Birthday of Christopher John Feather (24-iii-1947)
Tag Archives: Birthdays
Happy Birthday IM Lawrence Cooper (16-vii-1970)
BCN wishes Happy Birthday to IM Lawrence Cooper (16-vii-1970)
Lawrence was born in Stone, Staffordshire and attend Walton High School, Stafford.
He became a FIDE Master in 1989 and then an International Master in 2001.
Lawrence was awarded the FIDE International Organiser title in 2011 and the FIDE Arbiter title in 2016.
His peak rating was 2430 in January 1988.
Lawrence plays for Wood Green in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) plus Newport (Shropshire), Stafford, Bushbury and Worcestershire CCA in other competitions.
Happy Birthday FM David Friedgood (11-vii-1946)
BCN wishes Happy Birthday to FM David Friedgood (11-vii-1946)
David was born in Cape Town, Republic of South Africa and now resides in England.
He first won the South Africa Championship in 1967 in Johannesburg, again in 1971, and in 1973 in Cape Town when his main rivals were Piet Kroon and Charles de Villiers.
He plays for Cavendish, Hendon and 4NCL MK Phoenix.
He gained his FM title in 1982.
His peak rating of 2335 was achieved in January, 1980.
Happy Birthday IM Robert Bellin (30-vi-1952)
BCN sends IM Robert Bellin best wishes on his birthday, this day (the 30th of June) in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
His first tournament that appears in MegaBase 2020 was the British Under-14 championship.
He was 1st= in the Islington U18 tournament in 1970 with Sergio Mariotti ahead of Michael Stean, John Nunn and a very young Tony Miles
Robert was awarded the IM title in 1977. He was outright British Champion in 1979 in Chester having tied first equal (with six others) in 1974 in Clacton. The play-off was won by George Botterill.
His best international success was in 1981 in Shanghai coming clear first overall.
His highest Elo rating of 2440 was achieved in 1980 at the age of 28.
Robert plays for 4NCL Cheddleton.
He was a member of the Under-65 seniors world championship winning team in 2019.
Robert is married to WGM Dr. Jana Bellin and they have two sons.
Happy Birthday IM Matthew Wadsworth (27-vi-2000)
BCN wishes IM Matthew Wadsworth Happy Birthday this day (June 27th).
Previously we reported:
IM Matthew Wadsworth, one of England’s most promising young players, has earned his first Grandmaster norm from his excellent performance in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). Matthew, who is twenty, has a current FIDE standard play rating of 2413 and is ranked 34th amongst the active players in England (by FIDE rating) earning his FM title in 2016 and IM title in 2019.
Matthew could leapfrog to Grandmaster status with further norms and by increasing his live rating to 2500. The IM title was ratified at the FIDE Congress, 2nd quarter PB 2019, 27-30 June, Baku, Azerbaijan when his live rating had topped 2400.
Matthew’s first ECF grade was 66A in 2007 (aged 7) and he played for Maidenhead in local leagues, St. Pirans’s School and then Reading School.
Matthew is reading Economics at Queen’s College, Cambridge and rows for the college team.
Matthew joined 4NCL at an early age and played for AMCA (Andrew Martin Chess Academy) soon rising the ranks to the AMCA first team and he currently represents the Guildford 2 team in Division One of the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). Matthew’s 4NCL results for the 2018-19 season were :
1. Fodor, Tamas Jr, draw
2. Ashton, Adam G, win
3. Gonda, Laszlo, draw
4. Kulon, Klaudia, win
5. Holland, James P, win
6. Stewart, Ashley, win
7. Ledger, Andrew J, win
8. Plat, Vojtech, loss
9. no game
10. Jackson, James P, win
11. no game
giving a performance of 7/9
One of the undoubted highlights of Matthews 2018 chess year was his draw with Oxford domiciled GM Hou Yifan, three times Women’s World Champion from China during the annual Varsity match, Matthew representing Cambridge.
Recently Matthew has joined forces with IM Adam C Taylor, IM Ravi Haria and others to form makinggrandmasters.com
In 2021 Matthew supported Guildford Chess Club in its 125th Anniversary event by being part of the simultaneous display team:
Happy Birthday FM Bernard Cafferty (27-vi-1934)
BCN wishes FIDE Master Bernard Cafferty best wishes on his 91st birthday, June 27th in 1934.
Bernard was born in Blackburn, Lancashire (his mother’s maiden name was Croft) migrating to Birmingham and now resides in Hastings, East Sussex and is a member of Hastings & St. Leonards Chess Club.
Sunnucks notes that he was British Junior Champion in 1952, British Correspondence Champion in 1959 and British Lighting Champion in 1966. He wrote a thesis on Chess in Schools for his University Education Diploma and is now a schoolmaster. His contribution to Anne’s Encyclopedia was on Education and Chess.
He was editor of British Chess Magazine from 1981 to 1991 and continued as Associate Editor until 2011 when FM Steve Giddins took over.
Here is the 1981 announcement (written by Harry Golombek, Chairman of Directors) of his appointment in the British Chess Magazine, Volume CI (101), Number 3, March, page 82 :
Here is his extensive Wikipedia entry
Bernard won the BCF President’s Award in 1991. Here follows the entry in the October 1991 issue of Chess Moves:
“Bernard Cafferty, who has been associated with the British Chess Magazine since 1981, was born in Blackburn in 1934 and after attending Birmingham University in 1951, became closely involved with Midlands chess until moving to Hastings. After graduating in 1954, Bernard served two years of National Service in the Army, then worked in industry and for 9 years taught mathematics and Russian in a Birmingham grammar school. From 1970 until 1981 he was a freelance writer and translator. In 1981 he succeeded Brian Reilly as Editor of the British Chess Magazine and since that time has done an outstanding job in that capacity.
Bernard is well known as a translator from Russian; his work included Kotov’s Think Like a Grandmaster and Botvinnik’s Achieving the Aim: he is also the author of books on Tal and Spassky. He is well known as the contributor of chess puzzles to Oracle teletext and a chess columnist of the Sunday Times.
Bernard has been a highly successful player too. He was joint British Boys (Under-18) Champion in 1952. British Junior Champion in 1954, British Correspondence Champion in 1960 and won the British Lightning (10 seconds a move) five times in the 1960s. He played regularly in the British Championship from 1957 to 1981, his best result being joint second in 1964. Hew won the Midlands Championship and Central Counties Championship many times.
Bernard Cafferty has made a unique contribution to British chess over these years.”
In the December 2010 issue (Volume CXXX (130), Number 12, pages 622 – 625 of British Chess Magazine there was a tribute to Bernard’s 30 years at BCM from editor FM Steve Giddins that was interview based :
Here is discussion of Bernard on the English Chess Forum
Here is the BritBase collection of Bernard’s games
In 2009 Bernard was interviewed by the privately published Chess Parrot whose editor was / is Basingstoke based James Pratt (who became BCMs editor from 2011 – 2015). Here is that previously unseen interview :
