BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//British Chess News - ECPv6.17.3//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
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:20210301
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210302
DTSTAMP:20210305T164044Z
CREATED:20200221T113359Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T164044Z
UID:3374-1614556800-1614643199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Richard Tozer (01-iii-1970)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Richard John D Tozer (01-iii-1970) \nRichard became a FIDE Master in 1989 and an International Master in 1995. According to Felice his peak rating was 2400 in January 1996. He has played for White Rose in the Four Nations Chess League. He currently plays for Cambridge City and maintains a 222 ECF grading. \nThe Cambridge Examiners Team\n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-richard-jd-tozer-01-iii-1970/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Toz10004.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210301
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210302
DTSTAMP:20210305T164208Z
CREATED:20200221T114653Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T164208Z
UID:3380-1614556800-1614643199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Stuart Conquest (01-iii-1967)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Stuart Conquest (01-iii-1967) \nStuart Conquest (far left) at Paul Buswell’s house\nStuart Conquest
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-stuart-conquest-01-iii-1967/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/JB4_8005-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210302
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210303
DTSTAMP:20210305T164410Z
CREATED:20200221T115331Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T164410Z
UID:3385-1614643200-1614729599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Peter Large (02-iii-1956)
DESCRIPTION:Peter Graham Large (Front row \, far left)\nBirthday of IM Peter Graham Large (02-iii-1956)
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-peter-graham-large-02-iii-1956/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,History,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/6577306.c564f3dc.160x160o.ed00937175fc.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210304
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210305
DTSTAMP:20210304T122602Z
CREATED:20210301T142500Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210304T122602Z
UID:14612-1614816000-1614902399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Nancy Elder MBE (25-v-1915 04-iii-1981)
DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Nancy Elder MBE who passed away on Wednesday\, March 4th 1981\, i.e\, forty years ago in Perth\, Western Australia. \nNancy Conchar Gordon was born on Tuesday\, May 25th 1915. On the same date was born Robin Day in High Wycombe who went on  to design the polypropylene stacking chair. \nNancy was born in Kirmabreck\, Kirkcudbrightshire in the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. \nIn the 1939 register Nancy was living at 18 Thornton Avenue\, Urmston. Manchester\, M41 5DJ with a married couple\, William Furnish (a railway time keeper) and Gertrude Furnish who performed unpaid domestic duties. Presumably Nancy was a lodger. \n18 Thornton Avenue\, Urmston. Manchester\, M41 5DJ\nHer occupation was given as a teacher of music and physical training. At this time she was single at the age of twenty-four. \nIn the mid-1940s Nancy relocated from Manchester to Dundee where she continued her teaching career at Dundee High School. During that time she encouraged and coached a number of players some of whom represented Scotland. \nIn 1950 in Tealing\, Angus\, Scotland Nancy married David Livie Elder. They had a daughter Christine who played chess as a junior. Tealing has a strong connection with the Elder family. \nAccording to Alan McGowan (Chess Scotland): “She was the main instigator in forming both the Schools’ and Primary League in Dundee\, and she assisted in the organisation of the Dundee 1967 International Centenary Tournament.” \nWhen she passed away Nancy was living at 39 Whitefauld Road\, Dundee\, DD2 1RJ : \n39 Whitefauld Road\, Dundee\, DD2 1RJ\nHer passing was reported in the Dundee Courier and Advertiser  on March 6th 1981 as follows : \nNancy Elder dies after heart attack on flight\nMrs Nancy Elder 39 Whitefauld Road\, Dundee\, a former music teacher at Dundee High School and one of Scotland’s best known chess players\, has died after taking ill on a flight to Australia.\nShe was off for a long holiday which she planned to spend with relatives and friends from the world of international chess\, but\, after suffering a heart attack on a plane from Singapore\, had been in intensive care in Perth\, Western Australia. \nHer daughter Christine\, a primary school teacher in Tighnabruaich\, received daily telephone reports on her mother’s condition from a cousin and\, at the weekend\, heard that she was improving gradually. \nThe shock news of her mother’s death came late on Wednesday night. \nMrs. Elder\, who went into semi-retirement recently\, has been to the fore in chess for about 35 years at local\, national and international levels. \nNancy Elder MBE. Source : Milos Petronic\nShe has represented her country five times\, having taken part in the chess Olympiad in Yugoslavia in 1963 and 1973\, in Israel in 1976\, in Buenos Aires in 1978 and in Malta last year. \nBuenos Aires Olympiad 1978. From left: Morag McGhee\, Nancy Elder\, Owen Hindle\, Kathleen Hindle and Lynne Houston. Courtesy of Chess Scotland\nShe turned down the chance to take part on three other occasions. \nHaifa Olympiad 1976 – Scotland v Switzerland. From left: Nancy Elder\, Kathleen Hindle\, Lynne Houston. Courtesy of Chess Scotland\nShe was awarded the MBE for her services to chess in 1974. \nShe was President of Dundee Chess Club\, chairman of the congress committee of the Scottish Chess Association and on the council of the Scottish Junior Chess Association. \nSelf-taught\nShe started playing chess during her school days with her brother and the two of them were more-or-less self taught. \nIt wasn’t until after the Second World War that she received any sort of coaching\, by which time she had established her own style. \nShe retired on April 14th last year after 24 years in the music department of Dundee High School\, where she specialised in teaching the oboe. \nShe continued to teach privately. \nDundee Courier and Advertiser\, March 6th 1981\nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CI (101\, 1981)\, Number 6 (June)\, pp. 219-220 we have this obituary from Bernard Cafferty : \n“Nancy C. Elder\, MBE\, died in Perth\, Western Australia on March 4th 1981. Mrs. Elder had recently retired after a lifetime of teaching\, her last post being in Dundee. I well remember her account of teaching under difficult conditions in World War 2 in Manchester. 15 Scottish Women’s Champion (the record for the event which she set-up at Troon in 1980). \nPrizegiving at the 1966 Scottish Championships. From the left: Michael Fallone\, Nancy Elder\, W.P. McColl\, President of Dundee Chess Club\, Kathleen Patterson\, Gerald Bonner. Courtesy of Chess Scotland\nMrs Elder was a regular competitor in the British Women’s Championship (sometimes in rivalry with her daughter Christine) and showed her playing strength with a score of 5.5/12 on board two for Scotland at the Women’s Chess Olympiad\, Malta\, 1980. \nMalta Olympiad 1980 Left-right: Kathleen\, Rosie Giulian\, Owen Hindle (Team Captain)\, Nancy Elder\, Lynne Houston. Courtesy of Chess Scotland\nI am sure she will be best remembered though for her decades of effort in the organising of chess in Scotland\, particularly for juniors and in schools\, in recognition of which she was awarded the MBE\, the only such honour ever given for services to chess ‘north of the border’ as Alan Borwell puts it in his Newsflash obituary.” \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nChess Scotland award the Nancy Elder Cup annually for an individual competition for “club level” players. \nWe are grateful to Helen Milligan who told BCN : \nMy most memorable incident was when I refused to play in the Scottish Ladies at the annual Congress\, preferring to try to improve my chess by playing in the Open section (really the B-Grade\, below the Championship proper). I got given a piece of Nancy’s mind for that – she did not approve! \nHere are her playing records from the Olympiads. \nHere is a potted biography from Chess Scotland.
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-nancy-elder-mbe-25-v-1915-04-iii-1981/
CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Honours,Player,Remembering
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Eld02271.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210305
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210306
DTSTAMP:20210305T164549Z
CREATED:20200319T151631Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T164549Z
UID:3610-1614902400-1614988799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Daniel Fernandez (05-iii-1995)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes Happy Birthday to GM Daniel Fernandez who at 26 is currently England’s youngest Grandmaster. The previous GM title holder was Jonathan Hawkins in 2014 making two in seven years. \nDaniel Howard Fernandez was born in Stockport\, Manchester on Sunday\, March 5th 1995.  “Think Twice” by Celine Dion was top of the UK hit parade. \nDaniel started playing chess at the age of seven (after his father taught him the rules) and at this time attended King’s School\, Harpenden.  His first chess club was Little Heath which became the ECF Small Club of the Year in 2015. They play in the Potter’s Bar area and include IM John Pigott in their membership. \nAt Little Heath Chess Club Daniel was coached by Mark Uniacke (who worked extensively on the early chess engine HIARCS). \nDaniel went up to Queen’s College\, Cambridge to read mathematics and left to become a Data Analyst at Mu Sigma Inc. He can speak several languages (including Serbian!) and works as a translator when opportunities arise. \nHe currently lives in Australia offering coaching and writing chess books (for Thinkers Publishing) and columns for Chessbase. In his spare time (!) Daniel is studying for The Master of Complex Systems degree at The University of Sydney. \nDaniel’s first ECF graded game was rapidplay on July 5th 2003 in the SCCU Junior Under-14 Final. \nHis first standard play game was in August 2003 at the Edinburgh based British Under-8 Championship. \nDaniel Fernandez\nDaniels ECF grading profile demonstrated rapid improvement : \nECF grading profile for Daniel Fernandez\nOn August 13th 2004 in Scarborough Daniel became British Under-9 Champion sharing the title with Daniel Hunt & Saravanan Sathyanandha. \nThe Fernandez family relocated to Singapore in August\, Daniel attending the Anglo-Chinese School in Singapore. He was swiftly recruited into the Singapore Chess Federation’s (SCF) National Junior Squad. Also in that squad were Danielle Ho and Howard Chiu (remember this for later!). \nBarely three weeks after his Scarborough triumph on September 4th 2004 Daniel played his first FIDE rated game in the 5th Asian Under-10 Championship organised by the ASEAN Chess Confederation. His performance in this event was rewarded with a FIDE Master title in 2005. Because he was no longer active in English events the ECF had the unusual scenario of having a ten year old FIDE Master with a published grade of ~120! \nIn typically modest fashion Daniel confesses  that he did not “deserve” the FM title at this time and that it was the consequence of the strong position of the ASEAN and SCF organisations  within world chess. At the same event Wesley So gained his FM title in the Under-12 section. \nFM Daniel Fernandez\nAnother interesting consequence of the relocation was that when Daniel returned to England in 2012 his last published grading went from ~ 120 to ~230! \nOne of the motivations of  returning to England was to obtain the necessary entrance requirement to study mathematics at Cambridge. This he did by studying for A-levels at Manchester Grammar School. \nDaniel with IM Jovan Petronic during the 2010 world juniors in Chotowa\, Poland | Photo: Diana Mihajlova\nConsequently Daniel’s FIDE rating profile also showed a fast pace of development: \nFIDE rating profile for Daniel Fernandez\nSydney 2009 and Sydney 2010 both provided IM norms with the third one coming from Kuala Lumpar 2010 and with these Daniel became an International Master in 2010 the title being confirmed at the 3rd quarter Presidential Board Meeting 2010\, 24-25 July 2010\, Tromso in Norway. \nIM Daniel Fernandez\, 100th British Championships\, Round 5\, Torquay. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nHe won the Budapest Sarkany Tournament in 2014 as follows: \nFull Crosstable from Budapest Sarkany Tournament\, 2014.\nearning his first GM norm in the process. \nIM Daniel Fernandez\, 101st British Championships\, Aberystwyth. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nBCN asked Daniel for three of his favourite games. The first one is this Polish Defence game from 2015 played at the Visma Arena in Vaxjo\, Sweden. First we have the crosstable showing that Daniel earnt his second GM norm from this event. \nFull Crosstable for Vaxjo\, Visma tournament in Sweden\, 2015.\nand here is the game: \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nand during the 2015/15 4NCL season Daniel obtained his final GM norm playing for Wood Green. \nIn March 2015 he made his first of three Varsity match appearences for Cambridge re-uniting with Danielle Ho and Howard Chiu (remember those names from earlier?). \nDaniel won the 10th Jessie Gilbert Memorial in 2017: \nFull Crosstable from the 2017 10th Jessie Gilbert Memorial\nand also in 2017 Daniel was awarded the Grandmaster title at the 88th FIDE Congress 2017\, 7-15 October\, Goynuk\, Antalya\, Turkey. \nOn March 11th Daniel represented Cambridge in the 135th Varsity Match at the RAC Club in Pall Mall.  According to chess24.com ‘IM Daniel Fernandez\, playing board 2 for Cambridge\, was awarded the Brilliancy Prize by GM Ray Keene in consultation with McShane and Speelman\, for his “high-class swindle” after recovering from a bad blunder.’ See here for details. \nGM Daniel Fernandez\, 2019 British Championships\, Torquay. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nIn 2018 Daniel ventured into the world of book writing when Thinker’s Publishing released The Modernized Caro-Kann on September 8th 2018.  This was a repertoire book for Black based around the Smyslov Variation : \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nand was reviewed in this place favourably and quickly established Daniel as a significant author. \nThe Modernized Caro-Kann\, Daniel Fernandez\, Thinkers Publishing\, 2018\nFrom the rear cover we have: \n“GM Daniel Fernandez (born 1995) has been an active and accomplished player for several years. He represented his native Singapore twice at Olympiads (2010 and 2012) before transferring to the English chess federation. There\, he won the national classical titles at U-18 and U-21 levels and worked to become a Grandmaster while simultaneously studying at Cambridge. The Caro-Kann was instrumental in his quest for that title. Currently\, Daniel is known in the chess scene not only as a solid player\, but also as a mentor figure to younger English players\, as a producer of well-received commentary and analysis\, and as a multilingual chess coach. This is his first book.” \nFrom January 2019 we have this interesting encounter between Gawain Jones and Daniel from the annual 4NCL meeting of Guildford and Wood Green: \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nWith the White pieces Daniel has played  a wide range of first moves but the majority move by far is 1.e4. His choice versus the Najdorf is some eclectic : sometime ago 6. Rg1 was the favourite and now 6.a4 is preferred. \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nAgainst 1…e5 Daniel offers a main line Ruy Lopez. \nWhat does a Caro-Kann expert play against the Caro-Kann? Nowadays the Two Knights Variation is employed! \nAs the second player he plays the Sicilian Najdorf as well as the Caro-Kann plus an equal mixture of the Grünfeld and King’s Indian Defences. \nIn 2019 Daniel was interviewed by Edwin Lam on behalf of ChessBase : fascinating reading! \nIn the same year Daniel joined IM Adam Taylor’s venture Making Grandmasters. \nOur final games is from July 2019 : \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nDaniel’s most recent publication is The Modernized Modern Defence from Thinker’s Publishing: \nThe Modernized Modern Defence\, Daniel Fernandez\, Thinker’s Publishing\, 2021\nand BCN has been told that Daniel has a book in the pipeline about the Tata Steel 2021 tournament at Wijk aan Zee.
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-daniel-fernandez-05-iii-1995/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/JB4_9189.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210305
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210306
DTSTAMP:20210305T164800Z
CREATED:20200412T132557Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T164800Z
UID:4552-1614902400-1614988799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Adam Ashton (05-iii-1980)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Adam G Ashton (05-iii-1980)
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-adam-g-ashton-05-iii-1980/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/JEU8980.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)
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:20210308
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210309
DTSTAMP:20230308T130207Z
CREATED:20200408T105518Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230308T130207Z
UID:4171-1615161600-1615247999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM James Cobb (08-iii-1977)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM James E Cobb (08-iii-1977)
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-james-e-cobb-08-iii-1977/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/BBC_4959.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210308
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210309
DTSTAMP:20210305T165000Z
CREATED:20200410T162610Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T165000Z
UID:4352-1615161600-1615247999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Bogdan Lalić (08-iii-1964)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Bogdan Lalić (08-iii-1964)
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-bogdan-lalic-08-iii-1964/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/JUA3990.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210309
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210310
DTSTAMP:20210305T165157Z
CREATED:20200412T174846Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T165157Z
UID:4554-1615248000-1615334399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Mark Lyell (09-iii-1961)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Mark Lyell (09-iii-1961)
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-mark-lyell-09-iii-1961/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/JUA3989.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210312
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210313
DTSTAMP:20210305T165314Z
CREATED:20200403T170100Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T165314Z
UID:4031-1615507200-1615593599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Douglas Bryson (12-iii-1957)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Douglas Marshall Bryson (12-iii-1957)
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-douglas-marshall-bryson-12-iii-1957/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/bryson.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210313
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210314
DTSTAMP:20210305T182112Z
CREATED:20200322T194222Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T182112Z
UID:3668-1615593600-1615679999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of IM William Fairhurst CBE (21-viii-1903 13-iii-1982)
DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of IM William Albert Fairhurst CBE (21-viii-1903 13-iii-1982) \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \n“International chess master\, British Champion in 1937 and Scottish Champion in 1932\, 1933\, 1934\, 1936\, 1937\, 1938\, 1946\, 1947\, 1948\, 1949 and 1962. \nBorn in Alderney Edge in Cheshire on 21st August 1903\, Fairhurst taught himself to play chess from books on the game\, when he was 13\, when he was 18 he won the Cheshire Championship. \nHis first major international success was at Scarborough in 1927\, where he tied for Yates for 2nd prize\, ahead of Bogoljubov\, Sir George Thomas\, Buerger\, among others. \nIn 1931 he went to live to Scotland\, quickly established himself as a leader of Scottish chess and played a major role in agreements between the British Chess Federation and the Scottish Chess Association. In 1932 he gave a blindfold simultaneous display\, winning nine games and drawing three\, in the Polytechnic Club in Glasgow\, and in 1933 he drew match of six games against Eliskases. \nFairhurst has represented Great Britain in matches against Czechoslovakia and the USSR in 1946 and 1947; against the Netherlands in 1937\, 1938\, 1949 and 1952 and against the USSR in 1954. He also played in the Great Britain v. Australia radio match in 1947. He has represented Scotland in six chess Olympiads\, those of 1933\, 1956\, 1958\, 1964\, 1966 and 1968. \nAt Hastings in 1947 he came 5th and went through the tournament without losing a game. \nSenior partner of a leading firm of engineers and designer of the new bridge over the River Tay at Dundee (the longest river crossing in Europe)\, Fairhurst was Chairman of the Scottish Branch of the Institute of Structural Engineers and author of Arch Design Simplified. He was also a member of the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland.” \nArch Design Simplified \nHere are his games \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/remembering-im-william-albert-fairhurst-cbe-21-viii-1903-13-iii-1982/
CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/fairhurst_1937.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210314
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210315
DTSTAMP:20210314T122947Z
CREATED:20190823T084056Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210314T122947Z
UID:1042-1615680000-1615766399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM David Levy (14-iii-1945)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes IM David Levy happy birthday (14-iii-1945) \nSome of the participants in the Paul Keres display on November 25th\, 1962\, at St Pancras Town Hall\, London WC1. Back row : AJ. Whiteley\, D Floyer\, PJ Collins\, PJ Adams\, RC Vaughan\, KB Harman\, D. Parr\, DNL Levy\, Front row : MV Lambshire\, AE Hopkins (selector) Paul Keres\, Miss D. Dobson\, RE Hartley\, BC Gillman\, WR Hartston and PN Lee. Photograph by AM Reilly. Source : BCM\, 1963\, page 13 \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nHere is his entry from the chessprogramming wiki \nThe PCW Microchess Championship \nFrom chessgames.com : \n“International Master and International Arbiter David Neil Lawrence Levy was born in London\, England. Awarded the IM title in 1969\, he won the Scottish Championship in 1968 and 1975 (=Stephen Swanson). He scored +6=5-7 at the top Olympiad board for Scotland in 1972. He is also a noted chess author and computer expert. \nIn 1968 he started a landmark wager of (initially) £500 with two Artificial Intelligence luminaries that no computer program would win a chess match against him within 10 years. \nHe won his bet in 1978 at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto by beating computer chess program CHESS 4.7 (Computer)\, which ran on a CDC Cyber 176 mainframe computer. These events led to a prize of $5\,000 offered by Omni magazine to the authors of the first chess program to defeat Levy. The prize was not won until 1989\, when IBM accepted the challenge with their chess computer Deep Thought (Computer). \nHistory of Computer Chess: An AI perspective. http://video.google.com/videoplay?d… Wikipedia article: David Levy (chess player)” \nThe PCW Microchess Championship \nHere are his games from chessgames.com \nVideo Chess Event (See caption below) \nA famous letter from David to Raymond Keene. \nVideo Chess Caption \nMichael Stean chats with David Levy at the London Chess Classic \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 \nThe Chess Scene \nThe Complete Games of World Champion Anatoly Karpov \nThe Complete Games of World Champion Anatoly Karpov \nHow to Play the Sicilian Defence\, Batsford\, 1978 \nBritish Chess\, Pergamon Press\, 1983. Editors : GS Botterill\, DNL Levy\, JM Rice and MJ Richardson \n 
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-david-neil-laurence-levy/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/computer-chess.david-levy.102634531.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210314
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210315
DTSTAMP:20210305T182656Z
CREATED:20191117T162714Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T182656Z
UID:2084-1615680000-1615766399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IA Stewart Reuben (14-iii-1939)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of Stewart Reuben (14-iii-1939) \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nHis personal catchphrase is “If only I had been consulted eariler” \nJimmy Adams and Stewart Reuben \nRichard W. O’Brien and Stewart Reuben working on a bulletin \nSR attempting to dance \nStewart Reuben interviews Stewart Reuben at the home of Stewart Reuben \nThe Chess Scene \nLeonard Barden\, Stewart Reuben and Michael Franklin at the 1978 Aaronson Masters \nThe Chess Organiser’s Handbook \nLondon 1980: Phillips and Drew Kings Chess Tournament
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-stewart-reuben-14-iii-1939/
CATEGORIES:Arbiter,Birthday,British Championships,Official,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/bcc_3661_lv-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210314
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210315
DTSTAMP:20210305T183318Z
CREATED:20200409T074359Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T183318Z
UID:4223-1615680000-1615766399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM John Emms (14-iii-1967)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM John M Emms (14-iii-1967)
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-john-m-emms-14-iii-1967/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/bct_4292_lv.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210314
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210315
DTSTAMP:20210305T183459Z
CREATED:20200409T133940Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T183459Z
UID:4264-1615680000-1615766399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Owen Hindle (14-iii-1940)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Owen Mark Hindle (14-iii-1940)
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-owen-mark-hindle-14-iii-1940/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,History,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/img_0630_lv.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210314
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210315
DTSTAMP:20210314T123254Z
CREATED:20200410T133033Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210314T123254Z
UID:4348-1615680000-1615766399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of IM Simon Webb (10-vi-1949 14-iii-2005)
DESCRIPTION:We remember IM Simon Webb (10-vi-1949 14-iii-2005) \nDavid Nixon and Simon Webb at the London Evening Standard Congress \nSimon became England’s fourth Correspondence Grandmaster in 1983 following Keith Richardson\, Adrian Hollis and Peter Clarke. \nIM Jonathan Speelman vs IM Simon Webb at the 1978 British Championships in Ayr\, Courtesy of John Upham \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n \nSimon Webb (above Stewart Reuben at the Lloyds Bank Masters \nJoint winners of the 1973 Strasbourg Open : N. Karaklaic and Simon Webb. Photography by Mike Rose. CHESS\, Volume 88\, June\, page 283 \nChess for Tigers \nChess for Tigers
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-im-simon-webb-10-vi-1949-14-iii-2005/
CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/img_0310_lv.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210316
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210317
DTSTAMP:20210305T184040Z
CREATED:20191212T143635Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T184040Z
UID:2338-1615852800-1615939199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Michael Basman (16-iii-1946)
DESCRIPTION:IM Michael John Basman \nBirthday of IM Michael John Basman (16-iii-1946)
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-michael-john-basman-16-iii-1946/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/bbc_4070_lv-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210318
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210319
DTSTAMP:20210318T094549Z
CREATED:20200123T105643Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210318T094549Z
UID:2996-1616025600-1616111999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Jim Plaskett (18-iii-1960)
DESCRIPTION:Happy Birthday GM Harold James Plaskett born on this day (March 18th) in 1960 \nGM Harold James Plaskett \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nJim accepts the 1981 Grand Prix shield from ? \nHere are his games \nJim obtained his FM norm in 1980 according to Gino de Felice. \nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“Harold James (Jim) Plaskett was born in Dkeliha\, Cyprus. He was awarded the IM title in 1981 and became a GM in 1985. Plaskett’s tournament results include first place at Plovdiv 1984 and a tie for second at Hastings 1984-85. He was British champion in 1990.” \nJim with David Anderton OBE at the 1983 Benedictine International (Manchester) \nJames Plaskett almost became a millionaire \nTrends in the Sicilian Richter Rauzer \nTrends in the Sicilian Sozin \nTrends in the Gruenfeld without cd5 \nThe English Defence \nPlaying to Win \nThe Sicilian Taimanov \nThe Sicilian Grand Prix \nCoincidences \nCan You Be a Tactical Chess Genius? \nThe Scandinavian Defence \nStarting Out: Attacking Play \nCatastrophe In The Opening \nThe Queen’s Bishop Attack Revealed. \nBad Show
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-harold-james-plaskett-18-iii-1960/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,English,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/img_1518_smaller.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210318
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210319
DTSTAMP:20230317T091443Z
CREATED:20200402T175239Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230317T091443Z
UID:3990-1616025600-1616111999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of FM Steve Berry (18-iii-1951 04-i-2019)
DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of FM Stephen H Berry (18-iii-1951) \nObituary from Andrew Stone
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-stephen-h-berry-18-iii-1951/
CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,Player,Remembering
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/319.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210319
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210320
DTSTAMP:20210305T185257Z
CREATED:20200319T110448Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T185257Z
UID:3582-1616112000-1616198399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Justin Tan (19-iii-1997)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Justin Hsien Y Tan (19-iii-1997) \nGM Justin Tan \nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“Grandmaster (2018). \nFM (2013); IM (2015). \nJustin Tan is one of Australia’s promising juniors\, and is one of two juniors amongst Australia’s top ten players. \nInternational Master Norms \nTan won his first IM norm during the 2013-14 NCL. His 2nd IM norm came at the Caissa GM tournament held in Kecskemet in Hungary in February 2014\, and he secured his 3rd IM norm \, and the IM title\, at the Bunratty Classic 2015 in Ireland on 22 February 2015. \nChampionships \nTan scored his first positive result against an accredited Master when he drew with WIM Narelle Szuveges in the Noble Park Club Championship in February 2008. Six months later he scored his first win against a master at the Noble Park Grade A Championship when he defeated FM Al-Rashid Abdul Wahab of Iraq. At the age of 12\, he competed in the World U16 Championship 2009 that was held in Antalya in Turkey\, scoring a solid rating-enhancing 5.5/11. He scored 5.5/9 in the 2011 U14 World Championship\, beating the eventual winner FM (and now GM) Kirill Alekseenko in their individual encounter. He first played in the Oceania Zonal 3.6 in 2011 and scored 6.5/9 in the Zonal 3.6 tournament in 2013\, earning his FM title under the 50% rule. He placed second to Alastair Cameron in the 2012 Australian U18 Open with 7.5/9 and did well in scoring 6/11 in the 2012 Australian Championship. He was equal second at the Victorian Championship in 2013. In September 2015\, he was equal first at the Illinois Open State Chess Championship. \nIn October and November 2015\, Tan contested the World U18 Championship staged in Greece\, and placed =4th with 8/11. \nTournaments \n<2007-2009> Tan’s first FIDE-rated event was the Arthur Tan Malaysian Open Championship in 2007. His first significant result at the sharp end of the leader board was equal first at the Noble Park Chess Club Open in Melbourne in May 2009. \n<2010-2012> In May 2010\, he scored his first win against an International Master when he defeated Mirko Rujevic at the City of Melbourne Open. He was equal first at the MCC ANZAC Day Weekender in 2010 alongside Erik O M C Teichmann and Mirko Rujevic\, and won the same event in 2012 in Melbourne with 6.5/7. He won the Noble Park Grade A event in 2011\, was equal first (second on tiebreak) at the 2011 Noble Park Club Championship\, placed fourth in the Noble Park Club Championship 2012\, and was equal first at the Noble Park Masters 2012. He finished 2012 by winning the Bob Brooking Round Robin ahead of IMs James Morris and Rujevic. \n<2013-2015> 2013 started with equal first at the Noble Park Club Championship. He was equal first at the Canterbury Summer Swiss 2013 held in December 2013 in Melbourne. He chanced his arm at the powerful Isle of Man Masters (2015) held in October 2015\, and scored a rating-neutral 4.5/9. \nTeam Events \n6/10 on board 2 at the 2012 World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad\, helping the Australia “A” team to 8th place. Tan played board 2 for Oxford 1 in the 2013-14 4NCL\, winning his first IM norm during that event. \nRating and Ranking \nTan’s initial rating was 1802 in April 2008. His highest rating and ranking to date is 2446 and Australian #6 in November 2015.” \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 \nGM Justin Tan
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-justin-tan-19-iii-1997/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/bct_4330_lv.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210321
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210322
DTSTAMP:20210305T185740Z
CREATED:20200410T093006Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T185740Z
UID:4319-1616284800-1616371199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM James Jackson (21-iii-1991)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM James P Jackson (21-iii-1991) \nJames became a FIDE Master in 2014 and an International Master in 2019
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-james-p-jackson-21-iii-1991/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/jb4_9204_lv-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210322
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210323
DTSTAMP:20210305T190014Z
CREATED:20200318T134950Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T190014Z
UID:3569-1616371200-1616457599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Peter Roberson (22-iii-1989)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Peter Thomas Roberson (22-iii-1989) \nIM Peter Roberson \nPeter is IM Squirlolz on chess.com \nIM Peter Roberson \nPeter’s games from chessgames.com \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-peter-thomas-roberson-22-iii-1989/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/jb4_7629_lv-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210323
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210324
DTSTAMP:20210305T190138Z
CREATED:20200319T124618Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T190138Z
UID:3593-1616457600-1616543999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Craig Hanley (23-iii-1984)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Craig A Hanley (23-iii-1984) \nIM Craig Hanley
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-craig-hanley-23-iii-1984/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/JUA3896-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210326
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210327
DTSTAMP:20210305T192111Z
CREATED:20200319T125443Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T192111Z
UID:3597-1616716800-1616803199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Chris Ward (26-iii-1968)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Christopher Geoffrey Ward (26-iii-1968)Here is his Wikipedia entry \nGM Chris Ward \nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“Grandmaster and British Chess Champion in 1996. He is the author of several chess books\, among them Winning With the Sicilian Dragon 2 (2001)\, Winning with the Dragon (2003) and The Controversial Samisch King’s Indian (2004).” \nChris plays Jiang Chuan Ye at the 1997 England – China match \nHere are his games \nChris Ward commentating during the Hastings Congress \nChris earned his IM title in 1990 and his GM title in 1996. According to Chessbase and Felice his peak rating was 2531 in July 2003 when he was 35. \nChris is President of the English Primary Schools Chess Association (EPSCA)\, Chris is the Chief Coach of the Kent Junior Chess Association (KJCA). Chris plays for KJCA Kings in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). \nChris with the British Championship Trophy from 1996 (Nottingham) \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“Not sure about best\, but 18.Qxf8+ against Summerscale en route to winning the 1996 British Championship will be forever ingrained in my mind. Sorry\, Aaron!”\n– GM Chris Ward (when asked for his best move) \nSource: Chess Monthly 2017 December \nGM Chris Ward \nEndgame Play \nThe Queen’s Gambit Accepted \nThe Genius of Paul Morphy \nImprove your Opening Play \nWinning With the Sicilian Dragon 2 \nStarting Out: The Nimzo-Indian \nIt’s Your Move: Improvers \nUnusual Queen’s Gambit Declined \nWinning with the Dragon \nIt’s Your Move: Tough Puzzles \nStarting Out: Rook Endgames \nThe Controversial Samisch King’s Indian \nPlay the Queen’s Gambit \nStarting Out: Chess Tactics and Checkmates
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-chris-ward-26-iii-1968/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Hastings,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/BCC_3586-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210327
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210328
DTSTAMP:20210306T111608Z
CREATED:20200411T140719Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T111608Z
UID:4442-1616803200-1616889599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of WIM Heather Richards (27-iii-1983)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of WIM Heather S Richards (27-iii-1983)
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-wim-heather-s-richards-27-iii-1983/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/bcc_3612_lv-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210329
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210330
DTSTAMP:20210329T110426Z
CREATED:20200408T125142Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210329T110426Z
UID:4185-1616976000-1617062399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Tony Corkett (29-iii-1958)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Anthony R Corkett (29-iii-1958)
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-anthony-r-corkett-29-iii-1958/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210330
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210331
DTSTAMP:20220330T112305Z
CREATED:20200412T103328Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220330T112305Z
UID:4541-1617062400-1617148799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Augustus Mongredien (1807 - 30-iii-1888)
DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Augustus Mongredien (1807 – 30-iii-1888) \nHere is his Wikipedia entry
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-augustus-mongredien-1807-30-iii-1888/
CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/250px-LewisWalkerMongredien.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200331
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200401
DTSTAMP:20220401T132443Z
CREATED:20200716T120224Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220401T132443Z
UID:7455-1585612800-1585699199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of IMC Ken Messere OBE (16-iv-1928 31-iii-2005)
DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Ken Messere who passed away on Thursday\, March 31st 2005 aged 76 in Paris-16E-Arrondissement\, Paris\, France. \nKenneth Charles Messere was born on Monday\, April 16th\, 1928 in Richmond-on-Thames\, Surrey. His father was Charles (George) Messere (1901-1974) or Eisenberg and aged 26. His mother was Gertrude Marie Newman (1899-1978) and aged 29. \nKen had three siblings: Barbara Marie Messere (1930–2005)\, Hugh Martin Messere (1932–1985) and Derek R Messere (1934–2012) \nKen attended St. Peter’s College\, Oxford from 1946 – 1951 to read philosophy and is reported in the 1951 St. Edmund Hall Magazine\, as a member of the Trillick (debating) Society as follows: \n‘ That this House would rather be a live Communist than\na dead Democrat.’ The proposer established to his own satisfaction that democracy was founded on ‘selfishness\, capitalism and bourgeois hypocrisy.’ He did not satisfy J. F. R. Bonguard of St. Peter’s Hall who opposed\, using arguments taken from Hindu philosophy. K. C. Messere of St. Peter’s Hall\, spoke third and added some able arguments. \nIn June 1954 Ken married Mary Elizabeth Humphrey (1929-2003) in Ealing. They had a son Miles Jonathan Messere born in 1964 who passed away in 1965. \nPrior the time of his passing his wife Mary was living at 142B\, Herbert Road\, Woolwich\, London\, SE18 3PU. \nIn 1991 he was awarded the OBE (Civil Division) in the Queen’s Birthday honours list. The citation reads: Kenneth Charles Messere\, lately Head of Fiscal Affairs Division\, OECD\, Paris. \nKen appears each year from 1953 to 1967 in the noted publication Britain\, Royal And Imperial Calendars the function of which is to list entries for those engaged in UK public service. He worked for HM Customs and Excise. Prompted by this we consulted the venerable A History of Chess in the English Civil Service by Kevin Thurlow (Conrad Press\, 2021) on page 447 and found \n“He played for Customs. In 1964\, he went to work for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and was head of fiscal affairs from 1971 – 1991. In 1954 he began playing postal chess and became a leading player. He won a semi-final of the 5th World Correspondence Championship (1961 – 64) and became the first English player to compete in a World Championship Final.” \nThere are 31 games listed at his personal entry at chessgames.com starting with games from 1965. \nChessbase’s Correspondence Database 2020 records 69 games the earliest being from 1958 listing Ken’s federation as being France. \nFrom British Chess (Pergamon Press\, 1983) we have this lengthy contribution from Ken himself: \n“Between the ages of 6\, when I learnt to play and 23 (ed: 1951)\, when I ceased to be a student\, chess had a relatively low priority among various time-competing interests and activities\, so I never got around to studying theory. Things changed when I became a civil servant and needed a replacement for philosophy as an intellectually absorbing subject which could be argued about with friends over beers\, and for the next 12 years chess became my main interest. \nSince 1964 I have been working for the OECD in Paris\, where my friends are not chess enthusiasts and\, although chess remains a major pleasure\, my commitment to it has lessened. Nowadays\, out-side correspondence chess\, I play only occasional blitz games. \nComing late to serious chess has probably had at least some influence on my deficiencies and stylistic preferences. The deficiencies include an inability to visualize ahead with sufficient clarity to support accurate analysis\, slow sight of the board which leads to silly errors through time trouble or failing stamina and less familiarity with theory than my better opponents. As to chess style\, I have had to play romantically and subjectively to get good results. \nIf a game takes the form of a clear-cut position\, where strategical objectives are clear and superior technique prevails\, then mine generally does not. Consequently I have tended to play either sharp gambits or counter-gambits or to try to render the position sufficiently obscure for imagination and intuition to assume maximum importance. In keeping\, my chess heroes have been Alekhine\, Bronstein and Tal who revel in fantasy\, however much Alekhine may claim that it is logically based. \nWhen I took up competitive chess seriously in 1952\, I made some progress and won a few minor tournaments\, but in view of the defects already mentioned\, it soon became clear that my potential for improvement was limited and that nearly all my games were aesthetically flawed. Fortunately\, these defects represent no great handicap at correspondence chess\, where I found myself pleased with a reasonable proportion of the game I played\, and in addition\, capable on the day (or more accurately over the years) of winning against almost anyone. Thus\, against world champions I have two wins and one loss\, (see below). I also have 80 per cent from five games against Russian grandmasters\, even if a meagre 28 per cent from my eighteen games against all correspondence grandmasters. In 1954 when I began playing postal chess competitively\, I did sufficiently well in a few British Postal tournaments to be accepted at a reasonably high level in the official international tournaments. \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n \nNot without luck (see Diagram l)\, I secured the 75 per cent necessary in two seven-player tournaments to qualify for the fourteen player preliminaries\, the winner of which was to qualify for the following world championship. In the 1961-64 preliminaries\, I played the best chess of my life\, including valid opening innovations\, imaginative pawn and piece sacrifices and even a technically efficient win in a queen and pawn end-game. I won the tournament with eleven wins\, one draw and one loss\, 1.5 points ahead of Maly of Czechoslovakia and two points ahead of Masseev\, the Russian favourite\, thereby obtaining my first norm towards the International Master title. My first annotated game is the win against Maly (ed: to be inserted once we have tracked down the game score!) which was typical stylistically and also crucial\, since if he had won it\, he would have qualified for the World Championship instead of me: the second against Bartha of the United States is the most compulsive and difficult tactical game I have ever played\, the last five moves alone requiring over 100 hours of analysis. \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n \nIMC Ken Messere OBE (16-iv-1928 31-iii-2005) \nThe quality of my chess in the 1965-68 World Championship was much inferior. The tournament began disastrously. I went in for three losing variations as Black and made a suicidal clerical error in the opening so that after 3 months I had four losses from four games. Later\, there were compensations. I won against V. Zagarovsky\, the reigning world champion (the third annotated game) and obtained just (but only just) the necessary 33.3% per cent to obtain the correspondence chess international master title. For this I needed a win and draw from my last two games which\nafter 3.5 years\, had to be adjudicated. \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n \nFortunately\, the win and draw were relatively clear\, though this would not have been so a few moves earlier. An an illustration of how the threat of adjudication breeds irrationality\, Diagram II gives the closing stages of my win against J.Estrin of the USSR – a more recent correspondence chess world champion. My only other game against a world champion was against the winner of this tournament\, Hans Berliner of the United States\, with whom I collaborated on a book of the tournament. The collaboration was stimulating but not without friction\, since I had to write 75 per cent of the book to see it ever finished. It took a year to complete\, 3 years to appear (published by BCM) but in the end was well-reviewed\, sold over 2000 copies and royalties are still (gently) drifting in. \nThe Fifth Correspondence Chess World Championship\, Hans Berliner & Ken Messere\, British Chess Magazine\, BCM Quarterly Nunber 14\, 5th December 1971\, ISBN 978-0-900846-05-2. \n  \nIn the early seventies\, in order to reduce numbers of games\, I retreated altogether from individual tournaments\, just playing twice for England in the Olympiads. Whether team play did not suit my style\, or whether my technique had improved but imagination withered\, I drew nine of my seventeen games from the two tournaments\, winning four and losing four. As England looked likely to aspire to medals for the first time ever\, my 50 per cent would not help matters and I gladly retreated to first reserve\, which to my dismay required taking over five unfinished games of Hugh Alexander\, who died during the tournament\, and who\, for me\, has always been England’s most attractive player and writer. My most uncomfortable decision in correspondence chess was a rejection of Hugh’s intended continuation in one of these games\, {Diagram III). Of these five games\, I lost one and drew four and England won a bronze medal. \nIn 1974 was invited to compete in the Potter Memorial Tournament of four postal grandmasters and nine international masters. After so many years of responsible’ team chess for England\, I went beserk and sacrificed a pawn in ten of the twelve games\, trying later to salvage inferior end-games. Result 33 % per cent. B. H. Wood invited me to write a book of the tournament\, to which a number of the players contributed and this was published in 1979. \nThe Potter Memorial\, Ken Messere\, CHESS (Sutton Coldfield)\, 1975 \nAlso in 1979 I began to play in another invitation tournament of thirteen players organised by the Australian Correspondence Chess League\, which became a memorial to CJS Purdy\, its president and the first world postal champion\, who died soon after the tournament began. At the time of writing\, this tournament\, comprising four grandmasters (including one former world champion and two runners-up) and eight international masters\, is still in its early stages.” \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXV (125\, 2005)\, Number 5 (May)\, page 226 we have this obituary: \n“Kenneth Charles Messere (16 iv 1928\, Richmond – 31 iii 2005\, Paris) was one of Britain’s strongest correspondence players (he held the correspondence IM title) and well-known author of books on the subject. After graduating from Oxford University\, Ken Messere went to HM Customs and Excise\, and thence to the Organisation for Economic Development (OECD) where he became head of the fiscal affairs division and a world expert on fiscal law. He reached the final of 1965-8 world correspondence championship\, beating world champions Zagorovsky and Estrin\, and wrote the book of the tournament with Hans Berliner (published by BCM)” \nFrom The Potter Memorial by Ken Messere\, CHESS (Sutton Coldfield)\, “Chess for Modern Times” Series\, 1975 we have this potted biography: \n“Compiler of this book\, took 3rd place in 1957 and 2nd in 1968 in the championship of the Postal Chess Club. Scores of 4.5 out of 6 in the ICCF Masters 1957-8 and 4/6 in the 1959-61 Championship took him to victory with 11/5 out of 13 in the 1961-3 semi-finals\, securing him his first international master norm and qualifying him for the 5th World Championship 1964-7 in which he scored 5.5\, just enough for the IM title\, with wins over Zagorovsky\, then world champion and Estrin\, world champion now. Ken Messere collaborated with Berliner\, who won it\, in a book on the tournament. \nHe then switched to play exclusively as a member of the British Olympiad team\, taking over 2nd board when Alexander died. \nThe switch back from rather cautious team play to enterprising individual games in 1974-7 provides some of the subject matter of this book.” \n  \nThe Tax System in Industrialized Countries\, Ken Messere\, Oxford University Press\, 1998\, ISBN 10: 1982933135 / ISBN 13: 9781982933135
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
END:VCALENDAR