Birthday of Martyn John Corden (12-i-1951)
From Chessgames.com
“Martyn John Corden was Under 18 British champion in 1969 and played for England in the Siegen Olympiad in 1970.”
Death Anniversary of Joseph Edmund Peckover (15-xi-1896 16-iv-1982)
From The Encyclopedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks :
Born in Hampstead, London to Henry Joseph Peckover and Louisa Jane Micklewright on the 15th November 1896, Peckover has lived in New York since 1921. He has composed about 70 endgame studies :
JE Peckover , 1st Prize, Problem 1958 – 59 Award July 1960.
Here is his Wikipedia entry
Here is his entry on chesscomposers.com
Death Anniversary of Joseph Edmund Peckover (15-xi-1896 16-iv-1982)
From The Encyclopedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks :
Born in Hampstead, London to Henry Joseph Peckover and Louisa Jane Micklewright on the 15th November 1896, Peckover has lived in New York since 1921. He has composed about 70 endgame studies :
JE Peckover , 1st Prize, Problem 1958 – 59 Award July 1960.
Here is his Wikipedia entry
Here is his entry on chesscomposers.com
Death Anniversary of Joseph Edmund Peckover (15-xi-1896 16-iv-1982)
From The Encyclopedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks :
Born in Hampstead, London to Henry Joseph Peckover and Louisa Jane Micklewright on the 15th November 1896, Peckover has lived in New York since 1921. He has composed about 70 endgame studies :
JE Peckover , 1st Prize, Problem 1958 – 59 Award July 1960.
Here is his Wikipedia entry
Here is his entry on chesscomposers.com
Death Anniversary of Joseph Edmund Peckover (15-xi-1896 16-iv-1982)
From The Encyclopedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks :
Born in Hampstead, London to Henry Joseph Peckover and Louisa Jane Micklewright on the 15th November 1896, Peckover has lived in New York since 1921. He has composed about 70 endgame studies :
JE Peckover , 1st Prize, Problem 1958 – 59 Award July 1960.
Here is his Wikipedia entry
Here is his entry on chesscomposers.com
Death Anniversary of Joseph Edmund Peckover (15-xi-1896 16-iv-1982)
From The Encyclopedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks :
Born in Hampstead, London to Henry Joseph Peckover and Louisa Jane Micklewright on the 15th November 1896, Peckover has lived in New York since 1921. He has composed about 70 endgame studies :
JE Peckover , 1st Prize, Problem 1958 – 59 Award July 1960.
Here is his Wikipedia entry
Here is his entry on chesscomposers.com
Happy Birthday IM Craig Alexander Hanley (23-iii-1984)
Craig was born in Pontefract in West Yorkshire.
He became a Candidate Master in 2001, a FIDE Master in 2002 and an IM in 2007. His peak rating was 2447 in April 2007.
Craig plays for Spirit of Atticus in 4NCL (Four Nations Chess League) and has a current ECF standard play grading of 242.
Here is his FIDE player card
Birthday of IM Peter Thomas Roberson (22-iii-1989)
Peter is IM Squirlolz on chess.com
Peter’s games from chessgames.com
During the 2021 – 2022 4NCL season Peter played for The Sharks 1 and scored 7.5/9 making his first GM norm and then followed that up in the 2022 – 2023 4NCL season scoring 9/11 securing his second GM norm in twelve months. Hopefully the third and final norm will be soon coming!
BCN remembers Richard Guy who passed away in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on Monday, March 9th, 2020 at the splendid age of 103.
Richard Kenneth Guy was born on Saturday, 30th September 1916. On this day construction on the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City was completed.
He was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire to William Alexander Charles Guy and Augusta Adeline Guy (née Tanner). RKGs parents had married in the final quarter of 1915 in Solihull. William was headmaster of Atherstone Elementary School.
Richard attended Warwick School excelling in mathematics where he was a boarder and prefect. In December 1934 He obtained a County Major Scholarship for Mathematics provided by the Lord Kitchener Memorial Fund gaining his Northern Universities Higher School Certificate in July 1935.
He went up to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University in October 1935 graduating in 1938. Stephen Hawking was also an alumni of Caius College.
The 1939 register records Richard aged 23 living as a lodger in the Blower household of six at 436 Buxton Road, Stockport, Cheshire, England. This address has since been converted to residential flats. He was a teacher of mathematics in a local secondary school.
During the second world war Richard saw non-combative service in the Royal Air Force working on forecasting the weather and improving the methodologies. This work was a critical component of the British war effort.
In the final quarter of 1940 Richard married Nancy Louise Thirian in Bingham, Nottingham. Nancy (in fact, she was known as Louise) was born in Islington in the third quarter of 1918 and passed away in 2010. They had three children and Michael JT Guy was also a significant mathematician.
According to Wikipedia : “In November 1942, Guy received an emergency commission in the Meteorological Branch of the Royal Air Force, with the rank of flight lieutenant. He was posted to Reykjavik, and later to Bermuda, as a meteorologist. He tried to get permission for Louise to join him but was refused. While in Iceland, he did some glacier travel, skiing, and mountain climbing, marking the beginning of another long love affair, this one with snow and ice.”
In August 1951 Richard relocated to Singapore and taught for ten years at The University of Malaya and following that he worked at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi. Finally, in 1965, he moved to Calgary and taught in the Mathematics Department at The University of Calgary. For fuller details of his extensive mathematical career see the many links at the foot of this article.
RKGs final address in England was 145 Sunderland Road, Forest Hill, London SE23 2PX:
Richard’s chess career was active whilst at Warwick School. He played for the school “eight” in matches against teams such as Birmingham University and King Edward’s School, Birmingham.
Richard’s interest turned away from over-the-board play but he did find time to compete in the Major Open of the August 1946 British Championships in Nottingham. Only two game scores are known where he lost to Dr. Fazekas and Gordon Crown: both very strong opponents.
The December 1947 edition of British Chess Magazine contains RKGs very first Endings column taking over from TR Dawson. The column was introduced thus:
“Mr RK Guy has kindly consented to take over the Endings Section. All communications should now be sent to him at 33 Westwood Park Forest Hill London SE23.” TRD went on to write:
“With this page I reluctantly terminate on health grounds some forty years of work in the Endings field, and my contributions to this corner of the British Chess Magazine. To the many readers of these pages, a Merry Christmas and steadily improving years.”
RKG was to edit this column until his final piece in June 1951. RKG wrote in the July 1951 column (now edited by HF Blandford): “My address after August will be University of Malaya, Singapore. I have enjoyed these few years, and am sorry to leave you, although you will be in capable hands. HFB is player and problemist, but his greatest love is for endings, and he has won many international prizes.”
RKG is known for almost 200 endgame studies.
This is study #53, page 57 from Test Tube Chess by AJ Roycroft:
RK Guy
The Field, 28 xii 1940
win, 3+2
The win is by a white king march from the h-file onto the same file as the pawn, instead of the reverse!
1.Bb4!/i Rh2+;
2.Kg7 Rg2+;
3.Kf7 Rf2+;
4.Ke6 Re2+/ii;
5.Kd5 Re3;
6.Kd4 wins
(i) Why not 1.d8=Q. Because of 1…Rb8; 2.Qxb8 stalemate!
(ii) 4…Rf8 not on because of 5.Bxf8
and this one is study #148, page 106 of the same publication:
RK Guy
British Chess Magazine, x 1943
win, 6+4
1.Sc1+ Kc4;
2.b3+ Kd4;
3.Se2+ Ke4/i;
4.Sg3+ Kd4/ii;
5.Rf4+ Ke5/iii;
6.Re4+ Kd5;
7.Rd4+ Kxd4;
8.Sf5+ Ke5;
9.Sxd6 Kxd6;
10.h4 wins.
(i) 3…Kd3;4.Rd5+ Qd5;5.Sf4+ Ke4;6.Sxd5 Kxd5;7.h4 wins.
(ii) 4…Kd3;5.Rf3+ Kxd2;6.Se4+, or 5…Kd4;6.Sf5+.
(iii) 5…Kd5;6.Rd4+ Kxd4;7.Sf5+.
A lot of checks, but also a lot of play.
For more examples of RKGs work we recommend his AVRES database entry.
In 2020 John Beasley wrote: “Richard did not achieve the same renown in our field as he has in the field of recreational mathematics, but his studies are neat and many are also instructive, a point which he considered important. We have been the richer for his presence.”
Along with Hugh Blandford and John Roycroft, RKG was one of the inventors of the GBR code (Guy–Blandford–Roycroft code), a system of representing the position of chess pieces on a chessboard. Publications such as EG magazine use it to classify endgame types and to index endgame studies.
Here is an appreciation from John Beasley
RKGs entry on the AVRES database
RKGs entry on chesscomposers.blogspot.com
An Interview with a mathematician
An obituary from The Calgary Herald
A tribute from The University of Calgary
A tribute from A Periodical
A tribute from the American Mathematical Society
100th birthday tribute from the Mathematical Association of America
RKGs Wikipedia article
Birthday of GM Christopher Geoffrey Ward (26-iii-1968)Here is his Wikipedia entry
From Chessgames.com :
“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).”
Here are his games
Chris 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.
Chris 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).
“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!”
– GM Chris Ward (when asked for his best move)
Source: Chess Monthly 2017 December