We remember Reginald Broadbent who passed away on October 29th 1988.
Reginald Joseph Broadbent was born on Friday, August 3rd 1906 (the year of the San Francisco earthquake) in Durban, South Africa. His father was Joseph Edward Broadbent (born 1879) who married Alice Cook on January 4th, 1903 in Durban.
According to the 1911 Isle of Man Census (FindMyPast, Richard James; thanks!) the Broadbent family (sans father) stayed at a guest house in Onchan on the night of February 2nd 1911. Reg (aged 4) was a boarder together with mother Alice (33), brother Roland (1) and sister Laura (4). Since Reg and Laura are both recorded as 4 years old it is reasonable to suppose that they were born as twins. We think that Reg had an additional sibling who had passed away and that the name is not recorded. Reassuringly Steve Mann agrees with this conclusion.
He married Catherine H Broadbent (née Crawford, born 19th September 1895) and were recorded as living (in 1939) in “Cheadle and Gately”, Cheshire. His profession was as a “Telephone Traffic Superintendent, Class II, Post Office Telephones” which was a a civil service occupation. Catherine carried out “unpaid domestic duties”.
They resided at 72, South Park Road, Gatley, Cheshire :
“At some time in 1946 or 1947, Broadbent moved down south to live in the general vicinity of East Grinstead, at Far End, Limes Estate, Felbridge, 2 miles NW of East Grinstead, and later at Southway, Priory Road, Forest Row, 3 miles SE of East Grinstead”
Reg was eight times Northern Counties Chess Union (NCCU) Champion in 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936. 1937, 1938, 1945 and 1946.
The British Chess Magazine, Volume CVIII (108, 1988), #12 (December), p. 553 records this brief death announcement :
“Reginald J. Broadbent, British Champion 1948 and 1950 died on October 29 at the age of 82. He was a member of Manchester and Bradford Chess Clubs in his day, and was famous for his remarkable record in Anglo-Dutch matches.
Players at the 1946 British Championships in Nottingham : Back (from left to right): Gabriel Wood, Reginald Broadbent, Philip Milner-Barry, Andrew RB Thomas, Baruch H Wood. Front (from left to right): Bob Wade, Frank Parr, William Winter, Robert Combe, Hugh Alexander, Harry Golombek, Gerald Abrahams.. Photograph : BritBase
After he moved to London around 1950 he was less free to play due to his senior post with the Post Office. A fuller notice will appear next month.”
As advertised in the British Chess Magazine, Volume CIX (109, 1989), #1 (January), p. 27 we have :
“Reginald Broadbent (3 viii 1906-29x 1988) was born at Durban and was British Champion in 1948 and 1950. In the latter content he actually won his last six games in a row to reach a score of 8.5 points, ahead of Klein, Penrose and Milner-Barry. He was often spoken of as “playing himself into form” in the first half of a contest as his work as a civil servant (the GPO) did not allow him the chance to practise regularly against strong opposition.
He was a member of the Manchester and Bradford clubs before the war when he built up a fine record in Anglo-Dutch matches and Northern Counties champion on many occasions.
Brian Reilly recalls that Broadbent was selected for the BCF Olympiad side in 1954, but was forced to turn down the invitation due to the exacting nature of his work in London, and thereafter his main connection with the game was a chess column in a West of England newspaper (The Western Morning News*) . He was a subscriber to BCM right up to his death.”
With the white pieces Broadbent was a die-hard 1.e4 player who allowed the Marshall Attack against the Ruy Lopez.
As the second player RJB defended the Nimzo-Indian Defence and played Open games.
In the March issue of CHESS for 1963, (Volume 28, Number 427, pp.147-155) William Winter wrote this:
R. J. Broadbent’s one weakness
R. J. Broadbent I consider to be typical of the best type of English amateur the Atkins type. A civil servant by profession he wins the Championship title, then retires to his country home in Surrey where he happily spends his time in gardening till the next championship comes along. Occasionally he is dragged out to play in a County match but he takes a lot of dragging. As a player he has great natural attainments and a temperament for the game, but he handicaps himself by the paucity of his opening knowledge. This compels him to start thinking almost from the word ‘go’ and the result is that he invariably gets on bad terms with his clock.
One of his great assets is his endgame in which he is perhaps superior to any practising British player. His skill in this department has rescued him from many a grim position. If he had studied the openings, and played in more tournaments, he might have gone far. As it is he is, and I fear will remain, just a first class British amateur. Probably he prefers it that way.
Here is one of his best games :
For an element of déjà vu here is RJBs obituary from the 1989 – 1990 BCF Yearbook, page 14 :
(The Yearbook editor was Brian Concannon and it would appear standard practise, at the time, not to credit or attribute sources for obituaries.)
BCN remembers Sir Theodore Tylor who passed away on Wednesday, October 23rd, 1968.
Theodore Henry Tylor was born on Sunday, May 13th, 1900 in Bournville, (at the time) in northern Worcestershire. Now Bournville is in the metropolitan borough of Birmingham.
His father was Henry Bedford Tylor and his mother Minnie Belle Cater were both 29 when Theo was born. He had one sister Rachel Hope who was born on 1 November 1909 in Kings Norton, Worcestershire, when Theodore Henry was 9 years old.
In the 1911 census Theo is shown as living in Worcester as a student. His father passed away on 26 February 1915 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, at the age of 44.
Theodore Henry Tylor, Courtesy of John Saunders and Britbase
In 1939 Theo was living at 2, Rawlinson Road, Oxford where he continued to live until his death.
We are grateful to John Foley writing in Floreat Domus (the Balliol College magazine) who wrote this about Tylor :
Article about TH Tylor by John Foley
and, following this, John reproduced an item from On the Basis of of Hearsay, Grosvenor House Publishing, 2018 :
Chess in the 1950s : Fred Fishburn Remembers
From British Chess Magazine, Volume LXXXIX (1969), Number 1 (January), pp 6-7 we have the following article :
“The death of Sir Theodore H. Tylor at the age of sixty-eight was reported in The Times of October 24th. The announcement will be received with deep regret by the many chess enthusiasts who will remember him as a cheerful and extremely resourceful opponent who triumphed over the handicap of near-blindness and lived such a full and distinguished life that it earned him the admiration and respect of the world.
The Times has already done full justice to his work as Fellow and Tutor in Jurisprudence at Balliol for nearly forty years and to his service to organizations for the blind for which he was most justly knighted in 1965, but it barely mentioned that side of his life with which we chess-players were more intimately acquainted.
His education at Worcester College for the Blind naturally brought him into contact with chess and he became a very strong player. ln 1925, at the age of twenty-five, he was among the twelve players selected for the British Championship at Stratford-on-Avon and fully justified the selectors’confidence by taking fourth prize, behind Atkins, Yates, and Edmund Spencer, and ahead of Winter.
It was another four years before he became really active, but in 1929 he again played in the Championship and shared fourth prize with J. H. Morrison and W. Winter behind, Sultan Khan, H. E. Price, and R. P. Michell. He followed this with his first visit to Hastings and in the 1929-30 congress put up the best performance of his career, sharing first prize with Koltanowski, in front of Flohr, Reijifir, Rellstab, Alexander, Jackson, Noteboom, Vidmar Jnr., and Winser. This, by the way, was only a Premier Reserves!
This performance evidently impressed the selectors, for the following summer brought an invitation to play for the B.C.F. team in the Hamburg Olympiad, where he won one, drew four, and lost two games. ln the 1930-31 Hastings Congress he made the first of nine appearances in the Premier Tourney, but he never managed to maintain sufficient consistency to win honours in this exalted company and was never able to finish higher than equal sixth (in
1936-7). ln the nine tournaments he won ten tames (of which only two were against non-British opposition-Feigin and Medina) and drew thirty-three (including World Champions Alekhine and Euwe and grandmasters Fine, Flohr (three times), Keres, Sultan Khan, Tartakower, and Vidmar). ln 1934-5 he again tied with Koltanowski for first place in the Premier Reserves.
Sir Theodore Henry Tylor
ln twelve British Championships his best performance was at Hastings in 1933 where he finished second, 1/2 point behind Sultan Khan and lost only to C. H. O’D. Alexander. In nine of the twelve he was in the first six, and was four times a prize-winner. He was chosen to play for England against Holland in 1938, 1948, and 1952, and against Yugoslavia in 1951. ln these games he won four and lost four. He was selected to play against
the U.S.S.R. in 1946, but had to withdraw at the last minute.
In 1936 he was chosen as one of the four British players in the Nottingham lnternational Tournament. This caused some dissatisfaction among other disappointed aspirants, but he came ahead of Alexander, Thomas, and Winter and captured the scalps of Flohr and Tartakower. ln the same year he was fifth at Margate, where he drew with Capablanca, Lundin, and Stahlberg.
Finally, a word should be said about his work away from the board. For six years he was President of the Chess Education Society, in whose work he took a lively interest from its foundation in 1943. He was President of the Midland Counties Union from 1946-9. He played top board for Oxfordshire for many years and captained the team for a period. We mourn a great friend of chess and a fine player who was a true amateur and obviously enjoyed every minute he spent among us.”
“In spite of the handicap of partial blindness, Tylor enjoyed a successful academic career and was for nearly forty years a Fellow and tutor in jurisprudence at Balliol College, Oxford. He took up chess seriously while a schoolboy at Worcester College for the Blind and later as an undergraduate captained the Oxford University chess team.
At Hastings 1929/30, Tylor shared first prize with Koltanowski in the Premier Reserves ahead of Flohr, Reijfir, Rellstab, Alexander, Jackson, Noteboom, Vidmar Jr. and Winser. He played in the Hastings Premier event on nine occasions, but never finished in the top half. He competed in the British Championship twelve times, his best result being 2nd to Sultan Khan in 1933. He was selected for the BCF team in the Hamburg 1930 Olympiad and was British Correspondence Champion in 1933, 1934 and 1935.”
Worcester, circa 1931: Mir Sultan Khan (left) plays Theodore Tylor, while Sir George Thomas (far left) and Arthur Mackenzie (far right) spectate. Photo courtesy of Britbase.
“Sir Theodore Henry Tylor (13 May 1900 – 23 October 1968)[1] was a lawyer and international level chess player, despite being nearly blind. In 1965, he was knighted for his service to organisations for the blind. He was Fellow and Tutor in Jurisprudence at Balliol College, Oxford for almost forty years.[2]
Born in Bournville, Tylor learned to play chess at age seven. His chess skill increased while he attended Worcester College for the Blind from 1909 to 1918. He studied at Oxford University beginning in 1918, and captained the Oxford University Chess Club. Tylor received First-class Honours in Jurisprudence in 1922 and was made an honorary scholar of Balliol College. The next year, he became a Bachelor of Civil Law and a lecturer at Balliol College. Called to the Bar by the Inner Temple with a certificate of honour, he was made a Fellow at Balliol College in 1928.”
“Tylor competed in twelve British Championships, finishing fourth in his first appearance in 1925. His best result was in 1933, finishing second to Mir Sultan Khan.[2][3] He tied for first at the 1929/30 Hastings Premier Reserves alongside George Koltanowski ahead of Salo Flohr, Josef Rejfiř, Ludwig Rellstab, C.H.O’D. Alexander, Daniël Noteboom, and Milan Vidmar.[2] Tylor played in the top section, the Hastings Premier, nine times beginning in 1930/1. His best finish was 6th= in 1936/7.[3] He was first reserve for the English team at the Hamburg 1930 Chess Olympiad.
Tylor won the British Correspondence Chess Championship in 1932, 1933, and 1934.[1][2] He shared 5–6th at Margate 1936 with P. S. Milner-Barry, but he won their individual game and drew with 2nd- to 4th-place finishers José Raúl Capablanca, Gideon Ståhlberg, and Erik Lundin (Salo Flohr won). Although he finished 12th at Nottingham 1936, he had the best score of the British participants, ahead of C. H. O’D. Alexander, G. A. Thomas, and William Winter.[5] Mikhail Botvinnik noted that Tylor was using a tactile chess board that he incessantly fingered, as well as a device for counting the number of moves made.”
“Tylor was President of the Midland Counties’ Chess Union from 1947 to 1950, but his work for the university and for the welfare of the blind limited the time he had to devote to chess. Tylor also enjoyed bridge.[3] He died in Oxford on 23 October 1968.”
Steinitz in London: A Chess Biography with 623 Games
Steinitz in London : A Chess Biography with 623 Games : Tim Harding
Timothy D. Harding
“Tim Harding played for Ireland at the 1984 FIDE chess Olympiad in Thessaloniki. He is a FIDE Candidate Master and a Senior International Master of correspondence chess. A well-known writer on many aspects of chess, Tim is a former editor of Chess Mail magazine and for almost 20 years he contributed monthly articles in “The Kibitzer” series. He lives in Dublin, Ireland.”
From the publisher’s blurb :
“Drawing on new research, this first biography of William Steinitz (1836-1900), the first World Chess Champion, covers his early life and career, with a fully-sourced collection of his known games until he left London in 1882. A portrait of mid-Victorian British chess is provided, including a history of the famous Simpson’s Divan. Born to a poor Jewish family in Prague, Steinitz studied in Vienna, where his career really began, before moving to London in 1862, bent on conquering the chess world. During the next 20 years, he became its strongest and most innovative player, as well as an influential writer on the game. A foreigner with a quarrelsome nature, he suffered mockery and discrimination from British amateur players and journalists, which eventual drove him to immigrate to America. The final chapters cover his subsequent visits to England and the last three tournaments he played there.”
Collectors of McFarland’s chess biographies will know exactly what to expect.
A handsome, beautifully produced hardback book based on extensive and exhaustive research, in this case concerning William Steinitz (Harding prefers to use the anglicized spelling of his name), the first official world champion.
He was born under the name Wolf Steinitz into a Jewish family in Prague in 1836, making him a year older than Morphy. He moved to Vienna to study mathematics in 1858, and it was there that he started playing chess seriously. In 1862 he travelled to London to play in an international tournament, and remained there, living the life of a chess professional, for 20 years.
Wilhelm Steinitz
Here’s Harding, in the Preface:
“This is not just a game collection but also an important biographical work. Subsequent to his triumphant comeback at the Vienna international tournament and his resignation as chess editor of The Field, Steinitz left England for a long tour of America. In the spring of 1883 he returned to play in the London 1883 tournament, after which he spent some more time in London; Chapter 12 deals with this. Steinitz then left England permanently and did not set foot in the country for another 12 years. The final chapter deals with his last visits to Britain which included two major tournaments, Hastings 1895 and London 1899. There is much less biography than chess in those two chapters but some information about his European tours is included. The tasks of writing a new biography of the final phase of Steinitz’s life after he left England, and of providing an authoritative game collection of his post-London period, are left for future scholars.
“The primary motivation for embarking on the research for this book was to present a chronological account of Steinitz’s two decades as an English resident, covering both the development of his chess career and significant life events. The chapter about Steinitz in this author’s earlier work, Eminent Victorian Chess Players, may be seen as a first essay in that direction but the present book goes much deeper, including appendices that document various controversies in which Steinitz became embroiled. The book also includes background sections about chess life in London going back to the earlier nineteenth century, dealing with London’s early chess clubs and public places where the game was played, before and during Steinitz’s time.”
Harding chose to include all available games from Steinitz’s time in London, some of which have only recently been rediscovered in old newspaper and magazine columns, so you have in total 623 games, mostly with some annotations from contemporary sources, occasionally, where appropriate, with interjections from Stockfish 10. In those days, of course, there were few tournaments, so he made a living, apart from journalism and teaching (one of his pupils was Lord Randolph Churchill, Winston’s dad), by giving simultaneous displays and playing against amateurs, who would pay for the privilege. If the games were particularly interesting or brilliant, they would find their way into print. In the early part of his career, Steinitz was renowned for his tactical acumen, so the book is crammed full of romantic King’s Gambits and Evans Gambits. Lovers of this style of chess won’t be disappointed.
In his preface, Harding draws the reader’s attention to two games in particular:
All the games have been checked using every primary source with discrepancies noted. So if you want a full and accurate record of every currently available Steinitz game from his time in London, along with some earlier games from his time in Vienna and those from his later English tournaments, look no further.
But what you also get is a lot of background information about chess in London during that period. The clubs, the events, the personalities, the disputes: everything is there. One of my personal interests is the changing position of chess within society over the past 200 years, and the changing demographics of the people who were attracted to the game over the years. In Steinitz’s time, as you would expect, chess clubs were entirely male and largely upper middle class. Most readers will be aware that chess was a particularly popular pastime amongst Church of England clergymen well into the 20th century. Helpfully, at least to me, Harding will often provide the full name and a one sentence biography of Steinitz’s amateur opponents. Although he is very thorough when researching Steinitz and his games, he tends only to consult one source for his opponents.
I decided to follow up a few random names through a quick search of genealogical websites: I found one or two mistakes and was also to provide probable identification in several cases where only the initial and surname were given. I also came across some fascinating stories which I’ll relate another time.
But this is just me: none of this will matter to most readers, who will be more interested in Steinitz than his opponents. It’s unrealistic to expect Harding to research these minor figures with the same diligence afforded to his protagonist.
Make no mistake about it: this is a major addition to the literature of our game, marked by scholarly research and historical accuracy, and, as such, deserves a place in the library of anyone with an interest in chess history. McFarland and their authors are doing an enormous service to the chess community by publishing books of this nature: this volume will sit alongside several other Harding works, notably his biography of Blackburne, Renette’s biography of Bird and Forster’s biography of Burn on your shelf devoted to 19th century British chess history.
But it’s not just a dry as dust history book. It’s a gripping read as well. Harding tells his story with panache, leaving the reader eager to turn the page and find out what happened next, helped, in part, by his subject’s disputatious nature. Whatever you do, don’t miss out on the appendices, in particular where Steinitz describes how he was allegedly assaulted by Blackburne on two occasions: “… he pounced upon me and hammered at my face and eyes with fullest force about a dozen blows, until the bedcloth and my nightshirt were covered with blood.”.
It is to be hoped that a future volume will appear, perhaps written by an American chess historian, covering the latter stages of Steinitz’s career. A Best Games collection, looking at his play through both 19th and 21st century eyes, would also be a valuable edition to chess literature.
A large book with high production values and a niche market is never going to come cheap, but, even if you’ve never read anything of this nature before, you might want to give it a try. With chess clubs closed and pubs offering restricted services, what better way could there be to spend your winter evenings?
Very highly recommended: 2020 has been an excellent year for chess books and this is certainly one of the best.
Philip Walsingham Sergeant from A Century of British Chess from a photograph by F.A. Swaine Ltd. (1934)
BCN remembers Philip Walsingham Sergeant who passed away on Monday, October 20th 1952.
PWS was born in Kensington on Saturday, January 27th, 1872 to Lewis Sergeant and Emma Louisa Sergeant (née Robertson) and was baptised at All Saints Church, Notting Hill. According to PWS’s baptism record Lewis was an author.
According to PWS in A Century of British Chess :
“When I was seven years of age – about the period, by the way, in which my father began to teach me Greek – he began also to initiate me into chess. Not that he designed it as a consolatory set-off to my application to Greek; for he loved the Classics well, though, going up to Cambridge with small classical exhibition, he had turned to Mathematics, and therein took his degree. ”
According to the 1881 census PWS (aged 9) lived with his parents and numerous siblings : Dorothy (aged 7), Winifred (6), Hilda (5), Bernard (2), John (his grandfather aged 76) and Mary (his grandmother aged 75). They had staff, Elizabeth Fraser and Sarah Martin. They lived at 10, Addison Road, North, Kensington.
According to “Joseph Foster. Oxford Men and Their Colleges, 1880-1892. 2 vols. Oxford, England: James Parker and Co, 1893″ :
PWS attended St. Paul’s School and then Trinity College, Oxford to read Classics where he attained Honour Moderations.
and here is the record from the above publication :
Entry for Philip Walsingham Sergeant in Joseph Foster. Oxford Men and Their Colleges, 1880-1892. 2 vols. Oxford, England: James Parker and Co, 1893
We do not know if PWS played in the Varsity matches of 1892 – 1895 : Britbase does not (yet) include player details for these matches.
PWS married Minnie Boundford (born 27th February 1889) in 1909 in Hampstead and they lived at 5, Dukes Avenue, Chiswick where PWS was listed as an author and Minnie as someone who carried out “unpaid domestic duties”. Minnie was 17 years younger than PWS. Minnie’s father was a joiner and a carpenter.
They had two daughters Margaret (born 1910) and Kathleen (born 1911).
In October 1946 Minnie and PWS remarried. Presumably this was rather unusual in that day and age.
According to The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP, 2nd edition, 1996) by Hooper and Whyld :
PWS was an English author of biographical games collections for Charousek, Morphy and Pillsbury as well as other works of importance such as A Century of British Chess (1943) and Championship Chess (1938).
From The Encyclopedia of Chess (BT Batsford, 1977) by Harry Golombek :
“A professional writer on chess and popular historical subjects. Without any pretentions to mastership, he represented Oxford University in the years 1892 – 5 and assisted RC Griffith in preparing three editions of Modern Chess Openings.
In chess he dealt with a number of important subjects : Morphy’s Games of Chess, London, 1916; Charousek’s Games of Chess, London, 1919; Pillsbury’s Chess Career (in collaboration with WH Watts), London, 1923; Championship Chess, London, 1938.
All these are lucidly and carefully written but suffer from the defect that, being neither a master player nor a professional annotator, he was not competent to deal with the annotational part of the work. Probably his best book on chess was A Century of British Chess, London, 1934.
From British Chess Magazine, Volume LXX11 (72), Number 11 (November), page 324 we have this rather brief obituary (presumably written by Brian Reilly):
“We regret to have to report the death, at the age of eighty-one of Philip W. Sergeant, the author of A Century of British Chess, which we imagine is in most chess libraries. He was the author of several well-known historical books – but we are only concerned here with his chess activities, which included representing Oxford University 1892-5; helping RC Griffith with two editions of Modern Chess Openings; playing for Middlesex, winning the chess championship of the authors’ club for several year, and latterly as an honoured member; and occasionally obtaining the championship of the Guildford Chess Club. Our sympathy with his widow and two daughters is sincere.”
”
“Philip Walsingham Sergeant (27 January 1872, Notting Hill, London[1] – 20 October 1952)[2] was a British professional writer on chess and popular historical subjects.[3][4] He collaborated on the fifth (1933), sixth (1939), and seventh (1946) editions of Modern Chess Openings, an important reference work on the chess openings. He also wrote biographical game collections of Paul Morphy (Morphy’s Games of Chess (1916) and Morphy Gleanings), Rudolf Charousek (Charousek’s Games of Chess (1919)), and Harry Nelson Pillsbury (Pillsbury’s Chess Career, with W. H. Watts, 1922), and other important books such as A Century of British Chess (1934) and Championship Chess (1938).”
Harry Golombek writes that, “Without any pretensions to mastership, he represented Oxford University in the years 1892-5”.[3] Golombek considers A Century of British Chess probably Sergeant’s best chess book, but opines that although Sergeant’s chess books are lucidly written, they suffer from the defect that, as a non-master, he was not competent to deal with the annotational aspect of his work.
Philip Walsingham SergeantCharousek’s Games of ChessThe Rice Memorial Chess Tournament, 1916Pillsbury’s Chess Career, London, 1923A Century of British Chess, London, 1934An Introduction to the Endgame at Chess
The Match of the Century USSR vs. World : 50th Anniversary Edition
The Match of the Century USSR vs. World : 50th Anniversary Edition by Douglas Griffin and Igor Žveglić.
“The match between the USSR and the Rest of the World was an epoch-defining event that featured many of the greatest names in the history of chess. Five World Champions, and all of the world’s highest-rated players – without exception – took part. Not for nothing was it billed as the “Match of the Century”.
On the 50th anniversary of that great event in the Serbian capital, we invite the reader to take a step back to those years and to re-live the match as it was experienced at the time, in the words of its participants and some of the leading journalists of the day…
This edition is revised, extended, and compiled by Douglas Griffin, chess historian and connoisseur and Igor Žveglić, Chess Informant commissioning editor.”
Chess history and book enthusiasts will doubtless know that the first edition of this book (SSSR – SVET Soviet Union vs. World) was written by Tigran Petrosian and Alexander Matanovic and published in 1970 by Chess Informant :
SSSR – SVET, SSSR – Sbornaya Mira, Soviet Union Vs WorldSSSR – SVET, SSSR – Sbornaya Mira, Soviet Union Vs World
and commands reasonably high prices on the second hand book market.
Possibly more famous is the version written by Serbian FM, Dimitrije Bjelica (Димитрије Бјелица) together? with Bobby Fischer.
Chess Meets of the Century
commanding even higher prices. Did Bobby contribute anything to this book? Another discussion for another time and another place perhaps…
The 50th Anniversary Edition is a rare thing in modern chess publishing : it is a hardback and a well-produced one. Chess Informant (along with McFarland Books and some Quality Chess titles) is known for publishing in hard back and, of course, the cover price reflects that. The book has a rather charming silk-style bookmark which is another endearing touch.
Internationally renowned chess historian Douglas Griffin and Igor ŽvegliĆ (both members of the Editorial Board) have taken the original Petrosian and Matanovic text, refreshed it and added new content not available at the time of the 1st editions publication. They have expanded the previously brief player biographies and the original Russian-language annotations have been translated.
Also, we have translations of contemporary articles from the Soviet chess press and subsequent recollections from some of the players and officials involved in the 1970 match.
Initial impressions were somewhat soured by reading the Foreword to the 1st Edition : it contained typographical errors (not in the 1st edition : I checked) such as “developmet”, “chapions”. Hopefully these were not a portent of things to come!*
*It turns out my concerns were unfounded.
I conducted a careful comparison of the 1st and 2nd editions and drew several conclusions in favour of the 2nd edition. The paper and print quality is far superior, there are many more photographs and those photographs all have detailed attributions.
The player biographies are vastly more detailed and improved (and in English!). The annotations of the games appear to be the same except that all of the text is in English rather than just the comments of the World team player. Of course, the player annotations are delightful and deep and free of engine analysis : hurrah!
Here is one of the top board games annotated for ChessBase (rather than Informator) :
It is pleasing that the book was not spoilt by modern engine analysis and the players thoughts are a pleasure to study. There are additional diagrams for the 2nd edition annotations reducing the need for a board to follow the game : a board is a good idea anyway of course!. Each of the games are classified by ECO code (for example [E30]) whereas you might imagine the 1st edition would use a Rabar Index but it did not. Most people will know that Informant abandoned the use of the Rabar Index in 1981 in favour of ECO codes.
Following the annotated games we have a new section – “Reactions to the Match” Any chess enthusiast will find this fascinating and this section is followed by a Postscript which discusses the match in the context of the modern game. Enthralling stuff!
As a bonus feature there is an extensive list of References at the rear. Since Douglas Griffin was the main writer of this 50th Anniversary Edition you would his expect superb attention to detail and historical accuracy and that is what you are given.
In summary, this is a delightful book both from the visual perspective and from its content. You will not be disappointed – even the other books on your shelf will be pleased by this new edition.
If you would like to get an idea of the book before purchasing (and please do!) then try these sample pages. Personally, I’d rather read the words from the book than a screen.
Michael Thomas Hennigan was born on October 8th, 1970 in Hammersmith, London. His mother’s name was Donnelly.
Michael attended the City of London School.
Michael became World Under-18 Youth Champion in 1988 in Aguadilla (Puerto Rico).
He became a FIDE Master in 1990 and an International Master title in 1991 and in the same year was British Under-21 Champion at Eastbourne and was British Champion in 1993 in Dundee beating Dharshan Kumaran in the play-off.
In 1995 he was 1st= in the Arnold Cup in Gausdal with Igor Rausis
His peak FIDE rating (according to Felice and Megabase 2020) was 2465 in July 1994 at the age of 24.
He played for North West Eagles in the Four Nations Chess League.
Michael married WIM Rita Zimmersmann and settled in London. Rita subsequently became Rita Atkins.
Michael stopped playing in 2010 but has recently in 2020 started playing online chess on the chess.com platform.
Old Wine in New Bottles by Mihail MarinGM Mihail Marin
From Wikipedia :
“Mihail Marin (born 21 April 1965) is a Romanian chess player and writer. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE. Marin’s first major success in international chess was in qualifying for the Interzonal in 1987. He has won three Romanian Championships and has played in the Chess Olympiads ten times, winning a bronze individual medal in 1988. For several years he was editor of the magazine Chess Extrapress.”
From the book’s rear cover :
“I may be old-fashioned, but I keep using for my inspiration the treasure of the past. It does not make sense to speculate whether, for instance, Carlsen is stronger than Fischer or Korchnoi, as matches between players separated in time by so many decades are impossible. But this book aims to prove that some of the basic aspects of our game did not change over the generations. The same kind of brilliant ideas and mistakes are played again and again in specific situations.
I actually launch an invitation to examine the games of the classics, featuring ideas thought over only by human brains, and by no means less deep than those used today. We all use computer assistance when preparing or writing, but at the chess board we are all alone with our opponent, so educating our mind to work along the classical values is essential.It is virtually impossible to write a “complete” chess course, as the general themes and examples to each of them are practically inexhaustible. But I hope that after studying the book the reader will feel enriched, technically and aesthetically.
I remember my enthusiasm when receiving my first original copy of the Chess informant in 1987 (number 43) after having annotated some of my games from the Warsaw zonal tournament, ending in my first qualification to the Interzonal. Almost a third of a century has passed since then, but I am looking forward to hold this new book in my hands with no less excitement.”
You probably know how it is when your favourite singer releases a Greatest Hits compilation. As a big fan you have them all already, but there are always a couple of new songs, so, not wanting to miss out, you have to pay for the full album.
It’s been many years since I last read an Informant, but for some time now GM Mihail Marin, one of the best annotators around, has been publishing articles under the title Old Wine in New Bottles, in which he takes a recent game and compares it with games from the past which resemble it in some way. This might be, for example, a similar opening, a similar tactical idea, the same pawn formation, a comparable ending. Sometimes the comparison is very precise, but, on other occasions, rather tenuous.
What we have here is a collection of his articles, with some new ones added to tempt regular readers who will have seen most of the material before, along with some introductory comments.
There are 25 articles, or rather chapters, in total, grouped according to the general theme: Basic Principles, Tactics, Strategy, The Attack, Middlegame Plans of Specific Openings, and, finally, The Individual and Joined Abilities of the Pieces (some, but not all of which, feature endings).
You might assume from this, and you’d be correct, that the translation into English isn’t always idiomatic. There’s also an unacceptably large number of typos.
The publishers have also made some rather strange production decisions. They’ve chosen a non-standard diagram font with a defective symbol for a black rook on a white square, which makes a rather ugly impression. They’ve also chosen to use a sans-serif font throughout.
This is a handsome hardback, complete with a useful bookmark, which will look good on your bookshelf: it’s a pity that, internally, it doesn’t make such a good impression.
The text is punctuated by a lot of chess art, reproduced in black and white, from the Hereford Chess Club in 1814 up to the present day. All very attractive, if not especially relevant, but I can’t find any copyright information anywhere.
None of this may bother you, as long as the content is good, and, with reservations, it is.
To give you some idea, let’s take a fairly random chapter. Chapter 4 in the section on Attack deals with sacrificial attacks beginning with the move e5xf6, taking as its starting point this game from the 2017 Sinquefield Cup, where you will observe Vishy’s 22nd move. Marin doesn’t give us the first 21 moves, which presumably appeared elsewhere.
This game brought to mind a brilliant Tal victory from the 1962 Olympiad, where the sacrificial attack started on move 19.
Tal admitted that his 19th move was inspired by a Famous Game which observant readers will have seen before.
It’s, of course, a very well known game, but observant readers will recall encountering it with different annotations in an earlier chapter on positional queen sacrifices to obtain a passed pawn. Here, the annotations are in part based on Lilienthal’s autobiography, which are, along with Hecht’s comments on his loss to Tal, readily found on MegaBase. (It’s always fun to try to identify an author’s sources!)
There are three more games in this chapter, including another Tal brilliancy, but the repetition of the Lilienthal game confirms the impression that it’s really a collection of articles rather than a particularly coherent book.
Not all the annotations are by Marin himself: in many cases they are largely taken from earlier Informants, with occasional authorial interjections. You might not mind this, but I guess you might also feel you’ve been cheated.
Nevertheless, the concept of comparing contemporary games with those from the past is a great idea. If the idea attracts you, or if you’re an admirer of Marin’s books and haven’t seen most of the articles before, you’ll find a lot to interest, inform and stimulate. As the book covers all aspects of the game, there are lessons to be learnt here about both tactics and strategy, about openings and endings.
Although I have significant reservations about various aspects of the book, there is still much of value here, and anything Marin writes is always worth reading. Recommended, especially for serious students of the game of, say, 1800+ strength.
WIM Eileen Tranmer (05-v-1910 26-ix-1983). Source : The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match
We remember WIM Eileen Betsy Tranmer who passed away on September 26th, 1983.
Eileen Tranmer
She was the first English woman to be awarded by FIDE the Woman’s International Master title in 1950.
“From The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by Klein and Winter :
Miss E. Tranmer was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1910, and learned chess at the age of six. She did not take it up seriously, however, until 1936. Under the tuition of W. Winter she has made notable progress, and her performances include a second prize in the British Correspondence Championship 1944, as well as first prize in one of the subsidiary tournaments at Hastings, 1945.
By profession Miss Tranmer is a musician and has played principal clarinet in the Scottish and Sadler’s Wells Orchestras.”
From British Chess Magazine, Volume CIII (103, 1983), Number 11 (November), page 482-83 (presumably written by Bernard Cafferty) :
“Eileen Tranmer died in hospital at Ticehurst on September 26th after a long illness. Born in Scarborough, May 5th 1910, she was a professional clarinet player and played in a number of prominent British orchestras till forced to retire by deafness.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (3880870a) Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Chess Champion Pictured Here Playing A Clarinet In The Orchestra While Appearing At The Theatre Royal Glasgow.
One of the leading British players in the two decades after the war, Eileen won the British Ladies Championship in 1947, 1949 (with a 100% score), 1953 and 1961, and played in the British Championship at Buxton, 1950. Her international record was sparse, as was the case with nearly all English players of that period. Nevertheless, she made her mark in the 1949-50 first post-war Women’s World Championship where she finished 5-7th in a field of 16, beating Bykova, again, and finished 7th in the field of 16.
37th Hastings International Chess Congress, 1962. USA Ladies champion Lisa Lane (L) playing against British Champion Eileen Tranmer
We are grateful to WCM Dinah Norman for sending us these memories :
“Eileen Tranmer was one of the best English chess lady players of her generation.
I only played her once at Oxford in an International Ladies Tournament held between 24 July and 1 August 1971. Eileen totally outplayed me and I lost the game.
Eileen was a member of Acton Chess Club where there were three active lady players at that time. They were Jean Rogers, Olive Chataway and Eileen. Eileen lived in Acton then.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (3880957a) Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Chess Champion. Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Chess Champion.
Eileen was a professional musician and had to stop playing when she became deaf which was dreadful for her.
In 1969 Eileen, Rowena Bruce and I were selected to play in the Ladies Chess Olympiad Team in Lublin, Poland. Sadly Eileen was taken ill just before the event so Rowena and I had to play all 13 rounds without a break. I was on Board 1 and at the end Rowena and I were exhausted and I had to withdraw from a tournament in the Czech Republic without playing a game. The food in Poland was awful so we said never again!
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (3880958a) Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Champion Chess Player Pictured Playing Some Of The Glasgow Ladies Chess Club At The Green’s Playhouse Cafe Glasgow. Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Champion Chess Player Pictured Playing Some Of The Glasgow Ladies Chess Club At The Green’s Playhouse Cafe Glasgow.
Eileen was very friendly with Harry Golombek. The expectation among the lady chess players was that they would get married but she never did. Harry did not drive and Eileen was very kind driving Harry and his elderly mother around.
Very sadly Eileen’s brother was killed in a car crash and after that Eileen suffered mental problems. Eileen lived near John and Jean Rogers and John said Eileen would turn up at their home in the middle of the night wanting to play chess.
At Hastings 1959-1960 : Yugoslavia’s red-haired Milanka Lazarevic and Britain’s Eileen Tranmer ran away with the Premier Reserves (afternoon event).
The last time I saw Eileen was at Paignton. Her friend Olive Chataway brought her to Paignton and Eileen played in the bottom tournament and did badly. Eileen did not recognise myself or Rowena which was very sad.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (4745287a) Miss Eileen Tranmer 43-year-old British Women’s Chess Champion. Box 556. Miss Eileen Tranmer 43-year-old British Women’s Chess Champion. Box 556.
Eileen later left Acton and moved to Tring. Eileen was a pleasant and modest person and was well liked. She had a good sense of humour.”
From the obituary in The Times of London we learn that her last few years were over-shadowed by an illness that preyed on her mind.
We take the following game from the August 1944 issue of BCM. The game was played in the BCCA Championship, and curiously enough there was an enquiry about that event to the BCF only a short while ago – a Georgian journalist wishes to quote that wartime performance as an early example of success by a woman in male chess company! ”
Gerald Abrahams in Not only Chess, wrote about Eileen (Chapter 18 : What Achilles Saw Among Women) as follows :
“To revert to the British Ladies, they were joined in the late 1930s by a very able pupil of Miss Menchik, the Yorkshire Clarinettist Eileen Tranmer; a woman whose chess I have seen to express some admirable qualities of mind and character. I had the privilege of watching her is Moscow in 1949-50, when, handicapped by influenza of a particularly virulent kind – what the Russians call “grippe” – she won some five or six consecutive games, to finish in the prize list of the new official Women’s World Championship. There had been two championships before, which Vera has won easily. Since Vera had unhappily perished in the Blitz, they looked at Moscow for her successor.”
We remember WIM Rowena Bruce who died this day (September 24th) in 1999.
Rowena Mary Dew was born on Thursday, May 15th, 1919 in Plymouth, Devon. Her father was Clement Warner Harvey Dew and her mother was Mary Jane Rowe.
The Bruce and Dew families circa 1923. Rowena is at the front and on the right aged around four years. Source : ancestry.co.uk
She married Ronald Mackay Bruce in July 1940 when she was 21 years old.
Her father Clement Warner Harvey passed away on 7 October 1957 in Plymouth, Devon, at the age of 79. Her mother Mary Jane passed away on 3 August 1958 in Cornwall at the age of 73. Her husband Ronald Mackay passed away in April 1991 in Plymouth, Devon, at the age of 87. They had been married 50 years.
From The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by Klein and Winter :
“Mrs RM Bruce was born in Plymouth in 1919, and learned chess at the age of twelve. She won the Girls’s World Championship in 1935 and the British Ladies Championship in 1937. During the war she served with the WVS in Plymouth. Apart from chess, she is interested in music and plays the cello.
Rowena practising the cello. Courtesy of Keverel Chess
She is married to RM Bruce, who is a well-known Plymouth player.”
In 1984 both Rowena and Ron received the BCF President’s Award for Services to Chess.
From British Chess (Pergamon Press, 1983) by Botterill, Levy, Rice and Richardson :
“I was taught by my Mother Mrs. May Dew, when recovering from a mastoid operation in 1930, and I joined Plymouth Chess Club on 5th November 1931, aged 12.5.
I started receiving chess tuition from the Plymouth Match Captain, Ronald Bruce in 1934. (Married him in 1940!).
I won the Girls’ World Championship in 1935. I won the British Ladies’ Championship for the first time in 1937, and again in 1950, 1951, 1954, 1959, 1960, 1962 and 1963. I tied for first place in 1955, 1967 and 1969.
I represented Great Britain in the West European Zonal tournament held in Venice 1951, where I finished 2nd. This qualified me to represent Great Britain in the Candidates tournament held in Moscow in 1952. I finished 12th out of 16.
World Chess Championship (Women) 1952 Candidates Tournament
In 1952 we adopted a little girl – Rona Mary.
Other tournaments abroad included zonals in Italy, Yugoslavia and Germany, and Olympiads in Germany, Poland and Bulgaria.
This last-named ended in disaster because I collapsed with a stroke during my second game. Obviously my chess playing was affected, but I was indeed fortunate to make a fairly good recovery.
WIM Rowena Mary Bruce at the 1952 Moscow Candidates tournament
I returned to competitive chess playing a year later but, in the meantime, several young players have surged forwards, and that British Ladies’ Championship seems to have become much more difficult to win !
But I now have three grandchildren!
BCN is grateful to WCM Dinah Norman for sending us these memories :
“Rowena Mary Bruce (need Dew) was born on 15 May 1919 and died in Plymouth in 1999. Rowena was the youngest of 3 children born to Harvey and Mary Dew. Mary Dew was a member of the Plymouth Chess Club and tried unsuccessfully to get her 2 sons interested in the game but Rowena was the only child who was interested.
When Rowena was 10 her mother organised private lessons for her with the Plymouth Champion, Ron Bruce. At the age of 21 Rowena married Ron Bruce and it was a very successful and happy marriage. They had an adopted daughter Rona who had no interest in Chess. Rowena had to wait until she was 21 before she could marry Ron. Rowena lived in Plymouth all her life.
Rowena and Ron married in July 1940. Ron and Rowena cemented a formidable playing and organising partnership which benefited chess in Devon for almost half a century.
A stern-looking Rowena offers advice to one of the juniors at the WECU Congress, Easter 1951, in the analysis room at the Penolver Hotel, Newquay. Courtesy of Keverel Chess
After the War Rowena was one of the leading quartet of British Lady players which included Elaine Pritchard (née Saunders), Anne Sunnucks and Eileen Tranmer. In 1951 Rowena played in the Ladies Zonal in Venice and qualified for the Candidates in Moscow to be played the following year.
AT the age of 53 she qualified for the East European Zonal in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1972. Sadly in Round 2 of that event she collapsed at the board with a major cerebral haemorrhage which left her right side paralysed. By sheer force of will after many months of convalescence she taught herself to speak and walk again. She had to give up playing her cello which was awful for her.
Ladies Chess Tournament Fenny Heemskerk, Rowena Mary Bruce (née Dew), Donner, Architect Date: January 12, 1953 Personal name: Architect, , Bruce, R., Donner, , Heemskerk, Fenny Institution name: Block Chess Tournament – Image ID: 2ARK3JK
The steely determination with which she followed her 75 year chess career and her recovery from serious illness belied her gentle nature. She was a modest, kind and gracious person who always thought the best of others.
She won the British Ladies title 11 times.
I shared the title with her in 1967 and 1969 after 2 play offs. She was a very pleasant and sporting opponent.”
From The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks :
“International Woman Chess Master and winner of the British Ladies Championship on 10 occasions.
She was taught to pay chess by her mother, who was the Devon Lady Champion, after a mastoid operation when she was 10. In 1931 she joined Plymouth Chess Club, where she met R. M. Bruce, the Devonshire Chess Captain, who coached her and was largely responsible for later success. She married him in 1940.
Opening Ladies Danlon chess tournament in Amsterdam, v.l.n.r. T. Roodzant, F. Heemskerk, I. Larsen, L. Timofeeva, E. Rinder, R. Bruce Date: October 21, 1959 Location: Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Keywords: group portraits, chess Person Name: Bruce, Rowena Mary, Heemskerk, Fenny , Larsen, I., Rinder, Elfriede, Roodzant, Toos, Timofeeva. Lidia – Image ID: 2AW6KHJ
In 1935 she won the Girls’ World Championship and two years later the British Ladies’ Championship for the first time. She has won the title outright or been joint holder on 10 occasions in 1937, 1950, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963 and 1967.
Mrs Bruce has represented Great Britain in matches against the USSR and the Netherlands and the British Chess Federation in qualifying tournaments for the Women’s World Championship. In Venice in 1951 she came 2nd in the Western European Qualifying Tournament for the Women’s World Championship and thereby qualified for the Candidates tournament in 1952, when she came 12th out of 16.
Rowena at the 1952 Moscow Zonal tournament. Courtesy of Keverel Chess
Apart from chess, her hobbies are music, gardening and bridge.
She is principal ‘cellist in the Plymouth Orchestral Society.”
An obituary (presumably written by John Saunders) appeared in the British Chess Magazine, Volume CXIX (119, 1999), Number 11 (November), page 584 :
“Rowena Bruce died peacefully at home on 23 September following a long illness. Rowena Mary Dew was born in Plymouth on 15 May 1919, and she was taught the game at the age of 10, while she was convalescing from surgery, by here mother Mary Dew, herself a very able player who had been Devon Ladies’ Champion.
Rowena joined the Plymouth Chess Club, where she met her future husband, Ron Bruce, himself a strong player. She won the World Girls’ Championship in 1935 and the British Women’s title two years later. Rowena married Ron in 1940 and won the British title under her married name ten more times (seven outright and three jointly) between 1950 and 1969.
She represented Great Britain in matches against the USSR and the Netherlands. She qualified for the Women’s World Championship by coming 2nd in the Western European Zonal in Venice, and in the subsequent Candidates tournament in Moscow in 1952 she came 12th out of 16. She was awarded the women’s international master title in 1951.
Rowena locking horns with her friend Fenny Heemskerk, who finished in a magnificent 2nd place. Courtesy of Keverel Chess
The contribution to chess that Rowena and Ron Bruce made to national, west country and Devon chess was well recognised at the highest level, and when the British Chess Federation instituted a new award in 1983, the President’s Award for Services to Chess, they won it jointly in only its second year. Ron died in 1991.
Rowena was a past president of the Devon County Chess Association and the West of England Chess Union and continued playing for Devon until about four years ago when her increasing frailty made it impossible for her to travel to away matches.
Her other accomplishments included music : she was a principal cellist in the Plymouth Orchestral Society. She also partnered husband Ron in strictly non-competitive bridge for many years. She leaves a daughter Rona and three grand-children.”
WIM Rowena Mary Bruce
From The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsfords, 1977) by Harry Golombek :
“International Woman master and eleven times British Ladies champion or co-champion.
At the age of fifteen in 1935, Miss Dew won the girls World championship and two years later, still under he maiden name, se won the British Ladies championship at Blackpool. Thereafter she won the championship under her married name in 1950, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1967 and 1969.
Her best international result was a 2nd in the 1951 Western European Zonal tournament, qualifying for the Women’s Candidates tournament in Moscow 1952, where she came 12th/16. She has represented England in a number of team events, has excellent combinative powers, but lacks steadiness in strategy.”
Rowena (far left) during the 1952 Moscow Candidates tournament. Courtesy of Keverel Chess
David Hooper (seated right) in play at the West of England Championships in Bristol, Easter, 1947. His opponent , ARB Thomas , was that year’s champion. Among the spectators is Mrs. Rowena Bruce, the 1946 British Ladies’ Champion. BCM, Volume 118, #6, p.327. The others in the photo are L – R: H. V. Trevenen; H. Wilson-Osborne (WECU President); R. A. (Ron) Slade; Rowena Bruce; Ron Bruce; H. V. (Harry) Mallison; Chris Sullivan; C. Welch (Controller); F. E. A. (Frank) Kitto.
“Rowena Mary Bruce (15 May 1919 – 24 September 1999), née Dew, was an English chess player who held the title of Woman International Master (WIM, 1951). She was an eleven-time winner of the British Women’s Chess Championship (1937, 1950, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1967 and 1969).
Biography
From the end of the 1930s to the end of the 1960s, she was one of England’s strongest women chess players. In 1935, she won the FIDE World Girls Championship. Rowena Mary Bruce won the British Women’s Chess Championship eleven times: 1937, 1950, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1967 and 1969[1]. In 1952, in Moscow, she participated in the Women’s Candidates Tournament where she took 12th place[2]. In 1951, she was awarded the FIDE Woman International Master (WIM) title.
On 21 June 1946, Bruce played (and lost) a “radio chess” match against Lydmilla Rudenko. Bruce was one of two women who were part of a twelve member British team who played in a four day tournament. The British team played their moves in London while the Russian team played their moves in Moscow.”
Rowena with Spassky and the Lord Mayor of Plymouth, Alderman Pascho.
“Rowena Mary Bruce played for England in the Women’s Chess Olympiads:
In 1966, at second board in the 3rd Chess Olympiad (women) in Oberhausen (+5, =5, -2) where she won an individual silver medal, and
In 1969, at second board in the 4th Chess Olympiad (women) in Lublin (+5, =3, -6).
From 1940 to 1991 she was married to Ronald Bruce (1903–1991)”
FM John Littlewood (25-v-1931 16-ix-2009). Source : BCM, 2009, October
John Eric Littlewood was born in Sheffield on Monday, May 25th 1931. His mother’s maiden name was Wheeldon. He last resided in the WN8 postal area of Skelmersdale, West Lancashire.
He became a FIDE Master in 1989 at the age of 58. According to Felice (and ChessBase) his peak FIDE rating was 2395 in January 1980. However, it is certain that it would have been higher than that, in the 1960s and 1970s : more likely 2450 or possibly higher.
John, Jenny and Paul Littlewood, circa 1962. Kindly supplied by Paul Littlewood.
He coached his son Paul who became British Champion in 1981. His brother Norman was also a very strong player.
John and Paul on Skegness beach circa 1958. Kindly supplied by Paul Littlewood. George and Ringo are out of shot !
From “Chess Coaching” :
John Littlewood is a National Coach and the Director of Junior Chess to the British Chess Federation. He is a FIDE Master with national and international playing experience, and is an established chess writer, translator and journalist.
03-01-1962 37th Hastings International Chess Congress, 1962. World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik (R) playing against John Littlewood of England
From “Learn Chess 2”
“A British Master, formerly Northern Counties Champion and currently (1984) a National Coach for the British Chess Federation. John Littlewood has played for England in several international tournaments, including two Olympiads”
John Littlewood giving a simultaneous display
John wrote the “Test Your Chess” column in British Chess Magazine under the editorship of Murray Chandler
John Was Northern Counties Chess Union (NCCU) Champion in 1971, 1972, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1981 : a record seven times !
John with chess friends
John won the Appleby-Frodingham Chess Club tournament in 1962 with 3.5/5 :
Appleby-Frodingham Tournament of 1962 crosstable
and then, in the same year came 3= in the British Championships with 7.5/11 :
Truncated crosstable from the 1962 British Championship in Whitby
and in 1969 in Rhyl John was unfortunate not to share the title with Dr. Jonathan Penrose after losing to Frank Parr in the final round :
Truncated crosstable of the British Championships of Rhyl 1969John Littlewood at Hastings 1963-4. Still taken from Pathe news reel footageJohn Littlewood playing Wolfgang Unzicker in round one of the 1969-70 Hastings International Congress
John won the Southport Open in 1972 and the picture below was taken shortly afterwards :
John and family following winning the 1972 Southport Open. See the BCM article below for a full caption
John won the Chorley tournament of 1977 with 7/9
Chorley 1977 tournament crosstable
JEL won the British Chess Federation’s President’s Award in 2000.
FM John Littlewood at 4NCL courtesy of Helen Milligan
In 2006 John won the BCF Veterans / Seniors title for the first time repeating the feat in 2008 sharing with George Dickson.
With the White pieces John almost exclusively played 1.e4 favouring the Wormald Attack, Open Sicilians and the Rossolimo variation.
As the second player John played the Closed Ruy Lopez, the Sicilian Dragon and the Grünfeld defence.
In the following video IM Andrew Martin discusses the game Bisguier – Littlewood, 1962.
Rather than reinventing an already round wheel we reproduce the following ten page tribute in the October 2009 issue of British Chess Magazine. The tribute is by John Saunders :
How to Play the Middle Game in Chess by John Littlewood, Collins, 1974Chess Coaching by John Littlewood, The Crowood Press, 1991Learn Chess by Edward Penn and John Littlewood, Pitman House, 1980Learn Chess : Teacher’s Book, by Edward Penn & John Littlewood, Pitman House, 1980Learn Chess 2 by John Littlewood, Adam & Charles Black, 1984FM John Littlewood (25-v-1931 16-ix-2009)
We focus on the British Chess Scene Past & Present !
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