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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201203
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201204
DTSTAMP:20191214T143821Z
CREATED:20190823T182153Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20191214T143821Z
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SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Christopher Reeve (03-XII-2012)
DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Christopher Reeve (03-XII-2012)
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-christopher-reeve/
CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201203
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201204
DTSTAMP:20211202T104020Z
CREATED:20200323T140601Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211202T104020Z
UID:3698-1606953600-1607039999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of A(lfred) Christopher Reeves (19-ii-1939 03-xii-2012)
DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Dr. A(lfred) Christopher Reeves who passed away on Monday\, December 3rd\, 2012 in St. Agnes\, Cornwall. His probate record (#4073868) is dated December 3rd\, 2012 being recorded in the Bristol registry. \nAlfred Christopher Reeves was born in Wharfedale\, Yorkshire on Sunday\, February 19th\, 1939. His mother’s name was Tomlin. \nAlfred detested his first name to the extent that he asked people to call him Christopher and\, when asked\, told them that the A was for Arthur. For this reason much of the chess literature uses Arthur whereas public records use Alfred. \nIn British Chess Magazine\, Volume 133 (2013)\, Number 1 (January)\, page 2 we have this obituary from James Pratt: \n“Alfred Christopher Reeves (Leeds\, 19 ii 1939 – St Agnes?\, 3 xii 2012). Chris Reeves was a FIDE Master of Composition. He toyed with entering the priesthood but became a child psychotherapist. He started composing (“…my solace and diversion …”) in 1960\, largely specialising in the orthodox two move field. Though not a prolific composer\, his work was known worldwide.\nHe was Sub-Editor of The Problemist” \nFrom the The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977)\, Harry Golombek OBE\, John Rice writes: \n“British problemist\, output consists of skilfully constructed two-movers in the modern style.” \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976)\, Anne Sunnucks wrote: : \n“Problem composer. Since 1960 he has composed about 70 modern-style two movers\, and is considered to be one of the most talented British composers. His originality and technique enable him to build into tangible form what would be no more than a passing idea for most composers. He has edited the problem section of Correspondence Chess\, and he controlled BCF tourneys and International Team matches.” \nFrom British Chess (Pergamon Press\, 1983) Botterill\, Levy\, Rice and Richardson we have this: \n“I was born on February 19th\, 1939\, the second son of a doctor who practised in a busy Yorkshire coal-mining town. As a youngster I acquired a taste for chess problems as soon as I learnt the moves of the game. \nI owe my initiation to the admirable column which DM Davey used to run in the weekly review The Tablet and to the enterprise of one of the masters of the boarding school to which I was sent when still quite young. Davey’s column catered for novice chess problemists like myself by conducting graded solving tournaments with modest handicaps. \nThese tournaments ran conveniently the length of the school term\, just long enough to sustain a young person’s enthusiasm\, The teacher in question used to put the week’s problem up on the school noticeboard and dozens of small schoolboys participated as a result. The Tablet column was not only a boon for beginners like me. It had a very discriminating band of solvers who were given ample space to express their views on each week’s problems. This had the additional effect of making it a popular forum for budding composers who need the stimulus and encouragement of audience response in what is\, after all\, a very solitary sort of pastime. \nMy fascination with chess problems soon diverted my energies away from the game itself. I was eight when I began solving. Another 13 years elapsed before I seriously tried my hand at composing. My immediate inspiration was the example of the then young trio of British composers\, Barry Barnes\, Michael Lipton and John Rice. Their latest work incorporating\, try-play\, and often exploiting complex patterns of relationships between mates\, was regarded as unacceptably\, ultramodern\, in some quarters but found ready appreciation with the solvers of Davey’s column. \nOther sorts of problems I had enjoyed; these I wanted to emulate. The powerful attraction their work had on me has made me chary ever since of the strictures of self-appointed guardians of chess problem ‘taste’\, who suggest that the modern two-mover cannot hold the same interest for the solver as the more traditional type. It certainly did not have a negative effect on me. \nProblem I was one of my earliest compositions\, in fact the first to gain any sort of award. At the time I was a theological student destined for the priesthood. I recall having felt some scruples about indulging in the frivolous pastime of chess problem composition not that it prevented me from becoming thoroughly addicted! \nI have found that a bad conscience makes a good chess problem\, and the greatest spur for composition is the feeling that one should really be busy doing something else. The problem shows a duel between the white queen and the black knight on d5\, each of whose eight possible moves feature as a unique defence against one of the white queen tries. Solvers have often found the key to this problem’ quite elusive. \nProblem I \nThe Tablet\, 30th June\, 1962 \n3rd Honorary Mention BCPS Ring Tournament \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nWhite to play and mate in 2 \n1.Qa1?…Nc7!\n1.Qa4?…Nb6!\n1.Qb1?…N5b4!\n1.Qc1?…Nc3!\n1.Qe1?…Ne3!\n1.Qf1?…N5f4!\n1.Qg4?…Nf6!\n1.Qg1?…Ne7! \nKey! Qb3! \nThe 1960s were my golden period of problem composition. They were my solace and diversion as I passed by way of theological studies through an Oxford degree to the foothills of a different career from the one I had originally envisaged\, not the ‘cure of souls’ but the management and treatment of emotionally disturbed children and their families. By the end of the decade I was\nalready engaged in working as a Child Psychotherapist. Since then I have found that human problems have tended to displace my former involvement with problems of the chess pieces. Whereas\nbetween 1960 and 1970 I composed seventy problems\, in the subsequent decade I could manage only a dozen more. The reason for this slowing down in production\, however\, has not only been the demands of personal\, family and professional life. \nAs a composer I have concentrated almost exclusively on the orthodox two-move field\, one which if not yet exhausted nevertheless presents a major challenge to the composer to find something new to say or some new way of saying it. It is no accident (though I admit to a slight feeling of regret) of heterodox problems has expanded enormously in the past few years. \nOf my eighty or so problems\, fifty have been honoured in tournaments\, ten with First prizes\, ten with other prizes and the rest with Honourable Mentions and Commendations. My ambition is to\nreach a respectable century of compositions\, though I being to wonder whether I shall ever make the mark. I would also like to reach the FIDE Master norm for problem composition. I have\nhad twenty of my problems included in the triennial FIDE Albums so far\, a few of them joint compositions. Here again\, however\, my productivity (or lack of it) may eventually tell against me. \nStill\, the problemist must always keep the business of honours in perspective. Composing problems is an essentially private business. Your opponent is the power of the pieces\, not a fellow sitting opposite Vou. Unlike the chess player\, one can keep one’s defeats to oneself when one puts the pieces away after a fruitless evening pondering over a board\, so it seems only fair that\none’s successes likewise should be modestly recorded. \nBy a coincidence two of the three problems which I have selected to round off this brief note about myself and my compositions are ones which got no recognition from the tournament judge\nat the time\, although I count them amongst my best works. \nI have chosen a trio of problems all roughly on the same theme\, namely\, the four possible moves of the pawn from its starting square. In chess problem parlance this is called the BP4M* theme when applied to the Black pawn\, and the Albino theme when applied to the White pawn. \nII and III show two ways in which four mates can be provided to meet each of the BP4M moves\, only to be changed in the next phase of play. In II\, the change is between mates set before the key and those operative after it; in III\, the change is more radical\, involving the transfer of the WR from one position to another\, thereby creating two separate but related (or ‘twin’) problems. Incidentally\, a good way to begin to get a taste of what composing involves is to take a problem like III and try to express the theme in full (here the changed BP4M) without resorting to the twinning device. \nMy last example\, IV\, shows a duel between white and black pawns\, with the four Albino tries being met by the four possible BP4M defences. \n(* BP4M is BCNs replacement for a word starting with p now considered by some as offensive.). \nWhilst the player may rejoice in a victory soundly accomplished I can think of few pleasures to compare with the satisfaction which comes from accomplishing the sort of task which IV entails\, especially when one is fairly sure that it has not been successfully achieved before. For me\, at all events\, this is what two-mover chess problem composition is all about: its is the ‘art if the all-but-impossible’!” \nProblem II \nDie Schwalbe August\, 1965 \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nWhite to play and mate in 2 \n1…dxc6+ 2. Bxc6\n1…d6 2.Nd5\n1…d5 2.Qb4\n1…dxe6 2.Bc8 \nKey 1.Qxe5! (2.exd7) \n1…dxc6 2.Nxc6\n1…d6 2.Qf6\n1…d5 2.Qc7\n1…dxe6 2.Qxe6\n1…Rd5+ 2.Nd5 \nProblem III \n1st Prize  \nProblemist Twin Tournament 1966-67 \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nWhite to play and mate in 2 \nProblem IV \nProbleemblad\, May\, 1965 \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nWhite to play and mate in 2 \nClearly Chris was a hugely popular figure in the problem world. Here is a collection of tributes from the BCPS.
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-alfred-christopher-reeves-19-ii-1939-3-xii-2012/
CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist,Remembering
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201213
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201214
DTSTAMP:20201212T223944Z
CREATED:20191213T135517Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201212T223944Z
UID:2383-1607817600-1607903999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of David Shire (13-xii-1947)
DESCRIPTION:Happy Birthday to David Shire. \nDavid John Shire was born on Saturday\, December 13th 1947. On the same day “Ballerina” by Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra hit #1 on the Billboard Best Sellers in Stores record chart.
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-david-j-shire-13-xii-1947/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Composer,Player,Problemist
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JUA3089-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201213
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201214
DTSTAMP:20201213T110541Z
CREATED:20191213T140256Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201213T110541Z
UID:2387-1607817600-1607903999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of Colin Sydenham (13-xii-1937)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of Colin Peter Sydenham (13-xii-1937)
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-colin-peter-sydenham-13-xii-1937/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Composer,Player,Problemist
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/13.12-colin_sydenham.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201215
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201216
DTSTAMP:20201030T163431Z
CREATED:20200323T141033Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201030T163431Z
UID:3700-1607990400-1608076799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary for Thomas Ricketts (03-vii-1896 15-xii-1979)
DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary for Thomas Charles Donald Ricketts (03-vii-1896 15-xii-1979) \nSee Sunnucks
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-for-thomas-charles-donald-ricketts-03-vii-1896-15-xii-1979/
CATEGORIES:Composer,History,Problemist
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201216
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201217
DTSTAMP:20201216T152412Z
CREATED:20190823T104100Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201216T152412Z
UID:1076-1608076800-1608163199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Thomas Dawson (28-xi-1889 16-xii-1951)
DESCRIPTION:We remember Thomas Dawson who passed away on Sunday\, December 16th\, 1951. \nHe was also known by the pseudonym T. Dyke Robinson (we are looking for a primary source for this) \nThomas Rayner Dawson was born on Thursday\, November 28th 1889 in Leeds\, Yorkshire to Henry and Jane Dawson (née Rayner). \nThe early history of TRD and his family has been meticulously researched by Yorkshire chess historian\, Steve Mann. We recommend you visit this page to discover the detail. \nAccording to Edward Winter in Chess Notes TRD lived at the following addresses : \n\n5 Clyde Road\, Wallington\, Surrey\, England (Ranneforths Schachkalender\, 1925\, page 139)\n2 Lyndhurst Road\, Thornton Heath\, Surrey\, England (Ranneforths Schach-Kalender\, 1930\, page 65).\n31 Clyde Road\, Croydon\, England (Fairy Chess Review\, issues from 1946 to 1949*).\n\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP\, 1984 & 1996)by Hooper & Ken Whyld : \n“English composer\, pioneer of both fairy problems and retrograde analysis. His problems in these fields form the greater part of his output (about 6\,500 compositions) and are better remembered than his studies and orthodox problems. For fairy problems he invented new pieces: grasshopper (1912) LEO (1912)\, NEUTRAL MAN (1912) NIGHT RIDER (1925)\, and VAO (1912); he codified new rules such as the maximummer (1913) and various kinds of series-mover; and he used unorthodox boards. \nIn 1915 he wrote Retrograde Analysis\, the first book on the subject\, completing the project begun several years earlier by the German composer Wolfgang Hundsdorfer (1879-1951). \nRetrograde Analysis\, Thomas Dawson & Hundsdorfer\, 1915\nFrom 1919 to 1930 Dawson conducted a column devoted to fairy problems in the Chess Amateur\, In 1926 he was a co-founder of The Problemist \, which he edited for its first six years and he founded and edited The Problemist Fairy Supplement (1931-6) continued as The Fairy Chess Review (1936-51). \nAsymmetry\, TR Dawson & Wolfgang Pauly\, Chess Amateur\, 1927\nBesides conducting columns in several newspapers and periodicals\, one of them daily and one in the Braille Chess Magazine\, Dawson edited the problem section of the British Chess Magazine from 1931 to 1951; he devised and published in its pages (1947-50) a systematic terminology for problem themes in the hope that it would supplant the extensive jargon then and now in use\, Dawson wrote five hooks on fairy problems: Caissa’s Wild Roses (1935); C. M. Fox\, His Problems (1936); Caissa’s Wild Roses in Clusters (1937); Ultimate Themes (1938); and Caissa’s Fairy Tales (1947). \nCaissa’s Wild Roses in Clusters\, TR Dawson\, Chess Amateur\, 1937\nCharles Masson Fox (1866-1935) was a patron whose generosity made possible the publication of four of these books and the two fairy problem magazines founded by Dawson. Ultimate Themes deals with tasks\, another of Dawson’s favourite subjects. In 1973 all five books were republished in one volume. Five Classics of Fairy Chess. \nFive Classics of Fairy Chess\, TR Dawson\, Dover Publications Inc.; Revised edition (1 Sept. 1973)\nDawson found it difficult to understand the problemist’s idea of beauty because it is not susceptible to precise definition. The artist talks of “quiet” moves\, oblivious that they are White’s most pulverizing attacks! This aesthetic folly\, reverence\, response thrill to vain-glorious bombast runs throughout chess.(See Bohemian for a problem showing 16 model mates\, a task Dawson claimed as a record but a setting Bohemian composers would reject.) His genius did not set him apart from his fellows; he could find time for casual visitors and would explain his ideas to a tyro with patience\, modesty\, and kindness. Although he won many tourney prizes much of his work was designed to encourage others\, to enlarge the small band of fairy problem devotees\, He composed less for fame than to amuse himself\, confessing to another composer ‘We do these things for ourselves alone.’ \nCaissa’s Fairy Tales\, TR Dawson\, Chess Amateur\, 1947\nA chemistry graduate\, Dawson took a post in the rubber industry in 1922 and rose to be head of the Intelligence Division of the British Rubber Manufacturer for which he founded\, catalogued\, and maintained a technical library. Unwell for the last year of his life\, he died from a stroke. K. Fabel and C. E. Kemp\, Schach ohne Grenzen or Chess unlimited (1969) is a survey\, written in German and English\, of Dawson’s contribution to the art of fairy problems.” \nThomas Rayner Dawson (28-xi-1889 16-xii-1951)\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale 1970 & 1976)\, Anne Sunnucks : \n“British problemist. Born on 28th November 1889. Died on 16th December 1951. Universally known as TRD.\, the great master of Fairy problems. His wealth of invention held the chess world enthralled. His output comprised about 6\,400 problems and 150 studies. \nDawson was a nephew of the late James Rayner\, himself a noted chess problemist . From as early as about 1910\, TRD had conducted the ‘Chess Endings‘ section in the Chess Amateur\, and its Fairy section from 1919. He worked with BG Laws from Mark 1930 conducting the problem pages of the British Chess Magazine\, and following Laws’ death he assumed complete charge of the section from October 1931 to February 1951 when ill health forced him to relinquish the work. \nFairy Chess Review\nThe Problemist Fairy Chess Supplement subsequently renamed The Fairy Chess Review was started by TRD in August 1930. TRD was concerned in a number of other chess publications ; chess for the Blind\, several books of the AC White Christmas series\, BCPS Honours 1926-29\, and the CM Fox series. \nHe was largely instrumental in the publication of the first issue of The Problemist on 1st January 1926\, and was editor until May 1931. He was President of The British Chess Problem Society from September 1931 to 1943. \nUltimate Themes\, TR Dawson\, Chess Amateur\, 1938\nApart from chess\, Thomas Dawson\, MSc\, FRIC\, FIRI was an international authority on rubber\, and was responsible for the creation of the world-famous rubber library at Croydon\, as well as its ‘Dawson’ system of rubber literature documentation. A Guide to Fairy Chess and The Problemist March 1952 detail the remarkable life-time accomplishments of TRD.” \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXI (71\, 1951)\, Number 3 (March) pp. 78-80 we have notice of the retirement of TRD written by Brian Reilly : \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXX1 (71\, 1951)\, Number 3 (March) pp. 77 – 80.\nFollowing that we have this appreciation from the incoming Problem Editor\, Stanley Sedgwick of 337 Strone Road\, Manor Park\, London E12 : \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXX1 (71\, 1951)\, Number 3 (March) pp. 77 – 80.\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXX1 (71\, 1951)\, Number 3 (March) pp. 77 – 80.\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXX1 (71\, 1951)\, Number 3 (March) pp. 77 – 80.\nUnfortunately TRD was to pass away not much more than a year after the retirement notice and in British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXII (72\, 1952)\, Number 4 (April) pp. 107 – 108 we have this obituary also from Stanley Sedgwick : \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXII (72\, 1952)\, Number 4 (April) pp. 107 – 108\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXII (72\, 1952)\, Number 4 (April) pp. 107 – 108\nThe same obituary contains the following appreciate by Gerald Abrahams : \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXII (72\, 1952)\, Number 4 (April) pp. 107 – 108\nFrom Wikipedia : \n“Thomas Rayner Dawson (28 November 1889 – 16 December 1951) was an English chess problemist and is acknowledged as “the father of Fairy Chess”.[1] He invented many fairy pieces and new conditions. He introduced the popular fairy pieces grasshopper\, nightrider\, and many other fairy chess ideas. \nDawson published his first problem\, a two-mover\, in 1907. His chess problem compositions include 5\,320 fairies\, 885 directmates\, 97 selfmates\, and 138 endings. 120 of his problems have been awarded prizes and 211 honourably mentioned or otherwise commended. He cooperated in chess composition with Charles Masson Fox. \nDawson was founder-editor (1922–1931) of The Problemist\, the journal of the British Chess Problem Society. He subsequently produced The Fairy Chess Review (1930–1951)\, which began as The Problemist Fairy Chess Supplement. At the same time he edited the problem pages of The British Chess Magazine (1931–1951). \nPublications \nCaissa’s Playthings a series of articles in Cheltenham Examiner (1913)\nRetrograde Analysis\, with Wolfgang Hundsdorfer (1915)\nFata Morgana\, with Birgfeld\, Nanz\, Massmann\, Pauly (1922)\nAsymmetry\, with W. Pauly (1928)\nSeventy Five Retros (1928)\nCaissa’s Wild Roses (1935)\nC. M. Fox\, His Problems (1936)\nCaissa’s Wild Roses in Clusters (1937)\nUltimate Themes (1938)\nCaissa’s Fairy Tales (1947)\nThe last five titles were collected as Five Classics of Fairy Chess\, Dover Publications (1973)\, ISBN 978-0-486-22910-2.”
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-thomas-rayner-dawson/
CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201217
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201218
DTSTAMP:20201219T104718Z
CREATED:20201217T000114Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201219T104718Z
UID:1759-1608163200-1608249599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary for Harold Lommer (18-xi-1904 17-xii-1980)
DESCRIPTION:We remember Harold Lommer who passed away on December 17th\, 1980. \nHarold Maurice Lommer was born on Friday\, November 18th 1904 in Islington\, London to German parents. Curiously his birth entry was missing from the original record and has been inserted manually as an after-thought. Anyone know the reason for this? \nHe left England aged 4 in 1908 to live in Switzerland and returned to England in 1926. \nIn the 1939 Census Harold was a resident at 16a Gwendwr Road\, Barons Court\, Hammersmith\, London. \n16a Gwendwr Road\, Barons Court\, Hammersmith\, London\nAccording to the census record HML was living in a household of three persons and his occupation was that of Foreign Correspondent. \nIn 1949 Harold married Valija S Linkuns in Fulham. \nHe died in Valencia\, Provincia de València\, Valenciana\, Spain. \nHarold Maurice Lommer (18-XI-1904\, 17-XII-1980)\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld : \n“International Judge of Chess Compositions (1958)\, International Arbiter (1962)\, International Master for Chess Compositions (1974)\, the greatest British study composer. Born in Islington of German parentage\, he moved to Switzerland when he was four and returned to England 18 years later.\nInspired in his youth by the Saavedra study\, he\nbecame the leading specialist on promotion tasks\, and in 1933 was the first to show allumwandlung in a study\, which Rinck had declared was impossible. Lommer also showed in studies six consecutive promotions to rooks (1935) and a minimal with concurrent promotions to queen\, bishop\, and knight. (For another task record see star-flights.) After the Second World War he became proprietor of a Soho club\, where players and composers often met; in 1949 the club organized a small international tournament\, won by Bernstein\, Lommer retired in 1961 and went to live in Valencia\, where he died. \nIn 1939 Lommer and the English player Maurice A. Sutherland (d.1954)\, who backed the project\, published 1\,234 Modern End-game Studies. In 1975 Lommer compiled a sequel\, 1\,357 End-game Studies. These two collections\, catholic in taste\, made by a composer who was above all an artist\, have become standard works. Besides his studies\, the best of which are in these books\, he composed fairy problems.” \n1234 Modern End-Game Studies\, Lommer & Sutherland. Dover\, 1938 (originally\, this one 1967)\n1234 Modern End-Game Studies\, Lommer & Sutherland. Dover\, 1938 (originally\, this one 1967)\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale 1970&1976)\, Anne Sunnucks : \n“FIDE Judge of Endgame Studies since 1958. Born on 18th November 1904 in London\, Harold Lommer’s parents were German and he was educated mainly in Switzerland. Since the late 1950s he has lived in Spain. He has composed about 1000 endgame studies and is joint author with MA Sutherland\, of the anthology 1234 Modern End-Game Studies\, published in 1938. He is particularly well-known for his under-promotion tasks\, but would prefer to be known for his other work as well. \nFor some 100 years up to 1957\, he was joint owner and manager of the Mandrake Club in Soho\, London\, used by many well-known chess players\, journalists and theatre personalities.” \n\nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CI (101\, 1981)\, Number 3 (March)\, pp. 86-88 we have this obituary from CM Bent : \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CI (101\, 1981)\, Number 3 (March)\, pp. 86-88\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CI (101\, 1981)\, Number 3 (March)\, pp. 86-88\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CI (101\, 1981)\, Number 3 (March)\, pp. 86-88\n\n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\n1357 End-Game Studies\nHarold Maurice Lommer (18-XI-1904\, 17-XII-1980)
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-for-harold-maurice-lommer-18-xi-1904-17-xii-1980/
CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,Problemist
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201218
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201219
DTSTAMP:20201030T175740Z
CREATED:20191012T092904Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201030T175740Z
UID:1515-1608249600-1608335999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Peter Copping (12-x-1922 18-xii-1989)
DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Peter Fairburn Copping (12-x-1922 18-xii-1989)
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-peter-fairburn-copping-12-x-1922-18-xii-1989/
CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201228
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201229
DTSTAMP:20201229T172508Z
CREATED:20200409T195301Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201229T172508Z
UID:4300-1609113600-1609199999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Charles (Mike) Bent (27-xi-1919 28-xii-2004)
DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Mike Bent who passed away on Tuesday\, December 28th 2004. \nCharles Michael Bent was born on Thursday\, 27th of November 1919 and in that year Charles was the fifth most popular boy’s name. \nHe was born in Portsmouth\, Hampshire. \nIn 1939 he was living at 5\, Ashburton Road\, Gosport with his mother Eileen B. Bent (née Hill) and was a Sub Lieutenant in the Royal Navy. \nHe wrote “Best of Bent: Composer’s Choice of His Chess Endgame Studies\, 1950-93” This was edited by TG Whitworth. \nThe Best of Bent\, CM Bent\, edited TG Whitworth\, July 1993\nHe died in Swindon on the 28th of December\, 2004 having last resided in Hungerford\, RG17. Whilst writing the Studies column for British Chess Magazine he resided at “Black Latches”\, Inkpen\, Newbury\, Berkshire. \n“Black Latches”\, Inkpen\, Newbury\, Berkshire\nThe C. M. Bent Memorial Composing Tourney was held in 2006-07. \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume XCV (95\, 1975)\, Number 1 (January)\, page 22 we have a charming introduction to CMB from the retiring editor of the Studies column\, AJ Roycroft : \n“A studies article without a diagram? Yes\, and without an apology either. Instead this introduced my successor\, Charles Michael Bent\, who is as remarkable without the chessboard as he is with it. Now since\, as at May 1974\, he has composed the total\, rarely exceeded by anyone\, of 670 studies (of which only 375 have been published)\, and about 600 problems (one tenth published)\, his other achievements and activities\, insofar as he can be persuaded to talk about them\, are worth recounting. \nMichael Bent has a passion for all-the-year-round tennis\, and loves the country life. Walking and climbing\, all-forms of do-it-yourself\, word-play nabla/del\, puzzles\, conjuring and listening to music make the mixture extraordinarily rich. Yet if there was a single word to characterise him it would be simplicity (his choice)\, with (my addition) a strong and individual sense of humour. \nPhysically he is a lean\, balding 54-year-old as fit as most men half his age. He played at Junior Wimbledon before the War and only three of four years back won the singles tennis championship of his half of Berkshire. He is a modest and delightful companion\, and to visit him and his wife Viola\, to whom he credits responsibility for the serenity of his condition and surroundings\, is a relaxing pleasure I always look forward to in my own hustled and tense London-centered existence. \nIn his own words he was never really a player of chess at all\, but first sight of problems (during the war) and endings (just after it) acted like fireworks on a dark night and lit an imagination which still lacks basic technical knowledge. So\, artistic rather than ‘scientific’\, have never knowingly composed a didactic study. Am told my ‘style’ is easily recognised. Am aware\, but perfectly content\, that I compose much that the expert will easily solve\, in the hope that the less initiated may be entertained and as attracted as I was in the beginning. \nThere is a feast\, including many surprises\, in store for you and me\, at the hands of your new chess-chef\, ‘CMB of the BCM’.” \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume 125 (2005)\, Number 2 (February)\, page 98 we have a brief obituary from John Beasley : \n“Charles Michael Bent died just over a month after his 85th birthday. Mike Bent had long been Britain’s leading composer of endgame studies\, he was a witty and entertaining writer on the subject (and on many others)\, and the pleasure he gave was rightly acknowledged by the granting in 2001 of one of the BCF President’s Awards for services to chess. \nBCM published his first study in 1950 and one of his last 50 years later\, and he was our endgame study columnist from January 1975 to March 1985. There will be a steady flow of quotations in Endgame Studies during the coming months. John Beasley” \nThe Studies column was taken over in April 1985 by Paul Lamford. \nHere is his Wikipedia entry (complete with errors). \nCMB won the BCF President’s Award in 2001. \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Robert Hale 1970 & 1976)\, Anne Sunnucks : \n“Born on the 27th November 1919\, Michael Bent has only one possible challenger\, Harold Lommer\, as the finest composer of endgame studies England has ever produced. Although up to October 1967\, he had composed 546 problems and 320 studies\, he now concentrates almost exclusively on studies. His 17 honoured studies include three 1st prizes. His partiality towards Knights is shown in the typical study selected here. \nMichael Bent was educated at the Royal Naval College\, Dartmouth\, but had to leave the Navy because of chronic sea-sickness. He served in the Rifle Brigade in the Second World War and afterwards became a rubber plant in Johore\, where he survived several terrorist attacks. How now lives with his wife in a Berkshire Village. \nApart from Chess\, Michael Bent has other recreations\, including wood carving\, stamp collecting\, composing crossword puzzles and butterfly collecting. His butterfly collection included 500 Malayan specimens. He is also a strong tennis player. Thirty-one years after playing at Wimbledon as a junior\, he won the Newbury and District singles title in 1967.” \nCM Bent\n2nd Honorable Mention\nNew Statesmen 1964 Tourney Award\,\n5th March 1965 \n  \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.
URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-charles-michael-bent-27-xi-1919-28-xii-2004/
CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist
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