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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201218
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201219
DTSTAMP:20211221T100514Z
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SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of William Winter (11-ix-1898 18-xii-1955)
DESCRIPTION:William Winter\, British Open Chess Champion\, 1934. The verso frontispiece of Chess for Match Players\, William Winter\, London\, Lawrence & Wishart\, 1st edition. 1936\nAuthor’s inscription from Chess for Match Players\, William Winter\, London\, Lawrence & Wishart\, 1st edition. 1936\nBCN remembers William (Willy) Winter who passed away on Sunday\, December 18th\, 1955 from tuberculosis (at the time known as “the white plague”). He refused to enter a sanatorium.  \nThere is some variation from sources who quote his Date of Birth. All have 11th of September as the date but vary by the year giving either 1898 or 1899. However careful research by John Townsend (Wokingham) gives 1897 and this work is cited by Edward Winter. \nLate in 2021 historian Gerard Killoran (Ilkley) discovered this clipping from the Hampshire Advertiser – Wednesday 22 September 1897 p.2: \nHampshire Advertiser – Wednesday 22 September 1897 p.2\nwhich confirms JTs evidence from the 1939 register. \nHis father was William Henderson Winter and his mother Margaret Winter. He was born in Medstead\, Hampshire. In the 1911 census their address was recorded as “The Boynes”\,  Four Marks\, Alton\, Hampshire and the family had two servants : a cook and a housemaid. In 1936 Winter lived at The Old Cottage\, North Road\, Three Bridges\, Sussex. \nIn the second quarter of 1933 William married Amelia Jennett (née Potter) in the district of Pancras. William knew Amelia as Molly and wrote about her extensively in his memoirs. Amelia was married to Dennis Jennett but Dennis had an affair with another woman and a convenient to all parties “arrangement” was entered into. However\, Willy’s father was less than impressed. \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale 1970&1976)\, Anne Sunnucks : \n“International Master\, chess. professional and British Champion in 1935 and 1936\, William Winter is one of the most colourful  figures that British chess has produced. A born bohemian\, Winter could on many occasions have been mistaken for a tramp\, yet he was equally capable of turning up at a dinner or some other official occasion\, well-groomed and looking the split image of his famous uncle\, Sir James Barrie\, and making a speech of such wit and culture that every other speech would seem flat. \nBorn in Medstead in Hampshire on 11th September 1898\, of Scottish parentage. Winter’s mother was the youngest sister of Sir James Barrie\, and his father a brilliant scholar who had entered St. Andrew’s University at the age of 16\, taken honours in classics and then won a scholarship to Cambridge to read mathematics. \nWinter was taught to play chess by his father\, who was a strong player\, when he was 12. From the time he was introduced to the game his main aim in life was to become a first-class player\, and his previous interest\, cricket\, had to take a back seat. \nWhen he was 15\, he joined the city of London Chess club\, one of the leading clubs in the country\, and his game-rapidly improved. He went up to Cambridge to read law for a year during-the l9l4-l9l8 war\, before he became of age for military service and joined the Honourable Artillery Company. While he was stationed at Leeds he learned that the British champion\, F. D. Yates\, and the Mexican master\, A. G. Conde\, were in the habit of playing chess on a Saturday afternoon in a café in Bradford. \nWinter started going to this café and made the acquaintance of the two masters\, who would occasionally give him a game. \nOn returning to Cambridge when the war was over\, Winter became President of the University Chess Club and also started to take an active interest in politics. He joined the University Socialist Society and the local branch of the Independent Labour Party\, and when the Communist Party was formed he became a Communist. \nIn 1919 Winter became Cambridge University Champion and won a match against R. H. V. Scott\, a leading British player\, by a score of 4-2\, thereby securing for himself an invitation to play in the Victory Congress at Hastings. His lack of experience of master play proved too great a handicap\, and he came 11th out of 12. \nEdo rating profile for William Winter from http://www.edochess.ca/players/p7187.html\nOn leaving Cambridge after taking his degree in 1919\, Winter persuaded his parents to allow him a year in which to play chess before settling down to a career. He hoped that during that year he might be able to prove that he had sufficient talent to become a professional player. This did not prove the case\, and Winter had to resign himself to becoming a solicitor. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Varsity Oxford-Cambridge”]\n[Site “Oxford”]\n[Date “1919.03.14”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “Winter\, William”]\n[Black “Tylor\, Theodore Henry”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D61”]\n[Annotator “Britbase & BH Wood”]\n[PlyCount “59”]\n[EventDate “1919.03.14”]\n[EventType “team”]\n[EventRounds “1”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “Britbase”]\n[SourceVersion “2”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.08.06”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Cambridge University”]\n[BlackTeam “Oxford University”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,59\,80\,5\,5\,-48\,-17\,-8\,4\,-10\,5\,11\,20\,35\,49\,21\,48\,14\,28\,2\,80\,78\,68\,51\,53\,\n41\,93\,149\,126\,72\,40\,47\,54\,72\,105\,38\,151\,98\,142\,138\,85\,78\,78\,77\,129\,98\,258\,289\,\n289\,181\,183\,188\,183\,184\,184\,184\,186\,186\,186\,193\,198\,87]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3.\nNc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 Be7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Qc2 c5 8. Rd1 cxd4 9. Nxd4 a6 $2 ({\nBetter} 9… dxc4 10. Bxc4 Qa5 {PW Sergeant-FD Yates\, corr. 1909.} 11. Bh4 Ne5\n12. Be2 Ng6 13. Bg3 e5 14. Nb3 Qb6 15. O-O Be6) 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Bxe7 Nxe7 12.\nBd3 Ng6 $146 (12… Nf6 {is better – BHW? – CHESS\, Dec 1962\, p62}) 13. h4 Re8\n14. Bxg6 (14. h5 Ngf8 15. h6 g6 16. O-O $5 Qh4 17. Nf3 $1 Qxh6 18. Ne4 $44)\n14… hxg6 15. h5 gxh5 16. Rxh5 g6 17. Rh3 Kg7 18. Ke2 Rh8 19. Rg3 Qe8 ({If}\n19… Rh6 {White intended} 20. Rh1 $1 Qh8 (20… Rxh1 21. Nxe6+ $1) (20… Nf6\n$5 {Fritz6} 21. Rxh6 Kxh6 22. Nf3 $14) 21. Nxe6+ fxe6 22. Rxg6+ {etc.}) (19…\nNf6 $5 {[%emt 0:00:04] Rybka} 20. Nxe6+ Bxe6 21. Rxd8 Raxd8 {/\ Rh1/Rh4}) 20.\nNe4 Nf6 21. Qc3 $1 e5 (21… Nxe4 22. Nxe6+ Kg8 23. Qg7#) 22. Nd6 {[#]} Qd7 $2\n(22… Qa4 {prolongs but does not save the game – BHW} 23. N4f5+ Bxf5 24. Nxf5+\nKg8 25. Qxe5 Qc4+ 26. Kf3 Rh5 27. Qxf6 Qc6+ 28. Qxc6 Rxf5+ 29. Ke2 bxc6 30. b3\n$16 {[%emt 0:00:04] Rybka}) 23. N4f5+ Kg8 24. Nxc8 Qb5+ 25. Qd3 Qxd3+ 26. Rxd3\nRxc8 27. Ne7+ Kg7 28. Nxc8 Rxc8 29. Rh3 Ne4 30. Rh4 {Sources: Cheltenham\nChronicle\, 26 April 1919; CHESS\, 15 December 1962\, p62; Cambridge Chess by RG\nEales\, p12} (30. Rh4 Rc2+ 31. Kd1 Rc4 32. Ke1 Nxf2 33. Rxc4 Nxd3+ 34. Ke2 b5\n35. Rc6 $16) 1-0\n[/pgn] \nIn 1921 he became articled to a London firm\, but after a dispute with his father\, which resulted in his allowance being stopped\, Winter had to give up his articles and decided to concentrate his energies on politics. He went to live in Bristol and addressed open-air meetings all over the city on behalf of the Communist party\, until he was arrested for sedition and sentenced to six months imprisonment. After his release Winter continued his political activities until he was forced to abandon them on medical advice. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Victory Congress Chief Tournament”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1919.08.13”]\n[Round “3”]\n[White “Winter\, William”]\n[Black “Yates\, Fred Dewhirst”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D34”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “73”]\n[EventDate “1919.08.11”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\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\,15\,15\,19\,15\,55\,56\,27\,21\,22\,30\,61\,11\,22\,-8\,1\,22\,47\,30\,33\,34\,34\,22\,\n22\,4\,-12\,-3\,33\,-2\,-2\,-13\,-9\,-4\,-9\,6\,0\,-20\,25\,28\,77\,-10\,49\,61\,61\,69\,76\,66\,75\,83\,\n109\,80\,90\,83\,135\,99\,113\,132\,138\,149\,193\,180\,372\,365\,567\,578\,570\,580\,669\,677\,\n772\,716\,693\,651\,802\,523]} 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c5 3. c4 e6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nc3 Be6\n6. g3 Nc6 7. Bg2 Nf6 8. O-O Be7 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Nd4 O-O 12. Nxe6 (\n{Relevant:} 12. Rc1 Qd7 13. e3 h6 14. Bf4 g5 15. Nxc6 bxc6 16. Be5 Ng4 17. f4\nNxe3 18. Qh5 Kh7 19. fxg5 Bxg5 20. h3 Nxg2 21. Kxg2 Bxc1 22. Rxc1 Rg8 23. Ne2\nRg5 {0-1 (23) Marchand\,M-Olland\,A Utrecht/Amsterdam 1917}) 12… fxe6 13. Bh3\nQd7 {[#]} 14. Qb3 $146 ({Predecessor:} 14. e4 d4 15. Qb3 Kf7 16. Rad1 h6 17.\nBxf6 Bxf6 18. f4 Na5 19. Qb5 Nc6 20. e5 Be7 21. Qc4 Na5 22. Rxd4 Nxc4 23. Rxd7\nb6 24. Nb5 Rfd8 25. Nc7 Rxd7 26. Bxe6+ Kg6 27. Bxd7 Bc5+ 28. Kh1 Rd8 29. Rd1\nBe7 30. Be8+ Kf5 31. Rxd8 Bxd8 32. Bd7+ Kg6 33. Nd5 Kf7 34. b3 Nb2 35. e6+ Kf8\n36. Bb5 Nd1 37. Kg2 Bf6 38. Kf1 Nc3 39. e7+ {1-0 (39) Malmgren\,B-Nissen\,H\nCopenhagen 1916}) 14… Bc5 15. e3 h6 16. Bxf6 Rxf6 17. Rac1 b6 18. Bg2 Raf8\n19. Na4 Qf7 20. Rc2 Ne5 21. Nxc5 bxc5 22. f4 c4 23. Qc3 Nd7 24. e4 h5 25. Qd4\nNb6 26. Rd1 h4 27. exd5 hxg3 28. hxg3 Qg6 29. Rc3 Nxd5 30. Bxd5 Rxf4 $2 (30…\nexd5 31. Qxd5+ R8f7 $18) 31. Bxe6+ Qxe6 32. gxf4 Qg4+ 33. Kh2 Qe2+ 34. Kg3 Rf7\n35. Re3 Qh5 36. Qd8+ Kh7 37. Qh4 1-0\n[/pgn] \nHaving given up politics\, Winter decided to try his luck as a chess professional. This proved to be a success\, and within two years he was making a reasonable living teaching the game\, playing games for fees at St. George’s Cafe in St. Martin’s Lane in London and writing for The Manchester Guardian and The Daily Worker. \nWinter remained a chess professional for the rest of his life\, apart from the war years. He wrote two chess best sellers: Chess for Match Players\, published in 1936 \nChess for Match Players\, William Winter\, Carroll & Nicholson\, 1936\nand reprinted in 1951\, and Kings of Chess; \nKings of Chess\, William Winter\, Carroll and Nicholson Ltd\, 1954\nand was co-author with F. D. Yates of Modern Master Play\, \nModern Master Play\, FD Yates and W. Winter\, 1930\nand with FD Yates of World Championship Candidates Tournament\, 1953. \nWinter never reached the very highest ranks as a player\, although he won the British Championship twice and represented his country in four Chess Olympiads: Hamburg in 1930\, Prague in 1931\, Folkestone in 1933 and Warsaw in 1935. In the Great Britain v. U.S.S.R. radio match in 1946 he defeated Bronstein in the first round and then characteristically went out and celebrated his victory in such a way that his defeat in the return round was inevitable. \nWilliam Winter (11-IX-1897\, 18-XII-1955)\nAlthough he achieved no great successes in international tournaments\, in individual games he beat many of the world’s leading players\, including Nimzowitsch and Vidmar\, and had draws against Capablanca and Botvinnik among others. \nWilliam Winter (11-IX-1897\, 18-XII-1955)\nWilliam Winter (11-IX-1897\, 18-XII-1955)\nHe died of tuberculosis in London in December 1955\, after refusing to go into a sanatorium.” \nIn Kings\, Commoners and Knaves\, (Russell Enterprises\, 1999)\, page 393 Winter quotes Winter (!) from Chess Masterpieces (Marshall) as follows: \nI consider [Winter v Vidmar\, London\, 1927] to be my best game partly on account of the eminence of my opponent and partly because of the importance of the occasion on which it was played\, and also because on three occasions in which the situation was extremely complicated. I was fortunate enough to discover the only continuation which not only was necessary to secure victory\, but to actually save the game \nHere is that game: \n[pgn]\n[Event “London British Empire Club”]\n[Site “London”]\n[Date “1927.10.24”]\n[Round “11”]\n[White “Winter\, William”]\n[Black “Vidmar\, Milan Sr”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “E32”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News and CHESS”]\n[PlyCount “87”]\n[EventDate “1927.10.10”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “HCL\, Chess\, 1963\, page 13”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “2”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,87\,27\,27\,30\,5\,-4\,-11\,18\,-5\,20\,-10\,-2\,-6\,51\,66\,50\,47\,56\,48\,51\,42\,35\,35\,\n39\,28\,74\,62\,65\,40\,66\,45\,45\,33\,173\,136\,163\,127\,133\,45\,47\,26\,26\,26\,26\,26\,36\,10\,\n28\,41\,268\,255\,268\,272\,268\,210\,201\,137\,110\,110\,305\,341\,393\,416\,417\,415\,438\,490\,\n485\,313\,559\,484\,493\,458\,538\,637\,879\,878\,874\,912\,912\,677\,807\,807\,1928\,2308\,2500\,\n2769\,2769\,2571]} {Annotated in CHESS\, Volume 28 (1963)\, #426 (February 1963)\,\npage 133 presumably by BH Wood.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5.\nBg5 d6 6. e3 Qe7 {An extremely rare variation best forgotten.} (6… Nbd7 7.\nBd3 h6) 7. Bd3 $146 h6 {This manoeuvre should have been played earlier.} 8.\nBxf6 Qxf6 9. Nge2 Bxc3+ 10. Nxc3 Nc6 11. a3 e5 12. d5 Nb8 {A further loss of\ntime which is practically fatal.} ({Black should have played instead} 12… Ne7\n13. Nb5 Bd7) 13. O-O Qe7 14. f4 f5 15. fxe5 Qxe5 16. Rf3 f4 $2 {[#] Black’s\nKBP is in any event vulnerable\, and there is probably nothing better than this\nsacrifice which frees his game\, and which leaves White a backward pawn on the\nKing’s file.} 17. Qf2 $1 $18 Bg4 18. Rxf4 Nd7 19. h3 g5 20. Rxf8+ Rxf8 21. Qe1\nBh5 22. Qd2 Re8 23. Re1 g4 24. hxg4 Nf6 $2 {[#] Probably losing. Winter\nbrilliantly refutes this enterprising sacrifice\,} ({whereas after} 24… Bxg4\n$16 {Black is by no means lost.}) 25. gxh5 Ng4 26. Ne4 $1 Qh2+ 27. Kf1 Qxh5 28.\nNg3 Rf8+ 29. Nf5 Ne5 ({White’s king also eacapes after} 29… Qh1+ 30. Ke2 Qh5\n31. Ne7+ Kg7 32. Qc3+ Ne5+ 33. Kd2) 30. e4 Qh2 ({If} 30… Qh1+ 31. Kf2 Ng4+\n32. Kg3 $1) 31. Re3 Qh1+ 32. Ke2 Rf6 33. Rg3+ Kf8 34. Kf2 Qa1 35. Be2 Qb1 36.\nQe3 Qxb2 37. Qxa7 Ke8 38. Qa8+ Kd7 39. Rg7+ Nf7 40. Qa4+ c6 ({If} 40… Kc8 41.\nRg8+ Nd8 42. Qa8+ Kd7 43. Qxd8#) 41. dxc6+ Ke6 42. c7 Rxf5+ 43. exf5+ Kf6 44.\nRxf7+ 1-0\n[/pgn] \nFrom The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by Klein and Winter : \nThe Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match\, E. Klein and W. Winter (1947\, Pitman)\n“W. Winter was born in 1899 in Hampshire. A Cambridge graduate in Law\, he devoted himself eventually entirely to chess and is the only Englishman who\, despite all vicissitudes\, has faithfully remained a professional. After winning the Cambridge University Championship in 1921 he competed in a number of international tournaments. His outstanding performance was in the tournament in Scarborough 1928\, which he won. He won the British Championship in 1935 and 1936\, and has represented his country on four occasions in international team tournaments. In Hamburg\, 1930\, he was undefeated. \nScene at London. From left to right – Seated : Fairhurst\, List and Winter in play. Standing König and Sir George Thomas\nHis literary activities include Chess for Match Players and The Alekhine-Capablanca World Title Match\, 1927. He edits the chess column in the Soviet Weekly. \nGames Played In the World’s Championship Match between Jose Paul Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine\, FD Yates and W\, Winter\, 1928\, Printing Craft Limited\nHis chess record is erratic and does not reflect his true ability. He is capable of some of the finest chess\, but often plays too impulsively. His greatest strength lies in King’s side attacks. which he handles with skill and accomplishment.” \nWilliam Winter (11-IX-1897\, 18-XII-1955)\nFrom the Preface of The World Chess Championship : 1951 by Lionel Sharples Penrose we have : \n“Mr. Winter’s chess career has been a long one and he occupies an extremely high position among British players. He has been British Champion twice\, in 1935 and 1936. Among other notable successes was his first place in the Scarborough International Tournament in 1928. He defeated Nimzovich in the London Tournament in 1927. Against the present world championship contenders he has a very fine score\, a draw against Botvinnik at Nottingham in 1936 and a win and a loss against Bronstein in the Radio Match\, Great Britain v U.S.S.R. in 1946. Mr. Winter is a specialist in writing about the art of chess\, and players throughout the country owe a great deal to his deep and logical expositions.” \nGames Played in the World’s Championship Match between Alexander Alekhin (Holder of the Title) and E D Bogoljubow (Challenger)\, Printing Craft Limited\, 1930\, FD Yates and W. Winter\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (BT Batsford\, 1977) Edited by Harry Golombek : \nInternational Master and twice British Champion (1935 and 1936)\, Winter was an excellent illustration of Réti’s thesis that players tend to be opposite over the board to their character in real life. Over the board he was classical\, scientific and sober; away from the board he was revolutionary\, moved by his emotions (he contrived to be both a fervent Communist and a staunch patriot)\, and more often than not\, drunk. \nHis university career\, where he read law\, coincided with the First World War and\, after a brief interruption for military service he returned to Cambridge where in 1919 he became university champion and defeated R. H. V. Scott (a strong player who won the British Championship in 1920) in a match by 4-2. On the strength of this he was invited to play in the Hastings Victory tournament of 1919 where\, however\, he did badly\, coming 11th out of 12. \nWilliam Winter (11-ix-1897\, 18-xii-1955)\nAfter an interval during which he fervently pursued a political career to such an extent as to incur a six-months prison sentence for sedition (Winter always denied the sedition and said that the charge was trumped-up one)\, he took up the career of chess professional. The life suited him since it enabled him to lead the kind of Bohemian existence that pleased his artistic temperament. It should be mentioned that he was a nephew of Sir James Barrie and would have fitted in well on one of his uncle’s plays. \nAs a player he was eminently sound and\, being an apostle of Tarrasch\, a fine clear strategist. But he was lacking in tactical ability and his poor health and his way of life interfered with his consistency and impaired his stamina. But he had a number of fine victories over great players (Bronstein\, Nimzowitsch and Vidmar for example). \nIM William Winter (11-ix-1897\, 18-xii-1955)\n[pgn]\n[Event “Match/Nation ENG-URS radio”]\n[Site “Radio”]\n[Date “1946.06.19”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “Bronstein\, David Ionovich”]\n[Black “Winter\, William”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B76”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “54”]\n[EventDate “1946.06.19”]\n[EventType “team-match”]\n[EventRounds “2”]\n[SourceTitle “MCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,54\,19\,31\,72\,53\,86\,70\,70\,47\,28\,24\,90\,80\,67\,49\,45\,30\,17\,1\,-1\,-33\,-4\,-14\,\n-14\,-17\,-17\,-25\,-31\,-32\,-29\,-28\,-32\,-46\,-21\,-51\,-47\,-34\,-29\,-8\,-26\,-134\,-134\,\n-149\,-160\,-183\,-189\,-216\,-211\,-251\,-257\,-271\,-286\,-286\,-286\,-297\,-289]} 1. e4\nc5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 O-O\n9. Nb3 (9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 e5 13. Bc5 Be6 14. Ne4\nRe8 15. h4 h6 16. g4) 9… Be6 10. Nd5 Bxd5 11. exd5 Ne5 12. Be2 Qc7 13. O-O\nNc4 $15 14. Bxc4 Qxc4 15. Rad1 Rfc8 16. Rf2 Nd7 (16… a5) 17. Bg5 $6 (17. c3\n$142) 17… Bxb2 18. Bxe7 Nb6 (18… Bc3 19. Qd3 Qb4) 19. Bxd6 Rd8 20. Na5 $2 (\n20. Qb4 $15) 20… Qa6 $19 21. Qb4 Rxd6 22. c4 Bg7 23. Rfd2 Bh6 24. Rd3 Rad8\n25. a4 Bf8 26. Qb5 Qxb5 27. axb5 R6d7 $19 0-1\n[/pgn] \nHe played in four Olympiads: Hamburg 1930 (scoring 76.7% on 4th board)\, Prague 1931 (58.8% on 4th board)\, Folkestone 1933 (59.1% on 3rd board) and Warsaw 1935 (41.7% on 1st board). He was selected to play at Stockholm in 1937 but\, having “lost” his passport three times. he was refused a fresh one by the authorities. \nHis best international individual results were =6th at London 1927\, and =5th at Lodz 1935. \nHis career as a chess journalist (he wrote for the Manchester Guardian following FD Yates and the Daily Worker) was somewhat impeded and spoilt by his Bohemian ways\, be he wrote some excellent works on chess : Chess for Match Players\, London\, 1936″ \nWinter was a popular subject for his Swiss namesake\, Edward Winter and there are several mentions in his excellent books. \nIn Chess Facts and Fables (McFarland\, 2006) we have Chess Note 2819\, page 71 which shows a photograph (from CHESS\, November 1935) taken in Poland of Winter and Max Krauser\, Heavyweight wrestling Champion of Europe. Quite what the occasion we are not told. \nHere is an excellent article (as you’d expect) from Edward Winter \nApart from all of the contributions above possibly the most comprehensive comes from FM Steve Giddins writing in three parts in British Chess Magazine\, during 2006 and 2007 : \nPostscript: Since our article was published we were contacted by Steve Giddins who informed us that he owned the copyright to the articles (rather than the publisher BCM) and that he did not wish us to make them available via this article. \n[pgn]\n[Event “London British Empire Club”]\n[Site “London”]\n[Date “1927.10.12”]\n[Round “3”]\n[White “Thomas\, George Alan”]\n[Black “Winter\, William”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “E38”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News and CHESS”]\n[PlyCount “34”]\n[EventDate “1927.10.10”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “HCL\, CHESS\, 1963\, page 13”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “2”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,34\,19\,31\,14\,-14\,-11\,-3\,33\,-19\,0\,-1\,57\,49\,13\,24\,24\,47\,53\,-43\,-43\,-26\,\n-118\,7\,7\,-103\,-103\,-103\,-62\,-176\,-129\,-201\,-216\,-198\,-186\,-502\,-571]} 1. d4 Nf6\n2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. dxc5 Na6 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. Qxc3 Nxc5 8. b4 Nce4\n9. Qd3 (9. Qd4 $142 d5 10. c5 b6 11. f3 bxc5 12. bxc5 Qa5+ 13. Qb4 Qxb4+ 14.\naxb4 Nc3 15. Bb2 (15. e3) 15… Nb5 16. e4 Bd7 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. exd5 exd5 19.\nBxb5 Bxb5 20. Ne2 Kd7 21. Nd4 $16) ({Euwe prefers} 9. Qc2 d5 10. f3) 9… d5 {\n[#]} 10. cxd5 $2 $146 {[#]} (10. Bb2 $142 dxc4 11. Qxd8+ Kxd8 12. Rc1 (12. f3\nc3 13. Rd1+ Bd7 14. Ba1 $15)) (10. f3 $1 Nd6 11. c5 Nc4 $14) 10… Nxf2 $1 11.\nKxf2 Ng4+ 12. Kg3 (12. Ke1 Qf6 13. Rb1 Qf2+ 14. Kd2 Qxf1 15. Bb2 Qf4+ 16. e3\nQh6 $19) 12… Qf6 13. Nf3 (13. Kxg4 h5+ {leads to mate.} 14. Kh3 (14. Kg3 h4+\n15. Kh3 e5+ 16. Qf5 Qxf5+ 17. g4 Qxf1#) 14… e5+ 15. g4 Qxf1+ 16. Kh4 Qf2+ 17.\nQg3 hxg4+ 18. Bh6 Rxh6+ 19. Kg5 f6#) 13… Qxa1 14. Bd2 Nf6 (14… exd5) 15. e4\nexd5 16. exd5 O-O 17. Bc3 $2 (17. Rg1 {loses more slowly.}) 17… Qxc3 {\nand White resigns} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nIn the “Mid-October” issue of CHESS for 1962\, (Volume 27\, Number 418)  we had the following announcement: \nWILLIAM WINTER’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY\nEdited by David Hooper\, will be serialised in CHESS commencing with our next number. Nephew of Sir James Barrie\, twice British Chess Champion\, a lifelong Communist and freethinker\, imprisoned for his political views\, “Willie Winter”\, with his Bohemian way of life\, was undoubtedly the most colourful figure in British Chess for many decades irrespective of whether you agree with his views (most readers may not!)\, you will find him a delightful writer whose gifted pen draws you engrossed from page to Page. \nAnd so\, for your delectation\, here are William Winter’s Memoirs.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-william-winter/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Remembering,Writer
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201222
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201223
DTSTAMP:20211222T110618Z
CREATED:20191212T144348Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211222T110618Z
UID:2341-1608595200-1608681599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM David Eggleston (22-xii-1987)
DESCRIPTION:Best Wishes to IM David Eggleston on his birthday. \nDavid James Eggleston was born on Tuesday\, December 22nd 1987 in Sunderland\, County Durham to Ian and Janet Eggleston (née Robson). David has a brother\, Thomas A\, also born in 1987 who plays chess to a high standard (2178 in 2020). Thomas also plays for Durham City and for 4NCL North East England. \nThere is one game in Megabase between the brothers from round 5 of the Durham Open in 2003 which resulted in a 13 move draw. They shared the 1st prize with 4/5. \nDavid currently resides in Durham and plays for Durham City in the North East League and for Cheddleton in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). \nDavid became a FIDE Master in 2007 and an International Master in 2013. \nAccording to ChessBase David’s peak FIDE rating was 2434 aged 26 in December 2013. However\, this could easily be surpassed. \nHe has a plus score against Keith Arkell\, James Jackson\, Peter Sowray and Chris Ward to name but a few. \nIM David James Eggleston\nWith the white pieces David is a staunch e4 player playing open Sicilians\, the Italian Game and 3.Nc3 versus the French and the Caro-Kann. \nAs the second player David plays the Najdorf and the Nimzo-Indian Defence. \n[pgn]\n[Event “GBR-ch 105th”]\n[Site “Hull”]\n[Date “2018.07.29”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Eggleston\, David”]\n[Black “McShane\, Luke J”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C54”]\n[WhiteElo “2397”]\n[BlackElo “2669”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “87”]\n[EventDate “2018.07.28”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\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\,87\,30\,30\,23\,14\,14\,11\,17\,55\,11\,-5\,35\,29\,35\,-10\,-9\,-13\,12\,4\,15\,20\,23\,\n-34\,-26\,-26\,-31\,-21\,-23\,-50\,-31\,-31\,-7\,-7\,-13\,-23\,-30\,-31\,-37\,-50\,-17\,-69\,-44\,\n-49\,-67\,-70\,-76\,-85\,-45\,-102\,-72\,-103\,-99\,-99\,-95\,-101\,-116\,-120\,-110\,-101\,\n-104\,-114\,-118\,-118\,-77\,-114\,-148\,-210\,-197\,-279\,-101\,-103\,-103\,-103\,85\,154\,\n229\,229\,500\,514\,1303\,1303\,1303\,2218\,29977\,29978\,29979\,29980\,29981\,29982]} 1. e4\ne5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O O-O 7. a4 a5 8. Nbd2 Ne7 9.\nRe1 Ng6 10. Nf1 Be6 11. Ng3 Bxc4 12. dxc4 Qd7 13. h3 Rfe8 14. Nh2 Nf4 15. Qf3\nNe6 16. Nf5 Qd8 17. h4 Kh8 18. g3 Rf8 19. Kg2 Ng8 20. h5 g6 21. Nh4 Ng7 22. h6\nNe6 23. Re2 Qe8 24. Qg4 f6 25. N2f3 Qf7 26. Qh3 Rae8 27. Bd2 f5 28. exf5 gxf5\n29. Rae1 f4 30. b4 Ba7 31. c5 Nxh6 32. Re4 Rg8 33. Rh1 Ng4 34. Kf1 Bb8 35. gxf4\nexf4 36. c4 h5 37. Ng2 Kh7 38. cxd6 Nf6 39. Ne5 Qg7 40. Qf5+ Kh8 41. Rxh5+ Nxh5\n42. Qxh5+ Qh7 43. Nf7+ Kg7 44. Bc3+ 1-0\n[/pgn] \nDavid has one book\, published in July 2014 : Hacking up the King published by Mongoose Press : \nHacking Up The King\nIM David James Eggleston
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-david-james-eggleston-22-xii-1987/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JB4_7645-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201225
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201226
DTSTAMP:20201224T161521Z
CREATED:20191212T161528Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201224T161521Z
UID:2345-1608854400-1608940799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Graeme Buckley (25-xii-1971)
DESCRIPTION:BCN sends best wishes to Graeme Buckley on his birthday. \nGraeme Noel Buckley born on Saturday\, December 25th\, 1971 in Wolverhampton\, West Midlands. \nHis first chess club was Bushbury which is also known as Bilston Sports & Social Club Ltd. His father David is the long time club President. \nGraeme’s first recorded games in Megabase 2020 were at the 1987 British Championship in Swansea were he scored a modest 4/11. \nGraeme married IM Susan Lalic in Sutton\, Surrey in 2001 and they reside in Sutton. They have two daughters\, Lucy and Emma who attend Nonsuch High School for Girls following in the footsteps of their mother. \nGraeme became a FIDE Master in 1994 and an International Master in 1995. \n[pgn]\n[Event “4NCL : Bolton”]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “1995.05.??”]\n[Round “11”]\n[White “Buckley\, Graeme N”]\n[Black “Quillan\, Gary M”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A45”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “33”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM\, 1995\, page 354”]\n[WhiteTeam “Midland Monarchs”]\n[BlackTeam “North West Eagles”] \n{[%evp 0\,12\,19\,31\,14\,-9\,-11\,2\,24\,5\,6\,3\,5\,-49\,0]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bh4 (\n3. Bf4 c5 4. f3 Qa5+ 5. c3 Nf6 6. d5) 3… c5 4. f3 g5 5. fxe4 gxh4 6. e3 Qb6\n7. Nc3 Qxb2 (7… e6) 8. Nd5 Kd8 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. Qh5 Nc6 $6 (10… Qxa2 11. Rd1)\n11. Nf3 $16 f6 $146 (11… cxd4 12. exd4 e6) (11… e6 12. Qg5+ Be7 13. Nxe7\nNxe7 14. Kf2 Qxa2 15. Bd3 Rg8 16. Qxc5 b6 17. Qd6 Qa4 18. Rb5 Ba6 19. Rhb1 Bxb5\n20. Rxb5 Rc8 21. Ne5 $13) 12. Be2 Qxa2 $2 (12… cxd4 13. O-O) 13. O-O $18 Nb4\n$2 {[#]} 14. Rxb4 $1 cxb4 15. Ne5 $1 fxe5 16. Qxe5 e6 17. Qf6+ {and Black\nresigned.} (17. Qxh8 exd5 18. Qxf8+ Kc7 19. Qc5+ Kd8 20. Rf8#) 1-0\n[/pgn] \nHe has played for Midland Monarchs and Wood Green in 4NCL\, Surrey CCA\, Wimbledon 4NCL Guildford and Bushbury (in Wolverhampton) \nAccording to ChessBase Graeme reached his highest FIDE rating in July 2003\, aged 32 of 2420. \nGraeme teaches chess in many Surrey Schools and in conjunction with Susan. \nGraeme has been a director of Surrey County Chess Association for four years resigning in 2011. \nGraeme was Southern Counties (SCCU) champion for the 2009-10 season \nAccording to Easy Guide to the Queen’s Gambit Accepted\, Cadogan\, 1998 : \n“Graeme Buckley caused a stir in his first year as a professional player securing his International Master title in a matter of months\, quickly followed by his first grandmaster norm. More recently he has been involved in some major coaching projects. In 1996 he was manager of the English youth team\, who achieved the impressive double of winning both the Glorney and Faber Cups.” \nWith the white pieces Graeme playa the Queen’s Gambit nowadays with Nf3 appearing before c4 having flirted with the Trompowski in the early days. \nAs the second player he plays the Sicilian Scheveningen\, the King’s Indian and not the Queen’s Gambit Accepted despite authoring a book about it! \n[pgn]\n[Event “BCF-chT 0708 (4NCL)”]\n[Site “Sunningdale”]\n[Date “2007.11.16”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “King\, Daniel J”]\n[Black “Buckley\, Graeme N”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C02”]\n[WhiteElo “2528”]\n[BlackElo “2390”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “44”]\n[EventDate “2007.09.15”]\n[EventType “team”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2008”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2007.11.25”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2007.11.25”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,44\,19\,38\,40\,41\,41\,1\,15\,-10\,-7\,-11\,5\,-11\,3\,-4\,-9\,-5\,13\,-37\,-37\,-26\,-21\,\n-14\,7\,-20\,0\,0\,-18\,-35\,-35\,-72\,-73\,-86\,-40\,-162\,-144\,-211\,-274\,-475\,-475\,-474\,\n-510\,-542\,-509\,-509\,-509]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 d5 4. e5 Nc6 5. d4 Bd7 6.\nBe2 Nge7 7. O-O Rc8 8. a3 Nf5 9. dxc5 $146 (9. b4 cxd4 10. cxd4 Be7 11. Bb2 Qb6\n12. Qd2 O-O 13. Rd1 f6 14. Nc3 fxe5 15. dxe5 Be8 16. Rac1 Bh5 17. Na4 Qd8 18.\nNc5 Bxc5 19. Rxc5 $11) 9… Bxc5 10. Bd3 Nh4 11. Nbd2 Bb6 12. Qe2 O-O 13. Nxh4\nQxh4 14. g3 Qh3 $11 15. Nb3 $6 (15. Nf3 Qh5) 15… f6 $1 16. exf6 $6 (16. Be3\n$19) 16… e5 $1 {[%cal Ge5e4]} 17. Be3 e4 18. Bb5 (18. Bxb6 exd3 19. Qxd3 axb6\n20. fxg7 Kxg7 $19) 18… Bg4 19. f3 exf3 20. Rxf3 Ne5 21. Nd2 Nxf3+ 22. Nxf3\nRxf6 0-1\n[/pgn] \nMultiple Choice by Graeme Buckley\nEasy Guide to the Queen’s Gambit Accepted by Graeme Buckley\nTrends in the Trompovsky\, Vol. 4\nIM Graeme Buckley\, Surrey Open\, 2013\, courtesy of John Upham Photography
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-graeme-noel-buckley-25-xii-1971/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JEU0590-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201228
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201229
DTSTAMP:20260817T135536Z
CREATED:20210201T132752Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T135536Z
UID:13692-1609113600-1609199999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Frank Parr (17-xii-1918  28-xii-2003)
DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Frank Parr (17-xii-1918  28-xii-2003)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-frank-parr-17-xii-1918-28-xii-2003/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201230
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201231
DTSTAMP:20201229T175730Z
CREATED:20200412T131219Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201229T175730Z
UID:4543-1609286400-1609372799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Jonah Willow (30-xii-2002)
DESCRIPTION:Happy Birthday to FM Jonah Willow \nJonah B Willow was born in Nottingham on Monday\, December 30th 2002. Jacob was the most popular boy’s name in 2002. “Lose Yourself” by Enimem was number one. \nJonah’s first recorded graded standard play tournament was the 2010 Delancey UK Chess Challenge Terafinal and his first recorded rapidplay event was the Nottingham Rapidplay in 2011. \nJonah Willow at the 2012 UKK Terafinal. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nJonah’s first published standard play grade was 96D in January of 2012 : \nJonah’s ECF grading progress\nJonah has represented West Nottingham\, 4NCL Wood Green\, Nottinghamshire CA and Syston (Leicester). \nFIDE rating profile for FM Jonah B Willow from Megabase 2020\nIt is a little curious as to the reason for the rating profile to halt at the end of 2018 since Jonah has played plenty of FIDE rated games since. Compare the above with : \nFIDE rating for FM Jonah Willow from fide.com\nJonah has plus scores against : Mike Surtees\, Richard Pert\, Peter Shaw\, Ranesh Ratnesan\, Shreyas Royal\, Keith Arkell and Ameet Ghasi to name but a few. \nWith the white pieces Jonah is a committed 1.e4 player but he has scored 83% with 1.Nc3! \nJonah plays the unusual Chekhover Variation  (4.Qxd4) in the 2…d6 Sicilian : this is an interesting alternative and is discussed by GM Ben Finegold : \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liecBr62eqA[/embedyt] \nand  \nGM Varuzhan Akobian : \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNoGIo4yjkM[/embedyt] \nJonah plays the Four Knights game with white. \nAs the second player he plays the Accelerated Dragon and the Modern Benoni. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Titled Tuesday intern op 17th Nov”]\n[Site “Chess.com INT”]\n[Date “2020.11.17”]\n[Round “5”]\n[White “Willow\, Jonah B”]\n[Black “Svidler\, Peter”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B53”]\n[WhiteElo “2386”]\n[BlackElo “2723”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “59”]\n[EventDate “2020.11.17”]\n[EventType “swiss (blitz)”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “USA”]\n[SourceTitle “Mega2020 Update 58”]\n[Source “Chessbase”]\n[SourceDate “2020.11.27”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2020.11.27”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,15\,29\,25\,61\,47\,79\,62\,86\,57\,70\,22\,12\,11\,15\,6\,5\,0]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6\n3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 {The Chekhover Variation (Vitaly Checkhover 1908 – 1965)} a6\n{Black wishes to develop the knight without having it pinned. Probably also\nmakes it awkward for White to castle long.} ({The “main line” is} 4… Nc6 5.\nBb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 (6. Qd3 Nf6 7. c4 g6 8. Nc3 Bg7 9. O-O O-O 10. h3 a6 11. Bxc6\nBxc6 12. Nd4 Nd7 13. Be3 Rc8 14. Rac1 Nc5 15. Qc2 Ne6 16. Nxe6 fxe6 $14) 6…\nBxc6 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Bg5 e6 9. O-O-O Be7 10. Rhe1 O-O 11. Kb1 Qa5 12. Qd2 Qa6 13.\nNd4 Rfc8 14. f3 $11) 5. c4 Nc6 6. Qe3 g6 7. Be2 Bg7 8. h3 Nf6 9. O-O O-O 10.\nNc3 Nd7 11. Rd1 Nc5 12. Rb1 {[#]} f5 $2 {Probably not correct but active\nnontheless. 13 games with this in MegaBase 2020 and the move is labelled as\n“hot”.} (12… a5) 13. b4 f4 (13… Nxe4 14. Nxe4 fxe4 15. Ng5 $1 Kh8 16. Bb2 {\nRemoving the defender…} Bxb2 17. Rxb2 Bf5 18. g4 $18) 14. Qd2 $18 Bxc3 15.\nQxc3 Nxe4 16. Qc2 Nf6 17. Bxf4 $18 Bf5 18. Bd3 Bxd3 19. Qxd3 $146 (19. Rxd3)\n19… Qc8 20. Bh6 Re8 21. Re1 (21. Qb3) 21… Qf5 22. Qd2 Rad8 23. Nd4 Nxd4 24.\nQxd4 e5 25. Qb6 Rd7 26. Rbd1 (26. b5) 26… Re6 27. Qe3 Kf7 28. Rd2 d5 $2 29.\ng4 Qe4 30. cxd5 {and Svidler resigned.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nHe has his own Twitch TV channel. \nOn chess.com he is JonahWillow and his highest chess.com rating has been 2863 on April 5th 2020.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-jonah-b-willow-30-xii-2002/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,UKCC
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/utf_9875_lv-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210107
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210108
DTSTAMP:20210120T120552Z
CREATED:20191230T113557Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210120T120552Z
UID:2638-1609977600-1610063999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday for GM Luke James McShane (07-i-1984)
DESCRIPTION:We send best wishes to GM Luke James McShane on his birthday\, this day (January 7th) in 1984. \nHere is Luke’s Wikipedia entry \n[pgn]\n[Event “Hastings 9798”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1997.12.31”]\n[Round “3”]\n[White “McShane\, Luke J”]\n[Black “Plaskett\, H James”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B44”]\n[WhiteElo “2455”]\n[BlackElo “2450”]\n[Annotator “McShane\,L”]\n[PlyCount “45”]\n[EventDate “1997.12.29”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[EventCategory “13”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 063”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.03.26”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.03.26”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,45\,26\,28\,41\,41\,43\,23\,44\,24\,40\,7\,25\,32\,20\,5\,5\,-1\,-35\,-20\,20\,20\,0\,-13\,6\,\n30\,1\,-17\,129\,129\,133\,134\,133\,136\,136\,137\,150\,153\,153\,161\,172\,172\,179\,183\,188\,\n177\,189\,185]} 1. e4 {Rodriguez\,Am} c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb5\nd6 6. Bf4 e5 7. Be3 Be6 {Rodriguez: A flexible move order in a position where\nonly other three continuations are quite playable.} (7… Be7 {Rodriguez\,Am}) (\n7… a6 {Rodriguez\,Am} 8. N5c3 Nf6 {is probably the most reliable now since:}\n9. Bc4 Be6 10. Nd5 Nxe4 $3 {seems to work well for equality.}) (7… Nf6 {\nRodriguez\,Am} 8. Bg5 Be6 {has been the main line for years but:} 9. Bxf6 gxf6\n10. Nd2 $1 {looks promising for White these days.}) 8. Nd2 Nf6 (8… a6 {\nRodriguez\,Am} 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. Nc4 {is an important line too} b5 (10… Rb8 $5\n11. Bb6 Qd7 12. Qd2 Nb4 $1 $11 {Amador Rodríguez-Zapata\, Mexico 1993}) 11. Nb6\nRb8 12. Nbd5 Be7 {used to work well for Black until my strong novelty 13.a4!.\nSee CBM 59 or inf 69/(163) for my game against Gilberto Hernández}) 9. Bg5 d5\n$6 (9… a6 {Rodriguez\,Am} 10. Bxf6 $1 gxf6 11. Nc3 {is much more playable\nwith many options\, just one of them:} d5 12. exd5 Bxd5 {works better than in\nthe current game\, for instance:} 13. Bc4 (13. Nxd5 Qxd5 14. Nc4 Nd4 $6 (14…\nQxd1+ $14) 15. c3 Rd8 16. Ne3 Qa5 17. Bc4 b5 18. O-O bxc4 19. cxd4 Rxd4 20. Qf3\n$44 {Trepp\,M-Wyttenbach/Bern op 1989}) 13… Bxc4 14. Nxc4 Qxd1+ 15. Rxd1 Bb4\n16. O-O Bxc3 17. bxc3 Ke7 18. Nd6 Rab8 19. Nf5+ Ke6 20. Ng7+ {1/2-1/2\nKengis-Andersson/Haninge 1992}) (9… Be7 10. Bxf6 {Rodriguez\,Am} Bxf6 11. Nc4\nO-O {is also obscure and playable.}) 10. exd5 Bxd5 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. Bc4 $1 {\nRodriguez: A strong move I had already discovered many years ago when I\nstarted to investigate this variation.} (12. Nc4 $6 {Rodriguez\,Am} Be6 13. Qf3\n(13. Ncd6+ Bxd6 14. Qxd6 Qxd6 15. Nxd6+ Ke7 16. O-O-O Rhd8 17. Nb5 Nb4 $17 {\nRodin\,M-Milov\,L/Komercni Banka op 1996/EXP 55}) 13… Nb4 14. Ne3 Bc5 15. Na3\nNc6 $15 {Trepp-Kaenel/Switzerland ch 1990}) 12… Rc8 (12… Bxg2 13. Rg1 $36)\n(12… Bxc4 13. Nxc4 Qxd1+ 14. Rxd1 $16) (12… a6 13. Rg1 $36 (13. Bxd5 {\nRodriguez\,Am} axb5 14. Bb3 Nd4 15. O-O Nxb3 16. axb3 Rxa1 17. Qxa1 Be7 18. Qd1\n$14 {Leko\,P-Portisch\,L/ch-HUN1997})) 13. Qg4 $1 {Xc8} (13. Bxd5 {Rodriguez\,Am}\nQxd5 14. Qg4 Qe6 $11) 13… Bxc4 {Rodriguez: A losing move} (13… Nb4 14.\nO-O-O (14. Bxd5 {Rodriguez\,Am} Rxc2 $5 {and even though the position looks\npleasant for White he must now find and active continuation not without risk.\nAs we will see soon\, the game continuation was too easy.} (14… Nxc2+ 15. Ke2\nNxa1 16. Rxa1 Rc5 17. Bc4 $16) 15. Nc3 $6 (15. Ne4 $5 Nxd5 16. Rd1) (15. O-O $5\nQxd5 16. Rac1) 15… Nd3+ $1) (14. O-O h5 15. Qe2 Rg8 16. g3 a6 $13) 14… a6)\n(13… h5 14. Qh3 (14. Qf5 $143 $6 Ne7) 14… Nb4 15. Bxd5 Nxc2+ (15… Rxc2\n16. Qb3)) 14. Nxc4 {Rodriguez: With simply too many threats.} Nd4 $2 15. Ncd6+\nBxd6 16. Nxd6+ Ke7 (16… Qxd6 17. Qxc8+ Ke7 18. Qxb7+ $18 (18. Qxh8 $6 Nxc2+\n19. Ke2 Nd4+ 20. Ke1 $11 (20. Kf1 Qa6+ $19))) 17. Nxc8+ Qxc8 18. Qxc8 Rxc8 19.\nRc1 Rxc2 20. Rxc2 Nxc2+ 21. Kd2 Nd4 22. Rc1 Nc6 23. Rc3 1-0 \n[/pgn] \nLuke James McShane\n[pgn]\n[Event “London Classic 2nd”]\n[Site “London”]\n[Date “2010.12.08”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “McShane\, Luke J”]\n[Black “Carlsen\, Magnus”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A37”]\n[WhiteElo “2645”]\n[BlackElo “2802”]\n[Annotator “McShane\,L”]\n[PlyCount “77”]\n[EventDate “2010.12.06”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “7”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[EventCategory “19”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 140”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2011.01.18”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2011.01.18”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,77\,19\,-12\,11\,2\,18\,16\,9\,4\,4\,15\,4\,5\,44\,30\,18\,18\,23\,24\,45\,32\,45\,0\,36\,41\,\n37\,-25\,15\,22\,30\,39\,26\,-3\,22\,33\,28\,67\,9\,33\,35\,11\,71\,73\,65\,65\,80\,77\,65\,65\,94\,100\,\n84\,76\,90\,90\,90\,96\,98\,98\,98\,116\,118\,81\,117\,187\,198\,219\,222\,222\,184\,195\,197\,191\,\n198\,218\,228\,228\,231\,236]} 1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6.\nO-O Nh6 7. d4 $5 {With this interesting idea\, White voluntarily gives up the\nbishop pair in order to increase his lead in development.} (7. b3 {was played\nin Flores-Carlsen at the Khanty Mansiysk-Olympiad in 2010}) 7… cxd4 8. Bxh6\nBxh6 9. Nxd4 Ne5 {[%csl Gc8\,Gg2\,Gh6][%cal Yg2a8] An ambitious decision\,\nrefusing to simplify the position.} 10. Qb3 O-O 11. Rfd1 {[%csl Rd8\,Rh6][%cal\nYc4c5\,Yd4f5\,Yd1d8] The position is calm on the surface\, but the situation is\ntense. Black’s queenside is under pressure\, but if Black can catch up in\ndevelopment then his pair of bishops will give him an advantage\, so it’s\nimportant for White to keep up the momentum and create threats. This move\ncreates the idea of c4-c5\, and if d6xc5 then Nd4-f5 with a discovered attack.}\nNd7 12. Qa3 a5 13. b4 $5 {[%csl Ga3][%cal Ya3a8\,Yc4c5] A brave decision which\ntook some time. I wanted to seize the initiative before my opponent had a\nchance to unravel his queenside. The immediate threat is to advance c4-c5\nwhich would break through the queenside defences.} Ra6 {[%csl Ga6][%cal Ya5b4\,\nYb7a6]} (13… Nb6 {was the critical response\, hitting c4 and protecting the\nrook on a8 so that axb4 becomes possible. Now after} 14. c5 Nc4 15. Qb3 Nd2 $5\n{is a surprising shot. During the game I thought White had good chances in the\ntactical melee which arises after 16.Qd5!?\, but perhaps} 16. Qa4 {is the\ncorrect follow up after all.}) 14. b5 Ra8 {It’s not obvious who has gained\nfrom the pawn’s advance to b5. If White can break through\, the advanced pawn\nwill be an asset\, but if Black can get a grip on c5 then the c4-pawn will be a\nlong term weakness.} 15. e3 a4 16. Rab1 Bg7 17. Ne4 {[%cal Yc4c5] White is\nthreatening c4-c5 again\, which would open the floodgates for the rest of my\npieces. It’s correct to prevent that\, but I had foreseen the nice maneouvre\nwith the other knight.} Qb6 18. Nc6 $1 {[%csl Gc6\,Gd5\,Re7][%cal Yc6e7\,Yc6b4\,\nYb4d5]} Re8 ({Capturing the knight wasn’t a great option:} 18… bxc6 19. bxc6\nQc7 (19… Qxc6 20. Nf6+ {wins the queen.}) 20. cxd7 Bxd7 21. c5 {and White\nwill probably pick up a pawn.}) 19. Nb4 {[%csl Rb6\,Gd5\,Ge4][%cal Yb4d5\,Yc4c5]\nHeading for a nice square on d5.} f5 {Certainly ugly\, but both of us thought\nthis was a necessary evil. Perhaps though\, moving the queen away was the best\nbet.} 20. Nc3 $6 (20. Nd5 $1 Qd8 21. Ng5 $1 {was the strongest continuation\,\nthreatening to hop into the hole on e6. After} Nc5 22. b6 {threatens a fork on\nc7. If both the rooks flee then} Rf8 23. Nc7 Rb8 24. Rb5 $1 {is incisive\, and\nBlack has no good answer to Rxc5.}) 20… Qc5 $2 (20… e6 $1 {was the best\ndefence. I was looking at some ideas with} 21. Na6 $5 {but the position\nremains messy. Retreating the knight to d3 should preserve an edge though.})\n21. Nxa4 Qa7 22. Na6 $3 {[%csl Ga6\,Ra7\,Gg2][%cal Yg2a8\,Yb5b6\,Ya6c7] Certainly\nMagnus missed the force of this knight sacrifice. The threat is Na6-c7 and\ntaking the knight comes with its own problems.} bxa6 (22… Rf8 23. c5 $1 Nxc5\n24. N4xc5 dxc5 25. Qxc5 {and the knight still can’t be taken:} bxa6 26. b6 Qb8\n27. Qd5+ $18) 23. b6 Nxb6 24. Rxb6 $1 (24. Nxb6 Rb8 {is less convincing.})\n24… Rb8 25. c5 $1 Be6 {Black faced an unappealing choice.} ({The alternative\nwas} 25… dxc5 26. Qxc5 Rxb6 27. Nxb6 Be6 28. Qc6 Bf7 29. Bd5 {and Black is\nin huge trouble.} e6 $2 {allows a pretty finish:} 30. Nc8 Qb8 31. Bxe6 $1 Rxe6\n32. Rd8+ Bf8 33. Ne7+ $1 Kg7 34. Rxb8 Rxc6 35. Nxc6 {with an easy win.}) 26.\nRdb1 dxc5 27. Rb7 Rxb7 28. Rxb7 Qa8 29. Nxc5 Qc8 (29… Bf7 30. Rxe7 $1 {\nis winning comfortably\, as a6 will also drop off after the exchange of rooks.}\nQb8 31. Rxe8+ Qxe8 32. Qxa6 {etc.}) 30. Qxa6 Bf7 (30… Qxc5 31. Qxe6+ Kh8 32.\nBc6 {[%csl Re7] wins the e7-pawn as well.}) 31. Bc6 Rd8 32. Nd7 $1 {[%csl Gd7]\n[%cal Yb7c7\,Ya6b6\,Yb7b8] The neatest way to finish. The threat is simply to\nplay Qb6 followed by Rc7 or Rb8 to trap the queen\, and there is no good\nresponse.} Rxd7 (32… Be6 33. Qb6 Rxd7 34. Rb8 $1 {wins with a pin.}) 33. Bxd7\nQc1+ 34. Qf1 Qxf1+ 35. Kxf1 Bc4+ 36. Kg1 Bxa2 37. Ba4 $1 {[%cal Ya4b3] Forcing\noff a pair of bishops makes the technical task much simpler.} e5 38. f3 $1 {\nA final accurate move. After exchanging bishops\, White will play e3-e4 to fix\na weakness on e5 before advancing the king.} Bh6 39. Bb3+ 1-0\n[/pgn] \nLuke James McShane
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-for-gm-luke-james-mcshane-07-i-1984/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210108
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210109
DTSTAMP:20210120T120750Z
CREATED:20190822T161251Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210120T120750Z
UID:990-1610064000-1610150399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM George Botterill (08-i-1949)
DESCRIPTION:We send birthday wishes to IM George Steven Botterill born on this day (January 8th) in 1949. \nHere is his Wikipedia page \nBrian Reilly\, Ray Keene\, George Botterill\, Anatoly Karpov\, Harry Golombek and Viktor Korchnoi\nand here is his academic page \nCapa vs Corzo Rerun ? Nigel Short had 1977 British Champion George Botterill on the ropes at The National Bank of Dubai Open. In the photo Nigel is considering 42 Rh5 The champ just escaped with a draw.\n[pgn]\n[Event “Bath zt”]\n[Site “Bath”]\n[Date “1987.02.15”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Botterill\, George Steven”]\n[Black “Chandler\, Murray G”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “E49”]\n[WhiteElo “2370”]\n[BlackElo “2595”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “80”]\n[EventDate “1987.02.14”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[EventCategory “7”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 004”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1988.06.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1988.06.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,80\,19\,31\,14\,-14\,-11\,4\,33\,-47\,-26\,-31\,-25\,-25\,-25\,-25\,-18\,-14\,-21\,-11\,\n-13\,-26\,-12\,-26\,-22\,-27\,-29\,-29\,-7\,-40\,-38\,-66\,-42\,-31\,-1\,-32\,16\,9\,42\,37\,76\,93\,\n73\,50\,48\,32\,50\,15\,16\,19\,36\,17\,35\,27\,39\,21\,36\,28\,-8\,18\,63\,35\,35\,17\,62\,77\,43\,\n-103\,91\,54\,295\,356\,352\,376\,361\,358\,353\,324\,352\,365\,870\,969\,1250]} 1. d4 Nf6 2.\nc4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 O-O 7. cxd5 exd5 8. e3 b6 9. Bd3\nc5 10. Ne2 Re8 11. O-O Ba6 12. Bxa6 Nxa6 13. Qd3 Nb8 14. Ng3 Nc6 15. Ra2 Rc8\n16. Re2 h6 17. Bb2 Ne7 18. e4 Ng6 19. Qd2 dxe4 20. fxe4 Nh7 21. Nf5 Nh4 22. Qf4\nNxf5 23. Qxf5 Rc7 24. d5 c4 25. Bc1 Qd7 26. Qf3 Rc5 27. Qh5 f6 28. h4 Re5 29.\nQf3 Nf8 30. Be3 Ra5 31. Bd4 Re8 32. Qg3 Kh7 33. Bxf6 Rxd5 34. Bd4 Ng6 35. exd5\nRxe2 36. h5 Nh8 37. Rf8 Re7 38. Qb8 Nf7 39. Rg8 Re1+ 40. Kh2 Re5 1-0\n[/pgn] \nIM George Steven Botterill (08-I-1949)\nThe Modern Defence\, BT Batsford\, 1972\, GS Botterill and RD Keene\nThe Pirc Defence\, BT Batsford\, 1973\, GS Botterill and RD Keene\nBritish Chess\, Pergamon Press\, 1983. Editors : GS Botterill\, DNL Levy\, JM Rice and MJ Richardson
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-george-steven-botterill/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210109
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210110
DTSTAMP:20220108T163914Z
CREATED:20210919T133057Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220108T163914Z
UID:18870-1610150400-1610236799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Shreyas Royal (09-i-2009)
DESCRIPTION:BCN sends birthday wishes to FM Shreyas (known as “Shrey” by his friends) Royal born on Friday\, January 9th\, 2009. “Hallelujah” by Alexandra Burke was number one in the UK hit parade. \nShreyas attended The Pointer School in Blackheath\, London\, SE3 whose motto is “The Lord is my Shepherd”. \nIn October 2021 BCN secured an interview with Shreyas via his father Jitendra and below is mostly from that interview: \nBCN: What caused his initial interest in chess and at what age? \nHis initial interest in chess was capturing or as he used to call it ‘eating’ pieces but as he grew more mature\, he loved that there were so many possibilities in chess\, so much still left to explore! At the Age of 6 he learnt and got an interest in chess. \nBCN: Has Shreyas had any chess teachers or coaches? \n\n\nJyothi Lal N. with a peak of 2250 FIDE but is very knowledgeable and helped from just above beginner to 1800. He was Shreyas’s first coach.\nMeszaros Gyula (Julian) who was an IM with a peak of 2465 FIDE and was an endgame master which helped him from 1800-2100.\nHis Current Coach is GM John Emms with a peak of around 2600 FIDE\, he is an expert in many fields such as Positional Play\, Openings\, Strategic chess etc and has also made a big impact on how to prepare against opponents. He had helped him from 2100-2300 so far in just under a year!\n\n\nBCN: Which chess clubs and/ or Teams does Shreyas represent? \nHe represents SV Erkenschwick from Germany and Wasa SK from Sweden for online events as he has joined them during the pandemic. He started his 4NCL career with KJCA Kings in January 2019 but now mainly represents Wood Green which he has played for in online events in and will also represent them in the upcoming 4NCL weekends. \nHis first appearance in Megabase 2022 comes from the 2015 British Under-8 Championship in Coventry\, the eventual winner being Dhruv Radhakrishnan. \nProgress from those early days has only been interrupted by school examination breaks and the Covid pandemic: \nFIDE Rating progress chart for FM Shreyas Royal\nIn August 2016 in Bournemouth Shreyas scored an impressive 6/6 to win the British Under-8 Championship. \nShreyas Royal at the 2016 UKCC Delancey Terafinal in Loughborough courtesy of John Upham Photography\nBCN: What was his first memorable tournament success? \nThis was the 2016 European Schools Under-7 championship where he was runner-up without any preparation or work on chess! \nShreyas Royal at the 2016 UKCC Delancey Southern Gigafinal in Reading courtesy of John Upham Photography\nIn 2021 Shreyas was awarded the FM title by FIDE: \nFIDE FM Certificate for Shreyas Royal\nBCN: Which chess players past & present are inspirational for him? \n\n\nMagnus Carlsen\, world champion and broke many FIDE records also is an inspiration for most of this generation. He likes his slow grinding and almost winning from any opening or ending. This is his favourite player of all time.\nGarry Kasparov played brilliant attacking chess and calculated like a machine.\nBobby Fischer played a similar style to Kasparov but was more talented than both Magnus and Kasparov in his opinion as he worked all by himself at a time in the USA when chess was not so popular while for the Russians\, they had brilliant coaches and had one good player after the other. He rates him a bit lower because Fischer quit competitive chess a bit too early and could not reach the heights he was worthy of.\nAlireza Firouzja\nFabiano Caruana\n\n\nBCN: What are his favourite openings with the White pieces? \nHe plays 1.d4 pretty much all the time. \nMegaBase 2020 has 294 games with 1.d4 and one solitary 1.g3 from March 2021. The 1.d4 games feature main line Queen’s Gambit / Catalan type positions championing 5.Nge2 against the King’s Indian Defence and the exchange variation against the Grunfeld. \nBCN: and what are his preferred defences as the second player? \nReally depends on what they play\, against every opening he has got one or two lines which he enjoys equally. \nMegabase 2022 informs us that Shreyas defends the main line Closed Variation of the Ruy Lopez and main line Giuoco Piano. Previously he essayed the Sicilian Najdorf. \nBCN: Does he have any favourite chess books? \nNot really as he is not such a big fan of chess books\, but he likes My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer. Fundamental Chess Endings and Encyclopedia of Chess Combinations. \nBCN: Which tournaments are planned for 2022? \nWe have pencilled in a couple of norm and Open (France\, Spain\, Germany etc.) tournaments in European countries. \nBCN: What are his favourite subjects outside of chess? \nHis favourite subjects outside chess are Science\, History\, Maths with Science as his favourite\, History as his second favourite and Maths as his third favourite. \nBCN: Does Shreyas play any physical sports? \nHe does Football\, Cricket and a bit of Lawn Tennis. \nBCN: What are his plans and aspirations for the future? \nTo become a world chess champion one day\, but it’s very expensive to even get to the level of IM! Currently we are looking for sponsors who can help support Shreyas to get there. \nHere is his personal website. \nIn late December 2021 Camberley Chess Club had Shreyas as their weekly Zoom meeting guest speaker. \nand finally three of SRs favourite games: \n[pgn]\n[Event “British Chess Championship Major Open”]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “2018.08.05”]\n[Round “9”]\n[White “Royal\, Shreyas”]\n[Black “Jayawarna\, Nugith”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “E70”]\n[WhiteElo “1927”]\n[BlackElo “2013”]\n[Annotator “Shreyas Royal”]\n[PlyCount “57”]\n[SourceTitle “Jitendra”] \n{[%evp 0\,57\,19\,17\,14\,-9\,41\,45\,31\,44\,44\,2\,7\,2\,6\,12\,41\,26\,65\,-13\,27\,39\,44\,41\,87\,\n75\,50\,46\,63\,46\,82\,51\,168\,230\,230\,231\,258\,262\,258\,149\,433\,213\,161\,441\,522\,195\,\n500\,527\,501\,169\,1531\,1211\,1221\,1268\,1296\,1314\,1336\,1370\,1375\,1397]} 1. d4 Nf6\n2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nge2 {This is the Kings Indian Defence Kramer\nvariation} O-O 6. Ng3 e5 7. d5 c6 {I think c6 is a sideline whereas the main\nline goes} (7… Nbd7 8. Be2 a5 9. h4 h5 10. Bg5 Qe8 $1 $14 (10… Nc5 $2 {\nremember not to fall into this trap} 11. Bxh5 $3 {An astonishing move} gxh5 12.\nNxh5 {With pressure and an iniative} Kh8 13. Qf3 Bg4 14. Qxf6 Bxh5 15. Qxd8\nRaxd8 16. Bxd8 Rxd8 17. f3 f5 18. exf5 e4 19. g4 Bf7 20. g5 Bxc3+ 21. bxc3 Bh5\n22. fxe4 Re8 23. Kd2 Nxe4+ 24. Kc2 Ng3 25. Rhe1 Be2 26. f6 Kh7 27. Rg1 Re3 28.\nRae1 Kg6 29. Kb2 Nh5 30. Rgf1 Bxf1 31. Rxe3 Bxc4 32. Re7 Bxd5 33. Rxc7 Bc6 34.\nf7 Kg7 35. g6 Nf4 36. h5 Ne6 37. Rc8 Nf8 38. Rxf8 Kxf8 39. h6 {1-0 (39) Ward\,C\n(2423)-Storey\,C (2245) Coventry 2015})) 8. Be2 a6 {[#]} ({Relevant:} 8… cxd5\n9. cxd5 Nbd7 10. Be3 a5 11. O-O Nc5 12. f3 Bd7 13. Nh1 Qb8 14. a4 Rc8 15. Nf2\nh5 16. Bb5 Kh7 17. Nd3 b6 18. Nxc5 bxc5 19. Qd2 Rc7 20. b3 Rb7 21. Bc4 Ng8 22.\nRab1 Qd8 23. f4 exf4 24. Bxf4 Qe7 25. e5 dxe5 26. d6 Qe8 27. Be3 f5 28. Bxc5\nNf6 29. Nd5 Nxd5 30. Bxd5 Bc6 31. Rfc1 Bxd5 32. Qxd5 Rab8 33. Rd1 Rd7 34. Ba3\ne4 35. Rbc1 Qe5 36. Qxe5 Bxe5 37. Rc7 Rbd8 38. Rxd7+ {Bologan\,V (2640)-Kozul\,Z\n(2613) Doha 2016 1-0}) 9. dxc6 $146 (9. O-O b5 10. Bg5 Bb7 11. Qd2 {might of\nbeen better despite allowing b5}) ({Predecessor:} 9. O-O cxd5 10. cxd5 Nbd7 11.\nRe1 b5 12. b4 Nb6 13. a4 bxa4 14. Nxa4 h5 15. Bg5 Rb8 16. Bxh5 Nbd7 17. Qd2\ngxh5 18. Nxh5 Kh7 19. Ra3 Rh8 20. Rf3 a5 21. Nxg7 Kxg7 22. Bxf6+ Nxf6 23. Qg5+\nKf8 24. Rxf6 Rxb4 25. Nc3 Qc7 26. h4 Bh3 27. Re3 {1-0 (27) Bocharov\,D (2610)\n-Kokarev\,D (2628) Vladivostok 2016}) 9… bxc6 $6 {maybe he might of been\nintending d5} (9… Nxc6 {[%cal Gc6d4] I think is better}) 10. Bg5 h6 11. Be3\nQc7 12. Qd2 {[%cal Ge3h6]} h5 13. O-O Be6 14. Rad1 Rd8 15. f4 Ng4 $4 {the\nlosing blunder} (15… exf4 {is an improvement in my opinion} 16. Bxf4 Nbd7)\n16. f5 $1 Nxe3 17. Qxe3 $18 Bc8 $4 (17… Qa7 18. c5) 18. fxg6 fxg6 19. Qg5 Kh7\n$6 {[#]} 20. Bxh5 $3 (20. Nxh5 $1 {also wins} Bh6 (20… gxh5 21. Bxh5 Qa7+ 22.\nc5 Qxc5+ 23. Kh1 Rd7 24. Qg6+ Kg8 25. Qe8+ Kh7 26. Bg6+ Kh6 27. Bf5) 21. Nf6+\nKg7 22. Qg3) 20… gxh5 21. Nxh5 Ra7 {[#]} 22. Rf6 $1 Qb6+ (22… Bxf6 23.\nNxf6+ Kh8 24. Qg8+) 23. Kh1 Re7 24. Rdf1 (24. Rg6 {is mate in six!} {as follows\n} Kh8 25. Nf6 Qc7 26. Qh5+ Bh6 27. Rxh6+ Kg7 28. Qg6+ Kf8 29. Rh8#) 24… Qc7\n25. Rh6+ Bxh6 26. Nf6+ Kh8 27. Qxh6+ Rh7 28. Nxh7 Qxh7 29. Qf6+ 1-0\n[/pgn] \nand from more recent times: \n[pgn]\n[Event “First Saturday IM July 2021”]\n[Site “Budapest\, Fortuna u. 4. St. G”]\n[Date “2021.07.27”]\n[Round “2.4”]\n[White “Royal\, Shreyas”]\n[Black “Ilincic\, Zlatko”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “E11”]\n[WhiteElo “2168”]\n[BlackElo “2395”]\n[Annotator “Shreyas Royal”]\n[PlyCount “95”]\n[EventDate “2021.??.??”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2018.06.03”] \n{[%evp 0\,95\,19\,31\,14\,-14\,-11\,0\,31\,34\,64\,65\,61\,30\,46\,45\,45\,42\,73\,34\,54\,28\,18\,26\,\n45\,50\,48\,40\,39\,41\,36\,26\,37\,39\,58\,43\,39\,16\,19\,17\,22\,9\,17\,9\,22\,-9\,29\,24\,41\,23\,\n119\,119\,130\,126\,212\,208\,256\,229\,200\,221\,222\,222\,222\,222\,224\,139\,167\,157\,206\,\n205\,206\,207\,206\,240\,237\,204\,253\,282\,295\,284\,299\,286\,317\,313\,323\,334\,380\,403\,\n438\,451\,483\,493\,488\,524\,545\,511\,520\,556]} 1. d4 {this is my first win against\na grandmaster in OTB chess and is a brilliant positional game} Nf6 2. c4 e6 3.\nNf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 c5 5. Bxb4 cxb4 6. a3 {this was part of my preparation\, I had\nplayed him 2 times before with g3 and a delayed a3 but with no success\, he\nwould always prepare a different line agianst it so this time I needed to get\nhim out of his comfort zone} bxa3 7. Rxa3 O-O 8. Nc3 d6 9. e3 ({Relevant:} 9.\ne4 Nc6 10. Be2 b6 11. O-O Bb7 12. d5 Nb4 13. Nd4 e5 14. Nf5 g6 15. Nh6+ Kg7 16.\nQd2 Qe7 17. Qg5 Bc8 18. h4 Nc2 19. Ra2 Nd4 20. Bd3 Qd8 21. f4 Nd7 22. Nf5+ Nxf5\n23. exf5 Nc5 24. Bb1 Qxg5 25. hxg5 gxf5 26. fxe5 dxe5 27. Bxf5 a5 28. Bc2 Bd7\n29. Raa1 Rac8 30. Rae1 Rfe8 31. Re3 e4 32. Bxe4 Re5 33. Ref3 Nxe4 34. Rxf7+ Kg6\n35. Nxe4 Rxe4 36. Rxd7 Rcxc4 37. Rd6+ Kxg5 38. Rxb6 Re2 {Banikas\,H (2599)\n-Cordova\,E (2592) Chess.com INT 2020 1/2-1/2 (61)}) 9… b6 (9… Nc6 10. Be2\ne5 11. O-O Bg4 {is the the most popular and probably one of the best ways to\nplay against it}) 10. Be2 Bb7 11. O-O a6 {this structure was not the greatest\nway to deal with this} 12. b4 $1 {I had seen soem structures similiar like\nthis\, when preparing and realized we needed to make use of our queenside\nmajority} Nbd7 13. Qb1 {[#] I was just asking myself\, where do I want my\npieces? It can really help improve your chess if you care about pieces and\nalways want to improve them\, the arrows showed what I wanted my setup to be\nlike} Qc7 $146 ({Predecessor:} 13… Qb8 14. Rd1 Rc8 15. e4 a5 16. Rb3 axb4 17.\nRxb4 Ra3 18. Rc1 Ra5 19. d5 e5 20. Nd2 Ra8 21. Na4 Qc7 22. Nxb6 Nxb6 23. Rxb6\nRcb8 24. Rc2 Nd7 25. Rb4 Bc8 26. Rcb2 Rxb4 27. Rxb4 g6 28. Nb3 Kg7 29. Bg4 Nc5\n30. Bxc8 Nxb3 31. Rxb3 Qxc8 32. Rc3 Ra4 33. Qf1 Qc5 34. Rc1 Ra2 35. g3 h5 36.\nQe1 Rb2 37. h4 Ra2 38. Kf1 Kf6 39. Rc3 Kg7 40. Qe3 Qxe3 41. fxe3 Kf6 42. c5\ndxc5 43. Rxc5 {Parligras\,M (2601)-Anton\,T (2412) Calimanesti Caciulata 2017 1/\n2-1/2}) 14. Rc1 Rfc8 15. Nd2 Qb8 {[#]} 16. f3 $1 {Not only is it important to\nimprove your pieces but it is also important to make your opponent’s pieces\nunhappy. I just blunt is potentially dangerous bishop especially when he gets\nhis queen to a8 it also stops some nasty Be4 or ne4 when my knight gets to b3}\nRc7 (16… d5) 17. b5 a5 18. Na4 Qf8 19. Rac3 Rac8 20. Nb3 e5 {if he just sits\nthere and waits I just play R3c2 (to stop Nd5 when c5 happens) and c5} 21. Qb2\n$1 {this is a fantastic move because it brings my queen back to the king with\nQd2 and stops some potential Qe3+\, it also protects my e2 bishop. When the\nqueen is far away from the king it can be dangerous} Qe7 22. Qd2 g6 23. R3c2 h5\n24. c5 $1 {and finally\, after a lot of manoeuvring I get my c5 break in} exd4\n$2 (24… dxc5) 25. c6 $18 dxe3 26. Qd1 Nc5 27. Nxb6 Rd8 28. cxb7 Rxb7 29. Nd5\n$1 Nxd5 30. Qxd5 Nxb3 31. Qxb3 d5 32. Rc8 d4 33. Qd3 Qd7 34. R8c6 Rdb8 $2 (\n34… Kg7) 35. Qc2 (35. R1c5) 35… Kg7 36. Qc5 Rd8 37. Qe5+ Kg8 38. Bc4 Qf5\n39. Qxf5 gxf5 40. Bd3 $18 {[#]} f4 41. Kf1 Kg7 42. R1c5 a4 43. Ra6 Re8 44. Ke2\nh4 45. Rxa4 h3 46. gxh3 Rh8 47. Rxd4 Rxh3 48. Rxf4 {Probably my best game of\nall time} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nand finally: \n[pgn]\n[Event “Vezerkepzo IM Aug 2021”]\n[Site “Budapest\, Fortuna u. 4. St. G”]\n[Date “2021.08.23”]\n[Round “3.3”]\n[White “Royal\, Shreyas”]\n[Black “Rohit\, S.”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “E01”]\n[WhiteElo “2296”]\n[BlackElo “2268”]\n[Annotator “Shreyas Royal”]\n[PlyCount “53”]\n[EventDate “2021.08.21”]\n[EventRounds “10”]\n[EventCountry “HUN”]\n[SourceTitle “Jitendra”]\n[SourceDate “2018.06.03”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2018.06.03”] \n{[%evp 0\,53\,19\,9\,42\,-10\,-16\,0\,-3\,-37\,13\,6\,29\,25\,20\,13\,57\,36\,38\,38\,52\,58\,58\,72\,\n72\,14\,61\,23\,54\,62\,58\,58\,66\,52\,45\,54\,78\,25\,117\,123\,110\,110\,146\,37\,30\,44\,51\,49\,\n55\,13\,217\,159\,236\,245\,1807\,839]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2\n({Relevant:} 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. Bg2 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. Ne5 a5 9. Qc2 a4 10. Rd1 Bd6\n11. cxd5 exd5 12. Ndc4 h6 13. Bf4 Re8 14. Rac1 Na6 15. a3 Bf8 16. Ne3 c5 17.\nNf5 cxd4 18. Nc6 Qd7 19. Bh3 Kh8 20. Ne5 Rxe5 21. Bxe5 Ne4 22. Bxd4 Rc8 23. Qd3\nNac5 24. Qe3 Kh7 25. Bxc5 Nxc5 26. Qf3 d4 27. Rxd4 Qe8 28. Qe3 Qc6 29. f3 Re8\n30. Qf2 g6 31. Ne3 Qf6 32. Ng4 Qg7 33. Rcd1 h5 34. Ne3 Nb3 {Dubov\,D (2702)\n-Carlsen\,M (2862) chess24.com INT 2020 1-0}) 5… Bd6 6. Nc3 $5 {This was all\npart of my preparation as last time I got some equal Stonewall against him\,\nthis line avoids the stonewall and is tricky to play against as black. Black\nneeds to very accurate to still get a slightly worse position} O-O (6… c6 $6\n7. Qc2 $16 {[%cal Ge2e4\,Ge1c1] and now we open the centre and try to\nlong-castle}) 7. Bg5 c6 8. Bg2 Nbd7 (8… h6 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 10. O-O Qd8 11. c5\nBc7 12. e4 {[%cal Gb2b4] is the main line if he knew I was going to play this\,\nNc3 is not so common but effective. Even here we are better because of our\nspace\, centre and better pieces. Our idea now is to do some minority attack})\n9. e4 $1 dxe4 10. Nxe4 {[#]} Bc7 $146 {this was not the right square to move\nthe bishop to\, the best move was Bb4+ but even if he did not see that I would\nexpect Be7 as the pin became very nasty} (10… Bb4+ 11. Nc3 {and once we\nfully develop our better pieces and space will give us an adavantage}) ({\nPredecessor:} 10… Bb4+ 11. Nc3 h6 12. Bf4 Ne4 13. Qc2 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Be7 15.\nO-O b6 16. Rfe1 Bb7 17. Rad1 Re8 18. h4 Qc8 19. Bh3 Nf8 20. Ne5 Bd6 21. Qd2 Qc7\n22. Bg2 {1/2-1/2 (22) Cordova\,E (2571)-Nyzhnyk\,I (2665) Saint Louis 2019}) 11.\nO-O h6 12. Bh4 $1 Qe7 ({No need to be scared of} 12… g5 $2 13. Nfxg5 $1 hxg5\n14. Bxg5 {[%cal Gd1f3\,Ga1d1\,Gd4d5\,Gf1e1] and the pin will be nasty\, along with\nan exposed king}) 13. Re1 {[%cal Ge1e7] put the rook in line in with the queen\nis a normally a good idea} Qb4 $2 {he collapses\, but on the other there was\nnot much better to do because of the pin and I may get some d5 in later} 14.\nNxf6+ Nxf6 15. Bxf6 gxf6 16. Qc1 $1 Kg7 17. c5 $1 {this was a really nice move\nbecause normally when the queen is away from the king the king is in MASSIVE\ndanger and just before I get along with my attack\, I cut of her communications\nwith the king} Bd8 18. Qf4 Qa5 19. Qg4+ Kh7 20. Qh5 Qc7 21. g4 Kg7 {[#]} 22.\nRe3 $1 {I have a lot time and can just slowly improve my pieces\, another good\nprinciple is when attacking try to bring in as much pieces as possible} Qd7 23.\nRd1 $1 Bc7 24. Rdd3 $1 b6 $2 {[#] this was not so stupid because he can’t just\nsit and wait but on the other hand he could of just turned his prophylactic\nbrain on… I am now preparing a killer blow} (24… Rh8 {was better}) 25. g5\n$3 {I had prepared this move from when I played Rd1} hxg5 (25… fxg5 26. Nxg5\nBf4 27. Rg3 $1) 26. Nxg5 Re8 (26… Rh8 {he thought this would work but…} 27.\nNxe6+ $1 Qxe6 (27… fxe6 28. Rg3+ Bxg3 29. Rxg3+ Kf8 30. Qxh8+ Ke7 31. Rg7#)\n28. Rg3+ Bxg3 29. Rxg3+ Kf8 (29… Qg4 30. Rxg4+ Bxg4 31. Qxg4+ Kf8 32. Bxc6)\n30. Qxh8+ Ke7 31. Re3) 27. Bxc6 $1 1-0\n[/pgn] \nFM Shreyas Royal at the London Chess Classic\, 2021 courtesy of John Upham Photography
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-shreyas-royal-09-i-2009/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Junior
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/LCC_6153-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200110
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200111
DTSTAMP:20260817T141234Z
CREATED:20200504T085859Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T141234Z
UID:5221-1578614400-1578700799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Roland Scott (25-iii-1888 10-i-1953)
DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Roland Scott who passed away in Monte Carlo on Saturday\, January 10th\, 1953. \nRoland Henry Vaughan Scott was born in either Barnes or Holloway depending which Census record is correct. His parents were Walter Frederick Scott\, a GP who was born in April 1960 and died in 1891 when Roland was three years of age. \nHis mother was Lucie Vaughan was born in 1855 and died in October 1933. \nRoland had two sisters\, Nina Vaughan Scott and Lucie / Lucia Audrey Scott (who died before her first birthday) and a brother Guy Francis D Scott who lived until 1977. \nIn 1891 Roland lived in Tottenham\, in 1901 in Hampstead and in 1911 in St. Pancras where he was listed as a law clerk. \nIn 1917 The London Gazette lists him as a lieutenant in the Norfolk Regiment. \nThe 1920 electoral rolls for the Gospel Oak polling district lists Scott as voter #2006 living at 2\, Estelle Road\, North St. Pancras which is now in Belsize Park\, NW3 2JX. At the same address was his sister Lucie and in 1921 they were joined by brother Guy. \nIn July 1922 in the district of Brighton Roland married Irma Clareboudt. No children from the marriage are recorded. \nThe 1939 register lists Scott as “War Disabled ? Officer Retired In War 1914” (invalided from army) and Irma as a saleswoman (born 25th July 1895) living at 42\, Sherwell Lane\, Paignton\, Torquay\, TQ2 6BD. \n42\, Sherwell Lane\, Paignton\, Devon\, TQ2 6BD.\nThe April 1953 British Chess Magazine (Volume LXXIII\, Number 4\, page 101 onwards) contained this obituary from DJ Morgan: \nIt is with much regret that we record the death\, on January 10th\, at Monte Carlo\, of R. H. V. Scott. He had long been out of active chess\, but older readers will need no reminding of the 1920 British Champion\, with his quiet manner but attacking chess; one who was composure itself at the table but aggressiveness personified on the board. \nThe son of a doctor\, Scott was born in 1889. He was nineteen before taking to the game\, but a ready aptitude combined with great enthusiasm led to rapid progress. He joined the Hampstead Club in 1908\, and in his first tournament\, the Third Class\, came out first. ln the years that follow he pursued the game with much energy. \nAt the B.C.F. Congress\, Glasgow\, l9ll\, he won the only section of the First Class. In 1913 and in 1914 he was Hampstead Club Champion. In 1913 he was tenth in the British Championship\, at Cheltenham\, and equal fifth to sixth at Chester in the following year\, defeating Yates and drawing with Blackburne. \nIn 1915 he came second in the City of London Club Championship\, but won that of the Metropolitan Club. During the same year he lost a short match with Sir G. A. Thomas 1-3. The war years\, with a commission in the Norfolk Regiment\, intervened\, but chess filled his available moments. \nIn 1916 he defeated L. I. Estrin\, a young Russian who was Hampstead Champion\, 5-2 in a match. ln 1919 he lost a match with Winter at Hastings (2-4)\, and shared seventh to eighth positions with Dr. Olland (Holland) at the B.C.F. Hastings Victory Congress\, with victories over Olland\, \n[pgn]\n[Event “Victory Congress Chief Tournament”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1919.08.12”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Olland\, Dr. Adolf Georg”]\n[Black “Scott\, Roland Henry Vaughan”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B15”]\n[Annotator “Fred Reinfeld & BCN”]\n[PlyCount “70”]\n[EventDate “1919.08.11”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “British Chess Masters\, Page 39”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,70\,19\,38\,60\,60\,55\,40\,50\,35\,41\,13\,43\,54\,65\,5\,45\,45\,73\,47\,32\,7\,-1\,8\,14\,\n14\,17\,-15\,-15\,-75\,-31\,-38\,-32\,-29\,-43\,-21\,-52\,-64\,-64\,-88\,-90\,-155\,-167\,-146\,\n-155\,-199\,-218\,-227\,-247\,-259\,-241\,-260\,-292\,-271\,-268\,-258\,-273\,-273\,-252\,\n-253\,-255\,-268\,-304\,-326\,-295\,-339\,-352\,-380\,-347\,-580\,-581\,-584\,-600]} 1. e4 {\n1) The Book of the Second Annual Chess Congress Hyères 1926. p.13. [Scott].} c6\n{Scott’s trade-mark} 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 {More promising and also\nmore risky} ({than the usual} 4… Bf5) 5. Ng3 Bg4 ({Relevant:} 5… e6 6. Nf3\nNbd7 7. Bd3 Be7 8. Qe2 b6 9. Bf4 Nd5 10. Bd2 Qc7 11. Ne5 Bb7 12. O-O Rd8 13.\nRae1 N5f6 14. Nxf7 O-O 15. Nxd8 Bxd8 16. Qxe6+ Kh8 17. Nf5 Nb8 18. Qd6 Qf7 19.\nQe6 Qh5 20. Ng3 Qh4 21. Re5 Bc7 22. Nf5 Qh5 23. Nxg7 Qf7 24. Qxf7 Rxf7 25. Ne6\nBxe5 26. dxe5 Nd5 27. c4 Ne7 28. Nd8 {1-0 (28) Alekhine\,A-Vasiutinsky Odessa\n1918}) 6. f3 {[#]} ({Development with} 6. Be2 {would be more to the point} Bxe2\n7. N1xe2 e6 8. O-O Bd6 9. Bf4 O-O 10. c3 Qc7 11. Bxd6 Qxd6) 6… Bd7 $5 $146 {\nHe does not care to lose time and part with the Bishop-pair by retreating with\n6…Bh5} ({Predecessor:} 6… Bh5 7. Be3 e6 8. Bd3 Bd6 9. N1e2 Qc7 10. Qd2 Nbd7\n11. O-O-O O-O-O 12. Kb1 Bg6 13. Bxg6 hxg6 14. Qc3 Nd5 15. Qb3 N7b6 16. Bf2 a5\n17. c4 a4 18. Qc2 Nb4 19. Qc3 c5 20. Ne4 cxd4 21. Nxd6+ Qxd6 22. Rxd4 Qe7 23.\nRxd8+ Rxd8 24. Bxb6 Rd3 25. Qe5 Rd2 26. Bc5 Qd7 27. Nc1 Nd3 28. Qd4 Nxb2 29.\nQxd7+ Kxd7 30. Re1 Rxg2 31. Re2 Rxe2 32. Nxe2 Nxc4 33. Kc2 g5 34. Kd3 Ne5+ 35.\nKe4 Nc6 36. Nc3 {Kvicala\,J-Cohn\,W Berlin 1913 1-0}) 7. Bd3 Qb6 $1 {Good! Black\nmust free his game with ….c5} 8. N1e2 Na6 9. c3 c5 10. Qb3 {Realising that\nin the middle game the weakness of the diagonal g1 – a7 is likely to be\ntroublesome\, Olland heads for the end game. But the consequences are anything\nbut pleasant.} ({BCN: better was} 10. a4) (10. Be3 Qxb2 11. O-O) 10… cxd4 11.\nQxb6 axb6 12. Nxd4 Nc5 {Scott seizes the initiative here and retains it\nthroughout.} 13. Bc2 (13. Bc4) 13… e5 14. Nde2 $17 ({Or} 14. Ndf5 g6 {etc.})\n14… Be6 15. a3 $6 {He must part with one of his Bishops\, since} (15. b3 $2 {\nloses a Pawn.} Nxb3 $19) (15. Be3) 15… Nb3 $1 16. Rb1 Nxc1 17. Nxc1 Nd5 $1\n$17 {Directing his attention to the weakened black squares.} 18. Be4 O-O-O 19.\nNd3 {[#]} Ne3 $17 20. Kf2 (20. Ke2) 20… Nc4 $1 $19 21. Rhd1 g6 {Threatening\nto win a piece. White is given no time to consolidate his position\, and some\nloss of material is inevitable.} 22. Ne1 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Bc5+ (23… Nxb2 {\nis also strong} 24. Rb1 Bxa3 25. Nc2 Bc5+ 26. Ke1 Nc4) 24. Ke2 Nxb2 25. Rb1 Na4\n26. Kd2 Rd8+ 27. Bd3 f5 {Every move tells. White’s position is crumbling.} 28.\nKc2 Be3 29. Nf1 Bf2 30. Nd2 Nc5 31. Be2 e4 {Decisive. White is helpless.} 32.\nNc4 Kc7 33. Nd2 e3 34. Nc4 ({The alternative was} 34. Nf1 f4 35. Nd3 Nxd3 36.\nBxd3 Rxd3 {etc.}) 34… Bxc4 35. Bxc4 Rd2+ {White resigns. Black’s conduct of\nthis game was impeccable.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nR. P. Michell\, Marchand\, and Conde. Then came the B.C.F. Edinburgh Congress of 1920\, Scott became British Champion\, losing only\nto Sir G. A. Thomas. \nIn this year he also drew a match\, 3-3\, with Marchand\, of Holland\, also at Hastings. There followed three more appearances in the championship\, Malvern\, 1921 (equal fifth to sixth); Southsea\,1923 (equal third to fourth); and Southport\, 1924 (fourth). And with this Scott passed out of British chess. Ill health and failing eyesight\, direct results of sufferings and injuries endured on active service during the war\, began to take their toll. On medical advice he sought a warmer climate\, and the Riviera henceforth became his home. \nWe find him sharing seventh to eighth positions at the Hyères Congress\, in 1926\, and coming equal fifth to sixth\, with B. Reilly (our Editor’s first international tourney we believe)\, at Hyères\, 1927. \nThe days of active play were over\, but his great interest in the game remained. Scott was a natural attacking player\, more likely\, perhaps\, to win the Brilliancy Prize than the First Prize. \nEdo rating profile for RHV Scott\nWe have given the bare outline of a career that was all too short\, one cut down\, in a sense before reaching full maturity. Contemporary records sometimes expressed the need for more stability in Scott’s chess\, but they chronicle games of his that speak forcibly of the imaginative\, refreshing\, and invigorating qualities of his play. We offer an early game\, the Brilliancy Prize winner\, City of London C.C. Championship\, 1913-14. White’s 20th move sets the game alight. \n[pgn]\n[Event “City of London Championship”]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “1913.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Scott\, Roland Henry Vaughan”]\n[Black “Jacobs\, H.”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D06”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “73”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM\, 1953\, page 102”] \n{[%evp 0\,65\,19\,31\,19\,-16\,41\,-14\,30\,11\,28\,-22\,30\,-18\,30\,41\,40\,42\,55\,54\,54\,34\,59\,\n68\,57\,57\,48\,44\,85\,80\,55\,67\,75\,70\,70\,69\,57\,57\,57\,13\,5\,0\,0\,0\,0\,-73\,-27\,-79\,-43\,\n-38\,-35\,-35\,-35\,-61\,-61\,-12\,-12\,0\,-25\,-25\,9\,-15\,101\,32\,31\,-152\,29991\,29992]} 1.\nd4 d5 2. c4 Bf5 {The so-called Baltic Defence hoping that b7 will not prove to\nbe an Achilles Heel for Black.} 3. Nf3 e6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. Be2 ({\nRelevant:} 6. Qb3 b6 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O c6 9. Rd1 Nbd7 10. Bd2 Ne4 11. Be1 Bd6\n12. Rac1 Qf6 13. Qa4 Rfc8 14. Qa6 Rc7 15. b4 dxc4 16. Qxc4 a5 17. bxa5 b5 18.\nQb3 g5 19. Bd3 Nxc3 20. Bxc3 Bg4 21. Be2 Qh6 22. h3 Bf5 23. Bb4 Qf8 24. a3 g4\n25. hxg4 Bxg4 26. Bxb5 Bxf3 27. gxf3 cxb5 28. Rxc7 Qg7+ 29. Kf1 Bxc7 30. Qc3\nBh2 31. Qc6 Rd8 32. a6 Qg5 33. Ba5 Ne5 34. Qb7 Rd7 35. a7 Rxb7 {Swiderski\,\nR-Janowski\,D Nuremberg 1906 1-0}) 6… O-O 7. Nh4 Be4 {[#]} 8. f3 $146 ({\nPredecessor:} 8. Nxe4 Nxe4 9. Nf3 Bb4+ (9… Nd7 10. O-O Ndf6 11. Ne5 c5 12. f3\n) 10. Kf1 c6 11. Qb3 Qe7 12. c5 Ba5 13. h4 Bd8 14. Qc2 Nd7 15. b4 Bc7 16. Bb2\nf5 17. Bd3 Ndf6 18. Ne5 Bxe5 19. dxe5 Ng4 20. g3 Nexf2 21. Ke2 Nxh1 22. Rxh1\nQc7 23. h5 Nxe5 24. h6 Nxd3 25. Kxd3 e5 26. hxg7 Qxg7 27. Qh2 Rae8 28. Kc2 Rf7\n29. a4 Qg4 30. Qh6 Qg6 {0-1 (30) Von Scheve\,T-Riemann\,F Leipzig 1888}) 8… Bg6\n9. Nxg6 hxg6 $16 10. O-O (10. cxd5 exd5 11. g4 {is a modern way to proceed.})\n10… c6 11. e4 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Nbd7 13. Be3 Nb6 14. Bb3 Rc8 15. Qe2 c5 16. Rad1\nQc7 17. Nb5 Qb8 18. Rc1 Nfd7 19. f4 a6 {[#]} 20. f5 $5 (20. Nc3 {leaves White\nwith a small edge}) 20… c4 {Jacobs responds correctly} 21. Bc2 axb5 22. fxe6\nfxe6 23. Qg4 {The “point” of f5} Rc6 $17 24. e5 Nxe5 $1 25. dxe5 Qxe5 26. Bxb6\nRxb6 27. Qxg6 Qe3+ 28. Kh1 Qh6 $17 {[#]} 29. Qe4 Bf6 $2 {Looks like a very\nnatural move but} (29… Rf6 {Leaves Black on top.}) 30. Rcd1 $11 Rf7 $2 (30…\nRc6 {is very sensible. Black needs to look after his back rank.}) 31. Rf3 (31.\nQe5 $1 {was available.}) 31… Qh5 $2 {The losing move from Jacobs} 32. Rxf6 {\nand White obliges with a losing blunder} (32. Rh3 Qf5 33. Qe2) 32… g5 $4 {\nOoops!} (32… Rxf6 $19 {and Black is winning}) 33. Rd8+ {and Black resigned.}\n{in view of} Kg7 34. Rg6+ Kh7 35. Rxe6+ Rf5 36. Qxf5+ Qg6 37. Qxg6# 1-0\n[/pgn] \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume XLI (1920)\, Number 10 (October)\, page 305 we have the following report of his exploits winning the 1920 British Championship in Edinburgh: \n“We are glad to be able to present to our readers a photograph of the new champion\, Mr. R.H.V Scott. He informs us that it is his most recent one\, taken in 1917 when subaltern in the Norfolk Regiment. He saw service with the latter in France\, and\, as is probably know to most of our subscribers\, was badly gassed\, from the effects of which is now happily quite recovered. \nHis victory in the recent Congress in Edinburgh is welcome from at least two points of view; one\, that he is one of our youngest first class players (ed: he was 32 at the time\, a veteran by the standards of 2022!)\, having been born in 1889 (ed: this should have been 1888)\, and therefore may justifiably be expected to improve still further with experience and some curbing of his impatience in defence; and\, two\, that he claim to represent the more brilliant school of chess\, that of Pillsbury\, Marshall\, Charousek\, and Morphy\, rather than the more solid school\, of say\, Steinitz and Rubinstein\, who theory was the pilling up of small advantages. \nScott has an excellent “nose” for attack\, and has some exceedingly “chessy” ideas. During the congress he put a much greater restraint on himself than is his wont\, and we believe this to be the reason he so improved on his previous records. \nHe had what might be described as the worst of the draw\, since he had Black against Sir George  Thomas\, EG Sergeant and RP Michell. Some writers have described him as lucky to win\, but a study of his games and a comparison with those of others in the tourney go to prove that he played more far-sightedly than any of the others. \nWe are quite aware that the form of any player is variable\, and we have seen Sir George Thomas play much better chess and much less strainedly than he did at Edinburgh. EG Sergeant was generally playing quite at his best\, but once or twice his play deteriorated\, perhaps as the result of a sleepless night\, he then seemed bereft of ideas\, and allowed the clock to beat him. This also was the case with Michell\, who had many a rush to save his flag falling before the necessary moves were made. Now Scott almost invariably had time to spare. \nPerhaps the worst reversal of form was that of JH Blake; but he had been working very hard and late for some time right up to the day the Congress commenced\, and was not really in a fit state of health to take part. \nScott has twice before competed for the Championship; in 1913 where he finished eighth\, and in 1914 when he was fifth\, beating FD Yates\, the then Champion and drawing with JH Blackburne. \nHe has won several brilliancy prizes in congress and club tourneys\, and was the champion of the Hampstead Chess Club (where he may have been said to have learnt the game) in 1913 and 1914. He was first acquainted with the moves in 1908. \nHe is keen on all sports\, and puts his whole energy into each line he may be taking. With yet more self-restraint we think his chess will still further improve\, and we venture to prophesy this will not be the last British Chess Championship he will win.” \nIn his memoirs William Winter wrote this: \n“I also had the opportunity of playing a number of semi-serious games with RHV Scott and D. Miller\, two of the leading London amateurs. Scott was probably the most brilliant combinative played England has ever seen and had already won almost every honour except the British Championship\, which fell to him in 1920. \nSince those days I have played over hundreds of games\, including the beautiful brilliancies of the modern Russian school\, and Scott’s best combinations stand up quite well beside them. There were however weaknesses in his play which I shall discuss later. Miller was just the opposite type\, a dour solid player exceptionally hard to beat. He is\, I am glad to say\, still with us\, but Scott died a few years ago – he had been out of chess for a long time.” \nand this: \n“It is entirely legitimate\, and can prove very useful until one comes up against an opponent like Capablanca who had no weaknesses of any kind. ln Scott’s case\, one of his foibles was an aversion to exchanging queens\, and I took full advantage of this in the first two games of the match both of which I won with comparative ease; but Scott was not finished yet.’ In the third game he tied me up in a variation of the Sicilian which I had not previously seen\, and in the fourth I made the fatal mistake in going for an early win of material and allowing him a king’s side attack. Things now looked bad for me. I had the black pieces in the fifth game and I dared not play my favourite Sicilian defence because I could not discover a satisfactory answer to his new line.” \nStrangely\, none of the Encyclopaedia’s by Golombek\, Sunnucks or Hooper & Whyld felt that RHVS merited an entry. However Gaige does not forget. \nHere is an interesting article from “introuble2” entitled 100 years ago… chess in London during World War I in which Scott is mentioned. \nHere is an excellent article from John Saunders \n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1921-02 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings Town Hall”]\n[Date “1922.12.31”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Yates\, Fred Dewhirst”]\n[Black “Scott\, Roland Henry Vaughan”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C49”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “116”]\n[EventDate “1921.12.26”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “7”]\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\,116\,26\,25\,25\,22\,37\,11\,11\,13\,20\,9\,26\,7\,9\,5\,0\,0\,0\,-8\,12\,0\,8\,10\,29\,29\,26\,\n26\,27\,33\,54\,40\,66\,13\,8\,24\,17\,-7\,36\,1\,1\,28\,46\,33\,38\,63\,41\,41\,56\,46\,44\,27\,58\,-32\,\n-34\,-29\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,0\,-8\,0\,0\,-95\,-96\,-104\,-111\,-98\,-87\,-138\,-136\,-150\,-150\,-128\,\n-144\,-170\,-150\,-144\,-189\,-233\,-250\,-248\,-243\,-252\,-250\,-307\,-307\,-324\,-333\,\n-332\,-329\,-343\,-321\,-327\,-327\,-335\,-330\,-443\,-448\,-684\,-684\,-684\,-727\,-718\,\n-756\,-778\,-756\,-1560\,-1593\,-1593\,-2018\,-2304\,-2392\,-2172\,-29986\,-29993\,-29994]\n} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6 7. Bg5 Bxc3 8.\nbxc3 h6 (8… Qe7) 9. Bh4 Qe7 10. Re1 ({Relevant:} 10. Qd2 Nd8 11. d4 Ne6 12.\ndxe5 dxe5 13. Nxe5 Nc5 14. Qf4 g5 15. Bxg5 hxg5 16. Qxg5+ Kh7 17. Qh4+ Kg7 18.\nQg5+ Kh7 19. Qh4+ Kg7 20. Qg5+ Kh7 21. Qh4+ Kg7 22. Qg3+ Kh7 23. Qh4+ Kg7 24.\nQg3+ Kh7 25. Qh4+ Kg7 26. Qg5+ Kh7 27. Bc4 Be6 28. Ng4 Bxg4 29. e5 Ng8 30. Qxg4\nNh6 31. Qh5 Rg8 32. f4 Qd7 33. Rf2 Raf8 34. h3 Qf5 35. Qxf5+ Nxf5 36. g4 Ne3\n37. Bd3+ Kg7 38. Rf3 Nd5 39. Bf5 Ne7 {Tarrasch\,S-Spielmann\,R Berlin 1920 1-0})\n10… Bg4 11. h3 {[#]} Bxf3 $146 ({Predecessor:} 11… Bh5 12. g4 Bg6 13. Rb1\nNd8 14. d4 c6 15. Bf1 Re8 16. c4 Bh7 17. c5 g5 18. cxd6 Qxd6 19. Bg3 Nxe4 20.\nBxe5 Qd7 21. Bd3 f5 22. Bxe4 fxe4 23. Nd2 Nf7 24. Nxe4 Bxe4 25. Rxe4 Rad8 26.\nQf3 Re6 27. Rbe1 Nxe5 28. Rxe5 Rf8 29. Qb3 Rf7 30. Qxe6 {1-0 (30) Schlechter\,\nC-Marshall\,F Ostend 1907}) 12. Qxf3 g5 13. Bg3 Kg7 $146 14. d4 $14 Nd7 15. Rad1\nRad8 16. Re3 a6 17. Bc4 Qf6 18. Qe2 Nb6 19. Bb3 exd4 20. Rf3 d3 21. Rdxd3 Qe7\n22. Rf5 Nd7 23. f4 f6 24. Rf3 Rde8 25. Bd5 Nd8 26. Qf2 c6 27. fxg5 cxd5 28.\ngxf6+ Rxf6 29. Bh4 Rxf5 30. Bxe7 Rxf3 31. Qxf3 Rxe7 $11 {[#]} 32. Qg4+ $2 (32.\nQg3+ Kf7 33. Qxd6 dxe4 34. Qxh6 Re6 35. Qh7+ Ke8 36. Qh8+ Nf8 37. Qh5+ Nf7 38.\nQd5 $11) 32… Kf8 $19 33. Qf5+ Nf7 34. exd5 Nb6 35. c4 Rc7 36. Qf2 Nxc4 37.\nQa7 Ke7 38. Qd4 Nce5 39. c3 Rc5 40. h4 Kd7 41. Qd2 Rc4 42. Qe1 Kc7 43. Kh2 Ra4\n44. Kh3 Rxa2 45. Qd1 Ra3 46. Qc2 b5 47. g3 Ra4 48. Kg2 Rc4 49. Kf1 b4 50. g4\nbxc3 51. g5 hxg5 52. h5 g4 53. Kg2 Nf3 54. Qe2 N7e5 55. Qe3 c2 56. Qa7+ Kd8 57.\nh6 c1=Q 58. h7 Nh4+ 0-1\n[/pgn]
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-roland-henry-vaughan-scott-25-iii-1888-10-i-1953/
CATEGORIES:2023,British Championships,History,Player,Remembering
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/95500810_3277144515638845_8586271723630886912_o.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210115
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210116
DTSTAMP:20230109T222958Z
CREATED:20200409T181200Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230109T222958Z
UID:4293-1610668800-1610755199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Andrew Horton (15-i-1998)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Andrew P Horton (15-i-1998) \nAndrew became a FIDE Master in 2015 and an International Master in 2018.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-andrew-p-horton-15-i-1998/
CATEGORIES:2023,4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/jb4_4220_lv-scaled.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210123
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210124
DTSTAMP:20230121T131743Z
CREATED:20200122T210240Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230121T131743Z
UID:2990-1611360000-1611446399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Adam Taylor (23-i-1998)
DESCRIPTION:We send best wishes to IM Adam Taylor on his birthday. \nAdam Christopher Taylor was born on Friday\, January 23rd\, 1998 in Colchester\, Essex. Adam has a sister\, Nathalie Leanne Taylor who also plays and studied History & Economics at The University of York. His mother Deborah was always supportive during his chess career. \nHe attended The Gilberd School\, Colchester until 2014 and then Colchester Sixth Form College and currently resides in Colchester\, Essex. \nECF grading profile for IM Adam C Taylor\nAdam’s first recorded rapidplay event was the Basildon Junior Congress resulting in a published grade of 34D and his first graded standard play event was the 2009 London Junior Under-12 Championships and his first published standard-play grading was 73E. \nIn that same year at Torquay Adam won the British Under-12 title sharing with Radha Jain. \nAdam C Taylor at the 2013 UK Chess Challenge Terafinal. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nAdam made his first 4NCL appearance in May 2012 for SC Stars followed by Anglian Avengers. In 2018 the lure of the big lights of Division One beckoned and Wood Green became Adam’s team now playing for Wood Green Monarchs in the Online 4NCL championship. \nIn 2017 Adam scored an impressive 6/9 (and =2nd) when he travelled to Greece to play in the Heraklion 1st Capablanca Memorial. \nThe Hastings Open in 2018 saw an excellent =7th with 6.5/10. \nAdam’s IM title was ratified in June of 2019 in Baku and currently (January 2021) holds a FIDE standard play rating of 2347 and an ECF standard play rating of 2260A. His highest ECF standard play grading was 230A in July 2019. We expect this to be exceeded once OTB play resumes. \nBattersea Chess Club celebrated Adams’s title in style with this article written by Leon Watson \nFIDE rating profile for IM Adam C Taylor from MegaBase 2020.\nAdam has played for Bury St. Edmunds and Manningtree and now Battersea in the London League and Wood Green in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) and has made many appearances in the UKCC Terafinal. \nAdam is known as Tayip99 on chess.com and as AdamTaylor2301 on LiChess.com and regularly streams on Twitch and other platforms. \nAdam C Taylor\, Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nOn the 13th of September 2019 Adam became the sole director of MakingGrandmasters Limited which lists on its web site a number of leading young English players engaging in coaching such as Matthew Wadsworth\, Ravi Haria and Daniel Fernandez to name but a few. \nOne of Adam’s more notable students is Guildford Chess Club member Jessica Mellor who\, in 2018\, won Gold in the Under-11 category of the European Schools Championship. \nMore recently Adam has taken a back seat from chess and has become a golf professional. \nWith the white pieces Adam favours a Reti/English set-up where c4 quickly follows a king side fianchetto. Here is a typical game of Adam’s with the white against a strong opponent : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Hastings Masters op 93rd”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “2017.12.28”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “Taylor\, Adam C”]\n[Black “Sengupta\, Deep”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A11”]\n[WhiteElo “2242”]\n[BlackElo “2586”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “113”]\n[EventDate “2017.12.28”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 182 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2018.02.23”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2018.02.23”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,113\,19\,27\,26\,-27\,-27\,-10\,18\,10\,9\,17\,14\,30\,26\,1\,-2\,11\,29\,0\,27\,22\,57\,60\,\n161\,161\,161\,74\,81\,89\,88\,143\,136\,155\,133\,155\,131\,132\,152\,158\,156\,85\,92\,99\,115\,\n117\,135\,116\,250\,78\,228\,92\,97\,99\,99\,100\,104\,119\,129\,136\,160\,165\,172\,176\,176\,191\,\n206\,180\,221\,163\,183\,203\,210\,203\,207\,207\,220\,220\,237\,247\,237\,263\,252\,267\,286\,\n232\,274\,213\,233\,206\,223\,234\,246\,234\,232\,228\,234\,255\,335\,364\,384\,338\,350\,371\,\n376\,404\,436\,428\,472\,481\,508\,512\,517\,531\,528\,539]} 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2\nBg4 4. Ne5 Bf5 5. c4 c6 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. O-O (7. Nc3 {is more common.}) 7… e6\n8. d3 Bd6 9. Qa4+ Nbd7 10. Bf4 Qe7 $2 $146 {presumably missing whites 11th\nmove. [#]} ({required is} 10… Bxe5 11. Bxe5 O-O 12. Bd6 Nb6 13. Qa3 Re8 14.\nNd2 Rc8 15. Rac1 Qd7 16. Be5 a6 17. Qb4 Qb5 18. Qxb5 axb5 19. b3 Nfd7 20. Bc7\nNa8 21. Ba5 Rc6 $2 22. Rxc6 bxc6 23. b4 $18 Nab6 24. Rc1 Rc8 25. Nf3 Bg4 26.\nNd4 Na4 27. f3 Bh5 28. Kf1 h6 29. Rxc6 Rxc6 30. Nxc6 Nc3 31. Ke1 e5 32. Bh3 Nf6\n33. Nxe5 Nxa2 34. Kd2 d4 35. Nc6 Nc3 36. Nxd4 Nfd5 37. Bd7 {Meier-Atefall\,\nVastefas\, 2017\, 1-0.}) 11. e4 $1 dxe4 (11… Bg6 $2 12. Nxg6 hxg6 13. e5 $18 {\nis the simple point.}) (11… Bxe5 12. Bxe5 Bg6 13. Bc3 $18) 12. dxe4 Bg4 13.\nNxd7 Qxd7 14. Qxd7+ Kxd7 15. Bxd6 Kxd6 16. h3 {A very unpleasant position for\nthe Indian GM.} Bh5 {Adam continues in fine style.} 17. f4 Ke7 18. g4 Nxg4 {\nHobson’s choice.} 19. hxg4 Bxg4 20. Bf3 Bxf3 21. Rxf3 Rhd8 22. Nc3 Rd2 23. Rf2\nRad8 24. Raf1 a6 25. Rxd2 Rxd2 26. Rf2 Rd3 27. Kf1 h5 28. Ke2 Rg3 29. e5 f5 30.\nexf6+ gxf6 31. Rh2 Rg8 32. Ne4 Rh8 33. Kf3 h4 34. Rc2 f5 35. Ng5 Kd7 $6 (35…\nRd8) 36. Rd2+ Ke7 37. Re2 Rh6 38. Kg2 Kd7 39. Kh3 Ke7 40. Re3 Kd7 41. a4 b6 42.\nNf3 Kd6 43. Nxh4 Kc5 44. Kg3 Kb4 45. b3 a5 46. Nf3 Rg6+ 47. Ng5 Rg8 48. Kf3 Rd8\n49. Nxe6 Rd7 50. Ke2 Ka3 51. Kf3 Kb2 52. Kg3 Kc2 53. Kh4 Rd6 54. Kg5 Kd2 55.\nRe5 Kc3 56. Kxf5 Kxb3 57. Re4 {and Black resigned.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nWith the black pieces Adam essays the Berlin Defence and the Sicilian Najdorf as well as the Benko Gambit and Nimzo-Indian Defence. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Hastings Masters op 91st”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “2016.01.03”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Helbig\, Paul”]\n[Black “Taylor\, Adam C”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C36”]\n[WhiteElo “2122”]\n[BlackElo “2282”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “68”]\n[EventDate “2015.12.28”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 170 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2016.02.25”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2016.02.25”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,68\,37\,25\,8\,-13\,11\,14\,-16\,14\,7\,-20\,-8\,-69\,-68\,-58\,-54\,-72\,-87\,-110\,\n-107\,-165\,-133\,-115\,-151\,-149\,-157\,-134\,-92\,-111\,-111\,-150\,-168\,-179\,-192\,-176\,\n-176\,-190\,-195\,-204\,-191\,-176\,-171\,-250\,-259\,-270\,-248\,-254\,-248\,-262\,-254\,\n-323\,-337\,-352\,-326\,-358\,-395\,-862\,-886\,-886\,-900\,-900\,-917\,-917\,-925\,-933\,\n-938\,-947\,-417\,-470\,-449]} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 exf4 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bc4\nNxd5 6. Bxd5 ({More common is} 6. O-O Be7 7. d4 O-O 8. Bxd5 Qxd5 9. Bxf4 c5 10.\nNc3 Qc4 11. Qe1 Bf6 12. Bd6 Bxd4+ 13. Kh1 Rd8 14. Ne4) 6… Qxd5 7. O-O (7. Nc3\nQd8 8. d4 Be7 9. Bxf4 O-O 10. O-O c6 11. Qd3 Be6 12. Rad1) 7… Nc6 (7… Be7\n8. d4 O-O 9. Bxf4 c5 10. Nc3) 8. Nc3 Qf5 $17 {[#]} 9. Qe2+ $146 {An unhappy\nchoice but white is simply worse anyway.} (9. d4) 9… Be6 10. Qb5 {Another\nstrange decision} Qxb5 11. Nxb5 O-O-O 12. d3 a6 13. Nc3 Bc5+ 14. Kh1 Nb4 $1 15.\nNe4 Be3 16. Bxe3 fxe3 17. Ne1 Rhe8 18. a3 {[#] White has obtained precisely\nnothing from the opening apart from being behind in development.} Nc6 19. Ng5\nf6 (19… Bd5) 20. Nxe6 Rxe6 21. Rf4 g5 22. Rc4 f5 23. Rc5 Rf8 24. g4 Re5 (\n24… fxg4 $1 25. Rc4 h5 26. Ng2 e2 27. Kg1 Ne5 $19) 25. Rc4 fxg4 26. Rxg4 Rf1+\n27. Kg2 Ref5 28. h4 R5f2+ (28… h5 $1) 29. Kg3 Rg1+ 30. Kh3 Rh1+ 31. Kg3 gxh4+\n32. Rxh4 Rg1+ 33. Kh3 Re2 (33… Ne7) 34. Rg4 Rh1+ {and white gave up the\nunequal struggle.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nIM Adam C Taylor\, Courtesy of John Upham Photography
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-adam-c-taylor-23-i-1998/
CATEGORIES:2023,4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Coach,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/KRM_5083.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210127
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210128
DTSTAMP:20230126T231702Z
CREATED:20191117T173215Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230126T231702Z
UID:2089-1611705600-1611791999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Richard Bates (27-i-1979)
DESCRIPTION:Best Birthday wishes to IM Richard Adam Bates born on this day (January 27th) in 1979. \nRichard has won the Southern Counties (SCCU) championship in the 2015-16\, 2016-17 (with Nick Pert) and 2017-18 seasons. \nIM Richard Adam Bates\n[pgn]\n[Event “BCF-chT 9900 (4NCL)”]\n[Site “Birmingham”]\n[Date “2000.03.25”]\n[Round “7.3”]\n[White “Bates\, Richard”]\n[Black “Emms\, John M”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A70”]\n[WhiteElo “2368”]\n[BlackElo “2546”]\n[Annotator “johnu”]\n[PlyCount “67”]\n[EventDate “1999.10.??”]\n[EventType “team”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2000”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Richmond”]\n[BlackTeam “Wood Green”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,67\,19\,31\,14\,30\,28\,4\,17\,20\,76\,42\,77\,64\,122\,98\,78\,105\,92\,90\,77\,62\,86\,67\,\n68\,67\,71\,71\,71\,53\,46\,27\,84\,19\,31\,2\,44\,48\,63\,41\,184\,55\,238\,271\,298\,301\,258\,252\,\n211\,222\,222\,248\,248\,200\,259\,294\,411\,179\,294\,364\,361\,379\,379\,385\,641\,559\,625\,\n1032\,1094\,1125]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 c5 4. d5 d6 5. Nc3 exd5 6. cxd5 g6\n7. h3 a6 8. e4 b5 9. Bd3 Bg7 10. O-O c4 11. Bc2 O-O 12. Bf4 Re8 13. Re1 Bb7 14.\nQd2 Qb6 15. Bh6 $1 $146 (15. b4) 15… Bh8 16. Ne2 Nbd7 17. Ng3 Rac8 18. Be3\nNc5 19. Bd4 a5 $2 (19… b4 20. Nf5 b3 21. axb3 (21. Qh6 bxc2 22. Bxf6 Bxf6 23.\nNg5 Rc7 24. Qxh7+ Kf8 25. e5 Rxe5 26. Rxe5 Bxe5) 21… cxb3 22. Nh6+ (22. Bb1)\n22… Kf8 23. Bb1) (19… Bg7 20. Rad1 (20. a4 b4 21. a5 Qb5 22. Qf4 b3 23. Bb1\n(23. Bxf6 bxc2 24. Bxg7 (24. Nf5 Bxf6 25. Nh6+ Kg7 26. Ng4) 24… Kxg7 25. Nf5+\ngxf5 26. Qg5+ Kh8 27. Qf6+ Kg8 28. exf5 Rxe1+ 29. Rxe1 Ne4 30. Rxe4 c1=Q+ 31.\nKh2 h5) 23… Nxd5 24. exd5 Rxe1+ 25. Nxe1 Re8 26. Nf3) 20… Qd8 21. Qf4 h6) (\n19… Nfd7 20. Qh6 Bxd4 21. Nxd4 Kh8 22. Re3) 20. Nf5 $1 $18 Qd8 (20… gxf5\n21. Qg5+ Kf8 22. Bxf6 Bxf6 23. Qxf6 Qd8 24. Qh6+ Ke7 25. e5) 21. Nh6+ Kf8 22.\nNg5 Rc7 23. Bxf6 (23. Qxa5) 23… Bxf6 24. Nxh7+ Kg7 25. Nxf6 Qxf6 26. Ng4 Qd8\n(26… Qh4) 27. Qh6+ Kg8 28. Qf4 (28. f4) 28… Kg7 29. e5 dxe5 30. Rxe5 Rxe5\n31. Qxe5+ Kg8 (31… f6 32. Nxf6 Re7 33. Nh5+ Kh7 34. Qf4) 32. d6 Rc6 33. Nh6+\nKh7 34. Nxf7 1-0\n[/pgn] \nRichard Bates\nIM Richard Bates\nSheen Mount Under Eleven Chess Champion Richard Bates and Robin Laisby enjoying a game during time out from the Teachers Assurance National Primary Schools Chess Championships. Malaysian Elephant Leyang Leyang and her keeper Duncan McGinnie help them not to forget their chess moves.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-richard-alan-bates-27-i-1979/
CATEGORIES:2023,4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210131
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210201
DTSTAMP:20220131T112458Z
CREATED:20190822T152139Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220131T112458Z
UID:975-1612051200-1612137599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Henry Atkins (20-viii-1872 31-i-1955)
DESCRIPTION:We remember Henry Atkins who passed away\, Monday\, January 31st\, 1955. \nHenry Ernest Atkins was born in Leicester on Tuesday\, August 20th\, 1872 to Edward (a schoolteacher) and Jane Atkins (née Threapland). \nHe was baptised on August 6th\, 1872 in the Anglican Cathedral Church of St. Martin\, Leicester. At the time of the baptism the Atkins family was living at 57\, King Richard’s Road\, Leicester. The address in 2021 appears to be occupied by an industrial premise for Sunco Knitwear Specialists. The signatory on the baptism record is that of DJ Vaughan. \nBaptismal record for Henry Ernest Atkins\nHenry was admitted to Wyggeston Boys Grammar School\, Leicester on March 30th 1880 when eight years old. He was expected to leave at the end of the Winter Term in 1890. \nSchool admission record for Henry Ernest Atkins\nCuriously his school admission record includes the following addition (although we don’t know exactly when) : \nAmendment to school admission record for HEA.\nHenry\, aged 18\, went up to Peterhouse College\, Cambridge in 1890 to study mathematics. From his year of entry he was ranked as 9th “Wrangler” studying for the Mathematical Tripos. As part of his Part II examinations he did well enough to be “mentioned” for the Smith’s Prize for examination performance. \nNottingham Evening Post\, 3rd June 1895\n(Here is more on Kummer’s Proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem.) \nFollowing University Henry became a teacher of mathematics at Northampton County Modern School and then returned to Wyggeston Boys Grammar School from 1902 – 1908. He then became the principal of Huddersfield College in 1909 and continued until 1915. Huddersfield College (founded in 1839) was merged with Hillhouse Technical School to form a new boys’ grammar school at a new campus at Salendine Nook with 950 boys. \nAccording to Ranneforths Schach-Kalender (cited by C.N.)\, 1915\, page 55\, during the period at Huddersfield College Henry lived firstly at 49 New North Road\, Huddersfield\, Yorkshire : \n49 New North Road\, Huddersfield\, Yorkshire\, HD1 5NR\nand then \n36 Gledholt Road\, Huddersfield\, Yorkshire\, HD1 4HP : \n36 Gledholt Road\, Huddersfield\, Yorkshire\, HD1 4HP\nOn June 1st\, 1915 (aged 43) Henry was registered as a teacher whilst at Huddersfield College for the fee of one guinea : \nTeacher registration form for Henry Ernest Atkins\nHenry retired from teaching in 1936. \nIn the 1939 register Henry (now a retired schoolmaster) was recorded as living with his wife\, Elspeth Skene Atkins (née Wilson) at 29 East Avenue\, Leicester\, Leicestershire : \n29 East Avenue\, Leicester\, Leicestershire\, LE2 1TE\nElspeth was born on August 5th 1880 and was therefore roughly eight years his junior. She carried out “unpaid domestic duties” but as a member of the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) she was a surgical dresser. The WVS transformed into the RVS. It would seem that Henry and Elspeth did not have children. She outlived Henry passing away in 1973 in Southampton. \nOn Monday\, January 31st 1955 passed away in The Fielding Johnson Private Hospital : \nProbate notice from March 26th 1955\nThe Fielding Johnson Private Hospital\nHenry was buried at Gilroes Cemetery and Crematorium\, Groby Road\, Leicester\, Leicestershire\, LE3 9QG. \nIn the October 1976 issue of Newsflash Badmaster (aka GH Diggle) wrote : \n“… we well remember his giving a “simultaneous” at the Lincoln Chess Club in 1924\, winning 17 and drawing two. One of his more elderly opponents (a notorious non-resigner) who for 30 moves had been wobbling along with a piece down until “time” had to be called\, then proceeded to “demonstrate a draw” by concocting a continuation so optimistic that even clubmates with lifelong experience of his powers stood aghast. Atkins\, with his greatcoat on ready to go home\, made no attempt to refute this analytical masterpiece but merely remarked with great deference: “I don’t think we can play it quite like that!” and then beat a craven retreat “escorted by Club Officials” \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXV (75\, 1955)\, Number 3 (March)\, pp.102-3 we have this obituary written by RN Coles : \n“With the passing\, on January 31st\, at the age of eighty-two of Henry Ernest Atkins the chess world has lost a recognized international master\, and British chess one of its strongest players of all time. Yet Atkins was the despair of chess enthusiasts because he played so little international chess and confined himself largely – and at that intermittently – to local affairs\, where the strength of most of his opponents could hardly extend him. One leading player recently regretted that Atkins spent so much time “in the wilds\,” but Atkins would have taken an opposite view and have considered that he was “in the wilds” if he had spent more of his time playing chess; teaching was his whole life\, and the game of chess he insisted on treating as a game. \nConsequently as a chess-player Atkins was almost always out of practice and playing below his true strength\, yet in his five international events-Amsterdam\, 1899; Hanover\, 1902; London\, 1922; London Team Tourney\, 1927; and Warsaw Team Tourney\, 1935-he scored 63.2 per cent\, or if Amsterdam which was virtually a Hauptturnier is excluded\, 53.5 per cent. \nFull crosstable from Amsterdam 1899\nSir George Thomas considered that only lack of opportunity prevented him from establishing himself in the world championship class. As it is\, he will be remembered chiefly by chess-players as the man who played eleven times in the British Championship and won it nine times\, failing only at the first attempt in 1904 after a tie for first place\, and at the last in 1937\, at the age of sixty-five\, when he shared third place\, a record which has never been remotely approached by any other player and is not likely to be. Atkins played in a clear-cut strategical style which makes his games ideal studies for the beginner\, and he finished them with the elegance to enchant the artist; like the Etudes of Chopin\, they provide technical exercises and works of art in one. \nBut I believe that if Atkins had his wish – and this wish I am sure he will have – he would wish to be remembered by his many pupils\, whether they be pupils of the chess master or of the schoolmaster\, not for any practical achievements but for being a true guide\, philosopher\, and friend to all who came under his tutelage.-R. N. C.” \n[pgn]\n[Event “British CF-15 London International”]\n[Site “London”]\n[Date “1922.08.11”]\n[Round “9”]\n[White “Tartakower\, Saviely”]\n[Black “Atkins\, Henry Ernest”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C55”]\n[Annotator “Tartakower/du Mont/Maroczy”]\n[PlyCount “84”]\n[EventDate “1922.07.31”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “15”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “HCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “2”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 20\,83\,12\,-8\,0\,0\,25\,2\,8\,-33\,-33\,-31\,-18\,-30\,-33\,-31\,-29\,-45\,-46\,-39\,-50\,\n-57\,-57\,-58\,-67\,-60\,-57\,-81\,-91\,-93\,-36\,-92\,-118\,-200\,-58\,-123\,-147\,-138\,-92\,\n-238\,-233\,-1269\,-1312\,-2155\,-2148\,-1709\,-1307\,-1700\,-1457\,-29992\,-29993\,-29994\,\n-29995\,-29995\,-29996\,-29996\,-29997\,-29997\,-29995\,-29996\,-29995\,-29997\,-29997\,\n-29998\,-29999\,-29999] C55: Two Knights: 4 d3\, 4 d4 exd4 5 e5 and Max Lange\nAttack Sources: Tartakower & du Mont\, 500 Master Games of Chess\, pp. 49-50;\nMaroczy: London\, 1922\, pp. 66-67 The elemental power of Rooks commanding open\nlines is well illustrated In this beautiful game.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4\nNf6 4. Nc3 ({Maroczy: An alternative and perhaps preferable continuation for\nWhite is} 4. d3 {\, bringing about the regular Giuco Piano.}) 4… Nxe4 5. Nxe4\nd5 6. Bd3 dxe4 7. Bxe4 Bd6 8. d4 ({Maroczy:} 8. Bxc6+ {\, doubling the c-pawn\nwould not gave been good for White\, as his opponent’s two bishops would have\nbeen too powerful.}) 8… Nxd4 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. Qxd4 O-O {Marcozy: Black has\nnow the advantage in development\, as White cannot castle at once because of\nBxh2+\, winning the queen.} 11. Be3 ({Not} 11. O-O {on account of} Bxh2+ {\n. But now White puts his trust in his cluster of forces in the centre.}) 11…\nQe7 {Preventing 12.0-0\, as 12….Be5 would be awkward for White.} 12. O-O-O {\nMaroczy: There is generally an element of danager in castling queenside\, as\nthe king is there more exposed to attack than after castling on the kingside.\n12….} Re8 13. Bd5 {As this helps Black’s counter-play (14….c6)} ({the best\ncourse was} 13. Bf3 $144 {with level chances.}) ({A magnificent trap would be}\n13. Rhe1 Qxe4 14. Bh6 Bf4+ 15. Kb1 {\, and wins. But Black coolly replies 13….\nBe6\, obtaining the better game.}) 13… Be5 14. Qa4 $146 c6 {Gradually Black\nobtains the initiative.} 15. Bf3 {Maroczy: Both Black’s bishops are now\nbearing on the white king’s entrenchment\, whereas White’s bishops are\nthreatening nothing. 15….} Be6 16. Kb1 a5 {A strong move\, threatening 17.Qb4.\nMaroczy: The storming of the enemy’s position commences with the move.} 17. Bd4\nBd6 18. Bb6 Bb4 19. c3 Ra6 20. Be3 Bf5+ 21. Ka1 b5 22. Qb3 Bd6 23. a4 {Instead\nof further compromising his position\, he should have resorted to the patient\nmanoeuvre 23.Rd2. 23….} Rb8 {Now Black definitely has the better game.\nMaroczy: All Black’s pieces are now well posted for the attack.} 24. Rd2 Be6\n25. Qd1 Be5 26. Bd4 {[#]} Bf4 27. Be3 Bxe3 28. fxe3 b4 {The decisive advance\,\nforcibly opening up the position.} 29. cxb4 {[#]} Rab6 {Black conducts the\nattack with superb élan. Maroczy: Better than recapturing the pawn at once.} (\n{Both the following lines would have been premature: 29….Rxb4 or} 29… Qxb4\n{(because of} 30. Rd8+ {)}) ({and} 29… axb4 {\, on account of} 30. b3 {\n\, again closing up the critical a-file.}) 30. Rd6 {[#]} ({The following\nvariation loses beautifully:} 30. bxa5 Ra6 31. b4 Rxa5 32. bxa5 Qa3+ {\,\nfollowed by mate.}) 30… Rxb4 {Threatening not only 31….Rxa4+\, but also 31..\n..Bb3\, followed by Rxa4+.} 31. Bxc6 Rxb2 32. Bb5 Ra2+ 33. Kb1 Rxa4 34. Kc2 ({\nThe white King attempts to escape. If} 34. Qxa4 Qxd6 {\, the bishop is lost.})\n34… Ra2+ 35. Kc3 Rc8+ 36. Bc6 {[#]} Rxc6+ {This curious break-through\nsacrifice is a crowning touch to a powerfully conducted game.} 37. Rxc6 Qb4+\n38. Kd3 Qb5+ 39. Kd4 Qxc6 40. Ke5 Qc5+ 41. Kf4 Qf5+ 42. Kg3 Qf2# {Maroczy: A\nvery fine game played by Atkins in his best style.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld \nEnglish player\, born in Leicester\, International Master (1950)\, schoolmaster. Between 1895 and 1901 he played in seven minor tournaments\, winning four\, taking second place in three\, and losing only three out of 70 games. In one of these events\, Amsterdam 1899\, he made a clean score against 15 opponents. In his first international tournament\, Hanover 1902\, he came third (+8=7-2) after Janowski and Pillsbury ahead of Mieses\, Chigorin\, and Marshall. Emanuel Lasker believed that Atkins would have joined the leading grandmasters had he continued his international career\, but Atkins played in only one more big tournament (London 1922). He had a genuine concern for his profession\, and preferred not to give more of his life to chess. He played in 12 of the Anglo-American cable matches\, won the British Championship nine times (1905-11\, 1924\, 1925)\, and represented the British Chess Federation in the Olympiads of 1927 and 1935. \nHenry Ernest Atkins\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \nInternational Master (1950) and nine times British Champion. Born in Leicester on 20th August 1872\, Atkins learned the game at school in Leicester at the age of 12. When he was 15\, he joined Leicester Chess Club and within two years was playing on top board. In 1890 he went up to Peterhouse\, Cambridge\, and played top board for the University. On leaving Cambridge he became a schoolmaster. \nHis first appearance in the British Championship was in 1904\, when he came 2nd. The following year he won the championship and repeated his success every year up to and including 1911. He did not compete between 1912 and 1923\, and on reappearing in the event in 1924\, he regained his title and held it the following year. His final appearance in the British Championship was in 1937\, when at the age of 65 he came =3rd.\nIn the five international events in which he played – Amsterdam 1899\, Hanover 1902\, London 1922 and the Chess Olympiads of 1927 and 1935 – he scored over 60 per cent. \n[pgn]\n[Event “British CF-15 London International”]\n[Site “London”]\n[Date “1922.08.11”]\n[Round “9”]\n[White “Tartakower\, Saviely”]\n[Black “Atkins\, Henry Ernest”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C55”]\n[Annotator “Tartakower/du Mont/Maroczy”]\n[PlyCount “84”]\n[EventDate “1922.07.31”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “15”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “HCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “2”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 20\,83\,12\,-8\,0\,0\,25\,2\,8\,-33\,-33\,-31\,-18\,-30\,-33\,-31\,-29\,-45\,-46\,-39\,-50\,\n-57\,-57\,-58\,-67\,-60\,-57\,-81\,-91\,-93\,-36\,-92\,-118\,-200\,-58\,-123\,-147\,-138\,-92\,\n-238\,-233\,-1269\,-1312\,-2155\,-2148\,-1709\,-1307\,-1700\,-1457\,-29992\,-29993\,-29994\,\n-29995\,-29995\,-29996\,-29996\,-29997\,-29997\,-29995\,-29996\,-29995\,-29997\,-29997\,\n-29998\,-29999\,-29999] C55: Two Knights: 4 d3\, 4 d4 exd4 5 e5 and Max Lange\nAttack Sources: Tartakower & du Mont\, 500 Master Games of Chess\, pp. 49-50;\nMaroczy: London\, 1922\, pp. 66-67 The elemental power of Rooks commanding open\nlines is well illustrated In this beautiful game.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4\nNf6 4. Nc3 ({Maroczy: An alternative and perhaps preferable continuation for\nWhite is} 4. d3 {\, bringing about the regular Giuco Piano.}) 4… Nxe4 5. Nxe4\nd5 6. Bd3 dxe4 7. Bxe4 Bd6 8. d4 ({Maroczy:} 8. Bxc6+ {\, doubling the c-pawn\nwould not gave been good for White\, as his opponent’s two bishops would have\nbeen too powerful.}) 8… Nxd4 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. Qxd4 O-O {Marcozy: Black has\nnow the advantage in development\, as White cannot castle at once because of\nBxh2+\, winning the queen.} 11. Be3 ({Not} 11. O-O {on account of} Bxh2+ {\n. But now White puts his trust in his cluster of forces in the centre.}) 11…\nQe7 {Preventing 12.0-0\, as 12….Be5 would be awkward for White.} 12. O-O-O {\nMaroczy: There is generally an element of danager in castling queenside\, as\nthe king is there more exposed to attack than after castling on the kingside.\n12….} Re8 13. Bd5 {As this helps Black’s counter-play (14….c6)} ({the best\ncourse was} 13. Bf3 $144 {with level chances.}) ({A magnificent trap would be}\n13. Rhe1 Qxe4 14. Bh6 Bf4+ 15. Kb1 {\, and wins. But Black coolly replies 13….\nBe6\, obtaining the better game.}) 13… Be5 14. Qa4 $146 c6 {Gradually Black\nobtains the initiative.} 15. Bf3 {Maroczy: Both Black’s bishops are now\nbearing on the white king’s entrenchment\, whereas White’s bishops are\nthreatening nothing. 15….} Be6 16. Kb1 a5 {A strong move\, threatening 17.Qb4.\nMaroczy: The storming of the enemy’s position commences with the move.} 17. Bd4\nBd6 18. Bb6 Bb4 19. c3 Ra6 20. Be3 Bf5+ 21. Ka1 b5 22. Qb3 Bd6 23. a4 {Instead\nof further compromising his position\, he should have resorted to the patient\nmanoeuvre 23.Rd2. 23….} Rb8 {Now Black definitely has the better game.\nMaroczy: All Black’s pieces are now well posted for the attack.} 24. Rd2 Be6\n25. Qd1 Be5 26. Bd4 {[#]} Bf4 27. Be3 Bxe3 28. fxe3 b4 {The decisive advance\,\nforcibly opening up the position.} 29. cxb4 {[#]} Rab6 {Black conducts the\nattack with superb élan. Maroczy: Better than recapturing the pawn at once.} (\n{Both the following lines would have been premature: 29….Rxb4 or} 29… Qxb4\n{(because of} 30. Rd8+ {)}) ({and} 29… axb4 {\, on account of} 30. b3 {\n\, again closing up the critical a-file.}) 30. Rd6 {[#]} ({The following\nvariation loses beautifully:} 30. bxa5 Ra6 31. b4 Rxa5 32. bxa5 Qa3+ {\,\nfollowed by mate.}) 30… Rxb4 {Threatening not only 31….Rxa4+\, but also 31..\n..Bb3\, followed by Rxa4+.} 31. Bxc6 Rxb2 32. Bb5 Ra2+ 33. Kb1 Rxa4 34. Kc2 ({\nThe white King attempts to escape. If} 34. Qxa4 Qxd6 {\, the bishop is lost.})\n34… Ra2+ 35. Kc3 Rc8+ 36. Bc6 {[#]} Rxc6+ {This curious break-through\nsacrifice is a crowning touch to a powerfully conducted game.} 37. Rxc6 Qb4+\n38. Kd3 Qb5+ 39. Kd4 Qxc6 40. Ke5 Qc5+ 41. Kf4 Qf5+ 42. Kg3 Qf2# {Maroczy: A\nvery fine game played by Atkins in his best style.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nHis devotion to teaching and his insistence on treating chess as merely a game was all that prevented him from becoming one of the leading players in the world. \nHe died on 31st January\, 1955. \nH. E. Atkins Doyen of British Chess Champions by R. N. Coles\nIn the above book RN Coles points out that Atkins regularly played f4 or …f5 early in the game and claims this was HEAs pet or signature move. \nHenry Ernest Atkins\n[pgn]\n[Event “British CF-06 Championship”]\n[Site “Scarborough/ North Yorkshire”]\n[Date “1909.08.10”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Atkins\, Henry Ernest”]\n[Black “Blackburne\, Joseph Henry”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C10”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “45”]\n[EventDate “1909.08.09”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2006”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2005.11.24”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2005.11.24”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,45\,19\,31\,41\,46\,51\,35\,47\,38\,49\,37\,58\,39\,42\,51\,42\,22\,80\,71\,74\,44\,80\,50\,\n47\,33\,32\,27\,55\,47\,98\,115\,145\,161\,192\,178\,173\,164\,264\,290\,275\,360\,1073\,1073\,\n29991\,1236\,29991\,29992]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6\n6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Bd3 Bd6 8. O-O c6 9. Qe2 Qc7 10. c4 h6 11. Bd2 b6 12. a4 a5\n13. Bc3 Kf8 14. Ne5 Bxe5 15. dxe5 Ng8 16. Rad1 Bb7 17. Be4 Ne7 18. Rd6 Nc8 19.\nRd2 g6 20. Rfd1 Kg7 21. Rd7 Qb8 22. Qf3 Rf8 23. Qf6+ {Source: The Chess Weekly\,\n1909 (28 Aug) and BCM\, Sept 1909\, p385} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Harry Golombek : \nBritish international master and regarded by many as Britain’s more talented player in the history of the game. Born in Leicester and never very fond of leaving England. Atkins was a schoolmaster and devoted relatively little time to chess\, and yet he became one of the strongest amateurs every known to chess. He was known on the Continent as “the little Steinitz“. \nHis record in British Championship is unique; out of eleven appearances he won the event nine times : 1905\, 1906\, 1907\, 1908\, 1909\, 1910\, 1911\, 1924 and 1925. I t should be added that in 1904 (his first attempt) he finished 1st= and only lost to Napier after a play-off and in 1937 (his last championship) he finished =3rd at the age of 65! \nThe British Chess Championship Trophy\nHis international career comprises only six events. In 1895 Atkins was placed =2nd behind Maróczy in the Hastings Minor Tournament and in 1899 he won the Amsterdam tournament\, leading the field by 4 points. At Hanover 1902 he scored his most notable result : 3rd prize behind Janowski and Pillsbury but ahead of Chigorin and Marshall among others. At London 1922 he finished only 10th of 16 but still claimed Rubinstein and Tartakower among his victims. He represented the B.C.F. in the Olympiads of 1927 and 1935. \nAtkins was retrospectively awarded the title of international master in 1950 on his pre-war record. (Ray Keene). \nAccording to chessgames.com : “He graduated from Cambridge and taught mathematics at Northampton and Wyggeston. In 1909\, he was appointed Principal of Huddersfield College.” \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976)\, Anne Sunnucks : \n“International Master (1950) and nine times British Champion. \nBorn in Leicester on 20th August 1872\, Atkins learned the game at school in Leicester at the age of 12. When he was 15\, he joined Leicester Chess Club and within two years was playing on top board. In 1890 he went up to Peterhouse\, Cambridge\, and played on top board for the University. On leaving Cambridge he became a schoolmaster. \nHis first appearance in the British Championship was in 1904\, when he came 2nd. The following year he won the championship and repeated his success every year up to and including 1911. He did not compete between 1912 and 1923\, and on reappearing in the event in 1924\, he regained his title and held it the following year. His final appearance in the British Championship was in 1937\, when at the age of 65 he came =3rd. \nIn the five international events in which he played – Amsterdam 1899\, Hanover 1902\, London 1922\, and the chess Olympiads of 1927 and 1935 – he scored over 60 per cent. \nHis devotion to teaching and his insistence on treating chess as merely a game was all that prevented him from becoming one of the leading players in the world. \nHe died on 31st January\, 1955. ” \nHere is an article from the Yorkshire Chess History site \nand here is an obituary from the MCCU site \nHere is his Wikipedia article \nand here is an excellent article on chess.com \nRecently renowned journalist and write John Saunders has turned his attention to HEA.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-henry-ernest-atkins/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210202
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210203
DTSTAMP:20210202T123329Z
CREATED:20190824T124759Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210202T123329Z
UID:1167-1612224000-1612310399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Mike Franklin (02-ii-1931)
DESCRIPTION:We send best wishes to Michael Franklin on his 90th birthday. \nGrowing Up\nMichael John Franklin was born on Monday\, February 2nd\, 1931 in Battersea\, London to Albert George (27 ix 1906\, Dover – ? iii 1983\, Wandsworth) and Helen Ann Franklin (née Colson\, 1908-2003) who married in the third quarter of 1928 in Wandsworth.  Albert was a clerk as was his father. \nAt the commencement of the Second World War\, when eight years old\, Michael was evacuated to Frome in Somerset. As a consequence Michael would delight in playing in the Frome Congress whenever possible. He played in the first event in 1990 organised by Leon York  (whose name is the memorial trophy for the Major section).  The story of Michael’s return to Frome made its’ way in to the local newspaper and was reported by Gary Lane as follows : \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CX (110\, 1990)\, Number 7 (July)\, page 296 : \n“A special presentation by the sponsor\, Mrs. Jean Mackereth\, Managing Director of Keyford Frames\, was made to Londoner Michael Franklin\, who was returning for the first time in 51 years to the town to which he was evacuated during the war. His final appearance at Frome was in the 2010 event. \nThe Early Years\nMichaels interest in chess started in 1944 aged 13 when he witnessed games being played on Clapham Common. He was fascinated by the pieces and taught himself to play\, never receiving  any formal coaching. He joined the Clapham Common Chess Club in 1944. (CCCC became incorporated into Battersea Chess Club some time later). \nCHECK MATES: Elderly members of the Clapham Common Open Air Chess and Draughts Club\, circa 1920. The club met regularly during the afternoons to play on Clapham Common in south London. Copyright : Keystone\nApart from summer events such as the above the club had a Winter Section that played matches in the London League. The club won the first division (now known as the Brian Smith Trophy) of the London League in the 1946-47 and 1947-48 seasons. Michael played his final game in the London Chess League for Richmond & Twickenham on April 14th 2010 drawing with John Hodgson\, brother of Julian giving a sixty year span. \nIn his formative years he played at the Gambit Chess Café\, Budge Row\,  Cannon Street\, London\, EC4N. Many strong players regularly visited the Gambit to play skittles\, blitz and the frequently held lightning tournaments hosted by the proprietor Mr GH White. \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yowdTF5_EwY[/embedyt] \nEvents such as these enabled Michael to develop his quick sight of the board and his flair for tactical play. \nLeonard Barden added : \n“Michael made his name as a young player first by his successes in the Saturday evening Gambit Guinea speed events at the Gambit Chess Café in Cannon Street which he often won ahead of master level rivals. He remained a strong speed player all his life.” \nIn the early 1950s Michael was persuaded by his friends Aird Thomson (who was Scottish Boys’ Champion in 1932\, and 1933 ( equal-first). In 1951 he was Scottish Champion. In 1954 he moved to London. He married Susan Mary Hamilton in 1961 who went on to become Scottish Ladies’ Champion in 1965.) and oriental carpet expert Robert Pinner to join the Richmond and Twickenham Chess Club  playing for the club in the London League\, Surrey Trophy  and National Club Championship until he retired from competitive play 2010. \nMaking Progress\nMichael’s first appearance in British Chess Magazine was in Volume LXVI (66\, 1946)\, Number 2 (February). Page 52 contained this report of the 1945 London Boy’s Championship in which Michael reached the final A section : \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXVI (66\, 1946)\, Number 2 (February)\, page 52\nMichael’s club (for this event) is recorded as Hammersmith Arts and Crafts School. \nOn leaving school  Michael joined a firm of Patent Agents remaining in their employ as the accounts department for around forty years before retiring in the late 1980s. His retirement was prompted by the firm’s adoption of electronic computers. When he retired he was Chief Cashier. \nOn June 18th 1960 Michael’s happiest day was when he married Jean Fey. They celebrated  their diamond anniversary in 2020. \nTo the present day Michael has maintained an aversion toward modern technology. He did\, however\, concede to the ownership of a mobile telephone. This was for the specific purpose of updating Jean on his days progress in any chess tournaments where he was away from home. \nIn 1946 (aged 15) Michael won the Felce Cup awarded by the Surrey County Chess Association. A result indicating rapid improvement since Michael had only started playing competitively in 1944. \nThe Felce Cup held by the hands of Stephen Moss in 2014\nIn 1951 Michael finished third in the Surrey Championships behind the winner Frank Parr and runner-up David Hooper. In 1961\, 1966\, 1968\, 1969 and 1970 Michael won the Surrey Championship outright and made many appearences in county matches for Surrey from 1950 onwards until 2010. \nUnfortunately Michael’s rapid progress was threatened by two bouts of ill health. In 1948 aged 17 Michael was diagnosed with Tuberculosis which lasted for eighteen months including a twelve month stay in the Royal National Hospital for Diseases of the Chest in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. Aged twenty the TB returned leading to yet another twelve months illness. \nMichael has suffered from ill health all of his life interrupting his chess career at various times. Fortunately the TB has not returned. \nMichael won the National Chess Centre Championship in 1953 and 1955 being runner-up in 1954. The venue was Hill’s Restaurant\, 158 Bishopsgate\, London\, EC2 opposite Liverpool Street Station since the original John Lewis department store venue was bombed in 1940. \nResults from the 1955 event: \n1-2 Franklin\, Fazekas 3.5/5\n3 Fuller 3/5\n4 Barden 2.5/5\n5 Parr 1/5\n6 Green 0.5/5 \nMichael won the play-off 2-0. \nThe British Chess Federation first published a National Grading list in 1953 (using the Richard Clarke system). In the 1954 list MF appeared with a grade of 2A (225-232) and from then on with a grade of either 2A or 2B. In 1964 a numeric system had him at 225 ranking Michael 4th in England behind Penrose 244\, Kottnauer 238 and Clarke 231. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Southend Premier”]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “1962.04.23”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Franklin\, Michael J”]\n[Black “Pritchard\, David B”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A07”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “41”]\n[SourceTitle “Ken Norman”] \n{[%evp 0\,9\,19\,29\,23\,4\,14\,16\,12\,16\,16\,1]} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O\nO-O 5. d3 d5 6. Nbd2 Nc6 (6… c5) 7. e4 e5 8. c3 h6 (8… a5) 9. Qc2 dxe4 (\n9… Be6) 10. dxe4 Be6 11. Rd1 Qe7 {[#]} 12. b4 $1 Nd7 $146 13. a4 $14 f5 $6 (\n13… Rfd8) 14. b5 Nd8 $2 15. Ba3 Nc5 16. Nh4 $18 Kh7 17. exf5 gxf5 {[#]} 18.\nNe4 $3 Bb3 (18… fxe4 19. Bxe4+ Rf5 20. Bxf5+ Bxf5 21. Qxf5+ Kg8 22. Bxc5 Qxc5\n23. Ng6 $18) 19. Qxb3 Nxb3 20. Bxe7 Re8 21. Rab1 {and Black resigned} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nMichael played many times in the annual Battle of Britain Tournament organised by Squadron Leader David Pritchard and his committee. He won it four times : 1959\, 1960\, 1961 and 1962. \nThe Ilford Whitsun Congress\n[pgn]\n[Event “Ilford Premier”]\n[Site “Ilford”]\n[Date “1956.??.??”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Franklin\, Michael J”]\n[Black “Fazekas\, Stefan”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D05”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “71”]\n[EventDate “1956.??.??”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “5”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,71\,19\,29\,23\,13\,18\,9\,19\,19\,73\,74\,51\,27\,109\,65\,65\,54\,52\,42\,71\,53\,33\,47\,\n51\,42\,43\,28\,63\,60\,48\,48\,38\,59\,57\,23\,23\,18\,20\,11\,35\,59\,114\,88\,107\,98\,113\,114\,\n140\,138\,138\,162\,172\,137\,143\,127\,124\,143\,187\,125\,239\,24\,331\,334\,334\,428\,440\,466\,\n29987\,29988\,29989\,957\,977\,977]} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. e3 d5 4. Bd3 Ne4 5. Nbd2\nf5 6. Ne5 Qf6 7. O-O Bd6 $146 8. f4 O-O 9. c4 c6 (9… c5) 10. Qh5 g6 11. Qh3\nc5 12. Ndf3 Nc6 13. b3 a5 14. Bb2 cxd4 15. Nxc6 (15. Bxe4 dxe4 16. Nxc6 bxc6\n17. Bxd4 Qe7 18. Ng5) 15… bxc6 16. Bxd4 Qe7 17. Bxe4 fxe4 18. Ne5 c5 19. Bc3\na4 20. Qh6 (20. Qg3 $1) 20… d4 21. exd4 Bxe5 $2 22. fxe5 Bb7 23. Qe3 $1 axb3\n24. axb3 Rfd8 25. Rxa8 Bxa8 26. Ra1 Bc6 27. Rd1 Qa7 28. Qg5 (28. h3) 28… Rf8\n29. d5 (29. Qe3) 29… exd5 30. cxd5 Bxd5 $2 31. e6 $1 $18 Qa2 32. h3 Qf2+ 33.\nKh1 Qf5 34. Qe7 Rf7 35. Qxf7+ Qxf7 36. exf7+ 1-0\n[/pgn] \nThe Ilford Whitsun Congress was a regular part of Michael’s season throughout the sixties. He won the Premier Reserves in 1961 ahead of Hilton\, Hindle\, Howson\, Sales and Blaine and was runner-up to Kottnauer in 1962.  In 1963 he went one step better by winning the Premier : \nA report of Mike Franklin’s success at the 1963 Ilford Whitsun Congress by Peter Clarke. Source : British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXXIII\, Number 7 (July)\, page 193\nand here is the fifth round game : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Ilford Whitsun Congress”]\n[Site “Ilford”]\n[Date “1963.06.03”]\n[Round “5”]\n[White “Franklin\, Michael John”]\n[Black “Wheatcroft\, Timothy Martin”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B28”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “59”]\n[EventDate “1963.05.31”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “5”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,59\,19\,38\,40\,41\,87\,26\,15\,1\,54\,32\,47\,27\,19\,26\,31\,-3\,-12\,-10\,3\,-10\,-14\,\n-27\,22\,29\,58\,-22\,-2\,-15\,-2\,-11\,1\,19\,9\,-3\,54\,26\,-15\,40\,140\,135\,161\,149\,173\,170\,\n170\,181\,193\,190\,190\,204\,212\,100\,140\,145\,421\,502\,535\,563\,563\,563]} 1. e4 c5 2.\nNf3 a6 3. g3 Nc6 4. d3 e6 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nbd2 Nf6 7. O-O Be7 8. e5 Nd7 9. Re1 Qc7\n10. Qe2 b5 11. Nf1 Nd4 $6 $146 (11… Bb7) 12. Nxd4 cxd4 13. Bf4 (13. Qg4)\n13… Bb7 14. h4 Rc8 15. Rec1 Qb8 16. Nh2 O-O 17. h5 Rc7 18. Qg4 Rfc8 19. Nf3\n$14 Nf8 $6 20. Nxd4 (20. Bh6 g6 21. Nxd4) 20… Bc5 21. c3 (21. Bh6 g6 22. c3)\n21… Qa7 22. Be3 (22. Bh6) 22… b4 23. Rf1 bxc3 24. bxc3 Qa8 25. Rab1 $1 Ba7\n26. f4 (26. Bg5 Rxc3 27. Bf6) 26… Rxc3 27. f5 {[#]} Rxd3 $2 (27… Bxd4 28.\nBxd4 exf5 29. Qxf5 R3c7) 28. f6 $1 $18 g6 29. Qg5 Bxd4 30. Bxd4 {and it is\nmate in 6.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nIn his tournament report PH Clarke wrote : \nThis buoyant\, optimistic attitude of his is a great strength and always makes him a dangerous opponent. \nAway from Home : International Progress\n1964 saw selection by the BCF to play in the Tel Aviv Olympiad : \nThe 1964 England Olympiad (Tel Aviv) Team : Owen Hindle\, Čeněk Kottnauer\, Peter Clarke\, Michael Franklin\, Norman Littlewood & Michael Haygarth\nand scored a creditable 4/6.  This was followed in 1965 with 3/5 in Clare Benedict tournament held in Berlin. \nHe played in the annual Anglo-Dutch match on no less than six occasions in 1962\, 1963\, 1964\, 1965\, 1968 and finally in 1969. His aggregate score was an impressive 8/12. \n?\, Čeněk Kottnauer\, Michael Franklin and Owen Hindle\nOn the national scene Michael repeated his 1963 victory at the 1969 Ilford Premier with a clear first place : Franklin 4; RG Wade and D Wright 3; JB Howson 2.5; BH Wood 2; PH Clarke 0.5. \nIn 1970 Michael won the London Championship which was also known as the Budget Cup which had last been held in 1956 .  He followed this in 1972 by rightly earning the (now defunct) title of British Master. \n[pgn]\n[Event “London Championship”]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “1970.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Franklin\, Michael J”]\n[Black “Harris\, Ronald A”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B06”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “39”]\n[SourceTitle “Ken Norman”] \n{[%evp 0\,18\,29\,23\,73\,69\,78\,53\,84\,74\,72\,72\,65\,60\,82\,47\,66\,45\,96\,138\,165]} 1. d4\ng6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Nc3 Bg4 5. Be2 Nc6 6. Be3 e5 $6 7. dxe5 $16 dxe5 8.\nQxd8+ {[#]} Nxd8 $2 (8… Rxd8) 9. Nb5 $18 Ne6 $146 (9… Bxf3 10. Bxf3 Ne6)\n10. Ng5 $1 Bxe2 11. Nxe6 Bxb5 12. Nxc7+ Kd7 13. Nxb5 a6 14. O-O-O+ Kc6 {[#]}\n15. Rd6+ $1 {It is mate in eight.} Kxb5 16. a4+ (16. c4+ Kb4 17. Kc2 Rd8 18.\na3+ Kxc4 19. b3+ Kb5 20. a4+ Kb4 21. Rb6+ Ka5 22. b4+ Kxa4 23. Ra1#) 16… Ka5\n17. Bd2+ Kxa4 18. Rb6 Rd8 19. Bb4 Rd3 20. b3+ {and Black resigned} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nMichael’s final appearance for England was in 1971 in the Cheltenham based Anglo-German match with a somewhat disappointing 0.5/2 against Juergen Dueball. \nOwen Hindle\, Michael Franklin\, Harry Golombek and Michael Haygarth\nMichael played board two for London in a Telex match versus Belgrade playing Marjanovic.  The game was drawn. \nMichael Franklin playing board two in the London – Belgrade Telex Match on April 3rd\, 1976 from the St. James Hotel\, Buckingham Gate. Sourced from BCM\, Volume XCVI (96)\, Number 5\, page 192. Photographer probably Freddy Reilly.\nThe Ultimate Prize : The Aaronson Masters\nThe Aaronson Masters at Harrow 1978 brought his best individual success at the age of 47\, sharing first place with IM Aldo Haik of France and to boot\, earning  an IM norm. \nJoint winners of the 1978 Aaronson Masters : Michael Franklin and IM Aldo Haik\nMichael scored an undefeated 7.5/10 and finished ahead of Short\, Speelman\, Nunn\, Hartston\, Mestel\, Webb\, Basman\, Botterill and numerous other illustrious players.  Michael remarked of his lifetime best result that it was \njust one of those occasions when everything went right! \nBut he scored 3.5/5 against the IMs\, was alert to every opportunity\, and the games show he owed little to luck. \nLeonard Barden\, Stewart Reuben and Michael Franklin at the 1978 Aaronson Masters\nLike many others Michael made appearences in Lloyds Bank events of 1977\, 1978\, 1984\, 1989\, 1991\, 1993 and 1994. \nMichael Franklin (left) at the 1978 Lloyds Bank Masters playing IGM Leonid Shamkovich\nMichael and friends during the 1978 Lloyds Bank Masters\nThe Hastings Years\nMichael first played at Hastings in 1964 when he was invited to play in the Premier Tournament. The tournament was won by Mikhail Tal and Michael finished in last place. \nUndaunted he returned to Hastings in 1968 to play in the Challengers tournament. One of the attractions of playing in the Challengers was that the winner received a place the following years Premier. Frustratingly Michael finished second three years in a row! In 1968 the Challengers was won by Danny Wright\, in 1969 by Martyn Corden and in 1970 by Peter Markland. Finally\, in 1971 his patience was rewarded and he won the Challengers and qualified to the following years Premier. \nThe 47th Hastings Premier of 1971-72 had been changed from the traditional 10 player all-play-all to a 16 player tournament. Also\, having obtained sponsorship from various organisations the committee were able to invite some of the top names of the day. The sponsors were: \n\nJim Slater\nThe Friends of Chess\nThe British Chess Federation\nBovis Holdings Ltd\nHastings County Borough Council\n\nSo\, the entry included Karpov\, Korchnoi\, Andersson\, Najdorf\, Mecking\, Gligoric\, Unzicker and Robert Byrne to name but a few. This was undoubtedly the strongest Hastings Premier since World War Two and possibly the strongest Hastings Tournament since 1895. \nMichael started well with a draw against the Rumanian GM Ciocaltea followed by a draw in with the Brazilian prodigy Mecking. In round three he surprised everyone by beating Ray Keene. With 2/3 things were looking promising. However\, after this bright start Michael only managed a draw against Unzicker and a draw with Hartston finishing in a disappointing last place with a score of 3/15. \nIn the tournament report Peter Clarke opined \nFranklin suffered the usual fate of the gifted amateur in a professional field of simply not being accustomed to this kind of chess. \nDespite this Michael continued to play in the Hastings Challengers. He played in nineteen out of the next twenty-five years! He came close to winning the tournament in 1982: he was leading the tournament with a score of 7/8 when he was informed that Jean’s Father had passed away. Having drawn his ninth round game and needing only a draw in the last round to ensure at least a tie for first place he withdrew from the tournament and immediately left for home. \nThe Weekend Scene\nLike all players with a full time job Michael had to play most of his chess at the weekend so the explosion of weekends tournaments in the early 1970’s gave him ample opportunities. His habit of playing quickly was ideally suited to the fast time limits of the weekend tournament. During the 1970 and 1980’s he was very successful. He won numerous events and was more often than not in the prize list. \nFM Michael Franklin\, Photo by Cathy Rogers\nIn later years he restricted himself to London based tournaments and those in the West Country. His regular tournaments being Exeter\, Torquay and old favourite\, Frome. Michael at the age of 78 shared first place at Frome 2009. Frome 2010 was his farewell appearance. \nFM Michael Franklin\nMichael played for a number of clubs viz : Richmond & Twickenham\, Coulsdon CF\, Surrey CCA\, 4NCL Richmond\, 4NCL Bristol and Richards Butler to name but a few. \nFinally\, in 1980\,  Michael was awarded the FIDE Master title and achieved his highest rating (in the Elo era) of 2345 in January 1979. It is most likely that his highest ever rating would have been more like 2450. \nFM Michael Franklin vs Paul Helbig\nAppropriately enough Michael was the inaugural winner of the BCF/ECF Senior Prix in 2000 and won it again in 2002 and 2003. The event last ran in 2006. \nWhen Surrey won the counties championship a few years back the team took the trophy around to Michael’s home in Norbury\, such was their regard for his contributions. \nThe London System\nAny currently active club player cannot have missed the explosive rise to prominence of the system for White he developed : \n[fen]rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/3P1B2/2PBPN2/PP1N1PPP/R2Q1RK1 b KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nThe London System and Accelerated London System has acquired a huge cohort of followers in recent times probably not realising the debt they (and many authors\, book and DVD publishers!) owe to Michael. If only he could have earnt a royalty every time it was played! \nAlso Michael had notable success as Black with the O’Kelly Sicilian 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6. \n[fen]rnbqkbnr/1p1ppppp/p7/2p5/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nLife Outside of Chess\nMichael had many interests apart from Chess. He was for many years a member of the Surrey County Cricket Club. After he retired he would arrange to meet fellow Surrey Member Frank Parr at the Oval and after lunch in the Pavilion they would spend the day enjoying the Cricket. Tennis was another sport that Michael followed. Michael was also interested in horseracing. Several players were surprised when visiting one of the racetracks around London to find Michael also attending the race meeting. \nMichael was the typical “natural” player. He never studied the game and his only sources of opening information were the British Chess Magazine and the chess columns in The Times and the Guardian. He never kept the scores of his games. Once the game was finished it was time to move on. One of Michael’s greatest strengths was his optimistic attitude at the chessboard. No matter how bad the position he was confident of ultimate success. \nMichael Franklin receives £220 from Councillor Robert Dickson at the 1980 Nottinghamshire Congress\nCaption for above photograph
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-michael-john-franklin/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,History,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Fra14127.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210203
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210204
DTSTAMP:20210131T113738Z
CREATED:20200410T093145Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210131T113738Z
UID:4321-1612310400-1612396799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Oliver Jackson (03-ii-1946)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Oliver A Jackson (03-ii-1946)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-oliver-a-jackson-03-ii-1946/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/jb4_9317_lv-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210204
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210205
DTSTAMP:20210202T100049Z
CREATED:20191020T125454Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210202T100049Z
UID:1597-1612396800-1612483199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Harriet Hunt (04-ii-1978)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Harriet Hunt (04-ii-1978) \nIM Harriet Vaughan Hunt
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-harriet-hunt-04-ii-1978/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/img_1307_smaller.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210204
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210205
DTSTAMP:20210130T185025Z
CREATED:20200120T133751Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210130T185025Z
UID:2954-1612396800-1612483199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Ameet Ghasi (04-ii-1987)
DESCRIPTION:IM Ameet Kumar Ghasi\nBirthday of IM Ameet Kumar Ghasi (04-ii-1987) \nIM Ameet Kumar Ghasi
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-ameet-kumar-ghasi-04-ii-1987/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210207
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210208
DTSTAMP:20220207T095801Z
CREATED:20200207T144432Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220207T095801Z
UID:3191-1612656000-1612742399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Ravi Haria (07-ii-1999)
DESCRIPTION:BCN sends birthday wishes to GM Ravi Haria. \nRavi Haria was born Sunday\, February 7th\, 1999  in Elstree\, Hertfordshire. “Maria” by Blondie was top of the hit parade. Ravi currently resides in London. \nRavi attended Lonsdale School in Barnet and then The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School  and now reads History at University College\, London. \nECF grading profiles for Ravi Haria\nRavi learnt at the age of 6 and joined Barnet Knights Chess Club in 2005. \nRavi’s first recorded tournament was the 35th Barnet Knights Under-8  rapidplay on September 25th 2005. Also playing of note were Jonathan Pein and Isaac Sanders. \nHis first recorded standard play game  was in the London Junior Under-10 Championships on December 9th 2006. \nBy the time he was eight he had attracted the attention of the England selectors and played in the 2008 Commonwealth Championships in New Delhi coming home with a bronze medal. \nRavi aged 8 photographed by The Borehamwood and Elstree Times in January 2008\nRavi aged 9 photographed by The Borehamwood and Elstree Times in August 2008\nIn 2008 Ravi won the British Under-9 title in Liverpool. He said afterwards: \nIt was quite nice to be leading everyone and I felt proud of myself. I’m not sure how I control my nerves but it feels really good to win. \nHis mother Sona said: \nIt’s a bit overwhelming but we just support him. It means you have to give up a lot of time for him but it’s really nice to see that he’s getting somewhere. \nThis was followed in 2014 by winning the British Under-18 championship in Aberystwyth aged 15 and then the same title in 2017 in Llandudno. \nRavi Haria\, UKCC Southern Gigafinal\, 2013\nIn 2016 Ravi was equal 2nd to Deep Sengupta at the Hastings Masters Open with an impressive 6/9 and a TPR of 2563.  This performance secured his second IM norm. \nThe IM title was conferred at the 88th FIDE Congress 2017\, 7-15 October\, Goynuk\, Antalya\, Turkey. \nHe scored six points after 11 rounds at the 2017 World Junior championship in Italy and 5.5 points at the 2017 WYCC U-18 group in Uruguay. \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGT7kcTRlBA[/embedyt] \nRavi completed his British junior titles run by becoming the current (no OTB event in 2020) British Under-21 champion in 2019 in Torquay scoring an emphatic 6.5/9 securing a share of third place. \nPartial crosstable for the 2019 British Championships in Torquay\nRavi became a FIDE Master in 2015 at the age of 16 and and International Master two years later making him England’s second youngest IM after Matthew Wadsworth. \nOTB Elo rating profile for IM Ravi Haria according to MegaBase 2020\nHis peak FIDE rating was 2497 in October 2021 and currently (February  2022) is 2490. \nIn 2019 Ravi teamed up with IM Adam C. Taylor to join Adam’s Making Grandmasters training venture. \nFM Ravi Haria\, ECF Secondary Schools Rapidplay\, 2016\nOn January 28th 2021 Thinker’s Publishing released The Modernised Anti-Sicilians\, Volume 1\, Rossolimo Variation which is a massive 520 page tome on the following position : \n[fen]r1bqkbnr/pp1ppppp/2n5/1Bp5/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R b KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nwhich was reviewed by FM Richard Webb. \nwhich we hope will be followed by at least Volume 2! \nThe Modernized Anti-Sicilians – Volume 1: Rossolimo Variation\, Ravi Haria\, Thinker’s Publishing\, 2021\nRavi has plus scores against : Matthew Turner\, Simon Williams\, William Claridge Hansen\, Bob Eames\, David Eggleston and Arul Gupta to name but a few. \nGM John Emms plays IM Ravi Haria in the final round of the 2019 British Championships in Torquay\nWith the white pieces Ravi unsurprisingly plays the Moscow and Rossolimo variations against the Sicilian\,  the Ruy Lopez and\, in recent years\, he has adopted the Reti/English complex. \nAs the second player he plays the French Winawer and (refreshingly) the Abrahams-Noteboom Variation of the Semi-Slav. \nFor your entertainment we have these two  brevities : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Hastings Masters op 88th”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “2012.12.29”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Haria\, Ravi”]\n[Black “Pooley\, Mark”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B00”]\n[WhiteElo “2032”]\n[BlackElo “1693”]\n[Annotator “British chess News”]\n[PlyCount “27”]\n[EventDate “2012.12.28”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “10”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 152 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2013.02.25”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2013.02.25”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,27\,19\,31\,80\,69\,63\,60\,69\,29\,74\,57\,56\,50\,101\,40\,96\,40\,69\,57\,52\,59\,196\,\n71\,56\,-23\,86\,56\,886\,933]} 1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Bd3 d6 4. Qe2 g6 $146 5. Bf4\nBg7 6. Nf3 e6 $6 7. O-O Nc6 8. c3 Nce7 9. Nbd2 Nf6 10. e5 Nd7 $2 (10… Nfd5)\n11. Ne4 d5 12. Neg5 c5 $2 {[#]} 13. Nxf7 $1 Qc8 14. Nd6+ 1-0\n[/pgn] \nand \n[pgn]\n[Event “Brighton e2e4 Masters”]\n[Site “Brighton”]\n[Date “2013.02.17”]\n[Round “3”]\n[White “Haria\, Ravi”]\n[Black “Whitehead\, David J”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B51”]\n[WhiteElo “2053”]\n[BlackElo “2055”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “31”]\n[EventDate “2013.02.16”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 153 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2013.04.22”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2013.04.22”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,31\,19\,38\,72\,69\,49\,32\,64\,9\,10\,5\,11\,-27\,-11\,4\,19\,19\,41\,36\,127\,98\,122\,\n107\,184\,182\,172\,176\,183\,210\,213\,238\,503\,509]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4.\nBxc6+ bxc6 5. O-O e5 6. c3 f5 7. exf5 Bxf5 ({Relevant:} 7… Nf6 8. d4 cxd4 9.\ncxd4 e4 10. Ng5 d5 11. f3 h6 12. Ne6 Bxe6 13. fxe6 Bd6 14. fxe4 dxe4 15. Nc3\nO-O 16. Qe2 Bc7 17. Qc4 Kh8 18. Bf4 Ng4 19. Ne2 Bxf4 20. Nxf4 Qg5 21. Qxc6 Ne3\n22. Qxe4 Nxf1 23. Ng6+ Kg8 24. Nxf8 Qe3+ 25. Qxe3 Nxe3 26. Nd7 Re8 27. Re1 Nc2\n28. Re4 Nb4 29. Nc5 Kf8 30. a3 Nd5 31. Nd3 Ke7 32. Nf4 Nf6 33. Re5 Kd6 34. Ra5\ng5 35. Ra6+ Kc7 36. Nd3 Ne4 37. d5 {Rublevsky\,S (2678)-Moranda\,W (2578) Warsaw\n2010 1-0}) 8. d4 e4 $6 9. dxc5 {[#]} d5 $2 $146 ({Predecessor:} 9… exf3 10.\nQxf3 Be6 11. Re1 Kd7 12. cxd6 Qf6 13. Bf4 Qf5 14. Nd2 Nf6 15. Qe2 Re8 16. Qe3\nQa5 17. Nf3 Bxd6 18. Bxd6 Kxd6 19. Nd4 Qd5 20. Qg3+ Kc5 21. Re5 Kb6 22. Rxd5\nBxd5 23. f3 a5 24. Qxg7 Rhf8 25. b4 axb4 26. cxb4 Nh5 27. Qh6 Nf4 28. Rc1 Kb7\n29. b5 cxb5 30. Qd6 Rf7 31. Nxb5 Ree7 32. Nd4 Ka7 33. Rb1 Rb7 34. Nb5+ Ka8 35.\nQd8+ {1-0 (35) Rublevsky\,S (2684)-Sveshnikov\,E (2563) Herceg Novi 1999}) 10.\nNd4 Qd7 11. Be3 Ne7 $6 12. f3 $1 g6 13. Nd2 Bg7 14. fxe4 dxe4 15. Nc4 O-O $2 (\n15… Bxd4 16. Nd6+ Kd8 17. Qxd4 {is crushing}) 16. Nxf5 1-0 \n[/pgn] \nRavi has played for University College London. Hendon and Cavendish in the London and other leagues and in 4NCL he started with Kings Head\, transferring to Cambridge in 2014 and finally moving in 2016 to Wood Green. \nIn this game Ravi punishes IM Malcolm Pein who has a bad day at the office : \n[pgn]\n[Event “BCF-chT 1314 (4NCL)”]\n[Site “England”]\n[Date “2013.11.16”]\n[Round “1.125”]\n[White “Haria\, Ravi”]\n[Black “Pein\, Malcolm”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B09”]\n[WhiteElo “2151”]\n[BlackElo “2371”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “51”]\n[EventDate “2013.11.16”]\n[EventType “team-swiss”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2015”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2014.11.20”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2014.11.20”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Kings Head”]\n[BlackTeam “Wood Green Hilsmark II”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,46\,30\,16\,62\,68\,81\,59\,76\,25\,46\,36\,64\,64\,59\,42\,32\,-12\,7\,-7\,63\,101\,101\,\n101\,101\,81\,85\,112\,77\,57\,47\,-1\,-1\,-9\,11\,27\,27\,27\,2\,7\,5\,19\,99\,96\,173\,173\,173\,173\,\n485]} 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. f4 Bg7 5. Nf3 Nc6 {a favourite line of\nMPs\, Vallejo Pons and Keith Richardson} (5… O-O) 6. d5 (6. Bd3) 6… Nb8 7.\nBc4 (7. Bd3) 7… O-O 8. O-O c6 $11 {[#] You might not expect it but this is\na fairly rare position.} 9. a4 $146 (9. dxc6 Nxc6 10. Kh1) 9… b5 $6 {\nactivating the g7 bishop by a curious route but how weak is the e7 pawn as a\nconsequence?} 10. axb5 cxb5 11. Nxb5 Nxe4 12. Qe2 Nf6 13. Bd2 Nbd7 14. Nxa7 $5\n{probably activating the a8 rook too much!} Bb7 15. Ba5 Qb8 16. Nc6 Bxc6 17.\ndxc6 Rxa5 18. Rxa5 Qb6+ 19. Kh1 Qxa5 20. cxd7 e6 $2 {[#] A strange oversight\nfrom Malcolm} (20… Qc7 {is good enough and Black is fine.}) 21. Bxe6 $1 fxe6\n22. Qxe6+ Kh8 23. Qxd6 $18 Qf5 {and Black resigned.} {Perhaps} 24. d8=Q Ne4 25.\nQ6d7 Rxd8 26. Qxd8+ $18 1-0\n[/pgn] \nRavi Haria\, British Championships\, 2014\, Aberystwyth\nRavi is Mesutgm on chess.com and lichess \n[pgn]\n[Event “Reykjavik op”]\n[Site “Reykjavik”]\n[Date “2018.03.06”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “Haria\, Ravi”]\n[Black “Karlsson\, Mikael Johann”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B31”]\n[WhiteElo “2424”]\n[BlackElo “2150”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “55”]\n[EventDate “2018.03.06”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ISL”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 183 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2018.04.19”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2018.04.19”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,55\,19\,31\,72\,53\,66\,21\,74\,31\,43\,31\,49\,36\,33\,18\,25\,19\,23\,19\,14\,-5\,17\,12\,\n11\,0\,14\,21\,64\,63\,57\,57\,57\,88\,69\,69\,58\,176\,186\,208\,218\,237\,308\,320\,409\,339\,322\,\n280\,318\,283\,297\,287\,294\,329\,469\,562\,848\,696]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4.\nBxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 e5 7. Be3 b6 8. a4 a5 9. Nbd2 f6 10. Nc4 Be6 11. Qc1\n$146 (11. Nfd2) 11… Qc7 12. O-O Rd8 13. Nfd2 Nh6 $6 14. b4 $1 axb4 15. a5 b5\n16. Nb6 $18 Nf7 17. Bxc5 Bf8 18. Nb3 Bxc5 $6 (18… Ng5) 19. Nxc5 Ke7 20. Qe3\nRd4 21. f4 Bc8 $2 22. Nb3 (22. Qf2 $1) 22… Rdd8 23. Qc5+ (23. fxe5 Nxe5 24.\nd4 $18) 23… Qd6 24. fxe5 Nxe5 25. a6 Nd7 26. Nxd7 Rxd7 27. Qf2 Bb7 28. Nc5\n1-0\n[/pgn] \nOver the 19th – 23rd August  2021 Ravi played in the Wood Green Invitational round-robin event at Oddfellows Hall\, Stafford. \nRavi scored 7.5/10 and secured his second Grandmaster Norm and  a TPR of 2680. \nWood Green Invitational Round-Robin event at Oddfellows Hall\, Stafford. August Bank Holiday Weekend\, 2021\nOver the August Bank Holiday weekend of 2021 Ravi played in the Northumbrian Masters  GM Tournament at the splendid Marriott MetroCentre\, Gateshead winning jointly with Conor Murphy scoring 6.5/9 with a TPR of 2600. This gave Ravi his third and final GM norm. \nThe norm was ratified at a recent FIDE Congress. As of February 2022 Ravi stood at 2490 for standard-play.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-ravi-hari-07-ii-1999/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,UKCC,Writer
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210211
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210212
DTSTAMP:20210206T200941Z
CREATED:20200210T100746Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210206T200941Z
UID:3234-1613001600-1613087999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Simon Ansell (11-ii-1975)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Simon Ansell (11-ii-1975) \nSimon Ansell\nIM Simon Ansell
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-simon-ansell-11-ii-1975/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210212
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210213
DTSTAMP:20210208T110617Z
CREATED:20200210T002512Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210208T110617Z
UID:3241-1613088000-1613174399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Glenn Flear (12-ii-1959)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Glenn Flear (12-ii-1959) \nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“Glenn Curtis Flear was born in Leicester\, England. He was awarded the IM title in 1983 and GM title in 1987. While still an IM\, he shocked the chess world by winning the GLC Chess Challenge (1986) ahead of a field that included Short\, Chandler\, Nunn\, Portisch\, Polugaevsky\, Spassky and Larsen. He married Christine Flear during that tournament. He represented England at the Dubai Olympiad in 1986.” \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nGM Glenn Curtis Flear\n[pgn]\n[Event “Hastings op 9495”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1994.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Bronstein\, David Ionovich”]\n[Black “Flear\, Glenn C”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C57”]\n[WhiteElo “2440”]\n[BlackElo “2505”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “126”]\n[EventDate “1994.12.??”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 1998”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1997.11.17”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1997.11.17”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,126\,28\,37\,5\,22\,19\,23\,18\,-17\,-29\,-8\,26\,-7\,55\,51\,51\,46\,58\,-22\,-6\,-28\,-1\,\n-1\,-19\,5\,5\,-29\,-29\,-29\,-19\,-23\,-25\,-15\,-15\,-22\,-18\,-12\,-12\,7\,-15\,-14\,-8\,-9\,18\,\n20\,23\,6\,6\,2\,6\,0\,73\,20\,33\,49\,22\,26\,30\,35\,26\,26\,34\,-14\,-16\,-24\,-24\,-12\,26\,-78\,\n-51\,-44\,53\,93\,93\,69\,108\,126\,141\,111\,143\,94\,94\,94\,66\,110\,26\,68\,68\,0\,0\,0\,0\,-118\,\n-47\,-47\,-30\,-279\,-40\,-57\,-17\,-246\,-246\,-246\,-239\,-271\,-256\,-263\,-288\,-310\,-329\,\n-336\,-357\,-367\,-373\,-492\,-373\,-423\,-449\,-448\,-489\,-526\,-545\,-557\,-503\,-588\,\n-621\,-656\,-940]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 b5 6. Bf1 h6\n7. Nf3 Qxd5 8. Nc3 Qe6 9. Nxb5 Qe7 10. d4 e4 11. Ne5 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Qxe5 13. Be3\nBc5 14. Bd4 Bxd4 15. Qxd4 Qxd4 16. Nxd4 O-O 17. Bc4 Bd7 18. O-O-O Rfe8 19. h3\nRe5 20. Rhe1 Rae8 21. Re3 Kf8 22. Rb3 Rg5 23. Bf1 c5 24. Nb5 Bxb5 25. Rxb5 Rf5\n26. Rb7 Rxf2 27. Bb5 Ra8 28. Bc4 Kg8 29. Rxf7 Kh8 30. g4 Rh2 31. Rc7 Rxh3 32.\nRxc5 Nxg4 33. Be6 Rg3 34. b4 Nf6 35. Bc8 Kg8 36. Rd8+ Kf7 37. Re5 Rxc8 38. Rxc8\nh5 39. Ra5 h4 40. Rxa7+ Ke6 41. Rh8 h3 42. b5 e3 43. Kd1 Nd5 44. c4 Nf4 45. Kc2\ne2 46. Raa8 Rc3+ 47. Kd2 Rd3+ 48. Kc2 Kf5 49. Rae8 Rd8 50. Rhf8+ Kg6 51. Rxd8\ne1=Q 52. Rxf4 h2 53. Rd1 Qxd1+ 54. Kxd1 h1=Q+ 55. Kd2 Qh2+ 56. Ke3 Qxa2 57. Kd4\nQa7+ 58. Kd3 Qa3+ 59. Kd4 Qd6+ 60. Ke3 Qe5+ 61. Re4 Qc3+ 62. Kf4 Kf6 63. Kg4 g5\n0-1 \n[/pgn] \nGM Glenn Curtis Flear
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-glenn-flear-12-ii-1959/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210212
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210213
DTSTAMP:20260817T135454Z
CREATED:20201216T164542Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T135454Z
UID:12500-1613088000-1613174399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Robert Combe (16-viii-1912 12-ii-1952)
DESCRIPTION:Robert Forbes Combe (16 August 1912 – 12 February 1952) \nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Forbes_Combe
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/remembering-robert-combe-16-viii-1912-12-ii-1952/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210215
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210216
DTSTAMP:20260817T135447Z
CREATED:20190822T151519Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T135447Z
UID:973-1613347200-1613433599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of IM Hugh Alexander CMG CBE (15-ii-1974)
DESCRIPTION:We remember Hugh Alexander who passed away on Friday\, 15-ii-1974. The death was registered in the Borough of Cheltenham.  Currently his burial / cremation site is unknown. \nConel Hugh O’Donel Alexander was born on Monday\, April 19th\, 1909 in Cork\, Munster\, Republic of Ireland. \nSignature of CHO’D Alexander from August 1970\nHugh’s parents were Conel William Long Alexander (1879-1920) and Hilda Barbara Alexander (née Bennett) (1881-1964) who married in Hook Church\, Hampshire. His father was a Professor of Civil Engineering from County Donegal and his mother was the daughter of a timber merchant and was from Birmingham. \nHugh’s father moved to Hook in Hampshire. At some point they returned to Cork and then relocated to Birmingham. \nIn the 1911 Irish census aged two Hugh was recorded as being a Presbyterian.  The household consisted of his father\, mother and two servants Maud McAuliffe (19)  from County Cork and Johanna Hanlon (20) from Cork City all living at 20\, Connaught Avenue\, Cork. \nAt the time of the census all members of the household were capable of reading and writing apart from Hugh who was recorded as “cannot read”. \nand Hugh’s father signed the Return as follows : \nSignature of Hugh’s father on 1911 Irish census Return\n20 Connaught Avenue\, Cork\, Ireland\nHugh attended Londonderry College and then went to King Edward’s School\, Birmingham. \nHugh married Enid Constance Rose Crichton Neate (1900-1982) in October 1934 and the marriage was registered in the district of Westminster\, Middlesex. \nAccording to Rodric Braithwaite : \n“Enid\, was an equally striking personality. She was descended from one of the defenders of the Eureka Stockade\, the “birthplace of Australian democracy”. She was educated at the Sorbonne\, a formidable dialectician\, art historian and collector. In her later years she returned to Australia\, where she was endlessly hospitable to passing Russian chessplayers\, and to itinerant musicians\, including my own father.” \nHugh and Enid had a son Michael (19 June 1936 – 1 June 2002) who became the foreign policy secretary to Margaret Thatcher and the UK ambassador to NATO. Here is Michael’s obituary. \nMichael married Traute Krohn. Michael and Traute gave Hugh a grandson\, Conel Alexander who is a Cosmochemist at the Earth and Planets Laboratory\, Carnegie Institution for Science\, Washington. \nConel M. O’D. AlexanderStaff Scientist\nPrior to the second world war Alexander was officially employed by John Spedan Lewis in his Department store in Oxford Street. When he returned from Buenos Aires (“good air”) from the 1939 Olympiad he travelled aboard the RMS Alcantara. Here is the entry in the passenger list for September 19th\, 1939 : \nPartial passenger manifest for the RMS Alcantara for September 19th\, 1939. Alexander is passenger #23.\nand here is Alexander’s entry in detail. Note that his occupation is described as “Drapery Manager” : \nPartial passenger manifest for the RMS Alcantara for September 19th\, 1939. Alexander is passenger #23.\nHugh sailed from Buenos Aires\, Argentina in September 1939 to arrive at Southampton September 19th 1939. The ship was the Alcantara operated by Royal Mail Lines Ltd hence the RMS Alcantara. \nRMS Alcantara off Rio de Janeiro between 1934 and 1939 by Kenneth Shoesmith\nAccording to Wikipedia : “RMS Alcantara was a Royal Mail Lines ocean liner that was built in Belfast in 1926. She served in the Second World War first as an armed merchant cruiser and then a troop ship\, was returned to civilian service in 1948 and scrapped in 1958. \nPorts of the voyage were : Buenos Aires; Montevideo; Santos and Rio de Janeiro and Hugh’s official number was 148151 and he travelled 2nd class. His proposed destination residential address was \n316\, Rodney House\, Dolphin Square\, London\, SW1 \nAccording to Wikipedia : “The proximity of Dolphin Square to the Palace of Westminster and the headquarters of the intelligence agencies MI5 (Thames House) and MI6 (Vauxhall Cross) has attracted many politicians\, peers\, civil servants and intelligence agency personnel as residents.” \nDolphin Square. London\, SW1\nThere was some discussion of Drapery Manager in another place. \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume XCIV (94\, 1974)\, Number 4 (April)\, pp. 117-120 by PS Milner-Barry : \n“A proper assessment of Hugh Alexander\, who died on February 15th 1974 must await a later issue. But I think he might have been pleased to see our last game published\, and I give the score of it below\, with notes based on our usual analysis immediately after the game. Over the past 45 years\, ever since he went to Cambridge\, we played whenever opportunity offered serious games with clocks. \nConel Hugh O’Donel Alexander\nBefore the war they were played mostly at my mother’s house in Cambridge\, and after the war and my own marriage at our house in Blackheath. When he moved to Cheltenham the opportunities became fewer but no year ever passed without two or three such games\, usually at Easter or Christmas. \nAlexander always used to say\, it was certainly true of me\, that this was the kind of chess that he enjoyed most. The games were conducted with the utmost vigour\, though not without a good deal of propaganda on both sides. I suppose he won in the proportion of about two to one\, but the disparity in strength never became one-sided. Nearly all the games opened 1 P-K4\, P-K4; he played the Lopez when I allowed him. (I usually played the Petroff or Philidor)\, and I played a mixture – in the early days the Vienna and latterly mostly the King’s Gambit. On the whole Black did better than White for both of us. \nCHO’D Alexander plays PS Milner-Barry\nThe only concession we made to advancing years was that latterly we contented ourselves with four hour sessions and 36 moves\, instead of 40 in 5 hours. We thought we had done enough for honour by then\, and the games were usually finished in the time. \nHugh stayed with us the weekend before Christmas\, when this game was played. He looked ill\, but he was very cheerful and as good company as ever. He loved a good argument\, and as my family so too\,- the evening meal was its usual lively affair! I am myself a man of peace\, and intellectually lazy; so in deference to my feelings the argument was suspended\, before it became too hot. I am afraid they all thought I was a spoil-sport. It was as happy a visit as any of us could remember and it is difficult to accept there will not be another. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Blackheath Friendly”]\n[Site “Blackheath”]\n[Date “1973.12.23”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Milner Barry\, Philip Stuart”]\n[Black “Alexander\, Conel Hugh O’Donel”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C34”]\n[Annotator “PS Milner-Barry & British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “70”]\n[EventDate “1973.12.23”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM. 1974\, page 118\, gam”] \n{[%evp 0\,9\,19\,38\,25\,3\,-5\,-5\,28\,23\,37\,-14]} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 h6 {\nMB: This rustic move was Alexander’s favourite\, and I never succeeded in\nrefuting it. It is a good way of transposing into a Classical Defence without\ngiving White the option of the Kieseritzky. In 2020 3…h6 is being played\nand has adherents such as Leko and Luke McShane.} 4. d4 g5 5. g3 {MB: This\ngoes back to Spielmann. It is of course double-edged to commit oneself so\nearly. BCN : Both Ivanchuk and Grischuk have played this.} d6 (5… fxg3 6.\nhxg3 {gives White good chances.}) 6. Bc4 ({Alexander expected} 6. gxf4 g4 7.\nNg1 Qh4+ 8. Ke2 {Another time I would try this – like the Steinitz Gambit\, it\nis not so bad as it looks.}) 6… Bh3 $1 $146 (6… g4 7. Nh4 f3 {BCN : has\nbeen tried a few times.}) (6… Nc6 {BCN : In the harsh and unforgiving world\nof engine analyis SF12 shouts loud for this.}) ({MB: An improvement on} 6…\nBg7 7. gxf4 g4 8. Ng1 Qh4+ 9. Kf1 {which in two previous games had turned out\nrather good for White (not that I won either of them).}) 7. Qe2 Bg7 8. c3 g4 9.\nNh4 f3 10. Qc2 Ne7 11. Kf2 $19 {[#] At this point both of us thought that\nWhite stood better\, because of the imprisoned bishop on h3. Alexander\ncriticised this move.} ({Alexander suggested} 11. Be3 {to be followed by Nd2\nand 0-0-0.} {but} O-O {followed by d5 gives Black the better game.}) 11… Bf6\n12. Nf5 Nxf5 13. exf5 d5 14. Bd3 Kf8 $1 15. Bf4 Nc6 16. Nd2 Bg5 $1 17. Bxg5\nQxg5 ({MB : I had expected} 17… hxg5 {and intended to continue with} 18. Nf1\nBg2 19. Ne3 Bxh1 20. Rxh1 {after which\, with Nxg4 and Kxf3\, White has full\ncompensation for the exchange.}) 18. Nf1 {White would much rather preserve his\nknight\,} ({but if} 18. Bf1 Re8 {is horrible}) ({if} 18. Rae1 {Black can launch\nan immediate attack with} h5 {and then …h4}) 18… Re8 19. Qc1 {Forced\, but\nthe writing is now on the wall.} Bxf1 {The depised Bishop has had great\nnuisance value.} 20. Rxf1 Kg7 $1 {He need not hurry. The weak f5 pawn will\nprove fatal.} 21. Re1 Kf6 22. b4 {He must do something!} Qxc1 23. Raxc1 Rxe1\n24. Rxe1 Ne7 25. Re5 Rg8 $1 26. h4 {Again forced.} ({If} 26. Ke3 Rg5 27. Kf4 f2\n28. Ke3 Rh5 {wins easily.}) 26… gxh3 27. Kxf3 Rg5 28. Re2 ({If} 28. g4 h5 {\nis decisive.}) 28… Nxf5 29. Bxf5 Kxf5 (29… Rxf5+ $2 30. Kg4 {would only be\na draw. (SF12 believes Black is winning easily.)}) 30. Rh2 ({Or} 30. g4+ Kg6\n31. Kg3 ({or} 31. Rh2 h5)) 30… Kg6 31. Rxh3 Rh5 {The final coup.\nSuperficially it looks as though White still has chances\, but it is not so.}\n32. Rxh5 Kxh5 33. Kf4 Kg6 34. a4 ({Because if} 34. Ke5 f5 $1 ({much better than\n} 34… c6 35. b5) 35. Kxd5 f4 36. gxf4 Kf5 {and wins easily.}) 34… c6 35.\nKg4 f5+ {and White resigned.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nAs for the game\, it was not one of our most exciting encounters. But it is quite an interesting one\, and shows Hugh playing as\nwell as ever – certainly much too well for me. But then he usually did.” \nFollowing PSMBs contribution\, in the same obituary there was this from Harry Golombek : \nC.H.O’D.  Alexander and the ‘B.C.M.’\nI have written elsewhere about Hugh Alexander both as a person and as a chess-player and I also intend to devote a forthcoming article in ‘The Times‘ on Saturday to an appraisal of his place in British Chess. Here\, however\, I would like to describe briefly his connection with this magazine over the years and to show how\nimportant his help was to the progress of the ‘BCM‘. \nIn the years immediately preceding the Second World War\, Ash Wheatcroft and I had made a determined effort to maintain and increase the role of the ‘BCM‘\, he in a managerial capacity and I as its editor. With the coming of war and the departure of both of us into the army a sort of caretaker regime had to be provided. It worked as well as could have been expected but inevitably there had been a decline both in quality and financially. When peace came\, the quality improved since it was possible to get more and better contributions but the financial aspect became almost alarming. \nThe question arose – was there a need for the magazine and if so how could that need be fulfilled with the fairly limited resources at hand. Some of us thought there was\, but the ways and means were not so clear. Of all those who thought like this Alexander was the most effective in his approach to the problems. I know that from his very youth onwards he had been convinced of the importance of the ‘BCM’ to British chess and\, being a practical idealist\, when the\ncrisis came he set about dealing with it in the most expeditious way. \nIn November 1946 he became a director of the B.C.M. and continued in that position till February 1952\, by which time the magazine had been set on a solid basis from\nwhich it was unlikely to be shaken. It was his idea that Brian Reilly be asked to act as editor and almost his first act as director was to write a letter to him inviting him to become so. Then\, in January 1947\, he himself took over the editorship of the games department\, an arduous task which he fulfilled with great competence and the utmost conscientiousness until May 1949 when the heavy work of the Civil Service department of which he was head compelled him to hand over the Games Section to me. \nBefore\, however\, that he gave up this post he\, again in the most practical way possible\, rendered the ‘BCM‘ another service. He wrote a book giving a selection of the games from the last period of Alekhine’s life and generously donated half the royalties to the ‘BCM‘ in order to bolster up its slender finances. \nAlekhine’s Best Games of Chess : 1938-45\, CHO’D Alexander\, G. Bell and Sons\, 1966 ISBN 4-87187-827-9\nEven after he had to give up official connection with the magazine he retained a strong interest in its welfare. So\, even though this recognition is belated and posthumous\, I thought it was right to afford readers the possibility of joining with me in thanking High Alexander for all that he did in this respect in especial. At any rate\, such matters should be on record for the chess historian. \nFrom The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by E.Klein and W.Winter : \n“CHO’D Alexander was born in Cork in 1909 and learned chess at the age of ten. He was educated at King Edward School\, Birmingham\, where he exhibited early prowess by winning the Birmingham Post Cup. In 1927 he won the British Boy’s Championship. During his student days\, from 1928 to 1932\, he was a convincing champion of Cambridge University. Subsequently he competed in five British Championships\, winning the title in 1938. He also played in several international tournaments\, his outstanding performance amongst these being Hastings in 1938\, where he shared second and third prizes with Keres\, following Reshevsky who won the tournament\, and ahead of Fine and Flohr. In 1939\, in the England-Holland match\, he had the satisfaction of defeating the ex-World Champion\, Dr. Euwe\, in a sensational games\, drawing the return game. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Match/Nation NED-ENG 10-10”]\n[Site “The Hague”]\n[Date “1939.05.28”]\n[Round “1.1”]\n[White “Euwe\, Max”]\n[Black “Alexander\, Conel Hugh O’Donel”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “E33”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “62”]\n[EventDate “1939.05.28”]\n[EventType “team-match”]\n[EventRounds “2”]\n[EventCountry “NED”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2003”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2002.11.25”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2002.11.25”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Netherlands”]\n[BlackTeam “England”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “NED”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,62\,19\,31\,25\,7\,-11\,-12\,27\,-3\,15\,5\,-1\,-41\,24\,-91\,-38\,-49\,-53\,-140\,-151\,\n-136\,-142\,-156\,-178\,-154\,-135\,-118\,-117\,-157\,-86\,-113\,-91\,-142\,-59\,-60\,-74\,\n-224\,-235\,-235\,-227\,-174\,-184\,-184\,-126\,-151\,-145\,-153\,-142\,-146\,-124\,-147\,\n-136\,-131\,-150\,-145\,-165\,-173\,-168\,-175\,-160\,-222\,-252\,-390\,-398]} 1. d4 Nf6 2.\nc4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 $6 (7. Bd2 O-O 8. a3\nBxc3 9. Bxc3 Qe7 10. e4 e5) 7… g5 8. Bg3 g4 9. Nh4 Nxd4 10. Qd3 e5 11. O-O-O\n$146 {[#]} Ne6 $17 12. Nb1 Ba5 13. Qa3 Bb6 14. Bxe5 Ne4 $1 15. Bxh8 Qxh4 16. c5\nQg5+ 17. Nd2 N6xc5 18. h4 gxh3 19. gxh3 Nxf2 20. Rh2 Nxd1 $19 21. Rg2 Qe3 22.\nRg8+ Ke7 23. Kxd1 Qxa3 24. bxa3 Ne6 25. h4 Bf2 26. h5 d5 27. Bh3 b6 28. Bxe6\nKxe6 29. Re8+ Kd7 30. Re5 Bb7 31. Bg7 Bd4 0-1\n[/pgn] \nA brilliant mathematician\, he took a first at Cambridge and chose a scholastic career\, joining a well-known public school (Winchester College). From there\, via a short spell in a business appointment (John Lewis)\, he entered the service of the Foreign Office\, where\, during the war years\, his valuable work earned him the OBE. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Match/Nation radio”]\n[Site “Radio”]\n[Date “1946.06.21”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Alexander\, Conel Hugh O’Donel”]\n[Black “Botvinnik\, Mikhail”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C18”]\n[Annotator “Ftacnik\,Lubomir”]\n[PlyCount “81”]\n[EventDate “1946.06.19”]\n[EventType “team-match”]\n[EventRounds “2”]\n[SourceTitle “MCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “England”]\n[BlackTeam “USSR”] \n{[%evp 0\,81\,34\,15\,46\,31\,28\,20\,32\,44\,21\,23\,30\,18\,26\,23\,44\,50\,51\,37\,77\,35\,68\,77\,\n117\,126\,136\,114\,127\,132\,113\,113\,118\,122\,119\,122\,65\,99\,125\,138\,150\,143\,143\,105\,\n106\,150\,609\,257\,335\,378\,413\,314\,314\,396\,396\,406\,379\,379\,458\,426\,407\,487\,500\,\n536\,516\,498\,504\,392\,379\,383\,435\,472\,447\,447\,447\,439\,482\,439\,461\,517\,572\,344\,\n417\,449]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4\ncxd4 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 Qa5 $6 (9… dxc3 10. Qd3 d4 11. f4 Nbc6 12. Nf3 $14 {\n(Yudovich)}) (9… Nbc6 10. f4 Qa5 11. Rb1 b6 12. Nf3 Ba6 13. Ng5 $1 $16 {Keres\n}) 10. Rb1 (10. Ne2 $1 {Keres} dxc3 11. Ng3 $1 Nd7 12. Nh5 d4 13. f4 $1 $14 {\nTimman-Korchnoi/Leeuwarden/1976}) 10… Qxc3+ (10… Nbc6 $5) 11. Bd2 Qc7 (\n11… Qxa3 $6 12. Nf3 (12. Bb4 {Keene/Levy}) 12… Nbc6 13. Bd3 Rxg2 $2 14. Ke2\n$18 {Moles}) 12. f4 Nbc6 13. Nf3 Bd7 14. Ng5 (14. h4) 14… Rxg5 (14… O-O-O\n15. Nxf7) (14… Rf8 15. h4) (14… Nd8 15. Bb4 $16 {Keene/Levy} Rf8 16. Qg7)\n15. fxg5 O-O-O (15… Qxe5+ 16. Kd1 $16 {Keene/Levy}) 16. Qxf7 {Fine} Qxe5+ 17.\nKd1 {Pachman} Nf5 18. g6 (18. Bd3 $1 Ne3+ 19. Bxe3 Qxe3 (19… dxe3 20. Qf6)\n20. Qf6 $1 e5 21. Re1 Bg4+ 22. Be2 Bxe2+ 23. Rxe2 Qg1+ 24. Re1 $16 {Botvinnik})\n18… Ne3+ (18… Nce7 19. g7 $1) 19. Kc1 Qe4 20. Bd3 Qxg2 21. Re1 Ne5 (21…\nNc4 22. Bxc4 dxc4 23. Qf6 $1 Qxh2 (23… Rg8) 24. Bg5 Qg3 25. Kb2 $1 Qc3+ 26.\nKa2 Qxc2+ 27. Rb2 Qc3 28. g7 Qxe1 29. Qxd8+ $1 Nxd8 30. g8=Q {Fine} Qa5 $1 31.\nRf2 $6 (31. Rh2 Ba4 $10 {Schwarz}) 31… Ba4 $1 {Schwarz}) 22. Qf4 Nf3 23. Re2\n(23. Ba5 $1) 23… Qh3 24. Bxe3 e5 25. Qf7 dxe3 26. g7 Qg4 27. h3 Qg1+ 28. Kb2\nQg3 29. Bg6 Nd4 30. g8=Q Rxg8 31. Qxg8+ Kc7 32. Qh7 Kd6 (32… Nxe2 33. Bf5)\n33. Bd3 e4 34. Qh6+ Kc7 35. Rxe3 Qe5 36. Ka2 Nf5 37. Qg5 Be6 38. Be2 d4+ 39.\nReb3 b5 40. Qd2 d3 41. Bg4 1-0\n[/pgn] \nHe plays imaginative and courageous chess and is never afraid of the wildest complications.” \nIM Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander CMG CBE (19-iv-1909 15-ii-1974). Source : The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match\nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume XCIV (94\, 1974)\, Number 6 (June)\, pp. 202-204 by PS Milner-Barry : \nWith the death of Hugh Alexander at the age of 64\, British chess has lost the outstanding figure of the past forty years. His active playing career over some thirty years included two victories in the British championship and regular appearances in all representative teams from l93l-58\, except when the nature of his Civil Service\nduties prevented him from travelling behind the Iron Curtain. During the whole of the period after the war he was the regular top board for the England team. In the Hastings international congress he twice won the Premier tournament\, on the second occasion tying with Bronstein. His victories in this series included two world champions (Euwe and Botvinnik) and numerous others in the Grandmaster class. He was an outstanding example\, like H.E.Atkins and Dr. Milan Vidmar\, of the amateur who could combine an exacting professional life of great responsibility and distinction with success in competitive international chess at the highest level and with the increasing professionalism of the game and the demands of knowledge and research that it makes upon the masters\, this was much more difficult in Hugh’s time than in an earlier age. \nIt was indeed in the international field that his fame will principally rest. On the British championship scene\, although he always did well before the War\, and won convincingly at Brighton in 1938 in a strong field\, his record did not match his abilities. He never established anything like the superiority over his contemporaries that Atkins in a former age and Penrose in a later achieved. He won the championship again\, in 1956\, but that was a weak year when the Moscow Olympiad took first claim on the leading British players. It was not that he cared less – like all the great players he hated losing\, though he was the most magnanimous of opponents – but that he seemed to require the stimulus of the great occasion\, and of a world famous name on the other side of the board\, to bring out the best in him. \nThe BCF Team at the Amsterdam Olympiad 1954. Left to right : Barden\, Clarke\, Penrose\, Wade\, Golombek (board three) and Alexander\nAlexander was perhaps the only English player of his day whom the Grandmasters would have treated as on a level with themselves. On his day he was liable to beat any of them\, and they were well aware of it. In his younger days he was very much the gay cavalier\, and a brilliant combinative and attacking player with a touch of genius. Latterly he lost some of this elan\, and adapted his style to the responsibilities of the B.C.T. top board. His opponents too\, with a healthy respect for his powers\, were less inclined to give him opportunities. He was as capable of the dead-bat technique as anybody\, and to that extent (to my way of thinking anyway) his games became less interesting\, with quick draws making a higher contribution to his top-board results than in earlier years. But none the less he was the anchor-man of the British team until his retirement after the 1958 Olympiad. \nKick Langeweg plays Hugh Alexander in the Anglo-Dutch Match of October 7th \, 1961. Peter Clarke (right) is playing Johan Teunis Barendregt and Harry Golombek observes\nIt was a great pity he gave up the game over the board at 50. He had years of good chess in him. But I think he felt he had scaled all the peaks he could scale\, and that he was finding top-class competitive chess a burden difficult to reconcile with his Civil Service work and the prospect of a gradual and inevitable decline in his powers did not appeal to him. I made many efforts to tempt him back to the arena\, but to no avail. I do not think he ever seriously regretted his decision\, and in his last years he immensely enjoyed correspondence chess. \nIn 1964\, Alexander became non-playing captain of the B.C.F. team\, and held that role continuously until after the Siegen Olympiad in 1970. \nHugh Alexander\, Čeněk Kottnauer\, Michael Franklin and Owen Hindle\nIt was rather a disappointing period for British chess\, and the results\, while we were rebuilding a young team\, could not – even with Penrose’s outstanding efforts at top board – have been expected to be favourable. But he threw himself wholeheartedly into all the work sponsored by the B.C.F. and the Friends of Chess to find and develop talent in the younger generation\, and before he died the fruits of these labours were beginning to appear. He would have been proud indeed to have witnessed our recent triumph in the Anglo-German match. \nAs a captain he was\, of course\, immensely liked and respected by his team. My impression was that he took his responsibilities almost too seriously\, and agonised too\nmuch over his decisions about whom to play and whom to rest. Nevertheless on balance he thoroughly enjoyed the work\, and certainly\, in spite of his innate modesty\, he\nwas never one to be disturbed by ill-informed or irresponsible criticism\, of which he had his share. \nConel Hugh O’Donel Alexander playing Alberic O’Kelly de Galway in a publicity shot before the start of the Hastings Premier.\, probably Hastings 1953-54\, the year Alexander tied first with Bronstein : thanks to Leonard Barden\nI suppose his most famous tournament result was his equal first with Bronstein at the Hastings Christmas Congress of 1953. Coming at a time when we were gloomily resigned to British players bringing up the rear in international tournaments\, this created a great sensation. \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im75EwDXEzg[/embedyt] \nThe game with Bronstein lasted over 100 moves and Alexander won a most difficult Queen and Pawn ending by impeccable technique. \nHugh Alexander plays David Bronstein during Hastings 1954\n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1953/54-29 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1954.01.06”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Bronstein\, David Ionovich”]\n[Black “Alexander\, Conel Hugh O’Donel”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “A83”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “240”]\n[EventDate “1953.12.30”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,240\,19\,31\,75\,-1\,-16\,-16\,3\,-21\,36\,30\,42\,26\,12\,4\,-19\,-13\,8\,-36\,-28\,-32\,\n-9\,-21\,-21\,-7\,0\,-3\,32\,-22\,0\,-58\,-29\,-41\,-39\,-41\,-41\,-41\,-51\,-55\,-79\,-79\,-71\,\n-65\,-43\,-60\,-26\,-41\,-24\,-24\,-41\,-32\,-60\,-64\,-75\,-70\,-73\,-74\,-74\,-86\,-84\,-114\,\n-141\,-149\,-153\,-159\,-157\,-157\,-102\,-108\,-112\,-108\,-108\,-105\,-104\,-113\,-104\,\n-102\,-102\,-102\,-103\,-103\,-110\,-128\,-134\,-157\,-147\,-155\,-142\,-166\,-159\,-166\,\n-161\,-154\,-154\,-151\,-155\,-155\,-167\,-168\,-168\,-171\,-171\,-171\,-153\,-176\,-169\,\n-169\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-187\,-193\,-189\,-190\,-190\,\n-190\,-190\,-193\,-194\,-194\,-194\,-190\,-194\,-115\,-194\,-194\,-194\,-194\,-194\,-117\,\n-151\,-165\,-181\,-188\,-193\,-193\,-193\,-190\,-190\,-190\,-195\,-195\,-208\,-215\,-214\,\n-214\,-214\,-226\,-229\,-237\,-226\,-226\,-226\,-202\,-208\,-215\,-226\,-226\,-226\,-232\,\n-229\,-237\,-236\,-229\,-236\,-232\,-271\,-206\,-217\,-205\,-205\,-206\,-211\,-211\,-211\,\n-218\,-226\,-234\,-235\,-236\,-216\,-214\,-228\,-241\,-245\,-239\,-288\,-262\,-263\,-281\,\n-417\,-381\,-468\,-513\,-496\,-420\,-420\,-290\,-301\,-301\,-308\,-301\,-421\,-267\,-338\,\n-263\,-335\,-355\,-409\,-478\,-554\,-588\,-764\,-1013\,-1240\,-483\,-624\,-503\,-503\,-503\,\n-545\,-569\,-589\,-642\,-701\,-829\,-931\,-982\,-1012\,-1022\,-1372\,-1012\,-1245\,-1022\,\n-1022\,-1022]} 1. d4 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. f3 exf3 5. Nxf3 g6 6. Bf4 Bg7\n7. Qd2 O-O 8. Bh6 d5 9. Bxg7 Kxg7 10. O-O-O Bf5 11. Bd3 Bxd3 12. Qxd3 Nc6 13.\nRde1 Qd6 14. Kb1 a6 15. Re2 Rae8 16. Rhe1 e6 17. Ne5 Nd7 18. Nf3 Rf5 19. Re3 e5\n20. dxe5 Ndxe5 21. Nxe5 Rfxe5 22. Rxe5 Rxe5 23. Rxe5 Qxe5 24. Qxd5 Qxh2 25.\nQd7+ Kh6 26. a3 Qd6 27. Qc8 Nd8 28. g4 Kg7 29. b3 c6 30. g5 Qe7 31. Qg4 Nf7 32.\nNe4 Qxa3 33. Qe6 Qa5 34. Nd6 Nxd6 35. Qf6+ Kg8 36. Qxd6 Qe1+ 37. Ka2 Qe8 38.\nQc7 b5 39. Kb1 Qe1+ 40. Kb2 Qe6 41. b4 Qe4 42. Qd8+ Kf7 43. Qf6+ Ke8 44. Qd6\nQd5 45. Qf6 Kd7 46. Qg7+ Kd6 47. Qf6+ Kc7 48. Qg7+ Qd7 49. Qe5+ Qd6 50. Qg7+\nKb6 51. Qc3 Qe7 52. Qd4+ Kb7 53. c3 Qf7 54. Qh8 Kb6 55. Qd4+ Kb7 56. Qh8 Qd7\n57. Ka3 Qe7 58. Qf6 Qc7 59. Kb2 a5 60. bxa5 Qxa5 61. Qe6 Qc7 62. Kb3 Qf4 63.\nQd7+ Kb6 64. Qd8+ Kc5 65. Qe7+ Kb6 66. Qd8+ Kc5 67. Qe7+ Kd5 68. Qd7+ Qd6 69.\nQg4 Qc5 70. Qd7+ Ke5 71. Qxh7 Kf5 72. Qd7+ Kxg5 73. Qd2+ Kf6 74. Qd8+ Kf7 75.\nQc7+ Qe7 76. Qf4+ Kg7 77. Qd4+ Qf6 78. Qe4 Kf7 79. Kb2 Qd6 80. Qf3+ Qf6 81. Qe4\ng5 82. Qh7+ Ke6 83. Qe4+ Kd6 84. Qd3+ Kc7 85. Qh7+ Kb6 86. Kc2 Qf4 87. Qe7 Qf2+\n88. Kb3 Qd2 89. Qe8 Qd5+ 90. Kb2 Qd6 91. Qe3+ Qc5 92. Qe8 Qf2+ 93. Kb3 Qf6 94.\nQd7 Kc5 95. Kc2 Qe5 96. Qd8 Qe4+ 97. Kb2 g4 98. Qd7 Kc4 99. Qd1 Qg2+ 100. Ka1\nc5 101. Qc2 Qf1+ 102. Kb2 Kd5 103. Qd2+ Ke4 104. Qg5 Qf5 105. Qh4 Kf3 106. Qh1+\nKe2 107. Qg2+ Ke1 108. c4 b4 109. Qg1+ Ke2 110. Qg2+ Ke3 111. Kb3 Qd3+ 112. Ka4\nQxc4 113. Qg3+ Kd2 114. Qf2+ Kc3 115. Qe3+ Kb2 116. Qe5+ Qc3 117. Qg5 g3 118.\nQg4 g2 119. Qg5 Qc1 120. Qxc5 Qc2+ 0-1\n[/pgn] \nStaged publicity picture of David Bronstein vs Hugh Alexander at Hastings 1953\nHe went on with the Black pieces to massacre Tolush\, the other visiting Russian Grandmaster. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1953/54-29 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1954.01.08”]\n[Round “9”]\n[White “Tolush\, Alexander V”]\n[Black “Alexander\, Conel Hugh O’Donel”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “A80”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “56”]\n[EventDate “1953.12.30”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,55\,19\,31\,75\,45\,45\,33\,27\,13\,23\,-9\,-22\,-3\,10\,9\,8\,-10\,-13\,-53\,-53\,-64\,\n-61\,-105\,-28\,-50\,-87\,-72\,-68\,-68\,-60\,-57\,-57\,-61\,-146\,-86\,-147\,-240\,-198\,-432\,\n-461\,-437\,-448\,-448\,-448\,-459\,-459\,-478\,-469\,-643\,-477\,-509\,-428\,-428\,-389\,\n-484\,-494\,-798]} 1. d4 f5 {Hugh usually preferred the KID or Grunfeld vs 1.d4\nbut he had a soft spot for the Dutch defence and trotted it out on special\noccasions.} 2. e3 {A fairly insipid approach by White.} Nf6 3. Bd3 d6 4. Ne2 {\nA fairly rare continuation.} (4. f4) 4… e5 {first played by Nimzowitsch in\n1925 and very rarely since.} 5. dxe5 dxe5 6. O-O $146 (6. Bb5+) 6… Bc5 {\nlimbering up …f4 at the right moment.} 7. Ng3 {intending Nh5 but is g3 a\ngood square for a knight?} g6 8. Bc4 {[#]} Qe7 $1 {Allowing …Be6 at some\npoint.} 9. Qd3 $6 {Encouraging a knight to come to b4.} (9. a3 {Keeping a\nknight out of b4.}) 9… Nc6 10. a3 e4 $1 $19 {Is this the move that Tolush\nfailed to appreciate the strength of?} 11. Qe2 Ne5 $19 {or is this the move\nthat Tolush failed to appreciate the strength of?} 12. Ba2 h5 $1 13. b4 Bd6 14.\nf4 exf3 15. gxf3 h4 {[#] White is being overwhelmed and without counterplay!}\n16. Nh1 g5 17. Nd2 Qg7 18. Bb2 g4 {Who would not enjoy having Black from this\nposition onwards!} 19. f4 Nf3+ 20. Kg2 h3+ 21. Kf2 Nxd2 22. Qxd2 Ne4+ {Ouch!}\n23. Kg1 Qxb2 (23… Nxd2 24. Bxg7 Rh7 25. Rf2 Ne4 26. Bb2 {was less\nadvantageous.}) 24. Qd5 Qf6 (24… Qxc2 25. Rf2 Qc3) 25. Bb3 c6 26. Qd3 Be6 27.\nBxe6 Qxe6 28. Qd4 {and Whte resigned before Black replied.} {Presumably the\nprospect of finding a move after} O-O-O {was too much to contemplate.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nImmense interest was created by this event. The popular press carried diagrams of the successive phases of the Bronstein saga. It was reported on the radio. By comparison with the furore created by the Spassky/Fischer match\, it was no doubt small beer\, but for those days the publicity was tremendous\, and Alexander became the\nhero of the hour. \nIt was entirely characteristic of him that this adulation did not go to his head. He kept everything in proportion\, and encouraged everybody else to do the same. He said all the right things about Bronstein\, but he did not claim\, as one tends to do on these emotional occasions\, that international sport was a panacea for friendship between the nations. Altogether it seemed to me an impeccable performance both on and off the board. \nChess\, CHO’D Alexander\, Pitman\, 1954\nIt is as a player that Hugh would\, I think\, have best wished to be remembered; and I have left myself little room to say anything about him as a journalist and writer. We are blessed\, as readers of the B.C.M. will know\, with many good and interesting writers on the game. But Hugh had\, I believe\, exceptional talents as a journalist. In his columns in the ‘Sunday Times‘\, and latterly the ‘Financial Times‘\, he set a very high standard. He always had something fresh and original to say\, especially\, I think\, to the intelligent amateur rather than the expert; and he said it in a way that was both disarmingly modest and yet lively and entertaining. The warmth of his personality came out clearly both in his writing and in his public speaking – both were entirely natural and wholly without amour-propre. \nHis articles gave great pleasure to a wide circle\, and many who never met him in the flesh must have felt that they had come to know him as a person. Similarly his book on the Spassky-Fischer match \nFischer v. Spassky : Reykjavik 1972\, CHO’D Alexander\, Penguin\, 1972\n(like the ‘Book of Chess’\, which was written in the last year of his life) is an extremely vivid\, as well as scholarly\, piece of writing. It is almost impossible to believe that it was completed\, within days of the conclusion of the match\, by a man apparently under sentence of death throughout its progress. \nA book of Chess\, CHO’D Alexander\, Harper & Row\, 1973\nNow that it has come\, the loss of Hugh Alexander to British chess and chessplayers\, alike as player\, writer\, administrator and friend\, is immeasurable. \nFrom CHESS\, Volume 39 (1974)\, Nos. 693-94\, March\,  p.162 by BH Wood : \nThe death of Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander deprived English chess of one of its most vivid characters. Born l9th April 1909\, he learnt chess at the age of 8. \nFrom a Londonderry college he went to King Edward’s School\, Birmingham\, where as a schoolboy he won the Birmingham Post cup\, which carries with it the unofficial championship of Staffordshire\, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Going on to Cambridge\, he not only won the University championship four years in succession\, but picked up first-class honours. He won the British championship in 1938. \nIn 1939 I found myself on a boat with him bound for the Chess Olympiad in Buenos\nAires. He was team captain with Sir George Thomas\, P. S. Milner-Barry and H. Golombek\nother distinguished members of the team. \nLeft to right Baruch H Wood\, Philip Stuart Milner-Barry\, Vera Menchik (playing in the women’s world championship held concurrently with the Olympiad which she won with 17 wins and 2 draws)\, Sir George Thomas\, Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander and Harry Golombek. England withdrew after their preliminary group due to the outbreak of war despite qualifying for the top final. Thanks to Leonard Barden\nWar broke out after about six rounds. With typical determination\, Alexander jettisoned chess for patriotism\, caught a boat home\, volunteered for service on disembarking\, and within a few weeks had attained the rank of colonel in British Intelligence. He remained attached to Intelligence and the Foreign Office until his\nretirement a few months ago. As a curious consequence of this commitment\, though he settled in to the team captaincy for the British Chess Federation in the biennial chess Olympiads and participated in many chess events abroad\, he was never allowed to travel anywhere behind the iron Curtain. \nHis fame certainly did\, however. In the radio match\, Britain v USSR in 1946\, the most important event in British chess for a decade before and after\, he found himself pitted against Mikhail Botvinnik\, then at the height of his powers and destined to hold the world championship for 14 years. The first game he lost; the second he won\, in superb style. His great adversary was outplayed. \nHe had some great years at Hastings. A 120 move victory over Bronstein with a queen and pawns endgame stretching over l3 hours through 3 days\, earned headlines in the national press unequalled until the Spassky-Fischer furore of 1972\, won him first place in 1954 and started him with a chess column in the Sunday Times. He was equal with Bronstein\, above O’Kelly\, Matanovic\, Olafsson\, Teschner\, Tolush\, Tartakover\, Wade and Horne. \nHastings illustrated Alexander’s weaknesses as well as his strengths. Twice he won the premier tournament there\, only to finish among the tail-enders the year after. Only once more was he to win the British champ- ionship; in a rather weak field\, entering at the last minute with typical opportunism. \nHe was a brilliant conversationalist and speaker\, a fine bridge player\, a master mathematician\, an expert on codes\, a first-class journalist and writer. Among varied other interests were croquet and philately. He threw himself wholeheartedly into anything he did. His organization\, “The Friends of Chess”\, provided generous financial support for a wide range of chess events. A few days before his death he was full of plans for the future\, including a big History of British Chess. He burnt himself out. The world of chess is a poorer and duller place without him.” \nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander was born in Cork\, Ireland. Awarded the IM title in 1950 at its inception and the IMC title in 1970\, he was British Champion in 1938 and 1956. \nDuring the Second World War\, he worked at Bletchley Park with Harry Golombek and Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry\, deciphering German Enigma codes and later for the Foreign Office. Alexander finished 2nd= at Hastings (1937/38) tied with Paul Keres after Samuel Reshevsky and ahead of Salomon Flohr and Reuben Fine. He held Mikhail Botvinnik to an equal score (+1\, -1) in the 1946 Anglo-Soviet Radio Match\, and won Hastings (1946/47) while finishing equal first at Hastings (1953/54). He represented England on six Olympiad teams. Alexander was also an author of note. He passed away in Cheltenham in 1974.” \n1st August 1933: C H O D Alexander playing Sultan Khan during the British Chess Championships at Hastings in Sussex. (Photo by Douglas Miller/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld : \nInternational Master (1950)\, International Correspondence Chess Master (1970). Born in Cork\, he settled in England as a boy. In spite or because of his intense application at the board his tournament performances were erratic. From about 1937 to the mid 1950s he was regarded as the strongest player in Great Britain\, although he won only two (1938\, 1956) of the 13 British Chess Federation Championships in which he competed; he played for the BCF in six Olympiads from 1933 to 1958. Holding a senior post at the Foreign Office\, he was not permitted to play in countries under Soviet control or influence; but when he did compete abroad he achieved only moderate results. His best tournament achievement was at Hastings 1937-8 when he was second (+4=5) equal with Keres after Reshevsky ahead of Fine and Flohr; but he is better remembered for his tie with Bronstein for first prize at Hastings 1953-4. He won his game against Bronstein in 120 moves after several adjournments\, and the outcome became a kind of serial in the press\, arousing great national interest in the game. Alexander was the author of several books on chess\, notably Alekhine’s Best Games of Chess 1938-1945 (1949) and A Book of Chess (1973). \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \nFor many years the chess correspondent of The Sunday Times\, The Spectator (pseudonym Philidor) and the Evening News. There was probably no “chess name that was better known to the non-chess-playing element of the British public than that of Hugh Alexander. His victory over Russian Grandmaster David Bronstein at Hastings in 1953\, after a struggle which lasted for 120 moves and took 13 hours\, made chess front page news in the British press. \nBorn in Cork on 19th April 1909\, Alexander picked up the game at prep school at the age of 8. In 1926 he won the Boy’s Championship\, later to be recognised as the British Boy’s Championship\, at Hastings. After coming down from Cambridge University\, where he won the university championship four times\, Alexander taught mathematics at Winchester College from 1932 to 1938. He later joined the Foreign Office. \nCaption as per photograph\nOne of the few British players who might have reached World Championship class if he had chosen to devote sufficient time to the game\, Alexander was at his best when he faced a top class opponent. \nDuring his chess career\, he scored victories over two World Champions Botvinnik and Euwe\, and he beat a number of other Grandmasters\, international tournaments were all at Hastings where he came =2nd in 1938 with Keres\, half a point behind Reshevsky and ahead of Fine and Flohr; 1st in 1947 and =1st with Bronstein in 1953. In 1951 tournament he came =5th.His other hobbies included bridge\, croquet and philately\, He was the Author of Alekhine’s Best Games of Chess 1938-1945 (Bell)\, Chess (Pitman) and joint author with T.J. Beach of Learn Chess; A New Way for All (Pergamon Press); \nLearn Chess : A Complete Course\, TJ Beach and CHO’D Alexander\, Everyman Chess\, 1994\nA Book of Chess (Hutchinson) 1973; The Penguin Book of Chess Positions (Penguin) 1973. \nThe Penguin Book of Chess Positions\, CHO’D Alexander\, Penguin\, 1973\nHere is an interesting article on his film appearance. \nHere is his detailed Wikipedia entry \nAccording to C.N. 10817 Hugh lived at various addresses when working at GCHQ : \n\nBrecken Lane\, Cheltenham.\n28 King’s Road\, Cheltenham\, GL52 6BG.\n\n\n28 King’s Road\, Cheltenham\, GL52 6BG\n\nOld Bath Lodge\, Thirlestaine Road\, Cheltenham\, GL53 7AS.\n\n\nAlexander on Chess\, CHO’D Alexander\, Pitman\, 1974\nThe Best Games of C.H.O’D. Alexander\nGolombek and Hartston\, The Best Games of C.H.O’D. Alexander (1976).
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-conel-hugh-odonel-alexander/
CATEGORIES:2023,British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Honours,Player,Remembering,Writer
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210216
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CREATED:20200409T180346Z
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UID:4288-1613347200-1613433599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Mark Hebden (15-ii-1958)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Mark Lesland Hebden (15-ii-1958) \nMrs. Joan Agar; Chairman of Leigh Interests\, presents the Leigh trophy (for 1981) to Mark Hebden. Left\, David Anderton\, BCF President; on the right Malcolm Wood\, Leigh’s Chief Executive. BCM\, 1981\, page 104
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-mark-lesland-hebden-15-ii-1958/
CATEGORIES:2023,Birthday,British Championships,Player
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DTSTAMP:20230217T193732Z
CREATED:20200716T220105Z
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UID:7479-1594857600-1594943999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Raaphi Persitz (26-vii-1934 04-ii-2009)
DESCRIPTION:We remember Raaphy(i) Persitz who passed away on Wednesday\, February 4th\, 2009. \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIX (129\, 2009)\, Number 3 (March)\, pp. 130-134 by John Saunders we have this detailed obituary: \nRaaphy Persitz\nA tribute to a great friend of British chess\, by John Saunders\nRaphael Joseph Arie (Raaphy) Persitz (26 vii 1934\, Tel Aviv – 4 ii 2009\, Tel Aviv) \n28th December 1955: Israeli chess player Raaphy Persitz in play at the International Chess Congress at Hastings. (Photo by Folb/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)\nRaaphy Persitz\, one of the strongest players resident in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s and also one of BCM‘s most popular contributors\, has died aged 74. Raaphy was born in Tel Aviv\, the grandson of Shoshana Persitz (1893-1969)\, a publisher who became an early member of the Knesset\, the Israeli parliament. Raaphy became Israel’s first junior champion in 1951 and shortly afterwards came to study PPE (Philosophy\, Politics and Economics) at Oxford University where he was a member of their very strong chess team and a close friend of Leonard Barden and others. \nRaaphy Persitz (26-vii-1934 04-ii-2009). 26 year-old Raaphy Persitz at the 1960 Leipzig Olympiad playing on board four for Israel. He scored +6\, =2\, -4.\nOne of his most publicised feats was to win his Varsity match game and also a county match against Hugh Alexander on the same day (see the May 1954 or March 2004 issues of the magazine for further details). Raaphy played three times in the Varsity match and also represented England in three Students Olympiads in the mid-1950s. He represented Israel in the 1960 Leipzig Olympiad on board four\, and also played twice in the Hastings Premier\, in 1955-56 and 1968-69\, the latter being his swansong in competitive chess as he turned his attention to a career in banking which took him first to Switzerland and eventually to his home town of Tel Aviv. As a player his best result was probably finishing third behind Reshevsky and Szabo at the first major international tournament held in Israel\, Haifa/Tel Aviv 1958. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1955/56-31 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1956.01.04”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Persitz\, Raaphi”]\n[Black “Penrose\, Jonathan”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C41”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “65”]\n[EventDate “1955.12.28”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\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\,65\,19\,38\,25\,7\,75\,61\,61\,49\,73\,66\,59\,38\,43\,42\,60\,58\,63\,50\,75\,46\,71\,47\,\n29\,36\,48\,-15\,-26\,-13\,-26\,-42\,-32\,-31\,-22\,-26\,-3\,-28\,-48\,-35\,-20\,-32\,40\,61\,80\,\n-20\,18\,-1\,9\,-73\,-46\,-131\,-142\,-109\,-36\,-74\,-62\,-93\,-30\,9\,51\,8\,67\,67\,67\,20\,120\,\n63]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. h3 c6 8.\na4 Qc7 {[#]} ({Relevant:} 8… b6 9. Qe2 a6 10. d5 c5 11. Bd3 Ne8 12. Nd1 Nc7\n13. Ne3 Re8 14. Nf5 Nf8 15. c4 Rb8 16. Bd2 a5 17. Rae1 Ng6 18. g3 Bf6 19. Qd1\nNe7 20. b3 Rb7 21. Kg2 Na6 22. Qc1 Nb4 23. Bb1 Kh8 24. Ne3 g6 25. Ng4 Ng8 26.\nNxf6 Qxf6 27. Ng1 Qg7 28. f4 f6 29. Nf3 Rbe7 30. fxe5 dxe5 31. Nh4 Rd8 32. Kh2\nh6 33. g4 Kh7 34. Re3 Na6 35. Rg3 Nc7 36. Kg2 Ne8 37. Nf3 Nd6 38. h4 {Roehrich\,\nE-Rellstab\,L Hamburg 1952 1-0 (69)}) 9. Bg5 $146 ({Predecessor:} 9. Re1 h6 10.\ndxe5 dxe5 11. Nh4 Re8 12. Qf3 Nf8 13. Nf5 Be6 14. Nxe7+ Qxe7 15. Bf1 Ng6 16.\nBe3 Kh7 17. a5 Nh4 18. Qg3 Ng6 19. f3 Nh5 20. Qf2 Ngf4 21. Kh2 g5 22. g3 Ng6\n23. Bxa7 Rg8 24. Bc5 Qf6 25. Be3 Qg7 26. Red1 Nf6 27. Rd6 Ne8 28. Rd2 Nf6 29.\nBe2 Nf8 30. b4 h5 31. Rad1 g4 32. fxg4 hxg4 33. h4 Ng6 34. Kg1 Nh5 35. Na4 Raf8\n36. Nc5 Bc8 37. Nd7 Bxd7 38. Rxd7 Nf6 {Matanovic\,A-Porreca\,G Belgrade 1952 1-0}\n) 9… Re8 10. Re1 Nf8 11. Bh4 Be6 12. Qe2 Nh5 13. Bxe6 Nxe6 14. d5 Nef4 15.\nQe3 cxd5 16. exd5 Bxh4 17. Nxh4 Qe7 18. Nf3 f5 19. Kh2 Qd7 20. Rad1 e4 21. Nd4\nRe5 22. Nde2 g5 23. Rg1 Kh8 24. f3 exf3 25. Qxf3 g4 26. Qf1 Ng6 27. Rd3 f4 28.\nNd4 Ng3 29. Qd1 Rh5 30. Ne6 gxh3 31. gxh3 Rh4 32. Ne2 Ne5 33. Nxg3 1-0\n[/pgn] \nDespite giving up competitive play\, Raaphy never lost his love of the game and remained an avid reader of magazines and follower of the game until the end of his life. And\, of course\, he remained a perceptive and humorous writer on the game though his output was much lower than in the 1950s. The news of his death came as a particular shock to me as\, only a couple of weeks previously\, he had sent me a fax saying how moved he had been by the tribute I had writ- ten to Bob Wade in the January 2009 issue of BCM. That was typical of his kindness to wards me which dated back to when I took my first tottering steps as BCM editor in 1999. We never actually met in person but spoke occasionally on the telephone and exchanged faxes (Raaphy didn’t seem to communicate by email). \nRaaphy Persitz (26-vii-1934 04-ii-2009)\nAs a long-time reader of the magazine I had enjoyed his Student’s Corner column contributions. The column had been initiated by Abe Yanofsky in the early 1950s and Raaphy had inherited it in 1958. I was particularly delighted when\, in 2004\, after I had written about his 1954 feat in winning his Varsity match game and a county match against English number one CHO’D(Hugh) Alexander on the same day\, Raaphy consented to write another column (which appeared in the May 2004 issue of BCM). I never succeeded in getting him to write another one but it was such a pleasure to have him write for the magazine during my spell as editor. \n[pgn]\n[Event “County Match\, Oxon  v Gloucester”]\n[Site “Swindon ENG”]\n[Date “1954.03.27”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Persitz\, Raaphy”]\n[Black “Alexander\, Conel Hugh”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C47”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “79”]\n[EventDate “1954.??.??”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM\, May 1954\, -age 151”]\n[Source “‘Cabbage Heads a”]\n[WhiteTeam “Oxfordshire”]\n[BlackTeam “Gloucestershire”] \n{[%evp 0\,79\,28\,28\,28\,13\,25\,5\,8\,-17\,37\,33\,22\,2\,75\,57\,57\,57\,47\,36\,91\,58\,60\,29\,39\,\n22\,40\,83\,83\,24\,51\,41\,74\,79\,76\,76\,74\,74\,74\,69\,69\,37\,37\,30\,38\,0\,7\,10\,52\,-46\,52\,\n33\,-10\,-21\,27\,15\,34\,19\,14\,116\,117\,80\,95\,-102\,56\,56\,60\,194\,200\,196\,204\,0\,7\,0\,\n259\,268\,287\,290\,288\,288\,504\,523]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 Bb4 5.\nd5 Ne7 6. Nxe5 O-O 7. Qd4 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 {[#]} Re8 $146 ({Relevant:} 8… d6 9.\nNf3 Re8 10. Be2 c5 11. Qd3 Ng6 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. g3 Bh3 15. Nd2 b5\n16. Rb1 a6 17. f4 Qe7 18. Kf2 f5 19. Bf3 Qf6 20. Rhe1 Ra7 21. exf5 Rxe1 22.\nRxe1 Bxf5 23. Be4 Bxe4 24. Nxe4 Qf8 25. Ng5 hxg5 26. Qxg6 Rf7 27. Qxg5 Rf5 28.\nQg6 Rf6 29. Qe8 Qxe8 30. Rxe8+ Kf7 31. Ra8 Rf5 32. Rxa6 Rxd5 33. Ke2 Ke6 34.\nRa5 Rh5 35. h4 Kd5 36. Rxb5 Kc4 37. Rb3 Rh8 38. a4 {Cortlever\,N-Milner Barry\,P\nLondon 1952 1-0}) 9. Bg5 Nf5 10. exf5 d6 11. f4 dxe5 12. fxe5 Qxd5 13. O-O-O\nQxd4 14. cxd4 Ne4 15. Bh4 Nc3 16. Rd3 Nxa2+ 17. Kb2 Nb4 18. Rf3 a5 19. c3 Nd5\n20. Bc4 c6 21. g4 b5 22. Bd3 Bd7 23. g5 c5 24. Rhf1 a4 25. Be4 Bc6 26. g6 a3+\n27. Ka1 cxd4 28. gxf7+ Kxf7 29. e6+ Kg8 30. cxd4 Ra4 31. Rg1 Rxd4 32. f6 Rxe4\n33. f7+ Kf8 34. fxe8=Q+ Kxe8 35. Bf2 b4 36. Bc5 Rxe6 37. Rf8+ Kd7 38. Rxg7+ Ne7\n39. Bxb4 Bd5 40. Rff7 1-0 \n[/pgn] \n(Regarding the above game there is a note from Sally Simpson on chessgames.com as follows: \nRaaphi Persitz agreed to play for Oxford v Cambridge in London and also on the same day for Oxon v Gloucester in a county match in Swindon. \nThis is the second game\, he won both games. \nBe aware that Bruce Hayden in ‘Cabbage Heads and Kings’\, which is where I got this game from\, mentions this but also added that these games took place on the same day as the 1954 Grand National (won by Royal Tan). This is wrong as the Grand National that year was run on the 10 April. \nI think that maybe Bruce saw the score of the games with the two games a day story in a Sunday newspaper covering Saturdays Grand National and perhaps got the dates mixed up. \n) \nThe fax he sent me on 7 January 2009 seems particularly poignant now but it is a good example of Raaphy’s kindness and self-deprecating humour. Here is the full text: \n“Dear John\, I was moved by your wide-ranging obituary of Bob Wade in the BCM[January 2009\, p34l. I dare say you did justice to his contributions and devotion to chess\, spanning well over half a century. I have several pleasant recollections of conversations and over-the-board encounters with Bob. One such tussle\, a hard-fought draw\, was reproduced by Bob\, with comments (in the Student’s Corner) in a book containing his eventful games. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1968/69-44 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1969.01.02”]\n[Round “6”]\n[White “Persitz\, Raaphi”]\n[Black “Huebner\, Robert”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “E82”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “55”]\n[EventDate “1968.12.28”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\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\,55\,19\,31\,14\,-14\,43\,38\,37\,33\,33\,10\,9\,21\,31\,23\,50\,27\,18\,21\,51\,55\,45\,38\,\n34\,27\,7\,-2\,-2\,13\,-9\,-14\,59\,21\,11\,14\,31\,24\,17\,-8\,-7\,-16\,-48\,-48\,-42\,-48\,0\,-1\,7\,\n5\,10\,28\,41\,-20\,183\,202\,29993\,29994]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5.\nf3 O-O 6. Be3 b6 7. Bd3 a6 8. Qd2 c5 9. d5 e6 10. Nge2 ({Relevant:} 10. dxe6\nBxe6 11. Bh6 Bxh6 12. Qxh6 Nbd7 13. Nh3 Ne5 14. O-O-O b5 15. Ng5 Qe7 16. Be2 b4\n17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. Rxd5 Rfd8 19. Rhd1 Nc6 20. f4 Nd4 21. Bf3 Qf8 22. Qxf8+ Kxf8\n23. R5xd4 cxd4 24. e5 dxe5 25. fxe5 Rdc8 26. exf6 Rxc4+ 27. Kd2 Rc5 28. Ne4 Ra5\n29. Kd3 Rxa2 30. Rb1 a5 31. Rc1 Rxb2 32. Rc7 Rb3+ 33. Kd2 Rb2+ 34. Kd1 d3 35.\nNg5 Kg8 36. Rxf7 Ra6 37. Rg7+ Kf8 38. Nxh7+ {1-0 (38) Szabo\,L-Najdorf\,M Mar\ndel Plata 1962}) 10… exd5 11. exd5 Nbd7 {[#]} 12. O-O $146 ({Predecessor:}\n12. Ng3 Re8 13. O-O Ng4 14. Bg5 f6 15. Bf4 Nge5 16. Be2 f5 17. Bg5 Nf6 18. Bh6\nBh8 19. Rfd1 Ra7 20. Rab1 Nf7 21. Be3 h5 22. Bf1 h4 23. Nge2 Nh5 24. Nf4 Nxf4\n25. Bxf4 Bd4+ {0-1 (25) Tamburini\,M-Botvinnik\,M Leipzig 1960}) 12… Ne5 13. b3\nNxd3 14. Qxd3 b5 15. Rae1 Qa5 16. Ng3 Rb8 17. Bd2 Qb6 18. Nce4 Nxe4 19. fxe4 a5\n20. Bc3 bxc4 21. bxc4 Bxc3 22. Qxc3 Qb2 23. Qxa5 Qd4+ 24. Kh1 Rb2 25. e5 Qxc4\n26. e6 Qb4 27. Qc7 Ba6 28. Qxf7+ 1-0\n[/pgn] \nAnother\, somewhat less felicitous\, recollection harks back to a game we contested at Ilford\, where\, in extreme time trouble\, I blithely played Rxh7+\, expecting …Qxh7\, but overlooking the simple …Kxh7\, leaving me a whole rook down with no compensation\, whereupon I duly resigned. What impressed me at the time was the lightning speed with which Bob reacted to my ill-fated blunder – as if it were nothing but inevitable… \nWith warmest wishes for a healthy\,\nhappy\, fruitful 2009. Raaphy.” \nI had hoped to publish the above as a Letter to the Editor but\, sadly\, it must now appear as part of Raaphy’s obituary. The draw with Bob Wade referred to in the fax was played in Dublin in 1962 and featured in Student’s Corner in BCM in the December 1966 issue on page 356. It seems appropriate to reproduce the game here in tribute to these two recently departed and much-loved chessplayers. \nNotes by Persitz\nUnlike the majority of games that have\, over the years\, appeared in the Student’s Corner\, the following dour struggle between Bob Wade (White) and myself (Black)\, from Dublin\, 1962\, is in no way outstanding: it does not contain any brilliant combinations; it is not a positional masterpiece; it is certainly not devoid of mistakes. Nor is it amusing\, or original\, or of theoretical interest or particularly instructive. Yet (with the aid of the interspersed comments) it ought to give the student a pretty shrewd and realistic idea of the stuff competitive chess is made of: the endless number of laborious variations that have to be examined; the annoying little threats that must be attended to; the treacherous pitfalls to be sidestepped; the technical hurdles to be surmounted; the frustrating little details\, indifference to which may be fatal; in brief\, the drudgery that has become part and parcel of contemporary tournament practice\, without which success is unimaginable. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Dublin”]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “1962.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Wade\, Robert Graham”]\n[Black “Persitz\, Raaphy”]\n[Result “1/2-1/2”]\n[Annotator “Raaphy Persitz”]\n[SetUp “1”]\n[FEN “5rk1/1p4bp/1pn1p1p1/3pPp2/r2P4/7P/PP2BPP1/R1BR2K1 w – – 0 19”]\n[PlyCount “54”]\n[EventDate “1962.??.??”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM\, 2009\, p.131”] \n{[%evp 0\,1\,-80\,-94] [#] White’s position does not inspire much confidence:} {\nAfter 40 minutes reflection\, White hits upon a drastic solution which displays\na profound understanding of the position.} 19. b4 $1 {The idea behind this\nremarkable move is a simple as the move itself is startling: since White’s\ncentral pawns exercise a cramping influence on Black’s king’s flank\, he will\ngo out of his way to hold on to them\, even if this involves jettisoning both\nhis queenside pawns. Black’s b-pawn will be subjected to a frontal attack\nalong the b-file.} ({the straightforward} 19. Be3 {\, to protect the hanging\nd-pawn\, will not do because of} f4 20. b3 Rb4 {etc}) ({whilst if} 19. Bb5 {\nsimply} Rxd4) 19… Nxb4 $2 {Frittering away most of his advantage.} ({\nAdmittedly neither} 19… Rxb4 20. Ba3 Rxd4 21. Bxf8) ({nor} 19… Nxd4 20.\nRxd4 Bxe5 21. Bb2 Bxd4 22. Bxd4 Rxb4 23. Rd1 {yields Black any superiority.}) (\n{But the tranquil} 19… Rfa8 {does} {For example} 20. a3 Rxb4 21. Be3 (21.\naxb4 Rxa1) 21… Rb2) 20. Bb5 $1 (20. a3 $2 Nc2) 20… Rxa2 $2 {Unnecessarily\njeopardising the black kinght.\, thus handing over the initiative to White.} ({\nThe safe course is} 20… Raa8 21. a4 Nc6 (21… Rfc8 $2 22. Bd7) ({or} 21…\nKf7 22. Ba3)) ({Less good is} 20… Nc2 $2 21. Bxa4 Nxa1 22. Bb2 Ra8 23. Bd7\nNc2 24. Bxe6+ Kf8 25. Bxd5 {when White’s connected passed pawns carry the day.}\n) 21. Rxa2 ({After} 21. Rb1 Nc6 (21… Na6 $2 22. Bd7) 22. Bxc6 bxc6 23. Rxb6\nRc2 {White does not appear to have enough for his minus pawn.}) 21… Nxa2 22.\nBd2 Ra8 {[#] The text move is aimed at rescuing the knight} ({Black had\noriginally intended to follow up 20…Rxa2? with} 22… Kf7 $2 {preparing for\n23…Rc8-c2 (which is not feasible right away on account 23.Bd7).} {but he had\nnot noticed that White would trap the displaced knight by means of} 23. Ra1 Ra8\n24. Bd3 {etc.}) 23. Rb1 ({If} 23. Ra1 Bf8 24. Bd3 Ra3 25. Bb1 {and the rescue\ncompletes} {by way of} Nc1 $1) 23… Kf7 24. Bd7 $2 ({If} 24. Be2 {then either}\nRc8 ({or} 24… Ra4 {suffices} 25. Bd1 ({or} 25. Rxb6 Rxd4 26. Rxb7+ Kg8 27.\nRb8+ (27. Rb2 Ra4) (27. Be3 Rb4 28. Ra7 Nc3) 27… Kf7 28. Rb7+ Kg8 29. Rb8+ {\nwith a draw by repetition of moves.}) 25… Rxd4 26. Rb2 Nc3 $1) 25. Rxb6 Rc2 {\netc}) ({More promising is} 24. Rb2 $1 {with Rc2 and Rc7 to follow whereupon\nBlack would find it extremely difficult to avoid the loss of his weak e-pawn.})\n24… Ke7 (24… Ra6 25. Bc8) 25. Rxb6 (25. Bb5 Rc8 $1 26. Bg5+ Kf7 27. Bd7 (\n27. Rb2 Nc3 $1) 27… Rc7) 25… Kxd7 (25… Bxe5 26. Bxe6 Bxd4 27. Bg5+ Bf6\n28. Bxf6+ Kxf6 29. Bxd5+ {which peters out into a draw.}) 26. Rxb7+ Kc6 {\nThe king is destined to play a leading part in the ending.} 27. Rxg7 {The game\nnow enters a new and tricky phase. White’s king is out of play\, but so is\nBlack’s knight.} Ra4 (27… Kb5 {\, in order to answer} 28. Re7 (28. Rxh7 Kc4\n29. Be3 {and White’s h-pawn becomes dangerous.} (29. Rg7)) 28… Ra6 {\, is too\nslow.}) 28. Re7 (28. Rxh7 {tends to favour Black} {i.e.} Rxd4 29. Bg5 Rd1+ 30.\nKh2 d4) ({Worse is} 28. Be3 Nc3 29. Rxh7 (29. Re7 $142) 29… f4 $1 30. Bd2\nNe2+ 31. Kf1 Nxd4 $17) 28… Rxd4 29. Rxe6+ Kb5 {[#]} 30. Be3 {Setting Black a\ndiscreet pitfall:} Re4 (30… Rd1+ 31. Kh2 d4 32. Rd6 d3 (32… dxe3 33. Rxd1)\n(32… Kc5 33. Bxd4+ $1) 33. e6 {and White wins.}) 31. Rb6+ Kc4 32. Rc6+ Kd3 (\n32… Kb5 $2 33. Rc5+) 33. e6 Nc3 {The knight returns from the cold.} ({instead\n} 33… d4 {loses outright to} 34. Rd6) 34. Rd6 ({If} 34. Bc5 Ne2+ (34… d4\n35. Rd6 Nb5 36. Rb6 Kc4 37. Bf8 d3) (34… Re1+ 35. Kh2 Ne4 36. Be3 f4 37. e7\nfxe3)) 34… f4 {warding off 35.Bg5 and denying the white king of access to\nthe flight square g3.} 35. Bc5 ({The alternative is} 35. Bb6 {(threatening 36\nBd8\, 37 e7\, 38 Rf6 and 39 Rf8 etc.)} Re1+ 36. Kh2 Re5 37. Bd8 Ne4 38. Rd7 {\nwith a draw after} Rxe6 (38… Nxf2 39. Bh4 Ne4 40. e7 g5 41. Rxd5+ Rxd5 42.\ne8=Q gxh4 43. Qf7 {being advantageous to White.}) 39. Rxd5+) 35… Re1+ 36. Kh2\nKc4 ({abstaining from} 36… Ne4 $2 37. Rxd5+ Kc4 {which goes down to} 38. Re5\n$1) 37. Bb6 {angling for Bd8 followed by e7\, Rf6-f8 and e8=Q.} Ne4 38. Rd7 (38.\nRc6+ Kb5 39. e7 {would lead to disaster after} Nd2) ({Likewise\, if} 38. Ba5 $2\nRa1 {menacing three white pieces}) ({if} 38. Rd8 Ng5) 38… Nd2 {attacking the\ne-pawn and threatening mate in three moves.} ({To} 38… Nf6 {White retorts not\n} 39. Rd6 ({nor} 39. Rc7+ Kb5 40. Bd4 Rxe6) ({but} 39. Re7 {with a level\nposition.}) 39… Ne8 40. Rc6+ Kb5) 39. Ba5 {Making the draw inescapeable.}\nNf1+ 40. Kg1 ({Of course\, if} 40. Kh1 $4 Ng3+ {and mates next move; which goes\nto show that other things being equal\, double check causes more damage than\ndiscovered ones.} 41. Kh2 Rh1#) 40… Nd2+ 41. Kh2 Nf1+ ({On} 41… Rd1 {\nWhite’s safest course is} 42. g4 {\, when Black does not appear to have\nanything more promising than} (42. Bxd2 Rxd2 {favours Black}) ({whilst the\nconsequences of} 42. h4 h5 {are obscure.}) 42… Nf3+ 43. Kg2 Nh4+ 44. Kh2 Nf3+\n{drawing by perpetual check.}) (41… Re2 42. e7) 42. Kg1 Ra1 {A last\, albeit\nharmless\, gesture.} 43. g4 Nd2+ {and a draw was agreed in anticipation of} ({\nThe careless} 43… fxg3 $2 44. Kg2 Rxa5 {would invite White to queen his\npassed pawn after} 45. e7 Ra8 46. Rd8 Ra7 47. e8=Q) 44. Kg2 (44. Kh2 Nf3+ 45.\nKg2 Nh4+ {and so on.}) 44… f3+ 45. Kh2 ({if} 45. Kg3 {he gets the worst of\nthe ending after} Ne4+) 45… Nf1+ {and so on and so forth.} 1/2-1/2\n[/pgn] \nRaaphy Persitz Tributes\nLeonard Barden: Raaphy was probably my best friend at Oxford – certainly so among chessplayers. We played hundreds of blitz games in the junior common room at Balliol and later for some months in 1957 we shared a London flat\, analysing Russian championship games over breakfast. He was a wonderful man to know\, bright\, witty\, gentle\, sympathetic and knowledgeable. \nLeonard Barden (centre) with Raaphi Persitz\, JB Sykes\, OI Galvenius and DM Armstrong\, Ilford\, May\, 1953\nA tribute by Amatzia Avni: Ordinary people have a mixture of good qualities and bad ones. After 20 years of friendship with the late Raaphy Persitz I can attest that he was a distinct type: one sided\, positive-only; pure gold. \nI first met him in 1989. I had just written my first chess book (in Hebrew) and was searching for someone to write me an introduction. The word was that Persitz was back in town\, after long years abroad. Having seen glimpses of his amazing linguistic skills\, I contacted him and he agreed immediately. He didn’t know me\, hadn’t read a single sentence of the book\, yet he didn’t hesitate: “yes\, sure\, I’ll be glad to”. \nThat was typical Persitz: always ready to help\, unconditionally. The introduction\, needless to say\, was a sheer delight\, a class or two above the rest of the book. In later years he gave me a hand several times polishing my texts and making them more reader-friendly to English-speaking readers. Somehow he seemed to know what I wished to express better than I did. His suggestions enabled me to convey my meaning in a clear and precise manner. \nRaaphy was modest and reserved. Once I called him and realized he was upset. “My mother had passed away some weeks ago\,” he said. I was puzzled why he didn’t tell me the sad news at the time. “I didn’t want to bother you” was his reply. \nA couple of years ago I stumbled upon Bruce Hayden’s old book Cabbage Heads and Chess Kings. One of the book’s chapters was headed “Raaphy Persitz star or comet?”. I learned that\, in the 1950s\, Persitz gained bright victories in England\, against Penrose\, Alexander\, Milner-Barry and others. Searching a Chessbase database I found out that he also done battle with some out- standing international players. Yet\, in all our meetings and hundreds of hours of conversation\, he never said a thing about that! \nPersitz was a master of understatement. I learned that if I wrote “very fine” or “extremely strong”\, the ‘very’ and ‘extremely’ would fly out of the window. If I made a firm stand on a certain issue\, he would add “probably”\, “apparently’ or “it may be argued that”\, because it was indeed only an opinion\, not a fact. Over time\, following his line of thought made me improve the way I expressed myself and thought about chess. \nPersitz’s distinctions in chess\, in linguistics and in journalism are evident to anyone who ever read his chess books and articles. He also excelled at economics\, but I am unqualified to comment on this. \nGod bless you\, Raaphy. I feel privileged to have known you. Amatzia Avni. \nHere is his Wikipedia entry
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-raaphi-persitz-26-vii-1934-04-ii-2009/
CATEGORIES:2023,British Championships,History,Player,Remembering
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210225
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210226
DTSTAMP:20210305T161528Z
CREATED:20200221T110026Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T161528Z
UID:3368-1614211200-1614297599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM David Goodman (25-ii-1958)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM David Simon Charles Goodman (25-ii-1958) \nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“David Simon Charles Goodman was awarded the IM title in 1983. He was World Under 18 Champion in 1975. He played #10 on the English national team in Moscow.\nHe currently resides in New York City where he is a chess trainer for promising young students.” \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nIM David Goodman\n[pgn]\n[Event “England”]\n[Site “England”]\n[Date “1978.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Goodman\, David SC”]\n[Black “Nunn\, John DM”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A28”]\n[WhiteElo “2320”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “47”]\n[EventDate “1978.??.??”]\n[EventType “game”]\n[EventRounds “1”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2010”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2010.11.25”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2010.11.25”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,47\,19\,-12\,-27\,-33\,-27\,-19\,-14\,-26\,-23\,-26\,-17\,-43\,-6\,-64\,-44\,-47\,-47\,\n-47\,-8\,-33\,-30\,-11\,-28\,-50\,21\,17\,38\,19\,9\,21\,-23\,-12\,-20\,-56\,350\,345\,346\,347\,\n347\,347\,347\,347\,381\,392\,760\,29996\,29997\,29998]} 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6\n4. e3 Bb4 5. Qc2 O-O 6. Nd5 Re8 7. Qf5 {First played in 1977 by Keene versus\nKorchnoi.} d6 8. Nxf6+ gxf6 9. Qh5 d5 10. a3 Bf8 11. d4 Be6 12. Bd3 e4 13. Bc2\nNe7 14. Nd2 f5 15. cxd5 Qxd5 16. f3 Qc6 $11 17. Nxe4 Qxc2 $2 (17… Nd5 18. Nc5\nBxc5 19. dxc5 Qxc5 20. Bd3 $11) 18. Nf6+ $18 Kg7 19. e4 Qxc1+ 20. Rxc1 Kxf6 21.\nQxh7 Ng6 22. e5+ Kg5 23. h4+ Kf4 24. Kf2 1-0\n[/pgn] \n(from l-r) Jonathan Kinlay\, Shaun Taulbut\, Jonathan Speelman\, David Goodman and Jonathan Mestel accepting 1st prize at the 1978 World U26 Student Olympiad in Mexico City\nShaun Taulbut (upper right) and David Goodman (lower right) from the 1978 U26 Olympiad
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-david-simon-charles-goodman-25-ii-1958/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,History,Player
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210301
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210302
DTSTAMP:20210305T164208Z
CREATED:20200221T114653Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T164208Z
UID:3380-1614556800-1614643199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Stuart Conquest (01-iii-1967)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Stuart Conquest (01-iii-1967) \nStuart Conquest (far left) at Paul Buswell’s house\nStuart Conquest
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-stuart-conquest-01-iii-1967/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210305
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210306
DTSTAMP:20210305T164549Z
CREATED:20200319T151631Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T164549Z
UID:3610-1614902400-1614988799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Daniel Fernandez (05-iii-1995)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes Happy Birthday to GM Daniel Fernandez who at 26 is currently England’s youngest Grandmaster. The previous GM title holder was Jonathan Hawkins in 2014 making two in seven years. \nDaniel Howard Fernandez was born in Stockport\, Manchester on Sunday\, March 5th 1995.  “Think Twice” by Celine Dion was top of the UK hit parade. \nDaniel started playing chess at the age of seven (after his father taught him the rules) and at this time attended King’s School\, Harpenden.  His first chess club was Little Heath which became the ECF Small Club of the Year in 2015. They play in the Potter’s Bar area and include IM John Pigott in their membership. \nAt Little Heath Chess Club Daniel was coached by Mark Uniacke (who worked extensively on the early chess engine HIARCS). \nDaniel went up to Queen’s College\, Cambridge to read mathematics and left to become a Data Analyst at Mu Sigma Inc. He can speak several languages (including Serbian!) and works as a translator when opportunities arise. \nHe currently lives in Australia offering coaching and writing chess books (for Thinkers Publishing) and columns for Chessbase. In his spare time (!) Daniel is studying for The Master of Complex Systems degree at The University of Sydney. \nDaniel’s first ECF graded game was rapidplay on July 5th 2003 in the SCCU Junior Under-14 Final. \nHis first standard play game was in August 2003 at the Edinburgh based British Under-8 Championship. \nDaniel Fernandez\nDaniels ECF grading profile demonstrated rapid improvement : \nECF grading profile for Daniel Fernandez\nOn August 13th 2004 in Scarborough Daniel became British Under-9 Champion sharing the title with Daniel Hunt & Saravanan Sathyanandha. \nThe Fernandez family relocated to Singapore in August\, Daniel attending the Anglo-Chinese School in Singapore. He was swiftly recruited into the Singapore Chess Federation’s (SCF) National Junior Squad. Also in that squad were Danielle Ho and Howard Chiu (remember this for later!). \nBarely three weeks after his Scarborough triumph on September 4th 2004 Daniel played his first FIDE rated game in the 5th Asian Under-10 Championship organised by the ASEAN Chess Confederation. His performance in this event was rewarded with a FIDE Master title in 2005. Because he was no longer active in English events the ECF had the unusual scenario of having a ten year old FIDE Master with a published grade of ~120! \nIn typically modest fashion Daniel confesses  that he did not “deserve” the FM title at this time and that it was the consequence of the strong position of the ASEAN and SCF organisations  within world chess. At the same event Wesley So gained his FM title in the Under-12 section. \nFM Daniel Fernandez\nAnother interesting consequence of the relocation was that when Daniel returned to England in 2012 his last published grading went from ~ 120 to ~230! \nOne of the motivations of  returning to England was to obtain the necessary entrance requirement to study mathematics at Cambridge. This he did by studying for A-levels at Manchester Grammar School. \nDaniel with IM Jovan Petronic during the 2010 world juniors in Chotowa\, Poland | Photo: Diana Mihajlova\nConsequently Daniel’s FIDE rating profile also showed a fast pace of development: \nFIDE rating profile for Daniel Fernandez\nSydney 2009 and Sydney 2010 both provided IM norms with the third one coming from Kuala Lumpar 2010 and with these Daniel became an International Master in 2010 the title being confirmed at the 3rd quarter Presidential Board Meeting 2010\, 24-25 July 2010\, Tromso in Norway. \nIM Daniel Fernandez\, 100th British Championships\, Round 5\, Torquay. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nHe won the Budapest Sarkany Tournament in 2014 as follows: \nFull Crosstable from Budapest Sarkany Tournament\, 2014.\nearning his first GM norm in the process. \nIM Daniel Fernandez\, 101st British Championships\, Aberystwyth. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nBCN asked Daniel for three of his favourite games. The first one is this Polish Defence game from 2015 played at the Visma Arena in Vaxjo\, Sweden. First we have the crosstable showing that Daniel earnt his second GM norm from this event. \nFull Crosstable for Vaxjo\, Visma tournament in Sweden\, 2015.\nand here is the game: \n[pgn]\n[Event “Vaxjo Visma GM”]\n[Site “Vaxjo”]\n[Date “2015.06.27”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Smith\, Axel”]\n[Black “Fernandez\, Daniel Howard”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B00”]\n[WhiteElo “2452”]\n[BlackElo “2447”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “86”]\n[EventDate “2015.06.24”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “SWE”]\n[EventCategory “10”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 167 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2015.09.14”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2015.09.14”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,86\,63\,13\,126\,116\,101\,97\,97\,97\,84\,96\,96\,57\,79\,51\,50\,52\,38\,58\,82\,70\,93\,\n31\,-1\,-22\,-19\,-35\,-16\,-50\,29\,-1\,0\,-22\,-36\,-36\,-36\,-92\,-81\,-92\,-84\,-82\,-73\,-104\,\n-95\,-79\,-36\,-33\,-51\,-74\,-42\,-51\,-51\,-91\,-86\,-99\,-91\,-87\,-87\,-82\,-105\,-100\,-127\,\n-111\,-148\,-160\,-139\,-127\,-136\,-254\,-164\,-257\,-259\,-257\,-309\,-663\,-691\,-933\,\n-153\,-747\,-809\,-824\,-875\,-986\,-1014\,-2303\,-2794\,-29999\,-30000]} 1. d4 b5 {\nThe Polish Defence as used by Spassky against Petrosian.} 2. e4 a6 3. Nf3 {\nWhen is it the right time for White to play a4?} Bb7 4. Bd3 e6 5. O-O c5 6. c3\nd6 ({more common is} 6… Nf6 7. Re1 Be7 8. Bg5) 7. Re1 Nd7 8. Nbd2 Qc7 {\nA rare choice but must be reasonable.} (8… Be7 9. Nf1 Ngf6 10. Ng3 O-O 11. h3\nQc7) 9. a4 $18 {[#] and eventually we get the thematic break against …b5 The\nengines are complimentary of White’s position.} c4 10. Bb1 $6 {This would\nappear to be a strange decision.} (10. Bf1 {Maintaining the presssure on\nBlack’s pawns must be superior.}) 10… Be7 11. Nf1 {You’d imagine that b3 at\nsome point would make sense leaving the pressure on c4.} Ngf6 12. Ng3 O-O 13.\nh4 Rfe8 14. h5 {White seems to be struggling to find a decent plan.} e5 15. Nf5\nBf8 16. axb5 axb5 17. Rxa8 Rxa8 18. Nd2 g6 $1 {If Black can expell the knight\non f5 then probably he is better.} 19. hxg6 hxg6 $17 20. Ne3 Bg7 {Strong\npointing e5 further.} 21. d5 Nc5 {[#] Black is gaining the upper hand.} 22.\nNg4 Bc8 23. Nxf6+ Bxf6 24. Qf3 Bg5 25. Nf1 Qe7 26. Ne3 Nb3 27. Bc2 Nxc1 28.\nRxc1 {Black can now really dominate the dark squares.} Ra2 29. b3 Qa7 30. bxc4\nbxc4 31. Qe2 {[#]} Bg4 $1 {Ouch! Perhaps White had missed this shot?} 32. Qe1\nBxe3 33. fxe3 Qa3 $1 {and it is all over bar the shouting…} 34. Kh2 (34. Rb1\nRxc2 35. Rb8+ Kg7 36. Qh4 Qc1+ (36… Bh5 37. Qe7 Qc1+ 38. Kh2 Rxg2+ $1 39.\nKxg2 Qd2+ 40. Kg3 Qe1+ 41. Kh2 Qe2+ 42. Kh3 Qf1+ 43. Kh4) 37. Kh2 Bh5) 34…\nKg7 35. Qf1 Be2 $1 36. Qe1 Qb2 37. Bb1 Ra1 38. Rc2 Qxb1 (38… Qxc2 $1 {\nis more efficient} 39. Bxc2 Rxe1) 39. Qxe2 $2 (39. Qxb1 Rxb1 40. Rxe2 {is a\nbetter defence.}) 39… Qg1+ 40. Kg3 Re1 41. Qf2 Rxe3+ $1 42. Kg4 Qd1+ 43. Kg5\nQh5# 0-1\n[/pgn] \nand during the 2015/15 4NCL season Daniel obtained his final GM norm playing for Wood Green. \nIn March 2015 he made his first of three Varsity match appearences for Cambridge re-uniting with Danielle Ho and Howard Chiu (remember those names from earlier?). \nDaniel won the 10th Jessie Gilbert Memorial in 2017: \nFull Crosstable from the 2017 10th Jessie Gilbert Memorial\nand also in 2017 Daniel was awarded the Grandmaster title at the 88th FIDE Congress 2017\, 7-15 October\, Goynuk\, Antalya\, Turkey. \nOn March 11th Daniel represented Cambridge in the 135th Varsity Match at the RAC Club in Pall Mall.  According to chess24.com ‘IM Daniel Fernandez\, playing board 2 for Cambridge\, was awarded the Brilliancy Prize by GM Ray Keene in consultation with McShane and Speelman\, for his “high-class swindle” after recovering from a bad blunder.’ See here for details. \nGM Daniel Fernandez\, 2019 British Championships\, Torquay. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nIn 2018 Daniel ventured into the world of book writing when Thinker’s Publishing released The Modernized Caro-Kann on September 8th 2018.  This was a repertoire book for Black based around the Smyslov Variation : \n[fen]r1bqkbnr/pp1npppp/2p5/8/3PN3/8/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nand was reviewed in this place favourably and quickly established Daniel as a significant author. \nThe Modernized Caro-Kann\, Daniel Fernandez\, Thinkers Publishing\, 2018\nFrom the rear cover we have: \n“GM Daniel Fernandez (born 1995) has been an active and accomplished player for several years. He represented his native Singapore twice at Olympiads (2010 and 2012) before transferring to the English chess federation. There\, he won the national classical titles at U-18 and U-21 levels and worked to become a Grandmaster while simultaneously studying at Cambridge. The Caro-Kann was instrumental in his quest for that title. Currently\, Daniel is known in the chess scene not only as a solid player\, but also as a mentor figure to younger English players\, as a producer of well-received commentary and analysis\, and as a multilingual chess coach. This is his first book.” \nFrom January 2019 we have this interesting encounter between Gawain Jones and Daniel from the annual 4NCL meeting of Guildford and Wood Green: \n[pgn]\n[Event “BCF-chTa 1819 (4NCL)”]\n[Site “Daventry”]\n[Date “2019.01.13”]\n[Round “4.13”]\n[White “Jones\, Gawain C B”]\n[Black “Fernandez\, Daniel Howard”]\n[Result “1/2-1/2”]\n[ECO “B12”]\n[WhiteElo “2691”]\n[BlackElo “2465”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “124”]\n[EventDate “2018.11.10”]\n[EventType “team-tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 188 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2019.02.26”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2019.02.26”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Guildford”]\n[BlackTeam “Wood Green”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,124\,21\,36\,69\,63\,74\,50\,56\,34\,45\,48\,52\,37\,37\,37\,46\,8\,46\,16\,76\,62\,52\,40\,\n40\,13\,13\,29\,32\,28\,16\,22\,24\,9\,9\,14\,15\,11\,11\,-15\,33\,8\,42\,8\,-4\,-4\,0\,0\,-14\,0\,0\,-63\,\n-75\,-75\,-21\,-61\,-23\,-91\,-96\,-75\,-106\,-110\,-113\,-111\,-111\,-111\,-111\,-111\,-111\,\n-111\,-111\,-111\,-78\,-102\,-123\,-119\,-124\,-122\,-122\,-128\,-128\,-125\,-82\,-62\,-92\,\n-111\,-102\,-130\,-126\,-123\,-137\,-182\,-142\,-164\,-127\,-127\,-127\,-127\,-122\,-202\,\n-196\,-196\,-209\,-204\,-173\,-242\,-218\,-303\,-244\,-244\,-244\,-244\,-242\,-222\,-98\,-98\,\n-89\,-87\,-57\,-52\,-26\,-31\,-9\,-13\,-11\,-8\,-8]} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 h5\n5. Bd3 (5. c4) 5… Bxd3 6. Qxd3 e6 7. Bg5 Qb6 8. Nd2 Ne7 (8… c5) 9. Ngf3 Qa6\n10. c4 Nf5 11. O-O Bb4 12. b3 Nd7 13. Rfd1 O-O 14. a3 $146 (14. Nf1) 14… Bxd2\n15. Rxd2 Nb6 16. c5 Qxd3 17. Rxd3 Nd7 $11 18. b4 {[#]} b6 $1 19. Rc1 $6 (19.\nRb3 f6) 19… Rfc8 {Black now proceeds to outplay his higher rated opponent.} (\n19… bxc5 20. bxc5 Rfb8 $17) 20. Bd2 f6 21. Re1 Kf7 22. g3 bxc5 23. bxc5 Rcb8\n24. Bf4 Rb2 25. Rdd1 Rb3 26. Kg2 a5 27. a4 Ra7 28. Re2 Rab7 29. Ra2 Rc3 30.\nRaa1 Rbb3 31. Nd2 Rb2 32. exf6 gxf6 33. Nf3 Rbb3 34. Nd2 Rb4 35. Nf3 Rcc4 36.\nRab1 Kg6 37. Bd6 Rxb1 38. Rxb1 Nxd4 39. Nxd4 Rxd4 40. Rb6 Ne5 41. Bxe5 fxe5 42.\nRxc6 Kf6 {[#]} 43. Ra6 $2 (43. Rc8 Rxa4 44. Rf8+ Ke7 45. Rh8 e4 $19) 43… Rxa4\n$19 {Black has the upper hand.} 44. f3 d4 45. Ra7 Ra2+ 46. Kf1 Ra3 47. Kf2 e4\n48. fxe4 Ke5 49. g4 hxg4 50. h5 Rf3+ 51. Kg2 Kxe4 {Surely Black is winning?}\n52. c6 Rc3 53. Rc7 d3 ({Better is} 53… Kd5 {but White’s h-pawn is little\nconcerning.}) 54. h6 d2 55. Rd7 Rxc6 $6 (55… Rd3 56. Rxd3 Kxd3 57. c7 d1=Q\n58. c8=Q Qf3+ 59. Kg1) 56. h7 Rc8 $6 {Sadly this lets the win slip.} ({Better\nwas} 56… Rc2 57. Kf1 d1=Q+ 58. Rxd1 Rh2) 57. Rxd2 Rh8 58. Rd7 Kf5 59. Kg3 a4\n60. Rf7+ Ke5 61. Kxg4 a3 62. Ra7 a2 {and the position is drawn.} 1/2-1/2\n[/pgn] \nWith the White pieces Daniel has played  a wide range of first moves but the majority move by far is 1.e4. His choice versus the Najdorf is some eclectic : sometime ago 6. Rg1 was the favourite and now 6.a4 is preferred. \n[fen]rnbqkb1r/1p2pppp/p2p1n2/8/3NP3/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBR1 b KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nAgainst 1…e5 Daniel offers a main line Ruy Lopez. \nWhat does a Caro-Kann expert play against the Caro-Kann? Nowadays the Two Knights Variation is employed! \nAs the second player he plays the Sicilian Najdorf as well as the Caro-Kann plus an equal mixture of the Grünfeld and King’s Indian Defences. \nIn 2019 Daniel was interviewed by Edwin Lam on behalf of ChessBase : fascinating reading! \nIn the same year Daniel joined IM Adam Taylor’s venture Making Grandmasters. \nOur final games is from July 2019 : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Gent Eastman op 42nd”]\n[Site “Gent”]\n[Date “2019.07.22”]\n[Round “6”]\n[White “Fernandez\, Daniel Howard”]\n[Black “Michiels\, Bart”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A03”]\n[WhiteElo “2466”]\n[BlackElo “2563”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “63”]\n[EventDate “2019.07.20”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “BEL”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 191 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2019.09.30”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2019.09.30”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,63\,19\,-30\,-33\,-42\,-34\,-34\,-35\,-26\,-27\,-27\,-5\,-28\,-2\,5\,14\,-30\,-62\,-77\,\n-39\,-90\,-40\,-79\,-59\,-73\,-56\,-52\,-37\,-37\,-38\,-105\,44\,60\,63\,56\,98\,17\,60\,3\,86\,32\,\n61\,68\,65\,66\,96\,95\,118\,109\,136\,153\,132\,211\,211\,202\,269\,280\,383\,424\,450\,477\,542\,\n539\,782\,836]} 1. f4 d5 2. b3 {Larsen would have been proud!} Nf6 3. Bb2 Bf5 4.\nNf3 e6 5. e3 h6 {Black creates a luft on h7 for his light squared bishop.\nOtherwise with a knight on e5 combined with a h-pawn push Black could get into\ntrouble. You might not think it but …h6 scores best for Black and is\nlabelled “Hot” by Megabase 2020.} (5… Be7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Ne5 h6 9.\nd3 {is a more usual way to proceed.}) 6. h3 (6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Ne5 Nbd7\n9. d3 Nxe5 10. Bxe5 Nd7 11. Bb2 Bf6 12. d4 c5) {The first appearence for this\nTN.} 6… a5 $146 7. g4 Bh7 {As facilitated by h6….} {Now pause the video….\n} 8. Bxf6 $5 {I bet you did not predict this capture and nor did I!} Qxf6 9. d4\na4 (9… c5) 10. bxa4 g5 $1 11. fxg5 hxg5 $17 {I’d give Black the nod here but\nonly just.} 12. Bd3 {[#]} Bd6 (12… Nc6 {would take advantage of White’s lack\nof control of b4 and is a bit awkard to meet. Black threatens ….Nb4}) 13. Ke2\n{an ugly requirement with the h-file open. This is needed so as White may\nre-capture on d3 with the queen.} Nd7 (13… Bxd3+ 14. Qxd3 Nc6) 14. Bxh7 Rxh7\n15. c4 dxc4 16. Nbd2 Qg6 17. Nxc4 Ke7 18. Qb1 (18. Qb3) 18… Qxb1 (18… Rxa4\n{seems natural}) 19. Rhxb1 Rxh3 20. Nxg5 Rh2+ 21. Kd3 Ra7 ({Why not} 21… Rxa4\n{I don’t understand.}) 22. Ne4 $1 $18 {[#] white is getting on top.} Nf6 $2 23.\nNxf6 Kxf6 24. a5 $1 {black must be regretting leaving this pawn on and is\ndefinately worse now.} Bf8 25. Rb5 Rf2 26. a4 Bh6 27. Rh1 Kg6 28. Rhb1 b6 29.\nNe5+ Kh7 30. Rh1 f6 31. Nc6 Ra6 32. Rbh5 {and Black resigned.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nDaniel’s most recent publication is The Modernized Modern Defence from Thinker’s Publishing: \nThe Modernized Modern Defence\, Daniel Fernandez\, Thinker’s Publishing\, 2021\nand BCN has been told that Daniel has a book in the pipeline about the Tata Steel 2021 tournament at Wijk aan Zee.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-daniel-fernandez-05-iii-1995/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
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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
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200312
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200313
DTSTAMP:20200823T093911Z
CREATED:20200821T105836Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200823T093911Z
UID:8730-1583971200-1584057599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of Mandy Hepworth (12-iii-1968)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes Mandy Hepworth Happy Birthday (12-iii-1968) \nMandy Allison S. Hepworth was born in Scunthorpe\, (now) Humberside (but at the time Lincolnshire)  on Tuesday\, March 12th 1968 to Neville Ian Hepworth and Alice Hepworth (née Ma). Neville was a Computer Manager and Alice Ma was originally from Singapore. The family  moved to “Mulgoa”\, The Fleet\, Fittleworth\, Pulborough\, RH20 1HS\, West Sussex. \n(Thanks to David Mills who updated us on the Lincolnshire / Humberside issue) \nNeville taught Mandy how to play chess. \nShe attended Westergate Comprehensive and Community School where Peter Barton coached both the boys and the girls teams. \nFrom The Bognor and Arun Chess Club Archive we have : \n“One particular junior\, Mandy Hepworth\, came to notice. In the British championships at Brighton in 1980 she came first equal in the girls under-14 competition. Peter Barton also organised some external competitions and from 1981 for a few years he organised young masters’ tournaments at the Westergate School after receiving sponsorship from the Amey Roadstone Corporation. ” \nFrom The Bognor Regis Observer we have : \nWestergate girls were chess queens in 1980 \nThis group of girls had every reason to smile ‘“ they had just pulled off the school chess world’s equivalent of David v Goliath. \nIt was January 1980 and they all attended Westergate Comprehensive and Community School and had just beaten the mighty Dorothy Skinner High School\, in Brighton\, to qualify for the final of the Sussex Girls under-16 chess championships. Pictured from left: Melaine Wright\, 11\, Mandy Hepworth\, 11\, Lesley Glen\, 11\, Deborah Baxter\, 12\, Gail Curryer\, 11\, and Tracey Redding\, 12.\n“It was January 1980 and they all attended Westergate Comprehensive and Community School and had just beaten the mighty Dorothy Skinner High School\, in Brighton\, to qualify for the final of the Sussex Girls under-16 chess championships. \nThe team’s captain\, Mandy Hepworth\, who was just 11-years-old at the time\, was lauded by the school’s chess teacher as “one of the hottest properties in junior chess”. \nHis name was Peter Barton and\, according to the report published in the Observer on January 25 1980\, he had masterminded something of a chess resurgence at Westergate.” \nSome 50 youngsters at the school were playing chess proficiently and 10 of them were girls. \nEven though junior chess was somewhat dominated by boys at the time\, Mr Barton was confident his girls could deal with any challenge thrown at them by anyone – and he had high hopes for Mandy. \nHe told the paper: ‘For a girl she has remarkable ability and we would hope to enter her for the British junior championships later this year. \nIn the past it has always been a boys’ game but\, if you can catch the girls when they are young and keep their enthusiasm\, there is no reason why they cannot go on to become masters.’ \nDoes anyone know if the girls won the final? Did Mandy make it to the British junior championships?” \nMandy Hepworth\nMandy entered her first major competition when she was 11 and beat her father when she was 14. She became the Under-12 British Girls’ Champion (Ed: this is not correct) and the Under-14 Champion in Brighton\, 1980 (shared with Susan Walker)\, the Under-16 Champion in Brighton\, 1984 \nIn 1985 she played in the Eileen Tranmer Memorial in Brighton. All the players resided in the same guest house. The event was organised by Ray Keene. Mandy was 4th with a TPR of 2296. \nIn 1986 she represented England in the Women’s Olympiad (Dubai) and scored an excellent 75% on the Reserve Board. \nIn 1988 she played at the Oakham Young Masters and had a tough time scoring 2.5/9 \nIn October 1988 she travelled to Adelaide\, Australia to play in the World Under-20 Girls’ Championship. \nFollowing that we have no further information. It would appear (perhaps you can help?) that Mandy gave up competitive chess and did not play again. \n1986 Press Release for Mandy Hepworth. Warning : some details are not entirely accurate.\nWe end with this against an experienced opponent : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Eileen Tranmer Memorial-07”]\n[Site “Brighton”]\n[Date “1985.12.??”]\n[Round “4”]\n[White “Jackson\, Sheila”]\n[Black “Hepworth\, Mandy”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B90”]\n[WhiteElo “2235”]\n[BlackElo “1960”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “86”]\n[EventDate “1985.12.??”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2007”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2006.11.23”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2006.11.23”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,86\,30\,32\,53\,51\,86\,86\,63\,26\,26\,37\,65\,44\,89\,54\,38\,40\,41\,46\,20\,25\,31\,31\,\n32\,38\,34\,23\,25\,23\,23\,26\,35\,19\,30\,32\,56\,62\,166\,150\,152\,154\,154\,132\,223\,227\,217\,\n210\,206\,145\,309\,279\,266\,208\,218\,205\,174\,141\,136\,155\,171\,161\,209\,146\,188\,136\,\n177\,-54\,-40\,-165\,-104\,-87\,-177\,-177\,-172\,-172\,-172\,-195\,-260\,-419\,-331\,-377\,\n-486\,-497\,-499\,-1081\,-1121\,-1180\,-1198]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4\nNf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Qc7 7. a4 e5 8. Nf3 h6 9. a5 Be6 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. exd5 Bf5\n12. c4 Nd7 13. b4 Be7 14. Be2 O-O 15. O-O Bh7 16. Nd2 f5 17. f3 Bf6 18. Rc1 b6\n19. axb6 Nxb6 20. c5 Nd7 21. cxd6 Qb8 22. Rc7 Nb6 23. Rc6 Bd8 24. Bc5 Rf6 25.\nQa1 Bg6 26. Qxe5 a5 27. Bd4 axb4 28. Rb1 Nd7 29. Qf4 Rf8 30. h4 Nf6 31. Bc4 Nh5\n32. Qh2 Be8 33. Ra6 Rxa6 34. Bxa6 f4 35. Ne4 Bb6 36. Bf2 Bxf2+ 37. Nxf2 Qxd6\n38. Bc4 Qc5 39. Bb3 Bg6 40. Rd1 Qc3 41. Ba4 b3 42. Ne4 Bxe4 43. fxe4 Qe3+ 0-1\n[/pgn]
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-mandy-hepworth-12-iii-1968/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,History,Player
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210314
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210315
DTSTAMP:20210305T182656Z
CREATED:20191117T162714Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T182656Z
UID:2084-1615680000-1615766399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IA Stewart Reuben (14-iii-1939)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of Stewart Reuben (14-iii-1939) \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nHis personal catchphrase is “If only I had been consulted eariler” \nJimmy Adams and Stewart Reuben\nRichard W. O’Brien and Stewart Reuben working on a bulletin\nSR attempting to dance\nStewart Reuben interviews Stewart Reuben at the home of Stewart Reuben\nThe Chess Scene\nLeonard Barden\, Stewart Reuben and Michael Franklin at the 1978 Aaronson Masters\nThe Chess Organiser’s Handbook\nLondon 1980: Phillips and Drew Kings Chess Tournament
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-stewart-reuben-14-iii-1939/
CATEGORIES:Arbiter,Birthday,British Championships,Official,Player,Writer
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END:VCALENDAR