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TZID:UTC
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TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:UTC
DTSTART:20190101T000000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210115
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210116
DTSTAMP:20230109T222958Z
CREATED:20200409T181200Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230109T222958Z
UID:4293-1610668800-1610755199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Andrew Horton (15-i-1998)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Andrew P Horton (15-i-1998) \nAndrew became a FIDE Master in 2015 and an International Master in 2018.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-andrew-p-horton-15-i-1998/
CATEGORIES:2023,4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/jb4_4220_lv-scaled.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210118
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210119
DTSTAMP:20230118T102641Z
CREATED:20200409T133012Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230118T102641Z
UID:4258-1610928000-1611014399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Paul Littlewood (18-i-1956)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes Happy Birthday to Paul Littlewood \nPaul Edwin Littlewood was born on Wednesday\, January 18th\, 1956 in Skegness\, East Lindsey\, Lincolnshire. His parents were John and Jean Littlewood (née) Hadwick. Paul’s chess playing uncle was Norman Littlewood. \nJohn and Paul on Skegness beach circa 1958. Kindly supplied by Paul Littlewood. George and Ringo are out of shot !\nJohn\, Jenny and Paul Littlewood\, circa 1962. Kindly supplied by Paul Littlewood.\nPaul attended Glenburn Comprehensive School in Skelmersdale from 1967 and then read Natural Sciences at Christ’s College\, Cambridge from 1974. \nPaul played badminton for Lancashire and Cambridge and\, in 1971\, won the English Schools Mixed Championship when he was 15 years old. \nPaul and family receive a chess lesson from John following John’s win in the 1972 Southport Open\nOn leaving University Paul taught science at Southbrook Comprehensive\, Daventry. Four years later Paul became a dealer at Phillips & Drew and followed this as an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs. Stays at Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan were followed by a change of direction and since then Paul has been director of various food supply companies retiring in 2014. \nPaul is married (3rd November 2006) to (his second wife) Fiona and lives in St. Albans\, Hertfordshire. \nPEL won the ECF President’s Award in 2007 and from the 2008 ECF Yearbook we have the following citation : \n“International Master and accomplished bridge player. From British Chess champion (1981) Paul has presided over the 4NCL as chairman during its most successful period. When he became chairman over ten years ago the league consisted of two divisions and 32 teams. The league has now expanded to four divisions and a total of 72 teams. Most of England’s juniors play 4NCL. During this time 4NCL became one of the strongest leagues in Europe\, at one time boasting a Division 1 rivalling the Bundesliga in strength in the top matches. \nPaul has demonstrated the sound judgement of Solomon when dealing with league disputes and has drawn on his business acumen\, honed during a successful career in the City with Goldman Sachs to make 4NCL the financially stable and expanding league it is today.” \nRoll of Honour \n\nBritish U18 Champion 1972\nBritish U21 Champion 1975\nBritish Champion 1981\nAs a junior represented England in Glorney Cup\nInternational Master 1980\n\nFrom British Chess (Pergamon Press\, 1983) by Botterill\, Levy. Rice and Richardson we have this article from Richard W. O’Brien : \n“Paul Littlewood was destined to become a strong player from birth. His father John was for some time one of the strongest players in the country and represented England on many occasions. His uncle Norman was for a few years not far behind. Paul\, however\, has surpassed them both and has become the first in the family to reach IM status. (Ed: JEL was very much worthy of the IM title but insufficient events of the right type held him back). \nA. Howard Williams\, Martyn J. Corden\, Paul E. Littlewood and A. Jonathan Mestel\nAll three are essentially attacking players. There have been times in recent years when play at the Hastings Premier has become dull. However\, Paul one of the English representatives at the last three tournaments\, was certainly not to blame. (His game against Brito of Brazil which follows is a striking example of this).” \nCoached by his father\, Paul became British U18 champion in 1972 and three years later became British U21 champion. \nClearly more interested in an academic career he went up to Cambridge and then followed his father into the teaching profession. Opportunities to play in strong tournaments were thus very limited. These opportunities\, however\, were grasped in both hands. Three times in thirteen months between August 1978 and August 1979 he obtained an IM norm and thus the title. \nPartial crosstable for the Lloyds Bank Open\, 1978\nThe first caused a sensation as it was totally unexpected. He shared first place at Lloyds Bank ahead of several grandmasters including Shamkovich\, who was the first grandmaster he ever defeated. \nLeonid Shamkovich plays Paul Littlewood during the 1978 Lloyds Bank Masters. Paul won the game.\nEight months later Aaronson Masters was won and then came the final norm\, also at Lloyds Bank. \nTournaments abroad were limited although he represented England students. He did play at Kringsja (2nd equal) in 1978 and Borovo where he scored 6.5.13 finishing ahead of 3 GMs. \nIn 1981 came his finest achievement – winning the British Championship with a massive 9/11. \nPartial crosstable from the 1981 British Championship in Morecambe\nHis father who was also competing in the championship was as proud as could be and deservedly so (he also coached Sheila Jackson who retained her British Ladies Championship that year). His excellent all round play took him to the title and only once during the tournament did he stand worse. His endgame play was so good that CHESS even published an article solely on these endings. \nPaul Littlewood and friends during the 1978 Lloyds Bank Masters\nDuties at school in Daventry meant he was\, in February 1982\, unable to take part in the zonal at Marbella. This followed an excellent Hastings when as British Champion he made a plus score – a rare event indeed. \nIM Paul Littlewood during filming for the “Trick of the Mind” series from Derren Brown\nIn the summer he gave up teaching and joined Phillips & Drew (stockbrokers). He now (ed : this was in 1983) lives with his (first) wife Sue and family in the wilds of Essex (Billericay). \nIM Paul Littlewood\, event and photographer unknown\n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1980/81-56 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1980.12.29”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “Brito\, Luismar Jorge”]\n[Black “Littlewood\, Paul E”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C89”]\n[BlackElo “2440”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “82”]\n[EventDate “1980.12.29”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “15”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[EventCategory “10”]\n[SourceTitle “MCD”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,74\,38\,46\,10\,19\,22\,18\,17\,-4\,3\,-20\,5\,-11\,-3\,-3\,3\,-22\,16\,28\,6\,41\,12\,18\,\n37\,37\,37\,-8\,19\,23\,29\,24\,24\,2\,29\,38\,18\,6\,23\,17\,-122\,-311\,-312\,-312\,0\,-228\,-322\,\n-287\,-271\,-271\,-271\,-271\,-303\,-827\,-205\,-205\,-230\,-195\,-152\,-193\,-193\,-180\,\n-193\,-172\,-240\,-866\,-1079\,-1149\,-1149\,-1281\,-1152\,-1149\,-1277\,-1272\,-1275\,\n-1275\,-1332]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7.\nBb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 $1 {The Marshall Gambit and why not!} 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5\nNxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d4 Bd6 13. Re1 Qh4 14. g3 Qh3 15. Be3 Bg4 16. Qd3 Rae8 17.\nNd2 Re6 {[#]} 18. c4 $6 {An idea of Byrne but not played since 2002.} ({\n2021 thinking is} 18. a4 $1 f5 19. Qf1 Qh5 20. f4 bxa4 21. Rxa4 g5 22. Rxa6\ngxf4 23. Bxf4 {is a modern main line.}) (18. Qf1 Qh5) 18… Bf4 $1 $17 19. cxd5\n$2 (19. Qf1 {was required} Nxe3 20. Qxh3 Bxh3 21. cxb5 Nc2 {[#] A pretty wild\nposition! Do you know what is going on here?}) 19… Rh6 $19 20. Qe4 Qxh2+ 21.\nKf1 f5 (21… Bxe3 {is possibly more accurate.} 22. Rxe3 Rf6 23. f3 Bh3+ 24.\nKe1 cxd5 25. Qh4 Rh6 26. Qf4) 22. dxc6+ $146 (22. d6+ Kh8 23. Qxc6 Rxd6 24. Qb7\nBxe3 25. Rxe3 f4 26. Re7 fxg3 27. Rf7 Rf6 28. Rxf6 gxf6 29. fxg3 Re8 30. Ne4\nQe2+ 31. Kg1 Bf3 {Gesos – Fabry\, 1977\, 0-1.}) 22… Kh8 23. Qd5 Bxe3 24. Rxe3\nf4 25. gxf4 Qxf4 26. Re2 (26. Nf3 Rh1+ 27. Ke2 Rxa1 28. Bc2 Rxa2 $1 $19) 26…\nRh2 (26… Qh2) 27. f3 Bh3+ 28. Ke1 Rh1+ 29. Kf2 Rh2+ 30. Ke1 Rh1+ {Oh what\nfun!} 31. Kf2 Rxa1 32. Qe4 (32. Qe5) 32… Qg5 33. Nb1 Rxb1 34. Qxb1 Qg2+ 35.\nKe3 Rxf3+ 36. Kd2 Qg5+ 37. Kd1 Rf1+ {and white resigned.} {If} 38. Re1 Bg4+ 39.\nKc2 Rf2+ 40. Kd3 Bf5+ 41. Re4 Qd2# 0-1\n[/pgn] \nPaul gives a simultaneous display in Letchworth. \n[pgn]\n[Event “London Aaronson Masters”]\n[Site “London”]\n[Date “1979.04.16”]\n[Round “5”]\n[White “Basman\, Michael John”]\n[Black “Littlewood\, Paul E”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “A00”]\n[WhiteElo “2405”]\n[BlackElo “2405”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News and George Botterill”]\n[PlyCount “56”]\n[EventDate “1979.04.12”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,54\,19\,-63\,-56\,-53\,-52\,-89\,-55\,-70\,-50\,-46\,-26\,-42\,-48\,-27\,-38\,-13\,-18\,\n-50\,-12\,-67\,-32\,-98\,-56\,-99\,-83\,-83\,-83\,-73\,-38\,-100\,-89\,-89\,-125\,-108\,-163\,\n-159\,-164\,-154\,-163\,-144\,-144\,-446\,-303\,-361\,-364\,-371\,-364\,-812\,-1568\,-2013\,\n-2191\,-29975\,-1329\,-1430\,-1569]} 1. b4 {Mike liked pushing his knight’s pawns.\nOn this day the b2 pawn was the victim.} e5 2. a3 d5 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bb2 Bd6 5. c4\nc6 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Nf3 {White’s strategy is to induce the advance ….e4 and\nthereby establish a strong outpost on d4.} Qe7 {Black resists temptation.} 8.\nNc3 Nc6 9. h3 $146 {Hardly an inspired choice. Maybe White thought he was\nworse already?} ({Better is} 9. d3 O-O 10. Be2 Rd8 11. O-O $17) 9… O-O $17 {\nBlack’s lead in development is clear.} 10. g4 $6 {This can hardly be justified\nbut then again we refer to our note after move 1. Michael does sometimes get\ncarried away wit his outlandish ideas : GB.} Be6 11. Ne2 {Heading for f5\ncombined with Rg1 might stir up trouble for Black.} a6 (11… Ne4 12. Bg2 f5 {\nand the f2 square is under some pressure.}) 12. Ng3 e4 {Black finally succumbs\nto temptation\, though not without justification. White’s set-up is too\nartificial.} 13. Nd4 Nxd4 14. Bxd4 Nd7 15. Qb3 {[#]} Ne5 $1 16. Be2 Nc6 $1 {\nThe refutation of White’s strategy. With the loss of his blockade on d4\,\nWhite’s game disintegrates.} 17. Bb2 d4 $1 $19 {The time has come to open the\nposition.} 18. Qd1 Bxg3 19. fxg3 d3 20. Bf1 f5 21. Qc1 {Desperation\,} ({but on\n} 21. gxf5 Rxf5 22. Bg2 Qg5 {he is defenceless.}) 21… fxg4 22. Qc5 Qf7 23.\nO-O-O {White seeks some salvation on his side of the board\, but instead finds\nhimself walking into a mating net.} Ba2 $1 24. hxg4 Na5 $1 {A neat touch} ({\nthough the prosaic} 24… Rac8 {also wins of course.}) 25. bxa5 ({Or} 25. Qxa5\nRac8+ 26. Bc3 Qb3 {forces mate}) 25… Rac8 26. Rh5 Rxc5+ 27. Rxc5 Qxf1 $1 {\nand White resigned} 28. Rxf1 Rxf1# 0-1\n[/pgn] \nChess Tactics\, Paul Littlewood\, Crowood Chess Library\, 1991\n[pgn]\n[Event “British CF-68 Championship”]\n[Site “Morecambe/ Lancashire”]\n[Date “1981.08.08”]\n[Round “6”]\n[White “Chandler\, Murray G”]\n[Black “Littlewood\, Paul E”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “E52”]\n[WhiteElo “2455”]\n[BlackElo “2430”]\n[Annotator “Bill Hartston\, George Botterill and British C”]\n[PlyCount “62”]\n[EventDate “1981.08.03”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,62\,19\,35\,34\,-14\,0\,-4\,33\,16\,34\,17\,17\,25\,44\,6\,8\,4\,-4\,3\,-6\,0\,-2\,-2\,17\,-5\,\n-5\,-22\,6\,-22\,-18\,-37\,-21\,-93\,17\,-26\,-13\,-44\,-101\,-101\,-107\,-91\,-152\,-150\,-33\,\n-25\,-100\,-93\,-95\,-108\,-110\,-120\,-117\,-192\,-169\,-187\,-38\,-345\,-312\,-710\,-996\,\n-996\,-1001\,-1027\,-1029]} {Annotations sourced from BCM\, 1981\, page 498\, game #\n20170\, Bill Hartston\, British Chess\, 1983\, George Botterill and British Chess\nNews\, 2021.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 {This is the third time these two\nhave crossed swords in this opening in 1981\, though on the other two occasions\nit was Chandler who had Black. Littlewood won at Hastings in January\, but then\nChandler hit back with a masterly endgame performance in the ARC tournament.}\n4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 b6 ({WRH : Both Chandler and and Littlewood have\nplayed the fashionable line with} 6… c5 7. O-O cxd4 8. exd4 dxc4 9. Bxc4 b6 {\nHere\, perhaps just for a change\, perhaps to avoid any prepared lines\nLittlewood chooses something different.}) 7. a3 {GB : It seems to me that this\nmove would fit i better with the development of the white knight at e2 rather\nthan f3. WRH : This move is usually delayed until after 7.00 Bb7 Now tha game\nquickly develops along unusual paths.} (7. O-O Bb7 8. cxd5 exd5 9. a3 Bd6 10.\nb4 a6 11. Qb3 Qe7 12. b5 axb5 13. Nxb5 Nbd7 14. a4 c5 15. Ba3 Ba6) 7… Bxc3+\n8. bxc3 Ba6 $1 {GB : White squares! WRH : When your opponent has the bishop\npair\, you should exchange one of them. So said Nimzowitsch and here Littlewood\ntakes his advice. Black’s plan is gain control of the white squares after the\nexchange of bishops.} 9. cxd5 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 exd5 11. c4 Nc6 {Black’s play is\nreminiscent of the Tchigorin Defence to the Queen’s Gambit relying on piece\nplay to contest and restrain the centre.} 12. Bb2 $2 $146 {Underestimating the\nactivity of Black’s pieces.} (12. O-O Na5 13. Ne5 c5 14. Bb2 Rc8 15. Rad1) ({\nInstead} 12. Bd2 Ne4 13. O-O {leads to an equal game.}) 12… Na5 13. Nd2 c5\n14. dxc5 {This move indciates that White is still hoping for an advantage from\nthe opening.} ({but he would have done better to settle for slight inferiority\nafter} 14. O-O dxc4 15. Nxc4 Nc6) 14… dxc4 $1 15. Qc3 ({Black’s queenside\npawns give him the better chances after} 15. Qxd8 Rfxd8 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. O-O-O\nRd3) 15… Qd5 $17 16. cxb6 Rfd8 $1 {A fine pawn sacrifice. White cannot\ncastle kingside because his knight on d2 hangs. Meanwhile the Black major\npieces become very active.} 17. bxa7 Rxa7 ({WRH : note that} 17… Qxg2 {\nwould have been met by} 18. O-O-O Rxd2 19. Rdg1 $1) 18. e4 $6 (18. Nf3) 18…\nRe7 19. O-O-O {At last the king has escaped from the centre\, but its new home\nis also far from safe.} Qa8 $19 20. Kb1 Rd3 21. Qc2 Red7 {Black’s simplest\nthreat now is 22..Qd8 followed\, if necessary\, by Nb3 or Nxe4. The pin on the\nd-file must be broken before it is too late.} 22. e5 Ne8 23. Nf3 Qd5 {Mighty\ncentralisation of the black forces.} 24. Nd4 Rb7 {WRH : The final shift of the\nattack to the b-file proves the last straw for White’s strained defences.} 25.\nRxd3 cxd3 26. Qa4 {Otherwise …Nc4 wins the pinned bishop} (26. Qxd3 {WRH :\nloses to the prosaic} Nc4) 26… Rb8 {WRH : calmly defending the attacked\nknight and renewing the threat of Nc4. To add to his problems\, White was now\nseverly short of time.} 27. Ka1 Nc7 28. Rb1 d2 $1 {GB : White is quite lost\nhere. He has no defence against …Ne6 followed by a fatal check on b3. WRH :\nWith so many white pieces trying simply to plug gaps in his leaky position it\nis almost impossible to find a move which does not lose everything.} 29. Bc3\nRxb1+ 30. Kxb1 Qc4 $1 31. Qc2 ({WRH : the final shock} 31. Qxc4 d1=Q+ {leaves\nBlack a queen ahead.}) 31… Qf1+ {and White resigned. WRH : a total triumph\nfor Black’s white-square strategy.} 0-1\n[/pgn]
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-paul-edwin-littlewood-18-i-1956/
CATEGORIES:2023,4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/IMG.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210122
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210123
DTSTAMP:20220122T105352Z
CREATED:20200122T110126Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220122T105352Z
UID:2975-1611273600-1611359999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Richard Pert (22-i-1981)
DESCRIPTION:Happy Birthday IM Richard Pert (22-i-1981) \nIM Richard Pert\n[pgn]\n[Event “GBR-ch 106th”]\n[Site “Torquay”]\n[Date “2019.08.02”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Pert\, Richard G”]\n[Black “Pert\, Nicholas G”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D15”]\n[WhiteElo “2430”]\n[BlackElo “2563”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “81”]\n[EventDate “2019.07.27”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 191 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2019.09.30”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2019.09.30”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,81\,19\,31\,43\,-23\,33\,17\,37\,22\,8\,2\,14\,-9\,-16\,-16\,-15\,-24\,-15\,-210\,-201\,\n-116\,-18\,-12\,3\,-38\,23\,18\,29\,-26\,12\,2\,18\,18\,4\,15\,85\,29\,29\,80\,311\,306\,341\,230\,\n223\,246\,215\,215\,336\,309\,321\,322\,285\,264\,325\,275\,317\,341\,339\,333\,333\,152\,172\,\n177\,173\,189\,198\,182\,205\,216\,217\,242\,257\,291\,422\,452\,525\,642\,656\,316\,475\,680\,\n687\,922]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. e4 b5 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O\nBb7 8. b3 Bb4 9. e5 Bxc3 10. exf6 gxf6 11. Rb1 c5 12. bxc4 Bxd4 $6 (12… cxd4\n$142) 13. Rxb5 Bc6 14. Rb3 $16 Rg8 15. g3 Na6 16. Nxd4 cxd4 17. Bf3 Rc8 18.\nBxc6+ Rxc6 19. Qh5 $18 f5 20. Qxh7 Rf8 21. Bh6 Qf6 22. Bxf8 Kxf8 23. Rb7 Rxc4\n24. Rxa7 Nc7 25. Rb1 f4 26. Rab7 Ke7 27. Rb8 e5 28. Qg8 Rc6 29. Qd8+ Ke6 30.\nQxf6+ Kxf6 31. R8b6 Rxb6 32. Rxb6+ Kf5 33. gxf4 Nd5 34. Rb2 Kxf4 35. a4 e4 36.\na5 d3 37. a6 f5 38. a7 Nc7 39. Kg2 Ke5 40. Kf1 f4 41. Rb7 1-0\n[/pgn] \nNick and Richard Pert\nNick and Richard Pert
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-richard-pert-22-i-1981/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/JB4_9063-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210122
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210123
DTSTAMP:20230120T152026Z
CREATED:20200122T110505Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230120T152026Z
UID:2981-1611273600-1611359999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Nick Pert (22-i-1981)
DESCRIPTION:We send birthday wishes to GM Nick Pert born this day (January 22nd) in 1981. \nJeremy Morse\, Adam Hunt\, Nick Pert and Nigel Short at the Lloyds Bank Masters\nNick won the Southern Counties (SCCU) championship for the 2016-17 season sharing with Richard Bates. \nNick and Richard Pert\nHere is Nick’s Wikipedia entry \nNick and Richard Pert\n[pgn]\n[Event “Hastings Masters op”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “2007.12.30”]\n[Round “3”]\n[White “Pert\, Nicholas”]\n[Black “Dinger\, Florian”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “E12”]\n[WhiteElo “2539”]\n[BlackElo “2378”]\n[Annotator “Pert\,N”]\n[PlyCount “97”]\n[EventDate “2007.12.28”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “10”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 122”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2008.01.30”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2008.01.30”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,97\,19\,31\,14\,30\,28\,4\,27\,41\,33\,17\,24\,8\,18\,-2\,24\,3\,15\,-15\,12\,-2\,3\,-2\,7\,\n-20\,-16\,-17\,-10\,15\,16\,-19\,62\,1\,8\,40\,51\,51\,48\,33\,53\,53\,82\,79\,72\,72\,64\,66\,61\,64\,\n72\,64\,75\,65\,69\,65\,79\,71\,59\,54\,61\,51\,52\,43\,58\,39\,56\,54\,46\,48\,70\,65\,81\,44\,81\,80\,\n65\,62\,65\,48\,47\,-15\,-21\,-17\,-8\,-116\,-109\,-114\,-94\,-88\,233\,311\,397\,396\,414\,407\,\n346\,377\,604\,624]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. a3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5\n7. e3 {The old main line is going through a mini-revival recently\, so I\nthought I would try and keep up with the trends. Here g6 is a popular move for\nBlack\, but the game transposed to a more common variation which can also be\nreached as follows:} (7. Qc2 Be7 8. e4 Nxc3 9. bxc3 O-O 10. Bd3 c5 11. O-O Qc7\n12. Qe2 Nd7 13. Bb2) 7… Nd7 8. Bd3 c5 9. e4 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Qc7 11. O-O Be7 12.\nBb2 O-O 13. Qe2 {By a strange move order we have reached one of the main\npositions of the Petrosian Variation of the Queen’s Indian.} Rac8 14. Nd2 {\nOne of Black’s main plans in this position is to close down the centre\, and\nhence limit the potential of White’s bishops by playing c4 and e5. This move\nis designed to add more control to the c4 square\, whilst readying kingside\nexpansion with f4.} Bg5 $5 {An interesting way to stop f4. Another alternative\nis to put the queen on f4 before the pawn gets there! Then if White wants to\nshift the queen he has to weaken the long diagonal with g3.} 15. Rad1 $146 {\nThis is technically a novelty\, but according to my database the position has\nbeen reached once before by transposition.} e5 $6 {Black goes for it and\nchallenges the centre right away. Rfd8 comes into consideration as a useful\nalternative.} 16. Nf3 (16. d5 Bxd2 17. Qxd2 c4 {I expect this was his\nintention\, closing up the position\, but probably White has slightly the better\nof it with the bishop pair if he can find a way to activate them.}) 16… Bf6\n17. Bb5 $1 {I don’t want Black to close me in with c4.} cxd4 18. cxd4 exd4 19.\nNxd4 Nc5 20. Nf5 $1 Bxb2 {This hands White a comfortable edge. The risky Bxe4\nwas the other option when white has the choice between 2 reasonable ways to\nfight for the advantage.} (20… Bxe4 21. Nh6+ (21. Bxf6 Bxf5 22. Be7 Rfe8 23.\nBxe8 Rxe8 24. Bd6 {with a pull for White.}) 21… Kh8 22. Bxf6 gxf6 {is also\npossible when Black has an extra pawn\, but a weak king provides at least\nsufficient compensation.}) 21. Qxb2 f6 22. Nd6 Rb8 {Forced.} (22… Rcd8 23.\nQa2+ Kh8 24. Nf7+ Rxf7 25. Qxf7 {Wins.}) 23. f3 $6 (23. e5 {I think e5 is\nmarginally preferable. This ensures that White’s king is safer than Black’s.\nHowever the game continuation keeps a strong hold in the centre and blunts\nBlack’s bishop.}) 23… Kh8 $1 24. Rf2 Ba6 {Black is advised to swop his\nbishop for White’s more active counterpart.} 25. Bxa6 Nxa6 26. Rfd2 Nc5 27. Qc3\n(27. Rd5 {I wanted to continue with Rd5 and Qf2 -> kingside but Na4 would have\nbeen irritating threatening a fork on c3.} Na4 28. Qb3 Nc3 29. Nb5 Nxb5 30.\nQxb5 Rbd8 $14) 27… h6 $1 {Black has found some strong moves\, and the task of\nconverting the edge is not easy.} 28. h3 {I tried to look for a way to\nconsolidate my own king position\, but it is not so simple with my pawn on f3.\nMoving the f pawn around a castled king\, can often leave it much more\nvulnerable.} Kh7 {Black hopes to play Rbd8 without any Nf7+ problems.} 29. Kh1\nRbd8 30. Qc2 Kg8 31. Qc4+ Kh7 32. Qd5 Rd7 $6 {Probably Qd7 was better covering\nthe f5 square.} 33. Qf5+ Kg8 34. Qg6 $1 Ne6 $1 (34… Rfd8 {Black would love\nto play this move but it fails tactically.} 35. Ne8 Rxd2 36. Rxd2 Rxd2 37.\nNxf6+ {And mate follows.}) 35. Qg4 Nc5 36. Qg6 Ne6 37. Qg4 {I repeated as my\ntime was getting low and I needed to make it to move 40.} Nc5 38. Rd5 $6 (38.\nf4 $1 {Would have been stronger\, ready to support the d6 knight with e5\nagainst Rfd8 ideas. I rejected this based on a miscalculation.} Qc6 39. Nf5\nNxe4 40. Rxd7 Nf2+ 41. Kg1 Nxg4 42. Ne7+ {Wins for White\, but Black could\nfight on with 39…Rc7. In fact White would probably be best off playing 39.\nKh2 looking after the king – the most important feature of major piece\nendgames.}) 38… Kh7 $1 39. h4 $2 {I start going wrong in time trouble.} (39.\nQf5+ Kg8 40. Qg6 Kh8 41. h4 {is a more accurate version of the same idea.})\n39… Rfd8 $1 40. Nf5 $2 (40. Qf5+ Kg8 41. e5 {Still retains a slight edge.})\n40… Rxd5 41. exd5 g6 $1 {The only move but a very important one. I’d seen\nthis and hoped that h5 might have maintained the initiative for White but…}\n42. Ng3 (42. Qg3 {Moving to an equal ending was probably the best option\, but\nI was still after more.}) (42. h5 gxf5 43. Qg6+ Kh8 44. Qxf6+ Kg8 45. d6 Qd7 {\nLooks at least ok for Black.}) 42… h5 $1 {Before White plays h5 – so now i’m\nobliged to sacrifice a piece.} 43. Nxh5 gxh5 44. Qxh5+ Kg7 $4 {After a fine\nseries of moves\, my young opponent finally cracks.} (44… Kg8 45. d6 (45. Qg6+\nQg7 46. Qf5 Rd7 {And Black is slightly better.}) (45. Rd4 Qh7 {is the point\,\nwhen the black king can hide on h8.}) 45… Rxd6 46. Qg6+ Kf8 47. Qh6+ Ke8 48.\nQg6+ Kd7 49. Rxd6+ Qxd6 50. h5 {It is still not over but Black has the better\nchances.}) 45. Rd4 $1 {Now I think Black is lost\, but he comes up with an\ninteresting last roll of the dice.} Ne6 46. Rg4+ $1 (46. Qg4+ $2 Ng5 47. hxg5\n$4 Qc1+ 48. Kh2 Rh8+ 49. Kg3 Qe1+ 50. Kf4 Qe5#) 46… Kf8 47. Qh6+ $1 Ke7 (\n47… Ng7 48. Qh8+ {Wins}) 48. Re4 $1 Rxd5 49. Qg7+ {And Black resigned since:}\n(49. Qg7+ Kd6 (49… Kd8 50. Qg8+ Kd7 51. Qxe6+ Kd8 52. Qe8#) 50. Rxe6+ {\nwins the queen.}) 1-0\n[/pgn] \nGM Nick Pert\nGM Nick Pert
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-nick-pert-22-i-1981/
CATEGORIES:2023,4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/bct_4326_lv.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210123
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210124
DTSTAMP:20230121T131743Z
CREATED:20200122T210240Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230121T131743Z
UID:2990-1611360000-1611446399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Adam Taylor (23-i-1998)
DESCRIPTION:We send best wishes to IM Adam Taylor on his birthday. \nAdam Christopher Taylor was born on Friday\, January 23rd\, 1998 in Colchester\, Essex. Adam has a sister\, Nathalie Leanne Taylor who also plays and studied History & Economics at The University of York. His mother Deborah was always supportive during his chess career. \nHe attended The Gilberd School\, Colchester until 2014 and then Colchester Sixth Form College and currently resides in Colchester\, Essex. \nECF grading profile for IM Adam C Taylor\nAdam’s first recorded rapidplay event was the Basildon Junior Congress resulting in a published grade of 34D and his first graded standard play event was the 2009 London Junior Under-12 Championships and his first published standard-play grading was 73E. \nIn that same year at Torquay Adam won the British Under-12 title sharing with Radha Jain. \nAdam C Taylor at the 2013 UK Chess Challenge Terafinal. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nAdam made his first 4NCL appearance in May 2012 for SC Stars followed by Anglian Avengers. In 2018 the lure of the big lights of Division One beckoned and Wood Green became Adam’s team now playing for Wood Green Monarchs in the Online 4NCL championship. \nIn 2017 Adam scored an impressive 6/9 (and =2nd) when he travelled to Greece to play in the Heraklion 1st Capablanca Memorial. \nThe Hastings Open in 2018 saw an excellent =7th with 6.5/10. \nAdam’s IM title was ratified in June of 2019 in Baku and currently (January 2021) holds a FIDE standard play rating of 2347 and an ECF standard play rating of 2260A. His highest ECF standard play grading was 230A in July 2019. We expect this to be exceeded once OTB play resumes. \nBattersea Chess Club celebrated Adams’s title in style with this article written by Leon Watson \nFIDE rating profile for IM Adam C Taylor from MegaBase 2020.\nAdam has played for Bury St. Edmunds and Manningtree and now Battersea in the London League and Wood Green in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) and has made many appearances in the UKCC Terafinal. \nAdam is known as Tayip99 on chess.com and as AdamTaylor2301 on LiChess.com and regularly streams on Twitch and other platforms. \nAdam C Taylor\, Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nOn the 13th of September 2019 Adam became the sole director of MakingGrandmasters Limited which lists on its web site a number of leading young English players engaging in coaching such as Matthew Wadsworth\, Ravi Haria and Daniel Fernandez to name but a few. \nOne of Adam’s more notable students is Guildford Chess Club member Jessica Mellor who\, in 2018\, won Gold in the Under-11 category of the European Schools Championship. \nMore recently Adam has taken a back seat from chess and has become a golf professional. \nWith the white pieces Adam favours a Reti/English set-up where c4 quickly follows a king side fianchetto. Here is a typical game of Adam’s with the white against a strong opponent : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Hastings Masters op 93rd”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “2017.12.28”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “Taylor\, Adam C”]\n[Black “Sengupta\, Deep”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A11”]\n[WhiteElo “2242”]\n[BlackElo “2586”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “113”]\n[EventDate “2017.12.28”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 182 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2018.02.23”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2018.02.23”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,113\,19\,27\,26\,-27\,-27\,-10\,18\,10\,9\,17\,14\,30\,26\,1\,-2\,11\,29\,0\,27\,22\,57\,60\,\n161\,161\,161\,74\,81\,89\,88\,143\,136\,155\,133\,155\,131\,132\,152\,158\,156\,85\,92\,99\,115\,\n117\,135\,116\,250\,78\,228\,92\,97\,99\,99\,100\,104\,119\,129\,136\,160\,165\,172\,176\,176\,191\,\n206\,180\,221\,163\,183\,203\,210\,203\,207\,207\,220\,220\,237\,247\,237\,263\,252\,267\,286\,\n232\,274\,213\,233\,206\,223\,234\,246\,234\,232\,228\,234\,255\,335\,364\,384\,338\,350\,371\,\n376\,404\,436\,428\,472\,481\,508\,512\,517\,531\,528\,539]} 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2\nBg4 4. Ne5 Bf5 5. c4 c6 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. O-O (7. Nc3 {is more common.}) 7… e6\n8. d3 Bd6 9. Qa4+ Nbd7 10. Bf4 Qe7 $2 $146 {presumably missing whites 11th\nmove. [#]} ({required is} 10… Bxe5 11. Bxe5 O-O 12. Bd6 Nb6 13. Qa3 Re8 14.\nNd2 Rc8 15. Rac1 Qd7 16. Be5 a6 17. Qb4 Qb5 18. Qxb5 axb5 19. b3 Nfd7 20. Bc7\nNa8 21. Ba5 Rc6 $2 22. Rxc6 bxc6 23. b4 $18 Nab6 24. Rc1 Rc8 25. Nf3 Bg4 26.\nNd4 Na4 27. f3 Bh5 28. Kf1 h6 29. Rxc6 Rxc6 30. Nxc6 Nc3 31. Ke1 e5 32. Bh3 Nf6\n33. Nxe5 Nxa2 34. Kd2 d4 35. Nc6 Nc3 36. Nxd4 Nfd5 37. Bd7 {Meier-Atefall\,\nVastefas\, 2017\, 1-0.}) 11. e4 $1 dxe4 (11… Bg6 $2 12. Nxg6 hxg6 13. e5 $18 {\nis the simple point.}) (11… Bxe5 12. Bxe5 Bg6 13. Bc3 $18) 12. dxe4 Bg4 13.\nNxd7 Qxd7 14. Qxd7+ Kxd7 15. Bxd6 Kxd6 16. h3 {A very unpleasant position for\nthe Indian GM.} Bh5 {Adam continues in fine style.} 17. f4 Ke7 18. g4 Nxg4 {\nHobson’s choice.} 19. hxg4 Bxg4 20. Bf3 Bxf3 21. Rxf3 Rhd8 22. Nc3 Rd2 23. Rf2\nRad8 24. Raf1 a6 25. Rxd2 Rxd2 26. Rf2 Rd3 27. Kf1 h5 28. Ke2 Rg3 29. e5 f5 30.\nexf6+ gxf6 31. Rh2 Rg8 32. Ne4 Rh8 33. Kf3 h4 34. Rc2 f5 35. Ng5 Kd7 $6 (35…\nRd8) 36. Rd2+ Ke7 37. Re2 Rh6 38. Kg2 Kd7 39. Kh3 Ke7 40. Re3 Kd7 41. a4 b6 42.\nNf3 Kd6 43. Nxh4 Kc5 44. Kg3 Kb4 45. b3 a5 46. Nf3 Rg6+ 47. Ng5 Rg8 48. Kf3 Rd8\n49. Nxe6 Rd7 50. Ke2 Ka3 51. Kf3 Kb2 52. Kg3 Kc2 53. Kh4 Rd6 54. Kg5 Kd2 55.\nRe5 Kc3 56. Kxf5 Kxb3 57. Re4 {and Black resigned.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nWith the black pieces Adam essays the Berlin Defence and the Sicilian Najdorf as well as the Benko Gambit and Nimzo-Indian Defence. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Hastings Masters op 91st”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “2016.01.03”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Helbig\, Paul”]\n[Black “Taylor\, Adam C”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C36”]\n[WhiteElo “2122”]\n[BlackElo “2282”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “68”]\n[EventDate “2015.12.28”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 170 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2016.02.25”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2016.02.25”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,68\,37\,25\,8\,-13\,11\,14\,-16\,14\,7\,-20\,-8\,-69\,-68\,-58\,-54\,-72\,-87\,-110\,\n-107\,-165\,-133\,-115\,-151\,-149\,-157\,-134\,-92\,-111\,-111\,-150\,-168\,-179\,-192\,-176\,\n-176\,-190\,-195\,-204\,-191\,-176\,-171\,-250\,-259\,-270\,-248\,-254\,-248\,-262\,-254\,\n-323\,-337\,-352\,-326\,-358\,-395\,-862\,-886\,-886\,-900\,-900\,-917\,-917\,-925\,-933\,\n-938\,-947\,-417\,-470\,-449]} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 exf4 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bc4\nNxd5 6. Bxd5 ({More common is} 6. O-O Be7 7. d4 O-O 8. Bxd5 Qxd5 9. Bxf4 c5 10.\nNc3 Qc4 11. Qe1 Bf6 12. Bd6 Bxd4+ 13. Kh1 Rd8 14. Ne4) 6… Qxd5 7. O-O (7. Nc3\nQd8 8. d4 Be7 9. Bxf4 O-O 10. O-O c6 11. Qd3 Be6 12. Rad1) 7… Nc6 (7… Be7\n8. d4 O-O 9. Bxf4 c5 10. Nc3) 8. Nc3 Qf5 $17 {[#]} 9. Qe2+ $146 {An unhappy\nchoice but white is simply worse anyway.} (9. d4) 9… Be6 10. Qb5 {Another\nstrange decision} Qxb5 11. Nxb5 O-O-O 12. d3 a6 13. Nc3 Bc5+ 14. Kh1 Nb4 $1 15.\nNe4 Be3 16. Bxe3 fxe3 17. Ne1 Rhe8 18. a3 {[#] White has obtained precisely\nnothing from the opening apart from being behind in development.} Nc6 19. Ng5\nf6 (19… Bd5) 20. Nxe6 Rxe6 21. Rf4 g5 22. Rc4 f5 23. Rc5 Rf8 24. g4 Re5 (\n24… fxg4 $1 25. Rc4 h5 26. Ng2 e2 27. Kg1 Ne5 $19) 25. Rc4 fxg4 26. Rxg4 Rf1+\n27. Kg2 Ref5 28. h4 R5f2+ (28… h5 $1) 29. Kg3 Rg1+ 30. Kh3 Rh1+ 31. Kg3 gxh4+\n32. Rxh4 Rg1+ 33. Kh3 Re2 (33… Ne7) 34. Rg4 Rh1+ {and white gave up the\nunequal struggle.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nIM Adam C Taylor\, Courtesy of John Upham Photography
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-adam-c-taylor-23-i-1998/
CATEGORIES:2023,4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Coach,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/KRM_5083.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210127
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210128
DTSTAMP:20230126T231702Z
CREATED:20191117T173215Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230126T231702Z
UID:2089-1611705600-1611791999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Richard Bates (27-i-1979)
DESCRIPTION:Best Birthday wishes to IM Richard Adam Bates born on this day (January 27th) in 1979. \nRichard has won the Southern Counties (SCCU) championship in the 2015-16\, 2016-17 (with Nick Pert) and 2017-18 seasons. \nIM Richard Adam Bates\n[pgn]\n[Event “BCF-chT 9900 (4NCL)”]\n[Site “Birmingham”]\n[Date “2000.03.25”]\n[Round “7.3”]\n[White “Bates\, Richard”]\n[Black “Emms\, John M”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A70”]\n[WhiteElo “2368”]\n[BlackElo “2546”]\n[Annotator “johnu”]\n[PlyCount “67”]\n[EventDate “1999.10.??”]\n[EventType “team”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2000”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Richmond”]\n[BlackTeam “Wood Green”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,67\,19\,31\,14\,30\,28\,4\,17\,20\,76\,42\,77\,64\,122\,98\,78\,105\,92\,90\,77\,62\,86\,67\,\n68\,67\,71\,71\,71\,53\,46\,27\,84\,19\,31\,2\,44\,48\,63\,41\,184\,55\,238\,271\,298\,301\,258\,252\,\n211\,222\,222\,248\,248\,200\,259\,294\,411\,179\,294\,364\,361\,379\,379\,385\,641\,559\,625\,\n1032\,1094\,1125]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 c5 4. d5 d6 5. Nc3 exd5 6. cxd5 g6\n7. h3 a6 8. e4 b5 9. Bd3 Bg7 10. O-O c4 11. Bc2 O-O 12. Bf4 Re8 13. Re1 Bb7 14.\nQd2 Qb6 15. Bh6 $1 $146 (15. b4) 15… Bh8 16. Ne2 Nbd7 17. Ng3 Rac8 18. Be3\nNc5 19. Bd4 a5 $2 (19… b4 20. Nf5 b3 21. axb3 (21. Qh6 bxc2 22. Bxf6 Bxf6 23.\nNg5 Rc7 24. Qxh7+ Kf8 25. e5 Rxe5 26. Rxe5 Bxe5) 21… cxb3 22. Nh6+ (22. Bb1)\n22… Kf8 23. Bb1) (19… Bg7 20. Rad1 (20. a4 b4 21. a5 Qb5 22. Qf4 b3 23. Bb1\n(23. Bxf6 bxc2 24. Bxg7 (24. Nf5 Bxf6 25. Nh6+ Kg7 26. Ng4) 24… Kxg7 25. Nf5+\ngxf5 26. Qg5+ Kh8 27. Qf6+ Kg8 28. exf5 Rxe1+ 29. Rxe1 Ne4 30. Rxe4 c1=Q+ 31.\nKh2 h5) 23… Nxd5 24. exd5 Rxe1+ 25. Nxe1 Re8 26. Nf3) 20… Qd8 21. Qf4 h6) (\n19… Nfd7 20. Qh6 Bxd4 21. Nxd4 Kh8 22. Re3) 20. Nf5 $1 $18 Qd8 (20… gxf5\n21. Qg5+ Kf8 22. Bxf6 Bxf6 23. Qxf6 Qd8 24. Qh6+ Ke7 25. e5) 21. Nh6+ Kf8 22.\nNg5 Rc7 23. Bxf6 (23. Qxa5) 23… Bxf6 24. Nxh7+ Kg7 25. Nxf6 Qxf6 26. Ng4 Qd8\n(26… Qh4) 27. Qh6+ Kg8 28. Qf4 (28. f4) 28… Kg7 29. e5 dxe5 30. Rxe5 Rxe5\n31. Qxe5+ Kg8 (31… f6 32. Nxf6 Re7 33. Nh5+ Kh7 34. Qf4) 32. d6 Rc6 33. Nh6+\nKh7 34. Nxf7 1-0\n[/pgn] \nRichard Bates\nIM Richard Bates\nSheen Mount Under Eleven Chess Champion Richard Bates and Robin Laisby enjoying a game during time out from the Teachers Assurance National Primary Schools Chess Championships. Malaysian Elephant Leyang Leyang and her keeper Duncan McGinnie help them not to forget their chess moves.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-richard-alan-bates-27-i-1979/
CATEGORIES:2023,4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/bct_4349_lv-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210129
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210130
DTSTAMP:20210129T165242Z
CREATED:20200129T092350Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210129T165242Z
UID:3031-1611878400-1611964799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Raymond Keene OBE (29-i-1948)
DESCRIPTION:We send birthday wishes to GM Raymond Keene OBE. \nRaymond Dennis Keene was born on Thursday\, January 29th 1948 in Wandsworth\, London to Dennis Arthur and Doris Anita Keene (née Leat). Dennis and Doris were married in 1943 in Camberwell. Doris was born on May 27th\, 1921 in Lambeth and was a shorthand and invoice typist. \nDennis and Doris also had a daughter Jackie Keene who later married chess historian\, RG Eales. Jackie is Emeritus Professor at The University of Kent in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. Jackie played in the Glorney Cup. \nRaymond Keene\nRay was educated at Dulwich College between 1959 and 1966 thereby becoming an Old Alleynian. In 1967 Ray went up to Trinity College\, Cambridge to study Modern Languages specialising in German and graduating with an MA. Amongst their Alumni are five spies including Blunt\, Burgess and Philby. During the gap between Dulwich College and Cambridge Ray (aged 18) wrote his first (and one of his best) book : Flank Openings : \nFlank Openings\, Raymond Keene\, British Chess Magazine\, 1967.\nBeing published at the age of 19 this must be close to the earliest age an English player has had a chess book published that was not ghost written. (Leave a comment if you know differently!) \nFollowing this legendary tome Ray collaborated with Leonard Barden and Bill Hartston on The King’s Indian Defence from BT Batsford Ltd: \nThe King’s Indian Defence\, Barden\, Keene and Hartston\, BT Batsford\, 1969.\nand in 1972 we have \nThe Modern Defence\, BT Batsford\, 1972\, GS Botterill and RD Keene\nfollowed in 1973 by \nThe Pirc Defence\, BT Batsford\, 1973\, GS Botterill and RD Keene\nAll of which were favourably received helping Batsford to establish a strong reputation. \nIn July 1974 Ray married ex-ballerina (and now Dance Teacher) Annette Sara Goodman in Brighton\, East Sussex. Annette became a director of World Memory Championships International Limited on January 17th 2008 and resigned on April 9th 2008. They have one son\, Alexander Phillip Simon Keene\, born in 1991. Godfather to Alexander is Scottish International\, IM David Levy. \nAnnette is the sister of IM David Simon Charles Goodman who now resides in New York. \nAlso in 1974 George Bell & Sons published Ray’s most acclaimed work (and arguably his best) : Aron Nimzowitsch: A Reappraisal \nAron Nimzowitsch: A Reappraisal\, RD Keene\, George Bell & Sons\, 1974\nAlexander is currently the Company Secretary of the aforementioned company\, Julian (a retired teacher from Brighton) is another active director. \nIn 1985 Ray became the sixth British chess player to be awarded the OBE when it was awarded in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. The citation read “For Services to Chess”. \nAccording to Companies House Ray has held a total of 30 directorships in various companies such as : \n\nBrain Plan 2020\nWorld Mind Mapping Championships\nWorld Speed Reading Championships\nBuzan International Technology\nBuzan World\nThe World is My Oyster\nWorld Memory Championships\nIntelligent Resources and Services\nOutside in Pathways\nUK Primary Schools Memory Championships\nUK Schools Memory Championships\nThe School Memory Championships\nThe Schools Memory Championship\nMental Literacy for All\nFestival of the Mind\nFestival of the Mind International\nThe Brain Trust\nImpala (London)\nTony Buzan International\nWorld Memory Championships International\nWorld Peace and Prosperity Foundation\nZeticula\nMind Masters Management\nIntellectual Leisure\nBrain Sports Olympiad\nMind Sports Promotions\n\n(Our particular favourite has to be the unpretentiously entitled “World Peace and Prosperity Foundation” although “The World is My Oyster” runs it a close second.) \nRay\, Annette and Julian Simpole currently live in Clapham Common North Side\, London\, England. \nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by David Hooper and Ken Whyld : \nRay Keene\nEnglish player and author\, British champion 1971\, From 1966 he played in several Olympiads and his performance in two of them\, Nice 1974 ( + 7=6-2) and Haifa 1976 (+4=6)\, gained him the title of International Grandmaster (1976). His best tournament win was at Dortmund 1980 (category 8)\, He studied the games and teaching of Staunton and Nimzowitsch and revealed with unusual insight the strategy of the former and the stratagems of the latter in two books: Staunton : the English World Champion (1975) and Nimzowitsch: a Reappraisal (1974). He also wrote Flank Openings (3rd edn\, 1979); these openings are the ones which he prefers to play\, which he knows best\, and which suit his solid positional style. \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \nInternational Master (1972)\, British Champion in 1971 and a regular member of the British team since 1966 playing on top board on a number of occasions. \nRay Keene\nRaymond Keene was born on 29th January 1948 in London and learned to play chess at the age of six. He began to play seriously when he was thirteen. While at Dulwich College from 1959 -1966 he played top bard for the school team which won the Sunday Times National Schools’ Chess Tournament in 1965 and 1966. \nEnglish chess player Raymond Keene\, winner of the 1971 British Chess Championship\, posed in London on 6th June 1972. Raymond Keene has been awarded the chess title International Master. (Photo by Harry Dempster/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)\nIn 1964\, he won the London and British Boys’ Under 18 Championship (ed : In fact\, the title was shared with Brian Denman) and the following year\, at the age of seventeen\, he became the youngest player to win the Surrey Championship. While at Cambridge he graduated in German Literature (B.A. Honours)\, he played top board for the university. \nBrian Reilly\, Ray Keene\, George Botterill\, Anatoly Karpov\, Harry Golombek and Viktor Korchnoi\nDuring his chess career\, he has beaten both Botvinnik and Gligoric\, In 1967\, he came 2nd in the World Junior Championship and in 1968 he won the prize for the best score on board 4 in the Lugano Olympiad. \nRaymond Keene\nA difficult player to beat\, Keene played in four British Championships without losing a game and also went through the Lugano and Siegen Olympiads unbeaten in 33 games. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Olympiad-21 Preliminaries B”]\n[Site “Nice”]\n[Date “1974.06.07”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “Keene\, Raymond D”]\n[Black “Fuller\, Maxwell L”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A42”]\n[Annotator “Keene\,R”]\n[PlyCount “71”]\n[EventDate “1974.06.07”]\n[EventType “team-tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “FRA”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2000”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “England”]\n[BlackTeam “Australia”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “AUS”] \n{[%evp 0\,71\,19\,27\,85\,57\,47\,9\,7\,7\,65\,34\,42\,34\,13\,11\,25\,-40\,-29\,41\,25\,62\,39\,33\,\n50\,49\,49\,49\,71\,57\,44\,69\,125\,133\,118\,170\,177\,228\,217\,216\,209\,209\,209\,213\,235\,\n240\,261\,246\,262\,269\,269\,-78\,281\,289\,294\,230\,233\,238\,250\,257\,288\,293\,328\,329\,\n329\,303\,1185\,1235\,1262\,1016\,1277\,1356\,1410\,1002]} 1. Nf3 g6 2. c4 c5 3. e4 (3.\nd4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d5 6. e3 $1 $14) 3… Bg7 4. d4 d6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Be3\nBg4 (6… Qb6 7. Na4 Qa5+ 8. Bd2 Qc7 9. d5 Nd4 10. Nxd4 cxd4 $14) 7. dxc5 dxc5\n8. Qxd8+ Rxd8 9. Bxc5 Bxc3+ 10. bxc3 Nf6 11. Nd4 $1 (11. Nd2 $2 Rxd2 $1) (11.\ne5 $2 Nd7 $17) 11… Nxe4 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Bxa7 $1 (13. Bd4 $2 e5 $1 14. Bxe5\nO-O 15. f3 Rfe8 $17) 13… Nxc3 (13… Bf5 14. f3 Nd6 15. a4 Ra8 16. Bb6 O-O\n17. c5 Nc8 18. g4 Be6 19. a5 $16 {Smyslov\,V-Botvinnik\,M/Moscow Wch m-12 1957})\n14. Bb6 Rd6 (14… Rd7 15. f3 Be6 16. a4 $1) 15. f3 Bc8 $2 (15… Bf5 16. a4\n$16) 16. a4 Bf5 17. g4 Bc2 (17… Bd3 18. Ba5 Bxf1 19. Bxc3 Bg2 20. Rg1 $18) (\n17… Bb1 18. Ba5 Rd1+ 19. Kf2 Rd2+ (19… Na2 20. Bg2 $1 $18) 20. Ke3) 18. Bc7\nRd1+ (18… Rd2 19. Be5 $1 $18) 19. Rxd1 Nxd1 (19… Bxd1 20. Be5) 20. Be2 Kd7\n(20… Ne3 21. Kd2) (20… Nb2 21. Be5 $1) 21. Bg3 Ra8 22. Kd2 Rxa4 23. Kxc2\nRa2+ 24. Kb3 Rb2+ 25. Ka4 Rxe2 26. Rxd1+ $18 Ke6 27. Re1 Rxe1 28. Bxe1 Ke5 29.\nBc3+ Kf4 30. Kb4 Kxf3 31. Kc5 f5 32. gxf5 g5 33. Kxc6 h5 34. Kd5 h4 35. Be5 g4\n36. Ke6 1-0\n[/pgn] \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwXuST5VQvk[/embedyt] \nAt Oxford in 1973\, Keene set up what he believes is an English speed record for simultaneous chess\, scoring 100 wins\, 5 draws and 1 loss in 4.5 hours. \nRaymond Keene\nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Harry Golombek : \n“British Grandmaster\, British Champion 1971\, Keene was born in London and was both London Boy Champion and British Junior Champion in 1964 (ed : In fact\, the title was shared with Brian Denman). \nEducated at Dulwich College and Trinity College\, Cambridge\, he soon became recognised\, along with Hartston\, as one of the two leading younger players in England. His style of play was different from that of his rival\, being more complicated and less direct; but\, like Hartston\, he became a most formidable opening theorist with a vast knowledge of opening theory. \nHis first Olympiad was at Havana 1966 where he was the youngest member of the side and scored 65% on board six. In 1968 at Lugano he obtained 76.5% on board four and in 1970 at Siegen\, playing on board two in the preliminaries and board one in the finals he score 68.8%. \nRaymond Keene\nThe year 1971 saw a double achievement\, for in that year he won the British Championship at Blackpool and also secured the title of International Master. \nPlaying on top board in the 1972 Olympiad at Skopje\, he scored 11.5 out of 20. \nRay & friend\nIn 1974 he came 6th in a very strong Hastings tournament and then won first prize in the Capablanca Memorial Masters in Cuba. At the Nice Olympiad he scored 66.66% on 2nd board\, attaining the first leg of the grandmaster norm. At Mannheim 1975 he was 3rd in the German Open championship and in that year he also came 2nd at Alicante. In 1976 he was 2nd at the Aarhus tournament in Denmark. He finished a most successful year in international chess by fulfilling the second grandmaster norm on 2nd board in the Haifa Olympiad\, thereby becoming England’s second international grandmaster (after Tony Miles). (Harry Golombek)” \nRay was Southern Counties (SCCU) champion for the 1966-67 season. \nHere is his extensive Wikipedia article \nNoted historian Olimpu G Urcan writes on Alekhine versus Keene \nand Edward Winter writes extensively about Ray’s journalistic activities \nand finally\, Keenipedia. A web site created by his many admirers… \n[pgn]\n[Event “Hastings 1975/76”]\n[Site “Hastings ENG”]\n[Date “1976.01.12”]\n[EventDate “?”]\n[Round “13”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[White “Raymond Denis Keene”]\n[Black “Anthony John Miles”]\n[ECO “D42”]\n[WhiteElo “”]\n[BlackElo “”]\n[PlyCount “51”]\n[Annotator “Ray Keene”] \n1. Nf3 { Notes by Raymond Keene. } Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6\n4. e3 e6 5. d4 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd3 cxd4 {Perhaps 7…Be7 is\nmore accurate\, maintaining the central tension.} 8. exd4 Be7\n9. O-O O-O {One of the classical isolated queen’s pawn\npositions\, in which White’s extra space and attacking chances\ncompensate for the structural weakness.} 10. Re1 Nf6 {A solid\nalternative is 10…Bf6 11 Be4 etc.} 11. Bg5 {!? Fashionable\nwas 11 a3\, but the text is not bad. All White’s pieces are\ncoming out at great speed while Black still has problems\ncompleting his queenside development.} 11…Nb4 {The immediate\n11…b6 deserves attention. Black’s plan to dominate the\nblockade square d5 instantly is possibly too straightforward.}\n12. Bb1 b6 {12…Bd7 is a more cautious treatment\, planning a\nlater development with …Bc6.} 13. Ne5 Bb7 {It might look as\nif Black is over the worst but now a vicious attack appears\nalmost out of nowhere.} 14. Re3 {!! A difficult and bold\nmove. When I played it I already had to be sure that my\nkingside attacking chances would be sufficient compensation\nfor my lack of queenside development and the clumsy position\nof my rook on the third rank. Strangely\, a similar rook\nmanoeuvre occurred in a game Filip – Pogats\, played 14 years\npreviously\, but neither Miles nor I had any notion of this\nuntil I discovered the theoretical background after our\ngame. Incidentally\, the Filip game ended in a draw.} 14…g6\n{To prevent 15 Bxf6 Bxf6 16 Bxh7+ Kxh7 17 Qh5+ and 18 Rh3.}\n15. Rg3 {! It looks odd to aim the rook against a granite wall\n(g6) but the granite has faulty foundations. In contrast\, the\nmore natural 15 Rh3 achieves nothing.} 15…Rc8 {?! At the\ntime the course I feared most was 15…Nc6! 16 Bh6 Qxd4! when\nBlack breaks White’s attack by sacrificing the exchange. In\nview of the lack of weaknesses in Black’s position it would\nthen be a distinctly uphill struggle for White to win. After\nthe move played the solution became susceptible to precise\ntactical analysis.} 16. Bh6 Re8 17. a3 Nc6 {17…Nbd5 does not\nalter things significantly.} 18. Nxg6 {!} hxg6 19. Bxg6 {Apart\nfrom capturing the bishop Black has two other defences: a)\n19…Bf8 20 Bc2+ Kh8 21 Bxf8 Rxf8 22 Qd2 Ng8 23 Rh3+ Kg7 24\nRh7+ (Fritz gives 24 Qf4) 24…Kf6 25 d5+-; b) 19…Bd6 20\nBxf7+ Kxf7 21 Rg7+ Kf8 22 Qf3+-. In this position Black is\nquite helpless\, in spite of his extra material.} 19…fxg6\n20. Qb1 {! An original square for the queen in a mating\ncombination\, but neither 20 Qd3 Ne5 nor 20 Qc2 Ne5! 21 dxe5\nNe4 (exploiting the pin on the c-file) would be good enough\nfor White.} 20…Ne5 21. dxe5 Ne4 {Without the c-file pin this\nis sheer desperation.} 22. Nxe4 Kh7 23. Nf6+ Bxf6 24. Qxg6+\nKh8 25. Bg7+ Bxg7 26. Qxg7# 1-0\n[/pgn] \nMurray Chandler\, Ray Keene and Miguel Najdorf
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-raymond-dennis-keene-29-ii-1948/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Honours,Official,Player,Writer
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210131
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210201
DTSTAMP:20220131T112458Z
CREATED:20190822T152139Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220131T112458Z
UID:975-1612051200-1612137599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Henry Atkins (20-viii-1872 31-i-1955)
DESCRIPTION:We remember Henry Atkins who passed away\, Monday\, January 31st\, 1955. \nHenry Ernest Atkins was born in Leicester on Tuesday\, August 20th\, 1872 to Edward (a schoolteacher) and Jane Atkins (née Threapland). \nHe was baptised on August 6th\, 1872 in the Anglican Cathedral Church of St. Martin\, Leicester. At the time of the baptism the Atkins family was living at 57\, King Richard’s Road\, Leicester. The address in 2021 appears to be occupied by an industrial premise for Sunco Knitwear Specialists. The signatory on the baptism record is that of DJ Vaughan. \nBaptismal record for Henry Ernest Atkins\nHenry was admitted to Wyggeston Boys Grammar School\, Leicester on March 30th 1880 when eight years old. He was expected to leave at the end of the Winter Term in 1890. \nSchool admission record for Henry Ernest Atkins\nCuriously his school admission record includes the following addition (although we don’t know exactly when) : \nAmendment to school admission record for HEA.\nHenry\, aged 18\, went up to Peterhouse College\, Cambridge in 1890 to study mathematics. From his year of entry he was ranked as 9th “Wrangler” studying for the Mathematical Tripos. As part of his Part II examinations he did well enough to be “mentioned” for the Smith’s Prize for examination performance. \nNottingham Evening Post\, 3rd June 1895\n(Here is more on Kummer’s Proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem.) \nFollowing University Henry became a teacher of mathematics at Northampton County Modern School and then returned to Wyggeston Boys Grammar School from 1902 – 1908. He then became the principal of Huddersfield College in 1909 and continued until 1915. Huddersfield College (founded in 1839) was merged with Hillhouse Technical School to form a new boys’ grammar school at a new campus at Salendine Nook with 950 boys. \nAccording to Ranneforths Schach-Kalender (cited by C.N.)\, 1915\, page 55\, during the period at Huddersfield College Henry lived firstly at 49 New North Road\, Huddersfield\, Yorkshire : \n49 New North Road\, Huddersfield\, Yorkshire\, HD1 5NR\nand then \n36 Gledholt Road\, Huddersfield\, Yorkshire\, HD1 4HP : \n36 Gledholt Road\, Huddersfield\, Yorkshire\, HD1 4HP\nOn June 1st\, 1915 (aged 43) Henry was registered as a teacher whilst at Huddersfield College for the fee of one guinea : \nTeacher registration form for Henry Ernest Atkins\nHenry retired from teaching in 1936. \nIn the 1939 register Henry (now a retired schoolmaster) was recorded as living with his wife\, Elspeth Skene Atkins (née Wilson) at 29 East Avenue\, Leicester\, Leicestershire : \n29 East Avenue\, Leicester\, Leicestershire\, LE2 1TE\nElspeth was born on August 5th 1880 and was therefore roughly eight years his junior. She carried out “unpaid domestic duties” but as a member of the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) she was a surgical dresser. The WVS transformed into the RVS. It would seem that Henry and Elspeth did not have children. She outlived Henry passing away in 1973 in Southampton. \nOn Monday\, January 31st 1955 passed away in The Fielding Johnson Private Hospital : \nProbate notice from March 26th 1955\nThe Fielding Johnson Private Hospital\nHenry was buried at Gilroes Cemetery and Crematorium\, Groby Road\, Leicester\, Leicestershire\, LE3 9QG. \nIn the October 1976 issue of Newsflash Badmaster (aka GH Diggle) wrote : \n“… we well remember his giving a “simultaneous” at the Lincoln Chess Club in 1924\, winning 17 and drawing two. One of his more elderly opponents (a notorious non-resigner) who for 30 moves had been wobbling along with a piece down until “time” had to be called\, then proceeded to “demonstrate a draw” by concocting a continuation so optimistic that even clubmates with lifelong experience of his powers stood aghast. Atkins\, with his greatcoat on ready to go home\, made no attempt to refute this analytical masterpiece but merely remarked with great deference: “I don’t think we can play it quite like that!” and then beat a craven retreat “escorted by Club Officials” \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXV (75\, 1955)\, Number 3 (March)\, pp.102-3 we have this obituary written by RN Coles : \n“With the passing\, on January 31st\, at the age of eighty-two of Henry Ernest Atkins the chess world has lost a recognized international master\, and British chess one of its strongest players of all time. Yet Atkins was the despair of chess enthusiasts because he played so little international chess and confined himself largely – and at that intermittently – to local affairs\, where the strength of most of his opponents could hardly extend him. One leading player recently regretted that Atkins spent so much time “in the wilds\,” but Atkins would have taken an opposite view and have considered that he was “in the wilds” if he had spent more of his time playing chess; teaching was his whole life\, and the game of chess he insisted on treating as a game. \nConsequently as a chess-player Atkins was almost always out of practice and playing below his true strength\, yet in his five international events-Amsterdam\, 1899; Hanover\, 1902; London\, 1922; London Team Tourney\, 1927; and Warsaw Team Tourney\, 1935-he scored 63.2 per cent\, or if Amsterdam which was virtually a Hauptturnier is excluded\, 53.5 per cent. \nFull crosstable from Amsterdam 1899\nSir George Thomas considered that only lack of opportunity prevented him from establishing himself in the world championship class. As it is\, he will be remembered chiefly by chess-players as the man who played eleven times in the British Championship and won it nine times\, failing only at the first attempt in 1904 after a tie for first place\, and at the last in 1937\, at the age of sixty-five\, when he shared third place\, a record which has never been remotely approached by any other player and is not likely to be. Atkins played in a clear-cut strategical style which makes his games ideal studies for the beginner\, and he finished them with the elegance to enchant the artist; like the Etudes of Chopin\, they provide technical exercises and works of art in one. \nBut I believe that if Atkins had his wish – and this wish I am sure he will have – he would wish to be remembered by his many pupils\, whether they be pupils of the chess master or of the schoolmaster\, not for any practical achievements but for being a true guide\, philosopher\, and friend to all who came under his tutelage.-R. N. C.” \n[pgn]\n[Event “British CF-15 London International”]\n[Site “London”]\n[Date “1922.08.11”]\n[Round “9”]\n[White “Tartakower\, Saviely”]\n[Black “Atkins\, Henry Ernest”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C55”]\n[Annotator “Tartakower/du Mont/Maroczy”]\n[PlyCount “84”]\n[EventDate “1922.07.31”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “15”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “HCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “2”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 20\,83\,12\,-8\,0\,0\,25\,2\,8\,-33\,-33\,-31\,-18\,-30\,-33\,-31\,-29\,-45\,-46\,-39\,-50\,\n-57\,-57\,-58\,-67\,-60\,-57\,-81\,-91\,-93\,-36\,-92\,-118\,-200\,-58\,-123\,-147\,-138\,-92\,\n-238\,-233\,-1269\,-1312\,-2155\,-2148\,-1709\,-1307\,-1700\,-1457\,-29992\,-29993\,-29994\,\n-29995\,-29995\,-29996\,-29996\,-29997\,-29997\,-29995\,-29996\,-29995\,-29997\,-29997\,\n-29998\,-29999\,-29999] C55: Two Knights: 4 d3\, 4 d4 exd4 5 e5 and Max Lange\nAttack Sources: Tartakower & du Mont\, 500 Master Games of Chess\, pp. 49-50;\nMaroczy: London\, 1922\, pp. 66-67 The elemental power of Rooks commanding open\nlines is well illustrated In this beautiful game.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4\nNf6 4. Nc3 ({Maroczy: An alternative and perhaps preferable continuation for\nWhite is} 4. d3 {\, bringing about the regular Giuco Piano.}) 4… Nxe4 5. Nxe4\nd5 6. Bd3 dxe4 7. Bxe4 Bd6 8. d4 ({Maroczy:} 8. Bxc6+ {\, doubling the c-pawn\nwould not gave been good for White\, as his opponent’s two bishops would have\nbeen too powerful.}) 8… Nxd4 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. Qxd4 O-O {Marcozy: Black has\nnow the advantage in development\, as White cannot castle at once because of\nBxh2+\, winning the queen.} 11. Be3 ({Not} 11. O-O {on account of} Bxh2+ {\n. But now White puts his trust in his cluster of forces in the centre.}) 11…\nQe7 {Preventing 12.0-0\, as 12….Be5 would be awkward for White.} 12. O-O-O {\nMaroczy: There is generally an element of danager in castling queenside\, as\nthe king is there more exposed to attack than after castling on the kingside.\n12….} Re8 13. Bd5 {As this helps Black’s counter-play (14….c6)} ({the best\ncourse was} 13. Bf3 $144 {with level chances.}) ({A magnificent trap would be}\n13. Rhe1 Qxe4 14. Bh6 Bf4+ 15. Kb1 {\, and wins. But Black coolly replies 13….\nBe6\, obtaining the better game.}) 13… Be5 14. Qa4 $146 c6 {Gradually Black\nobtains the initiative.} 15. Bf3 {Maroczy: Both Black’s bishops are now\nbearing on the white king’s entrenchment\, whereas White’s bishops are\nthreatening nothing. 15….} Be6 16. Kb1 a5 {A strong move\, threatening 17.Qb4.\nMaroczy: The storming of the enemy’s position commences with the move.} 17. Bd4\nBd6 18. Bb6 Bb4 19. c3 Ra6 20. Be3 Bf5+ 21. Ka1 b5 22. Qb3 Bd6 23. a4 {Instead\nof further compromising his position\, he should have resorted to the patient\nmanoeuvre 23.Rd2. 23….} Rb8 {Now Black definitely has the better game.\nMaroczy: All Black’s pieces are now well posted for the attack.} 24. Rd2 Be6\n25. Qd1 Be5 26. Bd4 {[#]} Bf4 27. Be3 Bxe3 28. fxe3 b4 {The decisive advance\,\nforcibly opening up the position.} 29. cxb4 {[#]} Rab6 {Black conducts the\nattack with superb élan. Maroczy: Better than recapturing the pawn at once.} (\n{Both the following lines would have been premature: 29….Rxb4 or} 29… Qxb4\n{(because of} 30. Rd8+ {)}) ({and} 29… axb4 {\, on account of} 30. b3 {\n\, again closing up the critical a-file.}) 30. Rd6 {[#]} ({The following\nvariation loses beautifully:} 30. bxa5 Ra6 31. b4 Rxa5 32. bxa5 Qa3+ {\,\nfollowed by mate.}) 30… Rxb4 {Threatening not only 31….Rxa4+\, but also 31..\n..Bb3\, followed by Rxa4+.} 31. Bxc6 Rxb2 32. Bb5 Ra2+ 33. Kb1 Rxa4 34. Kc2 ({\nThe white King attempts to escape. If} 34. Qxa4 Qxd6 {\, the bishop is lost.})\n34… Ra2+ 35. Kc3 Rc8+ 36. Bc6 {[#]} Rxc6+ {This curious break-through\nsacrifice is a crowning touch to a powerfully conducted game.} 37. Rxc6 Qb4+\n38. Kd3 Qb5+ 39. Kd4 Qxc6 40. Ke5 Qc5+ 41. Kf4 Qf5+ 42. Kg3 Qf2# {Maroczy: A\nvery fine game played by Atkins in his best style.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld \nEnglish player\, born in Leicester\, International Master (1950)\, schoolmaster. Between 1895 and 1901 he played in seven minor tournaments\, winning four\, taking second place in three\, and losing only three out of 70 games. In one of these events\, Amsterdam 1899\, he made a clean score against 15 opponents. In his first international tournament\, Hanover 1902\, he came third (+8=7-2) after Janowski and Pillsbury ahead of Mieses\, Chigorin\, and Marshall. Emanuel Lasker believed that Atkins would have joined the leading grandmasters had he continued his international career\, but Atkins played in only one more big tournament (London 1922). He had a genuine concern for his profession\, and preferred not to give more of his life to chess. He played in 12 of the Anglo-American cable matches\, won the British Championship nine times (1905-11\, 1924\, 1925)\, and represented the British Chess Federation in the Olympiads of 1927 and 1935. \nHenry Ernest Atkins\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \nInternational Master (1950) and nine times British Champion. Born in Leicester on 20th August 1872\, Atkins learned the game at school in Leicester at the age of 12. When he was 15\, he joined Leicester Chess Club and within two years was playing on top board. In 1890 he went up to Peterhouse\, Cambridge\, and played top board for the University. On leaving Cambridge he became a schoolmaster. \nHis first appearance in the British Championship was in 1904\, when he came 2nd. The following year he won the championship and repeated his success every year up to and including 1911. He did not compete between 1912 and 1923\, and on reappearing in the event in 1924\, he regained his title and held it the following year. His final appearance in the British Championship was in 1937\, when at the age of 65 he came =3rd.\nIn the five international events in which he played – Amsterdam 1899\, Hanover 1902\, London 1922 and the Chess Olympiads of 1927 and 1935 – he scored over 60 per cent. \n[pgn]\n[Event “British CF-15 London International”]\n[Site “London”]\n[Date “1922.08.11”]\n[Round “9”]\n[White “Tartakower\, Saviely”]\n[Black “Atkins\, Henry Ernest”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C55”]\n[Annotator “Tartakower/du Mont/Maroczy”]\n[PlyCount “84”]\n[EventDate “1922.07.31”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “15”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “HCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “2”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 20\,83\,12\,-8\,0\,0\,25\,2\,8\,-33\,-33\,-31\,-18\,-30\,-33\,-31\,-29\,-45\,-46\,-39\,-50\,\n-57\,-57\,-58\,-67\,-60\,-57\,-81\,-91\,-93\,-36\,-92\,-118\,-200\,-58\,-123\,-147\,-138\,-92\,\n-238\,-233\,-1269\,-1312\,-2155\,-2148\,-1709\,-1307\,-1700\,-1457\,-29992\,-29993\,-29994\,\n-29995\,-29995\,-29996\,-29996\,-29997\,-29997\,-29995\,-29996\,-29995\,-29997\,-29997\,\n-29998\,-29999\,-29999] C55: Two Knights: 4 d3\, 4 d4 exd4 5 e5 and Max Lange\nAttack Sources: Tartakower & du Mont\, 500 Master Games of Chess\, pp. 49-50;\nMaroczy: London\, 1922\, pp. 66-67 The elemental power of Rooks commanding open\nlines is well illustrated In this beautiful game.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4\nNf6 4. Nc3 ({Maroczy: An alternative and perhaps preferable continuation for\nWhite is} 4. d3 {\, bringing about the regular Giuco Piano.}) 4… Nxe4 5. Nxe4\nd5 6. Bd3 dxe4 7. Bxe4 Bd6 8. d4 ({Maroczy:} 8. Bxc6+ {\, doubling the c-pawn\nwould not gave been good for White\, as his opponent’s two bishops would have\nbeen too powerful.}) 8… Nxd4 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. Qxd4 O-O {Marcozy: Black has\nnow the advantage in development\, as White cannot castle at once because of\nBxh2+\, winning the queen.} 11. Be3 ({Not} 11. O-O {on account of} Bxh2+ {\n. But now White puts his trust in his cluster of forces in the centre.}) 11…\nQe7 {Preventing 12.0-0\, as 12….Be5 would be awkward for White.} 12. O-O-O {\nMaroczy: There is generally an element of danager in castling queenside\, as\nthe king is there more exposed to attack than after castling on the kingside.\n12….} Re8 13. Bd5 {As this helps Black’s counter-play (14….c6)} ({the best\ncourse was} 13. Bf3 $144 {with level chances.}) ({A magnificent trap would be}\n13. Rhe1 Qxe4 14. Bh6 Bf4+ 15. Kb1 {\, and wins. But Black coolly replies 13….\nBe6\, obtaining the better game.}) 13… Be5 14. Qa4 $146 c6 {Gradually Black\nobtains the initiative.} 15. Bf3 {Maroczy: Both Black’s bishops are now\nbearing on the white king’s entrenchment\, whereas White’s bishops are\nthreatening nothing. 15….} Be6 16. Kb1 a5 {A strong move\, threatening 17.Qb4.\nMaroczy: The storming of the enemy’s position commences with the move.} 17. Bd4\nBd6 18. Bb6 Bb4 19. c3 Ra6 20. Be3 Bf5+ 21. Ka1 b5 22. Qb3 Bd6 23. a4 {Instead\nof further compromising his position\, he should have resorted to the patient\nmanoeuvre 23.Rd2. 23….} Rb8 {Now Black definitely has the better game.\nMaroczy: All Black’s pieces are now well posted for the attack.} 24. Rd2 Be6\n25. Qd1 Be5 26. Bd4 {[#]} Bf4 27. Be3 Bxe3 28. fxe3 b4 {The decisive advance\,\nforcibly opening up the position.} 29. cxb4 {[#]} Rab6 {Black conducts the\nattack with superb élan. Maroczy: Better than recapturing the pawn at once.} (\n{Both the following lines would have been premature: 29….Rxb4 or} 29… Qxb4\n{(because of} 30. Rd8+ {)}) ({and} 29… axb4 {\, on account of} 30. b3 {\n\, again closing up the critical a-file.}) 30. Rd6 {[#]} ({The following\nvariation loses beautifully:} 30. bxa5 Ra6 31. b4 Rxa5 32. bxa5 Qa3+ {\,\nfollowed by mate.}) 30… Rxb4 {Threatening not only 31….Rxa4+\, but also 31..\n..Bb3\, followed by Rxa4+.} 31. Bxc6 Rxb2 32. Bb5 Ra2+ 33. Kb1 Rxa4 34. Kc2 ({\nThe white King attempts to escape. If} 34. Qxa4 Qxd6 {\, the bishop is lost.})\n34… Ra2+ 35. Kc3 Rc8+ 36. Bc6 {[#]} Rxc6+ {This curious break-through\nsacrifice is a crowning touch to a powerfully conducted game.} 37. Rxc6 Qb4+\n38. Kd3 Qb5+ 39. Kd4 Qxc6 40. Ke5 Qc5+ 41. Kf4 Qf5+ 42. Kg3 Qf2# {Maroczy: A\nvery fine game played by Atkins in his best style.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nHis devotion to teaching and his insistence on treating chess as merely a game was all that prevented him from becoming one of the leading players in the world. \nHe died on 31st January\, 1955. \nH. E. Atkins Doyen of British Chess Champions by R. N. Coles\nIn the above book RN Coles points out that Atkins regularly played f4 or …f5 early in the game and claims this was HEAs pet or signature move. \nHenry Ernest Atkins\n[pgn]\n[Event “British CF-06 Championship”]\n[Site “Scarborough/ North Yorkshire”]\n[Date “1909.08.10”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Atkins\, Henry Ernest”]\n[Black “Blackburne\, Joseph Henry”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C10”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “45”]\n[EventDate “1909.08.09”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2006”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2005.11.24”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2005.11.24”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,45\,19\,31\,41\,46\,51\,35\,47\,38\,49\,37\,58\,39\,42\,51\,42\,22\,80\,71\,74\,44\,80\,50\,\n47\,33\,32\,27\,55\,47\,98\,115\,145\,161\,192\,178\,173\,164\,264\,290\,275\,360\,1073\,1073\,\n29991\,1236\,29991\,29992]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6\n6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Bd3 Bd6 8. O-O c6 9. Qe2 Qc7 10. c4 h6 11. Bd2 b6 12. a4 a5\n13. Bc3 Kf8 14. Ne5 Bxe5 15. dxe5 Ng8 16. Rad1 Bb7 17. Be4 Ne7 18. Rd6 Nc8 19.\nRd2 g6 20. Rfd1 Kg7 21. Rd7 Qb8 22. Qf3 Rf8 23. Qf6+ {Source: The Chess Weekly\,\n1909 (28 Aug) and BCM\, Sept 1909\, p385} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Harry Golombek : \nBritish international master and regarded by many as Britain’s more talented player in the history of the game. Born in Leicester and never very fond of leaving England. Atkins was a schoolmaster and devoted relatively little time to chess\, and yet he became one of the strongest amateurs every known to chess. He was known on the Continent as “the little Steinitz“. \nHis record in British Championship is unique; out of eleven appearances he won the event nine times : 1905\, 1906\, 1907\, 1908\, 1909\, 1910\, 1911\, 1924 and 1925. I t should be added that in 1904 (his first attempt) he finished 1st= and only lost to Napier after a play-off and in 1937 (his last championship) he finished =3rd at the age of 65! \nThe British Chess Championship Trophy\nHis international career comprises only six events. In 1895 Atkins was placed =2nd behind Maróczy in the Hastings Minor Tournament and in 1899 he won the Amsterdam tournament\, leading the field by 4 points. At Hanover 1902 he scored his most notable result : 3rd prize behind Janowski and Pillsbury but ahead of Chigorin and Marshall among others. At London 1922 he finished only 10th of 16 but still claimed Rubinstein and Tartakower among his victims. He represented the B.C.F. in the Olympiads of 1927 and 1935. \nAtkins was retrospectively awarded the title of international master in 1950 on his pre-war record. (Ray Keene). \nAccording to chessgames.com : “He graduated from Cambridge and taught mathematics at Northampton and Wyggeston. In 1909\, he was appointed Principal of Huddersfield College.” \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976)\, Anne Sunnucks : \n“International Master (1950) and nine times British Champion. \nBorn in Leicester on 20th August 1872\, Atkins learned the game at school in Leicester at the age of 12. When he was 15\, he joined Leicester Chess Club and within two years was playing on top board. In 1890 he went up to Peterhouse\, Cambridge\, and played on top board for the University. On leaving Cambridge he became a schoolmaster. \nHis first appearance in the British Championship was in 1904\, when he came 2nd. The following year he won the championship and repeated his success every year up to and including 1911. He did not compete between 1912 and 1923\, and on reappearing in the event in 1924\, he regained his title and held it the following year. His final appearance in the British Championship was in 1937\, when at the age of 65 he came =3rd. \nIn the five international events in which he played – Amsterdam 1899\, Hanover 1902\, London 1922\, and the chess Olympiads of 1927 and 1935 – he scored over 60 per cent. \nHis devotion to teaching and his insistence on treating chess as merely a game was all that prevented him from becoming one of the leading players in the world. \nHe died on 31st January\, 1955. ” \nHere is an article from the Yorkshire Chess History site \nand here is an obituary from the MCCU site \nHere is his Wikipedia article \nand here is an excellent article on chess.com \nRecently renowned journalist and write John Saunders has turned his attention to HEA.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-henry-ernest-atkins/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210202
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210203
DTSTAMP:20210202T123329Z
CREATED:20190824T124759Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210202T123329Z
UID:1167-1612224000-1612310399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Mike Franklin (02-ii-1931)
DESCRIPTION:We send best wishes to Michael Franklin on his 90th birthday. \nGrowing Up\nMichael John Franklin was born on Monday\, February 2nd\, 1931 in Battersea\, London to Albert George (27 ix 1906\, Dover – ? iii 1983\, Wandsworth) and Helen Ann Franklin (née Colson\, 1908-2003) who married in the third quarter of 1928 in Wandsworth.  Albert was a clerk as was his father. \nAt the commencement of the Second World War\, when eight years old\, Michael was evacuated to Frome in Somerset. As a consequence Michael would delight in playing in the Frome Congress whenever possible. He played in the first event in 1990 organised by Leon York  (whose name is the memorial trophy for the Major section).  The story of Michael’s return to Frome made its’ way in to the local newspaper and was reported by Gary Lane as follows : \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CX (110\, 1990)\, Number 7 (July)\, page 296 : \n“A special presentation by the sponsor\, Mrs. Jean Mackereth\, Managing Director of Keyford Frames\, was made to Londoner Michael Franklin\, who was returning for the first time in 51 years to the town to which he was evacuated during the war. His final appearance at Frome was in the 2010 event. \nThe Early Years\nMichaels interest in chess started in 1944 aged 13 when he witnessed games being played on Clapham Common. He was fascinated by the pieces and taught himself to play\, never receiving  any formal coaching. He joined the Clapham Common Chess Club in 1944. (CCCC became incorporated into Battersea Chess Club some time later). \nCHECK MATES: Elderly members of the Clapham Common Open Air Chess and Draughts Club\, circa 1920. The club met regularly during the afternoons to play on Clapham Common in south London. Copyright : Keystone\nApart from summer events such as the above the club had a Winter Section that played matches in the London League. The club won the first division (now known as the Brian Smith Trophy) of the London League in the 1946-47 and 1947-48 seasons. Michael played his final game in the London Chess League for Richmond & Twickenham on April 14th 2010 drawing with John Hodgson\, brother of Julian giving a sixty year span. \nIn his formative years he played at the Gambit Chess Café\, Budge Row\,  Cannon Street\, London\, EC4N. Many strong players regularly visited the Gambit to play skittles\, blitz and the frequently held lightning tournaments hosted by the proprietor Mr GH White. \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yowdTF5_EwY[/embedyt] \nEvents such as these enabled Michael to develop his quick sight of the board and his flair for tactical play. \nLeonard Barden added : \n“Michael made his name as a young player first by his successes in the Saturday evening Gambit Guinea speed events at the Gambit Chess Café in Cannon Street which he often won ahead of master level rivals. He remained a strong speed player all his life.” \nIn the early 1950s Michael was persuaded by his friends Aird Thomson (who was Scottish Boys’ Champion in 1932\, and 1933 ( equal-first). In 1951 he was Scottish Champion. In 1954 he moved to London. He married Susan Mary Hamilton in 1961 who went on to become Scottish Ladies’ Champion in 1965.) and oriental carpet expert Robert Pinner to join the Richmond and Twickenham Chess Club  playing for the club in the London League\, Surrey Trophy  and National Club Championship until he retired from competitive play 2010. \nMaking Progress\nMichael’s first appearance in British Chess Magazine was in Volume LXVI (66\, 1946)\, Number 2 (February). Page 52 contained this report of the 1945 London Boy’s Championship in which Michael reached the final A section : \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXVI (66\, 1946)\, Number 2 (February)\, page 52\nMichael’s club (for this event) is recorded as Hammersmith Arts and Crafts School. \nOn leaving school  Michael joined a firm of Patent Agents remaining in their employ as the accounts department for around forty years before retiring in the late 1980s. His retirement was prompted by the firm’s adoption of electronic computers. When he retired he was Chief Cashier. \nOn June 18th 1960 Michael’s happiest day was when he married Jean Fey. They celebrated  their diamond anniversary in 2020. \nTo the present day Michael has maintained an aversion toward modern technology. He did\, however\, concede to the ownership of a mobile telephone. This was for the specific purpose of updating Jean on his days progress in any chess tournaments where he was away from home. \nIn 1946 (aged 15) Michael won the Felce Cup awarded by the Surrey County Chess Association. A result indicating rapid improvement since Michael had only started playing competitively in 1944. \nThe Felce Cup held by the hands of Stephen Moss in 2014\nIn 1951 Michael finished third in the Surrey Championships behind the winner Frank Parr and runner-up David Hooper. In 1961\, 1966\, 1968\, 1969 and 1970 Michael won the Surrey Championship outright and made many appearences in county matches for Surrey from 1950 onwards until 2010. \nUnfortunately Michael’s rapid progress was threatened by two bouts of ill health. In 1948 aged 17 Michael was diagnosed with Tuberculosis which lasted for eighteen months including a twelve month stay in the Royal National Hospital for Diseases of the Chest in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. Aged twenty the TB returned leading to yet another twelve months illness. \nMichael has suffered from ill health all of his life interrupting his chess career at various times. Fortunately the TB has not returned. \nMichael won the National Chess Centre Championship in 1953 and 1955 being runner-up in 1954. The venue was Hill’s Restaurant\, 158 Bishopsgate\, London\, EC2 opposite Liverpool Street Station since the original John Lewis department store venue was bombed in 1940. \nResults from the 1955 event: \n1-2 Franklin\, Fazekas 3.5/5\n3 Fuller 3/5\n4 Barden 2.5/5\n5 Parr 1/5\n6 Green 0.5/5 \nMichael won the play-off 2-0. \nThe British Chess Federation first published a National Grading list in 1953 (using the Richard Clarke system). In the 1954 list MF appeared with a grade of 2A (225-232) and from then on with a grade of either 2A or 2B. In 1964 a numeric system had him at 225 ranking Michael 4th in England behind Penrose 244\, Kottnauer 238 and Clarke 231. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Southend Premier”]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “1962.04.23”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Franklin\, Michael J”]\n[Black “Pritchard\, David B”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A07”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “41”]\n[SourceTitle “Ken Norman”] \n{[%evp 0\,9\,19\,29\,23\,4\,14\,16\,12\,16\,16\,1]} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O\nO-O 5. d3 d5 6. Nbd2 Nc6 (6… c5) 7. e4 e5 8. c3 h6 (8… a5) 9. Qc2 dxe4 (\n9… Be6) 10. dxe4 Be6 11. Rd1 Qe7 {[#]} 12. b4 $1 Nd7 $146 13. a4 $14 f5 $6 (\n13… Rfd8) 14. b5 Nd8 $2 15. Ba3 Nc5 16. Nh4 $18 Kh7 17. exf5 gxf5 {[#]} 18.\nNe4 $3 Bb3 (18… fxe4 19. Bxe4+ Rf5 20. Bxf5+ Bxf5 21. Qxf5+ Kg8 22. Bxc5 Qxc5\n23. Ng6 $18) 19. Qxb3 Nxb3 20. Bxe7 Re8 21. Rab1 {and Black resigned} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nMichael played many times in the annual Battle of Britain Tournament organised by Squadron Leader David Pritchard and his committee. He won it four times : 1959\, 1960\, 1961 and 1962. \nThe Ilford Whitsun Congress\n[pgn]\n[Event “Ilford Premier”]\n[Site “Ilford”]\n[Date “1956.??.??”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Franklin\, Michael J”]\n[Black “Fazekas\, Stefan”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D05”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “71”]\n[EventDate “1956.??.??”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “5”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,71\,19\,29\,23\,13\,18\,9\,19\,19\,73\,74\,51\,27\,109\,65\,65\,54\,52\,42\,71\,53\,33\,47\,\n51\,42\,43\,28\,63\,60\,48\,48\,38\,59\,57\,23\,23\,18\,20\,11\,35\,59\,114\,88\,107\,98\,113\,114\,\n140\,138\,138\,162\,172\,137\,143\,127\,124\,143\,187\,125\,239\,24\,331\,334\,334\,428\,440\,466\,\n29987\,29988\,29989\,957\,977\,977]} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. e3 d5 4. Bd3 Ne4 5. Nbd2\nf5 6. Ne5 Qf6 7. O-O Bd6 $146 8. f4 O-O 9. c4 c6 (9… c5) 10. Qh5 g6 11. Qh3\nc5 12. Ndf3 Nc6 13. b3 a5 14. Bb2 cxd4 15. Nxc6 (15. Bxe4 dxe4 16. Nxc6 bxc6\n17. Bxd4 Qe7 18. Ng5) 15… bxc6 16. Bxd4 Qe7 17. Bxe4 fxe4 18. Ne5 c5 19. Bc3\na4 20. Qh6 (20. Qg3 $1) 20… d4 21. exd4 Bxe5 $2 22. fxe5 Bb7 23. Qe3 $1 axb3\n24. axb3 Rfd8 25. Rxa8 Bxa8 26. Ra1 Bc6 27. Rd1 Qa7 28. Qg5 (28. h3) 28… Rf8\n29. d5 (29. Qe3) 29… exd5 30. cxd5 Bxd5 $2 31. e6 $1 $18 Qa2 32. h3 Qf2+ 33.\nKh1 Qf5 34. Qe7 Rf7 35. Qxf7+ Qxf7 36. exf7+ 1-0\n[/pgn] \nThe Ilford Whitsun Congress was a regular part of Michael’s season throughout the sixties. He won the Premier Reserves in 1961 ahead of Hilton\, Hindle\, Howson\, Sales and Blaine and was runner-up to Kottnauer in 1962.  In 1963 he went one step better by winning the Premier : \nA report of Mike Franklin’s success at the 1963 Ilford Whitsun Congress by Peter Clarke. Source : British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXXIII\, Number 7 (July)\, page 193\nand here is the fifth round game : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Ilford Whitsun Congress”]\n[Site “Ilford”]\n[Date “1963.06.03”]\n[Round “5”]\n[White “Franklin\, Michael John”]\n[Black “Wheatcroft\, Timothy Martin”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B28”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “59”]\n[EventDate “1963.05.31”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “5”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,59\,19\,38\,40\,41\,87\,26\,15\,1\,54\,32\,47\,27\,19\,26\,31\,-3\,-12\,-10\,3\,-10\,-14\,\n-27\,22\,29\,58\,-22\,-2\,-15\,-2\,-11\,1\,19\,9\,-3\,54\,26\,-15\,40\,140\,135\,161\,149\,173\,170\,\n170\,181\,193\,190\,190\,204\,212\,100\,140\,145\,421\,502\,535\,563\,563\,563]} 1. e4 c5 2.\nNf3 a6 3. g3 Nc6 4. d3 e6 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nbd2 Nf6 7. O-O Be7 8. e5 Nd7 9. Re1 Qc7\n10. Qe2 b5 11. Nf1 Nd4 $6 $146 (11… Bb7) 12. Nxd4 cxd4 13. Bf4 (13. Qg4)\n13… Bb7 14. h4 Rc8 15. Rec1 Qb8 16. Nh2 O-O 17. h5 Rc7 18. Qg4 Rfc8 19. Nf3\n$14 Nf8 $6 20. Nxd4 (20. Bh6 g6 21. Nxd4) 20… Bc5 21. c3 (21. Bh6 g6 22. c3)\n21… Qa7 22. Be3 (22. Bh6) 22… b4 23. Rf1 bxc3 24. bxc3 Qa8 25. Rab1 $1 Ba7\n26. f4 (26. Bg5 Rxc3 27. Bf6) 26… Rxc3 27. f5 {[#]} Rxd3 $2 (27… Bxd4 28.\nBxd4 exf5 29. Qxf5 R3c7) 28. f6 $1 $18 g6 29. Qg5 Bxd4 30. Bxd4 {and it is\nmate in 6.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nIn his tournament report PH Clarke wrote : \nThis buoyant\, optimistic attitude of his is a great strength and always makes him a dangerous opponent. \nAway from Home : International Progress\n1964 saw selection by the BCF to play in the Tel Aviv Olympiad : \nThe 1964 England Olympiad (Tel Aviv) Team : Owen Hindle\, Čeněk Kottnauer\, Peter Clarke\, Michael Franklin\, Norman Littlewood & Michael Haygarth\nand scored a creditable 4/6.  This was followed in 1965 with 3/5 in Clare Benedict tournament held in Berlin. \nHe played in the annual Anglo-Dutch match on no less than six occasions in 1962\, 1963\, 1964\, 1965\, 1968 and finally in 1969. His aggregate score was an impressive 8/12. \n?\, Čeněk Kottnauer\, Michael Franklin and Owen Hindle\nOn the national scene Michael repeated his 1963 victory at the 1969 Ilford Premier with a clear first place : Franklin 4; RG Wade and D Wright 3; JB Howson 2.5; BH Wood 2; PH Clarke 0.5. \nIn 1970 Michael won the London Championship which was also known as the Budget Cup which had last been held in 1956 .  He followed this in 1972 by rightly earning the (now defunct) title of British Master. \n[pgn]\n[Event “London Championship”]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “1970.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Franklin\, Michael J”]\n[Black “Harris\, Ronald A”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B06”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “39”]\n[SourceTitle “Ken Norman”] \n{[%evp 0\,18\,29\,23\,73\,69\,78\,53\,84\,74\,72\,72\,65\,60\,82\,47\,66\,45\,96\,138\,165]} 1. d4\ng6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Nc3 Bg4 5. Be2 Nc6 6. Be3 e5 $6 7. dxe5 $16 dxe5 8.\nQxd8+ {[#]} Nxd8 $2 (8… Rxd8) 9. Nb5 $18 Ne6 $146 (9… Bxf3 10. Bxf3 Ne6)\n10. Ng5 $1 Bxe2 11. Nxe6 Bxb5 12. Nxc7+ Kd7 13. Nxb5 a6 14. O-O-O+ Kc6 {[#]}\n15. Rd6+ $1 {It is mate in eight.} Kxb5 16. a4+ (16. c4+ Kb4 17. Kc2 Rd8 18.\na3+ Kxc4 19. b3+ Kb5 20. a4+ Kb4 21. Rb6+ Ka5 22. b4+ Kxa4 23. Ra1#) 16… Ka5\n17. Bd2+ Kxa4 18. Rb6 Rd8 19. Bb4 Rd3 20. b3+ {and Black resigned} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nMichael’s final appearance for England was in 1971 in the Cheltenham based Anglo-German match with a somewhat disappointing 0.5/2 against Juergen Dueball. \nOwen Hindle\, Michael Franklin\, Harry Golombek and Michael Haygarth\nMichael played board two for London in a Telex match versus Belgrade playing Marjanovic.  The game was drawn. \nMichael Franklin playing board two in the London – Belgrade Telex Match on April 3rd\, 1976 from the St. James Hotel\, Buckingham Gate. Sourced from BCM\, Volume XCVI (96)\, Number 5\, page 192. Photographer probably Freddy Reilly.\nThe Ultimate Prize : The Aaronson Masters\nThe Aaronson Masters at Harrow 1978 brought his best individual success at the age of 47\, sharing first place with IM Aldo Haik of France and to boot\, earning  an IM norm. \nJoint winners of the 1978 Aaronson Masters : Michael Franklin and IM Aldo Haik\nMichael scored an undefeated 7.5/10 and finished ahead of Short\, Speelman\, Nunn\, Hartston\, Mestel\, Webb\, Basman\, Botterill and numerous other illustrious players.  Michael remarked of his lifetime best result that it was \njust one of those occasions when everything went right! \nBut he scored 3.5/5 against the IMs\, was alert to every opportunity\, and the games show he owed little to luck. \nLeonard Barden\, Stewart Reuben and Michael Franklin at the 1978 Aaronson Masters\nLike many others Michael made appearences in Lloyds Bank events of 1977\, 1978\, 1984\, 1989\, 1991\, 1993 and 1994. \nMichael Franklin (left) at the 1978 Lloyds Bank Masters playing IGM Leonid Shamkovich\nMichael and friends during the 1978 Lloyds Bank Masters\nThe Hastings Years\nMichael first played at Hastings in 1964 when he was invited to play in the Premier Tournament. The tournament was won by Mikhail Tal and Michael finished in last place. \nUndaunted he returned to Hastings in 1968 to play in the Challengers tournament. One of the attractions of playing in the Challengers was that the winner received a place the following years Premier. Frustratingly Michael finished second three years in a row! In 1968 the Challengers was won by Danny Wright\, in 1969 by Martyn Corden and in 1970 by Peter Markland. Finally\, in 1971 his patience was rewarded and he won the Challengers and qualified to the following years Premier. \nThe 47th Hastings Premier of 1971-72 had been changed from the traditional 10 player all-play-all to a 16 player tournament. Also\, having obtained sponsorship from various organisations the committee were able to invite some of the top names of the day. The sponsors were: \n\nJim Slater\nThe Friends of Chess\nThe British Chess Federation\nBovis Holdings Ltd\nHastings County Borough Council\n\nSo\, the entry included Karpov\, Korchnoi\, Andersson\, Najdorf\, Mecking\, Gligoric\, Unzicker and Robert Byrne to name but a few. This was undoubtedly the strongest Hastings Premier since World War Two and possibly the strongest Hastings Tournament since 1895. \nMichael started well with a draw against the Rumanian GM Ciocaltea followed by a draw in with the Brazilian prodigy Mecking. In round three he surprised everyone by beating Ray Keene. With 2/3 things were looking promising. However\, after this bright start Michael only managed a draw against Unzicker and a draw with Hartston finishing in a disappointing last place with a score of 3/15. \nIn the tournament report Peter Clarke opined \nFranklin suffered the usual fate of the gifted amateur in a professional field of simply not being accustomed to this kind of chess. \nDespite this Michael continued to play in the Hastings Challengers. He played in nineteen out of the next twenty-five years! He came close to winning the tournament in 1982: he was leading the tournament with a score of 7/8 when he was informed that Jean’s Father had passed away. Having drawn his ninth round game and needing only a draw in the last round to ensure at least a tie for first place he withdrew from the tournament and immediately left for home. \nThe Weekend Scene\nLike all players with a full time job Michael had to play most of his chess at the weekend so the explosion of weekends tournaments in the early 1970’s gave him ample opportunities. His habit of playing quickly was ideally suited to the fast time limits of the weekend tournament. During the 1970 and 1980’s he was very successful. He won numerous events and was more often than not in the prize list. \nFM Michael Franklin\, Photo by Cathy Rogers\nIn later years he restricted himself to London based tournaments and those in the West Country. His regular tournaments being Exeter\, Torquay and old favourite\, Frome. Michael at the age of 78 shared first place at Frome 2009. Frome 2010 was his farewell appearance. \nFM Michael Franklin\nMichael played for a number of clubs viz : Richmond & Twickenham\, Coulsdon CF\, Surrey CCA\, 4NCL Richmond\, 4NCL Bristol and Richards Butler to name but a few. \nFinally\, in 1980\,  Michael was awarded the FIDE Master title and achieved his highest rating (in the Elo era) of 2345 in January 1979. It is most likely that his highest ever rating would have been more like 2450. \nFM Michael Franklin vs Paul Helbig\nAppropriately enough Michael was the inaugural winner of the BCF/ECF Senior Prix in 2000 and won it again in 2002 and 2003. The event last ran in 2006. \nWhen Surrey won the counties championship a few years back the team took the trophy around to Michael’s home in Norbury\, such was their regard for his contributions. \nThe London System\nAny currently active club player cannot have missed the explosive rise to prominence of the system for White he developed : \n[fen]rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/3P1B2/2PBPN2/PP1N1PPP/R2Q1RK1 b KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nThe London System and Accelerated London System has acquired a huge cohort of followers in recent times probably not realising the debt they (and many authors\, book and DVD publishers!) owe to Michael. If only he could have earnt a royalty every time it was played! \nAlso Michael had notable success as Black with the O’Kelly Sicilian 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6. \n[fen]rnbqkbnr/1p1ppppp/p7/2p5/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nLife Outside of Chess\nMichael had many interests apart from Chess. He was for many years a member of the Surrey County Cricket Club. After he retired he would arrange to meet fellow Surrey Member Frank Parr at the Oval and after lunch in the Pavilion they would spend the day enjoying the Cricket. Tennis was another sport that Michael followed. Michael was also interested in horseracing. Several players were surprised when visiting one of the racetracks around London to find Michael also attending the race meeting. \nMichael was the typical “natural” player. He never studied the game and his only sources of opening information were the British Chess Magazine and the chess columns in The Times and the Guardian. He never kept the scores of his games. Once the game was finished it was time to move on. One of Michael’s greatest strengths was his optimistic attitude at the chessboard. No matter how bad the position he was confident of ultimate success. \nMichael Franklin receives £220 from Councillor Robert Dickson at the 1980 Nottinghamshire Congress\nCaption for above photograph
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-michael-john-franklin/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,History,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Fra14127.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210203
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210204
DTSTAMP:20210131T113738Z
CREATED:20200410T093145Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210131T113738Z
UID:4321-1612310400-1612396799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Oliver Jackson (03-ii-1946)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Oliver A Jackson (03-ii-1946)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-oliver-a-jackson-03-ii-1946/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/jb4_9317_lv-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210204
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210205
DTSTAMP:20210202T100049Z
CREATED:20191020T125454Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210202T100049Z
UID:1597-1612396800-1612483199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Harriet Hunt (04-ii-1978)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Harriet Hunt (04-ii-1978) \nIM Harriet Vaughan Hunt
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-harriet-hunt-04-ii-1978/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/img_1307_smaller.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210204
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210205
DTSTAMP:20210130T185025Z
CREATED:20200120T133751Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210130T185025Z
UID:2954-1612396800-1612483199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Ameet Ghasi (04-ii-1987)
DESCRIPTION:IM Ameet Kumar Ghasi\nBirthday of IM Ameet Kumar Ghasi (04-ii-1987) \nIM Ameet Kumar Ghasi
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-ameet-kumar-ghasi-04-ii-1987/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210207
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210208
DTSTAMP:20220207T095801Z
CREATED:20200207T144432Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220207T095801Z
UID:3191-1612656000-1612742399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Ravi Haria (07-ii-1999)
DESCRIPTION:BCN sends birthday wishes to GM Ravi Haria. \nRavi Haria was born Sunday\, February 7th\, 1999  in Elstree\, Hertfordshire. “Maria” by Blondie was top of the hit parade. Ravi currently resides in London. \nRavi attended Lonsdale School in Barnet and then The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School  and now reads History at University College\, London. \nECF grading profiles for Ravi Haria\nRavi learnt at the age of 6 and joined Barnet Knights Chess Club in 2005. \nRavi’s first recorded tournament was the 35th Barnet Knights Under-8  rapidplay on September 25th 2005. Also playing of note were Jonathan Pein and Isaac Sanders. \nHis first recorded standard play game  was in the London Junior Under-10 Championships on December 9th 2006. \nBy the time he was eight he had attracted the attention of the England selectors and played in the 2008 Commonwealth Championships in New Delhi coming home with a bronze medal. \nRavi aged 8 photographed by The Borehamwood and Elstree Times in January 2008\nRavi aged 9 photographed by The Borehamwood and Elstree Times in August 2008\nIn 2008 Ravi won the British Under-9 title in Liverpool. He said afterwards: \nIt was quite nice to be leading everyone and I felt proud of myself. I’m not sure how I control my nerves but it feels really good to win. \nHis mother Sona said: \nIt’s a bit overwhelming but we just support him. It means you have to give up a lot of time for him but it’s really nice to see that he’s getting somewhere. \nThis was followed in 2014 by winning the British Under-18 championship in Aberystwyth aged 15 and then the same title in 2017 in Llandudno. \nRavi Haria\, UKCC Southern Gigafinal\, 2013\nIn 2016 Ravi was equal 2nd to Deep Sengupta at the Hastings Masters Open with an impressive 6/9 and a TPR of 2563.  This performance secured his second IM norm. \nThe IM title was conferred at the 88th FIDE Congress 2017\, 7-15 October\, Goynuk\, Antalya\, Turkey. \nHe scored six points after 11 rounds at the 2017 World Junior championship in Italy and 5.5 points at the 2017 WYCC U-18 group in Uruguay. \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGT7kcTRlBA[/embedyt] \nRavi completed his British junior titles run by becoming the current (no OTB event in 2020) British Under-21 champion in 2019 in Torquay scoring an emphatic 6.5/9 securing a share of third place. \nPartial crosstable for the 2019 British Championships in Torquay\nRavi became a FIDE Master in 2015 at the age of 16 and and International Master two years later making him England’s second youngest IM after Matthew Wadsworth. \nOTB Elo rating profile for IM Ravi Haria according to MegaBase 2020\nHis peak FIDE rating was 2497 in October 2021 and currently (February  2022) is 2490. \nIn 2019 Ravi teamed up with IM Adam C. Taylor to join Adam’s Making Grandmasters training venture. \nFM Ravi Haria\, ECF Secondary Schools Rapidplay\, 2016\nOn January 28th 2021 Thinker’s Publishing released The Modernised Anti-Sicilians\, Volume 1\, Rossolimo Variation which is a massive 520 page tome on the following position : \n[fen]r1bqkbnr/pp1ppppp/2n5/1Bp5/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R b KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nwhich was reviewed by FM Richard Webb. \nwhich we hope will be followed by at least Volume 2! \nThe Modernized Anti-Sicilians – Volume 1: Rossolimo Variation\, Ravi Haria\, Thinker’s Publishing\, 2021\nRavi has plus scores against : Matthew Turner\, Simon Williams\, William Claridge Hansen\, Bob Eames\, David Eggleston and Arul Gupta to name but a few. \nGM John Emms plays IM Ravi Haria in the final round of the 2019 British Championships in Torquay\nWith the white pieces Ravi unsurprisingly plays the Moscow and Rossolimo variations against the Sicilian\,  the Ruy Lopez and\, in recent years\, he has adopted the Reti/English complex. \nAs the second player he plays the French Winawer and (refreshingly) the Abrahams-Noteboom Variation of the Semi-Slav. \nFor your entertainment we have these two  brevities : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Hastings Masters op 88th”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “2012.12.29”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Haria\, Ravi”]\n[Black “Pooley\, Mark”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B00”]\n[WhiteElo “2032”]\n[BlackElo “1693”]\n[Annotator “British chess News”]\n[PlyCount “27”]\n[EventDate “2012.12.28”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “10”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 152 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2013.02.25”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2013.02.25”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,27\,19\,31\,80\,69\,63\,60\,69\,29\,74\,57\,56\,50\,101\,40\,96\,40\,69\,57\,52\,59\,196\,\n71\,56\,-23\,86\,56\,886\,933]} 1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Bd3 d6 4. Qe2 g6 $146 5. Bf4\nBg7 6. Nf3 e6 $6 7. O-O Nc6 8. c3 Nce7 9. Nbd2 Nf6 10. e5 Nd7 $2 (10… Nfd5)\n11. Ne4 d5 12. Neg5 c5 $2 {[#]} 13. Nxf7 $1 Qc8 14. Nd6+ 1-0\n[/pgn] \nand \n[pgn]\n[Event “Brighton e2e4 Masters”]\n[Site “Brighton”]\n[Date “2013.02.17”]\n[Round “3”]\n[White “Haria\, Ravi”]\n[Black “Whitehead\, David J”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B51”]\n[WhiteElo “2053”]\n[BlackElo “2055”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “31”]\n[EventDate “2013.02.16”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 153 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2013.04.22”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2013.04.22”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,31\,19\,38\,72\,69\,49\,32\,64\,9\,10\,5\,11\,-27\,-11\,4\,19\,19\,41\,36\,127\,98\,122\,\n107\,184\,182\,172\,176\,183\,210\,213\,238\,503\,509]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4.\nBxc6+ bxc6 5. O-O e5 6. c3 f5 7. exf5 Bxf5 ({Relevant:} 7… Nf6 8. d4 cxd4 9.\ncxd4 e4 10. Ng5 d5 11. f3 h6 12. Ne6 Bxe6 13. fxe6 Bd6 14. fxe4 dxe4 15. Nc3\nO-O 16. Qe2 Bc7 17. Qc4 Kh8 18. Bf4 Ng4 19. Ne2 Bxf4 20. Nxf4 Qg5 21. Qxc6 Ne3\n22. Qxe4 Nxf1 23. Ng6+ Kg8 24. Nxf8 Qe3+ 25. Qxe3 Nxe3 26. Nd7 Re8 27. Re1 Nc2\n28. Re4 Nb4 29. Nc5 Kf8 30. a3 Nd5 31. Nd3 Ke7 32. Nf4 Nf6 33. Re5 Kd6 34. Ra5\ng5 35. Ra6+ Kc7 36. Nd3 Ne4 37. d5 {Rublevsky\,S (2678)-Moranda\,W (2578) Warsaw\n2010 1-0}) 8. d4 e4 $6 9. dxc5 {[#]} d5 $2 $146 ({Predecessor:} 9… exf3 10.\nQxf3 Be6 11. Re1 Kd7 12. cxd6 Qf6 13. Bf4 Qf5 14. Nd2 Nf6 15. Qe2 Re8 16. Qe3\nQa5 17. Nf3 Bxd6 18. Bxd6 Kxd6 19. Nd4 Qd5 20. Qg3+ Kc5 21. Re5 Kb6 22. Rxd5\nBxd5 23. f3 a5 24. Qxg7 Rhf8 25. b4 axb4 26. cxb4 Nh5 27. Qh6 Nf4 28. Rc1 Kb7\n29. b5 cxb5 30. Qd6 Rf7 31. Nxb5 Ree7 32. Nd4 Ka7 33. Rb1 Rb7 34. Nb5+ Ka8 35.\nQd8+ {1-0 (35) Rublevsky\,S (2684)-Sveshnikov\,E (2563) Herceg Novi 1999}) 10.\nNd4 Qd7 11. Be3 Ne7 $6 12. f3 $1 g6 13. Nd2 Bg7 14. fxe4 dxe4 15. Nc4 O-O $2 (\n15… Bxd4 16. Nd6+ Kd8 17. Qxd4 {is crushing}) 16. Nxf5 1-0 \n[/pgn] \nRavi has played for University College London. Hendon and Cavendish in the London and other leagues and in 4NCL he started with Kings Head\, transferring to Cambridge in 2014 and finally moving in 2016 to Wood Green. \nIn this game Ravi punishes IM Malcolm Pein who has a bad day at the office : \n[pgn]\n[Event “BCF-chT 1314 (4NCL)”]\n[Site “England”]\n[Date “2013.11.16”]\n[Round “1.125”]\n[White “Haria\, Ravi”]\n[Black “Pein\, Malcolm”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B09”]\n[WhiteElo “2151”]\n[BlackElo “2371”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “51”]\n[EventDate “2013.11.16”]\n[EventType “team-swiss”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2015”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2014.11.20”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2014.11.20”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Kings Head”]\n[BlackTeam “Wood Green Hilsmark II”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,46\,30\,16\,62\,68\,81\,59\,76\,25\,46\,36\,64\,64\,59\,42\,32\,-12\,7\,-7\,63\,101\,101\,\n101\,101\,81\,85\,112\,77\,57\,47\,-1\,-1\,-9\,11\,27\,27\,27\,2\,7\,5\,19\,99\,96\,173\,173\,173\,173\,\n485]} 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. f4 Bg7 5. Nf3 Nc6 {a favourite line of\nMPs\, Vallejo Pons and Keith Richardson} (5… O-O) 6. d5 (6. Bd3) 6… Nb8 7.\nBc4 (7. Bd3) 7… O-O 8. O-O c6 $11 {[#] You might not expect it but this is\na fairly rare position.} 9. a4 $146 (9. dxc6 Nxc6 10. Kh1) 9… b5 $6 {\nactivating the g7 bishop by a curious route but how weak is the e7 pawn as a\nconsequence?} 10. axb5 cxb5 11. Nxb5 Nxe4 12. Qe2 Nf6 13. Bd2 Nbd7 14. Nxa7 $5\n{probably activating the a8 rook too much!} Bb7 15. Ba5 Qb8 16. Nc6 Bxc6 17.\ndxc6 Rxa5 18. Rxa5 Qb6+ 19. Kh1 Qxa5 20. cxd7 e6 $2 {[#] A strange oversight\nfrom Malcolm} (20… Qc7 {is good enough and Black is fine.}) 21. Bxe6 $1 fxe6\n22. Qxe6+ Kh8 23. Qxd6 $18 Qf5 {and Black resigned.} {Perhaps} 24. d8=Q Ne4 25.\nQ6d7 Rxd8 26. Qxd8+ $18 1-0\n[/pgn] \nRavi Haria\, British Championships\, 2014\, Aberystwyth\nRavi is Mesutgm on chess.com and lichess \n[pgn]\n[Event “Reykjavik op”]\n[Site “Reykjavik”]\n[Date “2018.03.06”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “Haria\, Ravi”]\n[Black “Karlsson\, Mikael Johann”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B31”]\n[WhiteElo “2424”]\n[BlackElo “2150”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “55”]\n[EventDate “2018.03.06”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ISL”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 183 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2018.04.19”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2018.04.19”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,55\,19\,31\,72\,53\,66\,21\,74\,31\,43\,31\,49\,36\,33\,18\,25\,19\,23\,19\,14\,-5\,17\,12\,\n11\,0\,14\,21\,64\,63\,57\,57\,57\,88\,69\,69\,58\,176\,186\,208\,218\,237\,308\,320\,409\,339\,322\,\n280\,318\,283\,297\,287\,294\,329\,469\,562\,848\,696]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4.\nBxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 e5 7. Be3 b6 8. a4 a5 9. Nbd2 f6 10. Nc4 Be6 11. Qc1\n$146 (11. Nfd2) 11… Qc7 12. O-O Rd8 13. Nfd2 Nh6 $6 14. b4 $1 axb4 15. a5 b5\n16. Nb6 $18 Nf7 17. Bxc5 Bf8 18. Nb3 Bxc5 $6 (18… Ng5) 19. Nxc5 Ke7 20. Qe3\nRd4 21. f4 Bc8 $2 22. Nb3 (22. Qf2 $1) 22… Rdd8 23. Qc5+ (23. fxe5 Nxe5 24.\nd4 $18) 23… Qd6 24. fxe5 Nxe5 25. a6 Nd7 26. Nxd7 Rxd7 27. Qf2 Bb7 28. Nc5\n1-0\n[/pgn] \nOver the 19th – 23rd August  2021 Ravi played in the Wood Green Invitational round-robin event at Oddfellows Hall\, Stafford. \nRavi scored 7.5/10 and secured his second Grandmaster Norm and  a TPR of 2680. \nWood Green Invitational Round-Robin event at Oddfellows Hall\, Stafford. August Bank Holiday Weekend\, 2021\nOver the August Bank Holiday weekend of 2021 Ravi played in the Northumbrian Masters  GM Tournament at the splendid Marriott MetroCentre\, Gateshead winning jointly with Conor Murphy scoring 6.5/9 with a TPR of 2600. This gave Ravi his third and final GM norm. \nThe norm was ratified at a recent FIDE Congress. As of February 2022 Ravi stood at 2490 for standard-play.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-ravi-hari-07-ii-1999/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,UKCC,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/bct_4317_lv-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210211
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210212
DTSTAMP:20210206T200941Z
CREATED:20200210T100746Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210206T200941Z
UID:3234-1613001600-1613087999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Simon Ansell (11-ii-1975)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Simon Ansell (11-ii-1975) \nSimon Ansell\nIM Simon Ansell
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-simon-ansell-11-ii-1975/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/JUA3850-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210212
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210213
DTSTAMP:20210208T110617Z
CREATED:20200210T002512Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210208T110617Z
UID:3241-1613088000-1613174399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Glenn Flear (12-ii-1959)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Glenn Flear (12-ii-1959) \nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“Glenn Curtis Flear was born in Leicester\, England. He was awarded the IM title in 1983 and GM title in 1987. While still an IM\, he shocked the chess world by winning the GLC Chess Challenge (1986) ahead of a field that included Short\, Chandler\, Nunn\, Portisch\, Polugaevsky\, Spassky and Larsen. He married Christine Flear during that tournament. He represented England at the Dubai Olympiad in 1986.” \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nGM Glenn Curtis Flear\n[pgn]\n[Event “Hastings op 9495”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1994.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Bronstein\, David Ionovich”]\n[Black “Flear\, Glenn C”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C57”]\n[WhiteElo “2440”]\n[BlackElo “2505”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “126”]\n[EventDate “1994.12.??”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 1998”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1997.11.17”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1997.11.17”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,126\,28\,37\,5\,22\,19\,23\,18\,-17\,-29\,-8\,26\,-7\,55\,51\,51\,46\,58\,-22\,-6\,-28\,-1\,\n-1\,-19\,5\,5\,-29\,-29\,-29\,-19\,-23\,-25\,-15\,-15\,-22\,-18\,-12\,-12\,7\,-15\,-14\,-8\,-9\,18\,\n20\,23\,6\,6\,2\,6\,0\,73\,20\,33\,49\,22\,26\,30\,35\,26\,26\,34\,-14\,-16\,-24\,-24\,-12\,26\,-78\,\n-51\,-44\,53\,93\,93\,69\,108\,126\,141\,111\,143\,94\,94\,94\,66\,110\,26\,68\,68\,0\,0\,0\,0\,-118\,\n-47\,-47\,-30\,-279\,-40\,-57\,-17\,-246\,-246\,-246\,-239\,-271\,-256\,-263\,-288\,-310\,-329\,\n-336\,-357\,-367\,-373\,-492\,-373\,-423\,-449\,-448\,-489\,-526\,-545\,-557\,-503\,-588\,\n-621\,-656\,-940]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 b5 6. Bf1 h6\n7. Nf3 Qxd5 8. Nc3 Qe6 9. Nxb5 Qe7 10. d4 e4 11. Ne5 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Qxe5 13. Be3\nBc5 14. Bd4 Bxd4 15. Qxd4 Qxd4 16. Nxd4 O-O 17. Bc4 Bd7 18. O-O-O Rfe8 19. h3\nRe5 20. Rhe1 Rae8 21. Re3 Kf8 22. Rb3 Rg5 23. Bf1 c5 24. Nb5 Bxb5 25. Rxb5 Rf5\n26. Rb7 Rxf2 27. Bb5 Ra8 28. Bc4 Kg8 29. Rxf7 Kh8 30. g4 Rh2 31. Rc7 Rxh3 32.\nRxc5 Nxg4 33. Be6 Rg3 34. b4 Nf6 35. Bc8 Kg8 36. Rd8+ Kf7 37. Re5 Rxc8 38. Rxc8\nh5 39. Ra5 h4 40. Rxa7+ Ke6 41. Rh8 h3 42. b5 e3 43. Kd1 Nd5 44. c4 Nf4 45. Kc2\ne2 46. Raa8 Rc3+ 47. Kd2 Rd3+ 48. Kc2 Kf5 49. Rae8 Rd8 50. Rhf8+ Kg6 51. Rxd8\ne1=Q 52. Rxf4 h2 53. Rd1 Qxd1+ 54. Kxd1 h1=Q+ 55. Kd2 Qh2+ 56. Ke3 Qxa2 57. Kd4\nQa7+ 58. Kd3 Qa3+ 59. Kd4 Qd6+ 60. Ke3 Qe5+ 61. Re4 Qc3+ 62. Kf4 Kf6 63. Kg4 g5\n0-1 \n[/pgn] \nGM Glenn Curtis Flear
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-glenn-flear-12-ii-1959/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210212
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210213
DTSTAMP:20260817T135454Z
CREATED:20201216T164542Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T135454Z
UID:12500-1613088000-1613174399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Robert Combe (16-viii-1912 12-ii-1952)
DESCRIPTION:Robert Forbes Combe (16 August 1912 – 12 February 1952) \nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Forbes_Combe
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/remembering-robert-combe-16-viii-1912-12-ii-1952/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210215
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210216
DTSTAMP:20260817T135447Z
CREATED:20190822T151519Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T135447Z
UID:973-1613347200-1613433599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of IM Hugh Alexander CMG CBE (15-ii-1974)
DESCRIPTION:We remember Hugh Alexander who passed away on Friday\, 15-ii-1974. The death was registered in the Borough of Cheltenham.  Currently his burial / cremation site is unknown. \nConel Hugh O’Donel Alexander was born on Monday\, April 19th\, 1909 in Cork\, Munster\, Republic of Ireland. \nSignature of CHO’D Alexander from August 1970\nHugh’s parents were Conel William Long Alexander (1879-1920) and Hilda Barbara Alexander (née Bennett) (1881-1964) who married in Hook Church\, Hampshire. His father was a Professor of Civil Engineering from County Donegal and his mother was the daughter of a timber merchant and was from Birmingham. \nHugh’s father moved to Hook in Hampshire. At some point they returned to Cork and then relocated to Birmingham. \nIn the 1911 Irish census aged two Hugh was recorded as being a Presbyterian.  The household consisted of his father\, mother and two servants Maud McAuliffe (19)  from County Cork and Johanna Hanlon (20) from Cork City all living at 20\, Connaught Avenue\, Cork. \nAt the time of the census all members of the household were capable of reading and writing apart from Hugh who was recorded as “cannot read”. \nand Hugh’s father signed the Return as follows : \nSignature of Hugh’s father on 1911 Irish census Return\n20 Connaught Avenue\, Cork\, Ireland\nHugh attended Londonderry College and then went to King Edward’s School\, Birmingham. \nHugh married Enid Constance Rose Crichton Neate (1900-1982) in October 1934 and the marriage was registered in the district of Westminster\, Middlesex. \nAccording to Rodric Braithwaite : \n“Enid\, was an equally striking personality. She was descended from one of the defenders of the Eureka Stockade\, the “birthplace of Australian democracy”. She was educated at the Sorbonne\, a formidable dialectician\, art historian and collector. In her later years she returned to Australia\, where she was endlessly hospitable to passing Russian chessplayers\, and to itinerant musicians\, including my own father.” \nHugh and Enid had a son Michael (19 June 1936 – 1 June 2002) who became the foreign policy secretary to Margaret Thatcher and the UK ambassador to NATO. Here is Michael’s obituary. \nMichael married Traute Krohn. Michael and Traute gave Hugh a grandson\, Conel Alexander who is a Cosmochemist at the Earth and Planets Laboratory\, Carnegie Institution for Science\, Washington. \nConel M. O’D. AlexanderStaff Scientist\nPrior to the second world war Alexander was officially employed by John Spedan Lewis in his Department store in Oxford Street. When he returned from Buenos Aires (“good air”) from the 1939 Olympiad he travelled aboard the RMS Alcantara. Here is the entry in the passenger list for September 19th\, 1939 : \nPartial passenger manifest for the RMS Alcantara for September 19th\, 1939. Alexander is passenger #23.\nand here is Alexander’s entry in detail. Note that his occupation is described as “Drapery Manager” : \nPartial passenger manifest for the RMS Alcantara for September 19th\, 1939. Alexander is passenger #23.\nHugh sailed from Buenos Aires\, Argentina in September 1939 to arrive at Southampton September 19th 1939. The ship was the Alcantara operated by Royal Mail Lines Ltd hence the RMS Alcantara. \nRMS Alcantara off Rio de Janeiro between 1934 and 1939 by Kenneth Shoesmith\nAccording to Wikipedia : “RMS Alcantara was a Royal Mail Lines ocean liner that was built in Belfast in 1926. She served in the Second World War first as an armed merchant cruiser and then a troop ship\, was returned to civilian service in 1948 and scrapped in 1958. \nPorts of the voyage were : Buenos Aires; Montevideo; Santos and Rio de Janeiro and Hugh’s official number was 148151 and he travelled 2nd class. His proposed destination residential address was \n316\, Rodney House\, Dolphin Square\, London\, SW1 \nAccording to Wikipedia : “The proximity of Dolphin Square to the Palace of Westminster and the headquarters of the intelligence agencies MI5 (Thames House) and MI6 (Vauxhall Cross) has attracted many politicians\, peers\, civil servants and intelligence agency personnel as residents.” \nDolphin Square. London\, SW1\nThere was some discussion of Drapery Manager in another place. \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume XCIV (94\, 1974)\, Number 4 (April)\, pp. 117-120 by PS Milner-Barry : \n“A proper assessment of Hugh Alexander\, who died on February 15th 1974 must await a later issue. But I think he might have been pleased to see our last game published\, and I give the score of it below\, with notes based on our usual analysis immediately after the game. Over the past 45 years\, ever since he went to Cambridge\, we played whenever opportunity offered serious games with clocks. \nConel Hugh O’Donel Alexander\nBefore the war they were played mostly at my mother’s house in Cambridge\, and after the war and my own marriage at our house in Blackheath. When he moved to Cheltenham the opportunities became fewer but no year ever passed without two or three such games\, usually at Easter or Christmas. \nAlexander always used to say\, it was certainly true of me\, that this was the kind of chess that he enjoyed most. The games were conducted with the utmost vigour\, though not without a good deal of propaganda on both sides. I suppose he won in the proportion of about two to one\, but the disparity in strength never became one-sided. Nearly all the games opened 1 P-K4\, P-K4; he played the Lopez when I allowed him. (I usually played the Petroff or Philidor)\, and I played a mixture – in the early days the Vienna and latterly mostly the King’s Gambit. On the whole Black did better than White for both of us. \nCHO’D Alexander plays PS Milner-Barry\nThe only concession we made to advancing years was that latterly we contented ourselves with four hour sessions and 36 moves\, instead of 40 in 5 hours. We thought we had done enough for honour by then\, and the games were usually finished in the time. \nHugh stayed with us the weekend before Christmas\, when this game was played. He looked ill\, but he was very cheerful and as good company as ever. He loved a good argument\, and as my family so too\,- the evening meal was its usual lively affair! I am myself a man of peace\, and intellectually lazy; so in deference to my feelings the argument was suspended\, before it became too hot. I am afraid they all thought I was a spoil-sport. It was as happy a visit as any of us could remember and it is difficult to accept there will not be another. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Blackheath Friendly”]\n[Site “Blackheath”]\n[Date “1973.12.23”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Milner Barry\, Philip Stuart”]\n[Black “Alexander\, Conel Hugh O’Donel”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C34”]\n[Annotator “PS Milner-Barry & British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “70”]\n[EventDate “1973.12.23”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM. 1974\, page 118\, gam”] \n{[%evp 0\,9\,19\,38\,25\,3\,-5\,-5\,28\,23\,37\,-14]} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 h6 {\nMB: This rustic move was Alexander’s favourite\, and I never succeeded in\nrefuting it. It is a good way of transposing into a Classical Defence without\ngiving White the option of the Kieseritzky. In 2020 3…h6 is being played\nand has adherents such as Leko and Luke McShane.} 4. d4 g5 5. g3 {MB: This\ngoes back to Spielmann. It is of course double-edged to commit oneself so\nearly. BCN : Both Ivanchuk and Grischuk have played this.} d6 (5… fxg3 6.\nhxg3 {gives White good chances.}) 6. Bc4 ({Alexander expected} 6. gxf4 g4 7.\nNg1 Qh4+ 8. Ke2 {Another time I would try this – like the Steinitz Gambit\, it\nis not so bad as it looks.}) 6… Bh3 $1 $146 (6… g4 7. Nh4 f3 {BCN : has\nbeen tried a few times.}) (6… Nc6 {BCN : In the harsh and unforgiving world\nof engine analyis SF12 shouts loud for this.}) ({MB: An improvement on} 6…\nBg7 7. gxf4 g4 8. Ng1 Qh4+ 9. Kf1 {which in two previous games had turned out\nrather good for White (not that I won either of them).}) 7. Qe2 Bg7 8. c3 g4 9.\nNh4 f3 10. Qc2 Ne7 11. Kf2 $19 {[#] At this point both of us thought that\nWhite stood better\, because of the imprisoned bishop on h3. Alexander\ncriticised this move.} ({Alexander suggested} 11. Be3 {to be followed by Nd2\nand 0-0-0.} {but} O-O {followed by d5 gives Black the better game.}) 11… Bf6\n12. Nf5 Nxf5 13. exf5 d5 14. Bd3 Kf8 $1 15. Bf4 Nc6 16. Nd2 Bg5 $1 17. Bxg5\nQxg5 ({MB : I had expected} 17… hxg5 {and intended to continue with} 18. Nf1\nBg2 19. Ne3 Bxh1 20. Rxh1 {after which\, with Nxg4 and Kxf3\, White has full\ncompensation for the exchange.}) 18. Nf1 {White would much rather preserve his\nknight\,} ({but if} 18. Bf1 Re8 {is horrible}) ({if} 18. Rae1 {Black can launch\nan immediate attack with} h5 {and then …h4}) 18… Re8 19. Qc1 {Forced\, but\nthe writing is now on the wall.} Bxf1 {The depised Bishop has had great\nnuisance value.} 20. Rxf1 Kg7 $1 {He need not hurry. The weak f5 pawn will\nprove fatal.} 21. Re1 Kf6 22. b4 {He must do something!} Qxc1 23. Raxc1 Rxe1\n24. Rxe1 Ne7 25. Re5 Rg8 $1 26. h4 {Again forced.} ({If} 26. Ke3 Rg5 27. Kf4 f2\n28. Ke3 Rh5 {wins easily.}) 26… gxh3 27. Kxf3 Rg5 28. Re2 ({If} 28. g4 h5 {\nis decisive.}) 28… Nxf5 29. Bxf5 Kxf5 (29… Rxf5+ $2 30. Kg4 {would only be\na draw. (SF12 believes Black is winning easily.)}) 30. Rh2 ({Or} 30. g4+ Kg6\n31. Kg3 ({or} 31. Rh2 h5)) 30… Kg6 31. Rxh3 Rh5 {The final coup.\nSuperficially it looks as though White still has chances\, but it is not so.}\n32. Rxh5 Kxh5 33. Kf4 Kg6 34. a4 ({Because if} 34. Ke5 f5 $1 ({much better than\n} 34… c6 35. b5) 35. Kxd5 f4 36. gxf4 Kf5 {and wins easily.}) 34… c6 35.\nKg4 f5+ {and White resigned.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nAs for the game\, it was not one of our most exciting encounters. But it is quite an interesting one\, and shows Hugh playing as\nwell as ever – certainly much too well for me. But then he usually did.” \nFollowing PSMBs contribution\, in the same obituary there was this from Harry Golombek : \nC.H.O’D.  Alexander and the ‘B.C.M.’\nI have written elsewhere about Hugh Alexander both as a person and as a chess-player and I also intend to devote a forthcoming article in ‘The Times‘ on Saturday to an appraisal of his place in British Chess. Here\, however\, I would like to describe briefly his connection with this magazine over the years and to show how\nimportant his help was to the progress of the ‘BCM‘. \nIn the years immediately preceding the Second World War\, Ash Wheatcroft and I had made a determined effort to maintain and increase the role of the ‘BCM‘\, he in a managerial capacity and I as its editor. With the coming of war and the departure of both of us into the army a sort of caretaker regime had to be provided. It worked as well as could have been expected but inevitably there had been a decline both in quality and financially. When peace came\, the quality improved since it was possible to get more and better contributions but the financial aspect became almost alarming. \nThe question arose – was there a need for the magazine and if so how could that need be fulfilled with the fairly limited resources at hand. Some of us thought there was\, but the ways and means were not so clear. Of all those who thought like this Alexander was the most effective in his approach to the problems. I know that from his very youth onwards he had been convinced of the importance of the ‘BCM’ to British chess and\, being a practical idealist\, when the\ncrisis came he set about dealing with it in the most expeditious way. \nIn November 1946 he became a director of the B.C.M. and continued in that position till February 1952\, by which time the magazine had been set on a solid basis from\nwhich it was unlikely to be shaken. It was his idea that Brian Reilly be asked to act as editor and almost his first act as director was to write a letter to him inviting him to become so. Then\, in January 1947\, he himself took over the editorship of the games department\, an arduous task which he fulfilled with great competence and the utmost conscientiousness until May 1949 when the heavy work of the Civil Service department of which he was head compelled him to hand over the Games Section to me. \nBefore\, however\, that he gave up this post he\, again in the most practical way possible\, rendered the ‘BCM‘ another service. He wrote a book giving a selection of the games from the last period of Alekhine’s life and generously donated half the royalties to the ‘BCM‘ in order to bolster up its slender finances. \nAlekhine’s Best Games of Chess : 1938-45\, CHO’D Alexander\, G. Bell and Sons\, 1966 ISBN 4-87187-827-9\nEven after he had to give up official connection with the magazine he retained a strong interest in its welfare. So\, even though this recognition is belated and posthumous\, I thought it was right to afford readers the possibility of joining with me in thanking High Alexander for all that he did in this respect in especial. At any rate\, such matters should be on record for the chess historian. \nFrom The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by E.Klein and W.Winter : \n“CHO’D Alexander was born in Cork in 1909 and learned chess at the age of ten. He was educated at King Edward School\, Birmingham\, where he exhibited early prowess by winning the Birmingham Post Cup. In 1927 he won the British Boy’s Championship. During his student days\, from 1928 to 1932\, he was a convincing champion of Cambridge University. Subsequently he competed in five British Championships\, winning the title in 1938. He also played in several international tournaments\, his outstanding performance amongst these being Hastings in 1938\, where he shared second and third prizes with Keres\, following Reshevsky who won the tournament\, and ahead of Fine and Flohr. In 1939\, in the England-Holland match\, he had the satisfaction of defeating the ex-World Champion\, Dr. Euwe\, in a sensational games\, drawing the return game. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Match/Nation NED-ENG 10-10”]\n[Site “The Hague”]\n[Date “1939.05.28”]\n[Round “1.1”]\n[White “Euwe\, Max”]\n[Black “Alexander\, Conel Hugh O’Donel”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “E33”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “62”]\n[EventDate “1939.05.28”]\n[EventType “team-match”]\n[EventRounds “2”]\n[EventCountry “NED”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2003”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2002.11.25”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2002.11.25”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Netherlands”]\n[BlackTeam “England”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “NED”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,62\,19\,31\,25\,7\,-11\,-12\,27\,-3\,15\,5\,-1\,-41\,24\,-91\,-38\,-49\,-53\,-140\,-151\,\n-136\,-142\,-156\,-178\,-154\,-135\,-118\,-117\,-157\,-86\,-113\,-91\,-142\,-59\,-60\,-74\,\n-224\,-235\,-235\,-227\,-174\,-184\,-184\,-126\,-151\,-145\,-153\,-142\,-146\,-124\,-147\,\n-136\,-131\,-150\,-145\,-165\,-173\,-168\,-175\,-160\,-222\,-252\,-390\,-398]} 1. d4 Nf6 2.\nc4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 $6 (7. Bd2 O-O 8. a3\nBxc3 9. Bxc3 Qe7 10. e4 e5) 7… g5 8. Bg3 g4 9. Nh4 Nxd4 10. Qd3 e5 11. O-O-O\n$146 {[#]} Ne6 $17 12. Nb1 Ba5 13. Qa3 Bb6 14. Bxe5 Ne4 $1 15. Bxh8 Qxh4 16. c5\nQg5+ 17. Nd2 N6xc5 18. h4 gxh3 19. gxh3 Nxf2 20. Rh2 Nxd1 $19 21. Rg2 Qe3 22.\nRg8+ Ke7 23. Kxd1 Qxa3 24. bxa3 Ne6 25. h4 Bf2 26. h5 d5 27. Bh3 b6 28. Bxe6\nKxe6 29. Re8+ Kd7 30. Re5 Bb7 31. Bg7 Bd4 0-1\n[/pgn] \nA brilliant mathematician\, he took a first at Cambridge and chose a scholastic career\, joining a well-known public school (Winchester College). From there\, via a short spell in a business appointment (John Lewis)\, he entered the service of the Foreign Office\, where\, during the war years\, his valuable work earned him the OBE. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Match/Nation radio”]\n[Site “Radio”]\n[Date “1946.06.21”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Alexander\, Conel Hugh O’Donel”]\n[Black “Botvinnik\, Mikhail”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C18”]\n[Annotator “Ftacnik\,Lubomir”]\n[PlyCount “81”]\n[EventDate “1946.06.19”]\n[EventType “team-match”]\n[EventRounds “2”]\n[SourceTitle “MCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “England”]\n[BlackTeam “USSR”] \n{[%evp 0\,81\,34\,15\,46\,31\,28\,20\,32\,44\,21\,23\,30\,18\,26\,23\,44\,50\,51\,37\,77\,35\,68\,77\,\n117\,126\,136\,114\,127\,132\,113\,113\,118\,122\,119\,122\,65\,99\,125\,138\,150\,143\,143\,105\,\n106\,150\,609\,257\,335\,378\,413\,314\,314\,396\,396\,406\,379\,379\,458\,426\,407\,487\,500\,\n536\,516\,498\,504\,392\,379\,383\,435\,472\,447\,447\,447\,439\,482\,439\,461\,517\,572\,344\,\n417\,449]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4\ncxd4 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 Qa5 $6 (9… dxc3 10. Qd3 d4 11. f4 Nbc6 12. Nf3 $14 {\n(Yudovich)}) (9… Nbc6 10. f4 Qa5 11. Rb1 b6 12. Nf3 Ba6 13. Ng5 $1 $16 {Keres\n}) 10. Rb1 (10. Ne2 $1 {Keres} dxc3 11. Ng3 $1 Nd7 12. Nh5 d4 13. f4 $1 $14 {\nTimman-Korchnoi/Leeuwarden/1976}) 10… Qxc3+ (10… Nbc6 $5) 11. Bd2 Qc7 (\n11… Qxa3 $6 12. Nf3 (12. Bb4 {Keene/Levy}) 12… Nbc6 13. Bd3 Rxg2 $2 14. Ke2\n$18 {Moles}) 12. f4 Nbc6 13. Nf3 Bd7 14. Ng5 (14. h4) 14… Rxg5 (14… O-O-O\n15. Nxf7) (14… Rf8 15. h4) (14… Nd8 15. Bb4 $16 {Keene/Levy} Rf8 16. Qg7)\n15. fxg5 O-O-O (15… Qxe5+ 16. Kd1 $16 {Keene/Levy}) 16. Qxf7 {Fine} Qxe5+ 17.\nKd1 {Pachman} Nf5 18. g6 (18. Bd3 $1 Ne3+ 19. Bxe3 Qxe3 (19… dxe3 20. Qf6)\n20. Qf6 $1 e5 21. Re1 Bg4+ 22. Be2 Bxe2+ 23. Rxe2 Qg1+ 24. Re1 $16 {Botvinnik})\n18… Ne3+ (18… Nce7 19. g7 $1) 19. Kc1 Qe4 20. Bd3 Qxg2 21. Re1 Ne5 (21…\nNc4 22. Bxc4 dxc4 23. Qf6 $1 Qxh2 (23… Rg8) 24. Bg5 Qg3 25. Kb2 $1 Qc3+ 26.\nKa2 Qxc2+ 27. Rb2 Qc3 28. g7 Qxe1 29. Qxd8+ $1 Nxd8 30. g8=Q {Fine} Qa5 $1 31.\nRf2 $6 (31. Rh2 Ba4 $10 {Schwarz}) 31… Ba4 $1 {Schwarz}) 22. Qf4 Nf3 23. Re2\n(23. Ba5 $1) 23… Qh3 24. Bxe3 e5 25. Qf7 dxe3 26. g7 Qg4 27. h3 Qg1+ 28. Kb2\nQg3 29. Bg6 Nd4 30. g8=Q Rxg8 31. Qxg8+ Kc7 32. Qh7 Kd6 (32… Nxe2 33. Bf5)\n33. Bd3 e4 34. Qh6+ Kc7 35. Rxe3 Qe5 36. Ka2 Nf5 37. Qg5 Be6 38. Be2 d4+ 39.\nReb3 b5 40. Qd2 d3 41. Bg4 1-0\n[/pgn] \nHe plays imaginative and courageous chess and is never afraid of the wildest complications.” \nIM Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander CMG CBE (19-iv-1909 15-ii-1974). Source : The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match\nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume XCIV (94\, 1974)\, Number 6 (June)\, pp. 202-204 by PS Milner-Barry : \nWith the death of Hugh Alexander at the age of 64\, British chess has lost the outstanding figure of the past forty years. His active playing career over some thirty years included two victories in the British championship and regular appearances in all representative teams from l93l-58\, except when the nature of his Civil Service\nduties prevented him from travelling behind the Iron Curtain. During the whole of the period after the war he was the regular top board for the England team. In the Hastings international congress he twice won the Premier tournament\, on the second occasion tying with Bronstein. His victories in this series included two world champions (Euwe and Botvinnik) and numerous others in the Grandmaster class. He was an outstanding example\, like H.E.Atkins and Dr. Milan Vidmar\, of the amateur who could combine an exacting professional life of great responsibility and distinction with success in competitive international chess at the highest level and with the increasing professionalism of the game and the demands of knowledge and research that it makes upon the masters\, this was much more difficult in Hugh’s time than in an earlier age. \nIt was indeed in the international field that his fame will principally rest. On the British championship scene\, although he always did well before the War\, and won convincingly at Brighton in 1938 in a strong field\, his record did not match his abilities. He never established anything like the superiority over his contemporaries that Atkins in a former age and Penrose in a later achieved. He won the championship again\, in 1956\, but that was a weak year when the Moscow Olympiad took first claim on the leading British players. It was not that he cared less – like all the great players he hated losing\, though he was the most magnanimous of opponents – but that he seemed to require the stimulus of the great occasion\, and of a world famous name on the other side of the board\, to bring out the best in him. \nThe BCF Team at the Amsterdam Olympiad 1954. Left to right : Barden\, Clarke\, Penrose\, Wade\, Golombek (board three) and Alexander\nAlexander was perhaps the only English player of his day whom the Grandmasters would have treated as on a level with themselves. On his day he was liable to beat any of them\, and they were well aware of it. In his younger days he was very much the gay cavalier\, and a brilliant combinative and attacking player with a touch of genius. Latterly he lost some of this elan\, and adapted his style to the responsibilities of the B.C.T. top board. His opponents too\, with a healthy respect for his powers\, were less inclined to give him opportunities. He was as capable of the dead-bat technique as anybody\, and to that extent (to my way of thinking anyway) his games became less interesting\, with quick draws making a higher contribution to his top-board results than in earlier years. But none the less he was the anchor-man of the British team until his retirement after the 1958 Olympiad. \nKick Langeweg plays Hugh Alexander in the Anglo-Dutch Match of October 7th \, 1961. Peter Clarke (right) is playing Johan Teunis Barendregt and Harry Golombek observes\nIt was a great pity he gave up the game over the board at 50. He had years of good chess in him. But I think he felt he had scaled all the peaks he could scale\, and that he was finding top-class competitive chess a burden difficult to reconcile with his Civil Service work and the prospect of a gradual and inevitable decline in his powers did not appeal to him. I made many efforts to tempt him back to the arena\, but to no avail. I do not think he ever seriously regretted his decision\, and in his last years he immensely enjoyed correspondence chess. \nIn 1964\, Alexander became non-playing captain of the B.C.F. team\, and held that role continuously until after the Siegen Olympiad in 1970. \nHugh Alexander\, Čeněk Kottnauer\, Michael Franklin and Owen Hindle\nIt was rather a disappointing period for British chess\, and the results\, while we were rebuilding a young team\, could not – even with Penrose’s outstanding efforts at top board – have been expected to be favourable. But he threw himself wholeheartedly into all the work sponsored by the B.C.F. and the Friends of Chess to find and develop talent in the younger generation\, and before he died the fruits of these labours were beginning to appear. He would have been proud indeed to have witnessed our recent triumph in the Anglo-German match. \nAs a captain he was\, of course\, immensely liked and respected by his team. My impression was that he took his responsibilities almost too seriously\, and agonised too\nmuch over his decisions about whom to play and whom to rest. Nevertheless on balance he thoroughly enjoyed the work\, and certainly\, in spite of his innate modesty\, he\nwas never one to be disturbed by ill-informed or irresponsible criticism\, of which he had his share. \nConel Hugh O’Donel Alexander playing Alberic O’Kelly de Galway in a publicity shot before the start of the Hastings Premier.\, probably Hastings 1953-54\, the year Alexander tied first with Bronstein : thanks to Leonard Barden\nI suppose his most famous tournament result was his equal first with Bronstein at the Hastings Christmas Congress of 1953. Coming at a time when we were gloomily resigned to British players bringing up the rear in international tournaments\, this created a great sensation. \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im75EwDXEzg[/embedyt] \nThe game with Bronstein lasted over 100 moves and Alexander won a most difficult Queen and Pawn ending by impeccable technique. \nHugh Alexander plays David Bronstein during Hastings 1954\n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1953/54-29 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1954.01.06”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Bronstein\, David Ionovich”]\n[Black “Alexander\, Conel Hugh O’Donel”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “A83”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “240”]\n[EventDate “1953.12.30”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,240\,19\,31\,75\,-1\,-16\,-16\,3\,-21\,36\,30\,42\,26\,12\,4\,-19\,-13\,8\,-36\,-28\,-32\,\n-9\,-21\,-21\,-7\,0\,-3\,32\,-22\,0\,-58\,-29\,-41\,-39\,-41\,-41\,-41\,-51\,-55\,-79\,-79\,-71\,\n-65\,-43\,-60\,-26\,-41\,-24\,-24\,-41\,-32\,-60\,-64\,-75\,-70\,-73\,-74\,-74\,-86\,-84\,-114\,\n-141\,-149\,-153\,-159\,-157\,-157\,-102\,-108\,-112\,-108\,-108\,-105\,-104\,-113\,-104\,\n-102\,-102\,-102\,-103\,-103\,-110\,-128\,-134\,-157\,-147\,-155\,-142\,-166\,-159\,-166\,\n-161\,-154\,-154\,-151\,-155\,-155\,-167\,-168\,-168\,-171\,-171\,-171\,-153\,-176\,-169\,\n-169\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-187\,-193\,-189\,-190\,-190\,\n-190\,-190\,-193\,-194\,-194\,-194\,-190\,-194\,-115\,-194\,-194\,-194\,-194\,-194\,-117\,\n-151\,-165\,-181\,-188\,-193\,-193\,-193\,-190\,-190\,-190\,-195\,-195\,-208\,-215\,-214\,\n-214\,-214\,-226\,-229\,-237\,-226\,-226\,-226\,-202\,-208\,-215\,-226\,-226\,-226\,-232\,\n-229\,-237\,-236\,-229\,-236\,-232\,-271\,-206\,-217\,-205\,-205\,-206\,-211\,-211\,-211\,\n-218\,-226\,-234\,-235\,-236\,-216\,-214\,-228\,-241\,-245\,-239\,-288\,-262\,-263\,-281\,\n-417\,-381\,-468\,-513\,-496\,-420\,-420\,-290\,-301\,-301\,-308\,-301\,-421\,-267\,-338\,\n-263\,-335\,-355\,-409\,-478\,-554\,-588\,-764\,-1013\,-1240\,-483\,-624\,-503\,-503\,-503\,\n-545\,-569\,-589\,-642\,-701\,-829\,-931\,-982\,-1012\,-1022\,-1372\,-1012\,-1245\,-1022\,\n-1022\,-1022]} 1. d4 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. f3 exf3 5. Nxf3 g6 6. Bf4 Bg7\n7. Qd2 O-O 8. Bh6 d5 9. Bxg7 Kxg7 10. O-O-O Bf5 11. Bd3 Bxd3 12. Qxd3 Nc6 13.\nRde1 Qd6 14. Kb1 a6 15. Re2 Rae8 16. Rhe1 e6 17. Ne5 Nd7 18. Nf3 Rf5 19. Re3 e5\n20. dxe5 Ndxe5 21. Nxe5 Rfxe5 22. Rxe5 Rxe5 23. Rxe5 Qxe5 24. Qxd5 Qxh2 25.\nQd7+ Kh6 26. a3 Qd6 27. Qc8 Nd8 28. g4 Kg7 29. b3 c6 30. g5 Qe7 31. Qg4 Nf7 32.\nNe4 Qxa3 33. Qe6 Qa5 34. Nd6 Nxd6 35. Qf6+ Kg8 36. Qxd6 Qe1+ 37. Ka2 Qe8 38.\nQc7 b5 39. Kb1 Qe1+ 40. Kb2 Qe6 41. b4 Qe4 42. Qd8+ Kf7 43. Qf6+ Ke8 44. Qd6\nQd5 45. Qf6 Kd7 46. Qg7+ Kd6 47. Qf6+ Kc7 48. Qg7+ Qd7 49. Qe5+ Qd6 50. Qg7+\nKb6 51. Qc3 Qe7 52. Qd4+ Kb7 53. c3 Qf7 54. Qh8 Kb6 55. Qd4+ Kb7 56. Qh8 Qd7\n57. Ka3 Qe7 58. Qf6 Qc7 59. Kb2 a5 60. bxa5 Qxa5 61. Qe6 Qc7 62. Kb3 Qf4 63.\nQd7+ Kb6 64. Qd8+ Kc5 65. Qe7+ Kb6 66. Qd8+ Kc5 67. Qe7+ Kd5 68. Qd7+ Qd6 69.\nQg4 Qc5 70. Qd7+ Ke5 71. Qxh7 Kf5 72. Qd7+ Kxg5 73. Qd2+ Kf6 74. Qd8+ Kf7 75.\nQc7+ Qe7 76. Qf4+ Kg7 77. Qd4+ Qf6 78. Qe4 Kf7 79. Kb2 Qd6 80. Qf3+ Qf6 81. Qe4\ng5 82. Qh7+ Ke6 83. Qe4+ Kd6 84. Qd3+ Kc7 85. Qh7+ Kb6 86. Kc2 Qf4 87. Qe7 Qf2+\n88. Kb3 Qd2 89. Qe8 Qd5+ 90. Kb2 Qd6 91. Qe3+ Qc5 92. Qe8 Qf2+ 93. Kb3 Qf6 94.\nQd7 Kc5 95. Kc2 Qe5 96. Qd8 Qe4+ 97. Kb2 g4 98. Qd7 Kc4 99. Qd1 Qg2+ 100. Ka1\nc5 101. Qc2 Qf1+ 102. Kb2 Kd5 103. Qd2+ Ke4 104. Qg5 Qf5 105. Qh4 Kf3 106. Qh1+\nKe2 107. Qg2+ Ke1 108. c4 b4 109. Qg1+ Ke2 110. Qg2+ Ke3 111. Kb3 Qd3+ 112. Ka4\nQxc4 113. Qg3+ Kd2 114. Qf2+ Kc3 115. Qe3+ Kb2 116. Qe5+ Qc3 117. Qg5 g3 118.\nQg4 g2 119. Qg5 Qc1 120. Qxc5 Qc2+ 0-1\n[/pgn] \nStaged publicity picture of David Bronstein vs Hugh Alexander at Hastings 1953\nHe went on with the Black pieces to massacre Tolush\, the other visiting Russian Grandmaster. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1953/54-29 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1954.01.08”]\n[Round “9”]\n[White “Tolush\, Alexander V”]\n[Black “Alexander\, Conel Hugh O’Donel”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “A80”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “56”]\n[EventDate “1953.12.30”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,55\,19\,31\,75\,45\,45\,33\,27\,13\,23\,-9\,-22\,-3\,10\,9\,8\,-10\,-13\,-53\,-53\,-64\,\n-61\,-105\,-28\,-50\,-87\,-72\,-68\,-68\,-60\,-57\,-57\,-61\,-146\,-86\,-147\,-240\,-198\,-432\,\n-461\,-437\,-448\,-448\,-448\,-459\,-459\,-478\,-469\,-643\,-477\,-509\,-428\,-428\,-389\,\n-484\,-494\,-798]} 1. d4 f5 {Hugh usually preferred the KID or Grunfeld vs 1.d4\nbut he had a soft spot for the Dutch defence and trotted it out on special\noccasions.} 2. e3 {A fairly insipid approach by White.} Nf6 3. Bd3 d6 4. Ne2 {\nA fairly rare continuation.} (4. f4) 4… e5 {first played by Nimzowitsch in\n1925 and very rarely since.} 5. dxe5 dxe5 6. O-O $146 (6. Bb5+) 6… Bc5 {\nlimbering up …f4 at the right moment.} 7. Ng3 {intending Nh5 but is g3 a\ngood square for a knight?} g6 8. Bc4 {[#]} Qe7 $1 {Allowing …Be6 at some\npoint.} 9. Qd3 $6 {Encouraging a knight to come to b4.} (9. a3 {Keeping a\nknight out of b4.}) 9… Nc6 10. a3 e4 $1 $19 {Is this the move that Tolush\nfailed to appreciate the strength of?} 11. Qe2 Ne5 $19 {or is this the move\nthat Tolush failed to appreciate the strength of?} 12. Ba2 h5 $1 13. b4 Bd6 14.\nf4 exf3 15. gxf3 h4 {[#] White is being overwhelmed and without counterplay!}\n16. Nh1 g5 17. Nd2 Qg7 18. Bb2 g4 {Who would not enjoy having Black from this\nposition onwards!} 19. f4 Nf3+ 20. Kg2 h3+ 21. Kf2 Nxd2 22. Qxd2 Ne4+ {Ouch!}\n23. Kg1 Qxb2 (23… Nxd2 24. Bxg7 Rh7 25. Rf2 Ne4 26. Bb2 {was less\nadvantageous.}) 24. Qd5 Qf6 (24… Qxc2 25. Rf2 Qc3) 25. Bb3 c6 26. Qd3 Be6 27.\nBxe6 Qxe6 28. Qd4 {and Whte resigned before Black replied.} {Presumably the\nprospect of finding a move after} O-O-O {was too much to contemplate.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nImmense interest was created by this event. The popular press carried diagrams of the successive phases of the Bronstein saga. It was reported on the radio. By comparison with the furore created by the Spassky/Fischer match\, it was no doubt small beer\, but for those days the publicity was tremendous\, and Alexander became the\nhero of the hour. \nIt was entirely characteristic of him that this adulation did not go to his head. He kept everything in proportion\, and encouraged everybody else to do the same. He said all the right things about Bronstein\, but he did not claim\, as one tends to do on these emotional occasions\, that international sport was a panacea for friendship between the nations. Altogether it seemed to me an impeccable performance both on and off the board. \nChess\, CHO’D Alexander\, Pitman\, 1954\nIt is as a player that Hugh would\, I think\, have best wished to be remembered; and I have left myself little room to say anything about him as a journalist and writer. We are blessed\, as readers of the B.C.M. will know\, with many good and interesting writers on the game. But Hugh had\, I believe\, exceptional talents as a journalist. In his columns in the ‘Sunday Times‘\, and latterly the ‘Financial Times‘\, he set a very high standard. He always had something fresh and original to say\, especially\, I think\, to the intelligent amateur rather than the expert; and he said it in a way that was both disarmingly modest and yet lively and entertaining. The warmth of his personality came out clearly both in his writing and in his public speaking – both were entirely natural and wholly without amour-propre. \nHis articles gave great pleasure to a wide circle\, and many who never met him in the flesh must have felt that they had come to know him as a person. Similarly his book on the Spassky-Fischer match \nFischer v. Spassky : Reykjavik 1972\, CHO’D Alexander\, Penguin\, 1972\n(like the ‘Book of Chess’\, which was written in the last year of his life) is an extremely vivid\, as well as scholarly\, piece of writing. It is almost impossible to believe that it was completed\, within days of the conclusion of the match\, by a man apparently under sentence of death throughout its progress. \nA book of Chess\, CHO’D Alexander\, Harper & Row\, 1973\nNow that it has come\, the loss of Hugh Alexander to British chess and chessplayers\, alike as player\, writer\, administrator and friend\, is immeasurable. \nFrom CHESS\, Volume 39 (1974)\, Nos. 693-94\, March\,  p.162 by BH Wood : \nThe death of Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander deprived English chess of one of its most vivid characters. Born l9th April 1909\, he learnt chess at the age of 8. \nFrom a Londonderry college he went to King Edward’s School\, Birmingham\, where as a schoolboy he won the Birmingham Post cup\, which carries with it the unofficial championship of Staffordshire\, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Going on to Cambridge\, he not only won the University championship four years in succession\, but picked up first-class honours. He won the British championship in 1938. \nIn 1939 I found myself on a boat with him bound for the Chess Olympiad in Buenos\nAires. He was team captain with Sir George Thomas\, P. S. Milner-Barry and H. Golombek\nother distinguished members of the team. \nLeft to right Baruch H Wood\, Philip Stuart Milner-Barry\, Vera Menchik (playing in the women’s world championship held concurrently with the Olympiad which she won with 17 wins and 2 draws)\, Sir George Thomas\, Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander and Harry Golombek. England withdrew after their preliminary group due to the outbreak of war despite qualifying for the top final. Thanks to Leonard Barden\nWar broke out after about six rounds. With typical determination\, Alexander jettisoned chess for patriotism\, caught a boat home\, volunteered for service on disembarking\, and within a few weeks had attained the rank of colonel in British Intelligence. He remained attached to Intelligence and the Foreign Office until his\nretirement a few months ago. As a curious consequence of this commitment\, though he settled in to the team captaincy for the British Chess Federation in the biennial chess Olympiads and participated in many chess events abroad\, he was never allowed to travel anywhere behind the iron Curtain. \nHis fame certainly did\, however. In the radio match\, Britain v USSR in 1946\, the most important event in British chess for a decade before and after\, he found himself pitted against Mikhail Botvinnik\, then at the height of his powers and destined to hold the world championship for 14 years. The first game he lost; the second he won\, in superb style. His great adversary was outplayed. \nHe had some great years at Hastings. A 120 move victory over Bronstein with a queen and pawns endgame stretching over l3 hours through 3 days\, earned headlines in the national press unequalled until the Spassky-Fischer furore of 1972\, won him first place in 1954 and started him with a chess column in the Sunday Times. He was equal with Bronstein\, above O’Kelly\, Matanovic\, Olafsson\, Teschner\, Tolush\, Tartakover\, Wade and Horne. \nHastings illustrated Alexander’s weaknesses as well as his strengths. Twice he won the premier tournament there\, only to finish among the tail-enders the year after. Only once more was he to win the British champ- ionship; in a rather weak field\, entering at the last minute with typical opportunism. \nHe was a brilliant conversationalist and speaker\, a fine bridge player\, a master mathematician\, an expert on codes\, a first-class journalist and writer. Among varied other interests were croquet and philately. He threw himself wholeheartedly into anything he did. His organization\, “The Friends of Chess”\, provided generous financial support for a wide range of chess events. A few days before his death he was full of plans for the future\, including a big History of British Chess. He burnt himself out. The world of chess is a poorer and duller place without him.” \nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander was born in Cork\, Ireland. Awarded the IM title in 1950 at its inception and the IMC title in 1970\, he was British Champion in 1938 and 1956. \nDuring the Second World War\, he worked at Bletchley Park with Harry Golombek and Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry\, deciphering German Enigma codes and later for the Foreign Office. Alexander finished 2nd= at Hastings (1937/38) tied with Paul Keres after Samuel Reshevsky and ahead of Salomon Flohr and Reuben Fine. He held Mikhail Botvinnik to an equal score (+1\, -1) in the 1946 Anglo-Soviet Radio Match\, and won Hastings (1946/47) while finishing equal first at Hastings (1953/54). He represented England on six Olympiad teams. Alexander was also an author of note. He passed away in Cheltenham in 1974.” \n1st August 1933: C H O D Alexander playing Sultan Khan during the British Chess Championships at Hastings in Sussex. (Photo by Douglas Miller/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld : \nInternational Master (1950)\, International Correspondence Chess Master (1970). Born in Cork\, he settled in England as a boy. In spite or because of his intense application at the board his tournament performances were erratic. From about 1937 to the mid 1950s he was regarded as the strongest player in Great Britain\, although he won only two (1938\, 1956) of the 13 British Chess Federation Championships in which he competed; he played for the BCF in six Olympiads from 1933 to 1958. Holding a senior post at the Foreign Office\, he was not permitted to play in countries under Soviet control or influence; but when he did compete abroad he achieved only moderate results. His best tournament achievement was at Hastings 1937-8 when he was second (+4=5) equal with Keres after Reshevsky ahead of Fine and Flohr; but he is better remembered for his tie with Bronstein for first prize at Hastings 1953-4. He won his game against Bronstein in 120 moves after several adjournments\, and the outcome became a kind of serial in the press\, arousing great national interest in the game. Alexander was the author of several books on chess\, notably Alekhine’s Best Games of Chess 1938-1945 (1949) and A Book of Chess (1973). \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \nFor many years the chess correspondent of The Sunday Times\, The Spectator (pseudonym Philidor) and the Evening News. There was probably no “chess name that was better known to the non-chess-playing element of the British public than that of Hugh Alexander. His victory over Russian Grandmaster David Bronstein at Hastings in 1953\, after a struggle which lasted for 120 moves and took 13 hours\, made chess front page news in the British press. \nBorn in Cork on 19th April 1909\, Alexander picked up the game at prep school at the age of 8. In 1926 he won the Boy’s Championship\, later to be recognised as the British Boy’s Championship\, at Hastings. After coming down from Cambridge University\, where he won the university championship four times\, Alexander taught mathematics at Winchester College from 1932 to 1938. He later joined the Foreign Office. \nCaption as per photograph\nOne of the few British players who might have reached World Championship class if he had chosen to devote sufficient time to the game\, Alexander was at his best when he faced a top class opponent. \nDuring his chess career\, he scored victories over two World Champions Botvinnik and Euwe\, and he beat a number of other Grandmasters\, international tournaments were all at Hastings where he came =2nd in 1938 with Keres\, half a point behind Reshevsky and ahead of Fine and Flohr; 1st in 1947 and =1st with Bronstein in 1953. In 1951 tournament he came =5th.His other hobbies included bridge\, croquet and philately\, He was the Author of Alekhine’s Best Games of Chess 1938-1945 (Bell)\, Chess (Pitman) and joint author with T.J. Beach of Learn Chess; A New Way for All (Pergamon Press); \nLearn Chess : A Complete Course\, TJ Beach and CHO’D Alexander\, Everyman Chess\, 1994\nA Book of Chess (Hutchinson) 1973; The Penguin Book of Chess Positions (Penguin) 1973. \nThe Penguin Book of Chess Positions\, CHO’D Alexander\, Penguin\, 1973\nHere is an interesting article on his film appearance. \nHere is his detailed Wikipedia entry \nAccording to C.N. 10817 Hugh lived at various addresses when working at GCHQ : \n\nBrecken Lane\, Cheltenham.\n28 King’s Road\, Cheltenham\, GL52 6BG.\n\n\n28 King’s Road\, Cheltenham\, GL52 6BG\n\nOld Bath Lodge\, Thirlestaine Road\, Cheltenham\, GL53 7AS.\n\n\nAlexander on Chess\, CHO’D Alexander\, Pitman\, 1974\nThe Best Games of C.H.O’D. Alexander\nGolombek and Hartston\, The Best Games of C.H.O’D. Alexander (1976).
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-conel-hugh-odonel-alexander/
CATEGORIES:2023,British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Honours,Player,Remembering,Writer
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210215
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210216
DTSTAMP:20230214T152844Z
CREATED:20200409T180346Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230214T152844Z
UID:4288-1613347200-1613433599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Mark Hebden (15-ii-1958)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Mark Lesland Hebden (15-ii-1958) \nMrs. Joan Agar; Chairman of Leigh Interests\, presents the Leigh trophy (for 1981) to Mark Hebden. Left\, David Anderton\, BCF President; on the right Malcolm Wood\, Leigh’s Chief Executive. BCM\, 1981\, page 104
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-mark-lesland-hebden-15-ii-1958/
CATEGORIES:2023,Birthday,British Championships,Player
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210225
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210226
DTSTAMP:20210305T161528Z
CREATED:20200221T110026Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T161528Z
UID:3368-1614211200-1614297599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM David Goodman (25-ii-1958)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM David Simon Charles Goodman (25-ii-1958) \nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“David Simon Charles Goodman was awarded the IM title in 1983. He was World Under 18 Champion in 1975. He played #10 on the English national team in Moscow.\nHe currently resides in New York City where he is a chess trainer for promising young students.” \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nIM David Goodman\n[pgn]\n[Event “England”]\n[Site “England”]\n[Date “1978.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Goodman\, David SC”]\n[Black “Nunn\, John DM”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A28”]\n[WhiteElo “2320”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “47”]\n[EventDate “1978.??.??”]\n[EventType “game”]\n[EventRounds “1”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2010”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2010.11.25”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2010.11.25”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,47\,19\,-12\,-27\,-33\,-27\,-19\,-14\,-26\,-23\,-26\,-17\,-43\,-6\,-64\,-44\,-47\,-47\,\n-47\,-8\,-33\,-30\,-11\,-28\,-50\,21\,17\,38\,19\,9\,21\,-23\,-12\,-20\,-56\,350\,345\,346\,347\,\n347\,347\,347\,347\,381\,392\,760\,29996\,29997\,29998]} 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6\n4. e3 Bb4 5. Qc2 O-O 6. Nd5 Re8 7. Qf5 {First played in 1977 by Keene versus\nKorchnoi.} d6 8. Nxf6+ gxf6 9. Qh5 d5 10. a3 Bf8 11. d4 Be6 12. Bd3 e4 13. Bc2\nNe7 14. Nd2 f5 15. cxd5 Qxd5 16. f3 Qc6 $11 17. Nxe4 Qxc2 $2 (17… Nd5 18. Nc5\nBxc5 19. dxc5 Qxc5 20. Bd3 $11) 18. Nf6+ $18 Kg7 19. e4 Qxc1+ 20. Rxc1 Kxf6 21.\nQxh7 Ng6 22. e5+ Kg5 23. h4+ Kf4 24. Kf2 1-0\n[/pgn] \n(from l-r) Jonathan Kinlay\, Shaun Taulbut\, Jonathan Speelman\, David Goodman and Jonathan Mestel accepting 1st prize at the 1978 World U26 Student Olympiad in Mexico City\nShaun Taulbut (upper right) and David Goodman (lower right) from the 1978 U26 Olympiad
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-david-simon-charles-goodman-25-ii-1958/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,History,Player
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210301
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210302
DTSTAMP:20210305T164208Z
CREATED:20200221T114653Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T164208Z
UID:3380-1614556800-1614643199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Stuart Conquest (01-iii-1967)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Stuart Conquest (01-iii-1967) \nStuart Conquest (far left) at Paul Buswell’s house\nStuart Conquest
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-stuart-conquest-01-iii-1967/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/JB4_8005-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210305
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210306
DTSTAMP:20210305T164549Z
CREATED:20200319T151631Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T164549Z
UID:3610-1614902400-1614988799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Daniel Fernandez (05-iii-1995)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes Happy Birthday to GM Daniel Fernandez who at 26 is currently England’s youngest Grandmaster. The previous GM title holder was Jonathan Hawkins in 2014 making two in seven years. \nDaniel Howard Fernandez was born in Stockport\, Manchester on Sunday\, March 5th 1995.  “Think Twice” by Celine Dion was top of the UK hit parade. \nDaniel started playing chess at the age of seven (after his father taught him the rules) and at this time attended King’s School\, Harpenden.  His first chess club was Little Heath which became the ECF Small Club of the Year in 2015. They play in the Potter’s Bar area and include IM John Pigott in their membership. \nAt Little Heath Chess Club Daniel was coached by Mark Uniacke (who worked extensively on the early chess engine HIARCS). \nDaniel went up to Queen’s College\, Cambridge to read mathematics and left to become a Data Analyst at Mu Sigma Inc. He can speak several languages (including Serbian!) and works as a translator when opportunities arise. \nHe currently lives in Australia offering coaching and writing chess books (for Thinkers Publishing) and columns for Chessbase. In his spare time (!) Daniel is studying for The Master of Complex Systems degree at The University of Sydney. \nDaniel’s first ECF graded game was rapidplay on July 5th 2003 in the SCCU Junior Under-14 Final. \nHis first standard play game was in August 2003 at the Edinburgh based British Under-8 Championship. \nDaniel Fernandez\nDaniels ECF grading profile demonstrated rapid improvement : \nECF grading profile for Daniel Fernandez\nOn August 13th 2004 in Scarborough Daniel became British Under-9 Champion sharing the title with Daniel Hunt & Saravanan Sathyanandha. \nThe Fernandez family relocated to Singapore in August\, Daniel attending the Anglo-Chinese School in Singapore. He was swiftly recruited into the Singapore Chess Federation’s (SCF) National Junior Squad. Also in that squad were Danielle Ho and Howard Chiu (remember this for later!). \nBarely three weeks after his Scarborough triumph on September 4th 2004 Daniel played his first FIDE rated game in the 5th Asian Under-10 Championship organised by the ASEAN Chess Confederation. His performance in this event was rewarded with a FIDE Master title in 2005. Because he was no longer active in English events the ECF had the unusual scenario of having a ten year old FIDE Master with a published grade of ~120! \nIn typically modest fashion Daniel confesses  that he did not “deserve” the FM title at this time and that it was the consequence of the strong position of the ASEAN and SCF organisations  within world chess. At the same event Wesley So gained his FM title in the Under-12 section. \nFM Daniel Fernandez\nAnother interesting consequence of the relocation was that when Daniel returned to England in 2012 his last published grading went from ~ 120 to ~230! \nOne of the motivations of  returning to England was to obtain the necessary entrance requirement to study mathematics at Cambridge. This he did by studying for A-levels at Manchester Grammar School. \nDaniel with IM Jovan Petronic during the 2010 world juniors in Chotowa\, Poland | Photo: Diana Mihajlova\nConsequently Daniel’s FIDE rating profile also showed a fast pace of development: \nFIDE rating profile for Daniel Fernandez\nSydney 2009 and Sydney 2010 both provided IM norms with the third one coming from Kuala Lumpar 2010 and with these Daniel became an International Master in 2010 the title being confirmed at the 3rd quarter Presidential Board Meeting 2010\, 24-25 July 2010\, Tromso in Norway. \nIM Daniel Fernandez\, 100th British Championships\, Round 5\, Torquay. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nHe won the Budapest Sarkany Tournament in 2014 as follows: \nFull Crosstable from Budapest Sarkany Tournament\, 2014.\nearning his first GM norm in the process. \nIM Daniel Fernandez\, 101st British Championships\, Aberystwyth. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nBCN asked Daniel for three of his favourite games. The first one is this Polish Defence game from 2015 played at the Visma Arena in Vaxjo\, Sweden. First we have the crosstable showing that Daniel earnt his second GM norm from this event. \nFull Crosstable for Vaxjo\, Visma tournament in Sweden\, 2015.\nand here is the game: \n[pgn]\n[Event “Vaxjo Visma GM”]\n[Site “Vaxjo”]\n[Date “2015.06.27”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Smith\, Axel”]\n[Black “Fernandez\, Daniel Howard”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B00”]\n[WhiteElo “2452”]\n[BlackElo “2447”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “86”]\n[EventDate “2015.06.24”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “SWE”]\n[EventCategory “10”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 167 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2015.09.14”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2015.09.14”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,86\,63\,13\,126\,116\,101\,97\,97\,97\,84\,96\,96\,57\,79\,51\,50\,52\,38\,58\,82\,70\,93\,\n31\,-1\,-22\,-19\,-35\,-16\,-50\,29\,-1\,0\,-22\,-36\,-36\,-36\,-92\,-81\,-92\,-84\,-82\,-73\,-104\,\n-95\,-79\,-36\,-33\,-51\,-74\,-42\,-51\,-51\,-91\,-86\,-99\,-91\,-87\,-87\,-82\,-105\,-100\,-127\,\n-111\,-148\,-160\,-139\,-127\,-136\,-254\,-164\,-257\,-259\,-257\,-309\,-663\,-691\,-933\,\n-153\,-747\,-809\,-824\,-875\,-986\,-1014\,-2303\,-2794\,-29999\,-30000]} 1. d4 b5 {\nThe Polish Defence as used by Spassky against Petrosian.} 2. e4 a6 3. Nf3 {\nWhen is it the right time for White to play a4?} Bb7 4. Bd3 e6 5. O-O c5 6. c3\nd6 ({more common is} 6… Nf6 7. Re1 Be7 8. Bg5) 7. Re1 Nd7 8. Nbd2 Qc7 {\nA rare choice but must be reasonable.} (8… Be7 9. Nf1 Ngf6 10. Ng3 O-O 11. h3\nQc7) 9. a4 $18 {[#] and eventually we get the thematic break against …b5 The\nengines are complimentary of White’s position.} c4 10. Bb1 $6 {This would\nappear to be a strange decision.} (10. Bf1 {Maintaining the presssure on\nBlack’s pawns must be superior.}) 10… Be7 11. Nf1 {You’d imagine that b3 at\nsome point would make sense leaving the pressure on c4.} Ngf6 12. Ng3 O-O 13.\nh4 Rfe8 14. h5 {White seems to be struggling to find a decent plan.} e5 15. Nf5\nBf8 16. axb5 axb5 17. Rxa8 Rxa8 18. Nd2 g6 $1 {If Black can expell the knight\non f5 then probably he is better.} 19. hxg6 hxg6 $17 20. Ne3 Bg7 {Strong\npointing e5 further.} 21. d5 Nc5 {[#] Black is gaining the upper hand.} 22.\nNg4 Bc8 23. Nxf6+ Bxf6 24. Qf3 Bg5 25. Nf1 Qe7 26. Ne3 Nb3 27. Bc2 Nxc1 28.\nRxc1 {Black can now really dominate the dark squares.} Ra2 29. b3 Qa7 30. bxc4\nbxc4 31. Qe2 {[#]} Bg4 $1 {Ouch! Perhaps White had missed this shot?} 32. Qe1\nBxe3 33. fxe3 Qa3 $1 {and it is all over bar the shouting…} 34. Kh2 (34. Rb1\nRxc2 35. Rb8+ Kg7 36. Qh4 Qc1+ (36… Bh5 37. Qe7 Qc1+ 38. Kh2 Rxg2+ $1 39.\nKxg2 Qd2+ 40. Kg3 Qe1+ 41. Kh2 Qe2+ 42. Kh3 Qf1+ 43. Kh4) 37. Kh2 Bh5) 34…\nKg7 35. Qf1 Be2 $1 36. Qe1 Qb2 37. Bb1 Ra1 38. Rc2 Qxb1 (38… Qxc2 $1 {\nis more efficient} 39. Bxc2 Rxe1) 39. Qxe2 $2 (39. Qxb1 Rxb1 40. Rxe2 {is a\nbetter defence.}) 39… Qg1+ 40. Kg3 Re1 41. Qf2 Rxe3+ $1 42. Kg4 Qd1+ 43. Kg5\nQh5# 0-1\n[/pgn] \nand during the 2015/15 4NCL season Daniel obtained his final GM norm playing for Wood Green. \nIn March 2015 he made his first of three Varsity match appearences for Cambridge re-uniting with Danielle Ho and Howard Chiu (remember those names from earlier?). \nDaniel won the 10th Jessie Gilbert Memorial in 2017: \nFull Crosstable from the 2017 10th Jessie Gilbert Memorial\nand also in 2017 Daniel was awarded the Grandmaster title at the 88th FIDE Congress 2017\, 7-15 October\, Goynuk\, Antalya\, Turkey. \nOn March 11th Daniel represented Cambridge in the 135th Varsity Match at the RAC Club in Pall Mall.  According to chess24.com ‘IM Daniel Fernandez\, playing board 2 for Cambridge\, was awarded the Brilliancy Prize by GM Ray Keene in consultation with McShane and Speelman\, for his “high-class swindle” after recovering from a bad blunder.’ See here for details. \nGM Daniel Fernandez\, 2019 British Championships\, Torquay. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nIn 2018 Daniel ventured into the world of book writing when Thinker’s Publishing released The Modernized Caro-Kann on September 8th 2018.  This was a repertoire book for Black based around the Smyslov Variation : \n[fen]r1bqkbnr/pp1npppp/2p5/8/3PN3/8/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nand was reviewed in this place favourably and quickly established Daniel as a significant author. \nThe Modernized Caro-Kann\, Daniel Fernandez\, Thinkers Publishing\, 2018\nFrom the rear cover we have: \n“GM Daniel Fernandez (born 1995) has been an active and accomplished player for several years. He represented his native Singapore twice at Olympiads (2010 and 2012) before transferring to the English chess federation. There\, he won the national classical titles at U-18 and U-21 levels and worked to become a Grandmaster while simultaneously studying at Cambridge. The Caro-Kann was instrumental in his quest for that title. Currently\, Daniel is known in the chess scene not only as a solid player\, but also as a mentor figure to younger English players\, as a producer of well-received commentary and analysis\, and as a multilingual chess coach. This is his first book.” \nFrom January 2019 we have this interesting encounter between Gawain Jones and Daniel from the annual 4NCL meeting of Guildford and Wood Green: \n[pgn]\n[Event “BCF-chTa 1819 (4NCL)”]\n[Site “Daventry”]\n[Date “2019.01.13”]\n[Round “4.13”]\n[White “Jones\, Gawain C B”]\n[Black “Fernandez\, Daniel Howard”]\n[Result “1/2-1/2”]\n[ECO “B12”]\n[WhiteElo “2691”]\n[BlackElo “2465”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “124”]\n[EventDate “2018.11.10”]\n[EventType “team-tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 188 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2019.02.26”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2019.02.26”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Guildford”]\n[BlackTeam “Wood Green”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,124\,21\,36\,69\,63\,74\,50\,56\,34\,45\,48\,52\,37\,37\,37\,46\,8\,46\,16\,76\,62\,52\,40\,\n40\,13\,13\,29\,32\,28\,16\,22\,24\,9\,9\,14\,15\,11\,11\,-15\,33\,8\,42\,8\,-4\,-4\,0\,0\,-14\,0\,0\,-63\,\n-75\,-75\,-21\,-61\,-23\,-91\,-96\,-75\,-106\,-110\,-113\,-111\,-111\,-111\,-111\,-111\,-111\,\n-111\,-111\,-111\,-78\,-102\,-123\,-119\,-124\,-122\,-122\,-128\,-128\,-125\,-82\,-62\,-92\,\n-111\,-102\,-130\,-126\,-123\,-137\,-182\,-142\,-164\,-127\,-127\,-127\,-127\,-122\,-202\,\n-196\,-196\,-209\,-204\,-173\,-242\,-218\,-303\,-244\,-244\,-244\,-244\,-242\,-222\,-98\,-98\,\n-89\,-87\,-57\,-52\,-26\,-31\,-9\,-13\,-11\,-8\,-8]} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 h5\n5. Bd3 (5. c4) 5… Bxd3 6. Qxd3 e6 7. Bg5 Qb6 8. Nd2 Ne7 (8… c5) 9. Ngf3 Qa6\n10. c4 Nf5 11. O-O Bb4 12. b3 Nd7 13. Rfd1 O-O 14. a3 $146 (14. Nf1) 14… Bxd2\n15. Rxd2 Nb6 16. c5 Qxd3 17. Rxd3 Nd7 $11 18. b4 {[#]} b6 $1 19. Rc1 $6 (19.\nRb3 f6) 19… Rfc8 {Black now proceeds to outplay his higher rated opponent.} (\n19… bxc5 20. bxc5 Rfb8 $17) 20. Bd2 f6 21. Re1 Kf7 22. g3 bxc5 23. bxc5 Rcb8\n24. Bf4 Rb2 25. Rdd1 Rb3 26. Kg2 a5 27. a4 Ra7 28. Re2 Rab7 29. Ra2 Rc3 30.\nRaa1 Rbb3 31. Nd2 Rb2 32. exf6 gxf6 33. Nf3 Rbb3 34. Nd2 Rb4 35. Nf3 Rcc4 36.\nRab1 Kg6 37. Bd6 Rxb1 38. Rxb1 Nxd4 39. Nxd4 Rxd4 40. Rb6 Ne5 41. Bxe5 fxe5 42.\nRxc6 Kf6 {[#]} 43. Ra6 $2 (43. Rc8 Rxa4 44. Rf8+ Ke7 45. Rh8 e4 $19) 43… Rxa4\n$19 {Black has the upper hand.} 44. f3 d4 45. Ra7 Ra2+ 46. Kf1 Ra3 47. Kf2 e4\n48. fxe4 Ke5 49. g4 hxg4 50. h5 Rf3+ 51. Kg2 Kxe4 {Surely Black is winning?}\n52. c6 Rc3 53. Rc7 d3 ({Better is} 53… Kd5 {but White’s h-pawn is little\nconcerning.}) 54. h6 d2 55. Rd7 Rxc6 $6 (55… Rd3 56. Rxd3 Kxd3 57. c7 d1=Q\n58. c8=Q Qf3+ 59. Kg1) 56. h7 Rc8 $6 {Sadly this lets the win slip.} ({Better\nwas} 56… Rc2 57. Kf1 d1=Q+ 58. Rxd1 Rh2) 57. Rxd2 Rh8 58. Rd7 Kf5 59. Kg3 a4\n60. Rf7+ Ke5 61. Kxg4 a3 62. Ra7 a2 {and the position is drawn.} 1/2-1/2\n[/pgn] \nWith the White pieces Daniel has played  a wide range of first moves but the majority move by far is 1.e4. His choice versus the Najdorf is some eclectic : sometime ago 6. Rg1 was the favourite and now 6.a4 is preferred. \n[fen]rnbqkb1r/1p2pppp/p2p1n2/8/3NP3/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBR1 b KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nAgainst 1…e5 Daniel offers a main line Ruy Lopez. \nWhat does a Caro-Kann expert play against the Caro-Kann? Nowadays the Two Knights Variation is employed! \nAs the second player he plays the Sicilian Najdorf as well as the Caro-Kann plus an equal mixture of the Grünfeld and King’s Indian Defences. \nIn 2019 Daniel was interviewed by Edwin Lam on behalf of ChessBase : fascinating reading! \nIn the same year Daniel joined IM Adam Taylor’s venture Making Grandmasters. \nOur final games is from July 2019 : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Gent Eastman op 42nd”]\n[Site “Gent”]\n[Date “2019.07.22”]\n[Round “6”]\n[White “Fernandez\, Daniel Howard”]\n[Black “Michiels\, Bart”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A03”]\n[WhiteElo “2466”]\n[BlackElo “2563”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “63”]\n[EventDate “2019.07.20”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “BEL”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 191 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2019.09.30”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2019.09.30”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,63\,19\,-30\,-33\,-42\,-34\,-34\,-35\,-26\,-27\,-27\,-5\,-28\,-2\,5\,14\,-30\,-62\,-77\,\n-39\,-90\,-40\,-79\,-59\,-73\,-56\,-52\,-37\,-37\,-38\,-105\,44\,60\,63\,56\,98\,17\,60\,3\,86\,32\,\n61\,68\,65\,66\,96\,95\,118\,109\,136\,153\,132\,211\,211\,202\,269\,280\,383\,424\,450\,477\,542\,\n539\,782\,836]} 1. f4 d5 2. b3 {Larsen would have been proud!} Nf6 3. Bb2 Bf5 4.\nNf3 e6 5. e3 h6 {Black creates a luft on h7 for his light squared bishop.\nOtherwise with a knight on e5 combined with a h-pawn push Black could get into\ntrouble. You might not think it but …h6 scores best for Black and is\nlabelled “Hot” by Megabase 2020.} (5… Be7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Ne5 h6 9.\nd3 {is a more usual way to proceed.}) 6. h3 (6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Ne5 Nbd7\n9. d3 Nxe5 10. Bxe5 Nd7 11. Bb2 Bf6 12. d4 c5) {The first appearence for this\nTN.} 6… a5 $146 7. g4 Bh7 {As facilitated by h6….} {Now pause the video….\n} 8. Bxf6 $5 {I bet you did not predict this capture and nor did I!} Qxf6 9. d4\na4 (9… c5) 10. bxa4 g5 $1 11. fxg5 hxg5 $17 {I’d give Black the nod here but\nonly just.} 12. Bd3 {[#]} Bd6 (12… Nc6 {would take advantage of White’s lack\nof control of b4 and is a bit awkard to meet. Black threatens ….Nb4}) 13. Ke2\n{an ugly requirement with the h-file open. This is needed so as White may\nre-capture on d3 with the queen.} Nd7 (13… Bxd3+ 14. Qxd3 Nc6) 14. Bxh7 Rxh7\n15. c4 dxc4 16. Nbd2 Qg6 17. Nxc4 Ke7 18. Qb1 (18. Qb3) 18… Qxb1 (18… Rxa4\n{seems natural}) 19. Rhxb1 Rxh3 20. Nxg5 Rh2+ 21. Kd3 Ra7 ({Why not} 21… Rxa4\n{I don’t understand.}) 22. Ne4 $1 $18 {[#] white is getting on top.} Nf6 $2 23.\nNxf6 Kxf6 24. a5 $1 {black must be regretting leaving this pawn on and is\ndefinately worse now.} Bf8 25. Rb5 Rf2 26. a4 Bh6 27. Rh1 Kg6 28. Rhb1 b6 29.\nNe5+ Kh7 30. Rh1 f6 31. Nc6 Ra6 32. Rbh5 {and Black resigned.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nDaniel’s most recent publication is The Modernized Modern Defence from Thinker’s Publishing: \nThe Modernized Modern Defence\, Daniel Fernandez\, Thinker’s Publishing\, 2021\nand BCN has been told that Daniel has a book in the pipeline about the Tata Steel 2021 tournament at Wijk aan Zee.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-daniel-fernandez-05-iii-1995/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/JB4_9189.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200305
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200306
DTSTAMP:20210305T153853Z
CREATED:20200625T101854Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T153853Z
UID:6686-1583366400-1583452799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of GM Daniel Yanofsky OC QC (25-iii-1925 05-iii-2000)
DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of GM Daniel Abraham Yanofsky OC QC (25-iii-1925 05-iii-2000)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-gm-daniel-yanofsky-oc-qc-25-iii-1925-05-iii-2000/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,Hastings,History,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/IMG_0940-scaled.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200312
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200313
DTSTAMP:20200823T093911Z
CREATED:20200821T105836Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200823T093911Z
UID:8730-1583971200-1584057599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of Mandy Hepworth (12-iii-1968)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes Mandy Hepworth Happy Birthday (12-iii-1968) \nMandy Allison S. Hepworth was born in Scunthorpe\, (now) Humberside (but at the time Lincolnshire)  on Tuesday\, March 12th 1968 to Neville Ian Hepworth and Alice Hepworth (née Ma). Neville was a Computer Manager and Alice Ma was originally from Singapore. The family  moved to “Mulgoa”\, The Fleet\, Fittleworth\, Pulborough\, RH20 1HS\, West Sussex. \n(Thanks to David Mills who updated us on the Lincolnshire / Humberside issue) \nNeville taught Mandy how to play chess. \nShe attended Westergate Comprehensive and Community School where Peter Barton coached both the boys and the girls teams. \nFrom The Bognor and Arun Chess Club Archive we have : \n“One particular junior\, Mandy Hepworth\, came to notice. In the British championships at Brighton in 1980 she came first equal in the girls under-14 competition. Peter Barton also organised some external competitions and from 1981 for a few years he organised young masters’ tournaments at the Westergate School after receiving sponsorship from the Amey Roadstone Corporation. ” \nFrom The Bognor Regis Observer we have : \nWestergate girls were chess queens in 1980 \nThis group of girls had every reason to smile ‘“ they had just pulled off the school chess world’s equivalent of David v Goliath. \nIt was January 1980 and they all attended Westergate Comprehensive and Community School and had just beaten the mighty Dorothy Skinner High School\, in Brighton\, to qualify for the final of the Sussex Girls under-16 chess championships. Pictured from left: Melaine Wright\, 11\, Mandy Hepworth\, 11\, Lesley Glen\, 11\, Deborah Baxter\, 12\, Gail Curryer\, 11\, and Tracey Redding\, 12.\n“It was January 1980 and they all attended Westergate Comprehensive and Community School and had just beaten the mighty Dorothy Skinner High School\, in Brighton\, to qualify for the final of the Sussex Girls under-16 chess championships. \nThe team’s captain\, Mandy Hepworth\, who was just 11-years-old at the time\, was lauded by the school’s chess teacher as “one of the hottest properties in junior chess”. \nHis name was Peter Barton and\, according to the report published in the Observer on January 25 1980\, he had masterminded something of a chess resurgence at Westergate.” \nSome 50 youngsters at the school were playing chess proficiently and 10 of them were girls. \nEven though junior chess was somewhat dominated by boys at the time\, Mr Barton was confident his girls could deal with any challenge thrown at them by anyone – and he had high hopes for Mandy. \nHe told the paper: ‘For a girl she has remarkable ability and we would hope to enter her for the British junior championships later this year. \nIn the past it has always been a boys’ game but\, if you can catch the girls when they are young and keep their enthusiasm\, there is no reason why they cannot go on to become masters.’ \nDoes anyone know if the girls won the final? Did Mandy make it to the British junior championships?” \nMandy Hepworth\nMandy entered her first major competition when she was 11 and beat her father when she was 14. She became the Under-12 British Girls’ Champion (Ed: this is not correct) and the Under-14 Champion in Brighton\, 1980 (shared with Susan Walker)\, the Under-16 Champion in Brighton\, 1984 \nIn 1985 she played in the Eileen Tranmer Memorial in Brighton. All the players resided in the same guest house. The event was organised by Ray Keene. Mandy was 4th with a TPR of 2296. \nIn 1986 she represented England in the Women’s Olympiad (Dubai) and scored an excellent 75% on the Reserve Board. \nIn 1988 she played at the Oakham Young Masters and had a tough time scoring 2.5/9 \nIn October 1988 she travelled to Adelaide\, Australia to play in the World Under-20 Girls’ Championship. \nFollowing that we have no further information. It would appear (perhaps you can help?) that Mandy gave up competitive chess and did not play again. \n1986 Press Release for Mandy Hepworth. Warning : some details are not entirely accurate.\nWe end with this against an experienced opponent : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Eileen Tranmer Memorial-07”]\n[Site “Brighton”]\n[Date “1985.12.??”]\n[Round “4”]\n[White “Jackson\, Sheila”]\n[Black “Hepworth\, Mandy”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B90”]\n[WhiteElo “2235”]\n[BlackElo “1960”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “86”]\n[EventDate “1985.12.??”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2007”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2006.11.23”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2006.11.23”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,86\,30\,32\,53\,51\,86\,86\,63\,26\,26\,37\,65\,44\,89\,54\,38\,40\,41\,46\,20\,25\,31\,31\,\n32\,38\,34\,23\,25\,23\,23\,26\,35\,19\,30\,32\,56\,62\,166\,150\,152\,154\,154\,132\,223\,227\,217\,\n210\,206\,145\,309\,279\,266\,208\,218\,205\,174\,141\,136\,155\,171\,161\,209\,146\,188\,136\,\n177\,-54\,-40\,-165\,-104\,-87\,-177\,-177\,-172\,-172\,-172\,-195\,-260\,-419\,-331\,-377\,\n-486\,-497\,-499\,-1081\,-1121\,-1180\,-1198]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4\nNf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Qc7 7. a4 e5 8. Nf3 h6 9. a5 Be6 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. exd5 Bf5\n12. c4 Nd7 13. b4 Be7 14. Be2 O-O 15. O-O Bh7 16. Nd2 f5 17. f3 Bf6 18. Rc1 b6\n19. axb6 Nxb6 20. c5 Nd7 21. cxd6 Qb8 22. Rc7 Nb6 23. Rc6 Bd8 24. Bc5 Rf6 25.\nQa1 Bg6 26. Qxe5 a5 27. Bd4 axb4 28. Rb1 Nd7 29. Qf4 Rf8 30. h4 Nf6 31. Bc4 Nh5\n32. Qh2 Be8 33. Ra6 Rxa6 34. Bxa6 f4 35. Ne4 Bb6 36. Bf2 Bxf2+ 37. Nxf2 Qxd6\n38. Bc4 Qc5 39. Bb3 Bg6 40. Rd1 Qc3 41. Ba4 b3 42. Ne4 Bxe4 43. fxe4 Qe3+ 0-1\n[/pgn]
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-mandy-hepworth-12-iii-1968/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,History,Player
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210314
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210315
DTSTAMP:20210305T182656Z
CREATED:20191117T162714Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T182656Z
UID:2084-1615680000-1615766399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IA Stewart Reuben (14-iii-1939)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of Stewart Reuben (14-iii-1939) \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nHis personal catchphrase is “If only I had been consulted eariler” \nJimmy Adams and Stewart Reuben\nRichard W. O’Brien and Stewart Reuben working on a bulletin\nSR attempting to dance\nStewart Reuben interviews Stewart Reuben at the home of Stewart Reuben\nThe Chess Scene\nLeonard Barden\, Stewart Reuben and Michael Franklin at the 1978 Aaronson Masters\nThe Chess Organiser’s Handbook\nLondon 1980: Phillips and Drew Kings Chess Tournament
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-stewart-reuben-14-iii-1939/
CATEGORIES:Arbiter,Birthday,British Championships,Official,Player,Writer
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210316
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210317
DTSTAMP:20210305T184040Z
CREATED:20191212T143635Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T184040Z
UID:2338-1615852800-1615939199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Michael Basman (16-iii-1946)
DESCRIPTION:IM Michael John Basman\nBirthday of IM Michael John Basman (16-iii-1946)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-michael-john-basman-16-iii-1946/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/bbc_4070_lv-scaled.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210318
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210319
DTSTAMP:20210318T094549Z
CREATED:20200123T105643Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210318T094549Z
UID:2996-1616025600-1616111999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Jim Plaskett (18-iii-1960)
DESCRIPTION:Happy Birthday GM Harold James Plaskett born on this day (March 18th) in 1960 \nGM Harold James Plaskett\nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nJim accepts the 1981 Grand Prix shield from ?\nHere are his games \nJim obtained his FM norm in 1980 according to Gino de Felice. \nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“Harold James (Jim) Plaskett was born in Dkeliha\, Cyprus. He was awarded the IM title in 1981 and became a GM in 1985. Plaskett’s tournament results include first place at Plovdiv 1984 and a tie for second at Hastings 1984-85. He was British champion in 1990.” \nJim with David Anderton OBE at the 1983 Benedictine International (Manchester)\nJames Plaskett almost became a millionaire \nTrends in the Sicilian Richter Rauzer\nTrends in the Sicilian Sozin\nTrends in the Gruenfeld without cd5\nThe English Defence\nPlaying to Win\nThe Sicilian Taimanov\nThe Sicilian Grand Prix\nCoincidences\nCan You Be a Tactical Chess Genius?\nThe Scandinavian Defence\nStarting Out: Attacking Play\nCatastrophe In The Opening\nThe Queen’s Bishop Attack Revealed.\nBad Show
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-harold-james-plaskett-18-iii-1960/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,English,Player,Writer
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210322
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210323
DTSTAMP:20210305T190014Z
CREATED:20200318T134950Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T190014Z
UID:3569-1616371200-1616457599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Peter Roberson (22-iii-1989)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Peter Thomas Roberson (22-iii-1989) \nIM Peter Roberson\nPeter is IM Squirlolz on chess.com \nIM Peter Roberson\nPeter’s games from chessgames.com \n[pgn]\n[Event “BCF-chT 1617 (4NCL)”]\n[Site “Reading”]\n[Date “2017.01.14”]\n[Round “3.83”]\n[White “Moreby\, James”]\n[Black “Roberson\, Peter T”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “A21”]\n[WhiteElo “2192”]\n[BlackElo “2388”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “70”]\n[EventDate “2016.11.19”]\n[EventType “team-swiss”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2018”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2017.10.13”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2017.10.13”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “North East England”]\n[BlackTeam “Grantham Sharks”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,70\,19\,-12\,-27\,-51\,-4\,2\,20\,9\,14\,13\,15\,31\,36\,31\,45\,45\,55\,43\,73\,60\,69\,77\,\n74\,30\,30\,0\,34\,12\,36\,0\,36\,27\,23\,-16\,-11\,-50\,-37\,-37\,-36\,-33\,-34\,-69\,-33\,-11\,-7\,\n-4\,5\,5\,9\,-5\,20\,-1\,22\,0\,-73\,-86\,-77\,-91\,-87\,-123\,-116\,-105\,-84\,-87\,-79\,-121\,-90\,\n-304\,-317\,-756\,-799]} 1. c4 e5 2. g3 d6 3. Bg2 f5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. e3 Be7 6. Nge2\nO-O 7. O-O c6 8. d4 Nbd7 9. b3 Qe8 10. Ba3 e4 11. Nf4 Nb6 12. f3 g5 13. Nfe2 d5\n14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. c5 exf3 16. Rxf3 Nbd7 17. Qd3 Ne4 18. Nxe4 dxe4 19. Qc4+ Kg7\n20. Rf2 Nf6 21. Bh3 Be6 22. Qc1 Nd5 23. Nc3 Rf6 24. Nxd5 cxd5 25. Qd2 Raf8 26.\nRaf1 h5 27. b4 h4 28. gxh4 g4 29. Bg2 Rh6 30. Bh1 Qxh4 31. Rg2 Qg5 32. Rf4 Rh3\n33. Qf2 Rfh8 34. Qe2 g3 35. Rxg3 Qxg3+ 0-1\n[/pgn]
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-peter-thomas-roberson-22-iii-1989/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210325
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210326
DTSTAMP:20210321T164305Z
CREATED:20190824T102732Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210321T164305Z
UID:1155-1616630400-1616716799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Sir Stuart Milner-Barry KCVO CB OBE (20-ix-1906 25-iii-1995)
DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Sir Stuart Milner-Barry KCVO CB OBE who passed away on Saturday\, March 25th\, 1995 in Lewisham Hospital\, London aged 88. He was laid to rest in the Great Shelford Cemetery\, Cambridge Road\, Great Shelford\, Cambridge CB22 5JJ. \nA memorial service was held for him at Westminster Abbey on 15 June 1995. \nGreat Shelford Cemetery Gravestone of Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry KCVO CB OBE by Geoffrey Gillon\nSignature of PS Milner-Barry from a Brian Reilly “after dinner” postcard from Margate 1936.\nPhilip Stuart Milner-Barry was born on Thursday\, September 20th 1906 in Mill Hill in the London Borough of Barnet. Mill Hill falls under the Hendon Parliamentary constituency. \nParents\nHis parents were Lieutenant-Commander Edward Leopold (1867-1917) and Edith Mary Milner-Barry (born 17th May 1866\, died 1949\, née Besant). Edward was in the  Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve\, H.M.S. “Wallington.” Prior to his war service his father was a professor of modern languages at the University of Bangor and Edith was the daughter of Dr. William Henry Besant\, a renowned mathematical fellow of St John’s College\, Cambridge University. \nStuart was the second born of six children\, There was  an older sister Alda Mary (18th August 1893-1938) and four brothers Edward William Besant (?-1911) \, Walter Leopold (1904-1982)\, John O’Brien (4 December 1898 – 28 February 1954) and Patrick James . Many of the Milner-Barry family were laid to rest in the Great Shelford churchyard. \nStuart learned chess at the age of eight and his autobiographical article below goes into more depth. \nHe was educated at Cheltenham College\, and won a scholarship to Trinity College\, Cambridge\, where he obtained firsts in classics and moral sciences. \nOn leaving Cambridge in 1927 he went to work at the London Stock Exchange (LSE). \nAccording to the 1928 and 1929 electoral rolls he was living with his mother Edith  and his brothers Walter and John O’Brien at 50 De Freville Avenue\, Cambridge CB4 1HT: \n50 De Freville Avenue\, Cambridge CB4 1HT\nIn 1931 the family had relocated to 11\, Park Terrace\, Cambridge which is nearby to Emmanuel College. Now living  with the family was brother Patrick James. \n11\, Park Terrace\, Cambridge\, CB1 1JJ\nPeriod map of the area of 11\, Park Terrace\, Cambridge\, CB1 1JJ\nHe discovered that he did not enjoy his LSE work and switched careers to became chess correspondent of The Times in 1938. \nAt the time (September 29th) of the 1939 register he (aged 33) was living as a journalist in a household of three with his mother Edith who carried out “unpaid domestic duties” and sister Alda who was of “private means”. \nHonours\nIn 1946 Stuart was awarded the OBE from the Civil Division in the  New Years Honours . The citation reads that was “employed in a Department of the Foreign Office”. A modern translation of this was he was engaged in Top Secret work at Bletchley Park alongside Alan Turing\, Gordon Welchman and Hugh Alexander and was thus honoured for his war work. More on this later… \nAfter the war he worked in the Treasury\, and later in 1966 administered the British honours system where he helped to facilitate the award of honours to other chess players ultimately retiring in 1977. \nAs well as the OBE he was made Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1962 and Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCV0) in 1975. \nA conference room was named after him at the Civil Service Club\, 13 – 15 Great Scotland Yard\, London SW1A 2HJ. \nPeter Hennessy* and The Rewarding Career of Sir Stuart Milner-Barry\n*Peter Hennessy is a renowned historian and journalist. The following was originally published in The Times in 1977 following  PSMBs retirement. \n“Few careers can have been as varied and rewarding as that of Sir Stuart Milner-Barry\, who retires today as Ceremonial Officer to the Civil Service Department and custodian of the British honours system. \nInto the 48 years since he left Cambridge with a degrees in classics and moral sciences\, he has crammed spells as a stockbroker\, chess correspondent of  The Times and member of the British chess team\, a wartime codebreaker for MI6 and a senior Treasury official before taking over administration of the nations “gongs and bongs ” nearly 11 years ago. \nThe richness of Sir Stuart’s progression is all the more striking given the difficulty he experienced in finding a job at all after university because of the Wall Street crash in 1929. His first 10 years spanned the slump of the 1930s\, when there was little for a stockbroker to do\, but fill his days reading The Times. \nIn 1938 he joined the paper full time as chess correspondent and\, along with many of the world’s leading players\, he was nearly trapped in Buenos Aires when war broke out the next year (ed. should be month rather than year). Catching the first ship home\, he finished up with that brilliant collection of dons\, antique dealers\, mathematicians and chess players billeted in Nissen huts in the park of Buckinghamshire country house\, who broke the code transmitted by the German Enigma machine. \nThe original Hut 6 building (photographed in 2004). Milner-Barry joined Hut 6 in early 1940\, and worked in the section throughout World War II. He became head of Hut 6 in Autumn 1943.\nSir Stuart eventually rose to lead hut six\, which broke the most secret messages of the Luftwaffe. Quartered in a comfortable Bletchley public house with another formidable chess player\, C. H. O’D. Alexander\, and Gordon Welchman\, the Cambridge mathematician\, he acquired a taste  for rum\, the only alcohol in plentiful supply for some reason\, and a sense of guilt about enjoying\, his stimulating\, important job\, safe while other men faced the bullets. \nHe was not tempted to stay on in the arcane world of code-breaking after the war\, unlike his friend\, the late Hugh Alexander\, as he regards such activities in peacetime as akin to reading somebody’s private correspondence\, though he recognizes the necessity of such efforts for intelligence work. Instead\, he took the reconstruction competition for the administrative class of the Civil Service and entered the Treasury. \nWhile battling with the post-war dollar shortage in Treasury Chambers he “found a wife\, carried her off and lived happily ever after”\, as he cheerfully puts it. Apart from a spell as establishment officer to the Ministry of Health\, he stayed at the Treasury until he reached the normal retiring age of 60 in 1966. \nLord Helsby\, then Head of the Home Civil Service\, asked him to stay on and take over the smooth machine that underpins the honours system\, which had been built up over many years by Sir Robert Knox. Sir Stuart has loved every minute of it. \nHe looks every inch the part\, a tall stately man of immense natural dignity\, he is the incarnation of propriety. The stresses to which the honours system has been subjected to in recent years must have caused him great distress but he is far too proper a civil servant to talk about it. His retirement at 70 has nothing to do with the alarums and excursions stimulated by the honours lists associated with Harold Wilson. \n“One of my principal jobs has been the protection of the system”\, he says. “The pleasures are very great. It’s fascinating in itself. You see so much of the history of people in every walk of like”. \nSir Stuart waxes eloquent about the beauty and uniqueness of the British honours system. He is a confirmed monarchist\, so the spontaneity of the jubilee celebrations  provides the perfect backcloth for his departure. He is succeeded by Mr. Richard Sharp\, an under-secretary at the Treasury.” \nBelow is the original article: \nSir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry OBE\nMarriage to Thelma\nIn the third quarter of 1947 Stuart married Thelma Tennant Wells in Westminster. A consequence of the “rules of the day” of the marriage was that Thelma had to resign her post in the Treasury immediately.  (Ed: this somewhat antiquated view of life was finally corrected in 1972 when the Civil Service dispensed with this rule). \nLady Thelma was to support Stuart in his chess activities for their married life. She also served as the first UK Director of Women’s Chess and made many lasting friendships in the chess world. She was buried together with Stuart in 2007. Stuart himself was President of the British Chess Federation between 1970 and 1973 as well as being Director of International Chess following his presidency. \nStuart and Thelma had three children\, one son and two daughters: Philip O. (born 1953)\, Jane E (born 1950) and Alda M (born 1958). \nDave Rumens is pleased to accept a cheque for £200 from Lady Thelma Milner-Barry for winning the 1978 Nottingham Congress with 5.5/6. Photograph provided by Nottinghamshire County Council.\nStuart was knighted on January 1st 1975 for his role as the “Ceremonial Officer of  Civil Service Department” between 1966-77. Technically the knighthood is known as a KCVO. \nMilner-Barry was Southern Counties (SCCU) champion for the 1960-61 season. \nHe first competed in the British Championship in 1931 and made regular appearences as late as 1978: a span of 47 years! \nIn their retirement  years Stuart and Thelma lived at the salubrious location of 43 Blackheath Park\, Blackheath\, London SE3 9RW. \nAutobiography\nIn June of 1933 at the age of 27 Stuart wrote an autobiographical piece for British Chess Magazine to be found in Volume LIII (53\, 1933)\, Number 6 (June)\, pp. 241-2 as follows: \nStuart Milner-Barry in 1933 taken from BCM\, 1933\, June\nP.S. Milner-Barry\nChampion of the City of London Chess Club\nI learned chess at the age of eight and played regularly after that with members of my family. My first-class practise (with due respect to my family) began at fourteen\, when Mr. Bertram Goulding Brown and  started a series of serious friendly games which has continued ever since\, almost without interruption. The vast majority of these games were begun with 1 P-K4\, P-K4\, and as we both eschewed the Lopez and the Four Knights\, we have acquired  a fairly extensive knowledge of the older forms of the King’s side openings – King’s Gambit (all sorts)\, Vienna\, Guioco Piano\, Evans’s Gambit\, Danish Gambit\, Bishop’s Opening\, etc. These games have undoubtedly born the most important influence in my development\, apart from which the serious friendly game is to me much the most enjoyable form of chess. We each have runs of success\, and there has never been much to choose between us. \n(An aside : Stuart wrote a extensive obituary of Bertram Goulding Brown which appeared in British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXXV (85\, 1965)\, Number 12(December) pp.344-45 in which he noted: \nB. Goulding Brown was my oldest and closest Cambridge friend\, I started playing with him in 1920\, and we have played ever since\, though\, alas\, not nearly so often since the War as in the 1920s and 1930. Our last games\, when he was eighty three\, were played about a year ago in the same book-congested upstairs study at Brookside as all the others had been. Both were cut-and-thrust draws: a Kieseritzky Gambit from myself and Two Knights’ (with 4.P-Q4 for White) were typical of the openings we adopted. We were planning another this Autumn\, but he died suddenly and peacefully at the end of August\, ) \nI have also been very fortunate in playing a good deal with C.H.O’D. Alexander. Our games have taken the form of a series of short matches (first player to win three games) played with clocks. Alexander was already stronger than me when he came up to Cambridge\, and he won the University Championship from me in his first year and my fourth. \nCHO’D Alexander plays his old friend PS Milner-Barry\nAll three matches have been won by him\, the first easily and the last two by the narrowest possible margin; a fourth now in progress looks like coming to an early  and ignominious conclusion (Score 0-2-2). These results have neither surprised nor disappointed me : I would not back any player in England to do better. \n(ed. For more detail on PSMBs matches with Hugh we refer to you our article on Hugh). \nIn 1923 I won the first Boy’s Championship at Hastings\, but lost badly the following year (ed. Alexander won). \nBoy Chess Champion PS Milner-Barry (Cheltenham College)\, first boy chess champion of England\, receiving the cup from Mrs. AG Ginner\, the donor \, at the Hastings Chess Club\nSince then I have competed twice at Hastings\, once tieing with Miss Menchik in the Major Reserve for the first place and once for the last\, in the Major. In between I played in the Major Open at Tenby\, and came out fifth\, with my first important win against Znosko-Borovsky. \n[pgn]\n[Event “British CF-21 Major Open”]\n[Site “Tenby (Wales)”]\n[Date “1928.07.09”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Milner-Barry\, Philip Stuart”]\n[Black “Znosko Borovsky\, Eugene”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B13”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “51”]\n[EventDate “1928.07.02”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “GBR”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2019”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2018.10.10”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2018.10.10”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,51\,20\,24\,64\,70\,60\,53\,44\,23\,19\,15\,31\,25\,37\,15\,47\,15\,61\,38\,71\,56\,52\,46\,\n44\,37\,36\,28\,34\,18\,47\,16\,27\,12\,8\,10\,12\,10\,6\,-6\,0\,-20\,29\,-2\,71\,89\,168\,300\,312\,\n312\,944\,1219\,1218\,1245]} {This game does NOT feature in The Art of Chess\nCombination by EZB but perhaps it should have done.} 1. e4 {[%mdl 128]} c6 2.\nd4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 (5… Qc7 {was a favourite of\nTartakower.}) 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Nf3 e6 8. Qb3 Qc8 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. h3 ({\nIn 2021 the following is de rigour:} 11. Rfe1 Bh5 12. Ne5 Nxe5 13. Bxe5 Bg6 14.\nBxg6 hxg6 15. a4 Qc6) 11… Bh5 12. Rae1 (12. Rfe1 Bg6 13. Bxg6 hxg6 14. Ne5\nNxe5 15. Bxe5 Qc6 16. a4 Rfc8) 12… Bg6 13. Bxg6 hxg6 14. Ne5 Nd7 15. Ndf3\nNcxe5 $146 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. Bxe5 Qc6 $11 {[#] and now a typical plan for\nblack against the c3 pawn would be to launch a minority attack.} 18. Re3 $1 {\nMB wishes to recapture on c3 with the lifted rook.} b5 {as predicted…} 19.\nQd1 $1 b4 20. h4 $5 bxc3 ({ZB probably should capture but It is not inviting\nto allow white potential access to h7 and h8.} 20… Bxh4 21. Qg4 Bd8 22. Rh3\nbxc3 23. bxc3 Rc8) 21. Rxc3 $14 Qa6 $2 {(Corrected from Qb6 in a note in BCM\,\nNov 1928\, p434)} ({Better is} 21… Qb6 22. Rb3 Qc6 23. h5 $14) 22. h5 g5 $2 {\nAs Sergeant Wilson might say: Is that wise?} 23. h6 $1 $18 {Of course. Did ZB\nreally miss this move?} f6 {giving the king a flight square.} 24. Qh5 Bd8 25.\nQg6 $1 {Crushing…} Qb7 {[#] and now pause the video.} 26. Rc7 $3 {Sources:\nYorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer\, 11 July 1928; Western Daily Press\, 12\nJuly 1928; Glasgow Herald\, 21 July 1928; Cheltenham Chronicle\, 28 July 1928;\nBCM\, Sept 1928\, p349; Cheltenham Chronicle\, 6 October 1928} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nMeanwhile I played four years against Oxford\, with somewhat chequered results. The first year I won against G. Abrahams\, the second and third years\, I played K.H. Bancroft and scored a (very fortunate) draw and a win\, while finally I permitted Abrahams to fork my King and Queen with a Knight\, a performance unhappily repeated by R.L. Mitchell in the following year (his Queen was pinned by a Bishop). Since then the spell has been broken. In 1931 I played in the British Championships at Worcester\, and was quite satisfied with my form\, though my score of 5 out of 11 was nothing to write home about. In February 1932\, I have the great good fortune to fill a vacant place in the Sunday Referee* London International Tournament\, an extremely exhausting but very valuable experience which I greatly appreciated. \n*The Sunday Referee was a newspaper of the time which was adsorbed into The Sunday Chronicle in 1939. \nFull Crosstable for the 1932 Sunday Referee or London International Masters Tournament\nMy score of 3.5 out of 11\, equal with Sir George Thomas and above W. Winter and V. Buerger\, was quite as good as I expected. After this came the Cambridge Tournament\, which\, though a very delightful little congress\, was a fiasco from my point of view. Three of my opponents were unkind enough to show their best form against me\, and two other games I spoilt by clock trouble. \nI do not expect to play much serious competitive chess in future. I admire sincerely the business man who is ready\, after a hard day at the office\, to undergo a further four hours of strenuous mental exertion; and who is also prepared to spend his all too brief holidays in the same exhausting pursuit. Moreover\, while many players find the atmosphere of match and tournament play a stimulus or an inspiration\, it only renders me nervous\, and though this does not affect my play it certainly interferes with my enjoyment. As long as I can play my week-end games with B.G.B.\, and inveigle Alexander from Winchester to add another to his monotonous series of victories\, I shall not much mind if I can only occasionally take part in congresses. ” \nPS Milner-Barry Cup\nIn issue #53 (April 1946)  of West London Chess Club’s Gazette we have a news item concerning a newly inaugurated trophy called the PS Milner-Barry Cup: \nissue #53 (April 1946)  of West London Chess Club’s Gazette\nSergeant on Milner-Barry\nWriting in A Century of British Chess (Hutchinson\, 1934)\, PW Sergeant records in Chapter XXI\, 1925 to 1934: \nThe City of London C.C.’s Championship Tournament which ended this (1933) spring deserves special mention; for it introduced an entirely new name on the list of champions\, that of P.S. Milner-Barry\, formerly of Cheltenham College and of Cambridge University.  Ten years previously he had won the first boys’ championship at Hastings. \nNow\, he won the City of London Championship with a score of 11 out of 14\, followed by the bearers of such noted names as R.P. Michell (10 points)\, Sir George Thomas (9)\, and E.G. Sergeant (8.5). It caused some surprise\, therefore\, when it was found that he was not selected as a British representative at Folkestone. \nGolombek on Milner-Barry\nSurprisingly and disappointingly there is no direct entry in either Hooper & Whyld or Sunnucks for Sir Stuart but (as you might expect) Harry Golombek OBE does not let us down  in The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977): \n“British master whose chess career was limited by his amateur status but whose abilities as a player and original theorist rendered him worthy of the title of international master. \nBorn at Mill Hill in London\, he showed early promise and in 1923 won the British Boys Championship\, then held at Hastings. \nHe studied classics at Cambridge and developed into the strongest player there. At the university he was to meet (ed. three years later) C. H. O’D. Alexander with whom he played much chess. \nThough nearly three years younger\, Alexander exerted a strong influence over him and both players cherished and revelled in the brilliance of play in open positions. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Kent County CA-28 Premier”]\n[Site “Margate”]\n[Date “1935.04.24”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “Milner-Barry\, Philip Stuart”]\n[Black “Mieses\, Jacques”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B00”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “43”]\n[EventDate “1935.04.24”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “HCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “2”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,41\,29\,28\,20\,40\,40\,21\,46\,46\,28\,-1\,15\,-5\,-5\,-10\,-3\,-3\,-3\,-5\,7\,-24\,-17\,\n-30\,2\,19\,7\,-3\,-13\,-13\,45\,-71\,-67\,-67\,263\,295\,295\,74\,573\,573\,691\,831\,1288\,1363]\n} 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. d5 Ne5 5. f3 {A Blackmar-Diemer style\nsacrifice of which Milner-Barry was so fond. He loved opening the f-file toward\nhis opponents king!} exf3 6. Nxf3 Nxf3+ 7. Qxf3 Nf6 8. Bf4 a6 9. h3 g6 10. g4 (\n10. O-O-O Bg7 11. g4 Bd7 {transposes}) 10… Bg7 11. O-O-O Bd7 $146 (11… O-O)\n12. Qg3 Rc8 13. Be2 O-O 14. h4 c6 15. h5 (15. dxc6 Rxc6) 15… Nxd5 16. hxg6 {\n[#]} Bxc3 $4 {The losing move} (16… fxg6 {is fine and Black remains in the\ngame.}) 17. Qh4 {Should have been spotted by Mieses.} Nf6 18. g5 (18. Bg5 {\nis even more crushing} Bxb2+ 19. Kxb2 Qb6+ 20. Kc1) 18… Qa5 {to support h5\nand offer the exchange of queens.} 19. gxf6 h5 20. gxf7+ Kxf7 21. Bxh5+ {\nand it is mate in six so Mieses resigned.} Ke6 22. Bg4+ {etc.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \n24th April 1935: J Mieses of Germany in play against PS Milner-Barry during the Premier Tournament of the Kent County Chess Association in the Grand Hotel\, Margate. (Photo by F. Sayers/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)\nBy then along with Alexander and Golombek\, he had become recognized as one of the three strongest young players in the country. Whilst not as successful as they were in tournaments as the British championship in which stamina was essential\, he was a most formidable club and team match player\, as he had already shown in 1933 when he won the championship of the City of London Club ahead of R. P. Mitchell and Sir George Thomas. \nHarry Golombek OBE plays Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry OBE\nHe played in his first International Team tournament at Stockholm 1937 and was to play in three more such events : in 1939 at Buenos Aires where\, on third board\, he made the fine score of 4/5 ; in Helsinki 1952; and in Moscow 1956 where\, again on third board\, he was largely responsible for the team’s fine showing. \nLeft to right Baruch H Wood\, Stuart Milner-Barry\, Vera Menchik (playing in the women’s world championship (held concurrently with the 1939 Buenos Aires Olympiad) which she won with 17 wins and 2 draws)\, Sir George Thomas\, Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander and Harry Golombek. England withdrew after their preliminary group due to the outbreak of war despite qualifying for the top final. Thanks to Leonard Barden\nIn 1940 he shared first prize with Dr. List in the strong tournament of semi-international character in London and then\, like Alexander and (later) Golombek\, helped in the Foreign Office code-breaking activities at Bletchley Park for the duration of the Second World War. Staying in the Civil Service afterwards\, he rose to the rank of Under-Secretary in the Treasury and was knighted for his services in 1975. \nSir Stuart Milner-Barry talks about Malik Mir Sultan Khan\nBelow is footage (start at 1′ 55″) of Sir Stuart discussing the talent of Malik Mir Sultan Khan: \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYCwOpjKab0[/embedyt] \nAfter the war\, too\, he had some fine results in the British championship\, his best being second place at Hastings in 1953. \nHartston on Milner-Barry\nThe following article is sourced from November 1995 edition* of Dragon\, the Cambridge University Chess Club magazine: \n(*Edited by Jonathan Parker) \nA sample cover of Dragon\, the Cambridge University Chess Club Magazine\n“I first met Sir Stuart Milner-Barry when I was fifteen years old (1962) playing in a tournament in Bognor Regis who played some rustic king’s pawn opening against me\, sacrificing a pawn for nothing in particular and then astonished by writing “castles” in full on his scoresheet.  I think he used “kt” for a knight too. I thought I had discovered  a true relic from a bygone age and the more I got to know him I realised the more correct that judgement was. \nMilner-Barry was the last of the true gentlemen amateurs and was one of the few people I have ever met who played chess for the sheer love of the game. \nA few typical incidents may give a flavour of his unique personality. First and most typical was the way he would resign: with a firm handshake\, a smile and a booming whisper of ‘You are far too good for me I’m afraid!’ When I first heard those words I was totally taken aback : What was this\, a chessplayer acknowledging that his opponent was better than him? Impossible! \nOnce\, at close of play in a county match against Milner-Barry I had the extra pawn in a difficult queen and pawn ending.  We analysed a little with most variations suggesting I was winning. It was the kind of position you would send for adjudication even if you are convinced it is lost. It avoids having to resign anyway and the adjudicator may always discount the pawns. But\, Sir Stuart never thought like that. After ten minutes analysing he extended his hand and congratulated me. \nSir Stuart Milner-Barry in play against Daniel Yanofsky from round 6 of the British Championship in Hastings\, 15th August 1953\nFinally there was the splendid incident in Moscow during the (Ed. 6th) European Team Championships in the late 1970s (Ed. 1977) Stuart was then the President of the BCF and took up an invitation of his old friend the British Ambassador to the USSR (Ed. Sir Howard Smith) to visit the event.  Since he was staying at the Embassy he had a KGB tail assigned to him to follow him everywhere. On one of his morning walks Sir Stuart got lost and was not certain which bridge he should be on to get back to the Embassy. So\, he turned around and walked back to the not very secret policeman\, followed him and asked for directions! For the rest of his stay they walked practically hand-in-hand. \nWhilst most of us knew Stuart as an amiable old gent who played for Kent and in the Lloyds Bank Masters who could still play brilliant attacking games in his eighties  most knew little of his distinguished career in real life. \nSir Stuart Milner-Barry\nWe suspected with some justification  that in his civil service career he was responsible for doling out all those OBEs to chess players  in the 70s and 80s when he was in charge of the honours list. \nIt was the wartime work at Bletchley Park that was Milner-Barry’s greatest achievement. As everybody knows the allies won the Second World War mainly because of the brilliant code-breaking work of the Cambridge quartet of Alan Turing\, Gordon Welchman\, Hugh Alexander and Stuart Milner-Barry. Turing and Welchman were mathematical geniuses\, Milner-Barry was the supreme administrator and Alexander straddled the gap with great talents in both areas. \nThe astonishing achievement at Bletchley was not so  much in breaking enemy codes as maintaining complete secrecy of the entire operation for the duration of the war. Only with such people as Milner-Barry and Alexander in charge could such a large operation be run so successfully without anybody knowing about it. \nMilner-Barry’s importance in the running at Bletchley may be judged from the fact that he personally delivered the note to Winston Churchill stressing overriding importance of their work asking for more funds. \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4hHCeA7ZSs[/embedyt] \nCompared with that the invention of the Milner-Barry Gambit and the Milner-Barry variation of the Nimzo-Indian are minor achievements. \nSir Stuart was proof that nice guys can be chess players although one cannot help suspecting he would achieved even better results if he had even a slight streak of nastiness about him. He would surely have not let Capablanca off the hook in Margate in 1938 when the attacking player secured a winning position against the ex-champions dragon variation and he would have surely also not let the British Championship slip from his grasp in 1953 when he finished as runner-up  after losing his last two games. \nHe always performed well when playing in Olympiads (or Team Tournaments as they were known then) for England during the 1930s and 50s. He was\, after all\, one of the most naturally gifted players this county has produced.  What other Englishman has two opening (or even just one) named after him? \nWhile at Cambridge while he won the University Championship in 1928\, losing to Alexander in the following year\, Milner-Barry composed some fine problems\, a frivolity he never returned to later in his life. \n[pgn]\n[Site “Swansea”]\n[Date “1951.08.30”]\n[Round “10”]\n[White “Mardle\, Denis Victor”]\n[Black “Milner Barry\, Stuart”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C58”]\n[Annotator “Milner Barry\, Stuart”]\n[PlyCount “52”]\n[EventDate “1951.08.20”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “GBR”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2018”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2017.10.13”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2017.10.13”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,52\,10\,34\,43\,38\,28\,3\,7\,-29\,5\,5\,-25\,8\,-11\,1\,1\,9\,34\,0\,24\,26\,10\,-5\,-30\,\n-121\,-164\,-206\,-171\,-166\,-186\,-314\,-284\,-341\,-378\,-376\,-217\,-284\,-443\,-443\,\n-739\,-727\,-983\,-29985\,-29986\,-29989\,-793\,-947\,-999\,-1027\,-1123\,-1123\,-1123\,\n-1123\,-1134]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6\n7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Qf3 ({An old move recently revived with considerable success.\nAll the same I believe} 8. Be2 {to be solider.}) 8… Rb8 ({Giving up the\nexchange by} 8… cxb5 9. Qxa8 {is probably not good enough. But the text move\nseems to be a very promising gambit.}) 9. Bxc6+ (9. Bd3) 9… Nxc6 10. Qxc6+\nNd7 11. d4 Be7 12. Nxf7 Kxf7 13. Qd5+ Ke8 14. dxe5 Bb7 15. Qe6 Bxg2 16. Rg1 Rb6\n17. Qf5 Rb5 18. f4 Nxe5 19. fxe5 Rf8 20. Qe6 Rb6 21. Qc4 Bh4+ 22. Ke2 Bf3+ 23.\nKe3 Bg5+ 24. Rxg5 Qxg5+ 25. Kd3 Qxc1 26. Nd2 Qxa1 {Sources: Manchester\nGuardian\, 3 Sept 1951; BCM\, Nov 1951\, p320} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nAn excellent though infrequent writer on the game\, he wrote a fine memoir of C.H.O’D. Alexander in Golombek’s and Hartston’s The Best Games of C.H.O’D. Alexander\, Oxford\, 1976.” \n\nThe Best Games of C.H.O’D. Alexander\, Harry Golombek and William Hartston. With A Memoir by Sir Stuart Milner-Barry\, Oxford University Press\, 1976\, ISBN 10: 0192175351 ISBN 13: 9780192175359\nAn Obituary from Bernard Cafferty\nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXV (115\, 1995)\, Number 5 (May)\, pp. 258-59 we have this obituary by Bernard Cafferty: \n“Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry KCVO CB  OBE (20 ix 1906 – 25 iii 1995) was the oldest of the British chess masters who came to prominence in the 1930s\, He was always thought of in conjunction with his great friends Hugh Alexander and Harry Golombek who both predeceased him. The length of Stuart’s career is amazing  – he was inaugural British Boy Champion in 1923 and was still playing for Kent first team in the Counties Championship  of recent years\, thus spanning a period of seven decades! Botvinnik spoke of him to me on my 1994 visit to Moscow. \nDavid Anderton OBE (rhs) congratulates Sir Stuart Milner-Barry OBE for winning the “Board of Honour ” game versus Edward Lasker at the 1976 Lloyds Bank Match by Telex\, London – New York. From BCM\, volume XCVI (96) Number 11 (August)\, Page 494. The venue was the Bloomsbury Hotel\, London. Photo courtesy of Lloyds Bank\nYet Stuart\, who never gained the IM title\, was always the true amateur and genuine English gentleman\, whose sense of duty and tradition was very great. It speaks volumes of him that he agonised over whether he should attend the Times Kasparov-Short match of 1993\, in a private capacity. He would have liked to watch the play\, but as a former British Chess Federation President\, 1970-73\, he felt it was his duty not to lend any extra recognition to the contest other than that assigned it by the BCF. \nBefore the war\, after graduating from Cambridge in Classics\, he took some fine scalps including those of Tartakower and Mieses and should have beaten Capablanca at Margate 1939. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Kent County CA-32 Premier”]\n[Site “Margate”]\n[Date “1939.04.17”]\n[Round “6”]\n[White “Milner-Barry\, Philip Stuart”]\n[Black “Capablanca\, Jose Raul”]\n[Result “1/2-1/2”]\n[ECO “B74”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “57”]\n[EventDate “1939.04.12”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2017”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2016.10.25”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2016.10.25”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,57\,38\,38\,46\,59\,71\,91\,58\,43\,26\,27\,84\,45\,32\,34\,41\,36\,36\,20\,20\,23\,34\,39\,\n48\,18\,22\,12\,19\,1\,24\,24\,40\,10\,5\,-10\,-10\,-10\,-10\,-2\,140\,21\,21\,71\,71\,71\,68\,68\,68\,\n88\,41\,-15\,3\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6\n6. Be2 Bg7 7. Be3 Nc6 8. O-O O-O 9. Nb3 Be6 10. f4 Na5 11. f5 Bc4 12. Nxa5 Bxe2\n13. Qxe2 Qxa5 14. g4 Nd7 15. Nd5 e6 16. f6 exd5 17. fxg7 Kxg7 18. Rad1 dxe4 19.\nRxd6 Rad8 20. Qf2 Kg8 21. Bh6 e3 22. Qxe3 Rfe8 23. Qf4 Qc5+ 24. Kh1 f6 25. Rfd1\nQxc2 26. Qd2 Qe4+ 27. Qg2 Qe1+ 28. Qg1 Qe4+ 29. Qg2 1/2-1/2\n[/pgn] \nCapablanca and Stuart Milner-Barry at Margate\, England\, April 15\, 1936. AP Photos\n[pgn]\n[Event “London International Masters”]\n[Site “London”]\n[Date “1932.02.02”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Milner Barry\, Philip Stuart”]\n[Black “Tartakower\, Saviely”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B12”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “81”]\n[EventDate “1932.02.01”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “HCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “2”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,81\,36\,36\,65\,73\,117\,105\,90\,89\,106\,86\,88\,89\,109\,99\,109\,103\,89\,60\,106\,51\,\n77\,47\,54\,54\,110\,37\,38\,19\,21\,41\,26\,-3\,-1\,16\,30\,32\,84\,84\,84\,79\,79\,82\,82\,82\,82\,47\,\n76\,60\,62\,58\,153\,67\,64\,56\,40\,59\,128\,106\,144\,121\,182\,217\,257\,254\,268\,276\,258\,249\,\n245\,259\,407\,414\,630\,631\,631\,674\,688\,681\,686\,696\,941\,982]} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 Nf6 3.\ne5 Nd5 4. c4 Nc7 5. Nc3 d6 6. f4 dxe5 7. fxe5 g6 8. Nf3 Bg7 9. Be3 f6 10. exf6\nexf6 11. Qd2 O-O 12. O-O-O Be6 13. Bh6 Bxh6 14. Qxh6 Qd7 15. Bd3 Nba6 16. h4\nNb4 17. Be2 Qf7 (17… Qg7 $1) 18. Rhf1 Qg7 19. Qxg7+ Kxg7 20. a3 Nba6 21. d5\ncxd5 22. cxd5 Bd7 23. Nd4 Rac8 24. Kb1 Nc5 25. Bf3 Rcd8 26. Rfe1 Rfe8 27. Rxe8\nRxe8 28. b4 Na4 29. Nxa4 Bxa4 30. Rc1 Nb5 $2 {[#]} 31. Ne6+ Kh6 32. Nc5 Nxa3+\n33. Kb2 Nc2 34. Nxa4 Nxb4 35. Rc7 b5 36. Nc5 Re5 37. d6 Rxc5 38. d7 Nd3+ 39.\nKb1 Rxc7 40. d8=Q Rc1+ 41. Ka2 1-0\n[/pgn] \nHe worked\, rather unhappily\, in a stockbroking firm up to 1938 and it is in that capacity that his name appears on the official document that set-up the British Chess Magazine as a limited company in 1937. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Ilford “]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “1951.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Milner-Barry\, Philip Stuart”]\n[Black “Trott\, Arthur Henry”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C02”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “33”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM\, 115\, page 259”] \n{[%evp 0\,29\,26\,29\,48\,28\,30\,0\,-4\,19\,2\,-4\,6\,3\,38\,52\,46\,24\,161\,316\,614\,614\,646\,\n648\,735\,735\,766\,734\,29993\,29994\,29995\,29996]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3\nNc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3 Nge7 $2 (6… Bd7 7. O-O cxd4 8. cxd4 Nxd4 9. Nxd4 Qxd4\n10. Nc3 a6 11. Qe2 Ne7 12. Kh1 Nc6 13. f4 Nb4 14. Rd1 Nxd3 15. Rxd3 Qb6 16. Be3\nBc5 17. Bxc5 Qxc5) 7. dxc5 $1 Qc7 {[#]} (7… Qxc5 8. b4 Qb6 9. b5) 8. Na3 $1\n$146 {This is the only documented game in this position AND Na3! is the best\nmove.} (8. Qe2) (8. O-O) 8… Nxe5 $2 (8… a6 {was required}) 9. Nb5 $18 Nxd3+\n10. Qxd3 Qxc5 11. Be3 d4 12. Bxd4 Qc6 13. Ne5 Qxg2 14. Nd6+ Kd8 {[#] Now pause\nthe “video”….} 15. Bb6+ $1 {and Black resigned as it mate in two.} axb6 16.\nNdxf7+ Kc7 (16… Ke8 17. Qd8#) 17. Qd6# 1-0\n[/pgn] \nDuring the war he played his part in the Bletchley Park code-breaking undertaking along with Alexander and Golombek\, and after the war went into the Civil Service where he had a distinguished career at the Treasury. Then his career was extended as he spent his final working years in the patronage department that sifted recommendations for the honours list. \nI recall asking him in 1981 if there was any chance that Brian Reilly could qualify for an award. Stuart’s diplomatic answer was to the effect that he was now retired but would drop a word in the right quarter. \nStuart represented England at the Olympiads or 1936\, 1939\, 1952 and 1956. At the last of these he played particularly well on fourth board. He was conscious that his old friend Hugh Alexander could not take part in Moscow because of the sensitive nature of his work in the Intelligence Service. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Olympiad-12 Preliminaries C”]\n[Site “Moscow”]\n[Date “1956.09.05”]\n[Round “5”]\n[White “Milner-Barry\, Philip Stuart”]\n[Black “Hanninen\, Veikko”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C29”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “43”]\n[EventDate “1956.09.01”]\n[EventType “team-tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “URS”]\n[SourceTitle “MCD”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “England”]\n[BlackTeam “Finland”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “FIN”] \n{[%evp 0\,43\,48\,29\,42\,26\,6\,1\,9\,-36\,-36\,-34\,-38\,-25\,-27\,-27\,8\,7\,4\,-3\,9\,8\,23\,-19\,\n45\,25\,-12\,5\,395\,383\,394\,413\,464\,478\,445\,240\,322\,415\,453\,432\,815\,1004\,1004\,1010\,\n1040\,1040]} {This game appeared in BCM\, 1995\, May\, page 259 within an Obituary\nby Bernard Cafferty.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. d3 Nxc3 ({\nSafer than} 5… Qh4+ 6. g3 Nxg3 7. Nf3 Qh5 8. Nxd5 {which is a line\nMilner-Barry revelled in} Nxh1 9. Nxc7+ Kd8 10. Nxa8 Bg4 11. Bg2 Nc6 12. d4\nBxf3 13. Qxf3 Qxf3 14. Bxf3 Nxd4 15. Be4 Bc5 16. c3) 6. bxc3 d4 7. Nf3 c5 8.\nBe2 Be7 9. O-O O-O (9… dxc3) 10. Qe1 f6 (10… dxc3) 11. Qg3 {[#]} fxe5 $2 {\nToo many pawn moves for comfort when the Englishman has so many open lines.} ({\nBetter is} 11… Nc6) 12. Bh6 $16 Bf6 13. Nxe5 $1 Bxe5 $4 $146 {The losing move\n} (13… Nd7 {keeps Black in the game.} 14. cxd4 cxd4 15. Nc4) (13… Qe7 14.\nBf3 Be6 15. Ng4 Bxg4 16. Qxg4 Nd7 17. Rae1 Ne5 18. Qg3 Kh8 19. Bf4 Nxf3+ 20.\nRxf3 Qd7 21. Ref1 dxc3 22. Be5 Qe6 23. Bxc3 Rae8 24. Qf2 Qd6 25. Bxf6 Rxf6 26.\nRxf6 gxf6 27. Qxf6+ Qxf6 28. Rxf6 Re2 29. Rf8+ Kg7 30. Rb8 b6 31. Rb7+ Kg6 32.\nRxa7 Rxc2 33. Ra6 Rb2 34. Ra3 Kf5 35. Kf1 Kf4 36. Ra7 Ke3 37. Re7+ Kxd3 38.\nRxh7 Rxa2 39. Rd7+ {and a draw was agreed in Milner-Barry – Alexander\, British\nChampionship\, round 11\, 1931\, 21st August.}) 14. Qxe5 Rf6 ({Worse is} 14…\ngxh6 15. Rxf8+ Qxf8 16. Bf3 $18) 15. Bxg7 Re6 (15… Kxg7 16. Qg5+ Kh8 17.\nQxf6+ Qxf6 18. Rxf6 {winning.}) 16. Qh5 Qe7 17. Bh6 {[#]} Nd7 {Development at\nlast!} 18. Bg4 Re5 19. Qh3 Nb6 $2 20. Rf8+ $1 Qxf8 21. Bxf8 Kxf8 22. Qxh7 {\nand Black resigned with his position in ruins.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nIn playing style Milner-Barry\, a tall gaunt figure\, delighted in an open tactical fight. \nHe was The Times correspondent 1938-45\, resigning the post to let Harry Golombek take over. His best result after the war\, apart from the 1956 Moscow Olympiad\, was probably his second place in the British Championships of 1953 at Hastings. The abiding impression of his opponents over the years must have been  that here was a player who greatly enjoyed the game\, win\, lose or draw. \nCertainly\, that was my idea of him in the tussles we had from the British Championship of 1957 up to county matches in the 1980s. \nWe shall not see his like again. The England that formed his character is no longer with us.” \nMilner-Barry Variations\nThough never at home in close(d) positions\, he was an outstanding strategist in the open game and it is significant that his most important contribution to opening theory was the Milner-Barry variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defence which is essentially as attempt to convert a close position into an open one (1.P-Q4\, N-KB3; 2.P-QB4\, P-K3; 3. N-QB3\, B-N5; 4.Q-B2\, N-B3).” \n[fen]rnbqk2r/pppp1ppp/4pn2/8/1bPP4/2N2N2/PP2PPPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nHooper & Whyld (1996) note: \n“Sometimes called the Zurich or Swiss variation\, this is a line in the Nimzo-Indian Defence introduced by Milner-Barry in the Premier Reserves tournament\, Hastings 1928-9. This line became more widely known when it was played at Zurich 1934.” \nTwo famous opening lines are named after him – 4…Nc6 in the Nimzo-Indian (as above)\, and the gambit in the French Defence: 1.e4 e6;2.d4 d5;3.e5 c5;4.c3 Nc6;5.Nf3 Qb6;6.Bd3 cxd4;7.cxd4 Bd7;8.0-0 Nxd4; \n[fen]r3kbnr/pp1b1ppp/1q2p3/3pP3/3n4/3B1N2/PP3PPP/RNBQ1RK1 w KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nStuart played this line both in correspondence and over-the-board play. If Black takes the pawn with 10…Qxe5\, White gets a fierce attack by 11\,Re1 Qd6 (else 12.Nxd5) 12.Nb5. \nThere is also a sub-variation of the Caro-Kann which is named after Sir Stuart viz: \n[fen]rnbqkbnr/pp2pppp/2p5/8/3Pp3/2N2P2/PPP3PP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nwhich is a Blackmar-Diemer style pawn sacrifice. \nThere is also a Milner-Barry variation in the Falkbeer Counter Gambit to the King’s Gambit thus: \n[fen]rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/8/3pp3/4PP2/2N5/PPPP2PP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nwhich is an ancient line that he revived at Margate 1937. \nand finally\, there is a Milner-Barry Variation in the Petroff Defence: \n[fen]r1b1kb1r/pppnqppp/3p1n2/6B1/8/3P1N2/PPP1QPPP/RN2KB1R w KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \ngiving a total of five named variations. How many English players have that many? \nProblems and Compositions\nStuart developed an interest in problem composition in the 1920s \nSir Stuart Milner-Barry\, Problem\, Morning Post\, 1923\nSir Stuart Milner-Barry\, Problem\, The Observer\, 1925\nSir Stuart Milner-Barry\, Problem\, British Chess Magazine\, 1926\nFurther examples may be found on the excellent Meson Database maintained by Brian Stephenson \nMilner-Barry on The English Chess Explosion\nStuart was a great supporter of the development of British chess. Nothing would have given him more pleasure than to witness  the meteoric advances of English players in the 1970s. Indeed\, he wrote the foreword to the English Chess Explosion (Batsford\, 1980) by Murray Chandler and Ray Keene: \nThe English Chess Explosion (from Miles to Short)\, Murray Chandler & Ray Keene\, Batsford\, 1981\, ISBN 0 7134 4009 0\n“It gives me great pleasure to have been asked to write a foreword for this book. Nothing has given me more satisfaction than the flowering of British chess talent that has taken place in the past few years. \nBetween the wars\, though we had some splendid players like H. E. Atkins\, Sir George Thomas and F. D. Yates\, we were a second rate power at chess: in the great Nottingham tournament of 1936\, for example\, our quartet brought up the rear\, and that was where\, with occasional shining exceptions\, our representatives in international tournaments tended to find themselves. Similarly\, after the war in the 1950’s and 1960’s\, in spite of Alexander and Penrose\, we seldom achieved a really creditable place in the Olympiads. \nAlexander who retired early from the arena because of the exacting demands of his profession\, must have had rather a depressing time as non-playing captain. \nSir Stuart Milner-Barry OBE\nI myself date the renaissance from the Spring of 1974 when we won a closely contested match against West Germany at Elvetham Hall.\nThereafter we went from strength to strength\, with the appearance year by year of highly talented\, original and adventurous young men from the Universities – Keene and Hartston\, closely followed by Miles\, Stean\, Nunn\, Mestel\, Speelman\, and a still younger generation of schoolboy prodigies like Nigel Short. \nThe peak of our performance so far has been the third place (after the USSR and Hungary) last winter in the finals of the European Team Tournament at Skara (compared with our eighth and last place at Moscow in 1977). \nSir Stuart Milner-Barry OBE presents Dr. Jana Hartston with the ? prize\nHow did all this come about in the short space of six years? The Spassky-Fischer match of 1972 was a watershed. Since then\, and the first time\, it has been possible for able young men from universities to consider chess seriously as a full-time profession\, or at least as a career to which they devote the major part of their time and interest\, Secondly\, the fruits were being reaped of the unobtrusive but devoted spadework in junior training pioneered by Barden\, Wade and many others. Lastly\, no doubt\, sheer good fortune smiled upon us in the simultaneous emergence of a group of brilliant enthusiastic and likeable young men\, five of them already grandmasters and others likely to become so before long. \nIt is sad that Alexander\, who did so much to uphold the prestige of British chess in the doldrums\, did not survive to witness the transformation. I would like to wish the BCF President\, David Anderton\, and Alexander’s successor as captain\, all possible success for the future.” \nFooter from the foreword of The English Chess Explosion (from Miles to Short)\, Murray Chandler & Ray Keene\, Batsford\, 1981\, ISBN 0 7134 4009 0\nFurther Material\nAn obituary from The Independent by Bill Hartston \nAn article from Spartacus Educational \nHere are his games from chess.com \nMore on his time at Bletchley Park \nLocation of his grave \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \n\nSignature of Sir Stuart Milner-Barry\nAccording to Edward Winter in Chess Notes PSMB lived at these addresses : \n\n11 Park Terrace\, Cambridge\, England (Ranneforths Schachkalender\, 1938\, page 78).\n43 Blackheath Park\, Blackheath\, London SE3 9RW\, England (letter reproduced in C.N. 3809).
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-sir-philip-stuart-milner-barry-obe/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,English,History,Journalist,Player,Remembering,Writer
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210326
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210327
DTSTAMP:20210305T192111Z
CREATED:20200319T125443Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T192111Z
UID:3597-1616716800-1616803199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Chris Ward (26-iii-1968)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Christopher Geoffrey Ward (26-iii-1968)Here is his Wikipedia entry \nGM Chris Ward\nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“Grandmaster and British Chess Champion in 1996. He is the author of several chess books\, among them Winning With the Sicilian Dragon 2 (2001)\, Winning with the Dragon (2003) and The Controversial Samisch King’s Indian (2004).” \nChris plays Jiang Chuan Ye at the 1997 England – China match\nHere are his games \nChris Ward commentating during the Hastings Congress\nChris earned his IM title in 1990 and his GM title in 1996. According to Chessbase and Felice his peak rating was 2531 in July 2003 when he was 35. \nChris is President of the English Primary Schools Chess Association (EPSCA)\, Chris is the Chief Coach of the Kent Junior Chess Association (KJCA). Chris plays for KJCA Kings in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). \nChris with the British Championship Trophy from 1996 (Nottingham)\n[pgn]\n[Event “BCF-ch 83rd”]\n[Site “Nottingham”]\n[Date “1996.??.??”]\n[Round “6”]\n[White “Ward\, Christopher”]\n[Black “Summerscale\, Aaron”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D10”]\n[WhiteElo “2460”]\n[BlackElo “2500”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “35”]\n[EventDate “1996.08.??”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 054 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1996.11.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1996.11.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,35\,19\,31\,19\,-16\,26\,44\,57\,1\,11\,9\,1\,0\,15\,-55\,-61\,-68\,-64\,-68\,-50\,-160\,\n18\,45\,12\,-52\,40\,-117\,-37\,-55\,-41\,-41\,98\,-126\,483\,234\,29997\,29998]} 1. d4 d5 2.\nc4 c6 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. e4 b5 5. a4 b4 6. Nb1 Ba6 7. Nf3 (7. Qc2 $142 Nf6 8. Nd2\nQxd4 9. Ngf3 b3 10. Nxd4 bxc2 11. f3 c3 12. bxc3 Bxf1 13. Kxf1 $14) 7… Nf6 8.\ne5 Nd5 9. Ng5 (9. e6 f6 10. Be2) 9… h6 $146 10. Qh5 {[#]} hxg5 $2 (10… g6\n$142 11. Qh3 e6 12. Ne4 $17) 11. Qxh8 Nf4 12. Be3 (12. Bxf4 gxf4 13. Nd2 Qxd4\n14. O-O-O Nd7 $13) 12… Qd5 $17 13. f3 Ne6 14. Nd2 Nxd4 15. O-O-O c3 16. Nc4\nBxc4 $2 17. Rxd4 (17. Bxc4 $142 Qxe5 18. Bxd4 $18) 17… Qxe5 $4 18. Qxf8+ {[#]\n} 1-0\n[/pgn] \n“Not sure about best\, but 18.Qxf8+ against Summerscale en route to winning the 1996 British Championship will be forever ingrained in my mind. Sorry\, Aaron!”\n– GM Chris Ward (when asked for his best move) \nSource: Chess Monthly 2017 December \nGM Chris Ward\nEndgame Play\nThe Queen’s Gambit Accepted\nThe Genius of Paul Morphy\nImprove your Opening Play\nWinning With the Sicilian Dragon 2\nStarting Out: The Nimzo-Indian\nIt’s Your Move: Improvers\nUnusual Queen’s Gambit Declined\nWinning with the Dragon\nIt’s Your Move: Tough Puzzles\nStarting Out: Rook Endgames\nThe Controversial Samisch King’s Indian\nPlay the Queen’s Gambit\nStarting Out: Chess Tactics and Checkmates
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-chris-ward-26-iii-1968/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Hastings,Player,Writer
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210329
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210330
DTSTAMP:20210305T192622Z
CREATED:20190922T080954Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T192622Z
UID:1408-1616976000-1617062399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Peter Sowray (29-iii-1959)
DESCRIPTION:Happy Birthday FM Peter John Sowray (29-iii-1959)Born in London\, Peter obtained his FM title in 1984. He has been a regular member of the very strong Wood Green team. His peak rating (according to Chessbase) was 2384 aged 59 in March 2018. He currently plays for Barbican in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). \nPeter Sowray at the South Bank See image below for caption\nCaption for above image\nPeter Sowray watchign Tony Miles at the Lloyds Bank Masters. Sir Jeremy Morse watches.\nPeter Sowray (top right) with a victorious Wood Green team\nFM Peter Sowray\nHere are Peter’s games from chessgames.com \n[pgn]\n[Event “Barcelona Sants op 16th”]\n[Site “Barcelona”]\n[Date “2014.08.26”]\n[Round “5”]\n[White “Sowray\, Peter John”]\n[Black “Granda Zuniga\, Julio E”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “E42”]\n[WhiteElo “2325”]\n[BlackElo “2663”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “59”]\n[EventDate “2014.08.22”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “10”]\n[EventCountry “ESP”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 162 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2014.10.17”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2014.10.17”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,59\,19\,31\,14\,-14\,-11\,4\,33\,33\,34\,18\,8\,34\,27\,13\,-2\,1\,21\,3\,30\,6\,17\,-9\,41\,\n43\,43\,59\,47\,55\,53\,38\,53\,53\,70\,44\,50\,51\,33\,-1\,0\,0\,44\,0\,75\,148\,168\,163\,155\,198\,\n143\,222\,259\,233\,235\,240\,254\,254\,348\,421\,517\,558]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4\n4. e3 b6 5. Nge2 c5 6. a3 Ba5 7. Rb1 Qe7 8. Bd2 Na6 9. Ng3 Bb7 10. d5 O-O 11.\nBd3 g6 12. O-O exd5 13. Nxd5 Nxd5 14. cxd5 Bxd2 15. Qxd2 Nc7 16. e4 d6 17. f4\nNe8 18. Rbe1 Nf6 19. e5 dxe5 20. fxe5 Nxd5 21. Qh6 Rfe8 22. Ne4 Qf8 23. Qh4 Qg7\n24. Nd6 Rxe5 25. Rxe5 Qxe5 26. Rxf7 Qe3+ 27. Kh1 h5 28. Rf3 Qc1+ 29. Rf1 Qd2\n30. Qe4 1-0\n[/pgn]
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-peter-j-sowary/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
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