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X-WR-CALNAME:British Chess News
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://britishchessnews.com
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for British Chess News
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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: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
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/img_0779_smaller.jpg
END:VEVENT
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
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IMG-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
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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BEGIN:VEVENT
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
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/jb4_9048_lv-scaled.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
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
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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
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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
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/img_0722_lv.jpg
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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
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/bcc_3661_lv-scaled.jpg
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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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BEGIN:VEVENT
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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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210402
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210403
DTSTAMP:20210306T111737Z
CREATED:20191023T093455Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T111737Z
UID:1645-1617321600-1617407999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Miroslav Houska (02-iv-1978)
DESCRIPTION:Miroslav Houska\nBirthday of IM Miroslav Houska (02-iv-1978) \nMiroslav gained his International Master title in 1998 and his peak rating according to Felice was 2385 in January of 1998\, aged 20. \nHere are his games on chessgames.com \nIM Miroslav Houska\, photograph by Jovan Petronic\nIM Miroslav Houska\, photograph by Cathy Rogers\n[pgn]\n[Event “BCF-ch 84th”]\n[Site “Hove”]\n[Date “1997.08.09”]\n[Round “6”]\n[White “Houska\, Miroslav”]\n[Black “Plaskett\, H James”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A46”]\n[WhiteElo “2360”]\n[BlackElo “2450”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “73”]\n[EventDate “1997.08.04”]\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\,73\,19\,31\,14\,30\,55\,19\,45\,45\,45\,-1\,22\,16\,27\,4\,37\,20\,18\,12\,28\,7\,4\,0\,5\,\n-13\,17\,-46\,6\,8\,13\,9\,5\,19\,35\,3\,45\,42\,37\,5\,5\,3\,10\,14\,103\,102\,71\,83\,109\,109\,109\,\n114\,75\,60\,54\,40\,32\,53\,80\,68\,56\,67\,72\,3\,114\,126\,95\,83\,29989\,29990\,29991\,29992\,\n29995\,437\,437\,432]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. c3 b6 4. Bg5 Bb7 5. Bxf6 gxf6 6. e3\ne6 7. Be2 Qc7 8. Nbd2 Rg8 9. O-O Nc6 10. a3 Ne7 11. Re1 Bh6 12. Bf1 f5 13. g3\nNd5 14. Bg2 Bg7 15. Qe2 Rc8 16. Rad1 Ne7 17. e4 Kf8 18. dxc5 bxc5 19. Ng5 Bh6\n20. Ngf3 d6 21. Nh4 f4 22. Qh5 Bg7 23. Nc4 Rd8 24. e5 d5 25. Nd6 Ng6 26. Nxb7\nQxb7 27. Nxg6+ hxg6 28. Qg5 Qc7 29. Qxf4 c4 30. b3 cxb3 31. c4 dxc4 32. Rxd8+\nQxd8 33. Qxc4 Qa5 34. Qc8+ Ke7 35. Qb7+ Kf8 36. Rd1 Bxe5 37. Rd7 1-0\n[/pgn]
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-miroslav-houska-02-04-1978/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210404
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210405
DTSTAMP:20220404T131515Z
CREATED:20190823T192130Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220404T131515Z
UID:1136-1617494400-1617580799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of BH Wood MSc FCS OBE (13-vii-1909 04-iv-1989)
DESCRIPTION:We remember “BH” Wood MSc FCS OBE who passed away on Tuesday April 4th\, 1989 in the district of Birmingham. \nHe was buried alongside his wife Marjorie in the Sutton Coldfield Cemetery Extension which was opened in 1934 as an extension to the Holy Trinity Church. \nYorkshire Childhood\nBaruch Harold Wood (generally known as BH Wood\, or simply “BH”\, by the chess world) was born on Tuesday\, July 13th 1909 in Ecclesall\, Sheffield\, Yorkshire. The registration district was Ecclesall Bierlow. \nGravestone of BH & ME Wood\, photo by Glen Livet\nThe birth record suggests that he was baptised as Harold Baruch Wood. His parent’s were Baruch Talbot (1881-1951) and Florence Muriel Wood (née Herington). He appears as Harold Baruch on the 1911 census. \n1911 Census record for the Wood household\n1911 Census record for the Wood household\nInterestingly\, the Census form was signed by Talbot Wood so maybe BHs father also did not like his own first name! At the time of the Census the family lived at 30\, Violet Bank Road\, Nether Edge\, Sheffield\, S7 1RZ. \nWelsh School Days\nBaruch attended Friars School\, Bangor (established in 1557) along with William Ritson Morry. BHW was one year and three months older than WRM so it is entirely possible that they had met. \nMarriage to Marjory\nIn October 1936 BHW married Marjory Elizabeth Farrington in Ross\, Herefordshire. When Marjory died on 7th September 1977 they were living at 146\, Rectory Road\, Sutton Coldfield\, West Midlands. Baruch and Marjory had four children\, FM Christopher Wood\, Philip\, Frank and Peggy. \n146\, Rectory Road\, The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield\, West Midlands\, B75 7RS\nHonours\nIn the 1984 New Years Honours List\, Civil Division\, BHW was awarded the OBE. The citation read simply : “For services to Chess” \nHe won the BCF President’s Award in 1983 alongside TJ Beach and Brian Reilly. \nBH Wood playing board 9 in the Anglo team in the Anglo-Soviet Radio Team Match of 1946\nThe 1946 Anglo-Soviet Radio Match\nFrom The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by Klein and Winter : \n“BH Wood was born in Sheffield in 1909. A great lover of the game\, he founded the magazine Chess in 1935\, and has written a book for beginners. He scored a notable success by winning the British Correspondence Championship on one occasion. Wood has competed in the British Championship on several occasions\, and in a number of Premier Reserves tournaments. He also played for Great Britain in the international team tournament (ed. Olympiad) at Buenos Aires in 1939. \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\nHe is a graduate of the University of Wales and Birmingham University. He has been very active in recent years in giving simultaneous exhibitions and in organising correspondence chess.” \nSignature of BH Wood from a Brian Reilly “after dinner” postcard from Margate 1936.\nBetween 1938 and 1957\, BH won the championship of Warwickshire eight times. He held the record (until 2006) for the most Birmingham & District Chess League Individual titles – nine\, all won in Division 1: 1937\, 1939\, 1954\, 1956\, 1958\, 1960\, 1966\, 1967\, and 1983. He was the Records Secretary for the League from 1951-61. \nBirth of a Magazine\nCHESS Cover for volume 1\, September 1935 – August 1936. Source : Michael Clapham\nFrom CHESS\, Volume 52 (1987)\, Number 1014-15 (Christmas)\, we have the very last issue of the magazine for which BH was the Editor before becoming Founding Editor (and Paul Lamford became Editor). BH Wrote: \n“Countless people have asked me ‘Why did you start CHESS?’ I was in love with university life and has just taken an M.Sc.\, a waste of time after a good first-class honours\, and decided to have a go at replacing the old Chess Amateur\, which had closed down.  I had edited the students’ magazine in both Bangor and Birmingham. The first had been produced by The Daily Post Printers in Liverpool\, who agreed to print  1\,000 copies for £90. That £90 would be nearly £2\,400 now. \nCHESS masthead for Volume 1\, Number 1\, 1935. Source : Michael Clapham\nA year’s subscription I announced as 10 shillings (50p). \nTwo bits of luck! J.H. Van Meurs\, a Dutchman who did a lot for British Chess\, had listed in his still young B.C.F. Year Book some hundreds of chess clubs. \nW.H. Watts\, another great figure of those days\, had floated a rather short-lived magazine The Chess Budget\, donated a ‘Budget Cup‘\, for knock-out team competition and published excellent books on big tournaments\, etc. He handed me a list of keen chess players all around the world. I spent a week addressing envelopes by hand to all the clubs and people. \nTo individuals I sent single copies of CHESS; to each club three copies\, inviting payment or subscriptions. Hardly anybody failed to pay. Obviously there was a demand for a chess magazine with a lighter touch than the B.C.M. \nYears later\, I learnt why Mr. Watts had been so generous. He had fallen out with the establishment and welcomed the arrival of a new publication. \nWithin three months I was selling 3\,000 copies an issue. \nSome early ideas were chessy short stories \, cartoons and a competition for humorous anecdotes. \nI soon went to Amsterdam for the first Euwe-Alekhine match. I traced Alekhine to his hotel room with difficulty. He was officially incommunicado. He came to the door in pyjamas\, and within five minutes we had agreed to a £5 article per month. I was\, of course\, already on conversational terms with him (and remained so!). \nNow I fell into trap. 3\,000 readers in four months meant 6\,000 in eight months\, 9\,000 in  a year…? \nNot so! This is extrapolation\, a matter of calculation full of risks. \nMy preparations had been too good. In the remaining eight months of the year I picked up only a thousand more readers. Alekhine lost the title. With three months to go\, my money ran out\, I struggled to the end of the year.  The twelfth issue was pathetically thin compared with the first few but renewals staring rolling in and CHESS blossomed again. \nThe fifty-two years since have been gruelling\, unremitting toil but fascinating interest. How we bought our own presses and the effect this had on the world’s chess press – A law suit that went to appeal – How CHESS linked people in Malta\, Australia\, Hungary – Adventures in ‘simuls’\, postal chess etc. How we helped police to identify a drowned man\, etc. So many tales to tell! \nBHW \nBCF Obituary\nHere is an obituary from the BCF Yearbook 1989 – 1990\, page 14 : \nB.H. Wood\, O.B.E\nBaruch H. Wood\, O.B.E.\, founder of CHESS\, and the magazines editor for 52 years\, died at the age of 79 on 4th April. \nBorn in Sheffield on 13 July 1909\, “B.H.”\, as he was widely known in chess circles\, took up the game early playing competitively at school and at University. After graduating from the University College of Wales\, Bangor with a 1st class honours degree in chemistry\, he took an MSc at Birmingham University. Soon\, however\, his love of chess took him away from a career in chemistry\, with his launch of CHESS in 1935.  He was to continue as editor\, publisher\, for many years printer\, and often major contributor\, for over half a century. \nCHESS\, Sutton Coldfield\nThe magazine quickly won an international reputation for its frankness and outspokenness. It speaks much for the character and determination of its editor that he was able to continue publishing CHESS throughout the difficult years of the Second World War\, whilst holding a full-time job as director of a chemical research laboratory in Lichfield. \nWood will be best remembered for the magazine\, and for his other journalistic activities. He was for many years chess correspondent of The Daily Telegraph and of The Illustrated London News\, and his best known book Easy Guide to Chess went through three editions and many impressions. \nEasy Guide to Chess\, BH Wood\, CHESS\, Sutton Coldfield\, 1945\nThe above book (albeit the later Cadogan version) is available online. \nEasy Guide to Chess\nNigel Davies wrote “One of the best beginners books on the market.” \nWood’s feat in writing\, publishing\, printing and selling his own book may be unique. However\, Wood was no mean player as his draw against the then world champion Max Euwe\, who became a life-long friend\, testifies. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1949/50-25 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1949.12.29”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “Wood\, Baruch Harold”]\n[Black “Euwe\, Max”]\n[Result “1/2-1/2”]\n[ECO “E39”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “74”]\n[EventDate “1949.12.29”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “MCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,74\,19\,31\,14\,-14\,-11\,-3\,33\,-19\,0\,-1\,-2\,-3\,4\,-49\,-23\,-30\,-17\,-12\,0\,-12\,\n-7\,-14\,-37\,-40\,-22\,-24\,-29\,-18\,-21\,-20\,-20\,-13\,0\,5\,2\,-2\,12\,5\,14\,15\,24\,21\,22\,26\,\n26\,26\,26\,15\,17\,5\,1\,10\,18\,-7\,-14\,-14\,-14\,-17\,-19\,-19\,-19\,-27\,-30\,-30\,-32\,-29\,\n-12\,-30\,-51\,-44\,-44\,-42\,1\,0\,0]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. dxc5\nO-O 6. Nf3 Na6 7. Bg5 Nxc5 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. Qxc3 Nfe4 10. Bxd8 Nxc3 11. Be7 Nb3\n12. Bxf8 Kxf8 13. Rd1 Nxd1 14. Kxd1 b6 (14… a5 15. e3 a4 16. Nd2 Nc5) 15. Nd2\nNxd2 $146 {The only game to have reached this position.} 16. Kxd2 Ba6 (16…\nBb7) 17. e4 $11 {[#]} (17. Kc3 $2 Rc8 18. e4 b5 19. b4 bxc4 20. Be2 $17) 17…\nRc8 18. b3 Ke7 19. Bd3 e5 20. f3 Rc6 21. Rc1 Rh6 22. h3 Rg6 23. Bf1 Rc6 24. b4\nRc8 25. a4 Bb7 26. c5 bxc5 {[#]} 27. Rxc5 $2 ({Better was} 27. bxc5 $1 Bc6 28.\nBb5 $11) 27… Rxc5 28. bxc5 d6 $1 {activating Black’s king.} 29. cxd6+ Kxd6\n$17 {Black has an edge.} 30. Kc3 Kc5 31. Bc4 Bc6 $6 ({better is} 31… f6 {\nretaining the weakness on a4.} 32. Bb5 h6) 32. Bb3 Bd7 33. h4 $6 {This looks\nnatural but} (33. Bxf7 {is better exchanging weaknesses} Bxa4) 33… g6 $2 {\nEuwe misses his chance.} (33… f6 {is still correct.}) 34. g3 (34. Bxf7) 34…\nf5 (34… Be6 35. Bd1 f6 36. Be2) 35. exf5 $11 gxf5 36. Bd1 h6 37. g4 a5 {\ndraw agreed.} 1/2-1/2\n[/pgn] \nHe represented England in the International Team Championship at Buenos Aires in 1939\, scoring 50%. He also took first prize in international tournaments at Baarn 1947\, Paignton 1954\, Whitby 1963\, Thorshavn 1967 and Jersey 1975 and was second in the 1948 British Championship. He was British Correspondence Chess Champion in 1945. \nThe Cedars Chess Club May 1962 – Baruch is seated\, second from the right. Photograph sourced from ECF obituary.\nA life member of F.I.D.E. Wood was also an International Arbiter\, and organised 21 annual chess festivals at seaside venues from the 50’s onwards. In addition he was an active behind-the-scenes inspirer of many chess events\, and in particular was known as a driving spirit of university chess\, being until the time of his death President of the British University Chess Association. \nThe Author’s British Record Simultaneous Display. Some of the 127 schoolboys the author played simultaneously at Ilford County High School\, Winning over a a hundred of the games in 4 hours and 50 minutes.\nHe founded the Postal Chess Club and League and was for many years President of the British Postal Chess Federation. \nLetter from BH Wood to JE Upham dated 7th July 1983\n“B.H.” at Bournemouth in May 1971\nHe was awarded the O.B.E. for services to chess in 1984. \nHis wife Marjory\, predeceased him; he leaves three sons Christopher\, Frank and Philip\, and a daughter Peggy. \nBH Wood & his daughter Peggy\nand here is the article as it appeared in the Yearbook. \nBCF Yearbook\, 1989-90\, page 14\nBCF Yearbook\, 1989-90\, page 15\nGolombek on Wood\nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977)  by Harry Golombek : \n“A well known British player\, editor of Chess (starting 1935) and chess correspondent of The Daily Telegraph and Illustrated London News. A FIDE judge\, he has founded and conducted 21 annual chess festivals\, notably at Whitby\, Eastbourne and Southport. \nBH Wood playing AY “Johnnie” Green in the 1956 British Championships in Blackpool\, photographer unknown\nWinner of a number of small and semi-international tournaments : Baarn 1947\, Paignton 1954\, Whitby 1963\, Thorshavn 1967\, and Jersey 1975. \nPlayed for the BCF in the International Team Tournament at Buenos Aires 1939. His best tournament result was probably his equal second in the British Championship at London 1948. \nIn 1954 BHW was sued BH Wood for libel by William Ritson Morry over a letter BHW sent to Henry Golding of the Monmouthshire County Chess Association warning him of WRMs financial history. Here is a summary of the action : \nThe Birmingham Post\, July 15th\, 1954\nand two years in 1956 we have this telling photograph of Ritson and BH playing at the British Championships in Blackpool. It must have been an entertaining pairing for the organisers if no-one else! \nWilliam Ritson Morry playing BH Wood at the British Championships in Blackpool from 1956\nPossibly WRM was thinking this as they played: \nEverybody Loves Wood\nAmong his books are : Easy Guide to Chess\, Sutton Coldfield 1942 et seq; World Championship Candidates Tournament 1953\, Sutton Coldfield 1954. “ \nWorld Championship Candidates Tournament 1953\, BH Wood\, CHESS\, Sutton Coldfield\, 1954\nCafferty on Wood (1989)\nHere is the obituary from British Chess Magazine\, Volume CIX (1989\, 109)\, Number 5 (May)\, pages 210 – 211: \nB. H. WOOD\nBaruch Harold Wood (13 viii 1909-4 iv 1989) popularly known as “B. H.” was a significant figure of the last fifty-odd years in British chess. His life touched practically all aspects of the game as player\, both OTB and CC\, magazine publisher and editor\, organiser of club\, congress and university chess\, journalist . . . the list seems endless. In 1984 he was awarded the OBE for services to chess. \nBorn at Sheffield\, which he sometimes used as an excuse when he was accused of stubbornness\, (“It’s my Yorkshire blood\, you know”) he was educated in North Wales (Friar’s School\, and then University College\, Bangor) and at Birmingham University. \nHe started his chess magazine at Sutton Coldfield in 1935 as an impecunious graduate who could not find suitable work in the Depression\, and his lively style ensured that it was a beacon in British chess for fifty years to come! For many British chess fans he was “Mr Chess” yet it seems a miracle that he kept the magazine going in the difficult times when interest in the game was at a low ebb. He may well have subsidised it from his journalistic work (Birmingham Post\, Illustrated London News and Daily Telegraph) and from his wartime work as manager of a chemical laboratory (“The first time I ever earned a decent salary”). \nHis duodenal ulcer prevented him doing military service\, and later in life he suffered from failing eyesight and the inability to walk which resulted from his diabetes\, not diagnosed till he had suffered from it for decades. \nHe worked a seven-day week on the magazine\, and his wife who predeceased him was often unsure when he would be home such was his devotion to the work. At times he would take off for trips abroad or long simul tours through Britain while trying to keep the magazine on schedule. \nOne of his last long tours was in 1967 when he drove Botvinnik around the UK. The world champion was duly impressed by the work load and wrote a very favourable account of the trip\, revealing incidentally that Barry was still paying off the mortgage on his large house in Rectory Road\, Sutton Coldfield where the car was parked on the forecourt as the garage was the reserve storage for a large library of chess books! His ability to quote chemical formula from memory also impressed Botvinnik. \nHe brought up a family of four\, all of whom were skilled players\, apart\, perhaps from the youngest boy. Daughter Peggy\nwas prominent in women’s chess and married Peter Clarke at the time of the Botvinnik visit. Elder sons Chris and Frank were of over-200 strength\, but had seen too much of their father’s life at close hand to want to take over the business from him. He ultimately sold out to Pergamon in 1987 though negotiations had been started much earlier. It was probably too much of a wrench to let go until failing health left him with little alternative\, but he described\nthe terms as very generous. \nBarry was a gifted linguist who was welcome abroad for his un-English approach of having a go at the native tongue. As a player he was at his best in the late 1930s (a member of the 1939 Olympiad team in Buenos Aires) till the 1950s. He should really have won the 1948 British Championship when he had the enterprising idea of having Paul Schmidt as personal coach! Yet his tournament wins run on as late as Guernsey 1975 and he was playing in the First Division of the Birmingham League within a few weeks of his death. The flesh may have been weak but a great spirit kept him going to the end. \nShall we ever see his like again? \n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1948/49-24 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1949.01.01”]\n[Round “3”]\n[White “Wood\, Baruch Harold”]\n[Black “Koenig\, Imre”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “E32”]\n[Annotator “ChessBase / British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “69”]\n[EventDate “1948.12.30”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “MCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,69\,39\,31\,43\,-7\,0\,-4\,10\,-29\,13\,-14\,21\,2\,-3\,-13\,1\,-18\,-18\,-8\,24\,29\,21\,\n30\,37\,31\,34\,41\,28\,33\,77\,41\,93\,95\,102\,71\,116\,93\,93\,-42\,25\,32\,80\,82\,67\,170\,119\,\n46\,235\,140\,138\,105\,132\,140\,225\,245\,427\,385\,435\,385\,385\,382\,553\,512\,518\,506\,577\,\n601\,612\,618\,618\,650]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. Nf3 (5. a3) (\n5. Bg5) 5… d6 6. a3 (6. Bd2 Nbd7 7. a3 Bxc3 8. Bxc3 Qe7 9. e3 b6 10. Be2 Bb7\n11. O-O) 6… Bxc3+ 7. Qxc3 Nbd7 8. b4 {White has the two bishops and more\nspace on the queenside. Blacks has to look for attacking chances on the\nkingside.} a5 9. e3 (9. g3 $5 {safer}) 9… axb4 $146 (9… b6 10. Bb2 Bb7 11.\nBe2) 10. axb4 Ne4 {Blacks is aiming for a Dutch-like position.} 11. Qb2 Rxa1\n12. Qxa1 f5 {The Dutch move.} 13. Bd3 Ndf6 14. O-O Qe8 {Blacks pieces have to\ngo to the kingside.} 15. Nd2 (15. Ne1 $5) 15… Qg6 16. f3 Ng5 $1 {Black\ncorrectly doesn’t change\, he preserves the knight for attacking purposes.} (\n16… Nxd2 17. Bxd2 $14) 17. Kh1 h5 $1 18. Rg1 h4 {[#] /\Nf5-h5-g3+ with\nmating attack.} 19. g4 $2 $8 (19. f4 Ng4) (19. Qa5 $14 {is is very reasonable})\n19… hxg3 $2 {A missed opportunity} ({whereas} 19… Nh3 $1 20. Rf1 (20. Rg2\nQh6 21. Nf1 fxg4 22. fxg4 Nxg4 $19) 20… Qh6 21. Nb3 fxg4 $19) (19… Qh6 $1 {\nis very strong} 20. e4 Nh3 21. g5 Qg6 22. exf5 exf5 23. Rf1 Nf4 $19) 20. Rxg3 {\n/\f3-f4} Qh5 $2 (20… Qh6 $1 21. Bb2 Nh5 $1 22. Rg2 Nh3 {/\Qh6xe3; ..f5-f4\,\nNh5-g3+}) 21. Bb2 f4 $5 (21… Kf7 $2 {/\Rf8-h8} 22. Qg1 $1) 22. exf4 Nh3 {\n[#] /\Nh3-f2+-d3} 23. d5 $1 $16 (23. Qf1 $2 Nxf4 $15) 23… e5 (23… Nf2+ 24.\nKg2 Nxd3 25. Bxf6 $36 Nxf4+ 26. Kh1 g6 27. Be7 $11) 24. fxe5 $18 Nf2+ 25. Kg2 (\n25. Kg1 $1 Nh3+ 26. Kf1) 25… Nxd3 $6 (25… N6g4 $5 26. fxg4 Nxg4 27. Nf3 $1\n(27. Qg1 $2 Rf2+ 28. Qxf2 Qxh2+ $19) 27… Rxf3 (27… Ne3+ 28. Kh1 Rxf3 29.\nBe2 $18) 28. Kxf3 $1 Nxe5+ 29. Kg2 Nxd3 30. Rxg7+ Kf8 31. Qf1+ Bf5 32. h4 $1\nNxb2 33. Rg5 $18) 26. exf6 Bh3+ $2 (26… Re8 27. Ne4 Rxe4 28. fxe4 Qe2+ 29.\nKg1 Qf2+ 30. Kh1 Qe2 31. Kg1 Qf2+ 32. Kh1 Qe2 $11) 27. Kg1 (27. Rxh3 $2 Nf4+)\n27… Re8 28. Ne4 Nxb2 29. Qxb2 Rxe4 30. fxe4 Qd1+ 31. Kf2 Qf1+ 32. Ke3 Qe1+\n33. Kf4 Qf1+ 34. Kg5 Bd7 35. fxg7 {and Black resigned. An exciting contest\, typical of White’s\ngritty style.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nJulius Silverman former MP for Aston (Birmingham) writes: I am very sorry to learn of the death of Barry Wood. I knew him for about 55 years and I always found him a pleasant and interesting companion and a good friend. On the last few occasions that I have met him he seemed increasingly frail. I know that the death of his dear wife was a great blow to him. \nBarry’s contribution to Chess in this country has been enormous and his passing is the end of an era in chess journalism.\nBarry’s journalism and his imaginative editorship made Chess a fascinating journal which it was always a pleasure to read.\nIts survival for well over 50 years was a unique achievement which required persistence and dedication. He has had many\nhills to surmount. \nOne was “… the chess lawsuit of the Century …” (This ran for about two and a half years\, ending in 1940 in a victory for the magazine on appeal\, Ed). Jacques versus Chess which might have brought Chess to an end. I appeared for him as counsel. We won. I received a life subscription to Chess as part of my fee. My copy still comes to me regularly. I have never enjoyed a fee so much. \nHere is the article in its original form: \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CX (109)\, Number 5 (May)\, page 210\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CX (109)\, Number 5 (May)\, page 211\n[pgn]\n[Event “British CF-44 Championship”]\n[Site “Plymouth/ Devon”]\n[Date “1957.08.21”]\n[Round “3”]\n[White “Wood\, Baruch Harold”]\n[Black “Beaty\, John H”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “E87”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “87”]\n[EventDate “1957.08.19”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2001”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2000.11.22”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2000.11.22”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,87\,58\,35\,26\,-11\,56\,37\,33\,32\,37\,19\,53\,25\,21\,23\,33\,14\,11\,5\,44\,27\,44\,21\,\n54\,28\,41\,41\,90\,56\,59\,46\,48\,60\,60\,-4\,8\,25\,53\,-34\,-15\,-97\,-85\,-123\,-74\,-75\,51\,5\,\n69\,-119\,-123\,-138\,-173\,-189\,-201\,-185\,-198\,-195\,-117\,-305\,-304\,-284\,-338\,-357\,\n-330\,-394\,-242\,-395\,-144\,-252\,-223\,-202\,-160\,-439\,-364\,-262\,-167\,-377\,-202\,\n-186\,-93\,-48\,91\,107\,108\,115\,29997\,29998\,29999\,-30000]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3.\nNc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 e5 (5… O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. d5 c6 8. Qd2 cxd5 9. cxd5) 6.\nd5 O-O 7. Be3 Nh5 8. Qd2 f5 9. O-O-O a6 10. Kb1 Qe8 11. Bd3 Bd7 12. Rc1 Nf6\n$146 13. Nge2 b5 14. c5 b4 15. Nd1 Bb5 16. b3 fxe4 17. Bxe4 a5 18. Ng3 a4 19.\nQxb4 Na6 $19 20. Qd2 axb3 21. axb3 Qb8 22. Nb2 Nd7 23. c6 Ndc5 24. Rc3 Qb6 25.\nRhc1 Qa5 26. Kc2 Nb4+ 27. Kd1 Nxe4 28. Nxe4 Na2 29. Ng5 Nxc3+ 30. Rxc3 Qb4 31.\nNe6 Ra1+ 32. Kc2 Rf7 33. Bg5 Bf8 34. Re3 Qa3 35. Re4 Qa2 36. Qb4 Rb1 37. Bc1\nRa1 38. Qd2 Bg7 39. Rb4 Ba6 $11 40. Rb8+ {[#]} Bf8 $4 (40… Rf8 41. Nxf8 Bxf8\n42. Qg5 Qb1+ 43. Kd1 Qxb2 44. Rxf8+ Kxf8 45. Qd8+ Kf7 46. Qxc7+ Kf6 47. Qxd6+\nKg7 48. Qe7+ Kg8 49. Qe6+ $11) 41. Qh6 $18 Qb1+ 42. Kd1 Qf5 (42… Qxc1+ 43.\nQxc1 Rxc1+ 44. Kxc1 Bf1 45. g3 $18) 43. Rxf8+ Rxf8 44. Qg7# 1-0\n[/pgn] \nBernard on Barry (2004)\nREMEMBERING BARRY WOOD (1909-1939) \nby Bernard Cafferty \nOne of the most influential figures in British chess of the 20th century was B. H. Wood\, whom I knew personally from 1951\, and whom I played regularly\, over a period of three decades\, till l moved from Birmingham to Hastings in 1981. Here are some\nmemories of the man who was thought of by many in Britain as “Mr Chess”. \nBorn in Sheffield\, Baruch Harold Wood had his secondary education in North Wales at the same grammar school as W Ritson\nMorry who was later to become his Midlands colleague and bitter rival. BH always attributed his well-known stubbornness (he never resigned early) to “his Yorkshire blood”. Wood and Morry were to be students together at Birmingham University after BH gained his BSc in Wales. Then the pair faced the hard task of finding work in depression-struck mid-1930s England. BH founded his monthly magazine CHESS in 1935\, an act of amazing optimism which only his great appetite for work could justify. The magazine was based in Sutton Coldfield\, just north of Birmingham\, at gloomy premises known as Masonic Buildings. \nThe early decades of this publication were marked by the outpouring of glorious journalism of a popular sort. The man’s love\nof the game shone through his work and he recruited such contributors as the chatty Koltanowski and the prince of annotators\nAlexander Alekhine. Later he became the long-serving columnist of the Birmingham Post\, from 1949 of the weekly Illustrated London News\, and even later of the Daily Telegraph. A feature of the magazine was its lively letters from readers which made for more interesting reading than the equivalent occasional letter to be found in the staid\nBCM. The readers also made pertinent contributions to opening theory\, especially in going through the 1946 MCO with a fine toothcomb and reporting their discoveries to Sutton Coldfield. \nBH wrote a best-selling Easy Guide to Chess which went through several editions and was far more user-friendly than other primers on the market at the time. He also designed a luxury set\, the Coldfield\, and produced various chess clocks with new features. BH was a member of the BCF Olympiad side that played in the first part of the Buenos Aires Olympiad in the autumn of 1939. After the team’s withdrawal due to the outbreak of war\, he stayed on in Argentina for a short while\, taking part in a short tournament where he met the legendary Alekhine. \nOne Hundred Victorian Chess Problems\, BH Wood\, Wayland Publishers\, London\, 1972\nBH was married to Marjorie\, a Birmingham primary school teacher\, and had three sons and a daughter. The elder two boys\,\nChris and Frank\, were strong players but not Philip. His daughter Peggy was our leading girl player of the 1950s\, and married Peter Clarke in 1962. One should note that BH was not Jewish\, as many assumed from the name Baruch – he was generally addressed as Barry by his wife and close friends. Others called him just by the initials BH. Everyone in British chess knew exactly who you meant when you said BH. Many thought of him as a sharp business-man. In any event\, the fearsome workload he shouldered meant that none of his children\, seeing this at first hand\, aspired to carry on the magazine as a family business. To many in the British chess community who had never seen top players in action\, BH was their first contact with the wider chess world due to the exhausting simul tours he made to many clubs the length and breadth of the UK. \nLater\, he organized CHESS Festivals starting from 1953. These were our earliest open tournaments\, held at attractive venues such as Cheltenham\, Whitby\, Eastbourne and Southport. These events created the opportunity for British amateurs to meet continental grandmaster opposition like Donner and O’Kelly. BH had great confidence in his ability – his MSc at Birmingham University was in chemistry\, but in 1946-7 he started studying nuclear physics privately\, telling Brian Reilly\, who was employed by him at that time\, that it was the science of the future. I have to simply marvel at this – where did he find the time? In his self-portrait in connection with the GB-USSR match of 1946 he revealed that he had been studying Russian privately with a view to taking an external degree in it at Birmingham University. \nThe post-war decade saw him at his most active. He was BCF delegate at early FIDE meetings post-1946\, the period that saw the mighty Soviet Union admitted to membership in 1947. BH was instrumental in maintaining Spain’s membership of FIDE at the same time\, despite Soviet opposition to Franco’s fascism. He claimed to me he was always a most welcome guest in Spain thereafter. \nBattles with the BCF\nBH had been exempt from military service due to a duodenal ulcer. He spent the war keeping the magazine alive in his spare time as he was put in charge of a research laboratory at the Birmingham Chemical Company. During the war the government had the power under emergency legislation to direct citizens into any sort of work that would contribute to the war effort. His comment to me on that intensive period was: “It was the first time I ever drew a decent salary”. After a short spell as BCF FIDE delegate\, he fell out with the ruling body in the early 1950s. His view was that the national body was ultra-conservative and not open to fresh ideas such as the knockout championship open to all which he organised in 1949-50. Lo and behold\, a few months later the BCF started organising regional competitions to arrange for qualification for the British Championship! BH often criticised the BCF in his magazine. In June 1950 he wrote the first of a planned series of articles on the evergreen theme “Where is British Chess Going?” and forwarded a copy to the BCF just before publication. The BCF legal eagle Professor Wheatcroft immediately threatened to take out an injunction\, so putting the frighteners on the printers. Rather than delay the July issue (not that subscribers were not used to a rather irregular schedule!)\, BH brought out the issue with white space\, on two pages\, a dramatic way of alerting the readers to the dispute. The promised articles\, which he said would appear after the dispute was settled\, never appeared. \nDW Anderton OBE plays BH Wood MBE in 1981 in a Blitz tournament outside of the National Film Theatre. Photograph courtesy of John Saunders\nThere were also tensions with BCF figures like Alexander and Golombek\, in the latter case probably due to professional rivalry and Harry G’s identification with the BCM. Another prominent figure with whom BH crossed swords was the flamboyant Liverpool barrister Gerald Abrahams who threatened to sue over a report in CHESS of gambling debts incurred “on the turf’. \nBH was no stranger to litigation. For example he had had a lawsuit with Jaques culminating in 1940 over the use of the term\n“genuine Staunton-pattern sets” in his advertising. The case was initially lost\, a potentially crippling blow\, but then won on appeal with the aid of solicitor Julius Silverman (later a prominent Birmingham MP)\, Ritson Morry\, Sir George Thomas and\nother well-wishers. When Wood-Morry hostility was at its height in the early 1950s over pro- and anti-BCF views\, BH drew attention in a letter to a Welsh chess organiser to Ritson’s short period in jail. The uncomplimentary term ‘gaolbird’ was used. A court case followed which the penurious Ritson\, having been struck off as a solicitor could hardly afford\, yet BH was cleared on the defence of justification. My fellow students and I at Birmingham University could only marvel at the daily press reports on the wrangles between two of our patrons whom we had feted at a celebratory dinner only a short while before. \nHere is the point at which to mention BH’s support for chess in the universities. He was the long-time President of the\nBUCA (British Universities’ Chess Association) and turned up at many of their events with support. He loaned equipment in the early days when not every chess club had sufficient clocks for a match – bear in mind that the austerity period in Britain lasted for years after 1945. BH also supported correspondence chess\, being the founder of the Postal Chess League\, a team event very popular in its day but now defunct. \nBH’s best playing performance was the British Championship of 1948 when he came second to Broadbent. The Midlander had actually started with 6.5 points from seven games\, but the unsatisfactory position arose that he had to meet Broadbent in the last round when each had an adjourned game still to finish off. \nBH Wood during the 1948 British Championships at Bishopsgate Institute\, London. Taken on August 30th 1948 by Keystone Press Agency\nThe tension got to BH\, he missed a clear winning chance against the Northerner and lost. Yet he should really have taken the title on the merits of the positions he had achieved. His rivals resented the fact that he had hired a second\, namely Paul Schmidt\, the Estonian player who was once thought of as almost as good as Keres in his native land. Schmidt had won the German Championship during the war in 1941. The British amateurs of 1948 were not impressed by this intrusion of professionalism and the importation of someone who carried the taint of possible Nazism. According to Brian Reilly\, Gerald Abrahams was particularly scathing. \nBH made a good impression on Botvinnik when the latter stayed at the Wood residence in Rectory Road\, Sutton Coldfield\, in 1967 (the reference for those who can read Russian is Baturinsky’s “…Tvorchestvo” trilogy on Botvinnik. The article was entitled: Albion shakhmatny i inoy. It appears on pp435 -448 of the third volume. A shortened version appears in English in Botvinnik’s autobiography Achieving the Aim). When I drew BH’s attention to the article and its peculiar title he responded with his usual erudite comment: ‘Albion? Yes\, that’s the Roman reference to the white cliffs of Dover”. For most Brummies\, “The Albion” did not mean a local pub\, but rather the West Bromwich Albion football team! \nIn theory\, the communist Botvinnik should have been distant from his host\, the Midlands entrepreneur and business man\, who drove him round to his engagements in Britain for three weeks\, but their common love of chess triumphed over ideological\ndifferences. In particular\, the speed of production of CHESS\, now on its own presses\, was compared very favourably by the Soviet Patriarch to that of Shakhmaty v SSSR. British trade unions had a different view of course\, in pre-Thatcher days\, and BH had some tricky obstacles to overcome in this field. The Muscovite Botvinnik recorded the fact that the garage of BH’s large house was full of chess books (as were various rooms – to the abiding despair of Marjorie)\, so the family car was always parked outside on the drive. BH revealed to Botvinnik that he had not been able pay off his mortgage for decades due to the variable cash flow from his business and journalism. \nBH was in love with study as a young man\, he once told me\, and he had a facility in various European languages\, which made him always welcome abroad. Over the years\, BH had a number of employees who were strong players\, such as Brian Reilly\, Owen Hindle and Robert Bellin\, but none of them lasted long. Owen Hindle\, a person of placid temperament\, stuck it out the longest\, but even he had his patience tried by the ‘boss’. One cannot hide the fact that BH was a controversial figure – perhaps the clue after all is that reference to his stubbornness and Yorkshire blood? I contributed to his magazine for many years\, but certainly never wanted to work for him full-time! \nI used to see BH in the last decade of his life only in the Hastings press room. For his age\, he still took on a fantastic workload. Peter Clarke once commented that his father-in-law gave the impression of believing he would live for ever. Finally\, Anno Domini told and BH sold his business to Robert Maxwell of Pergamon fame/notoriety in 1988. \nIn his final year\, BH suffered from diabetes\, and the resulting inability to walk meant he was confined to a wheelchair\, but he still insisted on visiting Hastings one last time\, where\, in his prime\, he had specialised in taking away Premier score sheets. Often they were taken not just to his hotel room\, but even back to Sutton Coldfield\, so hindering the work of other chess journalists unless Ritson or later\, Peter Griffiths had got in first to create the bulletin. \nWhat a character! We lack such a colourful figure nowadays. Where he still alive today\, I imagine he would still be trying to put a bomb under the BCF. \n[pgn]\n[Event “British CF-35 Championship”]\n[Site “London (Bishopsgate)”]\n[Date “1948.09.10”]\n[Round “11”]\n[White “Broadbent\, Reginald Joseph”]\n[Black “Wood\, Baruch Harold”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[Annotator “Bernard Cafferty / British Chess News”]\n[SetUp “1”]\n[FEN “3q1rk1/7p/1Np1b1p1/P3p3/1P2P2b/3pB3/3Q2P1/R5K1 w – – 0 27”]\n[PlyCount “9”]\n[EventDate “1948.08.30”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM\, Nov 1948\, p. 379.”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2007.11.25”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2007.11.25”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,9\,-76\,-345\,-417\,-380\,797\,623\,889\,907\,938\,952] [#]} {Sicilian Dragon\,\n33 moves. When Broadbent and Wood sat down to play this last-round game\, they\nstill had one adjourned game each to finish (Broadbent\, his 7th round game\nwith Morry\, and Wood his 10th round game with Milner-Barry). Hence they both\nhad 7/9 at the time.} 27. a6 $4 ({Broadbent should have played Br} 27. Kh2 {\nto prevent Wood’s bishop from making its home on g3. Now He’s lost}) 27… Bg3\n$1 $19 28. Rf1 {with the idea of Rf3} Qh4 $4 (28… Bh2+ $1 29. Kxh2 Rxf1 30.\nBf2 Qe7 $19 {and Baruch Wood would have been 1948 British Champion}) 29. Rxf8+\nKxf8 30. a7 $18 Qh2+ 31. Kf1 {… 33 moves (Source: BCM\, Nov 1948\, p379)\nBlack resigned on move 33. He had temporarily overlooked the fact that bishops\nhave a reverse gear and that 32.Bg1 would defend against 31…Qh1 “mate” As\nBCM said at the time\, “Typical last round”.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nWinter\, Jaques and Wood\nFrom Chess Explorations (Cadogan Chess\, 1996) by Edward Winter we have further detail on the Jaques court case: \n“Paul Timson\, a lawyer\, sends us reports on two legal  cases connected with chess. In 1939 B.H.Wood found himself in the dock for having advertised for sale in CHESS in 1937 ‘genuine Staunton chessmen’. The plaintiffs were John Jaques & Son\, Ltd. Sir George Thomas.\, Max Euwe and Lodewijk Prins appeared as witnesses for the defence. The case is referred to by Fred Wren in his article ‘Tales of a Woodpusher: Woodpusher’s Woodpile’\, which appeared in Chess Review\, 1949 and was reprinted in Reinfeld’s The Treasury of Chess Lore. The issues of CHESS of the time also contained a huge amount of material on the case. The decision was that ‘Staunton’ alone was permissible description\, but that the phrase ‘genuine Staunton’ implied a product made by Jaques & Son Ltd.\, as opposed to any Staunton pattern.  However\, B.H. Wood appealed and\, in 1940\, won.” \nOther Sources\nIf you can get access then we recommend the eleven-page “B.H. Wood and his chess playing family” article in the August-2009 issue of Chess Monthly written by his son Chris Wood (helped by brother Frank). \nLikewise The Chess Lawsuit of the Century is detailed in CHESS\, volume 52\, Number 1018\, pp.392 – 394 by BHW himself. \nHere is an obituary from the MCCU \nBackground information from Sutton Coldfield Chess Club \nAlekhine’s Articles for CHESS by Michael Clapham \nHere is his Wikipedia entry.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-baruch-harold-wood/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,Honours,Official,Organiser,Player,Remembering,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/bhwood.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200411
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200412
DTSTAMP:20210411T102446Z
CREATED:20200406T153153Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210411T102446Z
UID:4108-1586563200-1586649599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Erik Teichmann (11-iv-1961)
DESCRIPTION:FM Erik Oskar Michael Charles Teichmann\nBirthday of FM Erik Oskar Michael Charles Teichmann (11-iv-1961) \nErik was born in Westminster\, London\, his mother (née Jorgensen) being Danish and his father was Max Teichmann. They lived in London for two years and then emigrated to Melbourne\, Australia until Erik was six when Erik and his mother moved to Cambridge\, England. Erik played much chess in England including the British U-18 and U-21 championships\, Lloyds Bank events \n[pgn]\n[Event “British CF-68 Championship”]\n[Site “Morecambe/ Lancashire”]\n[Date “1981.08.11”]\n[Round “8”]\n[White “Teichmann\, Erik Oskar Michael”]\n[Black “Davies\, Nigel Rodney”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “E67”]\n[BlackElo “2360”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “81”]\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\,81\,18\,32\,83\,54\,37\,41\,33\,31\,37\,39\,61\,40\,48\,54\,43\,26\,14\,11\,91\,39\,62\,52\,\n60\,24\,56\,113\,83\,83\,83\,81\,115\,95\,103\,87\,59\,72\,72\,71\,202\,158\,229\,227\,261\,74\,78\,5\,\n7\,10\,10\,11\,69\,-36\,-82\,-260\,-77\,-77\,-62\,-55\,-55\,-157\,-14\,-43\,-16\,-22\,-15\,-251\,\n-335\,-346\,-141\,-255\,-185\,-287\,356\,450\,509\,450\,532\,535\,1141\,140\,847\,893]} 1. d4\ng6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. g3 Nd7 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg2 Ngf6 7. O-O O-O 8. e4 c5 9.\nh3 Rb8 10. Qe2 b5 11. e5 Ne8 12. Rd1 cxd4 13. Nxd4 Nxe5 14. cxb5 axb5 15. f4\nNc4 16. Nc6 Qb6+ 17. Kh2 e6 18. Nxb8 d5 19. a4 b4 20. Nxd5 exd5 21. Bxd5 Na5\n22. Qb5 Qf2+ 23. Bg2 Nb3 24. Rb1 Bf5 25. Rf1 Qc2 26. Qxb4 Nf6 27. Kg1 Be4 28.\nBxe4 Nxe4 29. Be3 Nxg3 30. Rfe1 Ne2+ 31. Rxe2 Qxb1+ 32. Re1 Qxb2 33. Qb6 Qc3\n34. Rd1 Re8 35. Bf2 Nd2 36. Nc6 Ne4 37. Rd8 Qc1+ 38. Kg2 Nf6 39. Ne7+ Kf8 40.\nRxe8+ Kxe8 41. Nc6 {time} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nand the Islington and other opens swisses. Erik played for Cambridge University (Magdalen College) in the 1982 (100th) Varsity Match drawing with Gareth Anthony (Trinity Hall). \nErik Oskar Michael Charles Teichmann (rear\, far right) at a Lloyds Bank event\nErik (left) analyses with Mark A Johnstone (right) and James Pratt at the 1981 Islington Open. Your Truly was the photographer.\nIn 1985 Erik emigrated once more to Australia living in Eltham\, Melbourne and became a lifestyle guru and coach. \nErik Teichmann standing\, holding trophy)\nErik became a FIDE Master in 1990 and his peak rating was 2388 in July 2010. \nFM Erik Teichmann\nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“FIDE Master Erik Oskar Michael Charles Teichmann won the Nova Scotia Open in 1999.” \nHere is Erik’s favourite game : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Melbourne Cup”]\n[Site “Melbourne”]\n[Date “2010.11.02”]\n[Round “9”]\n[White “Cheng\, Bobby Sky”]\n[Black “Teichmann\, Erik Oskar Michael”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “D02”]\n[WhiteElo “2227”]\n[BlackElo “2329”]\n[Annotator “johnu”]\n[PlyCount “70”]\n[EventDate “2010.10.29”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “AUS”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2012”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2011.11.24”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2011.11.24”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,70\,19\,31\,98\,26\,30\,21\,18\,9\,1\,11\,9\,1\,13\,14\,13\,7\,9\,8\,23\,14\,6\,-9\,54\,38\,40\,\n39\,45\,45\,51\,23\,13\,0\,10\,-8\,10\,-20\,-4\,7\,18\,21\,26\,39\,21\,27\,40\,35\,90\,46\,19\,40\,1\,24\,\n0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,-188\,-274\,-816\,-999\,-938\,-1249\,-1273\,-1332\,-29993\,-2157\,-2157\,-2078\,\n-29989\,-1385]} 1. d4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 Bg4 4. Nbd2 e6 5. e3 Bd6 6. Bxd6 Qxd6\n7. c4 Nge7 8. Be2 O-O 9. O-O Rad8 10. c5 Qd7 11. b4 Ng6 12. b5 Nce7 13. a4 f6\n14. h3 Bf5 15. Nb3 e5 16. Na5 c6 17. Ra2 Qc7 18. Qd2 e4 19. Nh2 Bc8 20. Rb2 f5\n21. g3 f4 22. exf4 Bxh3 23. Rfb1 Nf5 24. Bf1 Bxf1 25. Nxf1 Qd7 26. bxc6 bxc6\n27. Rb7 Qe6 28. Rxa7 Nfh4 29. Nh2 Qh3 30. gxh4 Nxf4 31. f3 e3 32. Qc2 e2 33.\nKf2 Qxh2+ 34. Ke1 Ng2+ 35. Kxe2 Ne1+ 0-1\n[/pgn] \nErik now lives in Lyon\, France with his girlfriend both being Buddhists. \nFM Erik Teichmann\, photo by Cathy Rogers
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-erik-oskar-michael-charles-teichmann-11-iv-1961/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200418
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200419
DTSTAMP:20210418T082537Z
CREATED:20200418T001019Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210418T082537Z
UID:3927-1587168000-1587254399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Willy Watson (18-iv-1962)
DESCRIPTION:William Watson\nBirthday of GM William Nicholas Watson (18-iv-1962) \nWilliam Watson\nHere is his brief Wikipedia entry \nWilliam Watson at a BCF National Club Final\n[pgn]\n[Event “Brighton Knight Flight Int”]\n[Site “Brighton”]\n[Date “1982.12.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Watson\, William N”]\n[Black “Shamkovich\, Leonid Alexandrovic”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B23”]\n[WhiteElo “2330”]\n[BlackElo “2470”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “53”]\n[EventDate “1982.12.13”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[EventCategory “8”]\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\,53\,19\,31\,72\,8\,28\,4\,60\,6\,15\,15\,27\,21\,17\,-8\,-8\,-16\,-6\,-7\,-3\,-39\,-20\,-16\,\n-6\,0\,0\,0\,53\,48\,46\,68\,23\,-9\,66\,60\,60\,55\,45\,29\,-9\,-36\,8\,-20\,97\,124\,137\,167\,128\,\n157\,1180\,29988\,29993\,29994\,29995\,29996]} 1. e4 c5 2. f4 Nc6 3. Nf3 g6 4. Bb5\nBg7 5. O-O Nf6 6. d3 O-O 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. Nc3 d6 9. Bd2 c4 10. d4 Qb6 11. Rb1 e5\n12. fxe5 dxe5 13. Na4 Qc7 14. Nxe5 Nxe4 15. Bf4 Qd6 16. Nc3 Bf5 17. g4 Nxc3 18.\nbxc3 Be4 19. Nxf7 Qd5 20. Nh6+ Kh8 21. Be5 Rf3 22. Rxf3 Bxf3 23. Qe1 c5 24. g5\nRe8 25. Rb8 Rxb8 26. Bxg7+ Kxg7 27. Qe7+ 1-0 \n[/pgn] \nWilliam Watson (2nd from left)\n[pgn]\n[Event “Brighton CGL Int”]\n[Site “Brighton”]\n[Date “1983.12.15”]\n[Round “4”]\n[White “Plaskett\, H James”]\n[Black “Watson\, William N”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B76”]\n[WhiteElo “2440”]\n[BlackElo “2395”]\n[Annotator “ChessBase”]\n[PlyCount “56”]\n[EventDate “1983.12.12”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[EventCategory “8”]\n[SourceTitle “MCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,56\,19\,38\,40\,41\,66\,77\,66\,55\,55\,20\,70\,53\,40\,34\,30\,13\,22\,6\,25\,28\,4\,25\,36\,\n21\,15\,9\,98\,63\,74\,63\,159\,132\,327\,440\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,-60\,-128\,-196\,-316\,-445\,-289\,\n-500\,-194\,-470\,-576\,-569\,-565\,-608\,-605\,-908\,-873\,-29999\,-30000]} 1. e4 c5 2.\nNf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. g4 (\n9. Bc4 {main line}) (9. O-O-O d5 $5) 9… Be6 10. O-O-O Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Qa5 12.\na3 (12. Kb1 $6 Rfc8) 12… Rfc8 13. h4 Rab8 14. h5 (14. Nd5 $5 Qxd2+\n15. Rxd2 Nxd5 $1 16. Bxg7 (16. exd5 Bxd5 $1 17. Bxg7 Bxf3 18. Rh3 Bxg4 19. Rg3\nKxg7 20. Rxg4 Rc7 $13) 16… Kxg7 17. exd5 Bd7 18. Be2 {Nunn} Rc5 19. f4 Rbc8\n20. Kb1 a6 $10) 14… b5 15. h6 (15. Nd5 $2 Qxd2+ 16. Rxd2 (16. Kxd2\nNxd5 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. exd5 Bxd5 $19) 16… Bxd5 17. exd5 Bh6 $19) (15. hxg6 $5\nb4 $5 (15… hxg6 16. Qg5 $1 a6 $6 17. Rd2 Qc7 $2 18. Rdh2 b4 19. Qh6 $1 Bxh6+\n20. Rxh6 g5 21. Bd3 Bxg4 22. Rh8+ Kg7 23. R1h7+ Kg6 24. e5+ Ne4 25. Rh6+ Kf5\n26. Bxe4+ Kf4 27. Ne2#) 16. gxh7+ Kh8 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. exd5 Qxd5 19. g5 Qa2 20.\nQe3 e5 21. gxf6 Bxf6 22. Rg1 bxa3 23. Qxa3 $16) 15… b4 (15… Bh8 $6 16. Nd5\nQxd2+ 17. Rxd2 Nxd5 18. exd5 Bxd4 (18… Bxd5 19. Bxh8 Bxf3 20. Rh3 Bxg4 21.\nRg3 Kxh8 22. Rxg4 $16 {Short\,N-Georgiev\,Ki/Oakham/1984/}) 19. Rxd4 Bd7 $14 {\nTal\,M-Sax\,G/Mosow/1982/}) (15… Bf8 $5 {Sapi} 16. Bxf6 b4 $5 (16… exf6 17.\nNd5 Qxd2+ 18. Rxd2 Bxd5 19. Rxd5 Rc5 $10) 17. Nd5 (17. Bd4 bxa3 18. b3 Bxb3 19.\ncxb3 Rxb3 $19) 17… Bxd5 18. Qxd5 Rc5 19. Qb3 exf6 20. a4 Qc7 21. Kb1 $13) 16.\nhxg7 (16. axb4 $2 Qa1+ 17. Nb1 Ba2 $19) (16. Nb5 $5 Rxb5 17. Bxb5 Qxb5 18. hxg7\nbxa3 19. Qd3 (19. bxa3 Qa4 $13) 19… axb2+ 20. Bxb2 Bc4 21. Qe3 Be2 $15) 16…\nbxa3 17. Qh6 (17. Nd5 $2 axb2+ 18. Bxb2 Rxb2 19. Nxe7+ Kxg7 20. Qh6+ Kh8 21.\nNxc8 Qb4 $19 {Fernandez-Martin Gonzalez\,A/Barcelona/1985/0-1/}) 17… axb2+ 18.\nKd2 Bxg4 {Mestel} 19. Bxf6 {[#]} (19. fxg4 e5 $1 20. Qe3 exd4 21. Qxd4 Rxc3 22.\nQxc3 Nxe4+ $19) 19… Bh5 $1 20. Bd4 $2 (20. Ke3 $2 Rxc3+ 21. Bxc3 Qxc3+ 22.\nBd3 a5 $19) (20. Kd3 $2 b1=Q 21. Rxb1 Rxb1 22. Nxb1 Qb5+ 23.\nKe3 Qxb1 $19) (20. Bh3 $6 exf6 $1 21. Bxc8 Rxc8 22. Qe3 Qb4 23. Rh4 d5 24. exd5\nQxh4 $19) (20. Rxh5 $1 gxh5 21. Bh3 exf6 22. Bxc8 Rxc8 23. Qxf6 Qb4 24. Rb1 a5\n25. Kd3 Qc4+ 26. Kd2 Qb4 27. Kd3 $10) 20… e5 21. Rxh5 (21. Kd3 exd4 22. Nd5\nRc3+ 23. Ke2 Rxc2+ 24. Kd3 Qb5+ 25. Kxc2 b1=Q+ 26. Rxb1 Qxb1+ 27. Kd2 Rb2#)\n21… gxh5 22. Qg5 (22. Qxh5 b1=Q 23. Rxb1 Rxb1 24. Bd3 Ra1 25. Qf5 Rc7 26. Ke2\nexd4 27. Nd5 Qe1#) 22… Qb4 (22… b1=Q $1 23. Rxb1 Rxb1 24. Bd3 Ra1 25. Qf5\nexd4 26. Qxc8+ Kxg7 $19) 23. Bd3 Qxd4 24. Nd5 (24. Nb1 Qf2+ 25. Be2 Rxc2+ 26.\nKxc2 Qxe2+ 27. Kc3 Qxd1 $19) 24… Qf2+ 25. Be2 Rxc2+ 26. Kxc2 Qxe2+ 27. Kc3\nQxf3+ 28. Kc4 Qb3# 0-1\n[/pgn] \nWilliam Watson (2nd from left)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-william-nicholas-watson-18-iv-1962/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220401
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220402
DTSTAMP:20220404T160618Z
CREATED:20200401T115720Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220404T160618Z
UID:3917-1648771200-1648857599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of CM David Anderton OBE (02-viii-1941 01-iv-2022)
DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers CM David Anderton OBE who passed away on Friday\, April 1st\, 2022 aged 80. \nIn the 1977 New Years Honours List\, Civil Division\, David was awarded the OBE. The citation read simply : “For services to Chess” \nDavid William Anderton was born in the district of Walsall\, Staffordshire\, West Midlands. His mother’s maiden name was Coltart and David resided in Walsall. \nDavid was married to Doreen in 2005. \nDavid Anderton (rhs) congratulates Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry 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\nDavid was an Honorary Life Vice-President of the English (formerly British) Chess Federation. \nJohn Nunn\, David Anderton and Jonathan Speelman\n“David won the ECF President’s Award in 2009 following his stepping down as ECF legal expert. This is the citation from the 2010 ECF Yearbook : \n“As this is Gerry Walsh’s last year as President it was considered appropriate that he be allowed to choose someone receive the award. Gerry has worked with David for all his time with BCF and ECF and has selected him due to his tireless and selfless devotion to both the BCF and ECF over many years. \nDavid Anderton OBE\, ? and Teresa Needham\nMost of you will know David and will agree that this is a well deserved award. It is fair to state that David’s assistance over the years has been invaluable and that without it many areas of the Federation would have found it difficult\, if not impossible to operate. \nJim Plaskett with David Anderton OBE at the 1983 Benedictine International (Manchester)\nSince my election David has been a constant friend and confidante. He has invariable given sound advice throughout my term of office. It was John Wickham who rang me and suggested that due to my length of tenure\, a special award might be in order. \nJim accepts the 1981 Grand Prix shield from David Anderton OBE\nAfter years of selfless and generous devotion serving as ECF President\, International Director\, Captain of the England Team and legal adviser\, this seems to be a fitting tribute. \nFrom the Praxis Bath Zonal Tournament of 1987. David Anderton OBE is second from right\nDavid’s advice both legal and general\, has been invaluable in such matters as the John Robinson legacy and the change of name from BCF to ECF Limited\, and I certainly hope that this advice will continue. \nGerry Walsh” \nBob Wade OBE\, Murray Chandler MNZM and David Anderton OBE\nDavid is a FIDE Candidate Master (CM). \nFrom the BCF 1979-80 Year Book of Chess : Robert Bellin\, the new British Champion\, explains the secret to the Mayor of Chester (?) and to David Anderton\, BCF President\nWith the White pieces David exclusively plays 1.d4 aiming for a Queen’s Gambit and main lines. \nWith Black David plays the Winawer and the Classical French plus the Lenningrad Dutch. \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\nHere are his games. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Kilkenny Masters”]\n[Site “Kilkenny”]\n[Date “1997.11.28”]\n[Round “4”]\n[White “Anderton\, David William”]\n[Black “Watson\, William N”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B07”]\n[WhiteElo “2200”]\n[BlackElo “2535”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “80”]\n[EventDate “1997.11.28”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “6”]\n[EventCountry “IRL”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 061 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.03.09”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.03.09”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,80\,17\,28\,70\,75\,74\,61\,88\,52\,41\,41\,36\,30\,37\,51\,39\,40\,44\,28\,70\,51\,60\,31\,\n36\,-4\,6\,41\,27\,29\,47\,43\,85\,65\,98\,84\,94\,98\,193\,74\,77\,77\,79\,79\,55\,48\,84\,88\,88\,103\,\n113\,79\,85\,133\,130\,120\,225\,222\,275\,195\,326\,194\,271\,92\,92\,92\,90\,91\,77\,98\,148\,118\,\n62\,-11\,19\,-249\,-240\,-256\,-277\,-267\,-267\,-306\,-306]} 1. d4 d6 2. e4 Nf6 3. Nc3\ng6 4. Nge2 Bg7 5. g3 O-O 6. Bg2 c6 7. O-O e5 8. h3 b5 9. a3 a6 10. Be3 Nbd7 11.\ng4 Bb7 12. Ng3 h6 $146 13. Qd2 $14 exd4 14. Bxd4 Nb6 15. b3 Kh7 16. Rad1 Qc7\n17. f4 d5 {[#]} 18. Qf2 $1 Nbd7 (18… Nfd7 $142) 19. e5 (19. g5 $1 Ne8 20.\nexd5 Bxd4 21. Rxd4 c5 22. Rd2 b4 23. d6 $18) 19… Ng8 20. b4 a5 21. h4 Qd8 22.\nh5 axb4 23. axb4 Qh4 $1 24. Qf3 Qe7 25. Rb1 Ra3 26. Rfe1 Bh8 27. Bf1 $18 c5 28.\nbxc5 Nxc5 29. Rxb5 Ne6 30. Bf2 (30. f5 $1) 30… Rc8 31. Rb3 $6 (31. f5) 31…\nRxb3 32. cxb3 Nxf4 $1 33. Qxf4 Rxc3 34. b4 Qe6 35. Bd4 Rb3 36. b5 Ne7 $11 37.\nNh1 g5 38. Qf2 Qxg4+ 39. Bg2 Nf5 40. Rf1 Bc8 $19 {White (presumably) won on\ntime.} 1-0 \n[Event “Kilkenny Masters”]\n[Site “Kilkenny”]\n[Date “1997.11.28”]\n[Round “4”]\n[White “Anderton\, David William”]\n[Black “Watson\, William N”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B07”]\n[WhiteElo “2200”]\n[BlackElo “2535”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “80”]\n[EventDate “1997.11.28”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “6”]\n[EventCountry “IRL”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 061 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.03.09”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.03.09”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,80\,17\,28\,70\,75\,74\,61\,88\,52\,41\,41\,36\,30\,37\,51\,39\,40\,44\,28\,70\,51\,60\,31\,\n36\,-4\,6\,41\,27\,29\,47\,43\,85\,65\,98\,84\,94\,98\,193\,74\,77\,77\,79\,79\,55\,48\,84\,88\,88\,103\,\n113\,79\,85\,133\,130\,120\,225\,222\,275\,195\,326\,194\,271\,92\,92\,92\,90\,91\,77\,98\,148\,118\,\n62\,-11\,19\,-249\,-240\,-256\,-277\,-267\,-267\,-306\,-306]} 1. d4 d6 2. e4 Nf6 3. Nc3\ng6 4. Nge2 Bg7 5. g3 O-O 6. Bg2 c6 7. O-O e5 8. h3 b5 9. a3 a6 10. Be3 Nbd7 11.\ng4 Bb7 12. Ng3 h6 $146 13. Qd2 $14 exd4 14. Bxd4 Nb6 15. b3 Kh7 16. Rad1 Qc7\n17. f4 d5 {[#]} 18. Qf2 $1 Nbd7 (18… Nfd7 $142) 19. e5 (19. g5 $1 Ne8 20.\nexd5 Bxd4 21. Rxd4 c5 22. Rd2 b4 23. d6 $18) 19… Ng8 20. b4 a5 21. h4 Qd8 22.\nh5 axb4 23. axb4 Qh4 $1 24. Qf3 Qe7 25. Rb1 Ra3 26. Rfe1 Bh8 27. Bf1 $18 c5 28.\nbxc5 Nxc5 29. Rxb5 Ne6 30. Bf2 (30. f5 $1) 30… Rc8 31. Rb3 $6 (31. f5) 31…\nRxb3 32. cxb3 Nxf4 $1 33. Qxf4 Rxc3 34. b4 Qe6 35. Bd4 Rb3 36. b5 Ne7 $11 37.\nNh1 g5 38. Qf2 Qxg4+ 39. Bg2 Nf5 40. Rf1 Bc8 $19 {White (presumably) won on\ntime.} 1-0 \n[/pgn] \nDW Anderton OBE plays BH Wood MBE in 1981 in a Blitz tournament outside of the National Film Theatre. Photograph courtesy of John Saunders\nDuring 1989-93 David was an Executive Board Member of FIDE. \nThe England Team from the 1990 Novi Sad Olympiad : John Nunn\, Jon Speelman\, Julian Hodgson\, David Anderton OBE (Captain)\, Nigel Short\, Michael Adams and Murray Chandler\nIn 2002 David was awarded the title of International Master by the ICCF (correspondence chess) \nIn 2015 David stood down from all of his roles within the ECF. \nDavid Anderton OBE\, Paul Bazalgette (Senior Partner at Philips & Drew) and Tony Banks (GLC Arts & Recreation Department) at the 1982 Philips and Drew Kings Tournament Opening Ceremony. Photograph by Clive Field\nDavid has won the British Seniors Championship in 2003 (shared)\, 2005\, 2007 (shared)\, 2009 (shared) and 2011. \nHere is a potted biography from The Express and Star Newspaper \nDavid Anderton OBE at the 2019 British Championships in Torquay\, courtesy of John Upham Photography\nDavid is Head of Regulatory Law at Anson’s Solicitors. He is also Secretary of the Erasmus Darwin Foundation (03270753) and Director of Unionist Buildings Ltd.\, Wallsall Conservative Investments Ltd. and Wallsall Unionist Holdings Ltd. \nCM David William Anderton OBE
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-cm-david-william-anderton-obe-02-viii-1941/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Honours,Official,Player,Remembering
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/jb4_7593_lv.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230108
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230109
DTSTAMP:20230109T124705Z
CREATED:20230109T124704Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230109T124705Z
UID:22151-1673136000-1673222399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Keith Arkell (08-i-1961)
DESCRIPTION:We send birthday wishes to GM Keith Arkell\, born this day (January 8th) in 1961. \nKeith Arkell\nHere is Keith’s Wikipedia entry \nGM Keith Arkell (ENG)\nThis was written about Keith aged 18 prior to the 1979 Spassky vs the BCF Junior Squad simultaneous display : \n“Rednal\, Birmingham. Rating 188. 2nd Lloyds Bank junior international\, 1979.” \nKeith was Southern Counties (SCCU) champion for the 2014-15 season sharing with Jonathan Hawkins \nHere is an interview with ChessBase from 2016. \nGM Keith Arkell\n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PIzZG4FlZ8[/embedyt] \n[pgn]\n[Event “BCF-chT 1415 (4NCL)”]\n[Site “England”]\n[Date “2015.02.14”]\n[Round “5.164”]\n[White “Rogers\, Jonathan”]\n[Black “Arkell\, Keith C”]\n[Result “1/2-1/2”]\n[ECO “B12”]\n[WhiteElo “2277”]\n[BlackElo “2497”]\n[Annotator “Saunders\,J/Arkell”]\n[PlyCount “82”]\n[EventDate “2014.11.15”]\n[EventType “team-swiss”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2016”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2015.10.08”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2015.10.08”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Barbican II”]\n[BlackTeam “Cheddleton”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,82\,19\,38\,72\,69\,71\,77\,64\,2\,30\,17\,14\,9\,29\,24\,35\,-30\,-50\,-74\,-74\,-75\,-88\,\n-128\,-3\,-16\,-56\,-32\,-43\,-43\,10\,5\,20\,16\,16\,-4\,5\,-3\,-68\,-61\,-45\,-40\,-37\,-1273\,68\,\n-201\,-202\,-210\,-197\,-207\,-208\,-228\,-194\,-183\,-149\,-150\,-148\,-143\,-143\,-141\,138\,\n141\,141\,150\,138\,140\,138\,173\,201\,198\,198\,210\,213\,236\,232\,190\,225\,138\,142\,100\,\n114\,95\,114\,95\,92]} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c4 e6 5. Nf3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Bb4+\n$5 ({Databases are peppered with games where Keith has played} 6… Nc6 {\nbut perhaps he wanted to keep his opponent guessing.}) 7. Nc3 Ne7 8. h4 Nbc6 9.\na3 $5 {Jonathan\, perhaps with the far-sighted plan of not being strangled\nslowly in a rook and pawn endgame\, wants to provoke something sharp.} Bxc3+ 10.\nbxc3 Nxe5 11. Bf4 N5g6 (11… Nxc4 12. Bxc4 dxc4 {is tempting but maybe} 13.\nNb5 O-O 14. Qxd8 Rxd8 15. Nc7 Nd5 16. O-O-O $5 {gives White a bit of\ncompensation. Instead\, Black gives back material to get some pressure on the\ne-file.}) 12. Bg3 e5 13. h5 exd4 14. hxg6 Nxg6 15. Qxd4 O-O 16. cxd5 Re8+ 17.\nBe2 Ne7 18. Rd1 Nf5 19. Qd3 {[diag]} Qg5 (19… Qg5 {We haven’t quite got\nthere yet\, but we’re coming up to a spectacular mutual oversight which needs\nexplaining. Seeking enlightenment (and also wanting to be sure that the moves\nwere correctly recorded – mix-ups do happen)\, I got in touch with Keith on\nFaceBook to ask what happened. Keith responded at some length\, centring on his\nthoughts as he planned the move 19…Qg5. What followed are his own words\,\nlightly edited by me: “It’s impossible to fully explain how such a thing can\nhappen\, but let me try anyway. So\, I’m sitting there analysing the move I want\nto play in principle – which at the time was 19…Qd8-g5. I know that my\nadvantage increases if I can make the move\, but obviously I am concerned about\nhis possible reply} 20. Qb5 {So I analyse} Re4 {(other moves didn’t look very\ngood to me)} 21. d6 {- the only move that could give me any problem\, as it\nthreatens to win a piece. Visualising the position\, I then hoped that} Be6 {\nwould be strong\, as it threatened the winning 22…Bc4. Of course\, the main\npotential drawback to this is that he can then fork my rooks with} 22. Qxb7 {\nI would then need} Rxe2+ {to work or I would be lost! So – and don’t forget\,\nall this is before playing 19…Qg5 – I set about analysing 22…Rxe2+ as I\n(wrongly!) believed that 19…Qg5 hinged on this. So\, 22…Rxe2+} 23. Kxe2 Bc4+\n24. Kf3 {(obviously forced) and then\, I thought\, ”please let 24…Re8 be a\nwinning move”! It certainly looked winning. It was obvious he had to either\nput a rook on e1 or his bishop on e5 to stop …Be2 mate. I didn’t look beyond}\nRe8 {[diag]} 25. Rde1 ({I saw a pretty mate against} 25. Rhe1 {which was} Qh5+\n26. Kf4 g5+ {(my favourite move!)} 27. Kxf5 Qg6+ 28. Kg4 f5+ 29. Kh3 Qh5+ 30.\nBh4 Qxh4#) ({so that just left the irritating} 25. Be5 {to deal with. Find a\ngood move there and I could play 19…Qg5. I decided that 25…h5 must be\nwinning and anyway certainly left him in trouble.}) 25… Bd5+ 26. Qxd5 Nh4+ {\nSo I analysed no more and plunged in with 19…Qg5. He quickly replied 20 Qb5\nand\, after briefly running through all those nice lines again\, I confidently\nplayed 20…Re4. He continued following my analysis\, with 21 d6?? and I had 21.\n..Be6?? ready for him. So there you have it. The explanation is that we were\nplaying out a variation I had analysed way ahead\, and I didn’t stop properly\nto check if there might be something else going on!”}) 20. Qb5 Re4 21. d6 $4 (\n21. O-O Nxg3 22. fxg3 Re5 $5 {seems to be broadly equal.}) 21… Be6 $4 ({\nWhat Keith had missed in his move 19 analysis\, and what Jonathan also missed\nwhen playing 21.d6\, was the bone-crushing} 21… Nxg3 $3 {\, which is game over\nas} 22. Qxg5 {allows} Rxe2# {mate\, while a capture on g3 loses the queen to 22.\n..Qxb5 as the e2 bishop is pinned.}) 22. Qd3 $4 (22. O-O $1 Rd8 23. Bd3 {\nand White is well in the game.}) 22… Nxg3 {This time Black doesn’t fluff his\nlines.} 23. fxg3 Qe5 $1 24. Rh4 (24. d7 Rd8 {makes no material difference\,\nwhile a king move such as}) (24. Kf1 {loses to} Bc4 {.}) 24… Bg4 25. Qxe4 $1\n({A much better bet than} 25. Rxg4 Rxg4 {\, which looks pretty hopeless for\nWhite.}) 25… Qxe4 26. Rxg4 Qe5 $6 ({There seems to be no reason not to\nsnatch a pawn with} 26… Qxg2 27. d7 Rd8 {\, with very reasonable winning\nchances.}) 27. d7 Qxc3+ $2 ({After this\, Black’s winning chances evaporate.}\n27… Rd8 {keeps the Black flag flying\, though it’s by no means obvious how he\ncan go about winning.}) 28. Kf1 Rd8 29. Re4 $1 {White’s firm control of the\ne-file is his salvation.} Qc6 ({Possibly another oversight\, but it turns out\nto be non-critical as the following tactical sequence doesn’t leave Black too\nmuch to do to save the game. After} 29… Kf8 30. Bb5 Qf6+ 31. Ke1 g6 32. Re8+\nKg7 33. Rxd8 Qxd8 34. Rc1 {\, the game peters out to a draw.}) 30. Re8+ Rxe8 31.\nd8=Q g6 32. Qd5 Qc3 33. Bc4 Qf6+ 34. Kg1 Re7 35. Rf1 Qb6+ 36. Kh1 Qc7 {The\nzenith of White’s game – Houdini scores it at +2.13 – but it is hard to see\nhow White can bring any more pressure to bear on Black’s position or make\nmeaningful progress. Maybe Magnus Carlsen would have found a way.} 37. Qd4 a6\n38. Rd1 b5 39. Bf1 Re8 40. Kh2 Qc2 41. Qd3 Qc5 1/2-1/2 \n[/pgn] \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJgiN5MgOns[/embedyt] \n[pgn]\n[Event “Crawley e2e4 Gatwick op 10”]\n[Site “Crawley”]\n[Date “2016.10.26”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “Arkell\, Keith C”]\n[Black “Wadsworth\, Matthew J”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D23”]\n[WhiteElo “2450”]\n[BlackElo “2290”]\n[Annotator “Keith Arkell”]\n[PlyCount “159”]\n[EventDate “2016.10.26”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “Arkell’s Endings : Game 1”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2017.10.13”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2017.10.13”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,159\,19\,29\,23\,-4\,25\,20\,30\,-2\,20\,22\,9\,-6\,15\,-19\,-25\,-6\,-8\,-13\,6\,-4\,-3\,\n-3\,6\,-21\,-8\,-11\,22\,0\,7\,1\,14\,1\,3\,11\,8\,0\,5\,5\,29\,50\,52\,22\,21\,24\,45\,27\,63\,69\,55\,70\,\n72\,80\,74\,14\,33\,25\,26\,42\,34\,44\,48\,48\,68\,63\,89\,99\,98\,92\,126\,116\,115\,116\,116\,122\,\n128\,113\,128\,129\,132\,133\,135\,151\,158\,147\,151\,136\,137\,132\,142\,134\,152\,152\,156\,\n152\,162\,164\,163\,152\,152\,152\,163\,153\,153\,161\,157\,136\,153\,153\,153\,161\,157\,157\,\n162\,157\,157\,157\,157\,157\,158\,134\,158\,134\,208\,189\,189\,189\,189\,141\,189\,165\,182\,\n160\,177\,156\,202\,184\,193\,202\,210\,195\,208\,221\,276\,293\,377\,373\,545\,373\,639\,373\,\n373\,367\,365\,381\,371\,480\,537\,732\,1259\,28004]} {Taken from Arkell’s Endings\,\nGame 14\, pp 68-71} 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Qc2 dxc4 5. Qxc4 Bg4 6. Nbd2\nNbd7 7. g3 e6 8. Bg2 Be7 9. O-O Bh5 10. a4 $1 $146 (10. b3) 10… a5 11. Qb3\nQb6 12. Qxb6 Nxb6 13. b3 Nfd5 14. Bb2 O-O 15. Nc4 Nxc4 {This capture gave me\nsome encouragement as my pawn will gain in stature\, and I will have long-term\nprospects on the b-file.} 16. bxc4 Nb4 17. Rfd1 Rfd8 18. c5 Bf6 19. e3 b6 {\nAgainst a waiting move I planned Rab1 and Ba3} 20. cxb6 Rab8 21. Rac1 Rxb6 22.\nRd2 Bg6 23. Bc3 Be4 {[#]} {I think this was an oversight and he had missed my\n25th move.} 24. Ne5 Bxg2 25. Nc4 Ra6 26. Kxg2 {Now I have the kind of position\nI like: no weaknesses and a guarantee of permanent pressure against his\nqueenside pawns.} Rda8 27. Nxa5 {It was hard to resist playing in this\nstraightforward manner. It will now be a very tough task for Wadsworth to hang\non to his backward c-pawn.} (27. Rb1 {runs into} c5) ({and} 27. Rb2 {allows}\nNd3) 27… Nd5 28. Nb7 Rxa4 29. Rdc2 Ra2 30. Be1 g6 31. Kf3 {[%csl Gc6] With\ne3 defended I’m now threatening to capture his pawn.} Rxc2 32. Rxc2 Ne7 33.\nBb4 Ra6 34. Nc5 Ra7 {The c-pawn is lost whatever he does} ({For example} 34…\nRb6 35. Ba5 Rb5 36. Bd8 {with Nd3 or Ne4 to follow}) 35. Ne4 Kg7 {[#]} 36. Bxe7\n{I could have exchanged both minor pieces\, but felt that the subsequent ending\nwould be more favourable if I kept the knight\, which tends to be more\neffective than a bishop at close quarters.} Bxe7 37. Rxc6 h5 38. h3 {[#]} {\nHow do you set about winning such a position? Clearly not with the pieces\nalone\, but using pawns will unavoidably involve exchanges\, and you don’t\nwant too many swaps as rook\, knight and pawn versus rook and bishop is usually\na simple draw. The answer is somewhere in-between. Ideally you would like to\nfix the kingside with g4-g5\, and then organise e3-e4 and d4-d5.} Rb7 39. g4\nhxg4+ 40. hxg4 Ra7 {[#]} {I was pleased to see this and thought he should\nprefer 40…g5\, but I guess he was reluctant to put a pawn on the same colour\nas his bishop. 40…f5 was also interesting\, but I didn’t expect him to\nweaken his pawns in such a cavalier manner.} 41. g5 {Now I have a free hand to\nslowly improve my position because …f6 will always leave Black with too many\nweaknesses. So many times this is what we strive for in chess – leaving the\nopponent without any real counterplay is often half the battle.} Ra5 42. Kf4\nRa7 43. Rb6 Bd8 44. Rb5 Rd7 45. Kg4 Be7 46. Ra5 Bd8 47. Ra8 {[#]} {If you\nstudy the great endgame players such as Magnus Carlsen and Anatoly Karpov\, you\ncannot fail to observe their endless patience. Maintaining the tension rather\nthan committing oneself to immediate action tends to have a wearisome effect\non the opponent\, as well as forcing them to defend accurately to avoid further\ndamage.} Be7 48. Rc8 Rb7 49. Re8 Rc7 50. Rb8 Rd7 51. f4 Rc7 52. Kf3 Ra7 53. Nc5\nRc7 54. Nd3 Ra7 55. Rc8 Bd6 56. Ke4 Rb7 57. Nf2 {From g4 the knight will have\na choice of entry points into the heart of Black’s position.} Be7 58. Ng4 Ra7\n59. Rb8 Bd6 60. Rb5 Be7 61. Ke5 Ra3 {Spooked by my intention to make progress\nwith e3-e4 and d4-d5\, combined with Nf6 and Rb8\, Matthew gives some ground.}\n62. Rb7 Ra5+ 63. Ke4 Kf8 64. Nf6 Ra8 65. Ke5 Rd8 66. Nh7+ Ke8 67. e4 Ra8 68.\nNf6+ Kf8 69. d5 exd5 70. exd5 Rd8 71. Rb6 {[#]} {Threatening to win on the\nspot with 72 d6.} Bc5 72. Rc6 Ba3 73. d6 {Inch by inch I’ve brought about a\nwinning position. The rest is relatively straightforward.} Kg7 74. Kd5 Bb2 75.\nNg4 Ba3 76. Ne5 f6 77. Rc7+ Kg8 78. Nf7 Bxd6 79. Nxd6 fxg5 80. fxg5 1-0\n[/pgn] \nArkell’s Odyssey\nArkell’s Endings\, Keith Arkell\, GingerGM\, 2020\, ISBN-10 : 1527265595\nBCN has reviewed Arkell’s Endings in depth
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-keith-charles-arkell-08-i-1961-2/
CATEGORIES:2023,4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/jua6332_lv.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230111
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230112
DTSTAMP:20260817T141002Z
CREATED:20191230T140104Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T141002Z
UID:2645-1673395200-1673481599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Shaun Taulbut (11-i-1958)
DESCRIPTION:We send best wishes to IM Shaun Mark Taulbut born on this day (January 11th) in 1958. \nIM Shaun Mark Taulbut\nHere is his Wikipedia article from the Polish (!) version : \nIn 1974. I shared m. In the championship of Great Britain juniors to 16 years [1] \, whereas in 1977. Won the Brighton title of vice-champion of Great Britain (won the George Botterill ). He achieved the greatest success in his career at the turn of 1977 and 1978 in Groningen \, where he won the title of European champion up to 20 years [2] . In 1978 in Mexico he won the title of team world champion in the category up to 26 years [3] . He achieved another success in 1981 in Copenhagen \, sharing the first town (together with Petyr Welikow and Tom Wedberg ) inopen tournament Politiken Cup . In the same year\, he divided II-IV in New York \, while in 1982 he repeated this achievement in London (after William Watson \, together with Jonathan Tisdall and Mark Hebden ). In 1983 he ended his chess career. \nIM Shaun Mark Taulbut\nHe reached the highest ranking in his career on July 1\, 1982\, sharing 9-10 points with 2465 points. place among English chess players [4] . \nHe is the author of many books on chess\, primarily devoted to the theory of debuts . \nIM Shaun Mark Taulbut (right) playing Adrian Mikhalchishin\nand here is the game from the above photograph : \n[pgn]\n[Event “WchT U26 01 fin-A”]\n[Site “Mexico City”]\n[Date “1978.09.02”]\n[Round “6”]\n[White “Taulbut\, Shaun M”]\n[Black “Mikhalchishin\, Adrian”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C87”]\n[WhiteElo “2405”]\n[BlackElo “2460”]\n[Annotator “ChessBase”]\n[PlyCount “53”]\n[EventDate “1978.08.26”]\n[EventType “team-tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “MEX”]\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 “England”]\n[BlackTeam “Soviet Union”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “URS”] \n{[%evp 0\,53\,19\,31\,34\,19\,13\,4\,13\,-2\,-9\,0\,7\,-5\,7\,30\,9\,9\,9\,11\,6\,4\,4\,6\,-4\,10\,41\,15\,\n43\,36\,44\,18\,24\,13\,60\,33\,52\,42\,52\,78\,167\,167\,303\,301\,291\,278\,302\,303\,451\,495\,\n495\,507\,527\,515\,513\,549]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7\n6. Re1 d6 (6… b5) 7. Bxc6+ $5 bxc6 8. d4 exd4 9. Nxd4 Bd7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Qf3\n{[%cal Gd4f5]} Rb8 $146 (11… Re8 {Keres\,P-Spassky\,B URS-chT Leningrad 1962 1/\n2-1/2}) 12. Rb1 (12. b3) 12… Rb6 $6 13. h3 g6 14. Nb3 {[%csl Rb6][%cal Gc1e3]\n} Nh5 15. Be3 $14 Rb8 16. e5 dxe5 17. Bh6 Re8 18. Rxe5 Ng7 19. Rd1 $16 {\n[%cal Gd1d8]} Ne6 $2 (19… Bd6 $142) 20. Ne4 $40 Rb5 21. Rxe6 $1 fxe6 22. Qc3\ne5 23. Qc4+ Kh8 24. Qf7 Rg8 25. Nf6 Bxf6 26. Rxd7 Qxd7 27. Qxd7 {Avec ce score\nde 3-1\, il s(agissait de la première défait en match d’une équipe soviétique\ndepuis trés longtemps.} 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\nShaun coached strong juniors especially Michael Adams. In MAs case it was by means of correspondence and this was funded by the Friends of Chess. \nShaun largely gave up competitive chess in 1983 to pursue a financial services career. He reached a senior position in ANZ (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group) reporting to Ian Snape. In ANZ Shaun met Stephen Lowe and on September 19th 2005 they became Directors and owners of British Chess Magazine Ltd. Shaun lives in Wokingham with his wife\, Christine and several pets including a wormery. \n(second from right standing ) Shaun Taulbut\nShaun occasionally plays for Crowthorne in the Berkshire League and the Surrey Border League and has played for the BCM Dragons 4NCL team managed by John Upham. \nPositional Chess by Shaun Taulbut
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-shaun-mark-taulbut-11-i-1958/
CATEGORIES:2023,4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230118
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230119
DTSTAMP:20230118T103106Z
CREATED:20230118T103105Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230118T103106Z
UID:22215-1674000000-1674086399@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-1956-2/
CATEGORIES:2023,4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230120
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230121
DTSTAMP:20230120T111043Z
CREATED:20200118T154340Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230120T111043Z
UID:2910-1674172800-1674259199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Ali Mortazavi (20-i-1971)
DESCRIPTION:We send best wishes to IM Ali Mortazavi on his birthday\, this day (January 20th) in 1971 \nIM Ali Mortazavi\nAli is a British IM who was a successful trader in the financial markets. \nIn the FIDE directory he is listed as a Councillor in the Global Strategy Commission (GSC). \nHe was a professional player and became the CEO of Silence Therapeutics (SLN) : \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4jn9ksND5w[/embedyt] \nAli reached his hightest FIDE rating of 2410 in July 1994 aged 23. \nHe has played for Beeson Gregory in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). He played at the Isle of Man Open in 2018 but sadly\, little since. \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY3kLjUqZNc[/embedyt] \n[pgn]\n[Event “Lloyds Bank op 16th”]\n[Site “London”]\n[Date “1992.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Mortazavi\, Ali”]\n[Black “Van der Sterren\, Paul”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D29”]\n[WhiteElo “2320”]\n[BlackElo “2530”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “47”]\n[EventDate “1992.08.??”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “10”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 031 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1993.01.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1993.01.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,47\,19\,27\,5\,28\,21\,-23\,41\,51\,50\,54\,60\,45\,47\,40\,11\,-15\,-13\,-2\,-17\,4\,-3\,\n-20\,-19\,-23\,-38\,-74\,-86\,-85\,-92\,-101\,-90\,-105\,-83\,-124\,-59\,-81\,247\,245\,274\,271\,\n283\,266\,333\,327\,408\,408\,478\,448]} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 d5 3. c4 dxc4 4. e3 e6 5.\nBxc4 c5 6. O-O a6 7. Nc3 b5 8. Bb3 Bb7 9. Qe2 Nbd7 10. Rd1 Qb8 11. a3 Bd6 12.\nBc2 cxd4 $146 13. Rxd4 $6 (13. exd4 O-O 14. Re1) 13… Bxf3 14. Qxf3 Bxh2+ 15.\nKh1 Be5 16. Rh4 h5 $19 17. Ne4 Ng4 $2 (17… Qd8) 18. Bd2 Qd8 $2 19. Qxg4 $1 g6\n20. Qh3 f5 21. Bb4 $18 Rc8 22. Bb3 Rc6 23. Rd1 Qb6 24. f4 1-0\n[/pgn] \nIM Ali Mortazavi
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-ali-mortazavi-20-i-1971/
CATEGORIES:2023,4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player
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