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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210305
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210306
DTSTAMP:20210305T164549Z
CREATED:20200319T151631Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T164549Z
UID:3610-1614902400-1614988799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Daniel Fernandez (05-iii-1995)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes Happy Birthday to GM Daniel Fernandez who at 26 is currently England’s youngest Grandmaster. The previous GM title holder was Jonathan Hawkins in 2014 making two in seven years. \nDaniel Howard Fernandez was born in Stockport\, Manchester on Sunday\, March 5th 1995.  “Think Twice” by Celine Dion was top of the UK hit parade. \nDaniel started playing chess at the age of seven (after his father taught him the rules) and at this time attended King’s School\, Harpenden.  His first chess club was Little Heath which became the ECF Small Club of the Year in 2015. They play in the Potter’s Bar area and include IM John Pigott in their membership. \nAt Little Heath Chess Club Daniel was coached by Mark Uniacke (who worked extensively on the early chess engine HIARCS). \nDaniel went up to Queen’s College\, Cambridge to read mathematics and left to become a Data Analyst at Mu Sigma Inc. He can speak several languages (including Serbian!) and works as a translator when opportunities arise. \nHe currently lives in Australia offering coaching and writing chess books (for Thinkers Publishing) and columns for Chessbase. In his spare time (!) Daniel is studying for The Master of Complex Systems degree at The University of Sydney. \nDaniel’s first ECF graded game was rapidplay on July 5th 2003 in the SCCU Junior Under-14 Final. \nHis first standard play game was in August 2003 at the Edinburgh based British Under-8 Championship. \nDaniel Fernandez\nDaniels ECF grading profile demonstrated rapid improvement : \nECF grading profile for Daniel Fernandez\nOn August 13th 2004 in Scarborough Daniel became British Under-9 Champion sharing the title with Daniel Hunt & Saravanan Sathyanandha. \nThe Fernandez family relocated to Singapore in August\, Daniel attending the Anglo-Chinese School in Singapore. He was swiftly recruited into the Singapore Chess Federation’s (SCF) National Junior Squad. Also in that squad were Danielle Ho and Howard Chiu (remember this for later!). \nBarely three weeks after his Scarborough triumph on September 4th 2004 Daniel played his first FIDE rated game in the 5th Asian Under-10 Championship organised by the ASEAN Chess Confederation. His performance in this event was rewarded with a FIDE Master title in 2005. Because he was no longer active in English events the ECF had the unusual scenario of having a ten year old FIDE Master with a published grade of ~120! \nIn typically modest fashion Daniel confesses  that he did not “deserve” the FM title at this time and that it was the consequence of the strong position of the ASEAN and SCF organisations  within world chess. At the same event Wesley So gained his FM title in the Under-12 section. \nFM Daniel Fernandez\nAnother interesting consequence of the relocation was that when Daniel returned to England in 2012 his last published grading went from ~ 120 to ~230! \nOne of the motivations of  returning to England was to obtain the necessary entrance requirement to study mathematics at Cambridge. This he did by studying for A-levels at Manchester Grammar School. \nDaniel with IM Jovan Petronic during the 2010 world juniors in Chotowa\, Poland | Photo: Diana Mihajlova\nConsequently Daniel’s FIDE rating profile also showed a fast pace of development: \nFIDE rating profile for Daniel Fernandez\nSydney 2009 and Sydney 2010 both provided IM norms with the third one coming from Kuala Lumpar 2010 and with these Daniel became an International Master in 2010 the title being confirmed at the 3rd quarter Presidential Board Meeting 2010\, 24-25 July 2010\, Tromso in Norway. \nIM Daniel Fernandez\, 100th British Championships\, Round 5\, Torquay. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nHe won the Budapest Sarkany Tournament in 2014 as follows: \nFull Crosstable from Budapest Sarkany Tournament\, 2014.\nearning his first GM norm in the process. \nIM Daniel Fernandez\, 101st British Championships\, Aberystwyth. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nBCN asked Daniel for three of his favourite games. The first one is this Polish Defence game from 2015 played at the Visma Arena in Vaxjo\, Sweden. First we have the crosstable showing that Daniel earnt his second GM norm from this event. \nFull Crosstable for Vaxjo\, Visma tournament in Sweden\, 2015.\nand here is the game: \n[pgn]\n[Event “Vaxjo Visma GM”]\n[Site “Vaxjo”]\n[Date “2015.06.27”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Smith\, Axel”]\n[Black “Fernandez\, Daniel Howard”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B00”]\n[WhiteElo “2452”]\n[BlackElo “2447”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “86”]\n[EventDate “2015.06.24”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “SWE”]\n[EventCategory “10”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 167 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2015.09.14”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2015.09.14”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,86\,63\,13\,126\,116\,101\,97\,97\,97\,84\,96\,96\,57\,79\,51\,50\,52\,38\,58\,82\,70\,93\,\n31\,-1\,-22\,-19\,-35\,-16\,-50\,29\,-1\,0\,-22\,-36\,-36\,-36\,-92\,-81\,-92\,-84\,-82\,-73\,-104\,\n-95\,-79\,-36\,-33\,-51\,-74\,-42\,-51\,-51\,-91\,-86\,-99\,-91\,-87\,-87\,-82\,-105\,-100\,-127\,\n-111\,-148\,-160\,-139\,-127\,-136\,-254\,-164\,-257\,-259\,-257\,-309\,-663\,-691\,-933\,\n-153\,-747\,-809\,-824\,-875\,-986\,-1014\,-2303\,-2794\,-29999\,-30000]} 1. d4 b5 {\nThe Polish Defence as used by Spassky against Petrosian.} 2. e4 a6 3. Nf3 {\nWhen is it the right time for White to play a4?} Bb7 4. Bd3 e6 5. O-O c5 6. c3\nd6 ({more common is} 6… Nf6 7. Re1 Be7 8. Bg5) 7. Re1 Nd7 8. Nbd2 Qc7 {\nA rare choice but must be reasonable.} (8… Be7 9. Nf1 Ngf6 10. Ng3 O-O 11. h3\nQc7) 9. a4 $18 {[#] and eventually we get the thematic break against …b5 The\nengines are complimentary of White’s position.} c4 10. Bb1 $6 {This would\nappear to be a strange decision.} (10. Bf1 {Maintaining the presssure on\nBlack’s pawns must be superior.}) 10… Be7 11. Nf1 {You’d imagine that b3 at\nsome point would make sense leaving the pressure on c4.} Ngf6 12. Ng3 O-O 13.\nh4 Rfe8 14. h5 {White seems to be struggling to find a decent plan.} e5 15. Nf5\nBf8 16. axb5 axb5 17. Rxa8 Rxa8 18. Nd2 g6 $1 {If Black can expell the knight\non f5 then probably he is better.} 19. hxg6 hxg6 $17 20. Ne3 Bg7 {Strong\npointing e5 further.} 21. d5 Nc5 {[#] Black is gaining the upper hand.} 22.\nNg4 Bc8 23. Nxf6+ Bxf6 24. Qf3 Bg5 25. Nf1 Qe7 26. Ne3 Nb3 27. Bc2 Nxc1 28.\nRxc1 {Black can now really dominate the dark squares.} Ra2 29. b3 Qa7 30. bxc4\nbxc4 31. Qe2 {[#]} Bg4 $1 {Ouch! Perhaps White had missed this shot?} 32. Qe1\nBxe3 33. fxe3 Qa3 $1 {and it is all over bar the shouting…} 34. Kh2 (34. Rb1\nRxc2 35. Rb8+ Kg7 36. Qh4 Qc1+ (36… Bh5 37. Qe7 Qc1+ 38. Kh2 Rxg2+ $1 39.\nKxg2 Qd2+ 40. Kg3 Qe1+ 41. Kh2 Qe2+ 42. Kh3 Qf1+ 43. Kh4) 37. Kh2 Bh5) 34…\nKg7 35. Qf1 Be2 $1 36. Qe1 Qb2 37. Bb1 Ra1 38. Rc2 Qxb1 (38… Qxc2 $1 {\nis more efficient} 39. Bxc2 Rxe1) 39. Qxe2 $2 (39. Qxb1 Rxb1 40. Rxe2 {is a\nbetter defence.}) 39… Qg1+ 40. Kg3 Re1 41. Qf2 Rxe3+ $1 42. Kg4 Qd1+ 43. Kg5\nQh5# 0-1\n[/pgn] \nand during the 2015/15 4NCL season Daniel obtained his final GM norm playing for Wood Green. \nIn March 2015 he made his first of three Varsity match appearences for Cambridge re-uniting with Danielle Ho and Howard Chiu (remember those names from earlier?). \nDaniel won the 10th Jessie Gilbert Memorial in 2017: \nFull Crosstable from the 2017 10th Jessie Gilbert Memorial\nand also in 2017 Daniel was awarded the Grandmaster title at the 88th FIDE Congress 2017\, 7-15 October\, Goynuk\, Antalya\, Turkey. \nOn March 11th Daniel represented Cambridge in the 135th Varsity Match at the RAC Club in Pall Mall.  According to chess24.com ‘IM Daniel Fernandez\, playing board 2 for Cambridge\, was awarded the Brilliancy Prize by GM Ray Keene in consultation with McShane and Speelman\, for his “high-class swindle” after recovering from a bad blunder.’ See here for details. \nGM Daniel Fernandez\, 2019 British Championships\, Torquay. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nIn 2018 Daniel ventured into the world of book writing when Thinker’s Publishing released The Modernized Caro-Kann on September 8th 2018.  This was a repertoire book for Black based around the Smyslov Variation : \n[fen]r1bqkbnr/pp1npppp/2p5/8/3PN3/8/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nand was reviewed in this place favourably and quickly established Daniel as a significant author. \nThe Modernized Caro-Kann\, Daniel Fernandez\, Thinkers Publishing\, 2018\nFrom the rear cover we have: \n“GM Daniel Fernandez (born 1995) has been an active and accomplished player for several years. He represented his native Singapore twice at Olympiads (2010 and 2012) before transferring to the English chess federation. There\, he won the national classical titles at U-18 and U-21 levels and worked to become a Grandmaster while simultaneously studying at Cambridge. The Caro-Kann was instrumental in his quest for that title. Currently\, Daniel is known in the chess scene not only as a solid player\, but also as a mentor figure to younger English players\, as a producer of well-received commentary and analysis\, and as a multilingual chess coach. This is his first book.” \nFrom January 2019 we have this interesting encounter between Gawain Jones and Daniel from the annual 4NCL meeting of Guildford and Wood Green: \n[pgn]\n[Event “BCF-chTa 1819 (4NCL)”]\n[Site “Daventry”]\n[Date “2019.01.13”]\n[Round “4.13”]\n[White “Jones\, Gawain C B”]\n[Black “Fernandez\, Daniel Howard”]\n[Result “1/2-1/2”]\n[ECO “B12”]\n[WhiteElo “2691”]\n[BlackElo “2465”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “124”]\n[EventDate “2018.11.10”]\n[EventType “team-tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 188 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2019.02.26”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2019.02.26”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Guildford”]\n[BlackTeam “Wood Green”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,124\,21\,36\,69\,63\,74\,50\,56\,34\,45\,48\,52\,37\,37\,37\,46\,8\,46\,16\,76\,62\,52\,40\,\n40\,13\,13\,29\,32\,28\,16\,22\,24\,9\,9\,14\,15\,11\,11\,-15\,33\,8\,42\,8\,-4\,-4\,0\,0\,-14\,0\,0\,-63\,\n-75\,-75\,-21\,-61\,-23\,-91\,-96\,-75\,-106\,-110\,-113\,-111\,-111\,-111\,-111\,-111\,-111\,\n-111\,-111\,-111\,-78\,-102\,-123\,-119\,-124\,-122\,-122\,-128\,-128\,-125\,-82\,-62\,-92\,\n-111\,-102\,-130\,-126\,-123\,-137\,-182\,-142\,-164\,-127\,-127\,-127\,-127\,-122\,-202\,\n-196\,-196\,-209\,-204\,-173\,-242\,-218\,-303\,-244\,-244\,-244\,-244\,-242\,-222\,-98\,-98\,\n-89\,-87\,-57\,-52\,-26\,-31\,-9\,-13\,-11\,-8\,-8]} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 h5\n5. Bd3 (5. c4) 5… Bxd3 6. Qxd3 e6 7. Bg5 Qb6 8. Nd2 Ne7 (8… c5) 9. Ngf3 Qa6\n10. c4 Nf5 11. O-O Bb4 12. b3 Nd7 13. Rfd1 O-O 14. a3 $146 (14. Nf1) 14… Bxd2\n15. Rxd2 Nb6 16. c5 Qxd3 17. Rxd3 Nd7 $11 18. b4 {[#]} b6 $1 19. Rc1 $6 (19.\nRb3 f6) 19… Rfc8 {Black now proceeds to outplay his higher rated opponent.} (\n19… bxc5 20. bxc5 Rfb8 $17) 20. Bd2 f6 21. Re1 Kf7 22. g3 bxc5 23. bxc5 Rcb8\n24. Bf4 Rb2 25. Rdd1 Rb3 26. Kg2 a5 27. a4 Ra7 28. Re2 Rab7 29. Ra2 Rc3 30.\nRaa1 Rbb3 31. Nd2 Rb2 32. exf6 gxf6 33. Nf3 Rbb3 34. Nd2 Rb4 35. Nf3 Rcc4 36.\nRab1 Kg6 37. Bd6 Rxb1 38. Rxb1 Nxd4 39. Nxd4 Rxd4 40. Rb6 Ne5 41. Bxe5 fxe5 42.\nRxc6 Kf6 {[#]} 43. Ra6 $2 (43. Rc8 Rxa4 44. Rf8+ Ke7 45. Rh8 e4 $19) 43… Rxa4\n$19 {Black has the upper hand.} 44. f3 d4 45. Ra7 Ra2+ 46. Kf1 Ra3 47. Kf2 e4\n48. fxe4 Ke5 49. g4 hxg4 50. h5 Rf3+ 51. Kg2 Kxe4 {Surely Black is winning?}\n52. c6 Rc3 53. Rc7 d3 ({Better is} 53… Kd5 {but White’s h-pawn is little\nconcerning.}) 54. h6 d2 55. Rd7 Rxc6 $6 (55… Rd3 56. Rxd3 Kxd3 57. c7 d1=Q\n58. c8=Q Qf3+ 59. Kg1) 56. h7 Rc8 $6 {Sadly this lets the win slip.} ({Better\nwas} 56… Rc2 57. Kf1 d1=Q+ 58. Rxd1 Rh2) 57. Rxd2 Rh8 58. Rd7 Kf5 59. Kg3 a4\n60. Rf7+ Ke5 61. Kxg4 a3 62. Ra7 a2 {and the position is drawn.} 1/2-1/2\n[/pgn] \nWith the White pieces Daniel has played  a wide range of first moves but the majority move by far is 1.e4. His choice versus the Najdorf is some eclectic : sometime ago 6. Rg1 was the favourite and now 6.a4 is preferred. \n[fen]rnbqkb1r/1p2pppp/p2p1n2/8/3NP3/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBR1 b KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nAgainst 1…e5 Daniel offers a main line Ruy Lopez. \nWhat does a Caro-Kann expert play against the Caro-Kann? Nowadays the Two Knights Variation is employed! \nAs the second player he plays the Sicilian Najdorf as well as the Caro-Kann plus an equal mixture of the Grünfeld and King’s Indian Defences. \nIn 2019 Daniel was interviewed by Edwin Lam on behalf of ChessBase : fascinating reading! \nIn the same year Daniel joined IM Adam Taylor’s venture Making Grandmasters. \nOur final games is from July 2019 : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Gent Eastman op 42nd”]\n[Site “Gent”]\n[Date “2019.07.22”]\n[Round “6”]\n[White “Fernandez\, Daniel Howard”]\n[Black “Michiels\, Bart”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A03”]\n[WhiteElo “2466”]\n[BlackElo “2563”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “63”]\n[EventDate “2019.07.20”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “BEL”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 191 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2019.09.30”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2019.09.30”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,63\,19\,-30\,-33\,-42\,-34\,-34\,-35\,-26\,-27\,-27\,-5\,-28\,-2\,5\,14\,-30\,-62\,-77\,\n-39\,-90\,-40\,-79\,-59\,-73\,-56\,-52\,-37\,-37\,-38\,-105\,44\,60\,63\,56\,98\,17\,60\,3\,86\,32\,\n61\,68\,65\,66\,96\,95\,118\,109\,136\,153\,132\,211\,211\,202\,269\,280\,383\,424\,450\,477\,542\,\n539\,782\,836]} 1. f4 d5 2. b3 {Larsen would have been proud!} Nf6 3. Bb2 Bf5 4.\nNf3 e6 5. e3 h6 {Black creates a luft on h7 for his light squared bishop.\nOtherwise with a knight on e5 combined with a h-pawn push Black could get into\ntrouble. You might not think it but …h6 scores best for Black and is\nlabelled “Hot” by Megabase 2020.} (5… Be7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Ne5 h6 9.\nd3 {is a more usual way to proceed.}) 6. h3 (6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Ne5 Nbd7\n9. d3 Nxe5 10. Bxe5 Nd7 11. Bb2 Bf6 12. d4 c5) {The first appearence for this\nTN.} 6… a5 $146 7. g4 Bh7 {As facilitated by h6….} {Now pause the video….\n} 8. Bxf6 $5 {I bet you did not predict this capture and nor did I!} Qxf6 9. d4\na4 (9… c5) 10. bxa4 g5 $1 11. fxg5 hxg5 $17 {I’d give Black the nod here but\nonly just.} 12. Bd3 {[#]} Bd6 (12… Nc6 {would take advantage of White’s lack\nof control of b4 and is a bit awkard to meet. Black threatens ….Nb4}) 13. Ke2\n{an ugly requirement with the h-file open. This is needed so as White may\nre-capture on d3 with the queen.} Nd7 (13… Bxd3+ 14. Qxd3 Nc6) 14. Bxh7 Rxh7\n15. c4 dxc4 16. Nbd2 Qg6 17. Nxc4 Ke7 18. Qb1 (18. Qb3) 18… Qxb1 (18… Rxa4\n{seems natural}) 19. Rhxb1 Rxh3 20. Nxg5 Rh2+ 21. Kd3 Ra7 ({Why not} 21… Rxa4\n{I don’t understand.}) 22. Ne4 $1 $18 {[#] white is getting on top.} Nf6 $2 23.\nNxf6 Kxf6 24. a5 $1 {black must be regretting leaving this pawn on and is\ndefinately worse now.} Bf8 25. Rb5 Rf2 26. a4 Bh6 27. Rh1 Kg6 28. Rhb1 b6 29.\nNe5+ Kh7 30. Rh1 f6 31. Nc6 Ra6 32. Rbh5 {and Black resigned.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nDaniel’s most recent publication is The Modernized Modern Defence from Thinker’s Publishing: \nThe Modernized Modern Defence\, Daniel Fernandez\, Thinker’s Publishing\, 2021\nand BCN has been told that Daniel has a book in the pipeline about the Tata Steel 2021 tournament at Wijk aan Zee.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-daniel-fernandez-05-iii-1995/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/JB4_9189.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200305
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200306
DTSTAMP:20210305T153853Z
CREATED:20200625T101854Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T153853Z
UID:6686-1583366400-1583452799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of GM Daniel Yanofsky OC QC (25-iii-1925 05-iii-2000)
DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of GM Daniel Abraham Yanofsky OC QC (25-iii-1925 05-iii-2000)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-gm-daniel-yanofsky-oc-qc-25-iii-1925-05-iii-2000/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,Hastings,History,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/IMG_0940-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200312
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200313
DTSTAMP:20200823T093911Z
CREATED:20200821T105836Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200823T093911Z
UID:8730-1583971200-1584057599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of Mandy Hepworth (12-iii-1968)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes Mandy Hepworth Happy Birthday (12-iii-1968) \nMandy Allison S. Hepworth was born in Scunthorpe\, (now) Humberside (but at the time Lincolnshire)  on Tuesday\, March 12th 1968 to Neville Ian Hepworth and Alice Hepworth (née Ma). Neville was a Computer Manager and Alice Ma was originally from Singapore. The family  moved to “Mulgoa”\, The Fleet\, Fittleworth\, Pulborough\, RH20 1HS\, West Sussex. \n(Thanks to David Mills who updated us on the Lincolnshire / Humberside issue) \nNeville taught Mandy how to play chess. \nShe attended Westergate Comprehensive and Community School where Peter Barton coached both the boys and the girls teams. \nFrom The Bognor and Arun Chess Club Archive we have : \n“One particular junior\, Mandy Hepworth\, came to notice. In the British championships at Brighton in 1980 she came first equal in the girls under-14 competition. Peter Barton also organised some external competitions and from 1981 for a few years he organised young masters’ tournaments at the Westergate School after receiving sponsorship from the Amey Roadstone Corporation. ” \nFrom The Bognor Regis Observer we have : \nWestergate girls were chess queens in 1980 \nThis group of girls had every reason to smile ‘“ they had just pulled off the school chess world’s equivalent of David v Goliath. \nIt was January 1980 and they all attended Westergate Comprehensive and Community School and had just beaten the mighty Dorothy Skinner High School\, in Brighton\, to qualify for the final of the Sussex Girls under-16 chess championships. Pictured from left: Melaine Wright\, 11\, Mandy Hepworth\, 11\, Lesley Glen\, 11\, Deborah Baxter\, 12\, Gail Curryer\, 11\, and Tracey Redding\, 12.\n“It was January 1980 and they all attended Westergate Comprehensive and Community School and had just beaten the mighty Dorothy Skinner High School\, in Brighton\, to qualify for the final of the Sussex Girls under-16 chess championships. \nThe team’s captain\, Mandy Hepworth\, who was just 11-years-old at the time\, was lauded by the school’s chess teacher as “one of the hottest properties in junior chess”. \nHis name was Peter Barton and\, according to the report published in the Observer on January 25 1980\, he had masterminded something of a chess resurgence at Westergate.” \nSome 50 youngsters at the school were playing chess proficiently and 10 of them were girls. \nEven though junior chess was somewhat dominated by boys at the time\, Mr Barton was confident his girls could deal with any challenge thrown at them by anyone – and he had high hopes for Mandy. \nHe told the paper: ‘For a girl she has remarkable ability and we would hope to enter her for the British junior championships later this year. \nIn the past it has always been a boys’ game but\, if you can catch the girls when they are young and keep their enthusiasm\, there is no reason why they cannot go on to become masters.’ \nDoes anyone know if the girls won the final? Did Mandy make it to the British junior championships?” \nMandy Hepworth\nMandy entered her first major competition when she was 11 and beat her father when she was 14. She became the Under-12 British Girls’ Champion (Ed: this is not correct) and the Under-14 Champion in Brighton\, 1980 (shared with Susan Walker)\, the Under-16 Champion in Brighton\, 1984 \nIn 1985 she played in the Eileen Tranmer Memorial in Brighton. All the players resided in the same guest house. The event was organised by Ray Keene. Mandy was 4th with a TPR of 2296. \nIn 1986 she represented England in the Women’s Olympiad (Dubai) and scored an excellent 75% on the Reserve Board. \nIn 1988 she played at the Oakham Young Masters and had a tough time scoring 2.5/9 \nIn October 1988 she travelled to Adelaide\, Australia to play in the World Under-20 Girls’ Championship. \nFollowing that we have no further information. It would appear (perhaps you can help?) that Mandy gave up competitive chess and did not play again. \n1986 Press Release for Mandy Hepworth. Warning : some details are not entirely accurate.\nWe end with this against an experienced opponent : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Eileen Tranmer Memorial-07”]\n[Site “Brighton”]\n[Date “1985.12.??”]\n[Round “4”]\n[White “Jackson\, Sheila”]\n[Black “Hepworth\, Mandy”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B90”]\n[WhiteElo “2235”]\n[BlackElo “1960”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “86”]\n[EventDate “1985.12.??”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2007”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2006.11.23”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2006.11.23”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,86\,30\,32\,53\,51\,86\,86\,63\,26\,26\,37\,65\,44\,89\,54\,38\,40\,41\,46\,20\,25\,31\,31\,\n32\,38\,34\,23\,25\,23\,23\,26\,35\,19\,30\,32\,56\,62\,166\,150\,152\,154\,154\,132\,223\,227\,217\,\n210\,206\,145\,309\,279\,266\,208\,218\,205\,174\,141\,136\,155\,171\,161\,209\,146\,188\,136\,\n177\,-54\,-40\,-165\,-104\,-87\,-177\,-177\,-172\,-172\,-172\,-195\,-260\,-419\,-331\,-377\,\n-486\,-497\,-499\,-1081\,-1121\,-1180\,-1198]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4\nNf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Qc7 7. a4 e5 8. Nf3 h6 9. a5 Be6 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. exd5 Bf5\n12. c4 Nd7 13. b4 Be7 14. Be2 O-O 15. O-O Bh7 16. Nd2 f5 17. f3 Bf6 18. Rc1 b6\n19. axb6 Nxb6 20. c5 Nd7 21. cxd6 Qb8 22. Rc7 Nb6 23. Rc6 Bd8 24. Bc5 Rf6 25.\nQa1 Bg6 26. Qxe5 a5 27. Bd4 axb4 28. Rb1 Nd7 29. Qf4 Rf8 30. h4 Nf6 31. Bc4 Nh5\n32. Qh2 Be8 33. Ra6 Rxa6 34. Bxa6 f4 35. Ne4 Bb6 36. Bf2 Bxf2+ 37. Nxf2 Qxd6\n38. Bc4 Qc5 39. Bb3 Bg6 40. Rd1 Qc3 41. Ba4 b3 42. Ne4 Bxe4 43. fxe4 Qe3+ 0-1\n[/pgn]
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-mandy-hepworth-12-iii-1968/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,History,Player
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210314
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210315
DTSTAMP:20210305T182656Z
CREATED:20191117T162714Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T182656Z
UID:2084-1615680000-1615766399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IA Stewart Reuben (14-iii-1939)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of Stewart Reuben (14-iii-1939) \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nHis personal catchphrase is “If only I had been consulted eariler” \nJimmy Adams and Stewart Reuben\nRichard W. O’Brien and Stewart Reuben working on a bulletin\nSR attempting to dance\nStewart Reuben interviews Stewart Reuben at the home of Stewart Reuben\nThe Chess Scene\nLeonard Barden\, Stewart Reuben and Michael Franklin at the 1978 Aaronson Masters\nThe Chess Organiser’s Handbook\nLondon 1980: Phillips and Drew Kings Chess Tournament
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-stewart-reuben-14-iii-1939/
CATEGORIES:Arbiter,Birthday,British Championships,Official,Player,Writer
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END:VEVENT
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
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Stuart-Milner-Barry-2.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
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
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/jb4_7995_lv-scaled.jpg
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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
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IMG_0081-scaled.jpg
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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:20200421
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200422
DTSTAMP:20260817T141214Z
CREATED:20201110T145042Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T141214Z
UID:11277-1587427200-1587513599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Happy Birthday Malcolm Barker (21-iv-1934)
DESCRIPTION:Happy Birthday Malcolm Barker (21-iv-1934)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/happy-birthday-malcolm-barker-01-iv-1934/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200425
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200426
DTSTAMP:20210424T091645Z
CREATED:20190823T090733Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210424T091645Z
UID:1056-1587772800-1587859199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM John Nunn (25-iv-1955)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes GM John Nunn Happy Birthday (25-iv-1955) \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Harry Golombek : \nBritish International master and European Junior Champion\, 1975. Born in London\, Nunn learned chess at the age of four and soon revealed a great aptitude for the game. \n  \nGraham Ladds and John Nunn. See full caption below.\nSupplied caption for above picture.\nHe came 6th in the Norwich Junior international tournament in 1970 and went up to Oxford University to take a mathematics degree at a very early age. He played on top board for the University from 1972-6 and is now preparing for a doctorate there. \nJohn DM Nunn\nHe won the European Junior Championship and with it the international master title in Groningen in 1975. In that year too he was equal first in the IBM Master tournament\, and at London in 1975 he reached an international master norm coming 5th in the international tournament there. He played on bottom board at the Haifa Olympiad 1976 and scored 64.2% \nGM John Nunn\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld : \nEnglish player. International Grandmaster (1978)\, British champion 1980. He went to Oxford at the unusually young age of 15\, graduated in 1973. Gained his B.Sc. the following year and his\ndoctorate in 1978. \nGM John Nunn\n  \nA Junior Research Fellow\, he lectured in mathematics until 1981 when he became a professional player. By then he had already achieved several good results in international tournaments: Budapest 1978\, first; Hastings 1979-80\, first (4-5 = 10) equal with Andersson; Baden-bei-Wien 1980\, category 12\, third (+5=10) after Spassky and Belyavsky: Helsinki 1981\, first (+5 = 6) equal with Matulovich; and Wiesbaden 1981\, first (+6=3). In the category 12 Wijk aan Zee tournament 1982\, Nunn came first ( + 5=7 — 1) equal with Balashov ahead of Tal\, Hubner\, and Timman and at Helsinki 1983 he came second (+5 = 6) after Karlsson. \nMaia Chiburdanidze and John Nunn from Lloyds Bank\, 1985\nPossessing a remarkably quick sight of the board\, Nunn is an expert solver: he made the second highest individual score in the world team solving championship\, 1978\, and won the solving championship of Great Britain in 1981. \nLubomir Kavalek and John Nunn\nHere is an excellent article from ChessBase \nPolugayevsky-Nunn European team championship : \n[pgn]\n[Round “1.3”]\n[White “Polugaevsky\, Lev”]\n[Black “Nunn\, John DM”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “A77”]\n[WhiteElo “2635”]\n[BlackElo “2515”]\n[Annotator “johnu”]\n[PlyCount “64”]\n[EventDate “1980.01.20”]\n[EventType “team-tourn”]\n[EventRounds “7”]\n[EventCountry “SWE”]\n[SourceTitle “EU-chT”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “2”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Soviet Union”]\n[BlackTeam “England”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “URS”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,64\,19\,9\,21\,44\,45\,37\,46\,15\,12\,56\,70\,84\,108\,114\,123\,92\,82\,65\,73\,58\,59\,\n13\,30\,26\,27\,27\,27\,27\,29\,6\,17\,-128\,-135\,-75\,-75\,-69\,-89\,-122\,-70\,-43\,-75\,-145\,\n-164\,-153\,-153\,-194\,-194\,-235\,-235\,-235\,-260\,-278\,-279\,-284\,-290\,-290\,-290\,\n-465\,-460\,-617\,-537\,-536\,-555\,-1071\,-878]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 e6 4. c4\nexd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nc3 g6 7. e4 Bg7 8. Be2 O-O 9. O-O Re8 10. Nd2 Nbd7 11. Qc2\nNe5 12. b3 Nh5 13. Bxh5 gxh5 14. Bb2 Bd7 15. Rae1 Qh4 16. f4 Ng4 17. Nf3 Bd4+\n18. Kh1 Nf2+ 19. Rxf2 Qxf2 20. Qc1 Bh3 21. Rg1 Kf8 22. Nxd4 cxd4 23. f5 dxc3\n24. Qxc3 Rxe4 25. gxh3 Ke8 26. Qd3 Re1 27. Rxe1+ Qxe1+ 28. Kg2 Rc8 29. f6 Kd7\n30. Qxh7 Qd2+ 31. Kg3 Qxd5 32. Kh4 Re8 0-1\n[/pgn] \nGM John Nunn\n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NvSfumCNxo[/embedyt] \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \n46th USSR Chess Championships 1978\, RD Keene\, JDM Nunn\, RG Wade\, Master Chess Publications\, 1978\, ISBN 0 906634 00 8\n  \nThe Benoni for the Tournament Player\nSolving in Style\nThe Complete Pirc\nSecrets of Rook Endings\nSecrets of Pawnless Endings\nNew Ideas in the Pirc Defence\nBeating the Sicilian 3\nThe King Hunt\nSecrets of Grandmaster Chess\nSecrets of Practical Chess\nNunn’s Chess Openings\nJohn Nunn’s Chess Puzzle Book\n101 Brilliant Chess Miniatures\nLearn Chess\nSecrets of Minor-Piece Endings\nUnderstanding Chess Move by Move\nJohn Nunn’s Best Games\nEndgame Challenge\nTactical Chess Endings\nLearn Chess Tactics\nMammoth Book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games\nGrandmaster Chess Move by Move\nUnderstanding Chess Endgames\nNunn’s Chess Endings\nUnderstanding Chess Middlegames\nChess Tactics Workbook for Kids\n[pgn]\n[Event “Lugano op”]\n[Site “Lugano”]\n[Date “1986.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Nunn\, John DM”]\n[Black “Tukmakov\, Vladimir B”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B57”]\n[WhiteElo “2585”]\n[BlackElo “2570”]\n[Annotator “Nunn\,J”]\n[PlyCount “51”]\n[EventDate “1986.02.??”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “SUI”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 001”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2004.01.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2004.01.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,51\,38\,23\,44\,51\,80\,55\,53\,51\,51\,30\,53\,39\,69\,55\,69\,52\,71\,22\,61\,56\,51\,50\,\n40\,38\,35\,40\,42\,33\,42\,48\,68\,30\,37\,45\,45\,46\,48\,50\,51\,29\,39\,0\,25\,-81\,84\,84\,119\,72\,\n72\,106\,183\,177]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bc4\nQb6 7. Nb3 e6 8. O-O Be7 9. Bg5 Ne5 $6 {Although 9…Ne5 forces the bishop to\nretreat\, Black will waste time later after White plays f4.} ({Black’s best\nline is probably} 9… a6 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Qh5 Nd4 {as played in\nNunn-Martinovic\, Amsterdam 1975.}) 10. Be2 Bd7 11. Kh1 Ng6 {A necessary\nprecaution since} (11… O-O 12. f4 Ng6 13. e5 dxe5 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Qxd7 {\ndoes not give Black enough for the piece. Now\, on the other hand\, 12 f4 is met\nby 12…h6.}) 12. Be3 Qc7 13. f4 O-O 14. Qe1 {We have reached a type of\nScheveningen position in which Black’s knight is on g6 rather than c6. This\nfavours White since the knight is subject to attack by f5 and has less\ninfluence on the centre.} Rfe8 15. Rd1 Bc6 {Here the bishop is exposed to\nattack by Nd4\, so it would have been safer to play 15…Bf8.} 16. Bf3 d5 17. e5\nNe4 18. Nd4 Nxc3 (18… Bb4 19.\nNxd5) 19. Qxc3 Rac8 20. Qe1 {The queen returns to the kingside to help an\nattack based on the move f5.} Bd7 21. Qg3 Qb6 $6 {Black provokes a crisis by\nattacking the b2 pawn\, which White cannot easily defend (e.g. 22 b3 Rc3).\nHowever by placing his queen opposite White’s bishop he allows a tactical\nbreakthrough. 21…Qa5 was a better defence.} 22. f5 $1 exf5 {22…Bh4 23 Qh3\nexf5 is no better after 24 Bxd5 Rxe5 25 Bxf7+ Kh8 (or 25…Kxf7 26 Nxf5 with a\nwinning attack) 26 Bxg6 Qxg6 27 Bf4 and White wins material.} 23. Bxd5 Bh4 24.\nNxf5 $6 {Flashy\, but not the best. Simply 24 Qh3 transposes to the last note\nand wins safely.} Bxg3 25. Bxb6 axb6 $2 {The obvious move\, but it loses\nimmediately. 25…Bxe5 was the best\, when White has nothing better than to\nplay 26 Bxa7 with an extra pawn – winning perhaps\, but much more complex than\n24 Qh3.} 26. Nd6 $1 {Surprisingly Black has no way to play on\, e.g. 26…Bxe5\n27 Bxf7+ Kh8 28 Bxe8 Rxe8 29 Nxe8 Bxe8 30 Rd8 or 26…Bh4 27 Bxf7+ Kh8 28 Bxe8\nRxe8 29 Nf7+ and 30 Rxd7.} 1-0 \n[/pgn] \nChess Endgame Workbook for Kids\nGM John Nunn
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-john-denis-martin-nunn/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,Problemist,Writer
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200428
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200429
DTSTAMP:20210306T144209Z
CREATED:20200130T235659Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T144209Z
UID:3068-1588032000-1588118399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Lawrence Trent (28-iv-1986)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Lawrence Adam Trent (28-iv-1986) \nIM Lawrence Trent
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-lawrence-trent-28-iv-1986/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/JUA3944.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200515
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200516
DTSTAMP:20200510T093529Z
CREATED:20200411T142959Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200510T093529Z
UID:4454-1589500800-1589587199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Matthew D Sadler (15-v-1974)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Matthew D Sadler (15-v-1974)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-matthew-d-sadler-15-v-1974/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200516
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200517
DTSTAMP:20260817T141207Z
CREATED:20200427T133527Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T141207Z
UID:4991-1589587200-1589673599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Andrew Thomas (11-x-1904 16-v-1985)
DESCRIPTION:Signature of ARB Thomas from a Brian Reilly “after dinner” postcard from Southsea 1951.\nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nARB Thomas in play with FEA Kitto\nBCN remembers Andrew Rowland Benedick Thomas (11-x-1904 16-v-1985) \nWe cannot improve on this excellent article about ARBT on the Chess Devon web site \nDavid Hooper (seated right) in play at the West of England Championships in Bristol\, Easter\, 1947. His opponent \, ARB Thomas \, was that year’s champion. Among the spectators is Mrs. Rowena Bruce\, the 1946 British Ladies’ Champion. BCM\, Volume 118\, #6\, p.327. The others in the photo are L – R: H. V. Trevenen; H. Wilson-Osborne (WECU President); R. A. (Ron) Slade; Rowena Bruce; Ron Bruce; H. V. (Harry) Mallison; Chris Sullivan; C. Welch (Controller); F. E. A. (Frank) Kitto.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/remembering-andrew-rowland-benedick-thomas-11-x-1904-16-v-1985/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Official,Organiser,Player,Writer
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200517
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200518
DTSTAMP:20200517T100228Z
CREATED:20200410T091807Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200517T100228Z
UID:4309-1589673600-1589759999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM James Clifford Howell (17-v-1967)
DESCRIPTION:GM James Clifford Howell\nBirthday of GM James Clifford Howell (17-v-1967) \nGM James Howell\nFrom Wikipedia : \nJames Clifford Howell (born May 17\, 1967) is an English chess grandmaster and author. He earned his international master title in 1985 and his grandmaster title ten years later\, in 1995. He reached his peak rating in July 1995\, at 2525.[1] He became inactive in 1996. \nJames Howell as Junior British Chess Captain at Goldmark Books Chess Challenge\, London England 27 May 1986\, Upingham Community College\, Kasparov played the BCF Junior Squad.  Photo from Alamy\nOxford’s IM James Howell (l) shapes up against Cambridge’s FM Graham Burgess on top board in the Lloyds Bank Varsity match which Cambridge won 5.5 – 2.5. The players reeled off 19 moves of Yugoslav King’s Indian theory before Howell established a dominant B vs N which won the Lloyds Bank trophy for the best Oxford game. Photograph by Lloyds Bank.\nHere is a game from the European Junior Championship in 1985. The opponent was Mark R. Burgess : \n[pgn]\n[Event “EU-ch U21”]\n[Site “Groningen”]\n[Date “1985.12.30”]\n[Round “11”]\n[White “Burgess\, Mark R”]\n[Black “Howell\, James C”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “A15”]\n[BlackElo “2370”]\n[Annotator “Witkowski\,S”]\n[PlyCount “98”]\n[EventDate “1985.12.18”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “13”]\n[EventCountry “NED”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2000”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,98\,19\,29\,23\,-13\,58\,-17\,-11\,-14\,-9\,-32\,-9\,-6\,-11\,-8\,3\,-16\,-16\,-18\,-12\,\n-18\,-11\,-23\,-11\,-16\,-3\,-9\,-7\,-65\,-62\,-62\,-62\,-66\,-79\,-72\,-78\,-106\,-86\,-104\,\n-110\,-139\,-125\,-124\,-135\,-120\,-105\,-120\,-145\,-151\,-141\,-143\,-154\,-154\,-144\,\n-150\,-49\,-62\,-82\,-77\,-104\,-124\,-106\,-118\,-97\,-116\,-116\,-237\,-159\,-143\,-104\,\n-139\,-123\,-129\,-115\,-128\,-120\,-128\,-149\,-195\,-167\,-202\,-147\,-241\,-307\,-346\,\n-338\,-364\,-365\,-383\,-675\,-705\,-694\,-1459\,-1443\,-2257\,-2779\,-28824\,-28825\,\n-28826\,-29970]} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. b3 Bg7 4. Bb2 O-O 5. g3 d6 6. Bg2 e5 7.\nO-O Re8 8. d3 Nc6 9. Nbd2 h6 10. a3 a5 11. Qc2 Nh7 12. Rfd1 $2 (12. Bc3 f5 13.\nQb2 f4 14. b4 $36) 12… Ng5 $5 13. Nxg5 hxg5 14. Nf1 $2 {[#]} (14. e3 $142)\n14… Nd4 15. Bxd4 exd4 16. Rac1 (16. b4 $2 Qe7) 16… c6 17. e4 $5 dxe3 18.\nfxe3 $6 (18. Nxe3) 18… Qb6 19. Kh1 Bf5 20. b4 $2 axb4 21. axb4 Ra3 22. Rb1\nBg4 23. Rdc1 Rea8 24. c5 $1 Qb5 $1 25. cxd6 {[#]} Rc3 $1 (25… Qxd3 26. Qxd3\nRxd3 27. b5) 26. Qf2 Qxd3 27. Qd2 Qf5 $1 28. e4 Rxc1 29. Rxc1 Qf6 30. b5 $5\ncxb5 31. Ne3 Be6 32. Nd5 Qe5 33. Nb6 Rd8 $2 (33… Ra2 $1 34. Rc2 (34. Qd1 Qb2\n35. Qf1 (35. Qg1 Bd4 $1) 35… Bh3 $1) 34… Qa1+ 35. Qc1 Rxc2) 34. d7 Bf6 35.\nRd1 (35. Rc8 $6 Rxc8 36. dxc8=Q+ Bxc8 37. Nxc8 Qa1+ $19) 35… Be7 36. Nd5 Bc5\n37. Qa5 Rxd7 38. Qxb5 b6 39. Qc6 Kg7 40. Rb1 Rd6 41. Qb7 Rd8 42. Rf1 {[#]} Rh8\n$1 43. Qa7 Bd6 (43… Qxg3 $4 44. Rxf7+ $1 Bxf7 45. Qa1+ $18) 44. Rf3 g4 $1 45.\nRd3 Bxd5 46. Rxd5 Rxh2+ $3 47. Kxh2 Qxg3+ 48. Kg1 Qe1+ 49. Bf1 Qe3+ 0-1 \n[/pgn] \nJames Howell (fourth from left) in 1978 Varsity match winning Oxford Team. James was from Jesus College.\nJames Clifford Howell (rear\, fourth from left)at a Lloyds Bank event\nEssential Chess Endings
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-james-clifford-howell-17-v-1967/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200518
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200519
DTSTAMP:20210307T175655Z
CREATED:20200517T170112Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210307T175655Z
UID:5616-1589760000-1589846399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Andrew Martin (18-v-1957)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Andrew Martin (18-v-1957) \nFrom ChessBase : \nAndrew David Martin (born 18th May 1957 in West Ham\, London) is an English chess player with the title of international master. Martin has won various national and international tournaments. He has been playing for years in the Four Nations Chess League\, at present (July 2009) for Wood Green Hilsmark Kingfisher\, previously for the Camberley Chess Club. Martin received his title as international master in 1984. He earned his first grandmaster norm in the British Championship of 1997 in Brighton. Martin was a commentator on the chess world championship between Kasparov and Kramnik in 2000.\nOn the 21st February 2004 Martin set a new world record for simultaneous chess. \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCi3zvhNYH8[/embedyt] \nHe faced 321 chess players at the same time. His result was: 294 wins\, 26 draws and only one loss. Martin is known as a professional chess teacher and head trainer of the English youth team. He trains eight schools (Yateley Manor\, Aldro\, Millfield\, Sunningdale\, Waverley School\, St Michael’s Sandhurst\, Wellington College\, Salesian College). Martin is a chess columnist\, an author of chess books and the author of various instructional videos. He was the publisher of the series Trends Publications. Martin lives in Sandhurst\, England\, is married and the father of two daughters and two sons. His present Elo rating is 2423 (as of July 2009). \nAndrew coaching students\nThe above is somewhat inaccurate and out of date. Andrew came from East Ham rather than West Ham. He was the editor rather than the publisher of Trends Publications and he lives in Bramley\, Surrey with his partner Naomi. \nOn July 23rd 1981 a world record attempt of continuous blitz games was undertaken at the National Film Theatre in London with much support of the membership of London Central YMCA. \nYours Truly (John Upham) plays Andrew Martin at the NFT\nAndrew now plays for Camberley and Guildford clubs in the Berkshire and Surrey Border Leagues and is former member of London Central YMCA (CentYMCA)\, Wood Green and Barbican clubs. \nAndrew plays JJ Ady whilst Simon LeBlanq observes at the London Central YMCA\nAndrew has written many books starting as Editor of the “Trends Series” for Tournament Chess owned by Richard O’Brien (Not of The Crystal Maze). He has authored numerous DVDs for Foxy Videos and ChessBase and has a YouTube Channel focused on young and improving players called “Andrew Martin – Chess Explorations“. \nAndrew’s first book as author was this one : \nWinning With the King’s Indian\, Caissa Publishing\, Andrew Martin\, 1989\nHere is one his favourite games : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1984/85-60 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1985.01.07”]\n[Round “9”]\n[White “Martin\, Andrew D”]\n[Black “Ravikumar\, Vaidyanathan”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B82”]\n[BlackElo “2370”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “80”]\n[EventDate “1984.12.29”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “13”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[EventCategory “9”]\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\,80\,32\,25\,47\,60\,60\,46\,42\,12\,13\,32\,22\,38\,82\,85\,71\,71\,60\,62\,78\,14\,12\,21\,\n21\,-16\,-8\,2\,104\,106\,106\,-70\,-73\,-68\,0\,0\,191\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,\n90\,167\,167\,243\,239\,109\,99\,99\,344\,369\,387\,414\,413\,493\,482\,482\,482\,497\,497\,495\,\n503\,503\,512\,543\,543\,548\,543\,548\,540]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 e6 4. Nf3 a6 5.\nd4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 d6 7. Be3 Nf6 8. Qf3 Bd7 9. O-O-O Qc7 10. g4 Nxd4 11. Rxd4 e5 {\n[#]} 12. Rd2 $146 Bxg4 $11 13. Qg3 Bd7 $6 14. fxe5 dxe5 15. Rxd7 $5 Qxd7 16.\nBh3 Qe7 17. Rf1 h6 18. Rxf6 $5 (18. Rf5 Nd7 19. Nd5 $18 Qd6 20. Bd2 $18) 18…\ngxf6 19. Nd5 Qd6 20. Bb6 {[%csl Gc7]} h5 $1 21. Nc7+ Ke7 22. Nd5+ Ke8 23. b4\nQc6 24. Nc7+ Ke7 25. Nd5+ Ke8 26. Qg1 {[#]} Rc8 $2 (26… Rb8) 27. Bxc8 Qxc8\n28. Nxf6+ Ke7 29. Nd5+ Kd7 30. Qf1 $18 Qc6 (30… Ke8 31. Qf6 Rh6 32. Qxe5+ Re6\n33. Nc7+ Kd7 34. Nxe6 fxe6 35. Qd4+ Ke8 36. Qh8 $18) 31. Qxf7+ $18 Kc8 32. Bc7\nBh6+ 33. Kb2 Rf8 34. Qh7 Be3 35. Ne7+ Kxc7 36. Nxc6+ Kxc6 37. Qg6+ Kd7 38. Qg7+\nKe8 39. Qxe5+ Kd7 40. Qg7+ Ke8 1-0\n[/pgn] \nTrends in the Slav Defence\, Tournament Chess\, Andrew Martin\, 1990\nThe Contemporary Anti-Dutch\, 1990\nHere is a second memorable game : \n[pgn]\n[Event “EU-Cup 08th round of 16”]\n[Site “London”]\n[Date “1991.11.19”]\n[Round “2.1”]\n[White “Rajkovic\, Dusan”]\n[Black “Martin\, Andrew D”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “E45”]\n[WhiteElo “2475”]\n[BlackElo “2415”]\n[Annotator “Martin\,A”]\n[PlyCount “50”]\n[EventDate “1991.11.??”]\n[EventType “team-match”]\n[EventRounds “2”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2020”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2019.10.17”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2019.10.17”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Smederevska Palanka Gosa”]\n[BlackTeam “London Wood Green”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “YUG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,50\,19\,39\,37\,-9\,0\,-18\,1\,28\,30\,15\,29\,12\,37\,21\,19\,2\,6\,5\,8\,-3\,-3\,-25\,-16\,\n-39\,-23\,-19\,-20\,-18\,16\,6\,20\,10\,-30\,-30\,-14\,-14\,-57\,-137\,-8\,-6\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,345\,\n-29995\,-29996\,-29997\,-29998]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 b6 5. Nge2\nBa6 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. Nxc3 d5 8. cxd5 Bxf1 9. Kxf1 exd5 10. b4 $6 O-O 11. Qb3 {N}\n(11. g3) 11… Nc6 $1 12. a4 Qd7 13. Ba3 Rfe8 14.\nh3 Re6 $1 15. Rc1 Rae8 16. Kg1 {[#]} Nxd4 $1 17. exd4 Re1+ 18. Kh2 $8 (18. Rxe1\n$2 Rxe1+ 19. Kh2 Ng4+ $1 20. Kg3 (20. hxg4 Qd6+) 20… Qd6+ 21. Kxg4 (21. f4\nRe3+ 22. Kxg4 Qg6+ $19) 21… h5+ $3 22. Kf3 (22. Kxh5 Qf4 $19) 22… Qf6+ 23.\nKg3 Qg5+ 24. Kf3 Qf5+ 25. Kg3 h4+ 26. Kxh4 Qf4+ 27. g4 Re6 28. Qxd5 Rh6+ 29.\nQh5 g5#) 18… Ng4+ $1 19. hxg4 Qd6+ 20. Kh3 Qh6+ 21. Kg3 R8e3+ $1 22. fxe3\nQxe3+ 23. Kh4 Qf2+ 24. Kh3 $4 {[#]} (24. g3 $8 g5+ 25. Kxg5 (25. Kh5 Qf6 26.\nQc2 Re4 27. Qxe4 dxe4) (25. Kh3 Re6) 25… Qe3+ 26. Kh5 (26. Kf5 Qe6+ 27. Kg5\nQg6+ 28. Kh4 Qh6#) 26… Kg7 27. g5 $8 Qf3+ 28. Kh4 f5 $8 (28… Qxh1+ $2 29.\nKg4) 29. gxf6+ $8 Qxf6+ 30. Kg4 Qe6+ 31. Kf3 Qe3+ 32. Kg2 Qd2+ $10) 24… g5 $1\n25. g3 Re6 0-1\n[/pgn] \nSecret Weapons\, Tournament Chess\, 1991\nShort\, Tournament Chess\, 1993\nAlekhine’s Defence\, 2001\nThe Essential Center-Counter\, 2004\nKing’s Indian Battle Plans\, 2004\nThe Hippopotamus Rises\, 2005\nPlay the Benko Gambit\, 2007\nFirst Steps : Queen’s Gambit\, 2016\nFirst Steps : Caro-Kann Defence\, 2018\nFirst Steps : King’s Indian Defence\, 2019\nChess Hacker\, Andrew Martin\, Thinkers Press\, 2019
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-andrew-martin-18-v-1957/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/jb4_9011_lv.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200525
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200526
DTSTAMP:20210307T180824Z
CREATED:20200407T182451Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210307T180824Z
UID:4139-1590364800-1590451199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of FM Neil Carr (10-iii-1968  25-v-2015)
DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of FM Neil Leslie Carr (10-iii-1968 25-v-2015) \nHere is his obituary from Stewart Reuben \nHere is an article from Kingpin Magazine by Jon Manley \nHere is an article from EssexChess \nThe Neil Carr Scholarship Prize \nHere is a game courtesy of Kingpin & the Ilford Recorder \n[pgn]\n[Event “Simultaneous Display\, 20 boards”]\n[Site “Westergate ENG”]\n[Date “1984.05.22”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Karpov\, Anatoly Yevgenyevich”]\n[Black “Carr\, Neil Leslie”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B08”]\n[Annotator “Neil Leslie Carr”]\n[PlyCount “80”]\n[EventDate “1984.05.22”]\n[SourceTitle “Ilford Recorder”] \n{[%evp 0\,76\,19\,29\,72\,72\,70\,69\,100\,89\,74\,73\,65\,64\,61\,61\,52\,47\,59\,52\,44\,43\,133\,\n74\,117\,87\,152\,151\,136\,101\,88\,79\,96\,114\,112\,117\,147\,132\,143\,148\,243\,185\,228\,217\,\n251\,140\,149\,-94\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,-82\,-59\,-98\,-116\,-109\,-116\,-118\,-60\,-149\,-148\,-169\,\n-140\,-150\,-115\,-273\,-332\,-332\,-208\,-649\,-708\,-772\,-878\,-1036\,-994\,-29995\,\n-29996]} 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O Bg4 7. Be3\nNc6 8. Qd2 e5 9. d5 Ne7 10. Rad1 b5 $5 {[#] As played by Azmaiparashvili\nagainst Karpov\, a game Karpov lost.} 11. a3 a5 (11… Bd7 {has been\nrecommended here.}) 12. Bxb5 Bxf3 13. gxf3 Nh5 14. Rfe1 f5 15. Qe2 f4 16. Bd2\ng5 17. Qf1 Rf6 18. Qh3 Rh6 {[#]} 19. Qd7 $2 (19. Bd7 {I think 19 Bd7 is better\nas it holds back Black’s dangerous pawn.}) 19… Qf8 20. Qxc7 Rc8 21. Qxa5\nNf6 {[#]} 22. Kf1 $2 {And now White is lost.} (22. Bf1 {followed by h3 is a\nbetter defence although I am sure the well-placed Black pieces mean that Black\nhas more than enough compensation for the pawns.}) 22… g4 23. Ke2 (23. fxg4\nf3 $1 24. Bxh6 Nxg4 {and White is going to get mated.}) 23… gxf3+ 24. Kd3\nRxh2 {[#]} 25. Qb6 (25. Rf1 Rxc3+ 26. Bxc3 Nxe4 27. Kxe4 Rh3 {[#] and again\nWhite is mated.}) 25… Ng4 26. Rf1 Rb8 {[#]} 27. Qxd6 (27. Qa7 Ra8 28. Qb6 Nc8\n29. Qb7 Ra7 {and Black wins}) 27… Nxf2+ 28. Rxf2 Rxf2 29. a4 Rg2 30. Kc4 Rg6\n31. Qd7 {[#]} Nc8 32. Kb3 Nd6 33. Rh1 f2 34. Rf1 Rb7 {[#]} 35. Qh3 (35. Qc6\nNxe4 {and wins}) 35… Nxb5 36. axb5 Rxb5+ 37. Ka2 (37. Nxb5 Rg3+) 37… Ra6+\n38. Kb1 Rxb2+ {it is mate after} 39. Kxb2 Qa3+ 40. Kb1 Qa1# 0-1\n[/pgn] \nNeil Carr (far right) at Paul Buswell’s house\nHere is a tribute from long time friend and London Central YMCA fellow club member\, IM Andrew Martin : \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxyljbcDn8s[/embedyt] \nNeil Carr (front right)\nNeil Carr (right) with Neil Fox\, Stuart Conquest\, Paul Buswell and ?\nNeil Carr (rear right) at a BCF National Club Final (1992)\nNeil Carr\, (foreground\, right) at London’s South Bank\, Peter Sowray in the background.. Photo by Clive Field\, London Chess Association\nFM Neil Carr\, London Chess Classic 2013\, courtesy pf John Upham Photography
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-fm-neil-leslie-carr-10-iii-1968-25-v-2015/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/JUA6454-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200601
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200602
DTSTAMP:20210601T090806Z
CREATED:20190824T104545Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210601T090806Z
UID:1161-1590969600-1591055999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Nigel Short (01-vi-1965)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes Nigel Short a happy birthday on this day (June 1st) in 1965. \nIn the 1999 Queen’s Birthday Honours List Nigel was awarded the MBE. The citation read simply : “For services to Chess”. \nHere is his extensive Wikipedia entry. \nFor the 1979 Spassky vs the BCF Junior Squad simultaneous display this was written : “Rating 213. World No.1\, 13 year old. First Evening Standard under-10s\, 1975. First under-14s\, 1976. First under-21s\, 1978. \nBritish Men’s Lightning (10 seconds per move) champion 1978 – the youngest National Men’s Champion in chess history. Bronze medallist world under-17 championship 1979. \nIn simuls Nigel has beaten Korchnoi and Petrosian. World Nos. 2 and 4. Now he plays Spassky\, World No.3.” \nNigel Short plays Joel Benjamin at Lloyd’s Bank\, 1976. 1-0\, Maroczy Bind\nAnatoly Karpov plays Nigel Short\, London\, Philips & Drew\, French Winawer\, 1/2-1/2\, Stewart Reuben looking on\n[pgn]\n[Event “British CF-66 Championship”]\n[Site “Chester/ Cheshire”]\n[Date “1979.08.14”]\n[Round “8”]\n[White “Miles\, Anthony John”]\n[Black “Short\, Nigel D”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C01”]\n[WhiteElo “2560”]\n[BlackElo “2260”]\n[Annotator “Nigel Short & Malcolm Pein (from Nigel Short’s Chess Skills)”]\n[PlyCount “92”]\n[EventDate “1979.08.06”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “GBR”]\n[SourceTitle “Nigel Short’s Chess Skills”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{At the time this game was played Tony Miles was Britain’s top player and had\nbeen a grandmaster for some four years. I think he played this game badly –\nperhaps he underestimated me?} 1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. exd5 {This move\nis not considered to be very good and I have not mentioned it in the Opening\nsection when covering the French Defence.} exd5 5. Bd3 Nc6 {[#] and I have\nalready equalised.} 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Nf6 8. Bg5 Qe7+ 9. Ne2 ({It might have\nbeen better for Miles to have played} 9. Qe2 {here to hasten the onset of the\nendgame where his bishop pair would have been useful.}) 9… Bd7 10. O-O h6 11.\nBf4 O-O-O {Here I sensed chances of a king-side pawn storm.} 12. c4 Be6 {\n[#] a good move as it blockades and defends without opening lines which\, with\nWhite’s bishop pair\, is best avoided at this stage.} {I think} 13. c5 {was a\ngood move. It cuts off my pieces from hampering an attack on the queen’s side\nin general and the b-file in particular.} ({It has been suggested that Miles\nwould have been better playing} 13. cxd5 {after which} Nxd5 14. Bd2 {would\nhave prepared 15.c4 driving the Black knight away and creating an outpost for\nhis own pieces.}) 13… g5 14. Bd2 Ne4 15. Rb1 ({I think it very important\nthat white played should have played} 15. Be1 {here. He can then play f3\,\nremoving my knight\, and then Bf2.}) 15… f5 16. f3 Nxd2 17. Qxd2 f4 18. Bb5\nBd7 19. Rfe1 Qf6 20. Qc3 Rde8 21. Qb3 {[#]} Re3 $1 22. Bd3 ({White cannot take\nthe d-pawn by} 22. Qxd5 $2 {as} Be6 {traps the queen.}) 22… Nd8 $17 {Now it\nis obvious that Black stands much better. My control of the e-file is complete\nand the rook on e3 is a real tower (!) of strength.} 23. c4 Bf5 $1 24. Bxf5+\nQxf5 25. Qa2 Rhe8 26. Rb2 g4 $19 {This move really exploits the vulnerability\nof White’s king-side defences.} 27. Rf1 (27. fxg4 Qxg4 {then 28..f3 is a\ncrushing threat and the g-file is wide open.}) 27… gxf3 28. gxf3 Rg8+ 29. Kh1\nQh3 30. Rf2 Rxf3 31. Ng1 Re3 $1 {[#]} 32. Rg2 ({If} 32. Nxh3 Re1+ 33. Ng1 {\nand either rook mates.}) 32… Qe6 33. Rxg8 ({If} 33. cxd5 Qe4 {and …f3\nwilll be decisive}) 33… Qxg8 34. cxd5 f3 35. d6 Qg5 36. d7+ Kxd7 37. Qb1 Ne6\n38. Qh7+ Kc6 39. Qf7 Nxd4 40. Qc4 Qxc5 41. Qa4+ b5 42. Qd1 Qd5 43. Rf2 Re2 44.\nQc1+ Kb7 45. Nxe2 fxe2+ 46. Rg2 Nc2 $1 {[#]} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nNigel Short\nNigel analyses with Viktor Korchnoi\, unknown date and venue\n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_JJF2XoST8[/embedyt] \n[pgn]\n[Event “Amsterdam VSB”]\n[Site “Amsterdam”]\n[Date “1993.??.??”]\n[Round “6”]\n[White “Short\, Nigel D”]\n[Black “Anand\, Viswanathan”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C42”]\n[WhiteElo “2655”]\n[BlackElo “2710”]\n[Annotator “Kramnik\,V”]\n[PlyCount “81”]\n[EventDate “1993.05.??”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “6”]\n[EventCountry “NED”]\n[EventCategory “17”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 035”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1993.08.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1993.08.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,81\,19\,21\,25\,9\,19\,17\,34\,28\,27\,-9\,3\,18\,23\,20\,41\,36\,28\,-4\,8\,10\,16\,-9\,-12\,\n10\,27\,72\,87\,87\,110\,110\,118\,43\,48\,48\,35\,35\,48\,-6\,-15\,-23\,-24\,-35\,-42\,-14\,-28\,9\,\n0\,5\,48\,89\,137\,41\,41\,49\,80\,32\,32\,54\,32\,26\,12\,17\,51\,0\,41\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,43\,112\,144\,\n165\,165\,205\,207\,208\,362\,386\,454]} 1. e4 {Ftacnik} e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4.\nNf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. c4 Nb4 9. Be2 Be6 10. Nc3 O-O 11.\nBe3 Bf5 12. Ne5 $5 $146 (12. Rc1 $2 {Ftacnik} Nxc3 13. bxc3 Nxa2 $17) 12… Bf6\n$2 (12… Nxc3 13. bxc3 Nc2 14. Rc1 Nxe3 15. fxe3 Be4 (15… Be6 $5 $14) 16.\nBf3 $14 Bg5 17. Qe2 $14) 13. g4 $1 Be6 14. f4 Nxc3 15. bxc3 Nc6 16. Bf3 (16. f5\n$1 Bc8 17. Nf3 $1 Re8 18. Bf4 $16) (16. Rb1) (16. Nxc6 {Ftacnik} bxc6 17. f5\nBc8 18. Qd2 $16) (16. Rb1 {Ftacnik}) 16… Bxe5 17. dxe5 d4 $1 (17… dxc4 18.\nf5 Bd7 19. Qd5 Re8 20. Bf4 $16) 18. cxd4 Bxc4 19. d5 $1 (19. Rf2 Bd5 20. f5 $36\n) 19… Ne7 20. Bc5 $1 Bxf1 21. Kxf1 $16 Qd7 22. Qb3 b6 23. Ba3 Rae8 (23… c6\n$5 $16 {Ftacnik}) 24. Rd1 Ng6 (24… Kh8 25. f5 $18) 25. e6 $1 (25. Bxf8 Rxf8\n26. Qb4 $18) 25… Qd8 (25… fxe6 {Ftacnik} 26. dxe6 Qxe6 27. Bd5 Rxf4+ 28.\nKg1 Rxg4+ 29. Kh1 $18) 26. f5 Ne5 27. Be2 Qh4 28. Qg3 (28. h3 h5 29. Bxf8 Rxf8\n30. Qe3 $1 f6 31. gxh5 $16) (28. h3 {Ftacnik}) 28… Qxg3 29. hxg3 fxe6 30.\nBxf8 Kxf8 31. dxe6 Ke7 (31… h6 {Ftacnik} 32. Rd5 $18) 32. g5 $1 c6 33. g4 (\n33. Rd4 {Ftacnik} g6 34. Re4 Kd6) 33… g6 34. Rd4 $1 gxf5 35. gxf5 Rf8 36. Rf4\nb5 $1 37. Ke1 $1 (37. Kf2 Ng6 $5 (37… Ng6 {Ftacnik} 38. Rf3 Nh4)) 37… h6\n38. gxh6 Rh8 39. Re4 Kf6 40. e7 Kxf5 41. Rxe5+ (41. Rxe5+ {Ftacnik} Kxe5 42.\nBh5 $18) 1-0\n[/pgn] \nNigel Short\n[pgn]\n[Event “Ponomariov-Short Training match”]\n[Site “Yalta”]\n[Date “2003.08.02”]\n[Round “8”]\n[White “Short\, Nigel D”]\n[Black “Ponomariov\, Ruslan”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C52”]\n[WhiteElo “2701”]\n[BlackElo “2718”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “133”]\n[EventDate “2003.03.28”]\n[EventType “match”]\n[EventRounds “8”]\n[EventCountry “UKR”]\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\,133\,19\,28\,20\,25\,28\,18\,11\,-43\,-48\,-45\,-30\,-81\,7\,-18\,11\,26\,18\,18\,33\,38\,\n27\,19\,38\,-54\,-34\,-31\,-77\,-18\,-74\,-95\,-72\,-35\,77\,94\,61\,-156\,0\,-54\,-66\,-98\,-86\,\n-160\,-73\,-80\,-80\,-80\,0\,-76\,-30\,-71\,-52\,-183\,-152\,-136\,-74\,-84\,-59\,-60\,-61\,-65\,\n-67\,-57\,-49\,-104\,-26\,-38\,-21\,-58\,0\,4\,19\,2\,23\,0\,21\,11\,0\,-2\,15\,0\,21\,8\,22\,12\,21\,0\,\n9\,13\,13\,25\,15\,23\,19\,28\,44\,45\,39\,46\,103\,103\,169\,171\,165\,155\,172\,175\,161\,175\,168\,\n161\,160\,157\,160\,160\,157\,157\,157\,290\,290\,286\,302\,314\,368\,390\,390\,430\,488\,614\,\n676\,1016\,1157\,29196\,29975\,29976]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5.\nc3 Ba5 6. d4 d6 7. Qb3 Qd7 8. dxe5 Bb6 9. Nbd2 Na5 10. Qc2 Nxc4 11. Nxc4 d5 12.\nBg5 $5 (12. exd5 Qxd5 13. Qa4+ Bd7 14. Nxb6 cxb6 15. Qb4 Bb5 16. Nd4) 12… h6\n13. Bh4 {[#]} Qg4 $146 (13… g5 $6) 14. O-O-O g5 15. e6 Bxe6 16. exd5 Bd7 $6 (\n16… Qxc4 $142 17. dxe6 gxh4 18. Rhe1 Qf4+ 19. Kb1) 17. Rhe1+ $18 Kf8 18. Re4\n(18. Nce5 $142 $16 {[#]}) 18… Qf5 19. g4 Qh7 20. Nfe5 Be8 21. Qe2 Nf6 22. Rf4\nQg7 23. d6 Kg8 24. d7 Nxd7 25. Rxd7 gxf4 26. Qf3 Bxd7 27. Nxd7 Be3+ 28. Kb2 Bd4\n29. Kb3 Bxc3 30. Qxc3 Qxc3+ 31. Kxc3 Re8 32. Nce5 Rxe5 33. Nxe5 Kg7 34. Nd3 f3\n35. Bg3 Re8 36. Ne5 c5 37. Nxf3 b5 38. h3 Re2 39. Nd2 a5 40. Kc2 a4 41. Kd1 Re6\n42. Bf4 Kg6 43. Be3 Re5 44. Kc2 h5 45. Nf3 Rd5 46. Ne1 hxg4 47. hxg4 c4 48. Kc3\nf5 49. Ng2 Rd3+ 50. Kb4 $16 fxg4 $2 (50… Kf7) 51. Nf4+ Kf5 52. Nxd3 cxd3 53.\nKc3 Ke4 54. Bc5 Kd5 55. Be7 Ke4 56. Kd2 Kf3 57. Bh4 Ke4 58. a3 Kd4 59. Bg5 Kc4\n60. Bf6 Kb3 61. Be7 Kc4 62. Ke3 Kc3 63. Bf8 b4 64. Bxb4+ Kc2 65. Bd2 Kb3 66.\nKxd3 Kxa3 67. Kc2 {It is mate in 11.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nNigel Short Simultaneous display at the 2012 London Chess Classic\, courtesy of John Upham Photography\nNigel Short : Chess Prodigy (1981)\nNigel Short’s Chess Skills (1989)\nNew Ideas in the French Defence (1991)\nNigel Short
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-nigel-davis-short/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,History,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/jb6_7547_lv.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200610
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200611
DTSTAMP:20210307T182210Z
CREATED:20200410T091453Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210307T182210Z
UID:4307-1591747200-1591833599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Jovanka Houska (10-vi-1980)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes many Happy Returns to IM Jovanka Houska ! (10-vi-1980) \nFrom Wikipedia : \nJovanka Houska is an English chess player with the titles International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is an eight-time winner of the British Women’s Chess Championship. \nJovanka Houska\, photographer unknown\nJovanka was born in London and became a Women’s International Master in 1999\, a Woman’s Grandmaster in 2000 and an International Master in 2005. Her peak rating was 2443 in July 2010 at the of 30. \nJovanka Houska\, photographer unknown\nShe plays for 4NCL Wood Green and her brother is IM Miroslav Houska. Her father Mario plays for Slough. \nJovanka Houska and family members\nIM Jovanka Houska\, courtesy of John Upham Photography\n[pgn]\n[Event “BCF-ch 86th”]\n[Site “Scarborough”]\n[Date “1999.08.01”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “Sasikiran\, Krishnan”]\n[Black “Houska\, Jovanka”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “D10”]\n[WhiteElo “2536”]\n[BlackElo “2251”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “118”]\n[EventDate “1999.08.05”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 071 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.09.14”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.09.14”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,118\,19\,31\,19\,-16\,26\,44\,46\,20\,57\,19\,36\,13\,36\,19\,35\,27\,37\,34\,42\,18\,39\,\n28\,28\,32\,41\,-11\,-17\,0\,-9\,-10\,-3\,-3\,13\,-4\,17\,-1\,-33\,-29\,-36\,-41\,-43\,-55\,-71\,-71\,\n-92\,-139\,-90\,-97\,-100\,-122\,-119\,-142\,-138\,-131\,32\,17\,13\,6\,7\,0\,0\,-56\,-56\,-140\,\n-143\,-169\,-183\,-193\,-190\,-206\,-216\,-241\,-190\,-217\,-217\,-212\,-202\,-212\,-207\,\n-209\,-198\,-212\,-213\,-229\,-233\,-233\,-223\,-233\,-269\,-309\,-377\,-381\,-380\,-425\,\n-468\,-492\,-425\,-488\,-556\,-558\,-558\,-558\,-558\,-603\,-712\,-799\,-863\,-892\,-1444\,\n-1962\,-28767\,-29981\,-29982\,-29983\,-29984\,-29985\,-29986\,-29995\,-29988]} 1. d4 d5\n2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. b3 Bg4 6. Qc2 e6 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8. Nge2 {[#]} e5\n$146 (8… Bd6) 9. f3 Be6 10. Bb2 Bd6 11. c5 Bc7 12. b4 Qe7 13. Qd2 e4 $1 14.\nBc2 O-O 15. Ng3 Rae8 16. O-O exf3 17. gxf3 Bh3 $15 18. Rfe1 $6 {[#]} Nh5 $19\n19. Qf2 (19. Nxh5 Qg5+ 20. Kh1 Qxh5 {[%cal Gh5f3]} 21. Qf2 Re6 22. Bd1 Rfe8 $19\n) 19… Qg5 20. f4 Qh4 21. Nf5 Qxf2+ 22. Kxf2 g6 23. Ng3 Ndf6 24. Nxh5 Nxh5 25.\nRg1 Bd8 26. Kf3 f5 27. Bc1 h6 28. Rxg6+ Kh7 29. Rg1 Rg8 30. Bd2 Kh8 31. Ne2\nBg4+ 32. Kf2 $6 (32. Rxg4 fxg4+ 33. Kg2 Nf6 $17) 32… Bh4+ 33. Rg3 Bxe2 34.\nKxe2 Bxg3 35. hxg3 Nxg3+ 36. Kf2 Ne4+ 37. Bxe4 fxe4 38. Rh1 Re6 39. Be1 Reg6\n40. Kf1 Kg7 41. a4 Rg4 42. a5 Kg6 43. Bf2 Rf8 44. Be1 Rf5 45. Rg1 Rxg1+ 46.\nKxg1 Kh5 {[#]} 47. Kg2 Kg4 48. Bf2 Rh5 49. Bg1 Rh3 50. Bf2 Rf3 51. Bg1 h5 52.\nBf2 h4 53. Bg1 h3+ 54. Kh2 Rf1 55. f5 Rxf5 56. Kh1 Rf7 57. Kh2 Rf1 58. b5 axb5\n59. Kh1 b4 0-1 \n[/pgn] \nDangerous Weapons : Caro-Kann\nStarting Out : The Scandinavian\nPlay the Caro-Kann\nOpening Repertoire : The Caro-Kann\nThe Mating Game\n[pgn]\n[Event “Douglas PokerStars op”]\n[Site “Douglas”]\n[Date “2015.10.11”]\n[Round “9”]\n[White “Houska\, Jovanka”]\n[Black “Neelotpal\, Das”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D78”]\n[WhiteElo “2372”]\n[BlackElo “2465”]\n[Annotator “johnu”]\n[PlyCount “57”]\n[EventDate “2015.10.03”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “IOM”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 168 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2015.10.29”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2015.10.29”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,57\,19\,31\,14\,30\,64\,47\,24\,7\,17\,17\,12\,-14\,-3\,3\,8\,21\,26\,13\,13\,8\,11\,11\,47\,\n26\,36\,32\,13\,34\,34\,9\,36\,27\,22\,17\,52\,35\,38\,40\,60\,51\,67\,59\,95\,111\,205\,119\,182\,172\,\n182\,209\,209\,214\,221\,229\,303\,370\,505\,516]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. g3\nc6 5. Bg2 d5 6. Qb3 O-O 7. O-O Qb6 8. Nc3 Rd8 9. c5 Qxb3 10. axb3 Na6 11. Bf4\nNd7 12. Rfd1 Re8 13. h3 h6 14. g4 {[#]} e5 $6 $146 (14… g5 15. Bg3 e5 $11)\n15. Nxe5 Naxc5 $2 16. Nxd7 Nxd7 17. b4 $1 $16 g5 18. Bh2 Nb6 19. b5 {Minority\nAttack !} Bf8 20. bxc6 bxc6 21. Rdc1 f5 22. Bc7 $18 {[%cal Gc7b6]} Nd7 {[#]}\n23. Nxd5 $1 Bb7 (23… cxd5 24. Bxd5+) 24. Bh2 Rxe2 25. Nc7 Rb8 26. gxf5 Rxb2\n27. Rxa7 Bc8 28. Bxc6 Nf6 $2 29. Nd5 $1 $18 1-0\n[/pgn] \nIM Jovanka Houska\, courtesy of John Upham Photography
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-jovanka-houska-10-vi-1980/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/jb4_8040_lv.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200624
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200625
DTSTAMP:20210621T084640Z
CREATED:20190624T001040Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210621T084640Z
UID:6378-1592956800-1593043199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Alan Phillips (28-x-1923 24-vi-2009)
DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Alan Phillips (28-x-1923 24-vi-2009) \nHere is his far too brief Wikipedia entry \nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“Alan Phillips\, joint British Champion in 1954\, was born in England in 1923. He was the author of Chess: 60 Years on with Caissa and Friends (Caissa Editions\, 2003) and The Chess Teacher (Cadogan\, 1995).” \nHere is an item from the Shropshire Chess web site \nHere is Alan Phillips autobiography from his own book\, Chess: Sixty years on with Caissa & Friends \n“Born in Stockport in 1923\,I was playing pontoon in an air-raid shelter in the autumn of 1940 with a friend from our school\, Stockport Grammar\, when he suddenly announced that he knew a better game\, being the school chess champion. Ostensibly studying for a Cambridge Scholarship with a view to reading Classics\, I played about 200 games with Norman Stephens\, emerging the victor perhaps because I studied Alekhine’s and Euwe’s games\, obtained from the Public Library\, whence I had been borrowing difficult piano works for the previous two years. When I got up to Magdalene in 1941\, I found standing next to me in the University Chess Club Wykehamist James Lighthill\, destined to become\, arguably\, our greatest applied mathematician of the second half of the last century; I played chess with him one evening a week and piano duets another\, and as Match Captain and Hon.Sec. in my second year – shared top board\, while now supposedly reading Italian\, as a War Office scheme\, and French\, languages I unfortunately then considered beneath contempt\, compared with the glory that was Greek. \nAlan Phillips plays David Hooper on August 20th 1954 in round five of the British Championships in Nottingham\, photographer unknown\nEnrolled but not commissioned – the War Office having ratted on its promise to a large bunch of first-class linguists – in the Army Intelligence Corps from August 1943 to October 1946\,I spent nearly three years abroad in Sicily and Palestine\, riding a motor-bike – our American equivalents in the CIC were mostly majors or colonels and rode in Cadillacs – and playing\, when stationary\, much music with singers and violinists\, especially in Palestine\, and chess with the Captain of the Harbour in Sicily\, a charming moustached Neapolitan who got about three draws in 300 games\, and then in Haifa\, Hadera and Jerusalem chess clubs\, beating the youth champion of Palestine and Aloni when he played simultaneously\, but losing to Porath\, and enjoying ‘skittles’ in cafes with many other players of near-master rank. Demobilised and put\, like the Goons\, on the Z-reserve in autumn 1946\, I went back to Cambridge to read Classics Pt II and found Peter Swinnerton-Dyer\, as far as I know our best number theorist of the past fifty years\, waiting for me – we tied for the University Championship having begun a series of trips to Hastings with Alan Truscott\, and later continued to Birmingham for the Midland Championship\, which I won in 1951. I usually won prizes in increasingly strong sections at Hastings except in two Premiers\, 1950-1 and 1954-5\, when my emotions were otherwise engaged\, as happened in the British Championship in 1952\, when\, after I had beaten all the best players and scored 7/8 with three rounds to go\, a girl-friend turned up and I lost my last three games\, refusing a draw in round nine in a not superior position\, not out of arrogance\, but in order to clinch the title. \nAlan Phillips and Leonard Barden are joint British Champions of 1954 in Nottingham\, photographer unknown\nOtherwise\, with one or two exceptions\, I only lost to the strongest players in the British Championships I played in\, i.e. 1949-55 and 1961\, tying for first place at Nottingham 1954 and coming third equal in a very strong Championship at Aberystwyth 1955\, which earned me a place as Board 6 on the English team at the Moscow Olympiad in 1956\, where I only drew against Luxembourg\, and lost to Geller\, but drew in two cases from bad positions with Johner\, Sanguinetti and Ghitescu. \nDavid Hooper (left) in conversation with Alan Phillips. Location and photographer unknown.\nIn l96l I moved up to Derbyshire\, where – though playing top board for Manchester as well as the county – having switched to Maths teaching after several years part-time study at Birkbeck and acquired offspring as well as promotion\, I also started annual visits to Dartington Summer School of Music\, now totalling 38 out of a possible 40\, all of which made it virtually impossible for me to play in tournaments\, apart from the odd visit to Hastings or fairly strong week-end tournaments\, e.g. Ilford\, which I won for the second time in 1973\, beating Basman. My responsibilities on my return to London as Head of Charlton School in 1967\, where I got Bob Wade to teach chess as part of mathematics in the Lower School\, and then of Forest Hill School\, where we organised many tournaments\, although I played generally as top board for Kent\, whom I led twice to victory in the County Championship in 1975 and 1976\, meant that I had even less time for tournament chess\, except at Islington and in the Challengers\, so that my real heyday ended there\, with a final move to a ‘quiet’ county\, Shropshire – as far as chess was concerned – as Adviser for Secondary Education and Area Adviser\, 1976-82\, in which capacity I avoided as much paper-work as I could and taught chess in the lunch-hour to all the primary and handicapped pupils I visited. I should say most of my successes at chess have been at County Level\, where I played top board for Cambridgeshire and London University\, as well as the counties mentioned\, and in the very strong London League\, as far as I can estimate I had a success rate of some 70% in those contests. In general the games in this book\, with one or two exceptions for historical or anecdotal reasons\, were played at high levels\, and won by the right player\, not suddenly lost by a blunder\, like some games published nowadays because the blunder is perpetrated by a famous player. \nPhotograph taken in Hastings on 28 December 1950. Lord Dunsany (standing on the right) is watching the first-round game between Alan Phillips and Weaver Adams\, source : http://boylston-chess-club.blogspot.com/\nWith regard to the general assessment of players and tournaments\, I have only one comment “Look at the games!” When even\, or especially\, David Bronstein wails “They give me a number”\, I think it time to end a spuriously precise system and revert to the earlier English practice or the traditional Soviet one of putting players in classes\, preferably according to a sufficiently large number of results in tournaments or strong club or county matches. And when players are inhibited\, when the match is won\, from offering an opponent\, who has played well\, a draw\, that is a diminution of sportsmanship\, so a draw\, even with Kasparov\, should not count in grading. Finally the use of seconds or computers once a game is started should be\nregarded as totally unsporting\, and players should be put on their honour\, as bridge-players are in matters of cheating\, not to use them. \nI should like to dedicate this book to the memory of my good friends\, David Hooper\, Stuart Milner-Barry\, and A.R.B.Thomas\, men of integrity\, humour\, and many other talents\, who brought to their chess the same qualities of courage and sportsmanship they showed in the rest of their lives. \nAlan Phillips (28-x-1923 24-vi-2009) : Source : https://www.shropshirechess.org/History/1970s.htm\nAlan Phillips\nBritish Master\, Joint British Champion 1954\nThorn Cottage\, Appleton Thorn\, Warrington\, Cheshire\nSeptember 2003″ \nObituary of Alan Phillips by John Saunders from British Chess Magazine\, 2009. Part One\nObituary of Alan Phillips by John Saunders from British Chess Magazine\, 2009. Part Two\n[pgn]\n[Event “Ilford op 24th”]\n[Site “Ilford”]\n[Date “1973.05.26”]\n[Round “3”]\n[White “Phillips\, Alan”]\n[Black “Basman\, Michael J”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A81”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “57”]\n[EventDate “1973.05.25”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “6”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\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\,57\,19\,29\,68\,68\,90\,82\,62\,66\,101\,64\,80\,60\,55\,63\,78\,48\,84\,66\,93\,75\,64\,48\,\n71\,73\,62\,62\,41\,30\,28\,66\,32\,44\,54\,50\,90\,84\,106\,108\,106\,106\,106\,101\,100\,99\,208\,\n109\,83\,75\,135\,141\,121\,121\,143\,121\,221\,192\,625\,634]} 1. Nf3 f5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2\nBg7 4. d4 Nh6 5. Nbd2 $146 (5. O-O O-O 6. c4 d6 7. Nc3 c6 8. d5 e5 9. dxe6 Bxe6\n10. Qd3 Nf7) 5… O-O 6. c3 d5 7. Nb3 c6 8. h4 $1 Nf7 9. h5 e6 10. hxg6 hxg6\n11. Nc5 $16 b6 12. Nd3 Nd7 13. Be3 e5 14. dxe5 Ndxe5 15. Nfxe5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5\nBxe5 17. Qd2 $16 {[#]} Be6 18. O-O-O Rf7 19. Rh6 $1 Rg7 20. Kb1 Rc8 21. Bf4 (\n21. c4) 21… Qd6 22. Bg5 Bf7 23. e4 fxe4 24. Bxe4 dxe4 $6 25. Qxd6 Bxd6 26.\nRxd6 Bd5 27. Be3 Rcc7 28. Bd4 Rcd7 $2 {[#]} 29. Rh8+ $1 1-0\n[/pgn] \nHere is his obituary from The Times of London \nThe Chess Teacher\nChess: Sixty years on with Caissa & Friends
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-alan-phillips-28-x-1923-24-vi-2009/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering,Writer
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200627
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200628
DTSTAMP:20210622T114001Z
CREATED:20200403T170942Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210622T114001Z
UID:4037-1593216000-1593302399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Bernard Cafferty (27-vi-1934)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes FIDE Master Bernard Cafferty best wishes on his 87th birthday\, June 27th in 1934. \nBernard Cafferty\, location\, date and photographer unknown\nOn 14th December\, 1968\, Bernard gave a simultaneous exhibition held at Anglesey School\, Burton. He played 17\, won 16 and lost 1 to Trevor Bould who was already Burton Champion\, photograph from http://www.derbyshirechess.btck.co.uk/History/Exhibitions\, photographer unknown\nBernard was born in Blackburn\, Lancashire (his mother’s maiden name was Croft) migrating to Birmingham and now resides in Hastings\, East Sussex and is a member of Hastings & St. Leonards Chess Club. \nFM Bernard Cafferty (seated\, rhs)\nHe was editor of British Chess Magazine from 1981 to 1991. \nBernard Cafferty\, location\, date and photographer unknown\nHere is the 1981 announcement (written by Harry Golombek\, Chairman of Directors) of his appointment in the British Chess Magazine\, Volume CI (101)\, Number 3\, March\, page 82 : \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume 101\, Number 3\, Page 82\nHere is his extensive Wikipedia entry \nBernard won the BCF President’s Award in 1991. \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzI7b9fuEvM[/embedyt] \nIn the December 2010 issue (Volume CXXX (130)\, Number 12\, pages 622 – 625 of British Chess Magazine there was a tribute to Bernard’s 30 years at BCM from editor FM Steve Giddins that was interview based : \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXX (103)\, Number 12\, December\, Page 622\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXX (103)\, Number 12\, December\, Page 623\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXX (103)\, Number 12\, December\, Page 625\nAssociate Editor Bernard Cafferty\,at work on the magazine in the BCM office\, BCM\, Volume 130\, Number 8\, p. 428\nHere is discussion of Bernard on the English Chess Forum \nHere is the BritBase collection of Bernard’s games \nIn 2009 Bernard was interviewed by the privately published Chess Parrot whose editor was / is Basingstoke based James Pratt (who became BCMs editor from 2011 – 2015). Here is that previously unseen interview : \nThe Chess Parrot\, XXVI\, Winter/Spring 2009\, page 26-5\nThe Chess Parrot\, XXVI\, Winter/Spring 2009\, page 26-5\nThe Chess Parrot\, XXVI\, Winter/Spring 2009\, page 26-5\nThe Chess Parrot\, XXVI\, Winter/Spring 2009\, page 26-5\nFM Bernard Cafferty at the 2014-15 Hastings Congress\, courtesy of John Upham Photography\nA Complete Defence to 1P-K4: A Study of Petroff’s Defence (2nd ed.)\, Pergammon Press\, ISBN 0-08-024088-7\, 1967\nSpassky’s 100 Best Games\, Bernard Cafferty\, BT Batsford\, 1972\, ISBN 0-7134-0362-4.\nTal’s 100 Best Games. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-2765-5.\nChess with the Masters. Chess Player. ISBN 0-900928-95-6.\nEnglish Opening\, The Chess Player\, 1977\, ISBN 0-900928-92-1\nA Complete Defence to 1d4: A Study of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted\, Pergammon Press\, ISBN 0-08-024102-6\nPlay for Mate (1990)\, DV Hooper and Bernard Cafferty\, ISBN-13: 978-0713464740\nPlay The Evans Gambit (co-author Tim Harding). Cadogan. ISBN 1-85744-119-2.\nThe Soviet Chess Championships. Batsford. ISBN 1-85744-201-6.\nB.C.M. Classic Reprints\, number 22: 1923 – 1932 An Anthology\, Cafferty\, Bernard\, 1986. ISBN 978-0-900846-45-8.\nFM Bernard Cafferty (27-vi-1934)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-bernard-cafferty-27-vi-1934/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Hastings,Journalist,Player,Translator,Writer
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200627
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200628
DTSTAMP:20260817T141148Z
CREATED:20200411T185005Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T141148Z
UID:4498-1593216000-1593302399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Matthew Wadsworth (27-vi-2000)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes IM Matthew Wadsworth Happy Birthday this day (June 27th) in 2021. \nPreviously we reported : \nFM Matthew Wadsworth\, one of England’s most promising young players\, has earned his first Grandmaster norm from his excellent performance in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). Matthew\, who is twenty\, has a current FIDE standard play rating of 2413 and is ranked 34th amongst the active players in England (by FIDE rating) earning his FM title in 2016. Matthew has IMs norm under his belt but could leapfrog to Grandmaster status with further norms and by increasing his live rating to 2500. Most likely\, however\, is that the IM title will be ratified at the next FIDE Congress now that his live rating has topped 2400. \nMatthew with father Jim at the 2012 Surrey Congress\nMatthew’s first ECF grade was 66A in 2007 (aged 7) and he played for Maidenhead in local leagues\, St. Pirans’s School and then Reading School. \nMatthew at the 2013 British Championships in Torquay\nMatthew is reading Economics at Queen’s College\, Cambridge and rows for the college team. \n[pgn]\n[Event “London RAC Centenary sim”]\n[Site “London”]\n[Date “2011.04.16”]\n[Round “3”]\n[White “Wadsworth\, Matthew J”]\n[Black “Adams\, Michael J”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D13”]\n[WhiteElo “1921”]\n[BlackElo “2716”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “79”]\n[EventDate “2011.04.16”]\n[EventType “simul”]\n[EventRounds “1”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 141 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2011.05.03”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2011.05.03”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,79\,19\,-12\,-9\,-51\,12\,5\,-2\,-1\,-24\,-13\,-15\,-15\,-8\,1\,1\,1\,12\,0\,20\,-34\,24\,\n-7\,0\,-29\,-39\,-33\,-26\,-32\,-26\,-41\,-12\,-12\,363\,363\,358\,358\,364\,356\,367\,365\,367\,\n376\,374\,384\,375\,390\,381\,389\,377\,381\,389\,288\,288\,308\,408\,433\,539\,535\,541\,522\,\n587\,563\,577\,557\,604\,627\,636\,353\,588\,425\,434\,444\,573\,571\,571\,574\,587\,564\,622\,\n629]} 1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. d4 Nc6 6. Nf3 Bf5 7. Nc3 e6\n8. O-O Be7 9. Bf4 O-O 10. Rc1 Rc8 11. Ne5 Qb6 12. Nxc6 $146 (12. Na4) 12…\nRxc6 13. Qd2 Rfc8 14. Na4 Qb5 15. Rxc6 Rxc6 16. Nc3 $15 {[#]} Qa5 $2 17. Nxd5\n$1 $18 Qd8 18. Nxe7+ Qxe7 19. Bxc6 bxc6 20. f3 Bg6 21. Rc1 Qb7 22. Qc3 h6 23.\ne4 Kh7 24. b3 Qa6 25. Qc2 Nh5 26. Be3 f5 27. exf5 Bxf5 28. Qc4 Qxa2 29. g4 Bg6\n30. gxh5 Bf5 31. Bf2 Qd2 32. Qxc6 Qg5+ 33. Kh1 Qd2 34. Rf1 Bd3 35. Qc1 Qe2 36.\nKg2 Qa2 37. Rg1 Qxb3 38. Qc7 Qd5 39. Qe5 Qd7 40. Rc1 1-0 \n[/pgn] \nMatthew joined 4NCL at an early age and played for AMCA (Andrew Martin Chess Academy) soon rising the ranks to the AMCA first team and he currently represents the Guildford 2 team in Division One of the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). Matthew’s 4NCL results for the 2018-19 season were : \n1. Fodor\, Tamas Jr\, draw\n2. Ashton\, Adam G\, win\n3. Gonda\, Laszlo\, draw\n4. Kulon\, Klaudia\, win\n5. Holland\, James P\, win\n6. Stewart\, Ashley\, win\n7. Ledger\, Andrew J\, win\n8. Plat\, Vojtech\, loss\n9. no game\n10. Jackson\, James P\, win\n11. no game \ngiving a performance of 7/9 \nMatthew at the 2014 British Championships in Aberystwyth\nOne of the undoubted highlights of Matthews chess year was has draw with Oxford domiciled GM Hou Yifan\, three times Women’s World Champion from China during the annual Varsity match\, Matthew representing Cambridge. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Paracin Summer op-A 11th”]\n[Site “Paracin”]\n[Date “2018.07.09”]\n[Round “4”]\n[White “Wadsworth\, Matthew J”]\n[Black “Damljanovic\, Branko”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A20”]\n[WhiteElo “2377”]\n[BlackElo “2508”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “131”]\n[EventDate “2018.07.06”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “SRB”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 185 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2018.06.29”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2018.06.29”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,131\,19\,-12\,-27\,-45\,-51\,-51\,-14\,19\,19\,2\,-1\,-49\,-1\,16\,22\,-7\,16\,16\,8\,22\,\n37\,42\,26\,28\,27\,19\,43\,13\,15\,29\,25\,18\,9\,-12\,-4\,0\,-24\,-15\,15\,31\,31\,34\,34\,34\,49\,40\,\n55\,43\,35\,43\,41\,40\,48\,52\,63\,60\,78\,42\,45\,42\,49\,51\,66\,24\,29\,28\,45\,44\,49\,44\,47\,53\,\n53\,61\,53\,49\,69\,15\,0\,0\,47\,0\,-10\,-6\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,-7\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,12\,7\,21\,21\,\n31\,17\,54\,71\,67\,33\,67\,67\,139\,159\,168\,155\,171\,113\,113\,113\,272\,209\,244\,281\,290\,\n296\,302\,312\,319\,229\,235\,251]} 1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 c6 4. d4 e4 5. Nc3 d5\n6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Bg5 Bb4 8. Rc1 Nc6 9. Nh3 Bxh3 10. Bxh3 h6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12.\nO-O Rd8 13. e3 O-O 14. Qb3 Qd6 15. Na4 Na5 16. Qd1 Nc4 17. a3 Ba5 18. Nc5 Qe7\n19. Rc2 b6 20. Nb3 f5 21. Qh5 Qe6 22. Rfc1 Kh7 23. Nxa5 Nxa5 24. Rc7 Rd7 25.\nBf1 g6 26. Qd1 Rxc7 27. Rxc7+ Rf7 28. Qc2 Kg7 29. Rc3 Nb7 30. Rc6 Qe7 31. b4\nQd7 32. b5 Nd6 33. Qb3 Ne8 34. Be2 Qd8 35. Qc3 Qd7 36. a4 Nf6 37. a5 bxa5 38.\nQxa5 g5 39. Qa6 f4 40. gxf4 gxf4 41. Qc8 f3 42. Qxd7 Rxd7 43. Bf1 Kf7 44. Bh3\nRb7 45. Rc5 Ke7 46. Bc8 Rb8 47. h3 h5 48. h4 Rb6 49. Kh2 Kd6 50. Bf5 a6 51.\nbxa6 Rxa6 52. Rc2 Ra1 53. Rb2 {[#]} Ra7 $6 (53… Rf1) 54. Rb6+ Ke7 55. Kg3 Ra2\n56. Rb7+ Kf8 57. Be6 Ke8 58. Rb5 Ra1 59. Bxd5 Rg1+ 60. Kf4 Rg2 61. Bxe4 Rg4+\n62. Kf5 Nxe4 63. Re5+ Kd7 64. Rxe4 Rg2 65. Rf4 Rxf2 66. Ke4 1-0\n[/pgn] \nRecently Matthew has joined forces with IM Adam C Taylor\, IM Ravi Haria and others to form makinggrandmasters.com \nFM Matthew J Wadsworth
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-matthew-j-wadsworth-27-vi-2000/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/UTF_3969.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200627
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200628
DTSTAMP:20260817T141140Z
CREATED:20200428T182939Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T141140Z
UID:5080-1593216000-1593302399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary for Vera Menchik (16-ii-1906 27-vi-1944)
DESCRIPTION:A Great Life with a Tragic Ending\nFew people know the story of Vera Menchik yet it deserves to be told. She was the first women’s world chess champion in 1927 and retained the title undefeated until her untimely death at the age of 38 in 1944 during a rocket attack on London.  She is more properly compared with the great male players of her era against whom she scored creditably. The absence of a full biography of Vera in English reflects the peculiar circumstances of her life and death. \nVera was\, in modern terminology\, a refugee and essentially a stateless person for much of her life. She was born in Moscow in 1906 during the period of the Russian Empire to an expatriate family who was forced to flee when she was 15 following the Russian Revolution having lost their livelihood.  As they passed through Europe\, her father and mother split up in his homeland Czechoslovakia which had been created out of the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian empire. She arrived in England and took up residence in the seaside town of Hastings. (The fact that Hastings had hosted the world’s longest series of annual chess tournaments since 1895 was a happy coincidence.) Vera never attained British nationality until near the end of her life even though she had been domiciled in England from 1921. She won the first-ever Women’s World Championships held in London in 1927 under a Russian flag; thereafter she nominally represented Czechoslovakia until finally she represented England in 1939 following her marriage to a senior official within the British Chess Federation. \nVera’s grandfather was Arthur Illingworth\, a wealthy trader from Lancashire who had set up business in Moscow where his Anglo-Russian daughter Olga married František Menčik. He was a successful estate manager. Vera learned chess from her father and performed well at school. Her younger sister Olga was also a good chess player and the sisters remained close throughout their lives. \nVera was a woman in a man’s world – she had to struggle harder to achieve the kind of recognition which was accorded to men. She appeared like a comet in the sky and it would be many years until other women were able to reach her level. At her first major international tournament at Karlsbad in 1929\, she was the only female participant in a tournament of 22 great players. Even as women’s world champion\, some of the male players objected to her participation.  The Viennese master Albert Becker joked that anybody who lost to her should belong to the Vera Menchik Club. By an irony of history\, he became its first member losing to her in the third round. She beat many other grandmasters during her career including the Dutchman Max Euwe in 1930 and 1931 (both at Hastings) who was to become world champion in 1935. \nAlthough she is often portrayed as being Russian or Czech or latterly British\, she was a true cosmopolitan. She knew that life could be unstable in any country. She had lived through the Russian Revolution; one parent was left behind in Czechoslovakia; she had moved westwards across Europe and embraced different cultures and languages at formative stages of her life. It is no wonder that she learned also to speak Esperanto which was designated to be the world’s lingua franca before English achieved its dominance. As a leading chess player\, she travelled back to Moscow and to Czechoslovakia several times as well as to South America for her final match to retain the women’s world champion title in 1939. She needed to be self-sufficient and was obtained roles as the games editor of a chess magazine as well as being appointed the manager of the National Chess Centre in Oxford Street which was destroyed during the Blitz in 1940. \nShe survived most of the war and now a widow moved in with her mother and sister to a house in south London.  They took the precaution of going down to the cellar during bombing raids. Tragically the house received a direct hit from a flying bomb and the entire family was wiped out. Hardly any of her possessions remained save for one dented trophy. The records at the national chess centre were destroyed as were her personal effects including her chess memorabilia. At least there remains a record of the moves played in her games which serve as testimony to her remarkable career as not only the first women’s world chess champion but also a woman who broke boundaries wherever she went and demonstrated that a woman is capable of standing on her own feet professionally and leading a full and eventful life. \nThe Bomb Attack \nBCN remembers that in the early morning of Tuesday\, June 27th\, 1944 (i.e. 77 years ago) Vera Menchik\, her sister Olga\, and their mother were killed in a V-1 flying bomb attack which destroyed their home at 47 Gauden Road in the Clapham area of South London. \nWe now know that the V1 in question landed at 00:20 hrs on the 27th and led to the death of a total of 11 people including the Menchik household. Here is a summary of recorded V1 and V2 landings in the Clapham\, SW4 area. \n47\, Gauden Road\, Clapham\, SW4 6LW in more modern times.\nAll three were cremated at the Streatham Park Crematorium on 4 July 1944. Vera was 38 years old. \nSignature of Vera Menchik from a Brian Reilly “after dinner” postcard from Margate 1936.\nVera’s Parents and Sister\nVera Frantsevna Menchik (or Věra Menčíková) was born in Moscow on Friday\, 16th February\, 1906. Her father was František Menčik\, was born in Bystrá nad Jizerou\, Bohemia. František and Olga were married on June  23rd 1905 in Moscow and notice of this marriage appeared in British newspapers on July 22nd 1905.  Vera’s sister was Olga Rubery (née Menchik) and she was born in Moscow in 1908. Olga Menchik married Clifford Glanville Rubery in 1938. Vera married Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson on October 19th 1937. \nHer Maternal Roots\nOur interest in unearthing her maternal English heritage / roots has led to the following: \nHer mother was Olga (née Illingworth (1885 – 27 vi 1944). Olga’s  parents were Arthur Wellington Illingworth and Marie Illingworth (née ?). Arthur was born in October 1852 in the district of Salford\, Lancashire\, his parents were George Illingworth (1827-1887) and Alice Whewell (1828-1910).  \nIn the 1861 census Arthur is recorded as being of eight years of age and living in the Illingworth household. \nIn the 1871 census Arthur is recorded as being of eighteen years of age and living in the Illingworth household of nine persons at 5\, Lancaster Road\, Pendleton\, Lancashire. Arthur’s occupation is listed as being a merchants apprentice. In fact\, he was a stock and share broker. \nArthur died in Moscow on February 21st 1898. Probate was recorded in London on July 6th\, 1900 as follows: \nIllingworth Arthur Wellington of Moscow Russia merchant died 21st February 1898 Probate London 6th July to Walter Illingworth stock and share-broker Effects £4713 7s \n£4713 7s in 1898 equates roughly to £626\,600.00 in 2020 so it would appear that Arthur was considerably successful and almost certainly left money to Olga Illingworth. \nWhat do we conclude from all of this? Quite simply that Vera’s maternal roots were from Salford in Lancashire. \nBCM Announcement\nThe August 1944 British Chess Magazine (Volume LXIV\, Number 8\, page 173 onwards) contained this editorial  from Julius du Mont: \nJulius du Mont\, Editor of British Chess Magazine from 1940 to 1949\n“British Chess has suffered a grievous and irreparable loss in the death by enemy action of Mrs. R.H.S. Stevenson known through all the world where chess is played as Vera Menchik. \nWe give elsewhere (below : Ed.) an appreciation of this remarkable woman. Quite apart from her unique gifts as a chess-player-the world may never see her equal again among women players-she had many qualities which endeared her to all who knew her\, the greatest among them being here great-hearted generosity. \nWe sympathise with our contemporary “CHESS” : Vera Menchik was for some years their games editor. Few columns have been conducted with equal skill and efficiency and none\, we feel sure\, with a greater sense of responsibility. \nThe news of this remarkable tragedy will be received by the chess world with sorrow and with abhorrence of the wanton and useless robot methods of a robot people. \nOne shudders at the heritage of hatred which will be theirs\, but their greatest punishment will come with their own enlightenment.” \nBCM Contemporary Obituary from EGR Cordingley\nFrom page 178 of the same issue we have an obituary written by EGR Cordingley : \n“The death by enemy action of Miss Vera Menchik removes not only the greatest woman chess player of all times but a charming personality. \nThe world will remember her for her chess prowess\, for her exceptional skill as a woman player who had beaten in tournament play such gifted players as Euwe\, Sultan Khan\, Sir George Thomas\, Alexander and Yates. In such company\, and she played in several of the Hastings International tournaments and other of similar grade\, she usually obtained about 33%\, though in the Maribor tournament of 1934 she finished third\, behind Pirc and Steiner but ahead of Rejfir\, Spielmann\, Asztalos and Vidmar. \nHer game was characterised by solid position-play\, with the definite aim of bringing about a favourable end-game and of avoiding wild complications. The ordinary stratagems of the game\, small combinations and the like\, were of course part of her equipment\, but she lacked that imaginative\, inventive spirit without which few become really great players. \nIn recent times\, Reshesvky and Flohr (as a professional with a reputation to maintain and a living to earn) have shown that great success can be achieved by reducing the game to pure positional play\, the technique being firstly to build up a position devoid of weaknesses\, an ‘I can’t lose position\,’ and secondly to create and take advantage of the minutest weaknesses in the opponent’s camp\, a major weakness may show that imagination is not quite dead within. \nThis defect in her play was the inevitable reflection of her character: sound common-sense\, conscientious to an unusual degree\, and persevering\, while she had the combative\, tenacious nature so desirable and so often found in good chess players; for chess is battle of wits\, the fight is what most of use love in chess. Vera was\, seldom assertive\, a fault not uncommon in chess players. She sat placidly at the chess board\, never causing even mild irritation by any of those nervous mannerisms that may always be seen in any chess room\, the peripatetic fever being the most prominent. A slight flush would rise when the position grew difficult\, or when she was short of time on her clock – and that was recurrent according to the time-limit. \nAway from the chessboard show would readily talk of other subjects\, and her great interest was in persons\, in their actions and behaviour under the strain and stress of the unruly passions; in the moulding of their lives under the inscrutable dictates of chance; in the twists and turns of a mind warped perhaps by a casual incident long ago. Of course\, she was a pagan\, a thinking one\, who had asked and asked and found only the answer that reasoning gave. She judged kindly and never inflicted upon others her own opinions or beliefs: she asked only that these should be heard as one side of any argument\, for she enjoyed a dialectic bout. \nA delightful side to her character was her simple sense of humour\, and I remember so clearly her pleasure – glee would describe it more eloquently – when I gave her the punctuation necessary to make sense of that ludicrous collection of words\, ‘Jones where Brown had had had had had had had had had had had the master’s approval’ Anyone who knew her only at the chessboard would have been astonished at the amount of bubbling merriment she discovered of of life’s events. \nI shall remember her more for the woman as I knew her over many cups of coffee spread over many\, many weeks – complacent\, smiling\, and kindly; conscientious\, loyal\, and sincere; as I understand the word\, a Christian who would help any deserving person as best she could. E. G. R. C. \n”\nand here is the original article as printed: \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXIV (1944)\, Number 8\, August\, Page 178\nBCM 1958 Appreciation by Peter Clarke\nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXVIII (128\, 1958)\, Number 7 (July)\, page 181 onwards) we have this retrospective from Peter Clarke: \n“The night of June 27th\,1944\, Vera Menchik\, World Woman Champion\, was killed when an enemy bomb demolished her home in London; with her perished her mother and sister Olga. In these tragic circumstances the chess world lost its greatest woman player\, still undefeated and at the height of her powers. \nVera Francevna Menchik was born in Moscow on February 16th\, 1906\, of an English mother and Czech father. There she spent her childhood\, showing a love for literature\, music\, and\, of course\, chess\, which at the age of nine she was taught by her father. She had a natural bent for the game and when only fourteen shared second and third places a schoolboys (!) tournament. The following year\, 1921\, the family came to England\, where Miss Menchik lived the rest of her life. \nAs if by some fortunate coincidence\, the Menchiks settled in Hastings\, though it was not until the spring of 1923 that Vera joined the famous chess club. Her natural shyness and lack of knowledge of English caused this delay. However\, they did not handicap her too much\nas she herself afterwards wrote: ‘Chess is a quiet game and therefore the best hobby for a person who cannot speak the language.” \nShe studied the game eagerly\, and very soon her talent caught the attention of the Hungarian grandmaster\, Géza Maróczy\, who was resident at Hastings at that time. Thus there began the most important period in her development as a player; a sound and mature understanding of positional play-and a thorough knowledge of a few special openings and defences: in particular the French Defence. The influence of\nthe grandmasters ideas was clearly apparent in her style throughout the whole of her career. \nMiss Menchik’s rise to fame was meteoric: by 1925 she was undoubtedly the strongest player of her sex in the country\, having twice defeated the Champion\, E. Price\, in short matches; and only two years later she won the first Women’s World Championship in London with the terrific score 10.5-0.5. She was just twenty-one\, but already in a different class from any other woman in the world. For seventeen years until her death Vera Menchik reigned supreme in women’s chess\, defending her world title successfully no less than seven times (including a match with Sonja Graf at Semmering in 1937\, which Miss Menchik won 11.5-4.5. In the seven tournaments for the World Championship she played 83 games; winning 78\, drawing 4\, and losing 1 only! However\, what was more remarkable was that she was accepted into the sphere of men’s chess as a master in her own right\, a feat which no woman had done before or has done since. Up to then\, women’s chess had been a very poor relation of the masculine game\, but here was a woman who was a worthy opponent for the strongest masters. \nFlohr wrote of her: ‘Vera Menchik was the first woman in the world who played chess strongly…who played like a man.’ It was as the ambassador extraordinary\, so to speak\, of the women’s game that Miss Menchik really made her greatest contribution to chess. Wherever she went\, at home and abroad\, she aroused great interest among her sex; others were eager to follow her\, to identify themselves with her. Nowadays women’s chess is well organized\, and much of the credit for this must go to Vera Menchik for first bringing it into the light. Among her many personal successes in international tournaments perhaps the greatest was at Ramsgate in 1929: as one of the foreign masters (she was still of Czech nationality) she shared second and third places with Rubinstein\, * point behind Capablanca and above\, among others\, her tutor Maróczy. \nEven the greatest masters recognized Miss Menchik’s ability; Alekhine himself\, writing on the Carlsbad Tournament of 1929\, said: ‘Vera Menchik is without doubt an exceptional phenomenon among women. She possesses great aptitude for the game…The chess\nworld must help her develop her talent!’ \nThe Vera Menchik Club\nAn amusing incident occurred at this tournament. There were naturally sceptics among the masters over the lady’s participation. Flohr recalls how one of these\, the Viennese master Becker\, suggested: \n‘Whoever loses to the Woman Champion will be accepted as a member of the Vera Menchik Club which I intend to organize.’ \nBecker was the first to lose to her\, and that evening the masters chided him: “Professor Becker\, you did not find it very difficult to join the club. You can be the Chairman.’ And forthwith he was chosen as Chairman for three years. Everyone wished that the new club would soon obtain more members! Indeed\, the Vera Menchik Club has many famous names on its lists-Euwe\, Reshevsky\, Colle\, Yates\, Sultan Khan\, Sir G. A. Thomas\, Alexander\, to mention a few. \nIn 1935 Miss Menchik returned to the country of her birth to take part in the great international tournament in Moscow. To be truthful\, she had very little success\, but she was everywhere treated with respect and sympathy by masters and spectators alike. The Soviet master l. Maiselis\, writing in CHESS in 1944.(Shakhmaty za 1944 god)\, related the following entertaining anecdote from the tournament: One day a group of players and organizers were discussing the chances of Alekhine and Euwe in the forthcoming match. Flohr said: ‘It is quite clear that I will be World Champion.’ We looked at him inquiringly. \n‘It’s very simple\,” continued Flohr\, ‘Euwe wins a match against Alekhine\, Vera Menchik beats Euwe (at that time her score against Euwe was +2\, =1\, -1) and I will somehow beat Miss Menchik.’ \nWe laughed at this good-natured joke\, and we laughed all the more the next day when Flohr was unable\, despite every effort\, to defeat her in a vital game. \nln 1937 Miss Menchik married R. Stevenson\, but in chess she continued to use her maiden name\, made famous by so many victories. Her husband\, a well-known organizer\, became\, Secretary of the B.C.F: in the following year and remained so until his death in 1943. \nSince the days of Vera Menchik women’s chess has taken great strides forward; now there is a special committee of F.I.D.E. to look after its needs.- Only last year the first lnternational Women’s Team Tournament took place ln Emmen\, Holland; the new World Champions\, the U.S.S.R.\, became the first holders of the Vera Menchik Cup. So chess goes onwards\, but the name of its first Queen will ever be remembered.” \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uANE6xU8bIE[/embedyt] \n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1930/31-11 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings Waverley Hotel”]\n[Date “1930.12.30”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Euwe\, Max”]\n[Black “Menchik\, Vera”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “D63”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “122”]\n[EventDate “1930.12.29”]\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\,122\,19\,31\,14\,-14\,-11\,-3\,4\,-28\,-8\,20\,43\,20\,43\,28\,54\,62\,62\,47\,66\,46\,50\,\n50\,54\,61\,67\,51\,48\,31\,32\,20\,15\,19\,49\,50\,69\,69\,77\,84\,84\,79\,113\,28\,79\,81\,73\,78\,79\,\n61\,76\,78\,88\,69\,91\,58\,51\,40\,48\,31\,38\,23\,46\,103\,100\,12\,32\,30\,21\,49\,71\,3\,33\,11\,14\,\n10\,58\,44\,45\,55\,67\,69\,91\,111\,115\,114\,110\,112\,111\,67\,72\,70\,70\,32\,16\,-16\,-15\,-10\,\n-10\,0\,-19\,-52\,-21\,-89\,-80\,-273\,-273\,-402\,-411\,-484\,-476\,-476\,-459\,-456\,-456\,\n-700\,-456\,-962\,-1032\,-1032\,-1032\,-1032\,-29942\,-29989\,-29990]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4\ne6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 Be7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Rc1 a6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bd3 c6\n10. O-O Ne4 11. Bf4 Nxc3 12. Rxc3 Re8 13. Qb1 Nf8 14. b4 Ng6 15. Bg3 Bd6 16. a4\nBxg3 17. hxg3 Bd7 18. Rfc1 Qf6 19. b5 axb5 20. axb5 Rec8 21. Qc2 Qd8 22. bxc6\nRxc6 23. Rc5 Rxc5 24. dxc5 Ra5 25. Qb2 Qa8 26. Qb6 Nf8 27. Ne5 Ra1 28. Rb1\nRxb1+ 29. Bxb1 Be6 30. Kh2 Nd7 31. Nxd7 Bxd7 32. Qc7 Qc8 33. Qxc8+ Bxc8 34. Ba2\nBe6 35. Kg1 Kf8 36. Kf1 Ke7 37. Ke2 Kf6 38. Kd3 Ke5 39. g4 g5 40. g3 Bxg4 41.\nf4+ gxf4 42. gxf4+ Kf6 43. Bxd5 Bc8 44. Bf3 Ke7 45. Kc4 Kd8 46. Kd5 b6 47. c6\nKc7 48. Ke5 Be6 49. f5 Bb3 50. Kf6 b5 51. Kg7 b4 52. Kxh7 Bc2 53. Kg7 b3 54.\nBd5 b2 55. Ba2 Kxc6 56. f6 Kd6 57. e4 Bxe4 58. Kxf7 Bd5+ 59. Bxd5 b1=Q 60. Kg7\nQg1+ 61. Kf8 Kxd5 0-1\n[/pgn] \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \n“Woman World Champion from 1927 to 1944. Vera Menchik was born in Moscow on 16th February 1906 of an English mother and a Czech father. Her father taught her to play chess when she was 9. \nVera Menchik 1906-1944 chess playerin\, CZ / GB portrait with chess board late twenties (Photo by ullstein bild / ullstein bild via Getty Images)\nIn 192l her family came to England and settled in Hastings (at 13\, St. John’s Road\, St. Leonards-on-Sea\, TN37 6HP) : \n13\, St. John’s Road\, St. Leonards-on-Sea\, TN37 6HP\nTwo years later\, when she was 17\, Vera joined Hastings Chess Club\, \nHastings Chess Club : 2 Cornwallis Terrace\, Hastings TN34 1EB\nwhere she became a pupil of Geza Maroczy. The first Women’s World Championship was held in 1927. Vera Menchik won with a score of 10.5 out of 11. She defended her title successfully in Hamburg in 1930\, in Prague in 1931\, in Folkestone in 1933\, in Warsaw in 1935\, in Stockholm in 1937 and in Buenos Aires in 1939. She played 2 matches against Sonja Graf\, her nearest rival\, in 1934 when she won +3 -1 and in 1937\, in a match for her title when she won +9 -1 =5. \nIsaac Kashdan plays Vera Menchik during the Hastings Congress on December 28th\, 1931. Kashdan won in 45 moves in a classical French.\nThe first woman ever to play in the British Championship and the first to play in a master tournament\, Vera Menchik made her debut in master chess at Scarborough 1928 when she scored 50 per cent. The following year she played in Paris and Carlsbad\, and it was at Carlsbad that the famous Menchik Club was formed. The invitation to Vera Menchik to compete among such players as Capablanca\, Euwe\, Tartakower and Nimzowitch was received with amusement by many of the masters. The Viennese master\, Becker was particularly scornful\, and in the presence of a number of the competitors he suggested that anyone who lost to Vera Menchik should be granted membership of the Menchik Club. He himself became the first member. Other famous players who later joined the club were Euwe\, Reshevsky\, Sultan Khan\, Sir George Thomas\, C. H. O’D. Alexander\, Colle and Yates. \nHer greatest success in international tournaments was at Ramsgate in 1929\, when she was =2nd with Rubinstein\, half a point behind Capablanca and ahead of Maroczy. In 1934 she was 3rd at Maribor\, ahead of Spielmann and Vidmar. In 1942 she won a match against Mieses +4 -l -5. In 1937 Vera Menchik married R. H. S. Stevenson\, who later became Hon. Secretary of the British Chess Federation. He died in 1943. She continued to use her maiden name when playing chess. On her marriage she became a British subject. \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\nFrom 1941 until her death she was Games Editor of CHESS. She also gave chess lessons and managed the National Chess Centre\, which opened in 1939 at John Lewis’s in Oxford Street\, London and was destroyed by a bomb in 1940. \nIn 1944 Vera Menchik was a solid positional player\, who avoided complications and aimed at achieving a favourable endgame. Her placid temperament was ideal for tournament play. Her main weakness was possibly lack of imagination. Her results have made her the most successful woman player ever.” \nVera Menchik\nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess\, (BT Batsford\, 1977) by Harry Golombek : \nProbably the strongest woman player in the history of the game\, Vera Menchik was born in Moscow and\, though her father was a Czechoslovak and her mother English\, she played for most of her\nlife under English colours. \nIn l92l her family came to Hastings in England and there Vera became a pupil of the great Hungarian master\, Geza Maroczy. This was to have a dominating influence on her style of play which was solidly classical\, logical and technically most well equipped. Such a style enabled her to deal severely not only with her fellow women players but also with contemporary masters and budding masters. Vera did extremely well\, for example\, against C. H. O’D. Alexander\nand P. S. Milner-Barry\, but lost repeatedly to H. Golombek who was able to take advantage of her lack of imagination by the use of more modern methods. \nVera was soon predominent in women’s chess. In the first Women’s World Championship tournament\, at London in 1927\, she won the title with a score of 10.5 out of 11 and retained the championship with great ease at all the subsequent Olympiads (or International Team tournaments as they were then known more correctly) at Hamburg 1930\, Prague 1931\, Folkestone 1933\, Warsaw 1935\, Stockholm 1937 and Buenos Aires 1939. \nVera Menchik at Margate 1935\, photographer unknown\nWith Sonja Graf\, the player who came nearest to her in strength among her female contemporaries\, she played two matches and demonstrated her undoubted superiority by beating her in 1934 (+3-l) and again in a match for the title in l937 (+9-l=5). \nIn 1937 Vera officially became a British citizen by marrying the then Kent and later B.C.F. Secretary\, R. H. S. Stevenson (Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson: ed).\n(Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson was home news editor of the British Chess Magazine\, secretary of the Southern Counties Chess Union and match captain of the Kent County Chess Association). \nOddly enough\, Sonja Graf\, many years later\, also became a Mrs Stevenson by marrying an American of that name some years after the Second World War. \nVera Menchik also played and held her own in men’s tournaments. She did well in the British championship and her best performance in international chess was =2nd with Rubinstein in the Ramsgate Team Practice tournament ahead of her old teacher\, Maroczy. She also had an excellent result at Maribor in 1934 where she came 3rd\, ahead of Spielmann and Vidmar. \nHer husband died in 1943 and Vera herself\, together with her younger sister Olga and her mother\, was killed by a V1 bomb that descended on the Stevenson home in London in 1944. \nVera Menchik\, circa 1935\, Historic Collection / Alamy Stock Photo\nThis was a sad and premature loss\, not only for British but for world chess\, since there is no doubt she would have continued to dominate the female scene for many years. \nAs a person Vera was a delightful companion\, jolly and full of fun and understanding. As a player she was not only strong but also absolutely correct and without any prima donna behaviour. Generous in defeat and modest in victory\, she set a great example to all her contemporaries. \nAn example of Vera’s attacking play at its best against her nearest rival\, Sonja Graf\, is shown by the following game which was played in her 1937 match at Semmering in Austria : \n[pgn]\n[Event “World Women-ch Menchik-Graf +9-2=5”]\n[Site “Semmering”]\n[Date “1937.07.13”]\n[Round “14”]\n[White “Menchik\, Vera”]\n[Black “Graf Stevenson\, Sonja”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D46”]\n[Annotator “ChessBase”]\n[PlyCount “41”]\n[EventDate “1937.06.26”]\n[EventType “match”]\n[EventRounds “16”]\n[EventCountry “AUT”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2006”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2005.11.24”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2005.11.24”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,41\,38\,-16\,-3\,-7\,-11\,-7\,4\,9\,42\,39\,43\,43\,48\,43\,38\,19\,18\,27\,65\,59\,64\,43\,\n43\,43\,67\,78\,47\,70\,72\,72\,71\,77\,43\,-17\,26\,38\,38\,50\,59\,-78\,90\,288]} 1. c4 {\nBykova:Vera Menchik. p.141} e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. e3 c6 6. Bd3\nBe7 7. O-O O-O 8. e4 dxe4 9. Nxe4 Nxe4 10. Bxe4 Nf6 11. Bc2 c5 12. dxc5 Qa5 13.\nBe3 Bxc5 14. Bd2 Qc7 15. Bc3 Be7 16. Qe2 b6 17. Ng5 (17. Rad1 Bb7 18. Ne5 $14)\n17… g6 (17… Ba6 18. b3 Bb7 19. Ne4 (19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Bxh7+ (20. Nxh7 Bxa1\n$17) 20… Kh8) 19… Qc6 $11) 18. Qf3 Bb7 19. Qh3 h5 20. Rad1 Ng4 $4 (20…\nQxc4 $1 21. Rd4 Qb5 22. Qg3 Bd5 $11) (20… Rad8 21. Bxg6 fxg6 22. Qxe6+ Kh8\n23. Rxd8 Bxd8 24. Be5 Qc5 25. b4 Qc6 26. Qxc6 Bxc6 27. Ne6 $16) 21. Rd7 $1 (21.\nRd7 Qxd7 22. Qxh5 gxh5 23. Bh7#) (21. Qxh5 Qxh2+ 22. Qxh2 Nxh2 23. Nxf7 $16)\n1-0\n[/pgn] \n27th November 1936: Britain’s world chess champion Vera Menchik (right) and challenger Sonja Graf after signing a contract at the Bloomsbury Hotel\, London\, to play for the championship of the world over 16 games. (Photo by J. A. Hampton/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess\, (Oxford University Press\, 1984) by Hooper and Whyld : \n“Woman World Champion from 1927 until her death. Daughter of a Czech father and an English mother\, Menchik was born in Moscow\, learned chess when she was nine\, settled in England around\n1921\, and took lessons from Maroczy a year or so later. In 1927 FIDE organized both the first Olympiad and the first world championship tournament for women. These events were run concurrently\, except in 1928\, until the Second World War began\, and Menchik won the women’s tournament every time; London 1927 (+10=1); Hamburg 1930 (+6=1 — 1); Prague 1931 (+8);\nFolkestone 1933 ( + 14); Warsaw 1935 (+9); Stockholm 1937 (+14); and Buenos Aires 1939 ( + 17=2). She played in her first championship tournament as a Russian\, the next five as a Czech\,\nand the last as a Briton. She also won on two matches against her chief rival\, the German-born Sonja Graf (c. 1912-65): Rotterdam\, 1934 (+3-1)\, and Semmering\, 1937 (+9=5—2)\, \nVera Menchik in a pre-event posed picture in which she faces unstoppable checkmate in one from Hastings 193? She was about to play Sir GA Thomas.\nIn international tournaments which did not exclude men Menchik made little impression; one of her best results was at Maribor 1934 (about category 4) when she took third place alter Pirc and L. Steiner ahead of Spielmann. In 1937 she married the English chess organizer Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson (1878-1943)\, A chess professional\, she gave lessons\, lectures\, and displays\, and was appointed manager of the short-lived National Chess Centre in 1939. In 1942 she defeated Mieses in match play (+4=5-1)\, She\, her younger sister Olga (also a player)\, and their mother were killed in a bombing raid. \nFrom left to right: Vera Menchik\, Alexander Alekhine\, Géza Maróczy and Sultan Khan. From London International Masters\, 1st February\, 1932\, French Defence\, drawn in 32 moves.\nHer style was positional and she had a sound understanding of the endgame. On occasion she defeated in tournament play some of the greatest masters\, notably Euwe\, Reshevsky\, and Sultan Khan. Men she defeated were said to belong to the Menchik club. When world team championships for women (women’s chess Olympiads) were commenced in 1957 the trophy for the winning team was called the Vera Menchik Cup.” \nVera Menchik commemorated on a postage stamp from the Czech Republic\nShe was inducted to the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2011. \nOther Articles\nHere is an excellent article from the Hastings and St. Leonard’s Club written by Brian Denman. \nHere is an excellent article from Neil Blackburn (aka SimaginFan) on chess.com \nHere is an excellent article by Albert Whitwood \nHere is her Wikipedia  entry. \nHere is an excellent record compiled by Bill Wall. \nBiography of Vera Menchik British chess player \nVera Menchik.\, EI Bykova\, Moscow\, 1957\, 176 pages\, 4s 7d.\nVera Menchik: A Biography of the First Women’s World Chess Champion\, with 350 Complete Games\nEdward Winter  was less than impressed with the above book. \nVera Menchik
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-for-vera-frantsevna-menchik-16-ii-1906-27-vi-1944/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200630
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200701
DTSTAMP:20211101T202448Z
CREATED:20200408T142136Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211101T202448Z
UID:4200-1593475200-1593561599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Robert Bellin (30-vi-1952)
DESCRIPTION:BCN sends IM Robert Bellin best wishes on his birthday\, this day (the 30th of June) in Great Yarmouth\, Norfolk \nRobert was awarded the IM title in 1977. He was outright British Champion in 1979 in Chester having tied first equal (with six others) in 1974 in Clacton. The play-off was won by George Botterill. \nHis best international success was in 1981 in Shanghai coming clear first overall. \nRobert Bellin with Leonard Barden and Stewart Reuben at the 1978 Aaronson Masters in London\nRobert is married to WGM Dr. Jana Bellin and they have two sons. \nIM Robert Bellin\n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWf7i6GfNlg[/embedyt] \nRobert Bellin\, British Champion\, CHESS\, Volume 45\, Numbers 827-28\, page 27.\n[pgn]\n[Event “British CF-61 Championship”]\n[Site “Clacton on Sea/ Essex”]\n[Date “1974.08.05”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “Bellin\, Robert”]\n[Black “Penrose\, Jonathan”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D01”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “65”]\n[EventDate “1974.08.05”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “GBR”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2000”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,65\,26\,23\,14\,14\,22\,-3\,10\,12\,2\,-2\,3\,11\,0\,-15\,-8\,-14\,-12\,-24\,128\,-29\,-31\,\n-25\,0\,-23\,63\,48\,95\,-21\,-15\,-19\,-18\,-35\,-47\,-26\,-11\,-5\,-1\,-13\,-5\,0\,42\,23\,25\,23\,\n20\,34\,44\,54\,67\,56\,77\,58\,233\,418\,389\,383\,417\,419\,454\,496\,492\,273\,603\,755\,29985\,\n29986]} 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 h6 $6 (3… Nbd7 $142 4. Nf3 g6 5. e3 Bg7 6.\nBd3 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Re1 b6 9. e4 dxe4 10. Nxe4 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Bb7 12. c3 Nxe4\n13. Bxe4 Bxe4 14. Rxe4 Nf6) 4. Bxf6 exf6 5. e3 c6 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. Qf3 O-O 8. Nge2\nRe8 9. O-O-O b5 10. g4 Nd7 (10… b4 11. Na4 Nd7 12. h4 Nb6) 11. h4 b4 12. Na4\ng6 (12… Nb6 13. Nxb6 axb6) 13. Rdg1 {[#]} Be7 (13… Nf8) 14. g5 $16 fxg5 15.\nh5 $6 (15. hxg5 Bxg5 16. Qg3) 15… g4 (15… f5) 16. Rxg4 g5 17. Rgg1 Qa5 18.\nb3 Nf6 19. Ng3 Bg4 20. Qg2 Kh8 21. Bf5 Bxf5 22. Nxf5 $11 Bf8 23. f4 Ne4 24.\nfxg5 {[#]} Nxg5 $2 (24… hxg5) 25. Rh4 Re4 26. Rf4 Rae8 $2 (26… Qd8) 27.\nNxh6 $18 Bxh6 28. Rf6 Qd8 29. Rxh6+ Kg7 30. Rxc6 f6 31. Qf1 Rxe3 32. Rxg5+ fxg5\n33. Rg6+ 1-0\n[/pgn] \nThe Classical Dutch\nWinning with the Dutch\nTest Your Positional Play\nQueen’s Pawn : Veresov System\nMastering the King’s Indian Defence\nLondon System Repertoire
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-robert-bellin-30-vi-1952/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200707
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200708
DTSTAMP:20210708T081939Z
CREATED:20190911T085325Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210708T081939Z
UID:1319-1594080000-1594166399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of IM Andrew Whiteley (09-vi-1947 07-vii-2014)
DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers IM Andrew Jonathan Whiteley (09-vi-1947 07-vii-2014) \nAndrew Whiteley\nAndrew was born on Monday\, June 9th\, 1947 in Birmingham\, West Midlands to Denys Edward Hugh Whiteley (1914 – 1987) and Muriel Sutton (1919 – 1967). Andrew had two siblings\, Robert N (Birmingham\, 1944) and Angela M (Oxford 1952). \nDenys Edward Hugh Whiteley (1914 – 1987\, from Ancestry.co.uk\nAndrew completed his education at Magdalen College School\, Oxford and then in law at Pembroke College\, Oxford. \nAndrew and friends at the NatWest Bank Young Masters\n“Whiteley’s school chess record is an outstanding 63/65: Andrew Whiteley is captain and top board of a very strong U18 team of: A Whiteley\, H Morphy\, MN Crombie\, MM Daube\, A Hawkins and AH Smith.” \nSome of the participants in the Paul Keres display on November 25th\, 1962\, at St Pancras Town Hall\, London WC1. Back row : AJ. Whiteley\, D\, Floyer\, PJ Collins\, PJ Adams\, RC Vaughan\, KB Harman\, D. Parr\, DNL Levy\, Front row : MV Lambshire\, AE Hopkins (selector) Paul Keres\, Miss D. Dobson\, RE Hartley\, BC Gillman\, WR Hartston and PN Lee. Photograph by AM Reilly. Source : BCM\, 1963\, page 13\nAndrew was joint (with WR Hartston) Southern Counties (SCCU) champion in the 1967-68 season. \nHis highest Elo rating was 2395 in January 1977 at the age of 29 and played for King’s Head in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). \nAndrew was former President of the Middlesex County Chess Association (1985-87) and Deputy (1984-85 & 1987-88). \nAndrew Whiteley playing board two in the London – Belgrade Telex Match on April 3rd\, 1976 from the St. James Hotel\, Buckingham Gate. Sourced from BCM\, Volume XCVI (96)\, Number 5\, page 192. Photographer probably Freddy Reilly.\nHe became a FIDE Master in 1980 at the age of 33. His last major tournament was Cappelle Le Grand in 1988 (see photograph below). \nMagnus Magnusson presents Andrew Whiteley (right) with the BCF County Championship trophy as Captain of the Middlesex team in 1986.\nBelow was written by BCM editor James Pratt in Volume CXXXIV (134)\, Number 8 (August) page 417-8 : \n“Unfailingly courteous\, formally dressed\, retired London solicitor\, British Master\, Andrew Jonathan Whiteley (9 vi 1946 Birmingham – 8 vii 2014) has died. The son of an Oxford professor\, AJW was British U21 Champion of 1965. He tied\, with Hans Ree\, for first in the European Junior in 1965/6. \nHans Ree (left) and Andrew Whiteley (right) examine the European Junior Trophy for 1965/6 in which they tied for first.\nThe following game first appeared in the Games Department column of Harry Golombek in British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXXVI (1966)\, Number 3 (March)\, page 148. It was game #14\,118. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Niemeyer U21-04”]\n[Site “Groningen”]\n[Date “1965.12.28”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Whiteley\, Andrew Jonathan”]\n[Black “Ostojic\, Miodrag”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A56”]\n[Annotator “Andrew Jonathan Whiteley”]\n[PlyCount “87”]\n[EventDate “1965.12.27”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “NED”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM\, 1966\, page 148.”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,87\,27\,27\,33\,-10\,13\,43\,37\,44\,47\,39\,50\,54\,51\,53\,62\,68\,62\,61\,74\,69\,69\,69\,\n134\,83\,86\,51\,89\,17\,68\,82\,82\,-60\,137\,131\,156\,167\,158\,148\,186\,179\,191\,202\,189\,\n179\,262\,205\,247\,243\,260\,207\,257\,227\,236\,240\,471\,500\,578\,511\,662\,288\,285\,295\,\n294\,340\,373\,390\,424\,461\,378\,381\,466\,405\,436\,375\,365\,359\,391\,387\,387\,278\,1707\,\n29982\,29997\,29990\,29991\,29992\,29995\,29996]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e5 4. Nc3\nd6 5. e4 Be7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Be2 Na6 8. O-O Nc7 {All “book” so far. Now\, however\,\nI deviated from the usual 9.Ne1\, followed by Nd3 and f4\, and chose instead to\nobtain a small advantage on the Queen’s side.and wait for Black to undertake\nsomething on the King’s side and thereupon to take over the initiiative from\nhim there.} 9. a3 (9. Ne1 a6 10. a4 Rb8) 9… Nfe8 10. b4 b6 $1 {This\nrestricts White’s advanage on the Queen’s side.} 11. Rb1 $2 ({More accurate\nwas at once} 11. Ne1 f5) 11… g6 ({After an immediate} 11… f5 {I intended}\n12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Rb2 {and my control of e4and Black’s weakness on the white\nsquares would have guaranteed me an advantage.}) 12. Ne1 f5 (12… Bg5 {\nwould have given Black excellent chances of equality. But\, having see my poor\nplay in round 1\, he was going all out for a win.}) 13. exf5 {If White allowed\nf4 Black’s King-side attack could become very dangerous.} gxf5 14. f4 $1 {\nThis checks Black’s King’s side offensive.} Bf6 $2 ({Much better was} 14… e4\n$142 {when\, in view of my badly placed Knight on K1\, I would have had\ndifficulty preparing the stock g4}) 15. fxe5 $1 {[#] Now\, suddenly White’s\npieces begin to find strong squares\, while Black in unable to find a good plan.\n} Bxe5 16. Qc2 Ng7 17. Nf3 Bf6 18. bxc5 bxc5 19. Bd3 Kh8 20. Ne2 Bd7 21. Bf4\nNce8 22. Kh1 h5 $2 {White’s pieces are now excellently placed wth a view to\nattacking Black’s weak King’s Bishop pawn. Trying to create a diversion Black\nmerely weakens his King’s Rook’s pawn too.} 23. Ng3 Be7 24. Qd2 Kg8 25. Bg5 h4\n{Otherwise White plays Qf4 followed by Qh4.} 26. Ne2 Nf6 27. Bxh4 Nxd5 28. Bxe7\nNxe7 {[#]} 29. Qh6 $1 {Black had overlooked this strong move. In view of the\nthreat of Ng5 he is forced to surrender his d6 pawn.} Qe8 30. Qxd6 {Having\nthought so long eariler for good moves\, Ostoic was now short of time. He\nmanages to keep tactical threats alive\, but White’s pieces are too well placed\nfor them to have much chance of success.} Rd8 31. Qxc5 Bc6 32. Nf4 Be4 33. Ne5\nBa8 34. Rfe1 Rf6 35. Neg6 Bxg2+ $1 {This gives White most chances of going\nwrong.} 36. Nxg2 (36. Kxg2 $2 Rxg6+ 37. Kh1 Rxd3 38. Nxd3 Qa8+ $19) 36… Qxg6\n37. Qxe7 Rxd3 38. Nf4 Qg4 39. Qxf6 (39. Nxd3 $4 {allows mate in two.} Qf3+ 40.\nKg1 Rg6+ $19) 39… Qxf4 40. Rb2 Rh3 (40… Rd1 $1 41. Qe7 $1 $18) 41. Rg2 Qc7\n42. Re7 (42. Re8+ {also won : the text is more realistic.}) 42… Rxh2+ 43.\nRxh2 Qc6+ 44. Qxc6 1-0[/pgn] \nHe scooped the Silver medal at the British in 1971 and in 1976. Andrew often worked selflessly at his office in the mornings\, commuting to key games after lunch. He rose to be No. 3 or 4 in England and\, always a loyal team man\, shone in Olympiads. Belatedly\, having turned his back on the law\, in 1988\, he became an IM. He was also a BCF Arbiter and Middlesex County organiser. In 2008\, he won the English Senior Championships aged 61. \nHis was a classical chess style. RIP.” \nAndrew Whiteley at the Nice Olympiad of 1974.\nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nAndrew Whiteley commentating on Kasparov vs Karpov\nHere is a excellent obituary from his old school\, Magdalen College. \nFM Andrew Whiteley\, IM Julian Hodgson and FM Byron Jacobs at Cappelle Le Grand\, 1988. Photograph by Caroline Winkler\nHere is an obituary from Stewart Reuben on behalf of the English Chess Federation \nAndrew Whiteley receives the Rosebowl trophy from John Poole\nSince 2014 King’s Head Chess Club has held an annual blitz tournament in memory of Andrew featuring many of England’s top players. \nAndrew Whiteley faces David Howell whilst Jimmy Adams records the moves\nHere is a discussion of Andrew on the English Chess Forum \nIM Andrew Whiteley at the first 4NCL weekend of 2012 in November.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-andrew-john-whiteley/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,Hastings,Player,Remembering
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