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: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:20200425 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200426 DTSTAMP:20200425T101112Z CREATED:20190823T185756Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200425T101112Z UID:1118-1587772800-1587859199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Malik Mir Sultan Khan (1905 25-iv-1966) DESCRIPTION:Malik Mir Sultan Khan\nDeath Anniversary of Malik Mir Sultan Khan (1905 25-iv-1966) \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess by Hooper & Whyld : \nPerhaps the greatest natural player of modern times. Born in the Punjab\, he learned Indian chess when he was nine\, was taken into the household of Sir Umar Hay at Khan\, and learned the international game in 1926\, Two years later he won the All-India Championship and in the spring of 1929 his patron and master took him to London. Within a few months he won the British Championship\, returning to India shortly afterwards. In Europe in May 1930 he began a brief career that included defeats of many leading players. \nA striking figure\, of dark complexion\, with a lean face and broad forehead\, his black hair usually turban tied\, he sat at the board impassively\, showing no emotion in positions good or bad. He did not believe he possessed any special skill\, rather that the player applying the greater concentration should win. In events of about category 10 Sultan Khan came second to Tartakower at Liege 1930\, third (+5=2-2) after Euwe and Capablanca at Hastings 1930-1\, and third ( + 6=3—2) equal with Kashdan after Alekhine and Flohr at London 1932\, In events of about category 9 he came fourth or equal fourth at Scarborough 1930\, Hastings 1931-2\, and Berne 1932 ( + 10=2-3). Sultan Khan won the British Championship again in 1932 and 1933 and played first board for the British Chess Federation in the Olympiads of 1930\, 1931\, and 1933. In match play he defeated Tartakower (+4=5—3) in 1931 and lost to Flohr ( + 1=3—2) in 1932. At the end of 1933 he went back to India at the bidding of his master. When Sir Umar died Sultan Khan was left a small farmstead near his birthplace\, and there he lived out his days. Apparently he had few regrets\, A friend visiting him in 1958 found him sitting quietly under the shade of a tree smoking his hookah\, chatting with\nneighbouring farmers while the womenfolk did the work. \nIn the Indian game of his time the pieces were moved as in international chess but the laws of promotion and stalemate were different\, castling was not permitted\, and a pawn could not he\nadvanced two squares on its first move. The game opened slowly with emphasis on positional play rather than tactics\, and not surprisingly Sultan Khan became a positional player. He had few peers in the middle-game and was among the world’s best two or three endgame players\, but he never mastered the openings which\, by nature empirical\, cannot be learned by the application of common sense alone* \nWhen Sultan Khan first travelled to Europe his English was so rudimentary that he needed an interpreter. He suffered from bouts of malaria and\, in the English climate\, from continual colds and throat infections\, often turning up to play with his neck swathed in bandages. Unable to read or write\, he never studied any hooks on the game\, and he was mistakenly put in the hands of trainers who were also his rivals in play. Under these adverse circumstances\, and having known the international game for a mere seven years\, only half of which was spent in Europe\, Sultan Khan nevertheless became one of the world’s best ten players. This achievement brought admiration from Capablanca who called him a genius\, an accolade he rarely if ever bestowed on anyone else. \nR. N. Coles\, Mir Sultan Khan (rev\, edn\, 1977) contains 64 games. \nSultan Khan-Flohr 3rd match game 1932 Caro-Kann\nDefence\, Exchange Variation \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 his Wikipedia entry \nMalik Mir Sultan Khan (right)\nHere is an excellent article from chess.com \n\n\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-mir-sultan-khan/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200425 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200426 DTSTAMP:20210424T091645Z CREATED:20190823T090733Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210424T091645Z UID:1056-1587772800-1587859199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of GM John Nunn (25-iv-1955) DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes GM John Nunn Happy Birthday (25-iv-1955) \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Harry Golombek : \nBritish International master and European Junior Champion\, 1975. Born in London\, Nunn learned chess at the age of four and soon revealed a great aptitude for the game. \n  \nGraham Ladds and John Nunn. See full caption below.\nSupplied caption for above picture.\nHe came 6th in the Norwich Junior international tournament in 1970 and went up to Oxford University to take a mathematics degree at a very early age. He played on top board for the University from 1972-6 and is now preparing for a doctorate there. \nJohn DM Nunn\nHe won the European Junior Championship and with it the international master title in Groningen in 1975. In that year too he was equal first in the IBM Master tournament\, and at London in 1975 he reached an international master norm coming 5th in the international tournament there. He played on bottom board at the Haifa Olympiad 1976 and scored 64.2% \nGM John Nunn\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld : \nEnglish player. International Grandmaster (1978)\, British champion 1980. He went to Oxford at the unusually young age of 15\, graduated in 1973. Gained his B.Sc. the following year and his\ndoctorate in 1978. \nGM John Nunn\n  \nA Junior Research Fellow\, he lectured in mathematics until 1981 when he became a professional player. By then he had already achieved several good results in international tournaments: Budapest 1978\, first; Hastings 1979-80\, first (4-5 = 10) equal with Andersson; Baden-bei-Wien 1980\, category 12\, third (+5=10) after Spassky and Belyavsky: Helsinki 1981\, first (+5 = 6) equal with Matulovich; and Wiesbaden 1981\, first (+6=3). In the category 12 Wijk aan Zee tournament 1982\, Nunn came first ( + 5=7 — 1) equal with Balashov ahead of Tal\, Hubner\, and Timman and at Helsinki 1983 he came second (+5 = 6) after Karlsson. \nMaia Chiburdanidze and John Nunn from Lloyds Bank\, 1985\nPossessing a remarkably quick sight of the board\, Nunn is an expert solver: he made the second highest individual score in the world team solving championship\, 1978\, and won the solving championship of Great Britain in 1981. \nLubomir Kavalek and John Nunn\nHere is an excellent article from ChessBase \nPolugayevsky-Nunn European team 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\nGM John Nunn\n\nHere is his Wikipedia entry \n46th USSR Chess Championships 1978\, RD Keene\, JDM Nunn\, RG Wade\, Master Chess Publications\, 1978\, ISBN 0 906634 00 8\n  \nThe Benoni for the Tournament Player\nSolving in Style\nThe Complete Pirc\nSecrets of Rook Endings\nSecrets of Pawnless Endings\nNew Ideas in the Pirc Defence\nBeating the Sicilian 3\nThe King Hunt\nSecrets of Grandmaster Chess\nSecrets of Practical Chess\nNunn’s Chess Openings\nJohn Nunn’s Chess Puzzle Book\n101 Brilliant Chess Miniatures\nLearn Chess\nSecrets of Minor-Piece Endings\nUnderstanding Chess Move by Move\nJohn Nunn’s Best Games\nEndgame Challenge\nTactical Chess Endings\nLearn Chess Tactics\nMammoth Book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games\nGrandmaster Chess Move by Move\nUnderstanding Chess Endgames\nNunn’s Chess Endings\nUnderstanding Chess Middlegames\nChess Tactics Workbook for Kids\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 Endgame Workbook for Kids\nGM John Nunn\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-john-denis-martin-nunn/ CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,Problemist,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/img_0068_smaller-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200424 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200425 DTSTAMP:20200411T142757Z CREATED:20200411T142038Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200411T142757Z UID:4452-1587686400-1587772799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of WIM Gulnara Sachs (24-iv-1963) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of WIM Gulnara Sachs (24-iv-1963) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-wim-gulnara-sachs-24-iv-1963/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200422 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200423 DTSTAMP:20210422T133025Z CREATED:20200402T193358Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210422T133025Z UID:3997-1587513600-1587599999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Gary Kenworthy (22-iv-1957) DESCRIPTION:Happy Birthday FM Gary Kenworthy (22-iv-1957) \nGary was born in Bradford and became an FIDE Master in 2002 and achieved a peak rating of 2315 in July 1994. \nIn 1994 Gary represented London in a match with Paris over nine boards and has played from London Central YMCA (CentYMCA) and Barbican in the London Chess League and in the BCF National Club competition. \nIn 2003 he was runner-up (to Kidami Sundararajan) in the Ron Banwell Masters in Blackpool. \nGary has played for King’s Head in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) and now plays for Mindsports. \nIn 2019 Gary joined the England Chess Coaching Team. He founded Bletchley Junior Chess Club and Chess School.\nHe has been board 1 for Milton Keynes and Open University First team. He is board 1 for the Bedfordshire County Chess Team and has retained the Bedfordshire Individual County Chess Championship Title. In 2019/2020 he was board 1 for the Leighton Buzzard Chess Club. \nGary Kenworthy\, inaugurator of the new M25 Congress series\, on his way to victory in the Spalding Quickplay. Earlier in the summer he defeated Grandmaster Michael Adams\, photograph by Francis Bowers\nGary is a former Director of Chess Coaching for the (then) British Chess Federation (BCF). \nGary lives in Fenny Stratford\, Milton Keynes and is an IT consultant and local councillor. He has been a former Director of the BCF. \nGary Kenworthy (holding board) at a BCF National Club Final (1992)\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\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nGary Kenworthy at the 2012 UKCC Terafinal\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-gary-kenworthy-22-iv-1957/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/JEU2695-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200422 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200423 DTSTAMP:20200402T175536Z CREATED:20200402T175517Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200402T175536Z UID:3992-1587513600-1587599999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of WFM Kanwal K Bhatia (22-iv-1981) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of WFM Kanwal K Bhatia (22-iv-1981) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-wfm-kanwal-k-bhatia-22-iv-1981/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200421 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200422 DTSTAMP:20260817T141214Z CREATED:20201110T145042Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T141214Z UID:11277-1587427200-1587513599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Happy Birthday Malcolm Barker (21-iv-1934) DESCRIPTION:Happy Birthday Malcolm Barker (21-iv-1934) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/happy-birthday-malcolm-barker-01-iv-1934/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200418 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200419 DTSTAMP:20210306T141648Z CREATED:20200613T113037Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T141648Z UID:6263-1587168000-1587254399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Jonathan Rowson (18-iv-1977) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Jonathan Rowson (18-iv-1977)Here is his Wikipedia entry \nGM Jonathan Rowson\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-jonathan-rowson-18-iv-1977/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/jb4_7634_lv.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200418 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200419 DTSTAMP:20210418T082537Z CREATED:20200418T001019Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210418T082537Z UID:3927-1587168000-1587254399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Willy Watson (18-iv-1962) DESCRIPTION:William Watson\nBirthday of GM William Nicholas Watson (18-iv-1962) \nWilliam Watson\nHere is his brief Wikipedia entry \nWilliam Watson at a BCF National Club Final\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWilliam Watson (2nd from left)\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWilliam Watson (2nd from left)\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-william-nicholas-watson-18-iv-1962/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200418 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200419 DTSTAMP:20210306T141542Z CREATED:20200411T224038Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T141542Z UID:4525-1587168000-1587254399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of FM David Wood (18-iv-1969) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM David A Wood (18-iv-1969) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-david-a-wood-18-iv-1969/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200417 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200418 DTSTAMP:20210306T141148Z CREATED:20200401T120920Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T141148Z UID:3925-1587081600-1587167999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Peter Wells (17-iv-1965) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Peter Kenneth Wells (17-iv-1965) \nHere is his very brief Wikipedia entry \nPeter Wells (seated\, far LHS)\nand from chessgames.com : \n“Peter Kenneth Wells was born in Portsmouth\, England and became a FIDE Master in 1982\, an IM in 1987\, and a GM in 1994. He is also a FIDE Senior Trainer (2015).” \nPeter Wells (between Harry Golombek and Ray Keene) takes part in the obligatory “Staring at the board” posed picture during the 1985 Varsity Match\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nPeter Wells (second from right) at a Lloyds Bank event.\nGM Peter Wells\nThe Complete Semi-Slav\nPiece Power\nThe Complete Richter-Rauzer\nThe Scotch Game\nWinning with the Trompowsky\nChess Explained : The Queen’s Indian\nGrandmaster Secrets : The Caro-Kann\nDangerous Weapons : Anti-Sicilians\nGM Peter Wells\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-peter-kenneth-wells-17-iv-1965/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/JUA3806-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200416 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200417 DTSTAMP:20200427T134217Z CREATED:20200412T181215Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200427T134217Z UID:4556-1586995200-1587081599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Paul Macklin (16-iv-1967) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Paul Macklin (16-iv-1967) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-paul-macklin-16-iv-1967/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player 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:20200416 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200417 DTSTAMP:20210306T140644Z CREATED:20200401T104945Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T140644Z UID:3913-1586995200-1587081599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Nathan Alfred (16-iv-1980) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Nathan SW Alfred (16-iv-1980) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-nathan-sw-alfred-16-iv-1980/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/DB_Nathan_Alfred.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200415 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200416 DTSTAMP:20200413T125551Z CREATED:20200408T153011Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200413T125551Z UID:4205-1586908800-1586995199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Herbert William Trenchard (08-ix-1857 15-iv-1934) DESCRIPTION:Herbert William Trenchard\nDeath Anniversary of Herbert William Trenchard (15-iv-1934) \nFrom Wikipedia : \n“Herbert William Trenchard (8 September 1857\, Thorncombe – 15 April 1934\, London) was an English chess master. \nHe took 11th and tied for 4-5th in London in 1886\, shared twice 3rd at Cambridge 1890 and Oxford 1891\, tied for 4-5th at Brighton 1892\, took 2nd at London 1892 (B tourn)\, tied for 3rd-4th at Woolhall Spa 1893\, and took 3rd at London 1896\,[1] \nHe also participated at Vienna 1898 (Kaiser-Jubiläumsturnier\, Siegbert Tarrasch and Harry Pillsbury won) and took 19th place there.[2][3]” \nHere are his games from chessgames.com \nHere is a fascinating article about the National Liberal Club Chess Circle \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 chess column of the Essex Times\, 22 April 1905\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-herbert-william-trenchard-15-iv-1934/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200414 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200415 DTSTAMP:20200409T073818Z CREATED:20200409T073818Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200409T073818Z UID:4221-1586822400-1586908799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Tom Eckersley-Waites (14-vi-1987) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Tom Eckersley-Waites (14-vi-1987) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-tom-eckersley-waites-14-vi-1987/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200413 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200414 DTSTAMP:20220413T122248Z CREATED:20200324T195846Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220413T122248Z UID:3711-1586736000-1586822399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Peter Markland (13-iv-1951) DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes a happy birthday to Peter Markland born on Friday\, April 13th\, 1951 \nFrom the rear cover of “Sicilian:…e5 : \n“P.R. Markland is a British Master\, and a member of many English international teams\, including those at the 1972 and 1974 Olympiads\, and is also a British correspondence international” \nPeter first qualified to the British Championship in 1967 (Oxford) and obtained an IM and GM norm at Hastings 1971. \nIn 1984 he became a Grandmaster for correspondence chess (GMC). \nPeter became a banker and lives in Woodbridge\, Suffolk\, IP13. \nFrom British Chess (Pergamon Press\, 1983) we have this contribution from Peter himself: \n“1951 seems to have been a vintage year for chessplayers and although I cannot claim to count myself in the company of Andersson\, Karpov\, Ribli and Sax we do all share the same year of birth. \nAlthough I learned the moves at the age of 5\, I only took any real interest in the game at 13 when I began to play schools chess. Compared with such as Nigel Short I was a very late starter! \nI was educated at Bolton School and played for Bolton and Lancashire in my early years. This was fortunate in that all three of these teams enjoyed great success in the late 1960s. In all three teams I played along side Martyn Corden who was to precede my rise to international level himself by playing in the Siegen Olympiad team in 1970. In 1967\, I qualified for the British Championship at my first attempt and I was pleased to score 5/11. The following year the school team won The Sunday Times tournament playing without Martyn Corden in the finals. \nUp to this time I had concentrated chiefly on junior teams and had won the NCCU junior titles. Over Christmas and New Year of both 1966-7 and 1967-8 I travelled down to play at the Devon Junior Congress at Plymouth but in 1968 I decided to try my luck at Hastings. This proved to be one of the turning points of my career. \nI was placed in the Challengers Reserves for 1968-9 and after the first round loss (to the eventual winner) my play gained momentum and I qualified for the Challengers the following year. The intervening year passed quietly with a trip to Ireland in the Glorney Cup. I went up to Balliol College\, Oxford in October 1969. \nThe Scottish Junior International\, Glasgow\, 1969. l-r: David Watt\, Rene Borngässer\, David Levy\, Heinz Wirthensohn\, Peter Markland. Courtesy of Chess Scotland\nThe Hastings Challengers tournament 1969-70 began when I met the same opponent as in the previous year in the first round. This time I managed to come out on top. By the time the last round came\, I had played most of the leaders and had 6/8 including two pleasing wins with my favourite defence at the time – the Sicilian Pelikan variation. \nSicilian:…e5 by TD Harding & PR Markland\, Batsford\, 1976\, ISBN 0 7134 3209 8\nIn the last round I was paired against de Veauce who had a reputation as a good strategist and whom I hoped to unsettle tactically. I had white and my plan failed. He outplayed me in the opening and middlegame and I sacrificed my isolated centre pawn to activate my pieces. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nSo I then had to wait had to wait to see the other results before I could confirm a somewhat lucky place in the Premier. \nIn 1970 I had the opportunity to travel with the student team to the Olympiad in Haifa. My score of 5.5/7 was reasonably pleasing but the standard of opposition was far from good. \nPeter Markland at Hastings 1970-71\nAt the end of the year came the Hastings Premier – a tournament which I can only describe as the highlight of my career. I began nervously and lost a nondescript game to Uhlmann in the first round. My confidence grew with two comfortable draws with Portisch (the eventual winner) and Keene. In round four I met the surprise leader\, Mestrovic (who had 3/3) and perhaps partly due to the fact that this game was played on 1st January I won convincingly in 18 moves. \nPeter Markland during his game with Portisch on December 30th 1970\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nThe next four rounds brought an uneventful draw with Wade and three exciting encounters with Byrne\, Krogius and Gligoric all of which after several reversals of fortune ended in draws. \nPeter Markland at Hastings 1970-71\nIn the last round I was to play Hort who needed to to win to gain a share of first prize. He played a horribly passive opening and by move 14 I was already well on top. To try to compensate he snatched a queenside pawn and gave me the chance to play the type of move one can only dream about! \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nThis victory meant an equal second on 5/9 with Gligoric\, Hort\, Krogius and Uhlmann and both a GM and IM norm. \n\nAs a result of this I became a regular member of the England side. During 1971 my results were erratic\, possibly caused by too much play. I was pleased with my 3.5 score in my first Clare Benedict\, although I lost my first game for England due to nervousness and I was first equal with George Botterill in the Slater Young Masters at Hastings (again). Here I declined a last round draw offer\, blundered almost next move and lost to an up-and-coming junior by the name of Michael Stean! On the debit side my performances in the British Championship\, The Oxford International Congress and the Robert Silk tournament left room for improvement. \nWhilst playing with Bolton in the National Club Championship\, we had never won the competition although we had reached the semi-finals many times. This year\, 1971\, playing for Oxford University\, we won the tournament beating our old rivals Cambridge University in the final on board count. \nThe Hastings tournament of 1971-72 saw me firmly entrenched near the bottom. It is very difficult in this type of international tournament when one becomes marked as an out-of-form player. All the other players make extra efforts to beat you and this drains your strength further. \nMy main problem at Hastings was a lack of defence to 1.e4. I lost five games against this move. In the last round I had a very interesting struggle against Karpov who needed to win this game to tie first with Korchnoi who had beaten him in the previous round\, but the strength of 1.e4 proved too much. \nThe summer of 1972 saw the advent of my University finals and thus I played very little for the first six months of the year – even I had to decline an invitation to the Teeside GM event. Later in the year I played in the student Olympiad in Graz and then in the Olympiad is Skopje. \nIn the preliminaries we had drawn Yugoslavia and Switzerland\, who were the only other teams likely to qualify for the ‘A’ final. We missed qualification narrowly and I think that every team member had one poor result in the qualifying rounds – mine being a scraped draw against a Syrian team. \nWe won the ‘B’ final by beating the Israeli team in the last round and I felt pleased by my score of 11.5/16 with no losses. Indeed\, in my last round game with Balshan I was quite rightly instructed to agree a draw in a winning position to secure the team’s first place. \nI feel that this tournament from my point of view aptly demonstrates the difference in title norms in the early 1970s and today. I played five players who had no Elo ratings and only four titled players. Hence an IM norm would not have been available under any circumstances. The main reason for the lack of Elo ratings in 1972 was that the new system had only just been introduced and for many players this was their first Elo-rated tournament. In the last Elo list\, all but one of the sixteen players are rated\, there are now four GMs and five IMs amongst my opponents and the norm figures would be 10.5/16 and 12.5/16 for IM and GM respectively. \nHere is my best game from the Olympiad. It is indicative of an early combination prevailing through into a winning ending. \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 1973 I was once more plagued by too many invitations and played indifferently throughput the year. The only bright spots were my score of 3/7 on boards 3 and 4 of the European Team Finals and second place in the Woolacombe International. \n1974 was once again an Olympiad year. The England team won the Clare Benedict for the first time in Menorca and I was able to contribute 5/6 winning both a board prize and the best score prize. I was drafted into the Olympiad team as a late replacement and although we qualified easily enough for the ‘A’ finals this was in no way due to my efforts as I had a 50% score in the preliminaries. \nWe had qualified for the ‘A’ final with one round to spare and our last group match against the USE (from which the score was to be carried forward) began the final matches. It had been decided\, as a tactical measure and in our view of our differing styles\, that I should take black whenever we had this colour on the fourth board\, so that Whiteley and Stean could utilize a greater proportion of whites. This worked to a limited extent and indeed\, Stean obtained an IM Norm. Also\, as it worked out I played in matches against seven of the top eight teams (being rested against Yugoslavia) and only three teams below us. In the end\, I was pleased with my +3 =1 -4 with black in the finals to give overall a 50& score. \nDuring 1973 and 1974 I was co-author of two books in the Batsford opening series\, both with Tim Harding on Sicilian Defence variations. \nThe Sicilian Richter-Rauzer\, TD Hardign and PR Markland\, Batsford\, 975\, ISBN 0 7134 2979 8\nI also wrote a best game collection of Karpov which was by far the most interesting of the three books to write. \nThe Best of Karpov\, PR Markland\, Oxford University Press\, 1975\, ISBN 10: 0192175343\nAt about this time\, I decided to embark upon a career in banking and to abandon that of a professional chessplayer. Since then I have concentrated on correspondence chess. \nHaving received  master certificate\, I entered a European and World tournament in both of which I finished first. The second of these two results qualified me for the world Championship Semi-finals. But first attempt in the eleventh championship ended in failure to qualify. \nAs a result of an invitation received by the BPCF I played in the Eino Heilimo Memorial Grandmaster event. I have \, however\, qualified as a postal IM by scoring the required seven points and had an outside chance of trying for first place at one stage. \nHere is my best game from this event. \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 his brief Wikipedia entry. \nThe English Chess Forum has discussed Peter. \nPeter’s games are here. \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/birthday-of-peter-richard-markland-13-iv-1951/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Correspondence,English,Hastings,Player,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/IMG_0003-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200412 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200413 DTSTAMP:20220413T093247Z CREATED:20200411T152505Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220413T093247Z UID:4464-1586649600-1586735999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Harry Grieve (12-iv-2001) DESCRIPTION:FM Harry Grieve\nBirthday of FM Harry James M Grieve (12-iv-2001) \nHarry at the 2014 UKCC Terafinal\nHarry is studying mathematics at St. Catherine’s College\, Cambridge having previously been a pupil and member of the very strong chess team of Royal Grammar School\, Guildford. He started his league chess with Fleet & Farnborough Chess Club (same as Simon Williams !) and then transferred his allegiance to the very strong Farnham chess club playing top board in many matches. \nRound 5 of the Caplin Hastings International Chess Congress featured the board 10 clash between one of England’s stronger Grandmasters\, Danny Gormally (2508) and FM Harry Grieve (2299). \nHere is their 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\nFollowing this game Harry needs 2.5/4 to obtain his first IM norm : Good luck ! \nHarry Grieve\, 2014 Terafinal\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-harry-grieve-12-iv-2001/ CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,Player 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:20200411 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200412 DTSTAMP:20201110T110949Z CREATED:20200411T001052Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201110T110949Z UID:4511-1586563200-1586649599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Richard Webb (11-iv-1962) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Richard Mark Webb (11-iv-1962) \nThis was written about Richard just prior to the 1979 Spassky vs the BCF Junior Squad simultaneous display : \n“Forest of Needwood High and Burton on Trent.Rating 192. Second youngest British men’s championship finalist\, 1977.” \nRichard Webb (front\, far left) at a Lloyds Bank event\nAt the Lloyds Bank Masters : Front (l-r) : Joel Benjamin\, Ian Wells\, Rear : Peter Morrish\, Stewart Reuben\, Richard Beville\, Gary Senior\, Richard Webb\, John Hawksworth\, Andrew King\, Nigel Short\, Mark Ginsburg\, Daniel King\, David Cummings\, Erik Teichmann\, John Brandford and Micheal Pagden\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-richard-mark-webb-11-iv-1962/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/JEU5889-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200411 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200412 DTSTAMP:20210411T102446Z CREATED:20200406T153153Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210411T102446Z UID:4108-1586563200-1586649599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Erik Teichmann (11-iv-1961) DESCRIPTION:FM Erik Oskar Michael Charles Teichmann\nBirthday of FM Erik Oskar Michael Charles Teichmann (11-iv-1961) \nErik was born in Westminster\, London\, his mother (née Jorgensen) being Danish and his father was Max Teichmann. They lived in London for two years and then emigrated to Melbourne\, Australia until Erik was six when Erik and his mother moved to Cambridge\, England. Erik played much chess in England including the British U-18 and U-21 championships\, Lloyds Bank events \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 the Islington and other opens swisses. Erik played for Cambridge University (Magdalen College) in the 1982 (100th) Varsity Match drawing with Gareth Anthony (Trinity Hall). \nErik Oskar Michael Charles Teichmann (rear\, far right) at a Lloyds Bank event\nErik (left) analyses with Mark A Johnstone (right) and James Pratt at the 1981 Islington Open. Your Truly was the photographer.\nIn 1985 Erik emigrated once more to Australia living in Eltham\, Melbourne and became a lifestyle guru and coach. \nErik Teichmann standing\, holding trophy)\nErik became a FIDE Master in 1990 and his peak rating was 2388 in July 2010. \nFM Erik Teichmann\nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“FIDE Master Erik Oskar Michael Charles Teichmann won the Nova Scotia Open in 1999.” \nHere is Erik’s favourite 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\nErik now lives in Lyon\, France with his girlfriend both being Buddhists. \nFM Erik Teichmann\, photo by Cathy Rogers\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-erik-oskar-michael-charles-teichmann-11-iv-1961/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200411 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200412 DTSTAMP:20260817T141246Z CREATED:20190822T154919Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T141246Z UID:981-1586563200-1586649599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Henry Edward Bird (14-vii-1829 11-iv-1908) DESCRIPTION:Henry Edward Bird\nDeath Anniversary of Henry Edward Bird (14-vii-1829 11-iv-1908) \nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by David Hooper & Ken Whyld : \n“English player\, accountant. He played in 13 strong tournaments\, with erratic results; his best achievements were: Vienna 1873\, a tie with L. Paulsen for fifth place; Paris 1878\, fourth place shared with Mackenzie; Manchester 1890. third prize shared with Mackenzie after Tarrasch and Blackburne. He also played in numerous minor tournaments\, notably tying with Gunsberg for first prize at London 1889. His most important match was against Steinitz in 1866 for the first to win eleven games. He was adjudged the loser when he was\ncalled to the USA on business\, the score standing +5 = 5—7 in favour of his opponent. This was a creditable result in the circumstances\, for he played each game after a day’s work (Steinitz\, however\, was not so strong a player as he later became.) In 1886 Bird drew a match with Burn(+ 9—9). One of the most ingenious tacticians of his time\, Bird played in the attacking style prevalent in his youth. He usually chose openings that were regarded as bizarre\, although many of them\, e.g. the Dragon Variation\, have since gained acceptance. \nBird was probably the best known and longest serving habitue of the London coffee-house known as Simpson’s Divan. ‘A rosy-cheeked\, blue-eyed\, fair-headed boy’\, he first attended around 1846 and was a constant visitor for more than 50 years\, after which he was described as ‘majestic in stature\, in girth\, in the baldness of his great head\, less majestic in the litter of tobacco ash upon his waistcoat … with a pleasant smiling countenance’. He suffered from gout which eventually so incapacitated him that he was largely confined to his home for the last years of his life. \nBesides writing booklets on railway finance he wrote several books on chess. They are not without interest although the content is sometimes inaccurate and often disorganized. Bird’s Modern Chess and Chess Masterpieces (1887) contains more than 200 games\, about half of them his own. Chess History and Reminiscences (1893) contains an account of contemporary players and chess affairs. \nChess History and Reminiscences\nHenry Edward Bird\, from Megabase 2020\nBird-Mason New York 1876 French Defence\, Exchange Variation : \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 this game Bird was awarded the BRILLIANCY PRIZE. \nBird (RHS\, sitting) and contemporaries\nThe Bird Attack is variation in the Italian opening strongly advocated by Stamma and no less strongly by Biro. In May 1843 saint-Amant played it against Staunton in their first match and five years later Bird adopted the variation\, playing it in many tournaments\, notably with fair success at Vienna 1882\, London 1883\, and Nuremberg 1883. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nThe Bird Defence\, a reply to the Spanish opening given in the first edition of Bilguer’s Handbuch\, 1843. Pioneered by Bird\, e.g. against Anderssen in 1854\, and used on occasion by grandmasters such as Tarrasch\, Spielmann\, and Spassky\, this defence has not gained wide acceptance. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nThe Bird Opening\, sometimes called the Dutch Attack by analogy with the Dutch Defence. In 1873\, after an absence of six years from chess\, Bird played a match with Wisker. ‘Having forgotten familiar openings\, I commenced adopting KBP for first move\, and finding it led to highly interesting games out of the usual groove\, I became partial to it. ’ Bird had also forgotten unfamiliar openings\, for\n1 f4 (given by Lucena) had been played by Bourdonnais\, Williams\, and others of that period. However Bird’s consistent adoption of the move led to its becoming a standard opening\, although\nnever popular. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nFrom Wikipedia : \nHenry Edward Bird (Portsea in Hampshire\, 14 July 1830 – 11 April 1908) was an English chess player\, and also an author and accountant. He wrote a book titled Chess History and Reminiscences\, and another titled An Analysis of Railways in the United Kingdom. \nAlthough Bird was a practicing accountant\, not a professional chess player\, it has been said that he “lived for chess\, and would play anybody anywhere\, any time\, under any conditions.” \nAt age 21\, Bird was invited to the first international tournament\, London 1851. He also participated in tournaments held in Vienna and New York City. In 1858 he lost a match to Paul Morphy at the age of 28\, yet he played high-level chess for another 50 years. In the New York tournament of 1876\, Bird received the first brilliancy prize ever awarded\, for his game against James Mason. \nIn 1874 Bird proposed a new chess variant\, which played on an 8×10 board and contained two new pieces: guard (combining the moves of the rook and knight) and equerry (combining the bishop and knight). Bird’s chess inspired José Raúl Capablanca to create another chess variant\, Capablanca Chess\, which differs from Bird’s chess only by the starting position. \nIt was Bird who popularized the chess opening now called Bird’s Opening (1.f4)\, as well as Bird’s Defense to the Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4). Bird’s Opening is considered sound\, though not the best try for an opening advantage. Bird’s Defense is regarded as slightly inferior\, but “trappy”. \nChess Novelties\nH.E. Bird : A Chess Biography with 1\,198 Games\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-henry-edward-bird/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player 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: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: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:20200312 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200313 DTSTAMP:20200823T093911Z CREATED:20200821T105836Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200823T093911Z UID:8730-1583971200-1584057599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of Mandy Hepworth (12-iii-1968) DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes Mandy Hepworth Happy Birthday (12-iii-1968) \nMandy Allison S. Hepworth was born in Scunthorpe\, (now) Humberside (but at the time Lincolnshire) on Tuesday\, March 12th 1968 to Neville Ian Hepworth and Alice Hepworth (née Ma). Neville was a Computer Manager and Alice Ma was originally from Singapore. The family moved to “Mulgoa”\, The Fleet\, Fittleworth\, Pulborough\, RH20 1HS\, West Sussex. \n(Thanks to David Mills who updated us on the Lincolnshire / Humberside issue) \nNeville taught Mandy how to play chess. \nShe attended Westergate Comprehensive and Community School where Peter Barton coached both the boys and the girls teams. \nFrom The Bognor and Arun Chess Club Archive we have : \n“One particular junior\, Mandy Hepworth\, came to notice. In the British championships at Brighton in 1980 she came first equal in the girls under-14 competition. Peter Barton also organised some external competitions and from 1981 for a few years he organised young masters’ tournaments at the Westergate School after receiving sponsorship from the Amey Roadstone Corporation. ” \nFrom The Bognor Regis Observer we have : \nWestergate girls were chess queens in 1980 \nThis group of girls had every reason to smile ‘“ they had just pulled off the school chess world’s equivalent of David v Goliath. \nIt was January 1980 and they all attended Westergate Comprehensive and Community School and had just beaten the mighty Dorothy Skinner High School\, in Brighton\, to qualify for the final of the Sussex Girls under-16 chess championships. Pictured from left: Melaine Wright\, 11\, Mandy Hepworth\, 11\, Lesley Glen\, 11\, Deborah Baxter\, 12\, Gail Curryer\, 11\, and Tracey Redding\, 12.\n“It was January 1980 and they all attended Westergate Comprehensive and Community School and had just beaten the mighty Dorothy Skinner High School\, in Brighton\, to qualify for the final of the Sussex Girls under-16 chess championships. \nThe team’s captain\, Mandy Hepworth\, who was just 11-years-old at the time\, was lauded by the school’s chess teacher as “one of the hottest properties in junior chess”. \nHis name was Peter Barton and\, according to the report published in the Observer on January 25 1980\, he had masterminded something of a chess resurgence at Westergate.” \nSome 50 youngsters at the school were playing chess proficiently and 10 of them were girls. \nEven though junior chess was somewhat dominated by boys at the time\, Mr Barton was confident his girls could deal with any challenge thrown at them by anyone – and he had high hopes for Mandy. \nHe told the paper: ‘For a girl she has remarkable ability and we would hope to enter her for the British junior championships later this year. \nIn the past it has always been a boys’ game but\, if you can catch the girls when they are young and keep their enthusiasm\, there is no reason why they cannot go on to become masters.’ \nDoes anyone know if the girls won the final? Did Mandy make it to the British junior championships?” \nMandy Hepworth\nMandy entered her first major competition when she was 11 and beat her father when she was 14. She became the Under-12 British Girls’ Champion (Ed: this is not correct) and the Under-14 Champion in Brighton\, 1980 (shared with Susan Walker)\, the Under-16 Champion in Brighton\, 1984 \nIn 1985 she played in the Eileen Tranmer Memorial in Brighton. All the players resided in the same guest house. The event was organised by Ray Keene. Mandy was 4th with a TPR of 2296. \nIn 1986 she represented England in the Women’s Olympiad (Dubai) and scored an excellent 75% on the Reserve Board. \nIn 1988 she played at the Oakham Young Masters and had a tough time scoring 2.5/9 \nIn October 1988 she travelled to Adelaide\, Australia to play in the World Under-20 Girls’ Championship. \nFollowing that we have no further information. It would appear (perhaps you can help?) that Mandy gave up competitive chess and did not play again. \n1986 Press Release for Mandy Hepworth. Warning : some details are not entirely accurate.\nWe end with this against an experienced opponent : \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/birthday-of-mandy-hepworth-12-iii-1968/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,History,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/img_0722_lv.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:20200229 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200301 DTSTAMP:20200410T164547Z CREATED:20200410T164547Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200410T164547Z UID:4357-1582934400-1583020799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of FM Simon C Leblanq (?) DESCRIPTION: Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-fm-simon-c-leblanq/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,Player END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200229 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200301 DTSTAMP:20200408T130341Z CREATED:20200408T124139Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200408T130341Z UID:4175-1582934400-1583020799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of FM David C Carless (?) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM David C Carless (?) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-david-c-carless/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200226 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200227 DTSTAMP:20260817T141227Z CREATED:20200709T181114Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T141227Z UID:7201-1582675200-1582761599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary for CGM Adrian Hollis (02-viii-1940 26-ii-2013) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers CGM Adrian Hollis who passed away in Wells\, Somerset on Tuesday\, February 26th 2013  at the age of seventy-two. \nAdrian Swayne Hollis was born in Bristol\, Avon on Friday\, August 2nd 1940. During this critical period the Luftwaffe was wisely extending its Battle of Britain targets to include Britain’s airfields. Furthermore\, Bristol was bombed heavily between June 1940 and May 1944. The longest period of regular bombing\, known as the ‘Bristol Blitz’ began in autumn 1940 and ended the following spring. The first bombs of the Bristol Blitz fell at around 6 pm on Sunday 24 November 1940. \nAdrian was the only child of MI5 director general Roger Henry Hollis KB CBE (later to become Sir Roger Hollis) and Evelyn Esme Hollis (née Swayne) who was Roger’s first wife. Roger was from Wells and Evelyn from Burnham-on-Sea and they were married on July 17th 1937 in Wells Cathedral with Evelyn’s father performing the ceremony. \nAdrian won a scholarship in classics to Eton College and then went up to Keble College\, Oxford where he took a first in mods and greats. Whilst at Keble Adrian represented Oxford in four varsity matches between 1959 and 1962. Indeed\, his support for varsity matches was maintained for many years attending a large number into and beyond the Lloyds Bank era. Stalwart organiser Henry Mutkin would always be sure to extend an invitation. \nIn 1961 Adrian become the youngest ever West of England Champion at the age of 21. \nAdrian met Margaret Mair Cameron Edwards in 1967 at St. Andrew’s University where he taught Classics and she taught German. They married and had two daughters\, Jennifer (b. 1974) and Veronica (b. 1977) and a son. \nHe was the Games Editor for the British Correspondence Chess Association (BCCA) resigning in 1969. \nIn 1984 Adrian was forced to endure allegations against his father by Chapman Pincher (in CPs book Too Secret too Long) that Sir Roger had been a Soviet spy / mole. These allegations were demonstrated to be false. He may well also have been aware of allegations against his friend and chess mentor Graham Mitchell earlier in 1963. Ironically\, it was Adrian’s father who initiated the investigation into Graham. Again\, the rumours were shown to be unfounded. \nAdrian became a director of the company Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Limited on the September 1st 1996 and resigned on May 12th 2007. He was also a Vice President of the West of England Chess Union (WECU). \nBetween 2003 and 2007 (according to the Electoral Roll) Adrian lived at 63\, Bainton Road\, Oxford\, OX2 7AG : \n63\, Bainton Road\, Oxford\, OX2 7AG\nand following his retirement (and the time of the 2008 electoral roll) Adrian had moved to Pound House\, Southover\, Wells\, BA5 1UH : \nPound House\, Southover\, Wells\, BA5 1UH\nAdrian has written many learned papers and has had two books published : \nFragments of Roman Poetry C.60 BC-Ad 20\, AS Hollis\, Oxford University Press\, 2007\nand \nOvid Metamorphoses VIII (Schools Edition): Bk. 8\, AS Hollis. Oxford University Press\, 2008\nDuring his time at Keble College\, Adrian engaged with and mentored many chess players including Jonathan Rowson (1996)\, David Norwood (1988)\, Julian Way\, David Goodman (1977) and Dharshan Kumaran (1993). \nCGM Adrian Hollis\nJulian was a personal student of Adrian’s and was kind enough to tell us : \nI do remember Adrian well. He could quote Latin verse ad infinitum. He was an expert on Ovid.\nIn terms of chess he had a huge pile of Informators in his study still in their cardboard packaging. He was very kind to me and insisted I play above him for Keble in the intercollegiate matches. \nI gave him a copy of Developments in the Orthodox QGD which I had written in 1987. He was quite taken back when I didn’t want any money for it. He seemed to have quite a lot of respect for me. \nI once asked him why he had given me a place at Oxford. He replied that he couldn’t have rejected someone with my passion and enthusiasm.\nI kept in touch with Adrian until his passing. He gave me a lovely reference when I resumed my studies in 2007 at Kingston University.\nI remember him as a kind and unassuming man. He became a lifelong friend. \nCGM Adrian Hollis\nFrom British Chess (Pergamon Press\, 1983) Botterill\, Levy\, Rice and Richardson : \n“I was born on August 2nd\, 1940\, educated at Eton and Christ Church\, Oxford and now teach Classics at Keble College\, Oxford. I learned the moves at the advanced age of thirteen from a cousin who himself could have made a good chess player had he not been seduced by Philosophy and brain-teasers; all that remains in the mind from these encounters is a vision of perpetually losing my rooks to fianchettoed bishops. \nAdrian Hollis. Source : The Potter Memorial\nMy first ever tournament was the London Boys’ Championship 1956-7. In the opening round fate allotted me Black against David Rumens. As it happened\, the brochure included a game of his from the previous year in which he had answered 1.d4 with 1…Nc6\, quite enough\, in my opinion\, to condemn his utterly. \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(Ed: The above position did not impress Adrian hugely.) \nThis view seemed confirmed when within twelve moves of an advance French I was two pawns up. Then\, however\, aided by my over confidence he worked up a fierce attack\, and I just escaped with a draw. Nevertheless\, I won the tournament; an opponent remarked how quickly I played my moves. \nThereafter the game was never so easy\, but I did reasonably\, well\, winning the championships of the British Universities\, West of England and East of Scotland\, and playing for England quite regularly during the 1960s (including 7.5/12 in six Anglo-Dutch matches). \nLeonard Barden\, Henry Mutkin\, Adrian Hollis and Bob Wade observe Nick Ivell vs Ken Regan at the 1983 Varsity match\nThe high spot of my over-the-board chess was the series of World Student team championships from 1960 to 1964 in glamorous places (Leningrad\, Helsinki\, Mariánské Lázně\, Budva and Cracow); most enjoyable of these being Budva\, 1963 where one could bathe every day in the Adriatic and I won the (?) gold medal on Board 1 with 7.5/9.\, the year after Spassky (this must look good in the records\, unless they happen to reveal that for the first time in preliminary and final sections\, and that England did not qualify for the top final). \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nMy best chess was probably played at Mariánské Lázně\, 1962\, where in successive rounds I had favourable draws with Radulov and Hort\, coming close to beating the latter. Ironically\, I was awarded the British Master title after I had virtually retired from over-the-board chess. \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 1964 I decided that henceforth for me ‘serious’ chess would mean correspondence\, while OTB became a pleasant social activity. My introduction to the postal game had been made about 1955 by a colleague of my father’s\, International Master Graham Mitchell\, to whom I owe an enormous debt for the patience and kindness with which he played a series of games\, bearing with me when I lost interest in worsening positions. The switch to postal play was caused by a number of factors\, negative and positive : an impending move to Scotland\, where there was less OTB chess\, frustration at constantly spoiling good positions through mistakes in time pressure – on the other hand a feeling that correspondence chess should suit an academic temperament\, and a particularly fascinating game played in 1963-4 with Michael Haygarth (see below) on which I spent so much time and energy that I almost feared it would ruin my post-graduate exams. \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 1964-5 I qualified for the British Championship by winning a candidates’ section with 100%\, and then competed three times in the British Championship itself (1965-6\, 1966-7\, 1970-71)\, winning on each occasion (the first time jointly with S. Milan) and remaining unbeaten. International play also proved successful\, and I soon collected the two norms necessary for the IM title (Ed: awarded in 1970). \nLinda Brownson (Newnham & Basildon)\, left\, playing Maria Eagle (Pembroke & Formby) being observed by John Nunn\, Adrian Hollis and Harry Golombek posing for the obligatory “staring at the board” picture for the 1981 Varsity Match sponsored by Lloyds Bank.\nThe first chance for the Grandmaster title came on Board 1 in the Seventh Olympiad final. Despite a rare loss with the White pieces(my only defeat with white for a stretch of 15 years)\, things went well\, including a lucky win against the reigning World Champion\, Horst Rittner\, and the enticing prospect beckoned if only I could beat the Russian Moiseyev. He held a slight advantage since the opening\, but I thought I saw the chance of tempting him to an incorrect sacrifice. Back came his move; he had indeed made the sacrifice and the envelope burnt a hole in my pocket during an important meeting (my mind was elsewhere). After a mere two days’ thought I sent my reply. The post between England and the USSR takes about a month for the return trip. Soon after posting my move\, as I was walking from the Ashmolean Museum to Keble\, just passing the front gate of St. John’s\, the realisation of what I had overlooked hit me\, and there followed an inexorable wait for the death blow which I now saw only too clearly. \nSo no Grandmaster title\, but Great Britain still took the bronze medals\, and I scored 6/9 (+5=1-2). \nBob Wade\, Harry Golombek and Adrian Hollis observe Penny Coxon (Newnam) and Anita Rakshit (St. Hilda’s) during the 1983 Varsity match sponsored by Lloyds Bank\nAnother opportunity came when the British Postal Chess Federation organised a tournament (1974-6) in memory of its former secretary RJ Potter.  This started inauspiciously for me with a heavy defeat at the hands of Grandmaster Endzelins of Australia.\, a country which has so far provided my least favourite opposition (not only is the postage extremely expensive\, but my score to date is 0/2). \nFrom The Potter Memorial\, Ken Messere\, Chess (Sutton Coldfield)\, 1979 we have this potted biography from Ken Messere : \nThe Potter Memorial\, Ken Messere\, Chess (Sutton Coldfield)\, 1979\n“Adrian Hollis is 36\, was educated at Eton and Oxford\, has written two books on the poet Ovid and is a Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Keble College\, Oxford. He is a British Master at over the board chess and has been Champion of British Universities\, West of England and East Scotland. \nIn 1964\, he went to teach at St. Andrews University where his wife\, Margaret\, taught German. They were married and moved to Keble College in 1967 and now have two daughters. Jennifer is nearly five and Veronica is two. \nAdrian began to concentrate on correspondence chess in 1964 and won the British Correspondence Chess Championship jointly in 1966 and outright in 1967 and 1971. He won the I.M. title in 1970 and his fine score of 6/9 on top board for Great Britain in the I.C.C.F. VIIth Correspondence Chess Olympiad Final contributed to the team’s winning the bronze medal in this event.” \nand now back to Adrian’s British Chess article… \nThereafter my fortunes improved; one opponent accepted too trustingly some faulty analysis by Szabo in Informator (for a while it seemed that the Hungarian might earn me not one but two points). The East German Dr. Baumbach failed to find an improvement in a line with which I had been successful in the Seventh Olympiad Final. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nAlso\, I had a win with the Black pieces against the Russian Kopylov. The result was a score of 9/12 (+8=2-2)\, which sufficed for the grandmaster title and first place half a point ahead of the Finn Kauranen. \nSince then I have played quite well on second board behind Keith Richardson in the Eighth Olympiad Final (+5=7-0)\, and very badly indeed (scoring just about 50% in the Heilimo Memorial Tournament organised from Finland (I was much impressed by the strength of the Finnish players\, most of whom I had not encountered before). Having twice narrowly failed\, I would still like to qualify for the Final of the Individual World Championship. Of course life becomes increasingly busy\, but the examples of Hugh Alexander and Graham Mitchell encourage me to believe that one can continue to play well at postal chess longer than over-the-board. So perhaps around the year 2000\, when the children are grown up….” \nAdrian Hollis and Harry Golombek observer Andrew Dyson (Trinity) having played 1.d4 versus IM William Watson (Merton) during the 1984 Varsity match sponsored by Lloyds Bank\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 British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXXIII (133\, 2013)\, Number 4 (April)\, pp.194-5 we have this obituary written by James Pratt : \nAdrian Swayne Hollis (2 viii 1940 Bristol – 26 ii 2013 Wells)\, British Master and Correspondence Grandmaster (1976)\, three times British Correspondence Champion\, has died. He played most of his OTB chess as a young man\, finishing seventh equal at the British Aberystwyth\, 1961\, when he beat\, amongst others\, A.R.B. Thomas and former champion\, Alan Phillips. He gave future champion\, Jonathan Penrose\, a tough fight in the last round before conceding the half-point. He played in the Hastings Premier\, 1962/3 and emerged with a plus score in the Anglo-Dutch matches. He was an occasional reviewer for BCM. \nIt was\, of course\, in the realm of postal player that he shone most brightly! \nIn 1966 we see him playing board two for England\, below Slade Milan\, and\, two years later\, Adrian scored 9/12 in a World Postal Qualifier\, narrowly missing a place in the final. In 1971 he won the British Correspondence Championship\, easily outdistancing a tough field. He played top board for England in the 1972-7 Olympiad. In 1974-6 he won the Reg Potter Memorial. In the ninth Olympiad – 1982-5 – Adrian Hollis was undefeated on board two. And England took the Gold Medal! \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nObituary from Raymond Keene in The Specatator \nObituary from Kenneth Shelton in The Independent \nObituary from ? in The Times \nObituary from John Rhodes in The Chess Improver \nObituary from Bob Jones of Keverel Chess. \nWikipedia article. \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-for-cgm-adrian-swayne-hollis-02-viii-1940-26-ii-2013/ CATEGORIES:Correspondence,History,Player,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/hollis3332.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR