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DTSTART:20190101T000000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200815
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200816
DTSTAMP:20210812T113438Z
CREATED:20200811T171953Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210812T113438Z
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SUMMARY:Birthday of Peter Griffiths (15-viii-1946)
DESCRIPTION:BCN sends Happy birthday wishes to Peter Griffiths  \nPeter Charles Griffiths was born on Thursday\, August 15th\, in 1946 in Birmingham\, Warwickshire. His mother’s maiden name was Ward. \nPeter was a strong player active from the 1960s until 1989. He played in the British Championships more than once and was a professional coach and writer. He wrote the column “Practical Chess Endings” which appeared in the British Chess Magazine. The column commenced in the December 1972 issue and columns became less frequent until around 1991. \nPeter Griffiths (far left)\nHe wrote Exploring the Endgame  \nExploring the Endgame\nand co-authored Secrets of Grandmaster Play with John Nunn.  \nSecrets of Grandmaster Play\nand wrote  Improving Your Chess \nImproving Your Chess\nand Better Chess for Club Players \nBetter Chess for Club Players\nPeter Griffiths (far left)\n Save as PDF
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-peter-griffiths-15-viii-1946/
CATEGORIES:Arbiter,Birthday,Endgame,History,Writer
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200820
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200821
DTSTAMP:20210820T094736Z
CREATED:20190822T152431Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210820T094736Z
UID:977-1597881600-1597967999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of Leonard Barden (20-viii-1929)
DESCRIPTION:Ninety-two today is Leonard Barden\, born Tuesday\, August 20th\, 1929. \nHis mother’s maiden was Bartholomew and she became Elise EM Barden when she married Leonard’s father who was William C Barden and in 1939 they lived at 89\, Tennison Road\, Croydon. \n89\, Tennison Road\, Croydon\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977) by Harry Golombek OBE: \n“British Master and joint British Champion 1954. Barden was born in Croydon and learned to play at his school\, Whitgift\, which became a frequent producer of fine players. \nIn 1946 he tied for first place in the London Boys Championship and in the following year he tied with Jonathan Penrose for first place in the British Boys Championship\, but lost the play-off. \nIn 1952 he came first at Paignton ahead of the Canadian Grandmaster Yanofsky and he reached his peak in 1954 when \, after tieing for first place with the Belgian Grandmaster O’Kelly de Galway at Bognor\, he tied for for first place in the British Championship at Nottingham with A. Phillips. The play-off was drawn and so the players became joint champions. \nAlan Phillips and Leonard Barden are joint British Champions of 1954 in Nottingham\, photographer unknown\nHe played for the BCF in four Olympiads from 1952 to 1962 and then abandoned competitive chess\, applying all his energies to writing (he is chess correspondent of the Guardian\, the Financial Times\, the Evening Standard and the Field\, and has written many books on the game. \nHe has also developed two special interests\, in junior chess and in grading\, working with utmost persistence and energy in both of these fields. \nLeonard authored a series of articles on what was to become the Yugoslav Attack versus the Sicilian Dragon. Source : British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXXIII\, Number 7 (July)\, page 208\nAmongst his best works are : a A Guide to Chess Openings\, London\, 1957; The Ruy Lopez\, Oxford\, 1963; The King’s Indian Defence\, London\, 1968.” \nDisappointingly  Sunnucks Encyclopedia does not mention Barden at all and and surprisingly Hooper and Whyld’s usually excellent Oxford Companion only from a connection with Jim Slater. \nLeonard Bardens’ Evening Standard column ends after 63 Years \nSignature of LW Barden from a Brian Reilly “after dinner” postcard from Southsea 1951.\nHere is an in-depth article from Edward Winter \nLeonard Barden’s Blunder Theory from Kingpin Magazine \n54-Year-Old Chess Record established in 2009 \nFrom Wikipedia : \n“Leonard William Barden (born 20 August 1929\, in Croydon\, London) is an English chess master\, writer\, broadcaster\, organizer and promoter. The son of a dustman\, he was educated at Whitgift School\, South Croydon\, and Balliol College\, Oxford\, where he read Modern History. \nTravel Chess2nd January 1951: British chess champions Jonathan Penrose and Leonard Barden prepare their openings over breakfast in the Yelton Hotel before the 9.30 am round start at Hastings 1950-51. (Photo by Walter Bellamy/Express/Getty Images)\nHe learned to play chess at age 13 while in a school shelter during a World War II German air raid. Within a few years he became one of the country’s leading juniors.[1] He represented England in four Chess Olympiads. Barden played a major role in the rise of English chess from the 1970s. As a chess columnist for various newspapers\, his column in London’s Evening Standard is the world’s longest-standing chess column. \nLeonard Barden (seated\, second from right) Before Botvinnik’s 1981 Pergamon Press clock simul against England juniors\, the final competitive event of the Patriarch’s career.Standing: Stuart Conquest\, Neil Dickenson. Gary Lane\, Alan Byron\,Daniel King\, John Hawksworth\, Pergamon editor.Seated: Julian Hodgson\, Byron Jacobs\, Mikhail Botvinnik\, Leonard Barden\, Bernard Cafferty.\nIn 1946\, Barden won the British Junior Correspondence Chess Championship\, and tied for first place in the London Boys’ Championship. The following year he tied for first with Jonathan Penrose in the British Boys’ Championship\, but lost the playoff. \nBarden finished fourth at Hastings in 1951–52. In 1952\, he won the Paignton tournament ahead of the Canadian future grandmaster Daniel Yanofsky. He captained the Oxfordshire team which won the English Counties championship in 1951 and 1952. \nBarden making a move at Southend 1955.\nIn the latter year he captained the University of Oxford team which won the National Club Championship\, and he represented the university in the annual team match against the University of Cambridge during his years there. In 1953\, he won the individual British Lightning Championship (ten seconds a move). \nThe following year\, he tied for first with the Belgian grandmaster Albéric O’Kelly de Galway at Bognor Regis\, was joint British champion\, with Alan Phillips\, and won the Southern Counties Championship. \nLeonard Barden vs Victor Korchnoi\, Leipzig Olympiad\, 1960\nHe finished fourth at Hastings 1957–58\, ranked by chessmetrics as his best statistical performance. In the 1958 British Chess Championship\, Barden again tied for first\, but lost the playoff match to Penrose 1½–3½. \nLeonard Barden (centre) with Raaphi Persitz\, JB Sykes\, OI Galvenius and DM Armstrong\, Ilford\, May\, 1953\n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nLWB observes analysis between David Rumens and Murray Chandler from Brighton 1980. Photograph courtesy of John Upham.\nHe represented England in the Chess Olympiads at Helsinki 1952 (playing fourth board\, scoring 2 wins\, 5 draws\, and 4 losses)\, Amsterdam 1954 (playing first reserve\, scoring 1 win\, 2 draws\, and 4 losses)\, Leipzig 1960 (first reserve; 4 wins\, 4 draws\, 2 losses) and Varna 1962 (first reserve; 7 wins\, 2 draws\, 3 losses). The latter was his best performance by far. \nLeonard Barden (left) and Murray Chandler display the Lloyds Bank Trophy which the 19-year old New Zealander won ahead of 3 Grandmasters and 10 International Masters for his finest international success up to 1979. in the Lloyds Bank Masters\nBarden has a Morphy number of 3\, having drawn with Jacques Mieses in the Premier Reserves at Hastings 1948–49. Mieses drew with Henry Bird in the last round of Hastings 1895\, and Bird played a number of games with Paul Morphy in 1858 and 1859. \nEngland’s under-12 junior teams finished first and second in the international Eumig Cup\, 1981.Front row: Peter Morrish (organiser)\, Jimmy Hockaday\, Darren Lee\, Neil Fox\, Neil Carr. Second row: James Howell\, Stuart Conquest\, Teresa Needham. Far right: LB.\nIn 1964\, Barden gave up most competitive chess to devote his time to chess organisation\, broadcasting\, and writing about the game. He has made invaluable contributions to English chess as a populariser\, writer\, organiser\, fundraiser\, and broadcaster. \nLeonard Barden at Bob Wade’s 80th birthday party\, 2001.\nHe was controller of the British Chess Federation Grand Prix for many years\, having found its first sponsor\, Cutty Sark. He was a regular contributor to the BBC’s Network Three weekly radio chess programme from 1958 to 1963. His best-known contribution was a consultation game\, recorded in 1960 and broadcast in 1961\, where he partnered Bobby Fischer against the English masters Jonathan Penrose and Peter Clarke. This was the only recorded consultation game of Fischer’s career. The game\, unfinished after eight hours of play\, was adjudicated a draw by former world champion Max Euwe. Barden gave BBC television commentaries on all the games in the 1972 world championship. From 1973 to 1978 he was co-presenter of BBC2’s annual Master Game televised programme. \nJulian and Nigel Short play Korchnoi in the Evening Standard 1976 simul. Leonard Barden observes.\nAs of 2021\, his weekly columns have been published in The Guardian for 65 years and in The Financial Times for 46 years. A typical Barden column not only contains a readable tournament report\, but is geared toward promoting the game. His London Evening Standard column\, begun in summer 1956\, is now the world’s longest running daily chess column by the same author\, breaking the previous record set by George Koltanowski in the San Francisco Chronicle. Koltanowski’s column ran for 51 years\, 9 months\, and 18 days\, including posthumous articles.” \nLeonard Barden (Linda Nylind of the Guardian)\nLeonard wrote this on the English Chess Forum in 2021 : \n“I retired after Ilford 1964 when I finished a poor last in the England Olympiad team qualifier\, returned at Hammersmith 1969 (equal 2nd behind Keene) and then played around 6-8 weekenders a year until 1972. My overall performance level between early 60s and early 70s dropped from around 225 to 215 BCF\, so I wasn’t encouraged to pursue the comeback further.” \nLeonard was Southern Counties (SCCU) champion in the 1953-54 season. \nLeonard Barden\, Stewart Reuben and Michael Franklin at the 1978 Aaronson Masters\nLeonard reveals this as his best 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\nLeonard has authored or co-authored a number of highly regarded books\, most of which are highly instructional to this day: \nA Guide to Chess Openings (1957)\, \nA Guide to Chess Openings\nHow Good Is Your Chess? (1957)\, \nHow Good is Your Chess ?\nChess (1959)\,\nIntroduction to Chess Moves and Tactics Simply Explained (1959)\, \nAn Introduction to Chess Moves and Tactics Simply Explained\nModern Chess Miniatures (with Wolfgang Heidenfeld\, 1960)\,\nErevan 1962 (1963)\,\nThe Ruy Lopez (1963)\, \nThe Ruy Lopez\nThe Guardian Chess Book (1967)\, \nThe Guardian Chess Book\nAn Introduction to Chess (1967)\, \nAn Introduction to Chess\nThe King’s Indian Defence (1969)\, \nThe King’s Indian Defence\nChess: Master the Moves (1977)\,\nGuide to the Chess Openings (with Tim Harding\, 1977)\, \nGuide to the Chess Openings\nLeonard Barden’s Chess Puzzle Book (1977) (a collection of his Evening Standard columns)\, \nLeonard Barden’s Chess Puzzle Book\nThe Master Game (with Jeremy James\, 1979)\, \nThe Master Game\nHow to Play the Endgame in Chess (1979)\, \nHow to Play The Endgame in Chess\nPlay Better Chess (1980)\, \nPlay Better Chess\nBatsford Chess Puzzles (2002)\, \nBatsford Chess Puzzles\nOne Move and You’re Dead (with Erwin Brecher\, 2007) : Can you supply an image? \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-leonard-william-barden/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Organiser,Player,Writer
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200822
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200823
DTSTAMP:20200822T155428Z
CREATED:20200822T155428Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200822T155428Z
UID:8788-1598054400-1598140799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of William Lewis (09-x-1787 22-viii-1870)
DESCRIPTION:We note the passing today (August 22nd) in 1870 of William Lewis of the Lewis Counter Gambit. \nThe Lewis Counter Gambit\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP\, 1984) by Hooper & Whyld : \n“English player and author. He left his native Birmingham as a young man and worked for a time with a merchant in London. He learned much of his chess from Sarratt\, a debt that was not repaid.  \nAround 1819 he was operator of the Turk\, meeting all-comers successfully. With Cochrane he visited Paris in 1821\, received odds of pawn and move from Deschapelles\, and defeated him in a short match (+ 1=2)\, Lewis had already begun to write and of the more useful books he published around this time were translations of Greco and Carrera which appeared in 1819 and 1822 respectively. Although he considered Sarratt’s A Treatise on the Game of Chess (1808) a poorly written book\, Lewis published a second edition in 1822 in direct competition with Sarratt’s last book\, published in 1821 by his impoverished widow\, (In 1843 many Englishmen contributed to a fund for Mrs Sarratt in her old age\, Lewis’s name is not on the subscription list\,}  \nWilliam Lewis\, George Walker and Augustus Mongredien\nIn 1825 Bourdonnais visited England. Lewis recalled that they played about 70 games\, and according to Walker seven of them constituted a\nmatch which Lewis lost (+2—5). With no significant playing achievements to his credit Lewis acquired such a high reputation that a correspondent writing to the weekly magazine Bell’s Life in 1838 was moved to call him grandmaster.  \nFrom 1825 he preserved this reputation by the simplest means: he declined to play on even terms. In the same year he opened a club where he gave lessons at half a guinea each. McDonnell and Walker were among his pupils. Speculating unwisely on a piano-making patent\, Lewis went bankrupt in 1827\, and the club closed. After three precarious years of teaching chess (rich patrons were becoming fewer) Lewis became actuary of the Family Endowment Society and enjoyed financial security\nfor the rest of his life.  \nWilliam Lewis\nCircumstances now made it possible for him to concentrate on his writing and he published his two most important works: Series of Progressive Lessons (1831) and Second Series of Lessons (1832)\, both republished with various revisions. Lewis continued to write but gradually withdrew from other chess activities; his last notable connection with chess was as stakeholder for the Morphy-Lowenthal match of 1858.  \nChess Board Companion by William Lewis\nLewis’s Lessons contain extensive analyses of many opening variations\, examined in the closeness of his study. Subsequent writers\, notably Lasa\, were influenced by these books\, but more on account of the form than the content\, which\, adequate for the 1830s\, were soon out of date.  \nAround 1840 writers no longer worked in isolation (a circumstance Lewis found unavoidable) and new positional ideas were being shaped. Because Lewis failed to assimilate these his judgements were faulty\, and his voluminous Treatise on the Game of Chess (1844) was out of date when published. \nIndustrious rather than inventive\, he made only one innovation\, the Lewis Counter-Gambit; but it had no practical value in 1844\, for simpler defences had already been discovered. Lewis’s work commands respect\, but he is more aptly described as the last and one of the best of the ‘old’ writers than the first of the new\, a more fitting description for Jaenisch and the authors of Bilguer’s Handbuch. ” \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 Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \nChess theoretician\, teacher\, author and one of the leading players in England in the nineteenth century.  \nWilliam Lewis was born in Birmingham on 9th October 1787. As a young man he went to London and took chess lessons from JH Sarratt. Within a short time he was making chess his principal means of livelihood. \nIn 1819 he was engaged as the player concealed in the chess-playing automaton\, ‘The Turk’\, when it was exhibited in London. In 1825 he opened some chess rooms in St. Martin’s Lane in London\, where he taught chess. Among his pupils was Alexander McDonnell. After going bankrupt in 1827\, the chess rooms were closed\, and Lewis decided to put his lessons into a book. He soon became a highly-successful writer\, His Chessboard Companion published in 1838 ran into nine editions\, and his Series of Progressive Lessons of the Game of Chess has been described as one of the landmarks in the history of the game. This book included some completely new analyses of various chess openings and later formed the basis of the Handbuch des Schachspiels. Lewis also translated the work of Greco and Stamma and was author of The Elements of Chess (1882)\, Fifty Games of Chess (1832) and Chess for Beginners (1835). \nChess Board Companion by William Lewis\nTowards the end of his life\, Lewis rarely played chess\, and his last public appearance in chess circles was 12 before he died\, when he acted at stake-holder in the match between Morphy and Lowenthal in 1858. He died on 22nd August 1870. \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977) by Harry Golombek : \n“Author of The Chessboard Companion\, London\, 1838\, and several other popular works on chess (including translations of Greco and Stamma). Lewis was also a leading chess teacher – his most famous pupil was Alexdander McDonnell – and for a time he ran chess rooms in St. Martin’s Lane. In 1819 he operated the chess-playing automaton ‘The Turk’ when it was exhibited in London. The Lewis Counter-Gambit is 1.P-K4\, P-K4; 2.B-B4 B-B4; 3.P-QB3\,P-Q5!?” \nChess for Beginners\nFrom “Chess : A History” by Harry Golombek there are two references to WL on pages 98 and 123 alluded to above. \nHere is an interesting article from Chess.com  \nFrom Wikipedia : \n“William Lewis (1787–1870) was an English chess player and author\, nowadays best known for the Lewis Countergambit and for being the first player ever to be described as a Grandmaster of the game.[1] \nBorn in Birmingham\, William Lewis moved as a young man to London where he worked for a merchant for a short period. He became a student of chess player Jacob Sarratt\, but in later years he showed himself to be rather ungrateful towards his teacher.[1] Although he considered Sarratt’s Treatise on the Game of Chess (1808)[2] a “poorly written book”\, in 1822 Lewis published a second edition of it three years after Sarratt’s death in direct competition with Sarratt’s own superior revision published posthumously in 1821 by Sarratt’s poverty-stricken widow. In 1843\, many players contributed to a fund to help the old widow\, but Lewis’ name is not on the list of subscribers.[1] \nAround 1819 Lewis was the hidden player inside the Turk (a famous automaton)\, meeting all-comers successfully. He suggested to Johann Maelzel that Peter Unger Williams\, a fellow ex-student of Sarratt\, should be the next person to operate inside the machine. When P. U. Williams played a game against the Turk\, Lewis recognised the old friend from his style of play (the operator could not see his opponents) and convinced Maelzel to reveal to Williams the secret of the Turk. Later\, P. U. Williams himself took Lewis’ place inside the machine.[3] \nLewis visited Paris along with Scottish player John Cochrane in 1821\, where they played with Alexandre Deschapelles\, receiving the advantage of pawn and move. He won the short match (+1 =2).” \n“Lewis’ career as an author began at this time\, and included translations of the works of Greco and Carrera\, published in 1819[5] and 1822[6] respectively. \nHe was the leading English player in the correspondence match between London and Edinburgh in 1824\, won by the Scots (+2 = 2 -1). Later\, he published a book on the match with analysis of the games.[7] In the period of 1834–36 he was also part of the Committee of the Westminster Chess Club\, who played and lost (−2) the match by correspondence with the Paris Chess Club. The other players were his students McDonnell and Walker\, while the French line up included Boncourt\, Alexandre\, St. Amant and Chamouillet.[8] When De La Bourdonnais visited England in 1825\, Lewis played about 70 games with the French master. Seven of these games probably represented a match that Lewis lost (+2 -5).[9] \nLewis enjoyed a considerable reputation as a chess player in his time. A correspondent writing to the weekly magazine Bell’s Life in 1838 called him “our past grandmaster”\, the first known use of the term in chess.[1] Starting from 1825 he preserved his reputation by the same means that Deschapelles used in France\, by refusing to play anyone on even terms. In the same year Lewis founded a Chess Club where he gave lessons to\, amongst others\, Walker and McDonnell. He was declared bankrupt in 1827 due to bad investments on a patent for the construction of pianos and his chess club was forced to close. The next three years were quite difficult until in 1830 he got a job that assured him of solid financial security for the rest of his life. Thanks to this job\, he could focus on writing his two major works: Series of Progressive Lessons (1831) and Second Series of Progressive Lessons (1832). The first series of the Lessons were more elementary in character\, and designed for the use of beginners; the second series\, on the other hand\, went deeply into all the known openings. Here\, for the first time we find the Evans Gambit\, which is named after its inventor\, Capt. Evans.[10] \nThe works of Lewis (together with his teacher Sarratt) were oriented towards the rethinking of the strictly Philidorian principles of play in favour of the Modenese school of Del Rio\, Lolli and Ponziani.[11] When he realised that he could not give an advantage to the new generation of British players\, Lewis withdrew gradually from active play[1] (in the same way that Deschapelles did after his defeat against De La Bourdonnais). \nAfter his retirement he wrote other chess treatises\, but his isolation prevented him from assimilating the positional ideas of the new generation of chess-players. For this reason\, Hooper and Whyld in their Oxford Chess Companion describe the last voluminous work of Lewis\, A Treatise on Chess (1844)\,[12] as already “out of date when published”.” \n Save as PDF
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-william-lewis-09-x-1787-22-viii-1870/
CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player,Writer
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