loaned equipment in the early days when not every chess club had sufficient clocks for a match – bear in mind that the austerity period in Britain lasted for years after 1945. BH also supported correspondence chess\, being the founder of the Postal Chess League\, a team event very popular in its day but now defunct. \nBH’s best playing performance was the British Championship of 1948 when he came second to Broadbent. The Midlander had actually started with 6.5 points from seven games\, but the unsatisfactory position arose that he had to meet Broadbent in the last round when each had an adjourned game still to finish off. \nBH Wood during the 1948 British Championships at Bishopsgate Institute\, London. Taken on August 30th 1948 by Keystone Press Agency\nThe tension got to BH\, he missed a clear winning chance against the Northerner and lost. Yet he should really have taken the title on the merits of the positions he had achieved. His rivals resented the fact that he had hired a second\, namely Paul Schmidt\, the Estonian player who was once thought of as almost as good as Keres in his native land. Schmidt had won the German Championship during the war in 1941. The British amateurs of 1948 were not impressed by this intrusion of professionalism and the importation of someone who carried the taint of possible Nazism. According to Brian Reilly\, Gerald Abrahams was particularly scathing. \nBH made a good impression on Botvinnik when the latter stayed at the Wood residence in Rectory Road\, Sutton Coldfield\, in 1967 (the reference for those who can read Russian is Baturinsky’s “…Tvorchestvo” trilogy on Botvinnik. The article was entitled: Albion shakhmatny i inoy. It appears on pp435 -448 of the third volume. A shortened version appears in English in Botvinnik’s autobiography Achieving the Aim). When I drew BH’s attention to the article and its peculiar title he responded with his usual erudite comment: ‘Albion? Yes\, that’s the Roman reference to the white cliffs of Dover”. For most Brummies\, “The Albion” did not mean a local pub\, but rather the West Bromwich Albion football team! \nIn theory\, the communist Botvinnik should have been distant from his host\, the Midlands entrepreneur and business man\, who drove him round to his engagements in Britain for three weeks\, but their common love of chess triumphed over ideological\ndifferences. In particular\, the speed of production of CHESS\, now on its own presses\, was compared very favourably by the Soviet Patriarch to that of Shakhmaty v SSSR. British trade unions had a different view of course\, in pre-Thatcher days\, and BH had some tricky obstacles to overcome in this field. The Muscovite Botvinnik recorded the fact that the garage of BH’s large house was full of chess books (as were various rooms – to the abiding despair of Marjorie)\, so the family car was always parked outside on the drive. BH revealed to Botvinnik that he had not been able pay off his mortgage for decades due to the variable cash flow from his business and journalism. \nBH was in love with study as a young man\, he once told me\, and he had a facility in various European languages\, which made him always welcome abroad. Over the years\, BH had a number of employees who were strong players\, such as Brian Reilly\, Owen Hindle and Robert Bellin\, but none of them lasted long. Owen Hindle\, a person of placid temperament\, stuck it out the longest\, but even he had his patience tried by the ‘boss’. One cannot hide the fact that BH was a controversial figure – perhaps the clue after all is that reference to his stubbornness and Yorkshire blood? I contributed to his magazine for many years\, but certainly never wanted to work for him full-time! \nI used to see BH in the last decade of his life only in the Hastings press room. For his age\, he still took on a fantastic workload. Peter Clarke once commented that his father-in-law gave the impression of believing he would live for ever. Finally\, Anno Domini told and BH sold his business to Robert Maxwell of Pergamon fame/notoriety in 1988. \nIn his final year\, BH suffered from diabetes\, and the resulting inability to walk meant he was confined to a wheelchair\, but he still insisted on visiting Hastings one last time\, where\, in his prime\, he had specialised in taking away Premier score sheets. Often they were taken not just to his hotel room\, but even back to Sutton Coldfield\, so hindering the work of other chess journalists unless Ritson or later\, Peter Griffiths had got in first to create the bulletin. \nWhat a character! We lack such a colourful figure nowadays. Where he still alive today\, I imagine he would still be trying to put a bomb under the BCF. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWinter\, Jaques and Wood\nFrom Chess Explorations (Cadogan Chess\, 1996) by Edward Winter we have further detail on the Jaques court case: \n“Paul Timson\, a lawyer\, sends us reports on two legal  cases connected with chess. In 1939 B.H.Wood found himself in the dock for having advertised for sale in CHESS in 1937 ‘genuine Staunton chessmen’. The plaintiffs were John Jaques & Son\, Ltd. Sir George Thomas.\, Max Euwe and Lodewijk Prins appeared as witnesses for the defence. The case is referred to by Fred Wren in his article ‘Tales of a Woodpusher: Woodpusher’s Woodpile’\, which appeared in Chess Review\, 1949 and was reprinted in Reinfeld’s The Treasury of Chess Lore. The issues of CHESS of the time also contained a huge amount of material on the case. The decision was that ‘Staunton’ alone was permissible description\, but that the phrase ‘genuine Staunton’ implied a product made by Jaques & Son Ltd.\, as opposed to any Staunton pattern.  However\, B.H. Wood appealed and\, in 1940\, won.” \nOther Sources\nIf you can get access then we recommend the eleven-page “B.H. Wood and his chess playing family” article in the August-2009 issue of Chess Monthly written by his son Chris Wood (helped by brother Frank). \nLikewise The Chess Lawsuit of the Century is detailed in CHESS\, volume 52\, Number 1018\, pp.392 – 394 by BHW himself. \nHere is an obituary from the MCCU \nBackground information from Sutton Coldfield Chess Club \nAlekhine’s Articles for CHESS by Michael Clapham \nHere is his Wikipedia entry. \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-baruch-harold-wood/ CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,Honours,Official,Organiser,Player,Remembering,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/bhwood.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210407 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210408 DTSTAMP:20201224T001334Z CREATED:20191116T154436Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201224T001334Z UID:2040-1617753600-1617839999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Julius du Mont (15-xii-1881 07-iv-1956) DESCRIPTION:Signature of J du Mont from a Brian Reilly “after dinner” postcard from Southsea 1951.\nBCN Remembers Julius du Mont (15-xii-1881 07-iv-1956) \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXXVI\, Number 5\, 1956 we have this obituary written by DJ Morgan : \nIn our February issue we wrote an appreciation of one of the distinguished past editors of this magazine\, R. C. Griffith. He had been followed in the chair in 1938 by our present Games’ Editor\, and when he\, in turn\, was called in 1940 to sterner duties\, he was succeeded by Julius du Mont. During the war years\, and through the difficult post-war period\, till 1949\, he held the reins. As we wrote on another occasion\, “His had been difficult years: the “B.C.M.” had survived when so much else had succumbed during the stress and strain of total war.” lt is with regret that we now record his death on April 7th\, in a Hastings nursing home\, at the age of seventy-four\, after a protracted illness. \ndu Mont was born in Paris-a little-known fact which he himself once disclosed to us-on December 15th\, 1881. lt was there also that he received his education. His early bent and ambitions were musical. The tradition that chess and music have a close relationship may be traced as far back\, at least\, as Philidor’s great eminence in both. du Mont was truly in the line of such dual personalities. He pursued his musical studies at the Frankfort-on-Main Conservatoire and at Heidelberg\, and soon became established as a concert pianist.’ Later he achieved great success as a music teacher\, and among his pupils was the well-known concert pianist\, Edna lles. The French and German background also explains his facility as a linguist. \nHe came to England as a young man and brought with him a considerable talent for chess. Settling in London\, he rapidly improved as a player\, and successes followed. At the Kentish Congress\, Tunbridge Wells\, 1912\, he came equal second and third. He was Champion of the strong Hampstead Club for two years\, and Middlesex Champion in 1913 and 1915. He quickly mastered our language and showed this during the First World War by writing a manual on the Lewis gun. After the war\, music kept its place in his life\, but more and more chess became his main activity. He forsook playing and turned to journalism and authorship\, and his output of books is evidence of his gifts and industry. Titles come readily to mind: Chess Openings lllustrated\, Centre Counter Defence (1919) and Centre and Danish Gambit (1920); The Elements of Chess (1925) ; Ihe Basis of Combination in Chess (1938) ; 200 Miniature Games (1941); More Miniature Games (1953); (with Dr. Tartakower) 500 Master aomes of Chess\, two volumes (1952)\, to which was added a third volume in 1954\, 100 Master Games of Chess. He also translated Edward Lasker’s Chess Strategy\, and Alekhine’s two volumes of My Best Games of Chess (the first with M. E.Goldstein). \nThe wealth of material ready to hand combined with a foreigner’s gift of lucid expression in “the other tongue” made his books very popular. To the great value and importance of these books\, a whole generation of chess-players will readily testify. \nFor some years\, du Mont was chess editor of The Field and of The Manchester Guardian. During the last war he organized chess championships for the Armed Services. We pay tribute to his services to the game\, to his many kindnesses and friendships to its players\, and\, in particular\, to his devotion to this magazine.-D. J. M. \nD. C.\, who enjoyed a long friendship with our late Editor\, writes to us as follows- \nBy the death of J. du Mont\, the chess world has lost an eminent and popular personality. That this popularity was well deserved will be apparent even to those who knew him only slightly. \nEssentially kind\, he performed many generous acts\, and having\, by his own efforts\, become the best-known British writer on chess\, he not only filled this position with modesty and dignity\, but was liberal in the help he gave to those starting on the road he had so successfully followed. \nIn the tournament room-where his presence was always welcome-he was invariably quiet and courteous\, and although gifted with a fine wit\, he never used it\nunkindly. He *as an excellent companion\, and players at many congresses will recall the happy times they spent in their visits to him at all hours of the evening. It is sad to think that these gatherings have now irrevocably reached their end: to quote A. E. Housman’s beautiful lines- \nThey come and were and ore not\nAnd come no more anew. \nBut as long as a literature of chess remains\, the name of Julius du Mont will not be forgotten. His many friends\, however\, have no need of his writings in order to keep alive their memory of him. \nIn Chess Secrets I learned from the Masters\, Edward Lasker\, Hollis and Carter\, 1952 : \nJ. DuMont became the author of a number of interesting monographs on chess openings\, and for many years he was the Editor of the British Chess Magazine. It was he who translated my own translation of Schachstrategie which I attempted in the summer of 1913. Naturally\, my English was not fit to be printed. DuMont had to rewrite everything I had written\, and except for his untiring labors Chess Strategy might never have been published. He gave the book a certain literary flavor\, which no doubt added greatly to its popularity. It went into fourteen printings before it was replaced by Modern Chess Strategy in 1945. \nDuMont was a pianist of note and I took lessons from him; however\, the time I took from my chess activities to practise the piano was shamefully meagre. No wonder I have been told more than once that as a pianist I am a good chess player.” \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-julius-du-mont-15-xii-1881-07-iv-1956/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,Hastings,History,Player,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/IMG_0906.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200410 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200411 DTSTAMP:20220410T124454Z CREATED:20190824T103915Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220410T124454Z UID:1157-1586476800-1586563199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of CGM Keith Richardson (02-iv-1942 10-iv-2017) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers CGM Keith Richardson who passed away on Monday\, April 10th\, 2017. \nKeith Bevan Richardson was born in Nottingham\, on Thursday\, April 2nd 1942. On this day : The LA Times urges security measures against Japanese-Americans and US auto factories switch from commercial to war production. \nKeith’s parents were Arthur (30) and Hilda May (née Nicholls\, 25). He married Sandra Sowter on the 11th of September 1971 in Sutton Coldfield\, Warwickshire. They had two children\, Neil and Ian. They lived at 19\, The Ridings in Camberley\, Surrey. \nSadly\, Keith was diagnosed in the 1990s with Parkinson’s disease and became unwell whilst playing in a chess tournament in Cannes in April 2017 and passed away on the 10th of May 2017. Keith was 75. He continued to actively play chess into his final year. \nCGM Keith Richardson\nKeith was the Treasurer of the Friends of Chess during the period known the English Chess Explosion (late 1970s and 1980s). \nKeith received the ECF President’s Award in 2015 for services to the management of the BCF Permanent Invested Fund (PIF) together with Dr. Julian Farrand and Ray Edwards. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nFrom CHESS\, Volume 41 (1975)\, Numbers 729-730 (September)\, pp. 380 the news of Keith’s success was initially reported: \n“BRITAINS’ FIRST CHESS GRAND MASTER \nThe first grand master title to be won by a British player has been achieved in the field of correspondence chess by Keith B. Richardson\, aged 33\, of Camberley. \nThe title of Correspondence Chess grand master is awarded by the lnternational correspondence Chess Federation. Keith Richardson fulfilled the norm by sharing third place in the final of the 7th World Correspondence Chess Championship with a score of 11 points from 16 games. The tournament began in February 1972 and results of the last adjudicated games were recently announced making J. V. Estrin U.S.S.R. first with l2 points; J. Boey Belgium scored 11.5; K. B. Richardson G.B. and Dr. V. Zagorovski U.S.S.R. 11. \nThere are only 25 Correspondence Chess Grand masters throughout the world.” \nThis was followed in the next month’s issue by a correction and more depth in CHESS\, Volume 41 (1975)\, Numbers 731-732 (October)\, pp. 30-31: \n“K. B. Richardson\, though the first Britain to become a grand master by play was preceded by Comins Mansfield as grandmaster of problem composition\, a title he gained in 1972. Our report last month did not make this clear. \nKeith B. Richardson was born 2 April 1942 and was educated at Nottingham High School. At 16\, he passed Grade 8 in Royal\nSchools of Music at pianoforte. At Durham University\, he obtained a B.A. in French and German and was awarded the University Palatinate (equal to a ‘blue’) in cricket and fives. He could have become a professional cricketer or a concert pianist but\nmade his career instead with Barclays Bank which brought him to London and a home in Camberley\, Surrey\, where he has settled down with his wife\, Sandra (from Sutton Coldfield!). They now have two baby sons\, Neil aged three years and Ian who is only two months old – both born since the final of the 7th World Correspondence Chess Championship began. \nCGM Keith Bevan Richardson (from a Barclays publicity article)\nKeith’s other interests include bridge and squash. He plays squash for his bank and is Secretary of the London Squash League. As a young chess player\, Keith won the Notts. under l4 Championship\, held the Notts. under l8 Championship for four years and the Notts. Championship for two years and was British Junior Champion in 1962. In 1963\, he was Durham County Champion and joint winner of the British Universities’ Championship which he won outright the following year. He was twice captain of the British Universities Students’ Olympiad team. He held the Midlands Championship (Forrest Cup) for three years and was joint London Champion and London Banks’ Champion in 1970 but has been content to hold the latter title since then and concentrate on correspondence chess. \nKeith Richardson aged 20 at the 1963 Niemeyer Under-21 Tournament in Groningen. The forerunner of the European Junior Championship\nNiemeyer Under-21 Tournament\, Groningen 1963. The forerunner of the European Junior Championship.\nIn 1964\, Keith Richardson was runner up for the British Correspondence Chess Championship and at the same time won a Master Class tournament of the lnternational Correspondence Chess Federation (I.C.C.F.) which qualified for a place in the World C.C. Championship semi-final. He came second in the 1965-67 semi-final and tried again in the 1968-71 event which he won. At the same time\, he was representing Great Britain on Board 5 in the 1965-67 I.C.C.F. Olympiad Preliminary and on Board 4 in the 1968-71 event. His score of 5 points from 7 games helped the British team to win its section in the 1968-71 Preliminary and qualify for a place in the I.C.C.F. Olympiad Final which started in 1972. When Keith began play in the World C.C. Championship Final involving l6 tames\, he was also asked to take Board 3 in the Olympiad Final involving another 9 games. \nHe accepted – a mistake which might possibly have cost him the World C.C. Championship! His next assault on the World title will be in 1979 and in the meantime he plans to play in the next I.C.C.F. Olympiad Preliminary and write a book on the 7th World C.C. Championship. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nIn this position\, with Black in Zugzwang\, the game went for adjudication (after more than three years’ play\, a very necessary evil): \n“In order to substantiate White’s claim for a win\, it was necessary to submit three pages of analysis proving that every possible move loses for Black. If the knight moves\, White’s king claims an entry. If Black moves the bishop along the a7-g1 diagonal\, White plays Ba5. If the Black bishop moves on the d8-a5 diagonal\, White plays Bd4 : KBR” \nThe game was adjudicated a win for White. This was only defeat inflicted upon the new World Champion. \nCGM Keith Richardson in 1975\nThis article was followed (with some glee no doubt) by an article in  British Chess Magazine\, Volume LIXIV (95\, 1975)\, Number 12 (December)\, page 526 as follows: \n“Keith B. Richardson recently became the third British player to receive a grandmaster title (the other two both in 1972\, are Comins Mansfield for chess composition’ and R.W. Bonham’ correspondence grandmaster of the blind). The title of Correspondence Chess Grandmaster is awarded by the International Correspondence  Chess Federation  (ICCF) and Keith Richardson fulfilled the norm by sharing third place in the final of the 7th World Correspondence Championship. Leading scores in the tournament (February 1972 – Summer 1975): 1. Y. Estrin (USSR) 12/16; J.Boey (B) 11.5; 3-4 K.B. Richardson (ENG)\, V. Zagorovsky (USSR) 11; etc. \nKeith\, born 2nd April1942\, was educated at Nottingham High School and Durham University-. He won the Nottinghamshire U-14 Championship\, held the Notts U-18 championship for four years\, the senior Notts  Championship for two years and was British Junior Champion in 1962. In 1963\, he was  Durham County Champion and joint winner of the British Universities Championship  which he won outright the following year. He was twice captain of the British team in Students Olympiads. \nKeith Richardson from BCM\, 1984\, page 545\nIn 1964 Keith left university to make a career with Barclays Bank.  In the same year he was runner-up in the British Correspondence Championship and won an ICCF master tournament which qualified him for a place in the World Championship final. He came second in the 1965-7 semi-final\, tried again\, and won the 1968-71 event thus gaining entry to the 7th final. \nKeith Richardson lives in Surrey at Camberley. He is married and has two baby sons – both born since the final of the 7th World Correspondence Championship began. At present he is writing a book on the 7th Championship and\, for a change playing some OTB (over-the-board) chess in the London League for the Athenaeum club\, to which he makes a great contribution – it is a marvellous feeling to know  that the player next to you (on your side!) is a grandmaster. \nKeith Richardson playing for BCM Dragons in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL\, courtesy of John Upham Photography.\nThe following three games are – Keith’s best from  the -championship. In them he defeats three of the five Russians in the\ntournament (his overall score against the Russians was 3.5/5 – a wonderful achievement.” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nand here is the printed version of the above report: \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LIXIV (95\, 1975)\, Number 12 (December)\, page 526\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LIXIV (95\, 1975)\, Number 12 (December)\, page 527\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Hooper & Whyld : \n“English player. International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (1975)\, bank manager. Around 1961 Richardson decided that over-the- board play\, which had brought him some successes as a. junior\, would interfere with his professional career and he took to postal chess instead. His best performance in this field was his sharing of third place with Zagorovsky after Estrin and Boey in the 7th World Correspondence Championship\, 1968-71. ” \nIn October 1984 Keith took part in the A. E. Axelson Memorial tournament organised by the Swedish CC Committee and with fifteen grandmasters was one of the strongest CC tournaments in history.  Keith finished in 11th place ahead of Boey. \nIn 1991 Jonathan Berry wrote a potted biography in  Diamond Dust\, International Chess Enterprises\, ISBN 1-879479-00-1 as follows : \n“Camberley\, Surrey\, England. Born 2 April 1942. Married with two sons. Bank Manager. \nHe was British Under-21 Champion in 1962. At Groningen 1962/63\, he was placed 2nd in the European Junior Championship. At Bristol 1967 he was equal 5th in the British Championship. \nIn CC\, he gained the IMC in 1968\, GMC in 1975. In CC WCh VII\, he won the semi-final with 9.5/12\, and placed =3rd in the final\, 11/16. In CC WCh X\, he again tied for third in the final with 10/15. Playing board 3 for Britain in OL-VIII\, finals\, 1972-76\, he scored 7.5/9\, the highest score on any board. He won the Prefors Memorial\, 1976-1980\, 9.5.12” \n1976-1980 Prefors Memorial\nKeith was a founding member of Camberley Chess Club in 1972. \n\nA one-day tournament (The Keith Richardson Memorial) in memory of Keith was started in 2017 and has been held four times in total being played on-line for the first time in 2021. \nKen Coates presents Clive Frostick with the trophy for the 2019 Keith Richardson Memorial Tournament.\nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“Keith Bevan Richardson was born in Nottingham\, England. Awarded the IMC title in 1968 and the GMC title in 1975\, he finished 3rd= in the World Correspondence Championships of 1975 and 1984.” \nHere are his games from chessgames.com \nAn obituary from Ray Edwards / ECF. \nHere is an excellent biography by Peter Rust from the web site of the Hamilton Russell Cup \nBarclay’s Bank pay tribute to Keith on the corporate site. \nHere is an entry from the Belgian chess history web site. \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-keith-bevan-richardson/ CATEGORIES:4NCL,Correspondence,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/IMG_0003.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200412 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200413 DTSTAMP:20210306T113618Z CREATED:20190823T182737Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T113618Z UID:1102-1586649600-1586735999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Rev. Charles Ranken (05-i-1828 12-iv-1905) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Rev. Charles Edward Ranken (05-i-1828 12-iv-1905)From The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Harry Golombek : \nA leading member of the formidable band of reverends who played such a strong role in early Victorian English chess\, he is described as ‘one of the writing rather than the fighting clergy in chess’ in P. W. Sergeant’s Century of Britsh Chess. Though he learnt chess at an early age’ he made his first really earnest study of the game when he was an undergraduate at Wadham College\, Oxford 1847-50\, in particular devoting himself to a theoretical study of Staunton’s Handbook\, which he rightly regarded as a great landmark in chess literature. \nOn leaving Oxford he competed in the provincial section at London l85l where he came second to Boden.\nIn 1867 he became vicar of Sandford-on-Thames and lived at Oxford where\, in collaboration with Lord Randolph Churchill (Winston’s father)\, he founded the Oxford University Chess Club\nand became its first President. \nResigning his living at Sandford in 1871\, he went to live at Malvern where he stayed till his death. He played in many of the congresses organized by the Counties Chess Association\, his best result being 1st in the first class section at Malvern 1872 with a score of l2 points\, followed by two other reverends\, Thorold 11.5 and Wayte 10.5. It was at this congress that he brought about a reconciliation between Staunton and Löwenthal who had been estranged for a considerable time. \nHe played in the Yizayanaqaram tournament at London 1883 and started well but his health gave way after the first week and he divided fifth place with G. H. D. Gossip.\nHis chief importance during the later stages of his chess career was as a writer\, first as editor of the Chess Player’s Chronicle in 1877 and later as a member of the staff of the British Chess Magazine in which he wrote on many aspects of chess but specialized in analysis (of the openings\, middle-game and the endings)’ In 1889 he published\, in collaboration with E. Freeborough\, Chess Openings Ancient and Modern. (London)’ ( H’G’) \nChess Openings Ancient and Modern 1889\nThe Ranken Variation is a good line for White in the Four Knights Opening\, analysed in the Chess Players Chronicle\, 1879 by Ranken first president of the Oxford University Chess Club. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-rev-charles-edward-rankin/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/180px-Charles_Edward_Ranken.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200414 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200415 DTSTAMP:20220419T083516Z CREATED:20200413T172919Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220419T083516Z UID:4595-1586822400-1586908799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Theophilus Willcocks (19-iv-1912 14-iv-2014) DESCRIPTION:Remembering Theophilus Harding Willcocks (19-iv-1912 14-iv-2014) \nAn innovator in both mathematics and fairy chess. \nHere is an excellent article on squaring.net \nAn article from matplus.net \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-theophilus-harding-willcocks-19-v-2014/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,Problemist,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/th-willcocks.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200416 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200417 DTSTAMP:20210306T140152Z CREATED:20200323T140030Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T140152Z UID:3696-1586995200-1587081599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Joseph Peckover (15-xi-1896 16-iv-1982) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Joseph Edmund Peckover (15-xi-1896  16-iv-1982) \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \nBorn in Hampstead\, London to Henry Joseph Peckover and Louisa Jane Micklewright on the 15th November 1896\, Peckover has lived in New York since 1921. He has composed about 70 endgame studies : \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nJE Peckover \, 1st Prize\, Problem 1958 – 59 Award July 1960. \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nHere is his entry on chesscomposers.com \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-joseph-edmund-peckover-15-xi-1896-16-iv-1982/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,Problemist END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200416 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200417 DTSTAMP:20210306T140828Z CREATED:20200408T125741Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T140828Z UID:4191-1586995200-1587081599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of IM Colin Crouch (14-x-1956 16-iv-2015) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of IM Colin Stamford Crouch (14-x-1956 16-iv-2015) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-colin-stamford-crouch-14-x-1956/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,Player,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/img_1093_cropped-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200417 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200418 DTSTAMP:20210306T141326Z CREATED:20200403T185851Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T141326Z UID:4039-1587081600-1587167999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Tim Whitworth (31-vii-1932 17-iv-2019) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Timothy George Whitworth (31-vii-1932 17-iv-2019) \nEndgame Magic\nHere is an excellent article from Brian Stephenson \nEndgame Magic\nHere is an obituary from The Guardian \nLeonid Kubbel’s Chess Endgame Studies\nMattison’s Chess Endgame Studies\nThe Platov Brothers : Their Chess Endgame Studies\nTimothy George Whitworth\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-timothy-george-whitworth-31-vii-1932-17-iv-2019/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1114.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200423 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200424 DTSTAMP:20210306T142104Z CREATED:20190823T191241Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T142104Z UID:1128-1587600000-1587686399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of George Walker (13-iii-1803 23-iv-1879) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of George Walker (13-iii-1803 23-iv-1879) \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \n“Leading organiser and chess columnist in the last century. Born on 13th March 1803. Founded the Westminster Chess Club in 1831. Published New Treatise on Chess in 1832 and Chess and Chess Players in 1850. Edited the chess column in Bell’s Life of London from 1835 to 1870. Died on 23rd April 1879. \nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld : \n“English chess writer and propagandist. Born over his father’s bookshop in London he later became a music publisher in partnership with his father. At a time when he was receiving odds of a rook from Lewis he had the temerity to edit a chess column in the Lancet (1823-4); the first such column to appear in a periodical\, it was\, perhaps fortunately\, short-lived. He tried his hand at composing problems\, with unmemorable results; but his play improved. In the early 1830s he was receiving odds of pawn and move from McDonnell\, after whose death (1835) Walker was\, for a few years\, London’s strongest active player. \nWalker’s importance\, however\, lies in the many other contributions he made to the game. He founded chess clubs\, notably the Westminster at Huttman’s in 1831 and the St George’s at Hanover\nSquare in 1843. From 1835 to 1873 he edited a column in Bell’s Life \, a popular Sunday paper featuring sport and scandal. Many of his contributions were perfunctory\, but on occasion he wrote at length of news\, gossip\, and personalities in a rollicking style suitable for such a paper. As with many of his writings he was more enthusiastic than accurate. He edited England’s first chess magazine The Philidorian (1837-8). Above all\, Walker published many books at a low price: they sold widely and did much to popularize the game. The third edition of his New Treatise (1841) was as useful a manual as could he bought at the time and its section on the Evans gambit was praised by Jaenisch\, Walker established the custom of recording games\, and his Chess Studies (1844)\, containing 1\,020 games played from 1780 to 1844\, has become a classic. For the first time players could study the game as it was played and not as authors\, each with his own bias\, supposed it should be played. Throughout his life Walker helped chess-players in need. He raised funds for La Bqurdonnais\, Capt. W. D. Evans\, and other players\, and often for their destitute widows. \nAfter his father died (1847) Walker sold their business and became a stockbroker\, reducing his chess activities but continuing ‘his many kindnesses. With an outgoing personality he enjoyed the company of those\, such as La Bourdonnais\, whom he called “jolly good fellows’\, an epithet which might well be applied to himself. He was occasionally at odds with Lewis\, who was jealous of his own reputation\, and Staunton\, imperious and touchy; but it seems unlikely that the easy-going\nWalker\, who believed that chess should be enjoyed\, intentionally initiated these disputes. He left a small but excellent library of more than 300\nbooks and his own manuscript translations of the works of Cozio\, Lolli\, and other masters. He should not be confused with William Greenwood Walker who recorded the games of the Bourdon-\nnais-McDonne 11 matches 1834\, and died soon afterwards “full of years’. \nThe Walker Attack is a variation of the Allagier Gambit : \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nHere is his Wikipedia entry \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-george-walker/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/250px-LewisWalkerMongredien-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200424 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200425 DTSTAMP:20210306T142207Z CREATED:20190823T161140Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T142207Z UID:1084-1587686400-1587772799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Godfrey Heathcote (20-vii-1870 24-iv-1952) DESCRIPTION:From The Encyclopaedia of Chess(Robert Hale\, 1970 and 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \n“Problem composer\, and deemed to be on of the great masters of the art. Heathcote was born on 20th July 1870 in Manchester\, and died on 24th April 1952. whilst in office as the President of the British Chess Problem Society. An advocate of the model mate\, Heathcote was one of few composers with the power to combine model mates with strategy. In 1918 a collection of his problems appeared in the A. C. White Christmas series under the title Chess Idylls” \nHere is an appreciation from chesscomposers.blogspot.com \nChess Idylls (1918)\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-godfrey-heathcote/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/20.07-G.Heathcote-Chess-Pie-1922.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200427 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200428 DTSTAMP:20210306T142453Z CREATED:20200425T235908Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T142453Z UID:4931-1587945600-1588031999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Michael Haygarth (11-x-1934 27-iv-2016) DESCRIPTION:BCN Remembers Michael John Haygarth (11-x-1934 27-iv-2016) \nHere is an article from Yorkshire Chess History \nOwen Hindle\, Michael Franklin\, Harry Golombek and Michael Haygarth\nHere is an obituary written by Steve Mann which was published on the ECF web site. \nThe 1964 England Olympiad (Tel Aviv) Team : Owen Hindle\, Čeněk Kottnauer\, Peter Clarke\, Michael Franklin\, Norman Littlewood & Michael Haygarth\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-michael-john-haygarth-11-x-1934-27-iv-2016/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/haygarth.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200429 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200430 DTSTAMP:20210306T144342Z CREATED:20200409T133641Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T144342Z UID:4262-1588118400-1588204799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Norman Littlewood (31-i-1933 29-iv-1989) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Norman Littlewood (31-i-1933 29-iv-1989) \nNorman Littlewood circa 1967\nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume 109\, June (#6)\, page 265 we have the following obituary which appears to have been lifted and used in the BCF Yearbook from 1989 – 1990\, page 14\, (editor Brian Concannon) with no acknowledgement : \n“We were sorry to (announce the) hear of the death from cancer of Norman Littlewood of Sheffield(31 i 1933 – 29 iv 1989) who played with great force in British Championships of the 1960s.\nBorn into a working class family of 11 children\, Norman played for England in the 1951 Glorney Cup\, but did not make his debut in the British Championships until 1963 when he finished second to Penrose. He was then joint runner-up in the next three title contests\, impressed at Hastings Premiers\, particularly 1963-4 when he was the best of the English players\, and represented England in the 1964 and 1966 Olympiads. By 1969\, however\, he was drifting away from play in the direction of problem and study composition\, and his other interests such as bridge. He was also a skilled pianist\, a true all-rounder. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nA great impression was made on the top players at the 1964 British Championships when Norman won his first four games with his dynamic style. His victims included both Golombek and Clarke. Had he won his next game against Haygarth\, as he deserved to do\, he would have surely taken the title which fell to his Yorkshire colleague. \nNorman was always a modest but assertive character\, and with more management might well have challenged Penrose even more closely than he did. Our thanks to elder brother John Littlewood for some of the above information.” \nThe 1964 England Olympiad (Tel Aviv) Team : Owen Hindle\, Čeněk Kottnauer\, Peter Clarke\, Michael Franklin\, Norman Littlewood & Michael Haygarth\nHere is article from Yorkshire Chess History \nSee BCF Yearbook 1989-90\, page 14. \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-norman-littlewood-01-v-1989/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/IMG_2510-1-768x1024-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200502 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200503 DTSTAMP:20210306T144926Z CREATED:20200719T163808Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T144926Z UID:7589-1588377600-1588463999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Isidor Gunsberg (01-xi-1854 02-v-1930) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Isidor Gunsberg (01-xi-1854 02-v-1930) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-isidor-gunsberg-01-xi-1854-02-v-1930/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/12808.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200503 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200504 DTSTAMP:20210503T125607Z CREATED:20190822T222848Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210503T125607Z UID:1018-1588464000-1588550399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of David Hooper (31-xiii-1915 03-v-1998) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers David Hooper who passed away in a Taunton (Somerset) nursing home on Sunday\, May 3rd 1998. Probate (#9851310520) was granted in Brighton on June 24th 1998. \nPrior to the nursing home David had been living at 33\, Mansfield Road\, Taunton\, TA1 3NJ and before that at 5\, Haimes Lane\, Shaftesbury\, Dorset\, SP7 8AJ. \nFor most of the time between Reigate and Shaftesbury David lived in Whitchurch\, Hampshire. \nDavid Vincent Hooper was born on Tuesday\, August 31st 1915 in Reigate\, Surrey to Vincent Hooper and Edith Marjorie Winter who married in Reigate\, Surrey in 1909. On this day the first French ace\, Adolphe Pégoud\, was killed in combat. He had scored six victories. \nDavid was one of six children: Roger Garth (1910-?)\, Edwin Morris (1911-1942)\, Isobel Mary (12/01/1917-2009)\, Helene Edith (1916-1982) and Elizabeth Anne Oliver (1923-2000) were his siblings. \nRecorded in the September 1939 register David was aged 24 and living at 94\, High Street\, Reigate\, Surrey: \nHistorical Map showing 94\, High Street\, Reigate\, Surrey\nIn 2021 this property appears to be a flat (rather than bridge) over the River Kwai Restaurant: \n94\, High Street\, Reigate\, Surrey\, RH2 9AP\nLiving with David was his sister Isobel who was listed a “potential nurse”. David’s occupation at this time was listed as Architectural Assistant and he was single. We think that three others lived at this address at the time but they are not listed under the “100 year rule”. We know that David was also a surveyor and went on to attain professional membership of the Royal Institution of British Architects (RIBA). \nIn the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette May 27th 1944 there appeared this report of a simultaneous display on Empire Day (May 24th) at Dr. Marsh’s house: \nBath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette\, May 27th 1944\nand from The Western Morning News\, 9th April 1947 we have: \nWestern Morning News\, 9th April 1947\nand then from The Nottingham Evening Post\, 16th August 1949 we have: \nNottingham Evening Post\, 16th August 1949\nIn 1950 aged 35 David married Joan M Higley (or Rose!) in the district of South Eastern Surrey. \nDavid Hooper (seated right) in play at the West of England Championships in Bristol\, Easter\, 1947. His opponent \, ARB Thomas \, was that year’s champion. Among the spectators is Mrs. Rowena Bruce\, the 1946 British Ladies’ Champion. BCM\, Volume 118\, #6\, p.327. The others in the photo are L – R: H. V. Trevenen; H. Wilson-Osborne (WECU President); R. A. (Ron) Slade; Rowena Bruce; Ron Bruce; H. V. (Harry) Mallison; Chris Sullivan; C. Welch (Controller); F. E. A. (Frank) Kitto.\nKen Whyld wrote an obituary which appeared in British Chess Magazine\, Volume 118 (1998)\, Number 6\, page 326 as follows : \nDAVID VINCENT HOOPER died on 3rd May this year in a nursing home in Taunton. He had been in declining health for some months. Born in Reigate\, 31st August 1915\, his early chess years were with the Battersea CC and Surrey. \nDavid Hooper (left) in conversation with Alan Phillips. Location and photographer unknown.\nHe won the (ed. Somerset) County Championship three times\, and the London Championship in 1948. His generation was at its chess peak in the years when war curtailed opportunities\, but he won the British Correspondence Championship in 1944. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nHis games from that event are to be found in Chess for Rank and File by Roche and Battersby. \nChess for the Rank and File\nAlso at that time\, he won the 1944 tournament at Blackpool\, defeating veteran Grandmaster Jacques Mieses. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nDavid was most active in the decade that followed\, playing five times in the British Championship. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nHis highest place there was at Nottingham 1954\, when\, after leading in the early stages\, he finished half a point behind the joint champions\, Leonard Barden and Alan Phillips. \nDavid was in the British Olympic team at Helsinki 1952\, and in the same year accidentally played top board for England in one of the then traditional weekend matches against the Netherlands. British Champion Klein took offence at a Sunday Times report of his draw with former World Champion Dr. Euwe on the Saturday and refused to play on Sunday. Thus David was drafted in to meet Euwe\, and acquitted himself admirably. Even though he lost\, the game took pride of place in that month’s\nBCM. \nAlan Phillips plays David Hooper on August 20th 1954 in round five of the British Championships in Nottingham\, photographer unknown\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nIn the following game\, played in the Hastings Premier l95l-2\, he found an improvement on Botvinnik’s play against Bronstein in game 17 of their 1951 match\, when 7.Ng3 was played because it was thought that after 7.Nf4 d5 it was necessary to play 8 Qb3. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nIn his profession as architect David worked in the Middle East for some years from the mid-1950s\, and when he returned to England he made his mark as a writer. His Practical Chess Endgames \nPractical Chess Endgames (Chess Handbooks)\, David Hooper\, Routledge & Kegan Paul\, London\, 1968\, ISBN 0 7100 5226 X\nhas an enduring appeal. Two of his books appeared in the Wildhagen biographical games series on Steinitz\, and Capablanca. The last was written jointly with Gilchrist. \nWilliam Steinitz : Selected Chess Games\, David Hooper\nWith Euwe he wrote A Guide to Chess Endings; \nA Guide to Chess Endings\, Dover (1976 reprint)\, ISBN 0-486-23332-4\nwith Cafferty\, A Complete Defence to 1.e4; \nA Complete Defence to 1.P-K4 A Study of Petroff’s Defence\, Bernard Cafferty & David Hooper\, Pergamon Press\, 1967\, ISBN 0 08 024089 5\nA Pocket Guide to Chess Endgames; \nA Pocket Guide to Chess Endgames\, David Hooper\, Bell & Hyman Limited\, London\, 1970\, ISBN 0 7135 1761 1\nA Complete Defence to 1.d4; \nA Complete Defence to 1d4: A Study of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted\, Bernard Cafferty & David Hooper\, Pergamon Press\, ISBN 0-08-024102-6\nand Play for Mate; \nPlay for Mate (1990)\, DV Hooper and Bernard Cafferty\, ISBN-13: 978-0713464740\nwith Brandreth The Unknown Capablanca\, \nThe Unknown Capablanca\, David Hooper & Dale Brandreth\, Batsford\, London\, 1975\, ISBN\, 0 7134 2964\nand with Ken Whyld\, The Oxford Companion to Chess. \nThe Oxford Companion to Chess\, 1st Edition\, David Hooper & Ken Whyld\, Oxford University Press\, 1984\, ISBN 0 19 217540 8\nKen Whyld \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Harry Golombek : \nBritish amateur (an architect by profession) whose best result was =5 in the British Championship at Felixstowe 1949 along with\, amongst others\, Broadbent and Fairhurst. \nHooper abandoned playing for writing about chess and has become a specialist in two distinct areas. He is an expert on the endings and has a close knowledge of the history of chess in the nineteenth century. \nHis principal works : Steinitz (in German)\, Hamburg\, 1968; A Pocket Guide to Chess Endgames\, London 1970. \nHere is an interesting article from Edward Winter \nHere is his brief Wikipedia entry. \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-david-hooper/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/hooper_ind.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200503 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200504 DTSTAMP:20210306T145546Z CREATED:20200409T075207Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T145546Z UID:4227-1588464000-1588550399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Dr. IM István (Stefan) Fazekas (23-iii-1898 03-v-1967) DESCRIPTION:Signature of S Fazekas from a Brian Reilly “after dinner” postcard from Southsea 1951.\nBCN remembers Dr. IM István (Stefan) Fazekas (23-iii-1898 03-v-1967) \nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“Dr Stefan (ne Istvan) Fazekas was born in Satoraljaujhely\, Hungary. Awarded the IM title in 1953 and the IMC title in 1964\, he was British Champion in 1957 and is the oldest player ever to have won the title. He passed away in 1967 in Buckhurst Hill\, Essex\, England.” \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXXVII\, Number 7 (July)\, pages 195-6 we have an obituary written by Peter Clarke : \nThe death of Dr. Fazekas on May 3rd has deprived British chess of one of its leading and most colourful figures. Ever since he came to this country nearly thirty years ago he took an active part\, in the game at all levels\, from club to international\, rarely missing the chance – even when not in the best of health- to test his strength in competition and express his ideas afresh. \nStefan Fazekas was born on March 23rd\, 1898\, at Sitoraljaujhely on the Hungarian-Czechoslovak border\, but it was not until a few years after the Great War\, in which he served and was wounded\, that he got the opportunity to play serious tournament chess. By present-day standards\, however\, events were few and far between\, and the game always had to take second place to his medical work. The Doctor’s best international performances\, for which he was later awarded the master title by F.I.D.E.\, came in the ‘thirties. In 1931\, for instance\, he was 2nd at Kosice\, 3rd at Brno and 3rd at Prague. As it remained throughout his career\, his play was excessively variable: fine conceptions were always liable to be ruined by blunders or impetuosity. The following game\, played at Munchentratz in 1933\, shows all going well; it earned inclusion in Le Lionnais’ anthology Les Prix de beauté aux échecs. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nIn 1939 Dr. Fazekas brought his family to England and established himself as a successful and much loved G.P. at Buckhurst Hill\, Essex. He soon took a dominating part in county chess and went on to win the championship eleven times. In national events his inconsistency seemed too great a handicap\, but at Plymouth in 1957\, after so many tries\, he astounded everyone by winning the British Championship in front of\, among others\, Alexander and Penrose. The next year fate struck him a cruel blow when he was left out of the B.C.F. team\nfor the Munich Olympiad. Yet after returning the trophy in protest he overcame his bitterness and took his place once more in the championship tournament-he could not resist\nthe thrill of the struggle. \nKnowing that his best over-the-board days were behind him\, the Doctor decided to go in for correspondence chess in 1959\, and he at once found himself surprisingly at home in it. Here his old weaknesses could be set aside and his vast experience put to good use. Moreover\, his great love for chess enabled him to devote hours of work to the analysis of a single\nmove if necessary. His rapid successes in this field won him a place in the Semi-Finals of the 5th World Correspondence Championship (where he finished 4th out of 14) and led to his\nbeing chosen as Board 1 for the British team in the 5th Olympiad. On the results of these events he was awarded the title of international C.C. master. That he deserved it may be\njudged from this fine strategic win against a grandmaster (C.C.) opponent in the individual tournament. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nAt the time of his death Dr. Fazekas had made a score of 5 out of 7 in the Olympiad Final and was still engaged with Zagorovsky of the U.S.S.R.\, a performance which showed his correspondence play to be close to grandmaster standard. And to end one’s days actually playing a World Champion is a distinction which I am sure would have appealed to this Doctor’s rich sense of humour. \nWhile Dr. Fazekas’ social work as a humanist was for the peace of the world\, in chess he was noted as a great fighter\, in some ways reminiscent of Lasker. There was no retirement\nfor him. At Ilford in 1965 and 1966 he eagerly took on and held his own with a generation fifty years his junior\, and this year he had once again qualified to play in the British Champion-\nship. The tournament at Oxford will not seem quite the same without him. I and his many friends will miss his wit and ebullience\, his generosity\, his love of life and chess.-P. H. C. \nDr. Fazekas was Southern Counties (SCCU) Champion twice in 1951-2 and 1952-53. \nIn Edward Winter’s Chess Notes there is a note from Leonard Barden concerning SFs spoken English (under Chess Note #10361) \nHere is his brief Wikipedia entry \nIstván (Stefan) Fazekas\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-im-stefan-fazekas-03-v-1967/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/BCN_5161-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR