BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//British Chess News - ECPv6.17.5//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: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: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: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: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: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: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: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;TZID=UTC:20200229T080000 DTEND;TZID=UTC:20200229T170000 DTSTAMP:20200410T180827Z CREATED:20200410T143020Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200410T180827Z UID:4350-1582963200-1582995600@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of Edward Gerard Winter (29-ii-1955 ?) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of Edward Gerard Winter (29-ii-1955 ?) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-edward-gerard-winter-29-ii-1955/ CATEGORIES:History,Writer END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200222 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200223 DTSTAMP:20220221T102149Z CREATED:20200531T151035Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220221T102149Z UID:5873-1582329600-1582415999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of John Saunders (22-ii-1953) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of John Cameron Saunders (22-ii-1953) \nHere is John’s Wikipedia entry \nHere is his excellent blog \nHere is the superb BritBase \nMurray Chandler and John Saunders\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-john-cameron-saunders-22-ii-1953/ CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,History,Journalist,Player,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/JUA5725-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200113 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200114 DTSTAMP:20230213T142309Z CREATED:20200417T141944Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230213T142309Z UID:4742-1578873600-1578959999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Geoffrey Diggle (06-xii-1902 13-ii-1993) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Geoffrey Harber Diggle (06-xii-1902 13-ii-1993) \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-geoffrey-harber-diggle-06-xii-1902-13-ii-1993/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Journalist,Player,Remembering,Writer END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR