BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//British Chess News - ECPv6.17.3//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://britishchessnews.com X-WR-CALDESC:Events for British Chess News REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:UTC BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:UTC DTSTART:20190101T000000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201020 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201021 DTSTAMP:20211020T221318Z CREATED:20190823T184412Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211020T221318Z UID:1110-1603152000-1603238399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Philip Walsingham Sergeant (27-i-1872 20-x-1952) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Philip Walsingham Sergeant who passed away on Monday\, October 20th 1952. \nPWS was born in Kensington on Saturday\, January 27th\, 1872 to Lewis Sergeant and Emma Louisa Sergeant (née Robertson) and was baptised at All Saints Church\, Notting Hill. According to PWS’s baptism record Lewis was an author. \nAccording to PWS in A Century of British Chess : \n“When I was seven years of age – about the period\, by the way\, in which my father began to teach me Greek – he began also to initiate me into chess. Not that he designed it  as a consolatory set-off to my application to Greek; for he loved the Classics well\, though\, going up to Cambridge with  small classical exhibition\, he had turned to Mathematics\, and therein took his degree. ” \nAccording to the 1881 census PWS (aged 9) lived with his parents and numerous siblings : Dorothy (aged 7)\, Winifred (6)\, Hilda (5)\, Bernard (2)\, John (his grandfather aged 76) and Mary (his grandmother aged 75). They had staff\, Elizabeth Fraser and Sarah Martin. They lived at 10\, Addison Road\, North\, Kensington. \nAccording to “Joseph Foster. Oxford Men and Their Colleges\, 1880-1892. 2 vols. Oxford\, England: James Parker and Co\, 1893″ : \nPWS attended St. Paul’s School and then Trinity College\, Oxford to read Classics where he attained Honour Moderations. \nand here is the record from the above publication : \nEntry for Philip Walsingham Sergeant in Joseph Foster. Oxford Men and Their Colleges\, 1880-1892. 2 vols. Oxford\, England: James Parker and Co\, 1893\nWe do not know if PWS played in the Varsity matches of 1892 – 1895 : Britbase does not (yet) include player details for these matches. \nPWS married Minnie Boundford (born 27th February 1889) in 1909 in Hampstead and they lived at 5\, Dukes Avenue\, Chiswick where PWS was listed as an author and Minnie as someone who carried out “unpaid domestic duties”. Minnie was 17 years younger than PWS. Minnie’s father was a joiner and a carpenter. \nThey had two daughters Margaret (born 1910) and Kathleen (born 1911). \nIn October 1946 Minnie and PWS remarried. Presumably this was rather unusual in that day and age. \nAccording to The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP\, 2nd edition\, 1996) by Hooper and Whyld : \nPWS was an English author of biographical games collections for Charousek\, Morphy and Pillsbury as well as other works of importance such as A Century of British Chess (1943) and Championship Chess (1938). \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (BT Batsford\, 1977) by Harry Golombek : \n“A professional writer on chess and popular historical subjects. Without any pretentions to mastership\, he represented Oxford University in the years 1892 – 5 and assisted RC Griffith in preparing three editions of Modern Chess Openings. \nIn chess he dealt with a number of important subjects : Morphy’s Games of Chess\, London\, 1916; Charousek’s Games of Chess\, London\, 1919; Pillsbury’s Chess Career (in collaboration with WH Watts)\, London\, 1923; Championship Chess\, London\, 1938. \nAll these are lucidly and carefully written but suffer from the defect that\, being neither a master player nor a professional annotator\, he was not competent to deal with the annotational part of the work. Probably his best book on chess was A Century of British Chess\, London\, 1934. \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXX11 (72)\, Number 11 (November)\, page 324 we have this rather brief obituary (presumably written by Brian Reilly): \n“We regret to have to report the death\, at the age of eighty-one of Philip W. Sergeant\, the author of A Century of British Chess\, which we imagine is in most chess libraries. He was the author of several well-known historical books – but we are only concerned here with his chess activities\, which included representing Oxford University 1892-5; helping RC Griffith with two editions of Modern Chess Openings; playing for Middlesex\, winning the chess championship of the authors’ club for several year\, and latterly as an honoured member; and occasionally obtaining the championship of the Guildford Chess Club. Our sympathy with his widow and two daughters is sincere.”\n” \nHe was a cousin of EG Sergeant. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nFrom Wikipedia : \n“Philip Walsingham Sergeant (27 January 1872\, Notting Hill\, London[1] – 20 October 1952)[2] was a British professional writer on chess and popular historical subjects.[3][4] He collaborated on the fifth (1933)\, sixth (1939)\, and seventh (1946) editions of Modern Chess Openings\, an important reference work on the chess openings. He also wrote biographical game collections of Paul Morphy (Morphy’s Games of Chess (1916) and Morphy Gleanings)\, Rudolf Charousek (Charousek’s Games of Chess (1919))\, and Harry Nelson Pillsbury (Pillsbury’s Chess Career\, with W. H. Watts\, 1922)\, and other important books such as A Century of British Chess (1934) and Championship Chess (1938).” \nHarry Golombek writes that\, “Without any pretensions to mastership\, he represented Oxford University in the years 1892-5”.[3] Golombek considers A Century of British Chess probably Sergeant’s best chess book\, but opines that although Sergeant’s chess books are lucidly written\, they suffer from the defect that\, as a non-master\, he was not competent to deal with the annotational aspect of his work. \nHe was a second cousin of Edward Guthlac Sergeant. \nPhilip Walsingham Sergeant\nCharousek’s Games of Chess\nThe Rice Memorial Chess Tournament\, 1916\nPillsbury’s Chess Career\, London\, 1923\nA Century of British Chess\, London\, 1934\nAn Introduction to the Endgame at Chess\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-philip-walsingham-sergeant/ CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/1486702.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201011 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201012 DTSTAMP:20260817T135735Z CREATED:20191011T195944Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T135735Z UID:1506-1602374400-1602460799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Charles Fox (09-xi-1866 11-x-1935) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Charles Fox (09-xi-1866 11-x-1935) \nCharles Masson Fox was born on Friday\, November 9th 1866 in Falmouth\, Cornwall. his father\, Howard\, was 29 and his mother\, Olivia Blanche Orme\, was 22. He had one brother and two sisters. \nHis sister Olivia Lloyd was born on 5 February 1868 in Falmouth\, Cornwall\, when Charles Masson was 1 year old. His sister Stella was born on 11 December 1876 in Falmouth\, Cornwall\, when Charles Masson was 10 years old. In 1881 he was living in Sherborne\, Dorset. In 1901 he was once more living in Falmouth and his profession was that of a timber merchant. His brother Howard Orme died on 7 June 1921 in Falmouth\, Cornwall. His father Howard passed away on 15 November 1922 in Cornwall. His mother Olivia Blanche passed away on 12 March 1930 in Falmouth\, Cornwall\, at the age of 85. \nSadly\, neither Hooper & Whyld\, Sunnucks or Golombek mention Fox in their works. \nHere is an extensive article from the British Chess Problem Society (BCPS) written by CJ Feather \nFrom Wikipedia : \n“Charles Masson Fox (9 November 1866 – 11 October 1935) was a Cornish businessman who achieved international prominence in the world of chess problems and a place in the gay history of Edwardian England. \nMasson Fox was born into a Quaker family (although he was not related to the Quakers’ founder George Fox) and was a cousin of the fraudulent sinologist Sir Edmund Backhouse\, 2nd Baronet. Living throughout his life in the Cornish seaside town of Falmouth\, Fox in the early decades of his life was a senior partner of his family’s timber firm\, Fox Stanton & Company\, and was also on the Board of Messrs G C Fox & Company\, a long-established firm of shipping agents. \nC.M.Fox’s gravestone at Budock Quaker Burial Ground\nFox is described by chess historian Thomas Rayner Dawson (1889–1951) as “a friendly man\, kind\, mellow\, lovable\, bringing peace and comfort and serene joy with him”. He was also a discreet but active homosexual. In 1909 he visited Venice with his friend James Cockerton\, meeting the writer Frederick Rolfe and becoming the reluctant recipient of Rolfe’s famous Venice Letters\, in which the gay subculture of Venice is vividly described. \nIn 1912–13 Fox was blackmailed by a woman who accused him of seducing her 16-year-old son. Eventually Fox reported the matter to the police and the woman was sent to prison for five years and her son for one year\, with hard labour.[1] However\, Fox was profoundly affected by the publicity surrounding the case\, which was reported in detail in the local press. The predictable result of his courageous action was the destruction of his reputation\, and the compromise of his business and social life in Falmouth. \nAlthough he continued to live in Cornwall\, the focus of his social life shifted to London\, and in the last two decades of his life\, Fox became prominent in the world of chess. He was elected President of the Cornwall Chess Association\, played a prominent part in the development of the British Chess Problem Society\, and is still renowned as one of the greatest ever exponents of fairy chess (chess problems with variations in the rules).” \nFrom The Problemist Fairy Chess Supplement\, 1933 : \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhat is the shortest game\nending in this position? \nCharles Masson Fox\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/remembering-charles-masson-fox-09-xi-1866-11-x-1935/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/masson01.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201009 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201010 DTSTAMP:20211009T100528Z CREATED:20191016T160417Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211009T100528Z UID:1562-1602201600-1602287999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Norman Gibbins (15-x-1882 09-x-1956) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Norman Martin Gibbins (15-x-1882 09-x-1956) \nSee http://davidgibbins.com/journal/2013/5/28/war-in-another-dimension \n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-norman-martin-gibbins/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201007 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201008 DTSTAMP:20211203T220633Z CREATED:20211130T001026Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211203T220633Z UID:1060-1602028800-1602115199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of GM Dr. Jonathan Penrose OBE (07-x-1933 30-xi-2021) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers GM Dr. Jonathan Penrose OBE who passed away on Tuesday\, November 30th 2021. \nIn the 1971 New Years Honours List Jonathan was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) The citation read “For services to Chess.” \nFrom British Chess (Pergamon Press\, 1983) by Botterill\, Levy\, Rice and Richardson : (article by George Botterill) \n“Penrose is one of the outstanding figures of British chess. Yet many who meet him may not realize this just because he is one of the quietest and most modest of men. Throughout the late 1950s and the whole of the 1960s he stood head and shoulders above any of his contemporaries. \nSee caption below\nPress agency caption for photograph above\nHis extraordinary dominance is revealed by the fact that he won the British championship no less than ten times (1958-63 and 1966-69\, inclusive)\, a record that nobody is likely to equal in the future. \nAt his best his play was lucid\, positionally correct\, energetic and tactically acute. None the less\, there is a ‘Penrose problem’: was he a ‘Good Thing’for British chess? The trouble was that whilst this highly talented player eff0ectively crushed any opposition at\nhome\, he showed little initiative in flying the flag abroad. There is a wide-spread and justifiable conviction that only lack of ambition in the sphere of international chess can explain why he did not secure the GM title during his active over-the-board playing career. \nSee caption below\nPress agency caption for above photograph\nIt would be unjust\, however\, to blame Penrose for any of this. The truth is simply that he was not a professional chessplayer\, and indeed he flourished in\na period in which chess playing was not a viable profession in Britain. But even if the material awards available had been greater Penrose would almost certainly have chosen to remain an amateur. For he was cast in that special intellectual and ethical tradition of great British amateurs like H. E. Atkins\, Sir George Thomas and Hugh Alexander before him. \nTravel Chess2nd January 1951: British chess champions Jonathan Penrose and Leonard Barden ponder over a portable travel game in a restaurant. (Photo by Walter Bellamy/Express/Getty Images)\nHis family background indicates early academic inclinations in a cultural atmosphere in which chess was merely a game something at which one excelled through sheer ability\, but not to be ranked alongside truly serious work. It is noteworthy that Penrose\, unique in this respect amongst British chess\nmasters\, has never written at any length about the game. He has had other matters to concentrate on when away from the board\, being a lecturer in psychology. (His father\, Professor L. S. Penrose\, was a distinguished geneticist.) \nIM Dr. Jonathan Penrose OBE\nBeing of slight physique and the mildest and most amiable of characters\, it is probably also true that Penrose lacked the toughness and ‘killer instinct’\nrequired to reach the very top. Nervous tension finally struck him down in a dramatic way when he collapsed during play in the Siegen Olympiad of 1970. We\ncan take that date as the end of the Penrose era. \nJonathan PenroseChess Grandmaster Jonathan Penrose pictured during a chess match\, circa 1960. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images))\nSince\, then though he has not by any means entirely given up\, his involvement in the nerve-wracking competitions of over-the-board play has been greatly reduced. instead he has turned to correspondence chess\, which is perhaps the ideal medium for his clear strategy and deep and subtle analysis. So Penrose’s career it not over. He has moved to another\, less stressful province of the kingdom of chess. \nIM Dr. Jonathan Penrose OBE\nFor the first game\, however\, we shall turn the clock right back to 1950 and the see the Penrose in the role of youthful giant killer. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (BT Batsford\, 1977) by Harry Golombek : \n“British international master and ten times British Champion\, Penrose was born in Colchester and came from a chess-playing family. \nLionel Sharples Penrose\, FRS (11 June 1898 – 12 May 1972)\nHis father and mother both played chess and his father\, Professor Lionel Sharples Penrose\, in addition or being a geneticist of world-wide fame\, was a strong chess-player and a good endgame composer. Jonathan’s older brother Oliver\, was also a fine player. \nOliver Penrose FRS FRSE (born 6 June 1929) is a British theoretical physicist\nRoger Penrose won the Nobel prize for physics in 2020. \nRoger Penrose. Nobel Laureate\nJonathan learnt chess at the age of four\, won the British Boys championship at thirteen and by the time he was fifteen was playing in the British Championship in Felixstowe in 1949. \nPress agency caption for photograph above\nPress agency caption for photograph above\nA little reluctant to participate in international tournaments abroad\, he did best in the British Championship which he won a record number of times\, once more than HE Atkins. He won the title consecutively from 1958 to 1963 and again from 1966 to 1969. \nBoy Chess Champion. New York Times photo shows 14 year old J. Penrose 14 year old by chess champion of Britain\, in play at the British Chess Championships at Bishopsgate Institute today. He has had great success in the tournament so far\, beating men far above his age and experience. 2nd September 1948. Photograph by Reginald Webster\nPress agency caption for photograph above\nHe also played with great effect in nine Olympiads. Playing on a high board for practically all the time\, he showed himself the equal of the best grandmasters and indeed\, at the Leipzig Olympiad he distinguished himself by beating Mikhail Tal\, thereby becoming the first British player to defeat a reigning World Champion since Blackburne beat Lasker in 1899. \nARB Thomas and Jonathan Penrose at the Hastings Congress of 1950/1951\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nJonathan Penrose vs Mikhail Tal\, Leipzig Olympiad\, 1960\, 1-0\, Modern Benoni\nA deep strategist who could also hold his own tactically\, he suffered from the defect of insufficient physical stamina and it was this that was to bring about a decline in his play and in his results. He collapsed during a game at the Ilford Chess Congress\, and a year later\, at the Siegen Olympiad of 1970\, he had a more serious collapse that necessitated his withdrawal from the vent after the preliminary groups had been played. The doctors found nothing vitally wrong with him that his physique could not sustain. \n\nHe continued to play but his results suffered from a lack of self-confidence and at the Nice Olympiad of 1974 he had a wretched result on board 3\, winning only 1 game and losing 6 out of 15. \nDarga V Penrose29th December 1955: Klaus Darga of Germany in play against Britain’s Jonathan Penrose during the International Chess Congress at Hastings. (Photo by Folb/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)\nPossibly too his profession (a lecturer in psychology) was also absorbing him more and more and too part less and less in international and national chess. \nJonathan Penrose\nYet\, he had already done enough to show that he was the equal of the greatest British players in his command and understanding of the game and he ranks alongside Staunton\, Blackburne\, Atkins and CHO’D Alexander as a chess figure of world class.” \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld : \n“The leading English player during the 1960s\, International Master (1961)\, International Correspondence Chess Master (1980)\, lecturer in psychology. Early in his chess career Penrose decided to remain an amateur and as a consequence played in few international tournaments. He won the British Championship from 1958 to 1963 and from 1966 to 1969\, ten times in all (a record); and he played in nine Olympiads from 1952 to 1974\, notably scoring + 10=5 on first board at Lugano 1968\, a result bettered only by the world champion Petrosyan. \nIM Dr. Jonathan Penrose OBE\nIn the early 1970s Penrose further restricted his chess because the stress of competitive play adversely affected his health.” \nThe second edition (1996) adds this : \n“He turned to correspondence play\, was the highest rated postal player in the world 1987-9\, and led the British team to victory in the 9th Correspondence Olympiad.” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nHere is a discussion about Jonathan on the English Chess Forum \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \n“International Master (1961) and British Champion in 1958 1959\, 1960\, 1961\, 1962\, 1963\, 1966\, 1967\, 1968 and 1969. \nJonathan Penrose was born in Colchester on 7th October 1933\, the son of Professor LS Penrose\, the well-known geneticist\, who was also a strong player and composer of endgame studies. \nThe whole Penrose family plays chess and Jonathan learned the game when he was 4. At the age of 12 he joined Hampstead Chess Club and the following year played for Essex for the first time\, won his first big tournament\, the British Boys’ Championship\, and represented England against Ireland in a boy’s match\, which was the forerunner of the Glorney Cup competition\, which came into being the following year. \nBy the time he was 17 Penrose was recognised as one of the big hopes of British Chess. Playing in the Hastings Premier Tournament for the first time in `1950 – 1951\, he beat the French Champion Nicholas Rossolimo and at Southsea in 1950 he beat two International Grandmasters\, Effim Bogoljubov and Savielly Tartakower. \nPenrose played for the British Chess Federation in a number of Chess Olympiads since 1952. In 1960\, at Leipzig\, came one of the best performances of his career\, when he beat the reigning World Champion\, Mikhail Tal. He became the first British player to beat a reigning World Champion since JH Blackburne beat Emmanuel Lasker in 1899\, and the first player to defeat Tal since he won the World Championship earlier that year. Penrose’s score in this Olympiad was only half-a-point short of the score required to qualify for the International Grandmaster title. \nIM Dr. Jonathan Penrose OBE\nHis ninth victory in the British Championships in 1968 equalled the record held by HE Atkins\, who has held the title more times than any other player. \nPenrose is a lecturer in psychology at Enfield College of Technology and has never been in a position to devote a great deal of time to the game. He is married to a former contender in the British Girls Championship and British Ladies’s Championship\, Margaret Wood\, daughter of Frank Wood\, Hon. Secretary of the Oxfordshire Chess Association. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nPenrose was awarded the O.B.E. for his services to chess in 1971.” \nPenrose was Southern Counties Champion for 1949-50. \nIn 1983 Jonathan became England’s fifth Correspondence Grandmaster (CGM) following Keith Richardson\, Adrian Hollis\, Peter Clarke and Simon Webb. \nSadly\, there is no existent book on the life and games of Jonathan Penrose : a serious omission in chess literature. \nDr. Jonathan Penrose OBE\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-dr-jonathan-penrose-obe/ CATEGORIES:British Championships,History,Player,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IMG_1213-1-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200926 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200927 DTSTAMP:20210925T140242Z CREATED:20190823T001025Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210925T140242Z UID:1122-1601078400-1601164799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of WIM Eileen Tranmer (05-v-1910 26-ix-1983) DESCRIPTION:We remember WIM Eileen Betsy Tranmer who passed away on September 26th\, 1983. \nEileen Tranmer\nShe was the first English woman to be awarded by FIDE the Woman’s International Master title in 1950. \n“From The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by Klein and Winter : \nMiss E. Tranmer was born in Scarborough\, North Yorkshire in 1910\, and learned chess at the age of six. She did not take it up seriously\, however\, until 1936. Under the tuition of W. Winter she has made notable progress\, and her performances include a second prize in the British Correspondence Championship 1944\, as well as first prize in one of the subsidiary tournaments at Hastings\, 1945. \nBy profession Miss Tranmer is a musician and has played principal clarinet in the Scottish and Sadler’s Wells Orchestras.” \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CIII (103\, 1983)\, Number 11 (November)\, page 482-83 (presumably written by Bernard Cafferty) : \n“Eileen Tranmer died in hospital at Ticehurst on September 26th after a long illness. Born in Scarborough\, May 5th 1910\, she was a professional clarinet player and played in a number of prominent British orchestras till forced to retire by deafness. \nMandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (3880870a)Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Chess Champion Pictured Here Playing A Clarinet In The Orchestra While Appearing At The Theatre Royal Glasgow.\nOne of the leading British players in the two decades after the war\, Eileen won the British Ladies Championship in 1947\, 1949 (with a 100% score)\, 1953 and 1961\, and played in the British Championship at Buxton\, 1950. Her international record was sparse\, as was the case with nearly all English players of that period. Nevertheless\, she made her mark in the 1949-50 first post-war Women’s World Championship where she finished 5-7th in a field of 16\, beating Bykova\, again\, and finished 7th in the field of 16. \n37th Hastings International Chess Congress\, 1962. USA Ladies champion Lisa Lane (L) playing against British Champion Eileen Tranmer\nWe are grateful to WCM Dinah Norman for sending us these memories : \n“Eileen Tranmer was one of the best English chess lady players of her generation. \nI only played her once at Oxford in an International Ladies Tournament held between 24 July and 1 August 1971. Eileen totally outplayed me and I lost the game. \nEileen was a member of Acton Chess Club where there were three active lady players at that time. They were Jean Rogers\, Olive Chataway and Eileen. Eileen lived in Acton then. \nMandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (3880957a)Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Chess Champion.Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Chess Champion.\nEileen was a professional musician and had to stop playing when she became deaf which was dreadful for her. \nIn 1969 Eileen\, Rowena Bruce and I were selected to play in the Ladies Chess Olympiad Team in Lublin\, Poland. Sadly Eileen was taken ill just before the event so Rowena and I had to play all 13 rounds without a break. I was on Board 1 and at the end Rowena and I were exhausted and I had to withdraw from a tournament in the Czech Republic without playing a game. The food in Poland was awful so we said never again! \n  \nMandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (3880958a)Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Champion Chess Player Pictured Playing Some Of The Glasgow Ladies Chess Club At The Green’s Playhouse Cafe Glasgow.Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Champion Chess Player Pictured Playing Some Of The Glasgow Ladies Chess Club At The Green’s Playhouse Cafe Glasgow.\nEileen was very friendly with Harry Golombek. The expectation among the lady chess players was that they would get married but she never did. Harry did not drive and Eileen was very kind driving Harry and his elderly mother around. \nVery sadly Eileen’s brother was killed in a car crash and after that Eileen suffered mental problems. Eileen lived near John and Jean Rogers and John said Eileen would turn up at their home in the middle of the night wanting to play chess. \nAt Hastings 1959-1960 : Yugoslavia’s red-haired Milanka Lazarevic and Britain’s Eileen Tranmer ran away with the Premier Reserves (afternoon event).\nThe last time I saw Eileen was at Paignton. Her friend Olive Chataway brought her to Paignton and Eileen played in the bottom tournament and did badly. Eileen did not recognise myself or Rowena which was very sad. \n  \nMandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (4745287a)Miss Eileen Tranmer 43-year-old British Women’s Chess Champion. Box 556.Miss Eileen Tranmer 43-year-old British Women’s Chess Champion. Box 556.\nEileen later left Acton and moved to Tring. Eileen was a pleasant and modest person and was well liked. She had a good sense of humour.” \nFrom the obituary in The Times of London we learn that her last few years were over-shadowed by an illness that preyed on her mind. \nWe take the following game from the August 1944 issue of BCM. The game was played in the BCCA Championship\, and curiously enough there was an enquiry about that event to the BCF only a short while ago – a Georgian journalist wishes to quote that wartime performance as an early example of success by a woman in male chess company! ” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nGerald Abrahams in Not only Chess\, wrote about Eileen (Chapter 18 : What Achilles Saw Among Women) as follows : \n“To revert to the British Ladies\, they were joined in the late 1930s by a very able pupil of Miss Menchik\, the Yorkshire Clarinettist Eileen Tranmer; a woman whose chess I have seen to express some admirable qualities of mind and character. I had the privilege of watching her is Moscow in 1949-50\, when\, handicapped by influenza of a particularly virulent kind – what the Russians call “grippe” – she won some five or six consecutive games\, to finish in the prize list of the new official Women’s World Championship. There had been two championships before\, which Vera has won easily. Since Vera had unhappily perished in the Blitz\, they looked at Moscow for her successor.” \nHere is her Wikipedia entry \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWIM Eileen Betsy Tranmer & WIM Rowena Mary Bruce at the 1946 Anglo-Soviet Radio Match\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-eileen-betsy-tranmer/ CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/IMG-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200924 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200925 DTSTAMP:20210924T120919Z CREATED:20190822T162717Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210924T120919Z UID:994-1600905600-1600991999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of WIM Rowena Bruce (15-v-1919 24-ix-1999) DESCRIPTION:We remember WIM Rowena Bruce who died this day (September 24th) in 1999. \nRowena Mary Dew was born on Thursday\, May 15th\, 1919 in Plymouth\, Devon. Her father was Clement Warner Harvey Dew and her mother was Mary Jane Rowe. \nThe Bruce and Dew families circa 1923. Rowena is at the front and on the right aged around four years. Source : ancestry.co.uk\nShe married Ronald Mackay Bruce in July 1940 when she was 21 years old. \nHer father Clement Warner Harvey passed away on 7 October 1957 in Plymouth\, Devon\, at the age of 79. Her mother Mary Jane passed away on 3 August 1958 in Cornwall at the age of 73. Her husband Ronald Mackay passed away in April 1991 in Plymouth\, Devon\, at the age of 87. They had been married 50 years. \nFrom The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by Klein and Winter : \n“Mrs RM Bruce was born in Plymouth in 1919\, and learned chess at the age of twelve. She won the Girls’s World Championship in 1935 and the British Ladies Championship in 1937. During the war she served with the WVS in Plymouth. Apart from chess\, she is interested in music and plays the cello. \nRowena practising the cello. Courtesy of Keverel Chess\nShe is married to RM Bruce\, who is a well-known Plymouth player.” \nIn 1984 both Rowena and Ron received the BCF President’s Award for Services to Chess. \nFrom British Chess (Pergamon Press\, 1983) by Botterill\, Levy\, Rice and Richardson : \n“I was taught by my Mother Mrs. May Dew\, when recovering from a mastoid operation in 1930\, and I joined Plymouth Chess Club on 5th November 1931\, aged 12.5. \nI started receiving chess tuition from the Plymouth Match Captain\, Ronald Bruce in 1934. (Married him in 1940!). \nI won the Girls’ World Championship in 1935. I won the British Ladies’ Championship for the first time in 1937\, and again in 1950\, 1951\, 1954\, 1959\, 1960\, 1962 and 1963. I tied for first place in 1955\, 1967 and 1969. \nI represented Great Britain in the West European Zonal tournament held in Venice 1951\, where I finished 2nd. This qualified me to represent Great Britain in the Candidates tournament held in Moscow in 1952. I finished 12th out of 16. \nWorld Chess Championship (Women)1952 Candidates Tournament\nIn 1952 we adopted a little girl – Rona Mary. \nOther tournaments abroad included zonals in Italy\, Yugoslavia and Germany\, and Olympiads in Germany\, Poland and Bulgaria. \nThis last-named ended in disaster because I collapsed with a stroke during my second game. Obviously my chess playing was affected\, but I was indeed fortunate to make a fairly good recovery. \nWIM Rowena Mary Bruce at the 1952 Moscow Candidates tournament\nI returned to competitive chess playing a year later but\, in the meantime\, several young players have surged forwards\, and that British Ladies’ Championship seems to have become much more difficult to win ! \nBut I now have three grandchildren! \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nBCN is grateful to WCM Dinah Norman for sending us these memories : \n“Rowena Mary Bruce (need Dew) was born on 15 May 1919 and died in Plymouth in 1999. Rowena was the youngest of 3 children born to Harvey and Mary Dew. Mary Dew was a member of the Plymouth Chess Club and tried unsuccessfully to get her 2 sons interested in the game but Rowena was the only child who was interested. \nWhen Rowena was 10 her mother organised private lessons for her with the Plymouth Champion\, Ron Bruce. At the age of 21 Rowena married Ron Bruce and it was a very successful and happy marriage. They had an adopted daughter Rona who had no interest in Chess. Rowena had to wait until she was 21 before she could marry Ron. Rowena lived in Plymouth all her life. \nRowena and Ron married in July 1940. Ron and Rowena cemented a formidable playing and organising partnership which benefited chess in Devon for almost half a century. \nA stern-looking Rowena offers advice to one of the juniors at the WECU Congress\, Easter 1951\, in the analysis room at the Penolver Hotel\, Newquay. Courtesy of Keverel Chess\nAfter the War Rowena was one of the leading quartet of British Lady players which included Elaine Pritchard (née Saunders)\, Anne Sunnucks and Eileen Tranmer. In 1951 Rowena played in the Ladies Zonal in Venice and qualified for the Candidates in Moscow to be played the following year. \nAT the age of 53 she qualified for the East European Zonal in Sofia\, Bulgaria in 1972. Sadly in Round 2 of that event she collapsed at the board with a major cerebral haemorrhage which left her right side paralysed. By sheer force of will after many months of convalescence she taught herself to speak and walk again. She had to give up playing her cello which was awful for her. \nLadies Chess Tournament Fenny Heemskerk\, Rowena Mary Bruce (née Dew)\, Donner\, Architect Date: January 12\, 1953 Personal name: Architect\, \, Bruce\, R.\, Donner\, \, Heemskerk\, Fenny Institution name: Block Chess Tournament – Image ID: 2ARK3JK\nThe steely determination with which she followed her 75 year chess career and her recovery from serious illness belied her gentle nature. She was a modest\, kind and gracious person who always thought the best of others. \nShe won the British Ladies title 11 times. \nI shared the title with her in 1967 and 1969 after 2 play offs. She was a very pleasant and sporting opponent.” \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \n“International Woman Chess Master and winner of the British Ladies Championship on 10 occasions. \nShe was taught to pay chess by her mother\, who was the Devon Lady Champion\, after a mastoid operation when she was 10. In 1931 she joined Plymouth Chess Club\, where she met R. M. Bruce\, the Devonshire Chess Captain\, who coached her and was largely responsible for later success. She married him in 1940. \nOpening Ladies Danlon chess tournament in Amsterdam\, v.l.n.r. T. Roodzant\, F. Heemskerk\, I. Larsen\, L. Timofeeva\, E. Rinder\, R. Bruce Date: October 21\, 1959 Location: Amsterdam\, Noord-Holland Keywords: group portraits\, chess Person Name: Bruce\, Rowena Mary\, Heemskerk\, Fenny \, Larsen\, I.\, Rinder\, Elfriede\, Roodzant\, Toos\, Timofeeva. Lidia – Image ID: 2AW6KHJ\nIn 1935 she won the Girls’ World Championship and two years later the British Ladies’ Championship for the first time. She has won the title outright or been joint holder on 10 occasions in 1937\, 1950\, 1951\, 1954\, 1955\, 1959\, 1960\, 1962\, 1963 and 1967. \nMrs Bruce has represented Great Britain in matches against the USSR and the Netherlands and the British Chess Federation in qualifying tournaments for the Women’s World Championship. In Venice in 1951 she came 2nd in the Western European Qualifying Tournament for the Women’s World Championship and thereby qualified for the Candidates tournament in 1952\, when she came 12th out of 16. \nRowena at the 1952 Moscow Zonal tournament. Courtesy of Keverel Chess\nApart from chess\, her hobbies are music\, gardening and bridge. \nShe is principal ‘cellist in the Plymouth Orchestral Society.” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nAn obituary (presumably written by John Saunders) appeared in the British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXIX (119\, 1999)\, Number 11 (November)\, page 584 : \n“Rowena Bruce died peacefully at home on 23 September following a long illness. Rowena Mary Dew was born in Plymouth on 15 May 1919\, and she was taught the game at the age of 10\, while she was convalescing from surgery\, by here mother Mary Dew\, herself a very able player who had been Devon Ladies’ Champion. \nRowena joined the Plymouth Chess Club\, where she met her future husband\, Ron Bruce\, himself a strong player. She won the World Girls’ Championship in 1935 and the British Women’s title two years later. Rowena married Ron in 1940 and won the British title under her married name ten more times (seven outright and three jointly) between 1950 and 1969. \nShe represented Great Britain in matches against the USSR and the Netherlands. She qualified for the Women’s World Championship by coming 2nd in the Western European Zonal in Venice\, and in the subsequent Candidates tournament in Moscow in 1952 she came 12th out of 16. She was awarded the women’s international master title in 1951. \nRowena locking horns with her friend Fenny Heemskerk\, who finished in a magnificent 2nd place. Courtesy of Keverel Chess\nThe contribution to chess that Rowena and Ron Bruce made to national\, west country and Devon chess was well recognised at the highest level\, and when the British Chess Federation instituted a new award in 1983\, the President’s Award for Services to Chess\, they won it jointly in only its second year. Ron died in 1991. \nRowena was a past president of the Devon County Chess Association and the West of England Chess Union and continued playing for Devon until about four years ago when her increasing frailty made it impossible for her to travel to away matches. \nHer other accomplishments included music : she was a principal cellist in the Plymouth Orchestral Society. She also partnered husband Ron in strictly non-competitive bridge for many years. She leaves a daughter Rona and three grand-children.” \nWIM Rowena Mary Bruce\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsfords\, 1977) by Harry Golombek : \n“International Woman master and eleven times British Ladies champion or co-champion. \nAt the age of fifteen in 1935\, Miss Dew won the girls World championship and two years later\, still under he maiden name\, se won the British Ladies championship at Blackpool. Thereafter she won the championship under her married name in 1950\, 1951\, 1954\, 1955\, 1959\, 1960\, 1962\, 1963\, 1967 and 1969. \nHer best international result was a 2nd in the 1951 Western European Zonal tournament\, qualifying for the Women’s Candidates tournament in Moscow 1952\, where she came 12th/16. She has represented England in a number of team events\, has excellent combinative powers\, but lacks steadiness in strategy.” \nRowena (far left) during the 1952 Moscow Candidates tournament. Courtesy of Keverel Chess\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nDavid Hooper (seated right) in play at the West of England Championships in Bristol\, Easter\, 1947. His opponent \, ARB Thomas \, was that year’s champion. Among the spectators is Mrs. Rowena Bruce\, the 1946 British Ladies’ Champion. BCM\, Volume 118\, #6\, p.327. The others in the photo are L – R: H. V. Trevenen; H. Wilson-Osborne (WECU President); R. A. (Ron) Slade; Rowena Bruce; Ron Bruce; H. V. (Harry) Mallison; Chris Sullivan; C. Welch (Controller); F. E. A. (Frank) Kitto.\nHere is an interesting article from Tartajubow on Chess \nFrom Wikipedia : \n“Rowena Mary Bruce (15 May 1919 – 24 September 1999)\, née Dew\, was an English chess player who held the title of Woman International Master (WIM\, 1951). She was an eleven-time winner of the British Women’s Chess Championship (1937\, 1950\, 1951\, 1954\, 1955\, 1959\, 1960\, 1962\, 1963\, 1967 and 1969). \nBiography\nFrom the end of the 1930s to the end of the 1960s\, she was one of England’s strongest women chess players. In 1935\, she won the FIDE World Girls Championship. Rowena Mary Bruce won the British Women’s Chess Championship eleven times: 1937\, 1950\, 1951\, 1954\, 1955\, 1959\, 1960\, 1962\, 1963\, 1967 and 1969[1]. In 1952\, in Moscow\, she participated in the Women’s Candidates Tournament where she took 12th place[2]. In 1951\, she was awarded the FIDE Woman International Master (WIM) title. \nOn 21 June 1946\, Bruce played (and lost) a “radio chess” match against Lydmilla Rudenko. Bruce was one of two women who were part of a twelve member British team who played in a four day tournament. The British team played their moves in London while the Russian team played their moves in Moscow.” \nRowena with Spassky and the Lord Mayor of Plymouth\, Alderman Pascho.\n“Rowena Mary Bruce played for England in the Women’s Chess Olympiads: \nIn 1966\, at second board in the 3rd Chess Olympiad (women) in Oberhausen (+5\, =5\, -2) where she won an individual silver medal\, and\nIn 1969\, at second board in the 4th Chess Olympiad (women) in Lublin (+5\, =3\, -6).\nFrom 1940 to 1991 she was married to Ronald Bruce (1903–1991)” \nWIM Eileen Betsy Tranmer & WIM Rowena Mary Bruce\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-rowena-mary-bruce/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/IMG-3.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200920 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200921 DTSTAMP:20210920T225258Z CREATED:20190920T100224Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210920T225258Z UID:1405-1600560000-1600646399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Hugh Blandford (24-i-1917 20-ix-1981) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Hugh Blandford who was a British composer. \nHugh Francis Blandford was born on Wednesday\, January 24th in 1917 in South Stoneham\, Hampshire\, England. \nOn this day Ernest Borgnine was born and an earthquake measuring 6.3 in magnitude struck Anhui Province\, China\, causing 101 deaths. \nHugh’s father was the Rev Albert Francis Blandford and his mother was Alice Rhoda Crumpton Evans. Hugh had two younger brothers\, Philip Thomas. and Evan Arthur. \nThe family moved to Jamaica and he spent his early childhood there until he was nine years old when they sailed from Kingston\, Jamaica with his family to Bristol on board the SS Carare (Elders & Fyffes Line) : \nPassenger Manifest (part) for SS Carare \, 30th May 1926.\nHis mother Alice Rhoda Crumpton passed away on 19 July 1964 in Minehead\, Somerset\, at the age of 79. \nHis father Rev Albert Francis passed away in December 1967 in Somerset at the age of 79. \nHe had three children during his marriage. \nHe died in Hatfield\, Hertfordshire on Sunday\, September 20th\, 1981. \nBlandford is also known for participating in defining the GBR (Guy\, Blandford Roycroft) code. \nIn 1961 he was awarded the title of “International Judge of the FIDE for Chess Composition” \nCM Bent wrote the following obituary in the British Chess Magazine\, Volume CI (101\, 1981)\, Number 12 (December)\, page 532 : \n“The modest and self-effacing composer who formerly conducted our Studies column from 1951-1972 died in September. His work as a metallurgist and his family responsibilities allowed him to make periodical contributions over a long span and to offer us many of his own original compositions. \nHis style\, as with his manner\, was essentially quiet and it was a rarity for him to compose anything other than wins. \nHis last voluntary labour was to compile an index for E.G. of all studies published there to date. His loss to the world of of studies will be greatly felt. \nThe first prize winner below is a classic of exquisite refinement and matches the immaculate handwriting which was always such an elegant feature of his work” \nStudies by Hugh Francis Blandford\nSolutions to studies by Hugh Francis Blandford\nSee more of his compositions here from the arves.org database. \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \n“British study composer and FIDE Judge of Endgame Studies. Born on 24th January 1917. Since July 1951\, Hugh Blandford has conducted the Endings Section of the British Chess Magazine. By profession a metallurgist\, he was married and had two children. Of his 60 or more studies he was best known for the excelsior theme.” \nFrom Wikipedia : \n\nHugh Francis Blandford (24 January 1917 – 20 September 1981) was a chess endgame composer born in Southampton\, England.[1]\nHe spent several years of his childhood in Jamaica with his father\, the Reverend Albert Francis (Frank) Blandford\, a Minister in the Congregational church\, his mother and two younger brothers\, Evan Arthur and Philip Thomas Blandford. All three brothers then returned to England and attended Eltham College (the School for the Sons of Missionaries) in South-east London\, while their parents remained in Jamaica. He married Marjorie Cox\, whom he had worked with during the Second World War. \nHe played chess from his schooldays and as well as playing\, also started to compose original chess endings. He became known in the field of chess endgame studies for a small but elegant body of compositions\, expertly edited and published after Hugh’s death by his long-standing chess endings colleague\, John Roycroft.[2] \n\n1st Prize\, Springaren 1949\, White to move and win\n\nHugh Blandford was co-inventor with Richard Guy – and\, later\, with John Roycroft – of the Guy–Blandford–Roycroft code for classifying studies.[3] In July 1951 he began as the endgame study editor for the British Chess Magazine.[4][5] He was made an International Judge for Chess Composition[4] in 1961.[6] \nA metallurgist\, he continued to compose chess endgame studies until the end of his life\, dying of a heart attack in early retirement in Hatfield\, England\, on 20 September 1981.\n \n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-hugh-francis-blandford/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist,Studies,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/BlandfordBook.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200916 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200917 DTSTAMP:20200914T094901Z CREATED:20200409T133157Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200914T094901Z UID:4260-1600214400-1600300799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of FM John Littlewood (25-v-1931 16-ix-2009) DESCRIPTION:John Eric Littlewood was born in Sheffield on Wednesday\, September 16th 1931. His mother’s maiden name was Wheeldon. He last resided in the WN8 postal area of Skelmersdale\, Lancashire. \nHe became a FIDE Master in 1989 at the age of 58. According to Felice his peak FIDE rating was 2395 in January 1980. However\, it is almost certain that it would have been higher than that\, in the 1960s and 1970s. \nJohn\, Jenny and Paul Littlewood\, circa 1962. Kindly supplied by Paul Littlewood.\nHe coached his son Paul who became British Champion in 1981. His brother Norman was also a very strong player. \nJohn and Paul on Skegness beach circa 1958. Kindly supplied by Paul Littlewood. George and Ringo are out of shot !\nFrom “Chess Coaching” : \nJohn Littlewood is a National Coach and the Director of Junior Chess to the British Chess Federation. He is a FIDE Master with national and international playing experience\, and is an established chess write\, translator and journalist. \n03-01-1962 37th Hastings International Chess Congress\, 1962. World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik (R) playing against John Littlewood of England\nFrom “Learn Chess 2” \n“A British Master\, formerly Northern Counties Champion and currently (1984) a National Coach for the British Chess Federation. John Littlewood has played for England in several international tournaments\, including two Olympiads” \nJohn Littlewood giving a simultaneous display\nJohn Was Northern Counties Chess Union (NCCU) Champion in 1971\, 1972\, 1977\, 1978\, 1979\, 1980 and 1981 : a record seven times ! \nJohn with chess friends\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nJohn won the Appleby-Frodingham Chess Club tournament in 1962 with 3.5/5 : \nAppleby-Frodingham Tournament of 1962 crosstable\nand then\, in the same year came 3= in the British Championships with 7.5/11 : \nTruncated crosstable from the 1962 British Championship in Whitby\nand in 1969 in Rhyl John was unfortunate not to share the title with Dr. Jonathan Penrose after losing to Frank Parr in the final round : \nTruncated crosstable of the British Championships of Rhyl 1969\nJohn Littlewood at Hastings 1963-4. Still taken from Pathe news reel footage\nJohn Littlewood playing Wolfgang Unzicker in round one of the 1969-70 Hastings International Congress\nJohn won the Southport Open in 1972 and the picture below was taken shortly afterwards : \nJohn and family following winning the 1972 Southport Open. See the BCM article below for a full caption\nJohn won the Chorley tournament of 1977 with 7/9 \nChorley 1977 tournament crosstable\nJEL won the British Chess Federation’s President’s Award in 2000. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nFM John Littlewood at 4NCL courtesy of Helen Milligan\nIn 2006 John won the BCF Veterans / Seniors title for the first time repeating the feat in 2008 sharing with George Dickson. \nWith the White pieces John almost exclusively played 1.e4 favouring the Wormald Attack\, Open Sicilians and the Rossolimo variation. \nAs the second player John played the Closed Ruy Lopez\, the Sicilian Dragon and the Grünfeld defence. \nIn the following video IM Andrew Martin discusses the game Bisguier – Littlewood\, 1962. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nRather than reinventing an already round wheel we reproduce the following ten page tribute in the October 2009 issue of British Chess Magazine. The tribute is by John Saunders : \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIV (129)\, 2009\, Number 10\, October\, page 536\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIV (129)\, 2009\, Number 10\, October\, page 537\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIV (129)\, 2009\, Number 10\, October\, page 538\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIV (129)\, 2009\, Number 10\, October\, page 539\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIV (129)\, 2009\, Number 10\, October\, page 540\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIV (129)\, 2009\, Number 10\, October\, page 541\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIV (129)\, 2009\, Number 10\, October\, page 542\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIV (129)\, 2009\, Number 10\, October\, page 543\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIV (129)\, 2009\, Number 10\, October\, page 544\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIV (129)\, 2009\, Number 10\, October\, page 545\nA rather detailed article from Tartajubow on Chess II \nHere is how news of his passing was received on the English Chess Forum \nHere is an obituary from Leonard Barden in The Guardian \nHere is an obituary published in The Times of London \nFarewell to John Littlewood : The Lincolnshire Poacher \nand\, finally a history of JEL from the Yorkshire Chess Archives \nFM John Littlewood (25-v-1931 16-ix-2009)\nHere is John’s Wikipedia entry \nHow to Play the Middle Game in Chess by John Littlewood\, Collins\, 1974\nChess Coaching by John Littlewood\, The Crowood Press\, 1991\nLearn Chess by Edward Penn and John Littlewood\, Pitman House\, 1980\nLearn Chess : Teacher’s Book\, by Edward Penn & John Littlewood\, Pitman House\, 1980\nLearn Chess 2 by John Littlewood\, Adam & Charles Black\, 1984\nFM John Littlewood (25-v-1931 16-ix-2009)\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-fm-john-eric-littlewood-25-v-1931-16-ix-2009/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/jel.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200914 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200915 DTSTAMP:20200914T093726Z CREATED:20190824T102152Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200914T093726Z UID:1153-1600041600-1600127999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Alexander McDonnell (22-iv-1798 14-ix-1835) DESCRIPTION:We remember Alexander McDonnell who died aged 37 on September 14th\, 1835 in Tavistock Square\, London. \nPlease note : We have referenced a number of secondary and tertiary sources on AM and they agree on heritage. However\, following painstaking research of primary sources by James O’Fee and Tim Harding it has been demonstrated that the father of AM was not Dr. Alexander McDonnell but\, in fact\, Thomas McDonnell\, a merchant. \nAlso\, we do not have a primary source confirming the date of birth. 22-iv-1798 was obtained from the family tree of a distant relative. \nHopefully we will be permitted to publish further details unearthed by James O’Fee \nAlexander McDonnell was born on Tuesday\, May 22nd 1798 in Belfast\, Antrim\, Northern Ireland to Dr Alexander McDonnell\, age 34. His mother is unknown. \nHis (half-)brother Robert died (in a riding accident) on 19 July 1818 in Belfast\, Antrim\, when Alexander was 20 years old. He also had one sister\, Eliza (Elizabeth) \nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP\, 1983) by Hooper & Whyld : \nThe best player in England around 1830\, Born in Belfast\, the son of a doctor\, he spent some years in the West Indies and later worked in London as\nsecretary of the Committee of West Indian Merchants. William Lewis\, who taught McDonnell in the 1820s\, soon found that he could not successfully offer odds of pawn and move to his pupil; but challenged to play even Lewis declined\, fearing for his reputation. \nFrom June to October 1834 McDonnell played six matches against La Bourdonnais; of the 85 games that were played McDonnell won 27\, drew 13\, and lost 45. McDonnell’s lack of experience against strong opponents was a serious handicap. On occasion his combinative play could be brilliant and imaginative\, but his opening play (based on Lewis’s teachings) and his technique were inferior. He is described as ‘quiet\, reserved\, outwardly imperturbable’ with ‘an insular sense of’decorum’\, quite different from his extrovert opponent. \nWhereas La Bourdonnais played fast and with ease\, McDonnell concentrated at length upon his moves and retired from a playing session exhausted\, sometimes ‘walking his room the greater part of the night in a dreadful state of excitement’. His contemporaries believed that this long period of stress hastened his death from Bright’s disease. The games were regarded as the finest ever played. They were first published in England where they greatly stimulated interest in the game. \nUnlike his great rival\, McDonnell died wealthy; besides chess he was interested in political economy on which he wrote half a dozen books or\npamphlets.” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \n“The greatest player Ireland has ever (1976) produced\, McDonnell is remembered mainly for his series of games against La Bourdonnais in 1834 which were described by Morphy as ‘beautiful models of chess strategy’. \nThe son of a Belfast doctor\, McDonnell’s profession of Secretary to the Committee of West India Merchants brought him to London.\, where he took chess lessons from William Lewis and as a member of the West London Chess Club soon established the reputation of being the strongest amateur of his day. He was also a strong blindfold player. \nIn 1823 he lost some games against La Bourdonnais. These were probably played in Paris\, since there is no record of the players meeting in England. In 1834 La Bourdonnais came to London\, and a further contest was arranged. There are a number of conflicting reports on the sub-division of the games into matches\,but a total of 84 games were played\, of which McDonnell scored +27-44=13 before La Bourdonnais was recalled to Paris on business. \nIt was intended that the series should be continued\, but before this could be arranged McDonnell fell ill with Bright’s disease and died on 14th September 1835.” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1983) by Harry Golombek : \n“Britain’s leading player before Staunton. McDonnell was Irish born\, the son of a Belfast doctor. He was secretary to the Committee of West India Merchants in London. After he studied chess with Lewis\, he rose to the front rank of British players. \nIn 1834 he was engaged in a marathon series of matches with the visiting French champion La Bourdonnais. Five complete matches of varying lengths were played and a sixth was left unfinished\, comprising a probable total of 85 games (there is some dispute among chess historians over the details of the final two matches)\, with the victory going to La Bourdonnais by 45 games to 27 with 13 draws. The standard of play was high and these contests did much to kindle interest in chess in both France and England. McDonnell died the following years of Bright’s disease.” \nEdward Winter in Chess Notes writes \nFrom Wikipedia : \n“Alexander McDonnell (1798–1835) was an Irish chess master\, who contested a series of six matches with the world’s leading player Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais in the summer of 1834. \nIn 1825 he became a pupil of William Lewis\, who was then the leading player in Britain. But soon McDonnell had become so good that Lewis\, fearing for his reputation\, simply refused to play him anymore. \nAround 1825–1826\, McDonnell played Captain Evans\, while the latter was on shore leave in London. McDonnell was beaten with what is now regarded in chess circles as the creation of the Evans Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4).[3] \nLa Bourdonnais matches\nMain article: La Bourdonnais – McDonnell chess matches\nAt that time the world’s strongest player was the French aristocrat Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais. Between June and October 1834 La Bourdonnais and McDonnell played a series of six matches\, a total of eighty-five games\, at the Westminster Chess Club in London. McDonnell won the second match\, while La Bourdonnais won first\, third\, fourth and fifth. The sixth match was unfinished. \nIn the first game of the third match\, McDonnell successfully introduced a new variation in the King’s Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.Nc3) known today as the McDonnell Gambit.” \nWe are not convinced that the photograph above is of AM. We received this reply from Tim Harding : \n“I don’t recall ever seeing ANY image that was definitely of him\, but I have referred your enquiry to James O’Fee in Belfast who is probably the only person who might know of one. \nIt doesn’t help that he had in Belfast an almost exact contemporary of the same name (who came to work in Dublin and long outlived the chess player) and there is some issue about which one was the son of a doctor and which the son of a merchant. So even if you found an image online it’s more likely to be of the wrong man. \nUnless I am wrong there was never any image of Alexander McDonnell in a chess context.\nThe main chance would perhaps be in connection with his lobbying for the Demerara planters. \nBest wishes\nTim” \n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-alexander-mcdonnell/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/109879063-user-avatar-icon-sign-profile-symbol.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200909 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200910 DTSTAMP:20260816T134323Z CREATED:20200427T172617Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260816T134323Z UID:5027-1599609600-1599695999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Dr. Paul List (09-ix-1887 09-ix-1954) DESCRIPTION:Remembering Paul List (09-ix-1887 09-ix-1954) \nFrom The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by Klein and Winter : \n“Paul M List was born in Memel\, Lithuania in 1887. After living in Berlin for many years\, where he was manager of the bridge and chess rooms in a well-known café-restaurant\, he came to this country in 1936. \nPaul M List\nHe has competed in many tournaments\, local and international. He\, too\, failed to get into the prize list in the recent London International Tournament\, but he is a resourceful player\, particularly in defensive positions. \nHis best performance was Berlin\, 1925 where he came first\, ahead of Richter. Since he came to this country he has become an art dealer\, but chess is still one of his foremost activities.” \nScene at London. From left to right – Seated : Fairhurst\, List and Winter in play. Standing König and Sir George Thomas\nHere is an article by Matthew Sadler on the 1954 British Lightning Championship won by List \nDr. Paul List (09-ix-1887 09-ix-1954). Source : The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match.\nHere is his (surprisingly brief) obituary from British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXIV (1954)\, Number 10 (October)\, page 324 : \n“Dr. Paul List\, the British Lightning Championship winner a year ago (though he could not hold the title because he was not a naturalised Briton)\, died in London at the age of 66. A player of master strength\, Dr. List left his native Russia for Germany in the 1920’s\, and began on his second exile in 1938 when sought refuge in this country from Germany.” \nItem from Kington Times – Saturday 02 June 1951 regarding the visit of Dr. List\nFrom The Illustrated London News in 1953 (by BH Wood) : \n“Sixty-five-year-old Dr. (not of medicine) Paul List\, the oldest competitor\, who settled in Britain about 1937 and has been thinking of becoming naturalised ever since\, finished with a marvellous fifteen-and-a-half points out of a possible eighteen” \nDr. Paul M. List. Source : https://www.kingpinchess.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/They-provided-their-own-heat1.jpg\nHere is his Wikipedia entry \n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/remembering-paul-m-list-1887-09-ix-1954/ CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200909 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200910 DTSTAMP:20200908T133525Z CREATED:20190822T223745Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200908T133525Z UID:1023-1599609600-1599695999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary for IM Imre König (09-ii-1901 09-ix-1992) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary for IM Imre König (09-ii-1901 09-ix-1992) \nFrom The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by E.Klein and W.Winter : \n“Born in 1901 in Hungary when it still belonged to the old pre-World War I Austria\, spent most of his life in Vienna\, where he became a promising player at an early age. After World War I and the various geographical adjustments in the map of Europe\, he became Yugoslav by nationality and represented that country three times in international team tournaments. \nHe has competed in a great number of international tournaments\, some of them in this country\, where he has lived since 1938. He won the Premier Reserves at Hastings\, 1938\, in a strong international field\, finished fourth and fifth with the late Landau at Bournemouth\, 1939\, and shared first and second prizes with Milner-Barry in the National Chess Centre tournament\, 1939. His last performance was in the London International Tournament\, 1946\, where he shared fourth\, fifth and sixth places with Sir George Thomas and Gerald Abrahams. He is now a professional player. \nKönig’s special strength lies in the openings\, of which he has a deep knowledge.” \nImre König\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \n“International Master (1951). Born in Kula\, Hungary (now Serbia). König became a Yugoslav citizen when the territory in which he lived was ceded to Yugoslavia after the First World War. In 1938 he emigrated to England and became a naturalised British subject in 1949. He found that the English climate affected his health and in 1953 went to live in the USA. \nKönig learnt to play chess when he was 10. In 1920\, while studying at Vienna University\, he met Spielmann\, Tartakover and Réti\, and became became interested in the hypermodern school of chess\, which they represented. \nHe played for Yugoslavia in the chess Olympiads of 1931 and 1935 and came 2nd in the Yugoslav national tournament of 1922. His results in international tournaments include =4th at Bournemouth 1939; =4th at London 1946 and 2nd at Hastings 1948-49. These results do not do justice to his strength as a player. He was handicapped by a poor temperament for tournament chess\, which prevented him from achieving greater success in the international field. \nA chess professional\, König was a first-class teacher of the game (Anne was a student of his)\, as well as being a leading theoretician. He is author of The Queen’s Indian Defence (Pitman\, 1947) and Chess from Morphy to Botvinnik (Bell\, 1951).” \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977) by Harry Golombek : \n“An international master since 1951\, born at Gyula in Austro-Hungary. After the first world war König became a Yugoslav citizen and represented that country in the Olympiads of 1931 and 1935. He emigrated to England in 1938 and was naturalised in 1949. Since 1953 he has resided in the USA. Tournament results include 2nd prize at Hastings 1948/9. His publications include a monograph on the Queen’s Indian Defence\, London 1947\, and a longer work\, Chess from Morphy to Botvinnik\, London\, 1951 ” \nHooper & Whyld are silent on König for some strange reason. \nFrom Wikipedia : \n“Imre König (Koenig) aka Mirko Kenig (Sept 2\, 1901\, Gyula\, Hungary – 1992\, Santa Monica\, California) was a Hungarian chess master. \nHe was born in Gyula\, Hungary\, and also lived in Austria\, England and the USA during the troubled times between the two world wars. \nIn 1921\, he took 2nd in Celje. In 1920s König played in several tournaments in Vienna; he was 3rd in 1921\, 14th in 1922 (Akiba Rubinstein won)\, 3rd-4th in 1925\, 4-5th in 1926 (Rudolf Spielmann won)\, and 3rd-5th in 1926. He took 12th in Rogaška Slatina (Rohitsch-Sauerbrunn) in 1929. The event was won by Rubinstein. In 1929/30\, he took 7th in Vienna (Hans Kmoch and Spielmann won). In 1931\, he took 4th in Vienna (Albert Becker won). In 1936\, he tied for 6-7th in Novi Sad (Vasja Pirc won). In 1937\, he tied for 2nd-4th in Belgrade (Vasilije Tomović won). \nMirko Kenig represented Yugoslavia in the 4th Chess Olympiad at Prague 1931 (+5 –1 =2)\, the 6th Chess Olympiad at Warsaw 1935 (+5 –2 =8)\,[2] and in 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad at Munich 1936 (+7 –4 =7).” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n“In 1938\, Imre König emigrated to England. In 1939\, he tied for 4-5th in Bournemouth (Max Euwe won)\, and shared 1st with Philip Stuart Milner-Barry in Hampstead. In 1946\, he took 4th in London. In 1948/49\, he took 2nd\, behind Nicolas Rossolimo\, in the Hastings International Chess Congress. \nIn 1949\, he became a naturalized British citizen. However\, in 1953 he moved to the United States. \nKönig was awarded the International Master title in 1951.” \nQueen’s Indian Defence\, König\, Pitman\, 1947\nChess from Morphy to Botwinnik by Imre König\nThe Right Way to Play Chess\nImre König by John Donaldson\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-for-imre-konig/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/IMG-2.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200908 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200909 DTSTAMP:20200908T113745Z CREATED:20190823T191415Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200908T113745Z UID:1130-1599523200-1599609599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Elijah Williams (08-ix-1854) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Elijah Williams (08-ix-1854) \nWe note today (September 8th) in 1854 marks the passing of Elijah Williams. \nWe are not aware of verified image / likeness of Elijah Williams. Possibly the archives of Bristol based newspapers would help? \nHere is an excellent article by Neil Blackburn (aka SimaginFan) \nFrom Wikipedia : \n“Elijah Williams (7 October 1809 – 8 September 1854) was an eminent British chess player of the mid-19th century. He was the first president of the Clifton Chess Club\, and publisher of a book of games from the Divan Club. His most notable result was at the 1851 London tournament\, in which he defeated the celebrated British player Howard Staunton in the play-off for third place. \nHe was accused by Staunton of taking an average of 2½ hours per move during some matches\, a strategy thought to cause opponents to lose their focus on the match. According to Staunton\, following a particularly dilatory performance by Williams in the London 1851 tournament\, a 20-minute per turn time limit was adopted for standard play the next year. However other sources contradict this viewpoint and indeed it was not uncommon for Staunton to attribute his losses to the intolerable dilatory play of his opponents. Staunton is quoted as remarking while playing against Williams\, ‘… Elijah\, you’re not just supposed to sit there – you’re supposed to sit there and think!'” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n“In The Complete Chess Addict by Mike Fox and Richard James he was dubbed “the Bristol Sloth” due to his alleged extreme slowness. This sobriquet inspired a musical tune “The Bristol Sloth” by guitarist Leo Kottke (who also applied the term ‘sitzkrieg’ in describing Williams’ playing style). \nWilliams died in London\, a victim of the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak.” \n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-elijah-williams/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200904 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200905 DTSTAMP:20200904T143051Z CREATED:20190823T081815Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200904T143051Z UID:1036-1599177600-1599263999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Michael Stean (04-ix-1953) DESCRIPTION:We send best wishes to GM Michael Stean on his birthday\, \nMichael Francis Stean was born Michael Francis Stein on Friday\, September 4th\, 1953 in Pancras\, London. His mother’s maiden name was Feldman. Michael has a brother\, Howard. \nMichael Stean\nHe attended Latymer Upper School and Cambridge University. \nHis early chess days were spent at Richmond Junior Chess Club. \nHe became an International Master in 1975 and England’s third (OTB) Grandmaster in 1977 winning £2\,500 from the Jim Slater Foundation. \nHis peak FIDE rating was 2540 in January 1979. \nHis mother (Jean) presented a trophy to the Marlow Congress (now the Berks and Bucks Congress) which became the Mrs. Jean Stean Cup. \nTony Miles and Michael Stean at the FIDE Zonal in Amsterdam\, 1978. (Source: http://gahetna.nl)\nAccording to British Chess (Pergamon\, 1983) by Botterill\, Levy\, Rice and Richardson : \n“Stean was educated at Cambridge University\, He was equal first in the British Championship\, Clacton\, 1974\, although only 4th in the playoff. He has been an important member of Korchnoi’s team for the last 5 years\, and this perhaps has been responsible more than anything for the rounding out and maturing of his style from the sharp tactical play of the early 1970s to the solid positional GM (especially with the White pieces) of today. \nKorchnoi\, Stean and Keene try out matching vests and T-shirts from The University of Sussex sports centre\, Falmer\, East Sussex. It is likely that the yellow one was only worn for this press photo shoot.\nStean is a fine author; Simple Chess and the Sicilian Najdorf are both excellent books. \nMichael Stean at the 1977 Lord John Cup\nTemperamentally he is generally pleasant\, good humoured and self confident\, although he suffers from intermittent poor health which might help to explain his at times erratic results.” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nAccording to Chessgames.com : \n“Michael Francis Stean was born on the 4th of September 1953 in London\, England. He finished 3rd at the 1973 World Junior Chess Championships behind Alexander Beliavsky and Tony Miles. Awarded the IM title in 1975 and the GM title in 1977 (The third Englishman to attain the title after Miles and Keene). \nHe finished 1st= in the 1974 British Championship but lost the play-off. He played on 5 English Olympiad teams from 1974 – 1983 and has won 1st prizes at Vrsac 1979\, Smederevska Palanka 1980 and Beer Sheba 1982. \nA specialist in Opening Theory he served as one of Viktor Korchnoi’s seconds in the 1977 – 1981 period. He is the author of Simple Chess\, an introduction to chess strategy.” \nMchael Stean\, Hastings 1972-1973. Source : British Chess Magazine\, Volume 93\, Number 2\, page 53\nThe Robert Silk Fellowship Tournament\, Canterbury\, 1973. Source : British Chess Magazine\, Volume 93\, Number 5\, page 192\nPost-banquet photograph – left to right : Harry Golombek\, Andras Adorjan\, Danny Wright\, Brian Eley\, Michael Stean\, D. Silk\, Robert Silk\, AK Henderson. The Robert Silk Fellowship Tournament\, Canterbury\, 1973. Source : British Chess Magazine\, Volume 93\, Number 5\, page 192\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nHarry Golombek wrote this about Michael in a 1980 Dataday chess diary : \n“The fact that he has sprung up into second place among English players as regards Elo ratings demonstrates the considerable advance Michael Stean has made in the course of a year. \nKorchnoi vs Stean at the Philips & Drew Masters of 1980. The game was drawn in 19 moves.\nIn the 1978 diary I wrote that it would not be long before he gained the grandmaster title since he already possessed one norm of the title. The forecast proved to be correct as he duly acquired the title a few months after I wrote the prophecy. \nHe had though to take two more bites at the cherry before he managed to gain the required norms since the tournaments in which he played were not long events. They were Montilla in August 1977 where he came third below Gligoric and Kavalek and the Lord John Cup Tournament in London in September 1977 where he was equal 2nd with Quinteros and Mestel\, first place being occupied by the Czechoslovak grandmaster\, Hort. \nJan Timman plays Michael Stean at the 1978 Amsterdam FIDE Zonal. The Dutch GM won in 39 moves.\nBefore that he had assisted Keene in seconding Korchnoi in his candidates match versus Polugayevsky and had done this to such effect that Korchnoi asked him and Keene to act as his seconds at his final match in the Candidates at Belgrade and later on still at the World Championship match against Karpov in the Philippines. \nNigel Short\, Lubomir Kavalek and Michael Stean\nHe also played successfully in Yugoslavia in 1977 (equal 2nd at Virovitica and equal 2nd at Bar). In 1978 he was 3rd at Beersheba below Korchnoi but head of Keene. Five points out of nine at the very strong Swiss System tournament at Lone Pine was followed by an excellent equal 4th with Miles at the tournament at Las Palmas. He has shown that he not only possesses the title of grandmaster but also plays like one. \nMichael Stean (far right) at an unknown event\nA good example in the following game (Stean-Sax) against one of the joint first prize winners at the Las Palmas event. It was awarded the prize for the best game :” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP\, 1984) by Hooper & Whyld : \n“English player\, International Grandmaster (1977). At Nice 1974\, in the first of his several Olympiads\, he won the brilliancy prize for his game against\nBrowne. \nSince then he has had several good results: Montilia 1976\, equal second with Kavalek and Ricardo Calvo (1943— ) after Karpov; Montilia 1977\, third (-1-3 = 6)after Gligoric and Kavalek ahead of R. Byrne\, Taimanov\, and Andersson; London 1977. second (+4=4—1) equal with Mestel and Quinteros after Hort ; Vrsac 1979\, first (+ 8=5—1); Smederevska Palanka 1980\, first (+7-6); Beersheba 1982\, first\, Stean was one of Korchnoi’s seconds in the world championship cycles of 1977-8 and 1980-1\, and the two became close friends. \nIn particular Stean provided help with the openings\, a subject on which he specialises. He published a book on the Najdorf variation of the Sicilian defence in 1976\, and Simple Chess\, a guide to the understanding of positional ideas\, in 1978.” \nGM Michael Stean\nFrom Wikipedia : \n“Michael Francis Stean (born 4 September 1953) is an English chess grandmaster\, an author of chess books and a tax accountant. \nMichael Stean chats with David Levy at the London Chess Classic\nThe game below (Stean-Browne) was the first winner of the World Brilliancy Prize established in 1974 by Isador Samuel Turover. The value of the prize was $1\,000.” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nSee Michael Stean’s Wikipedia entry for more \nVideo Chess Event (See caption below)\nVideo Chess Caption\nIn 1983 at the height of his powers Michael left the chess work and became a tax accountant. He is now a senior partner at RSM UK. \nMchael Stean\, tax accountant\nMichael Francis Stean\nSimple Chess by Michael Stean\nSicilian Najdorf by Michael Stean\nSimple Chess by Michael Stean\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-michael-john-stean/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,History,Player,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/IMG_1177-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200901 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200902 DTSTAMP:20210901T103404Z CREATED:20190822T155139Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210901T103404Z UID:983-1598918400-1599004799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Joseph Blackburne (10-xii-1841 01-ix-1924) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Joseph Blackburne (10-xii-1841 01-ix-1924) \nThe following (excerpts of) information were obtained via ancestry.co.uk / findmypast.co.uk: \nJoseph Henry Blackburne was born on Friday\, December 10th\, 1841 in Chorlton\, Manchester. His father was Joseph Blackburn (aged 23\, a temperance reformer) and his mother was Ann Pritchard (aged 24). He had eight sons and five daughters. \nHis brother Frederick Pritchard Blackburn died on 11 October 1847 in Lancashire\, Lancashire\, when Joseph Henry was 5 years old. \nHis sister Clara was born on 4 November 1847 in Street\, Lancashire\, when Joseph Henry was 5 years old. \nHis half-sister Clara was born in 1848 in Manchester\, Lancashire\, when Joseph Henry was 7 years old. \nHis mother Ann passed away on 26 November 1857 in Manchester\, Lancashire\, at the age of 40. \nHis half-brother William Thomas was born on 17 June 1865 when Joseph Henry was 23 years old. \nJoseph Henry Blackburne married Eleanor Driscoll on 10 December 1865 when he was 24 years old. \nJoseph Henry Blackburne married Beatrice Lapham on 3 October 1876 when he was 34 years old. \nHis wife Beatrice passed away in January 1880 in St Olave Southwark\, London\, at the age of 26. They had been married 3 years. \nJoseph Henry Blackburne married Mary Jane Fox in St Olave Southwark\, London\, on 16 December 1880 when he was 39 years old. \nJoseph Henry Blackburne lived in Everton\, Lancashire\, in 1891. \nAccording to Edward Winter in Chess Notes JHB lived at the following addresses : \n\n16 Lucey Road\, London SE\, England (The Chess Amateur\, October 1924\, page 32 (address in 1879) and the 1881 British census (C.N. 4756)*).\n116 Barkworth Road\, Camberwell\, London\, England (1891 British census (C.N. 4756)*).\n7 Whitbread Road\, Lewisham\, London\, England (1901 British census (C.N. 4756)*).\n45 Sandrock Road\, Lewisham\, London SE\, England (Ranneforths Schach-Kalender\, 1915\, page 56\, and Hastings Chess Club address list\, 1922*).\n\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nAccording to chessgames.com : \n“Joseph Henry Blackburne was born in Chorlton\, Manchester. He came to be known as “The Black Death”. He enjoyed a great deal of success giving blindfold and simultaneous exhibitions. Tournament highlights include first place with Wilhelm Steinitz at Vienna 1873\, first at London 1876\, and first at Berlin 1881 ahead of Johannes Zukertort. In matchplay he lost twice to Steinitz and once to Emanuel Lasker. He fared a little better with Zukertort (Blackburne – Zukertort (1881)) and Isidor Gunsberg\, by splitting a pair of matches\, and defeating Francis Joseph Lee\, ( Blackburne – Lee (1890) ). One of the last successes of his career was at the age of 72\, when he tied for first place with Fred Dewhirst Yates at the 1914 British Championship. \nJoseph Blackburne (10-xii-1841 01-ix-1924)\nIn his later years\, a subscription by British chess players provided an annuity of £100 (approximately  £4\,000 in 2015 value)\, and a gift of £250 on his 80th birthday.” \nIn 1923 he suffered a stroke\, and the next year he died of a heart attack.” \nJoseph Henry Blackburne (10-xii-1841 01-ix-1924)\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP\, 1984) by Hooper and Whyld : \n“For more than 20 years one of the first six players in the world and for even longer the leading English born player. Draughts was the most popular indoor game in his home town\, Manchester; he learned this game as a child and became expert in his youth. \nHe was about 18 when\, inspired by Morphy’s exploits\, he learned the moves of chess. In July 1861 he lost all live games of a match against the Manchester chess club champion Edward Pindar\, but he improved so rapidly that he defeated Pindar three months later (-1-5=2—1)\, and in 1862 he became champion of the club ahead of Pindar and Horwitz. \nInstructed by Horwitz\, Blackburne became one of the leading endgame players of his time; and wishing to emulate the feats of L. Paulsen\, who visited the club in November 1861\, he developed exceptional skill at blindfold chess. He spent most of the 1860s developing his chess and toying with various occupations. \nAfter winning the British championship\, 1868-9\, ahead of de vere\, he became a full-time professional player. \n\nBlackburne achieved excellent results in many tournaments: Baden-Baden 1870\, third equal with Neumann after Anderssen and Steinitz; London 1872\, second (+5-2) after Steinitz ahead of Zukertort; Vienna 1873\, second to Steinitz after a play-off; Paris 1878\, third after Winawer and Zukertort: Wiesbaden 1880\, first equal with Englisch and Schwarz; Berlin 1881\, first (+13=2 — 1)\, three points ahead of Zukertort\, the second prize winner (Blackburne’s greatest achievement); London 1883\, third after Zukertort and Steinitz; Hamburg 1885\, second equal with Englisch\, Mason\, Tarrasch\, and Weiss half a point after Gunsberg; Frankfurt 1887\, second equal with Weiss after Mackenzie; Manchester 1890\, second after Tarrasch; Belfast 1892\, first equal with Mason; London 1892\, second ( + 6-2) after Lasker; London 1893\, first ( + 2=3). \nHe was in the British team in 11 of the Anglo-American cable matches\, meeting Pillsbury on first board six times (+2-3 — 1)\, and he continued to play internationally until he was 72\, long enough to meet the pioneer of the hypermodern movement Nimzowitsch\, whom he defeated at St Petersburg 1914. \n\nBlackburne had remarkable combinative powers and is remembered for his swingeing king’s side attacks\, often well prepared but occasionally consisting of an ingenious swindle that would deceive even the greatest all his contemporaries. The tournament book of Vienna 1873 refers to him as ‘der schrwarze Tod [Black death] der Schachspieler’\, a nickname that became popular. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nHis unflappable temperament also earned him the soubriquet “the man with the iron nerves’. Even so\, neither his temperament nor his style was suited to set matches\, in which he was rarely successful against world-class players. He had other chess talents: a problem composer\, he was also a fast solver\, allegedly capable of outpacing the great Sam Loyd. Blackburne earned his livelihood by means of simultaneous displays\, for this purpose touring Britain twice-yearly\, with a few breaks\, for more than 50 years. \nChess\, circa 1896\, JH Blackburne\, well known chess player\, who had toured both on the Continent and America\, able to make between 40 to 60 moves when blindfolded by sheer memory (Photo by Bob Thomas/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)\nBefore this time such displays were solemn affairs; Lowenthal\, who would appear in formal dress and play for several hours in silence\, was shocked when Blackburne turned up in ordinary clothes\, chatting and making jokes as he played\, and refreshing him self with whisky\, (Blackburne confessed\, however\, that when fully absorbed in a game he never noticed whether he was drinking water instead\,) Once\, walking round the boards\, he drained his opponent’s glass\, saying when rebuked He left it en prise and I took it en passant‘ \nThe illustrator Julius Hess depicted Blackburne in a New Yorker Staats Zeitung evening edition as sitting at a chesstable and beckoning: “Waitah! A whiskey and limejuice!” \nHe played his blindfold displays quickly\, and with little sign of the stress that besets most blindfold players. Probably the leading blindfold expert of his time\, he challenged Zukertort\, a close rival in this field\, to a match of ten games\, played simultaneously\, both players blindfold; but Zukertort declined. Many who knew and liked Blackburne subscribed to a fund which sustained him in his last years. \nImage Supplied by a reader of the book ‘Eminent Victorian Chess Players’ to Tim Harding\nP. A. Graham\, Mr Blackburne’s Games at Chess (1899) contains 407 games annotated by Blackburne and 28 three-movers composed by him. \nMr Blackburne’s Games at Chess by PA Graham\nA reprint\, styled Blackburne*s Chess Games (1979)\, has a new introduction and two more games. \nOne of Blackburne’s contributions was the suggestion of using chess clocks rather than the archaic hourglasses. \nHere follows a reproduction of an article from British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXX1 (1961)\, Number 12 (December)\, page 340-342 written by RN Coles entitled “Early Days of a Great Master” : \n“The only record of how J. H. Blackburne first\, entered the chess world is the one provided by P. Anderson Graham in the introduction to his collection of Blackburne’s games. This has all the ingredients of a romanticized version of the truth-the first casual games in a temperance hotel\, then entry to the important Manchester Club and a series of victories over ever stronger opponents until at last Pindar\, Champion of the Provinces\, comes along\, plays the unknown youth and is defeated. \nReference to C. H. Stanley’s column in the Weekly Guardian and Express helps to supply a more accurate version. Young Blackburne’s earliest interest was in problems and he submitted one to the Guardian and Express which appeared in January\, 1861\, only to be found by several solvers to be cooked\, Then silence till May 11th\, when the column carries a note: \nJ. H. B. Problems received with much pleasure…Shall be glad to see you at the Club.” \nHere are a couple of published problems. For a complete listing see below. \nManchester Express\, 1861 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n#4. 6+4 \nThe Field\, 1893 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n#3\, 7+6 \n  \nNot yet a member\, clearly. Nevertheless\, he contrived somehow to meet Pindar outside the club and played some games-with him (two scores appear in the Guardian and Express\, July 20th)\, and a set-match of five up was then arranged\, still played in private (Guardian and Express\, August 3lst)\, which “was terminated by Mr. Pindar winning a clear victory\, the score being Pindar 5\, Blackburne 0” (one game was quoted in the July “B.C.M.” and another score can be found in the Guardian and Express\, July 27th. \n“A second match was agreed upon\, level games to entitle either player to the victor’s palm. The result … is calculated positively\, to startle the chess world. The first game was scored by Mr. Pindar; of the next seven\, Blackburne won five and the two remaining were drawn. ‘At this point Mr. Pindar resigned the match.” (Guardian and Express\, September 7th\, with the score of a Blackburne win from this match quoted February 1st\, 1962.) \nOnly now does Blackburne appear to have joined the Manchester Club\, meeting such players as Stanley himself for the first time (Guardian and Express gives the score of a casual game\, November 9th)\, though Stanley later claimed personally to have discovered the young prodigy. \nIn November\, 1861\, Paulsen visited the club and the score survives of a casual game in which he beat Blackburne\, who played a Winawer Variation of the French Defence long before Winawer ever came on the-scene (Guardian and Express\, December\,1861); Paulsen concluded his visit with one of his celebrated ten-board blindfold displays and not unnaturally the young Blackburne eagerly took a board; his defeat is No.25O in his games collection. This so stimulated him that he himself tried blindfold play and by January 20th\, 1862\, was able to give his first display against four boards\, winning them all (Guardian and Express\, January 25th\, with one of the scores). This he followed with seven games on February 8th\,\nwinning five and losing two. (Guardian and Express\, February 8th) and finally ten games on February 8th\, winning five\, losing two\, and drawing three (Guardian and Express\,February 15th\, which quotes the score of one game in addition to No. 254 in his games). \nInter-club matches were something of a rarity in those days and were regarded as of considerable importance when they occurred; one such was the annual Manchester-Liverpool match and in 1862 Blackburne took part for the first time\, being matched against Wellington\, another young player of promise who seems to have got no further; as many games were played between opponents as time allowed and these two young men played three\, all won by Blackburne. (Guardian and Express\, February 22nd\, which quotes the score of one game in addition to No. 138 in the collection). \nDuring this spring the rivalry with Pindar was renewed in a third match for the first five wins and after eleven games the score stood at 4 each\, with three drawn (Guardian and Express\, March 15th\, quoting the score of the eleventh game)\, but I cannot find who won the last game. Since Blackburne was hailed as club champion this season\, one must suppose he was the victor. \nSuch was his first club season. ln June\, 1862\, he played in the London lnternational Tournament and from then on his chess career was public property. \nTo conclude\, here is the score of the eleventh game of his third match with Pindar\, a critical struggle in which his budding mastery appears at the-end. From an inferior opening he struggles into an equal ending but by a rash exchange of Rooks on the 36th move gives Pindar a clear advantage\, which could have been held by 41. P-R4. Blackburne seizes on this omission like a real master to switch into a most accurately calculated queen ending. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nand here is the original article: \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXX1 (1961)\, Number 12 (December)\, page 340\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXX1 (1961)\, Number 12 (December)\, page 341\nMany juniors and beginners will know the Blackburne Shilling Gambit (or Kostić Gambit) in some circles known (named by Julian Hodgson) as the ‘Oh My God’: \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nThere are variations named after Blackburne as follows : \nThe Blackburne Attack in the Four Knights is \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nand the Blackburne Variation of the Dutch defence is \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nand a popular line in the Queen’s Gambit \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nare attributed to Blackburne in the literature. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nAccording to The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977) by Harry Golombek : \n“British grandmaster and highly successful tournament player who was one of the most prominent masters of the nineteenth century. He did not learn to play chess until the age of nineteen\, but his natural gifts soon brought him into the front rank of British players\, and in 1868 he abandoned his business interests and adopted chess as a profession. \nBlackburne’s international tournament career spans an impressive fifty-two years from London 1862 to St. Petersburg 1914 – a total of 53 events in which he played 814 games\, scoring over 62%. Although he rarely won international events\, he generally finished in the top half of the table and his fierce competitive spirit coupled with his great combinative ability earned the pleasant nickname of ‘the Black Death’. \nJoseph Blackburne (10-xii-1841 01-ix-1924). Photograph from The Encyclopedia of Chess by Harry Golombek\nHis most notable successes were =1st with Steinitz at Vienna 1873 (Blackburne lost the play-off match)\, 1st at Berlin 1881 ahead of Paulsen\, Schallopp\, Chigorin\, Winawer and Zukertort\, and 2nd to Tarrasch at Manchester 1890. \nBlackburne won the BCA Championship in 1868 and for many years was ranked as Britain’s foremost player. In 1914 – at the age of 72 – he shared first place at the BCF congress in Chester. \nIn match play his success was mixed. He defeated Bird in 1888 (+4-1) and Gunsberg in 1881 (+7-4=3) but lost a second match to Gunsberg in 1886 (+2-5=6). He lost to Lasker (+0-6=4) in 1892 and was defeated heavily twice by Steinitz : in 1862/3 (+1-7=2) and in 1876 (+0-7=0)\, the latter of these matches being for the World Championship. \nBlackburne excelled at blindfold play and in simultaneous exhibitions\, which provided a major portion of his income. He died in Lewisham\, a much respected veteran of eighty-three.” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n\nJoseph Henry Blackburne (10-xii-1841 01-ix-1924)\nEdward Winter discusses the Zukertort-Blackburne game of 1883. \nHere is an article on chess.com by Bill Wall \nProblems of the Black Death by Batgirl \nMeson Database of JHBs problems \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nEminent Victorian Chess Players\, Tim Harding\, McFarland & Co; 1st edition (20 April 2012)\, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0786465682\nJoseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography\, Tim Harding\, McFarland & Co; Annotated edition (30 July 2015)\, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0786474738\nBlackburne : The Black Death in Spades by Bob Long\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-joseph-henry-blackburne/ CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/10429.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200823 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200824 DTSTAMP:20210823T204656Z CREATED:20190823T094804Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210823T204656Z UID:1068-1598140800-1598227199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Gerald Anderson MBE DFC (24-ii-1898 23-viii-1984) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Gerald Frank Anderson MBE\, DFC (24-ii-1898 23-viii-1984) \nFrom British Chess (Pergamon\, 1983) by Botterill\, Levy\, Rice and Richardson we have an article written by John Rice : \n“Gerald Frank Anderson was born in South Africa on 23 February 1898\, and has published nearly 500 problems of many different types. From the start he was a versatile composer\, and Weenink’s The Chess Problem (see introduction) contains two three-movers of his illustrating anticipatory half-pin (see Diagram I) a reflex-mate in two dating from 1920 and a selfmate in four from 5 years earlier\, when the composer was only seventeen. \nDiagram I \n1st prize \, Hampshire Telegraph & Post\, 1920 \nWhite mates in 3 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n(All Solutions contained in scan at foot of article.) \nIt must have been exciting for a budding problemist to grow up in the period between 1913 and 1924 when the Good Companion Chess Problem Club of Philadelphia was publishing its Folders of original work containing outstanding examples of complex strategy such as half-pins and cross-checks. Diagram II\, with its intricate battery play\, won first prize for Anderson in the Folder of October 1917. \nDiagram II\n1st prize\, Good Companions\, October 1917 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nDiagram III is a justly famous two-mover\, with a perfect key and beautiful line-play: \nIL Secolo\, 1919 \nWhite mates in 2 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nBetween 1953 and 1961 Anderson was with the British Embassy in Washington and a close friendship developed with the American composer Vincent Eaton. \nIn the introduction to his published collection of Eaton’s best problems (Memorial to V. L. Eaton\, 1971) Anderson describes his visits to Eaton’s house where they would work for hours on joint compositions (nine of them altogether\, eight prize winners)- ‘blockbusters’\, as they themselves termed them. Diagram IV is one of these\, a highly complex check-prevention scheme. \nDiagram IV \n1st prize\, British Chess Magazine\, 1953 \n(with V.L. Eaton) \nWhite mates in 3 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nA glance through the anthologies shows how successful Anderson has always been with orthodox forms\, perhaps especially with three- and four- movers and with selfmates. Diagram V is a characteristic selfmate in two\, with a good deal more strategy than many composers achieve in selfmate form: \nDiagram V \n2nd prize\, British Chess Federation Tournament\, 1947 \nSelfmate in 2 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nSince his retirement Anderson has lived for much of the time in Italy\, where the air seems to be conducive to the composition of reflex-mates\, for that is the genre with which he has principally been occupied in recent years. Diagram VI is a good illustration of his style; a couple of changed continuations\, and subtle play centered on the two diagonals b5-f1 and c6-h1. (A reflex-mate is a selfmate in which both sides are under an obligation to mate on the move if possible). In this problem White has to keep his active line-pieces (Q and B) well out of the way of the potential mating diagonal. \nDiagram VI \n1st prize\, The Problemist\, 1975 \nReflex-mate in 2 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nIn addition to the Eaton anthology mentioned above\, Anderson has published Adventures of my Chessmen \nAdventures of my Chessmen 1914 – 1923 \, GF Anderson\, Chess Amateur\, Stroud\, 1924\nand Are There Any?\, the latter being a fascinating collection of Kriegspiel problems. He was President of the British Chess Problem Society from 1962 to 1964\, and became a FIDE International Judge in 1960 and an International Master in 1975.” \nGerald Frank Anderson MBE DFC (24-ii-1898 23-viii-1984)\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 and 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \n“International Judge of FIDE for Compositions (1960). Born on 23rd February 1898. Won the DFC in 1914-18 war. Foreign Office (Retd.) First problem published in 1912\, since when he has composed nearly 500 problems\, mostly 3 and 4 movers. but has latterly switched to Fairy chess problems. He is one of the the great reflex and self-mate composers. Edited a section Chess Amateur 1921\, Nottinghamshire Weekly Guardian 1937-1938\, Anglo-Portuguese News 1945-1946\, and Self-Mate Section of The Problemist 1964-1966. Author of Are There Any? a book about Kriegspiel problems and A Memorial Volume of Chess Problems of VL Eaton.” \nHis MBE was awarded in the 1959 New Year Honours list. The citation reads : “Gerald Frank Anderson\, DFC\, Second Secretary\, Her Majesty’s Embassy\, Washington.” \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977)\, Harry Golombek OBE we have this by John Rice: \n“British problem composer\, output about 550 problems.\, orthodox and fairy. Books : Adventures of My Chessmen; and Are there Any? (1959 – a fascinating collection of Kriegspiel problems); Vincent Eaton Memorial (1971 – an annotated anthology of Eaton’s work). President of British Chess Problem Society\, 1962-4. International Judge (1960)\, international master (1975).” \nFrom chessgames.com : \n“G. F. Anderson\, in 1946\, was working in the British Embassy in Lisbon\, and\, as a highly skilled chess player (he was also known for composing chess problems as early as 1919)\, was nominated to deliver the challenge from Botvinnik to Alekhine. He played a game with the World Champion in the Embassy and it became the last recorded game by Alekhine.” \n\nHere is the original article from British Chess (Pergamon\, 1983) by Botterill\, Levy\, Rice and Richardson by John Rice : \nBritish Chess\, Pergamon Press\, 1983. page 16\nBritish Chess\, Pergamon Press\, 1983. page 17\nBritish Chess\, Pergamon Press\, 1983. page 18\nHere is his Wikipedia entry \n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-gerald-frank-anderson/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Ex9QsjrW8AMF9aI.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200822 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200823 DTSTAMP:20200822T155428Z CREATED:20200822T155428Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200822T155428Z UID:8788-1598054400-1598140799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of William Lewis (09-x-1787 22-viii-1870) DESCRIPTION:We note the passing today (August 22nd) in 1870 of William Lewis of the Lewis Counter Gambit. \nThe Lewis Counter Gambit\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP\, 1984) by Hooper & Whyld : \n“English player and author. He left his native Birmingham as a young man and worked for a time with a merchant in London. He learned much of his chess from Sarratt\, a debt that was not repaid. \nAround 1819 he was operator of the Turk\, meeting all-comers successfully. With Cochrane he visited Paris in 1821\, received odds of pawn and move from Deschapelles\, and defeated him in a short match (+ 1=2)\, Lewis had already begun to write and of the more useful books he published around this time were translations of Greco and Carrera which appeared in 1819 and 1822 respectively. Although he considered Sarratt’s A Treatise on the Game of Chess (1808) a poorly written book\, Lewis published a second edition in 1822 in direct competition with Sarratt’s last book\, published in 1821 by his impoverished widow\, (In 1843 many Englishmen contributed to a fund for Mrs Sarratt in her old age\, Lewis’s name is not on the subscription list\,} \nWilliam Lewis\, George Walker and Augustus Mongredien\nIn 1825 Bourdonnais visited England. Lewis recalled that they played about 70 games\, and according to Walker seven of them constituted a\nmatch which Lewis lost (+2—5). With no significant playing achievements to his credit Lewis acquired such a high reputation that a correspondent writing to the weekly magazine Bell’s Life in 1838 was moved to call him grandmaster. \nFrom 1825 he preserved this reputation by the simplest means: he declined to play on even terms. In the same year he opened a club where he gave lessons at half a guinea each. McDonnell and Walker were among his pupils. Speculating unwisely on a piano-making patent\, Lewis went bankrupt in 1827\, and the club closed. After three precarious years of teaching chess (rich patrons were becoming fewer) Lewis became actuary of the Family Endowment Society and enjoyed financial security\nfor the rest of his life. \nWilliam Lewis\nCircumstances now made it possible for him to concentrate on his writing and he published his two most important works: Series of Progressive Lessons (1831) and Second Series of Lessons (1832)\, both republished with various revisions. Lewis continued to write but gradually withdrew from other chess activities; his last notable connection with chess was as stakeholder for the Morphy-Lowenthal match of 1858. \nChess Board Companion by William Lewis\nLewis’s Lessons contain extensive analyses of many opening variations\, examined in the closeness of his study. Subsequent writers\, notably Lasa\, were influenced by these books\, but more on account of the form than the content\, which\, adequate for the 1830s\, were soon out of date. \nAround 1840 writers no longer worked in isolation (a circumstance Lewis found unavoidable) and new positional ideas were being shaped. Because Lewis failed to assimilate these his judgements were faulty\, and his voluminous Treatise on the Game of Chess (1844) was out of date when published. \nIndustrious rather than inventive\, he made only one innovation\, the Lewis Counter-Gambit; but it had no practical value in 1844\, for simpler defences had already been discovered. Lewis’s work commands respect\, but he is more aptly described as the last and one of the best of the ‘old’ writers than the first of the new\, a more fitting description for Jaenisch and the authors of Bilguer’s Handbuch. ” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \nChess theoretician\, teacher\, author and one of the leading players in England in the nineteenth century. \nWilliam Lewis was born in Birmingham on 9th October 1787. As a young man he went to London and took chess lessons from JH Sarratt. Within a short time he was making chess his principal means of livelihood. \nIn 1819 he was engaged as the player concealed in the chess-playing automaton\, ‘The Turk’\, when it was exhibited in London. In 1825 he opened some chess rooms in St. Martin’s Lane in London\, where he taught chess. Among his pupils was Alexander McDonnell. After going bankrupt in 1827\, the chess rooms were closed\, and Lewis decided to put his lessons into a book. He soon became a highly-successful writer\, His Chessboard Companion published in 1838 ran into nine editions\, and his Series of Progressive Lessons of the Game of Chess has been described as one of the landmarks in the history of the game. This book included some completely new analyses of various chess openings and later formed the basis of the Handbuch des Schachspiels. Lewis also translated the work of Greco and Stamma and was author of The Elements of Chess (1882)\, Fifty Games of Chess (1832) and Chess for Beginners (1835). \nChess Board Companion by William Lewis\nTowards the end of his life\, Lewis rarely played chess\, and his last public appearance in chess circles was 12 before he died\, when he acted at stake-holder in the match between Morphy and Lowenthal in 1858. He died on 22nd August 1870. \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977) by Harry Golombek : \n“Author of The Chessboard Companion\, London\, 1838\, and several other popular works on chess (including translations of Greco and Stamma). Lewis was also a leading chess teacher – his most famous pupil was Alexdander McDonnell – and for a time he ran chess rooms in St. Martin’s Lane. In 1819 he operated the chess-playing automaton ‘The Turk’ when it was exhibited in London. The Lewis Counter-Gambit is 1.P-K4\, P-K4; 2.B-B4 B-B4; 3.P-QB3\,P-Q5!?” \nChess for Beginners\nFrom “Chess : A History” by Harry Golombek there are two references to WL on pages 98 and 123 alluded to above. \nHere is an interesting article from Chess.com \nFrom Wikipedia : \n“William Lewis (1787–1870) was an English chess player and author\, nowadays best known for the Lewis Countergambit and for being the first player ever to be described as a Grandmaster of the game.[1] \nBorn in Birmingham\, William Lewis moved as a young man to London where he worked for a merchant for a short period. He became a student of chess player Jacob Sarratt\, but in later years he showed himself to be rather ungrateful towards his teacher.[1] Although he considered Sarratt’s Treatise on the Game of Chess (1808)[2] a “poorly written book”\, in 1822 Lewis published a second edition of it three years after Sarratt’s death in direct competition with Sarratt’s own superior revision published posthumously in 1821 by Sarratt’s poverty-stricken widow. In 1843\, many players contributed to a fund to help the old widow\, but Lewis’ name is not on the list of subscribers.[1] \nAround 1819 Lewis was the hidden player inside the Turk (a famous automaton)\, meeting all-comers successfully. He suggested to Johann Maelzel that Peter Unger Williams\, a fellow ex-student of Sarratt\, should be the next person to operate inside the machine. When P. U. Williams played a game against the Turk\, Lewis recognised the old friend from his style of play (the operator could not see his opponents) and convinced Maelzel to reveal to Williams the secret of the Turk. Later\, P. U. Williams himself took Lewis’ place inside the machine.[3] \nLewis visited Paris along with Scottish player John Cochrane in 1821\, where they played with Alexandre Deschapelles\, receiving the advantage of pawn and move. He won the short match (+1 =2).” \n“Lewis’ career as an author began at this time\, and included translations of the works of Greco and Carrera\, published in 1819[5] and 1822[6] respectively. \nHe was the leading English player in the correspondence match between London and Edinburgh in 1824\, won by the Scots (+2 = 2 -1). Later\, he published a book on the match with analysis of the games.[7] In the period of 1834–36 he was also part of the Committee of the Westminster Chess Club\, who played and lost (−2) the match by correspondence with the Paris Chess Club. The other players were his students McDonnell and Walker\, while the French line up included Boncourt\, Alexandre\, St. Amant and Chamouillet.[8] When De La Bourdonnais visited England in 1825\, Lewis played about 70 games with the French master. Seven of these games probably represented a match that Lewis lost (+2 -5).[9] \nLewis enjoyed a considerable reputation as a chess player in his time. A correspondent writing to the weekly magazine Bell’s Life in 1838 called him “our past grandmaster”\, the first known use of the term in chess.[1] Starting from 1825 he preserved his reputation by the same means that Deschapelles used in France\, by refusing to play anyone on even terms. In the same year Lewis founded a Chess Club where he gave lessons to\, amongst others\, Walker and McDonnell. He was declared bankrupt in 1827 due to bad investments on a patent for the construction of pianos and his chess club was forced to close. The next three years were quite difficult until in 1830 he got a job that assured him of solid financial security for the rest of his life. Thanks to this job\, he could focus on writing his two major works: Series of Progressive Lessons (1831) and Second Series of Progressive Lessons (1832). The first series of the Lessons were more elementary in character\, and designed for the use of beginners; the second series\, on the other hand\, went deeply into all the known openings. Here\, for the first time we find the Evans Gambit\, which is named after its inventor\, Capt. Evans.[10] \nThe works of Lewis (together with his teacher Sarratt) were oriented towards the rethinking of the strictly Philidorian principles of play in favour of the Modenese school of Del Rio\, Lolli and Ponziani.[11] When he realised that he could not give an advantage to the new generation of British players\, Lewis withdrew gradually from active play[1] (in the same way that Deschapelles did after his defeat against De La Bourdonnais). \nAfter his retirement he wrote other chess treatises\, but his isolation prevented him from assimilating the positional ideas of the new generation of chess-players. For this reason\, Hooper and Whyld in their Oxford Chess Companion describe the last voluminous work of Lewis\, A Treatise on Chess (1844)\,[12] as already “out of date when published”.” \n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-william-lewis-09-x-1787-22-viii-1870/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/untitled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200822 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200823 DTSTAMP:20260811T104346Z CREATED:20200427T164449Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260811T104346Z UID:5018-1598054400-1598140799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Ernst Klein (29-i-1910 22-viii-1990) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Ernst Klein (29-i-1910 22-viii-1990) \nFrom CHESS\, July 1946 (and also The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match) : \nSince Ernst Klein came to England in 1935 his play has earned our ungrudging admiration. Born in Vienna\, 1910\, he learned chess at the age of eleven. His grandmother taught him the moves\, his father having died when he was eight. Steinitz was a frequent guest in his grandparents house. At eighteen\, he shared first\, second and third prizes in the Championship of Vienna. Before coming to England\, he had lived for some years in Switzerland\, France and Italy and his French\, German and English are equally impeccable. In his last tournament at Bournemouth\, in 193\, he finished equal with Flohr after Euwe ahead of König\, Landau\, Aitken and others. He met his wife\, who is an Englishwoman\, during the blitz. They were married in 1944. He holds a London University degree and teaches mathematics in Southend. \nAbout 1940\, he offered to give any opponent in Great Britain the odds of the draw.; his challenge was never taken up\, no doubt owing to the conditions of the moment\, but we imagine there would be many “takers” if it were repeated now.” \nLater\, Klein clarified matters by writing What I said was: “I am ready to accept the challenge of any player in this country and am prepared to give the odds of a draw in a contest at least twelve games if he so wishes. That is\, I offered to concede victory on a score of 6 : 6 draws counting\, which is the necessary and sufficient condition to justify my offer. It is still open. \nSee below photograph for caption\nCaption for above photograph\nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nEdward Winter has written a detailed article here. \nThe Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match (1947\, Pitman)\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/remembering-ernest-ludwig-klein-29-i-1910-22-viii-1990/ CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IMG.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200821 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200822 DTSTAMP:20260811T104024Z CREATED:20200411T122812Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260811T104024Z UID:4412-1597968000-1598054399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of WCM Dinah Norman (née Dobson) (21-viii-1946) DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes Happy Birthday to Dinah Norman on August 21st\n\nDinah Margaret Dobson was born on Wednesday\, August 21st 1946 in Exeter\, Devon. Her parents were Leslie and Barbara Dobson (née Hayward).\n\nSome of the participants in the Paul Keres display on November 25th\, 1962\, at St Pancras Town Hall\, London WC1. Back row : AJ. Whiteley\, D\, Floyer\, PJ Collins\, PJ Adams\, RC Vaughan\, KB Harman\, D. Parr\, DNL Levy\, Front row : MV Lambshire\, AE Hopkins (selector) Paul Keres\, Miss D. Dobson\, RE Hartley\, BC Gillman\, WR Hartston and PN Lee. Photograph by AM Reilly. Source : BCM\, 1963\, page 13\n\nDinah became a WCM in 2002.\n\nAccording to chessgames.com : “Dinah Margaret Norman Dobson is a WCM. She was British champion (w) in 1967 (=Rowena Mary Bruce\, Oxford)\, 1968 (Bristol) and 1969 (=Rowena Mary Bruce\, Rhyl).”\n\nDinah Dobson 22-year-old Champion British Chess Player Deep In Thought During Chess Competition In Hastings. Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock\n\nDinah played on board three (i.e. 1st reserve) for England in the third FIDE Women’s Olympiad in Oberhausen\, Germany in 1966 and in 1969 she played board 1 in Lublin\, Poland.\n\nEnglish Chess Champion Dinah Dobson Playing Against Two German Boys During Lunch-break At Chess Competition In Hastings. Box 658 221121512 A.jpg.English Chess Champion Dinah Dobson Playing Against Two German Boys During Lunch-break At Chess Competition In Hastings. Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock\n\nShe played in the 1968 Anglo-Dutch match on the Ladies board\, which\, at that time\, did not count in the overall match result.\n\nThe Annual International Chess Championship opened today at Hasting. Dinah “Dobson\,” “23\,” of Northwood Middlesex. December 1969\n\nNow (1071) living in Northwood\, Middlesex\, she married Danny Wright in Westminster and in 1983 she married Ken Norman in Richmond.\n\nDinah Wright (third from right) playing in the 1971 British Ladies Championship in Palatine School\, Blackpool. Courtesy of Lancashire Evening Post.\n\nDinah has been a member of Crowthorne Chess Club and has played in the Berkshire League. She has represented 4NCL Iceni and Guildford in other competitions.\n\nAccording to Megabase 2020 her highest FIDE rating was 2085 in July 1990 at the age of 44. However\, it would have been higher than this in the late 1960s and 1970s had ratings been established then.\n\nDinah Norman at the 2017 Keith Richardson Memorial organised by Camberley Chess Club. Courtesy of John Upham Photographic\n\n\nWith the white pieces she has essayed the Colle-Koltanowki Opening for many years and as the second player she has played the Caro-Kann\, Smyslov Variation and the Semi-Slav Defence.\n\n\nDinah Norman with Sandra Richardson at the 2017 Keith Richardson Memorial organised by Camberley Chess Club\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-dinah-margaret-norman-nee-dobson-21-viii-1946/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,History,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/bcc_3660-lv.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200820 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200821 DTSTAMP:20200819T095735Z CREATED:20190824T152338Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200819T095735Z UID:1186-1597881600-1597967999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Thomas Wilson Barnes (1825 20-viii-1874) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Thomas Wilson Barnes (1825 20-viii-1874) \nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP\, 1984) by David Hooper and Ken Whyld : \n“One of the strongest English players during the 1850s\, He made little impression in his one and only tournament\, London 1862\, but is remembered for having scored more wins than anyone else in friendly play against Morphy in 1858. He reduced his corpulence by 130 pounds in ten months and as a result died. ” \nHe is perhaps most well know for having a reasonable score against Paul Morphy of -19 +8 which was a lot better than most ! \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \n \nAccording to chessgames.com : \n“Thomas Wilson Barnes was one of the strongest English players in the 1850s. His only tournament appearance was in London 1862 but he did not do himself justice. He’s best remembered for having more wins against Paul Morphy in friendly play than anyone else. Being overweight he decided to reduce his size\, but the loss of 130 pounds in 10 months was more than his system could handle and resulted in his death in 1874.” \nThe Barnes Opening\, was played by T. W. Barnes. This opening move has no particular merit but he liked to avoid book lines\, to which end he\nsometimes answered 1 e4 by 1…f6. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nHe died at 68\, Cambridge Street\, Pimlico. \nHis death was registered in the St George\, Hanover Square district. \nHe was buried on August 25th\, 1874 in Brompton Cemetery (plot number 76449). According to the burial records he had a “Private Grave” the plot of which had coordinates of 113.3 x 18.3 relative to the NE corner of the cemetery. Also “no extra depth” was required meaning his depth was 5ft whereas some are at 17 foot down with others above. \n\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-thomas-wilson-barnes/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Thomas_Wilson_Barnes.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200815 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200816 DTSTAMP:20210812T113438Z CREATED:20200811T171953Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210812T113438Z UID:8425-1597449600-1597535999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of Peter Griffiths (15-viii-1946) DESCRIPTION:BCN sends Happy birthday wishes to Peter Griffiths \nPeter Charles Griffiths was born on Thursday\, August 15th\, in 1946 in Birmingham\, Warwickshire. His mother’s maiden name was Ward. \nPeter was a strong player active from the 1960s until 1989. He played in the British Championships more than once and was a professional coach and writer. He wrote the column “Practical Chess Endings” which appeared in the British Chess Magazine. The column commenced in the December 1972 issue and columns became less frequent until around 1991. \nPeter Griffiths (far left) \nHe wrote Exploring the Endgame \nExploring the Endgame \nand co-authored Secrets of Grandmaster Play with John Nunn. \nSecrets of Grandmaster Play \nand wrote Improving Your Chess \nImproving Your Chess \nand Better Chess for Club Players \nBetter Chess for Club Players \nPeter Griffiths (far left) \n\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-peter-griffiths-15-viii-1946/ CATEGORIES:Arbiter,Birthday,Endgame,History,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/gfa.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200812 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200813 DTSTAMP:20210805T102719Z CREATED:20190822T222527Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210805T102719Z UID:1016-1597190400-1597276799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Bill Hartston (12-viii-1947) DESCRIPTION:IM William Hartston\, FIDE Candidates\, 2013\, courtesy of John Upham Photography \nOn the “glorious twelfth” of August we celebrate the birthday of one of England’s most popular chess players and writers\, IM Bill Hartston. \nWilliam Roland Hartston was born in Willesden\, Middlesex on Tuesday\, August 12th\, 1947. His father was William Hartston\, a significant member of the Royal College of Physicians who was married to Mary Rowland. Bill has a sister. \nBill Hartston \nHe studied at the City of London School and then studied mathematics at Jesus College\, Cambridge and graduated with a BA in 1968 and an MA in 1972\, but did not complete his PhD on number theory. \nAn early Bill Hartston\, event unknown \nWhile studying for his PhD at Cambridge\, Hartston developed an intricate system for balancing an entire chess set on top of a single rook. Here is an article with an explanation letter from Bill. \nBill married Dr. Jana Malypetrova in January\, 1970 in Cambridge. In 1978 Bill married Elizabeth Bannerman\, also in Cambridge and from that marriage he had two sons\, James and Nicholas. \nBill and Dr. Jana Hartston (née Malypetrova) \nBill became an International Master in 1972 and his highest FIDE rating was 2485 in January 1979. \nWith the white pieces Bill almost exclusively played 1.e4 and the Ruy Lopez. \nWith the black pieces Bill played the Sicilian Taimanov and the Czech Benoni. \nBill plays his trusty Sicilian Taimanov against an unknown opponent \nBill is a self-proclaimed follower of Prof. AJ Ayer (See the Acknowledgements in “Soft Pawn”) Clint Eastwood and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. \nBill and Jana Hartston are shown with some of their many chess sets. CHESS\, August 1973\, page 323 \nBill was the chess correspondent of The Independent and The Mail on Sunday. He was also a regular presenter and commentator for television. He worked with Jeremy James on the BBC’s Master Game. \nThe Master Game\, Series 6&7 with Jeremy James and Bill Hartston \nBill is an industrial psychologist. \nCuriously the 1984 edition of the usually reliable The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper and Whyld does not have an entry for the twice British Champion : was this simply an oversight ? Jana is also not mentioned. \n \nBill wrote about himself in British Chess (Pergamon\, 1983) : \n“To summarise more than 20 years of playing competitive chess in a few hundred words is an impossible task. My attitude to the game has changed a great deal\, especially in recent times\, but I have always enjoyed and felt at home in the tense and lively atmosphere of chess tournaments\, whether as a competitor\, spectator or journalist. \nCaption as per photograph below \nCaption for above photograph \nI consider myself lucky to have been a ‘promising junior’ just at the time when chess was beginning to be taken seriously as a sport in England. The English team consisted mainly of amateurs and there were clear opportunities for anyone willing to work at the game. As a result of the changing attitudes to the game in this country\, the development between 1965\, when I first played for the national team\, and 1975 was far greater than in any other decade. One statistic which I have always found personally amusing is that I progressed from youngest player in 1967 for the Clare Benedict tournament to become the oldest in the 1971 team. From promising junior to veteran in four years = is this a record ? \nBill Hartston commentating on games from the Phillips & Drew King’s 1982 \nSince my second British Championship win in 1975\, I have been writing more and playing less. I always realised that I was not going to become a sufficiently strong player to be happy just wandering round the tournament circuit\, but giving up chess entirely is\, of course\, unthinkable. I believe now that the time is ripe for chess to be presented to far wider audiences and I like to think that some of what I do will help in that aim. If the Master Game television series and “Soft Pawn” cannot sell chess to the masses then nothing will.” \nBill was always a keen supporter of junior chess. Here at the Teachers Assurance National Schools Championships in 1980 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nHarry Golombek wrote the following in a 1980 Dataday chess diary : \n“Hartston played hardly at all during the period from my last entry of him in the 1977 diary and that little\, though respectable\, was hardly the performance of an active master. His equal 3rd to 5th at the big Aaronson’s Masters Tournament (a swiss system event with 72 players) did not really affect his rating and indeed he finished up without changing his Elo rating at all. \nNevertheless\, this glimpse of his true powers was impressive as can be seen in the following game which was played in the 6th round of the Aaronson tournament.” \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess(Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \n“International Master (1972) and British Champion (1973) William Hartston was born in London on the 12th August 1947. He was taught to play chess by his father when he was seven and five years later joined Enfield Chess Club. His results in junior events included 1st in the London Boys’ Under 16 Championship and 2nd in the British Boys’ Under 15 Championship in 1962 and =2nd in the British Boys Under 18 Championship in 1963. \nBill had a keen interest in computer chess and technology \nIn 1965\, Hartston made his first appearance in the British Championship and came =5th. In the same year he won the Ilford and Paignton Premier tournaments. Playing on board 3 for England in the 1966 Olympiad. Hartston scored the best result of any British player\, 66.7%. In the Olympiad of 1970\, he had the best overall score on board 3\, 12.5 out of 16 and in the Olympiad of 1972 he won the prize for the 3rd best score on board 2\, 12.5 out of 18. In 1972 he narrowly failed to qualify for the Interzonal tournament\, when he came 3rd in the Zonal tournament at Vranjacka Banja.” \nMike Basman plays Bill during the play-off for the 1973 British Championship \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977) by Harry Golombek : \n“British International Master and twice British Champion. Hartston was born in London and his early chess was played there.\, where he became London Boy (Under-16 Champion in 1962. \nHe was educated at the City of London School and Jesus College\, Cambridge\, where he took a degree in mathematics. \nIt soon became clear that he was one of the leading young players in England and a rivalry developed between him and Raymond Keene in which first one and then the other obtained the upper hand. \nAfter a number of near misses he won the British Championship at Eastbourne in 1973 and again at Morecambe in 1975. \nJana & Bill Hartston celebrate a family double at the British Championships in 1973 at Eastbourne \nInternationally he has already had a distinguished career and has been especially good and consistent in his representation of England at the Olympiads. At Havana in 1966 he scored 66.7% on board 3 but did not play at Lugano in 1968. Again on board 3 at Siegen in 1970 he obtained the best score on board 3 with 78.1%. At Skopje 1972 he fulfilled the second norm of the international master title with 12.5 points out of 18 on second board. Playing on first board at Nice 1974 he attained 52.7% and had a most meritorious and well fought draw with the World Champion\, Karpov. \nBill Hartston draws with Anatoly Karpov at Nice 1974 \nHe achieved a breakthrough in the field of international tournament chess when he came third in a strong Premier tournament at Hastings 1972/3 \nHastings\, England\, 4th January 1972\, Chess\, Russian Grand Master Viktor Korchnoi (right) is pictured in a match with William Hartston (UK) during the 47th Hastings International Chess Tournament (Photo by Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images) \nand in 1973 he scored a first at Alicante. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nHis best tournament result came three years later when he won 1st prize at Sarajevo 1976. \nSarajevo 1976 Crosstable from English Chess Explosion (1980) \nHis style of play is sound and competent in all the spheres of the game. That he can be brilliant when necessary he demonstrated his beautiful brilliancy game against the Finnish grandmaster Westerinen at Allicante in 1973. He has a fine\, broad knowledge of the openings and has written a number of articles and books on that theme. \nBill was always a keen supporter of junior chess. event unknown. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nDanish chess grandmaster Bent Larsen (1935 – 2010\, left) takes on English player William Hartston (right) during the annual Hastings International Chess Congress\, UK\, 13th January 1973. Larsen won the game. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) \nA lucid and entertaining writer\, he has also appeared with success in BBC Television chess programmes. \nBill Hartston at a promotional event \nAmong his chief works are : \nThe Benoni\, London\, 1969\nThe Grunfeld Defence\, London\, 1971\nThe Best Games of CHO’D Alexander (with H. Golombek)\, Oxford\, 1976.” \nIn modern times Bill has made regular appearances with World Cluedo champion\, Josef Kollar on Channel Four’s Gogglebox with a pair of painted breasts as background. \nHere is his Wikipedia article \nSee his entry from the Jewish Lives Project \nThe King’s Indian Defence\, 1969 \nThe Benoni\, 1969 \nHow to Cheat at Chess\, 1976 \nThe Best Games of C.H.O’D. Alexander\, 1976 \nThe Grünfeld Defence\, 1977 \nBenoni\, 1977 \nKarpov-Korchnoi\, 1978 \nSoft Pawn\, 1980 \nThe Phillips & Drew King’s Chess Tournament\, 1980 \nThe Penguin Book of Chess Openings\, 1981 \nThe Psychology of Chess\, 1984 \nShort vs Kasparov\, 1993 \nThe Kings of Chess\, 1995 \nThe Guinness Book of Chess Grandmasters\, 1996 \nWilliam Hartston \n\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-william-hartston/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,History,Journalist,Player,Writer END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200803 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200804 DTSTAMP:20210801T180718Z CREATED:20190822T165409Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210801T180718Z UID:1008-1596412800-1596499199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Captain William Davies Evans (27-i-1790 03-viii-1872) DESCRIPTION:BCN Remembers Captain William Davies Evans (27-i-1790 03-viii-1872) \nCaptain William Davies Evans (27-i-1790 03-viii-1872) \nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP\, 1984) by Hooper & Whyld : \n“Inventor of the Evans gambit\, for about half a century one of the most popular attacking weapons. He was born in (Musland Farm in the parish of Saint Dogwells\,) Pembroke\, Wales\, went to sea at the age of 14\, was employed by the Postal Department from about 1815\, and rose to the rank of captain four years later. In 1824\, soon after taking command of the first Royal Mail steam packet to sail from Milford Haven to Waterford\, and while aboard\, he invented his gambit. Evans was a keen player. He gathered a small chess circle in Waterford\, and when on leave in England played chess in London\, notably in 1826 when he showed his gambit to Lewis and McDonnell\, and in 1838 when he played a long series of games with Staunton at the Westminster Chess Club. In Jan. 1840 he was pensioned off on account of ill-health. He went to Greece\, became captain of a steamer that sailed the Mediterranean\, and returned to London at the end of 1842. During the next 13 years there are several accounts of his presence in London\, and then he settled abroad. He died and was buried in Ostend\, \nEvans claimed to have solved the three pawns problem (See below) \, which\, however\, had already been solved by others. His claim to the invention of tri-coloured lighting for ships has not been verified independently\, although he is known to have investigated the subject. For this invention he states that the Tsar of Russia gave him a gold chronometer\, and that he also received money. For a more detailed life of Captain Evans see British Chess Magazine\, 1928\, pp\, 6-18.” \nThe Evans Gambit is a variation of the Giuoco Piano or Italian Game : \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nWhen Evans originally devised his gambit the move order was slightly different : \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nin which White sacrifices the b-pawn for increased central control and development viz : \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \n“Inventor of the Evans Gambit\, an opening described by a player in the last century as ‘A yellow fever attack : if you live through the initial stages and avoid any carelessness that may bring on a relapse\, you will come out alright’. \nCaptain Evans discovered the gambit in about 1824. It was a favourite opening during the last century and was adopted by a number of leading players including La Bourdonnais and Morphy. \nFor some years Commander in H.M. Royal Mail Packet Service on the Milford and Waterford station\, Captain Evans later became Commander in the P.& O. Company’s service and agent for the Royal Mail Steampacket Company\, Port Grande. On retirement he lives for many years in Holland and Belgium. \nThe story is told of how\, in 1870\, the Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia\, brother of the Tsar\, was visiting Bruges when he heard that the inventor of the Evans Gambit was living in Ostend. Being a keen chess player he invited Evans to play a game. When Evans had won\, the Grand Duke turned to his adversary and said : ‘I believe you invented the Evans Gambit ?’\, ‘Yes’ replied Evans ‘and it’s not the only thing I’ve invented for which you have not paid me.’ ‘What’s the other?’ asked the Grand Duke.\nEvans then explained that he was the inventor of the ship’s lights which were being used by the Russian Navy\, in which the Grand Duke held the rank of Admiral. Several months later Evans was invited to the Russian Consulate in Ostend\, where he was handed a letter from the Grand Duke\, a gold chronometer\, a gold chain and a draft of money\, ostensibly in payment for the Russia’s rights to use the captain’s invention in her ships. ” \nEnjoy this interesting article from “Introuble2” on chess.com \nEvans analyzed the “Little Game of Chess” (an endgame composition involving only two kings with three pawns each) \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nto independently discover that it actually won for the player who moves first\, not drawn as had been believed for over a hundred years. \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977) by Harry Golombek we have : \n“After his retirement Evans went to live abroad and eventually found a haven is Ostend and there\, ill\, and almost blind and in very straightened circumstances\, he dictated a letter on 22 March 1871\, which was published in the Gentlemen’s Journal supplement for June 1872\, along with an appeal for him organised by George Walker. The letter gives the authentic facts of his life and is worth quoting in full\, if only to refute various unfounded reports about a meeting with the Tsar’s brother\, or according to that rich source of misinformation\, the Rev GA MacDonnell\, that the Evans Gambit was discovered off the coast of Africa by a middle-aged lieutenant in the Royal Navy -perhaps the reverend gentleman was confusing Waterford with the Canary Islands. \nThe letter runs : \nWilliams Davies Evans is a native of Pembrokeshire\, South Wales\, and was born on 27 January 1790. He commenced a naval career at the age of fourteen. He was about twenty-eight years of age when he first learnt the moves of the game of Chess. Having the advantage of frequent practise with Lieut H. Wilson\, R.N.\, who was a player of some reputation in his time\, beside corresponding on the subject of the game with the late Mr. W. Lewis\, and also with George Walker\, the able Chess Editor of Bell’s Life \, he made a rapid progress in the game. Captain Evans received at first the odds of a Rook from Lieut. Wilson. After a continuance of play for some years\, the odds were greatly reduced\, until ultimately Captain Evans succeeded in defeating his formidable antagonist playing even. \nAbout the year 1824\, being then in command of a Government Mail Steamer\, the passages between Milford Haven and Waterford were favourable to the study of the game of Chess and at this time he invented the Gambit\, which bears his name. The idea occurred to him while studying a narration of Giuoco Piano in Sarratts’s Treatise on Chess. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nCaptain Evans was the first who gave to the world a true solution of that very difficult end game\, the King and three Pawns unmoved against King and three Pawns also unmoved. This position was handed down to us through a period of some centuries as a drawn game\, but Captain Evans proved that the first player can always win. \nCaptain Evans acquired some celebrity as “Inventor of the System of Tri-Coloured Lights for Ships to Prevent Collisions at Night”\, which has been adopted by all nations possessing a marine. For this invention the English Government awarded him the sum of £1\,500 \, and the Czar of Russia a gold pocket chronometer\, value £160\, together with a donation of £200. \nThe subscription that amounted to over £200 was too late. He died in 1872 and was buried in Ostend where his grave bears the inscription : \nTo the sacred memory of William Davies Evans\, formerly Commander in the Post Office and Peninsular and Oriental Steam Services\, Superintendent In the Royal Mail Shipping Company\, and inventor of the system of tri-coloured light for shipping. Also well known in the Chess World as the author of the Evans Gambit \nBlue Plaque for Captain WD Evans \nHere is his Wikipedia entry. \nRead here of the Plaque in Wolfscastle \nBlue Plaque for Captain William Davies Evans (27-i-1790 03-viii-1872) \nPlay The Evans Gambit (co-author Tim Harding). Cadogan. ISBN 1-85744-119-2. \n\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-captain-william-davies-evans/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/227230562.jpg.gallery.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200725 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200726 DTSTAMP:20210710T143636Z CREATED:20190824T104231Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210710T143636Z UID:1159-1595635200-1595721599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of (Arthur) John Roycroft (25-vii-1929) DESCRIPTION:We are delighted to offer (Arthur) John Roycroft best wishes on his birthday\, this day (July 25th) in 1929. \nJohn was born in Hendon\, London and his mother’s maiden name was Banks. \nAJR aged 9\, courtesy of the BCPS web site. \nJohn moved to Brighton and then evacuated to Calcot\, North Wales and returned to Brighton when the threat had subsided. \nHe married Betty in 1961 and they had a son and a daughter and now have several grand children. \nHe claimed that he had never suffered a common cold. \nJohn is Platinum Life Member of the English Chess Federation and an “ECF Supporter”. \nThe Chess Endgame Study \n“From The Oxford Companion to Chess (Oxford University Press\, 1984) by David Hooper and Ken Whyld : \nEnglish study composer and author\, International Judge of Chess Compositions (1959)\, Computer systems analyst. \nIn 1965 he founded EG\, quarterly publication which became the world’s first and only long-running magazine devoted wholly to studies. \nHis Test Tube Chess (1972)\, the best English language guide to the art of studies.\, was revised and republished as The Chess Endgame Study (1981). \nStudies are commonly classified by means of the GBR code of which he was co-inventor.” \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \n“FIDE Judge of Endgame Studies. Born on 25th July 1929. Founder of the Chess Endgame Study Circle in London in March 1965.and its quarterly magazine EG\, the first and only publication exclusively devoted to the composed chess ending. Roycroft who is a computer systems analyst and lives in London\, has composed about 20 endgame studies.” \nAJ Roycroft \n“EG” July 1965 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nSolution :\n1.Bg7 Kb1; 2.Nf6 b4; 3.Kxb4 Kb2 4.Bh8 Nc2+; 5.Ka4 Kxc3 6.Ne4++ \nVideo Chess Event (See caption below) \nVideo Chess Caption \nAJR won the BCF President’s Award in 1995. \nHere is AJRs Wikipedia entry \nHere is AJR talking about himself on the BPCS web site \nHere is his entry from the Chess Programming Wiki \nTest Tube Chess \n\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-arthur-john-roycroft/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Composer,History,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Roycroft9907.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200723 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200724 DTSTAMP:20210710T143352Z CREATED:20190823T190033Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210710T143352Z UID:1120-1595462400-1595548799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Sir George Thomas\, 7th Baronet (14-vi-1881 23-vii-1972) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Sir George Alan Thomas\, 7th Baronet (14-vi-1881 23-vii-1972) \nSignature of GA Thomas from a Brian Reilly “after dinner” postcard from Hastings Christmas Congress\, 1945-1946 \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (BT Batsford\, 1977) by Harry Golombek : \n“British international master\, born in Constantinople (previously Byzantium and currently Istanbul : Ed.) His mother (Lady Edith Margaret Thomas : Ed) was one of the strongest English women players\, winner of the first Ladies tournament at Hastings 1895. \n(Ed : his father was Sir George Sydney Meade Thomas) \nThomas was an all-round athlete who excelled at tennis\, hockey and badminton as well as chess. He captained the English badminton team and was All England Badminton Singles champion from 1920 to 1923.” \nSir George Alan Thomas : “During his playing career\, he won 78 national titles in the United Kingdom and a further 12 French titles; he also competed in 29 out of 30 English internationals\, winning 50 matches in the process.” \nHere is an excellent article (albeit stating GT was a Grandmaster and was president of the British Chest Federation!) from the National Badminton Museum. \n \n“Thomas won the British chess championship twice\, in 1923 and 1934 and represented England in the Olympiads of 1927 where he tied with Norman Hansen for the best score – 80% on board 3\, 1930\, 1931\, 1935\, 1937 and 1939. \nPassenger list from RMS Alacantra showing Sir George Thomas arriving at Buenos Aires on September 19th\, 1939 \nEntry for Sir George Thomas from above image. \nIn international tournaments his greatest successes were 1st at Spa (ahead of Tartakower) and =1st at Hastings 1934/5 (tied with Euwe and Flohr\, ahead of Capablanca and Botvinnik). \nSir George Thomas\, British Chess Champion\, Southsea Congress\, 1923 Photograph by Gilbert N Fulcher\, Southsea \nHe was known for his keen sense of sportsmanship and for his ability to encourage and inspire younger players. He served for many years on the BCF Junior selection committee and was for a time Games Editor of the British Chess Magazine. FIDE awarded him the titles of international master (1950) and International Judge (1952). (article by Ray Keene)” \nBritish chess champion Sir George Thomas playing at the Annual British Chess Federation Championship in Yarmouth\, England\, July 11th 1935. (Photo by Harry Todd/Fox Photos/Getty Images) \nThomas with the White pieces was predominantly a Ruy Lopez devotee. \nWith the Black pieces against 1.e4 he defended the Lopez and the Queen’s Gambit Declined was his favourite versus 1.d4 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale 1972 and 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \n“International Master (1950)\, International Judge (1952) and British Champion in 1923 and 1934. All England Badminton Singles Champion\, All England Badminton Doubles Champion\, Wimbledon tennis player and county hockey player. \nSir George Thomas was born in Constantinople on 14th June 1881. His mother\, Lady Thomas\, won the first ever ladies’ tournament\, which was held in conjunction with the Hastings International Chess Tournament of 1895. \nHe learned the moves at the age of 4\, and as a boy met many of the world’s leading players\, including Steinitz\, Lasker\, Tchigorin and Pillsbury\, in his mother’s drawing-room. \nApart from serving as a subaltern in the Army during the 1914-1918 war\, Sir George has devoted his life to sport. He played tennis at Wimbledon\, played hockey for Hampshire\, captained the English Badminton team and was All England Badminton Singles Champion from 1920-1923 and doubles champion nine times. \nSir George Thomas And Brian ReillySir George Thomas (left)\, leader of the British chess team\, playing Irishman Brian Reilly at the Easter Chess Congress\, Margate\, April 24th 1935. (Photo by Harry Todd/Fox Photos/Getty Images) \nSir George played chess for England regularly from 1910 to 1939. He played for the British Chess Federation in the Chess Olympiads of 1927\,1930\, 1931\, 1933\, 1935\, 1937 and 1939\, and captained the team which withdrew from the Buenos Aires Olympiad in 1939 on the out-break of war. \nA Brian Reilly “after dinner” postcard from Margate 1936. \nThe Grand Hotel\, Cliftonville\, Margate. Venue for the Margate tournaments. \nHis first appearance in the British Championship was in he came 2nd. He also came 2nd in 192l and in 1923 won the first time\, thus becoming British Chess Champion and\nBadminton Champion in the same year. Sir George’s best performance was at Hastings 1934-1935\, when he came =1st. In the last round he needed only a draw against R. P. Michell to come lst\, ahead of Euwe\, Capablanca\, Flohr and Lilienthal\, but he lost and had to be content with sharing lst prize with Euwe and Flohr. \nNice Masters\, 1931. Standing : Daniel Noteboom\, Abraham Baratz\, George Renaud (Organiser)\, John J O’Hanlon\, Marcel Duchamp\, Brian Reilly (winner)\, Seated : Eugene Znokso-Borovsky\,\, Arpad Vajda\, Sir George Thomas\, Jacques Mieses\, Stefano Roselli del Turco\, Jacob Adolf Seitz. British Chess Magazine\, 1931\, page 201 \nDuring his career he has beaten Botvinnik\, Flohr and and drawn with Nimzowitsch\, Rubinstein and Capablanca. He been noted for his sportsmanship and for his interest in and encouragement of young players. \nPartie d’échecsSir Georges Thomas\, le célèbre joueur d’échecs britannique\, jouant contre sa plus jeune adversaire âgée de 8 ans\, à Londres\, Royaume-Uni le 24 octobre 1934. (Photo by Keystone-France\Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) \nSince his retirement until the last few years\, Sir George continued to attend tournaments as a spectator. \nHe is the author of The Art of Badminton\, published in 1923. \nThe Art of Badminton \nHe died on 23rd July 1972 in a London nursing home.” \nHere is Part II of GM Matthew Sadler’s appreciation of Sir George. \nMost interestingly we have this this splendid article from Neil Blackburn (SimaginFan) on chess.com \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nSir George Alan Thomas (14-vi-1881 23-vii-1972) \nand here is Part III of Matthew Sadler’s article \nSir George Alan Thomas \nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP\, 1984) by Hooper & Whyld : \n“English player. International Master (1950)\, International Arbiter (1952)\, British champion 1923 and 1934. His mother\, who taught him chess\, was winner of one of the first women’s tournaments\, Hastings 1895\, He played in more than 80 tournaments and achieved his best result at Hastings 1934-5 (about category 9)\, when he scored +6-1—2 to share first prize with Euwe and Flohr ahead of Botvinnik and Capablanca. Thomas played in seven Olympiads from 1927 to 1939\, and in the first the highest percentage score was made by him ( + 9=6) and the Dane Holgar Norman-Hansen (1899- ) (+11=2—2). A leading English player for more than 25 years\, Thomas fought many battles at the famous City of London club\, winning 16 of the annual championships from 1913-14 to 1938-9. In his sixty-ninth year he gave up competitive chess when\, after a hard game\, ‘the board and men began to swim before my eyes\,’ He continued his active interest in junior events and his visits\, now as a spectator\, to chess events. \n \nA man of few words\, imperturbable\, of fine manners. Sir George Thomas was respected throughout the chess world for his sportsmanship and impartiality\, and his opinion was often sought when disputes arose between players. The inheritor of both a baronetcy and private means\, he\ndevoted his life to games and sports. Besides his chess he was a keen hockey player\, a competitor in international lawn tennis (reaching the last eight at Wimbledon on one occasion)\, and winner of about 90 badminton titles\, notably the All-England men’s singles championship which he won four times\, from 1920 to 1923.” \n\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-sir-george-alan-thomas/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Honours,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/gathomas_radio_1-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200716 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200717 DTSTAMP:20230217T193732Z CREATED:20200716T220105Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230217T193732Z 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\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \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\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \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\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \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\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \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 \n\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-raaphi-persitz-26-vii-1934-04-ii-2009/ CATEGORIES:2023,British Championships,History,Player,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IMG_0903-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200711 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200712 DTSTAMP:20260817T141124Z CREATED:20200711T121121Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T141124Z UID:7338-1594425600-1594511999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Ken Whyld (06-iii-1926 11-vii-2003) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers much loved Ken Whyld who passed away on July 11th 2003 in Lincolnshire. \nKen Whyld from CHESS magazine\, January 1950. courtesy of the Ken Whyld Association \nFrom Chess : The Records : \n“Ken Whyld was the editor of Chess Students Quarterly in the early 1950s and from 1955-63\, Chess Reader\, in which he reviewed more than 500 chess books. He has written seven tournament books and one match book. \nKen Whyld (06-iii-1926 11-vii-2003) \nWith J. Gilchrist he wrote a three-volume anthology of Lasker’s games\, and with David Hooper\, The Oxford Companion to Chess. \nKen at the gravestone of “William” Steinitz \nFor the book World Chess Champions he wrote the chapters on Lasker and Smyslov. In his playing days he was champion of his county (Nottinghamshire) many times and played in the British Championship as well as international tournaments.” \nKen Whyld (06-iii-1926 11-vii-2003) \nPossibly the best tribute to Ken was written by John Saunders and Bernard Cafferty in the August 2003 issue of British Chess Magazine\, pages 398 – 402. \nEditorial from British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIII (123)\, Number 8 (August)\, page 395 by Editor\, John Saunders \nKen Whyld Remembered from British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIII (123)\, Number 8 (August)\, page 398 by Editor\, John Saunders and Bernard Cafferty \nKen Whyld Remembered from British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIII (123)\, Number 8 (August)\, page 399 by Editor\, John Saunders and Bernard Cafferty \nKen Whyld Remembered from British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIII (123)\, Number 8 (August)\, page 400 by Editor\, John Saunders and Bernard Cafferty \nKen Whyld Remembered from British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIII (123)\, Number 8 (August)\, page 401 by Editor\, John Saunders and Bernard Cafferty \nKen Whyld Remembered from British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIII (123)\, Number 8 (August)\, page 402 by Editor\, John Saunders and Bernard Cafferty \nKen Whyld \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nSee more details from the Ken Whyld Association \nThe Collected Games of Emanuel Lasker \nThe Oxford Companion to Chess \nChess : The Records\, Guinness\, 1986\, SBN 10: 0851124550ISBN 13: 9780851124551 \nLearn Chess in a Weekend \nChess Columns : A List \nChess Reader \nChess Stalker Quarterly \nThe Oxford Companion to Chess\, 1st Edition \nCurse of Kirsan by Sarah Hurst\, Ken wrote the Foreword. \n\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-ken-whyld-06-iii-1926-11-vii-2003/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ken-whyld-better224.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200708 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200709 DTSTAMP:20201030T201753Z CREATED:20190824T125138Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201030T201753Z UID:1169-1594166400-1594252799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of FM David Rumens (23-ix-1939 08-vii-2017) DESCRIPTION:FM Dave Rumens enjoys being introduced as “The late Dave Rumens” at the 2013 Terafinal by Mike Basman\, Loughborough Grammar School. Courtesy of John Upham Photography \nBCN remembers FM David Edward Rumens who passed away on July 8th\, 2017 \nDavid was born in Hendon\, London (his mother’s maiden name was Little). In his latter years he lived in Olney and then Wavendon both in Milton Keynes\, Buckinghamshire. \nHe became a FIDE Master in 1980 at the age of 41. \nAccording to chessgames.com : “FIDE Master David Edward Rumens was UK Grand Prix Champion in 1976 and 1978.” \nHis highest Elo rating was 2355 in July 1981 at the age of 42. \nHis first game in Megabase 2020 is a win with Black against Dr. Fazekas in the 1958 British Championships in Leamington Spa. His most recent database game was a win with White over Jessie Gilbert at the 2003 British Championships in Edinburgh with 159 games recorded in total. Between 1982 and 2001 no games are recorded. \nDavid Edward Rumens at the 1959 Youth World Chess Championships in Munchenstein. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)Championship in Munchenstein. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) \nCarlos Bielicki of Argentina (left) beats David Edward Rumens of England in the final game of the 1959 Youth World Chess Championships in Munchenstein. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) \nHere is an obituary written by Stewart Reuben from the ECF web site \nThe Cedars Chess Club May 1962 – David is seated\, second left. Photograph sourced from ECF obituary. \nHere is a discussion of David on the English Chess Forum \nDavid at Stewart Reuben’s 21st\, on Stewart’s right (Stewart has the jug) – March 1960. Photograph sourced from ECF Obituary \nDave Rumens is pleased to accept a cheque for £200 from Lady Thelma Milner-Barry for winning the 1978 Nottingham Congress with 5.5/6. Photo provided by Nottinghamshire County Council. \nFrom Round Two of the above event we have David’s exciting win over his main Grand Prix rival\, Andrew Whiteley. This game was provided by Freddy Reilly in BCM\, Volume XCVIII (98)\, Number 6 (June)\, page 255 and is BCM game number 18688 : \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nA view of the display boards with David Rumens commentating from the 1976 Lloyds Bank Match by Telex\, London – New York. From BCM\, volume XCVI (96) Number 11 (August)\, Page 494. The venue was the Bloomsbury Hotel\, London. Photo courtesy of Lloyds Bank. \nLWB observes analysis between David Rumens and Murray Chandler from Brighton 1980. Courtesy of John Upham Photography \nFM Dave Rumens\, unknown event and photographer \nFM Dave Rumens\, unknown event and photographer \n \nFM Dave Rumens enjoys being introduced as “The late Dave Rumens” at the 2013 Terafinal by Mike Basman\, Loughborough Grammar School. Courtesy of John Upham Photography \n\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-david-edward-rumens/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200627 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200628 DTSTAMP:20260817T141140Z CREATED:20200428T182939Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T141140Z UID:5080-1593216000-1593302399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary for Vera Menchik (16-ii-1906 27-vi-1944) DESCRIPTION:A Great Life with a Tragic Ending\nFew people know the story of Vera Menchik yet it deserves to be told. She was the first women’s world chess champion in 1927 and retained the title undefeated until her untimely death at the age of 38 in 1944 during a rocket attack on London.  She is more properly compared with the great male players of her era against whom she scored creditably. The absence of a full biography of Vera in English reflects the peculiar circumstances of her life and death. \nVera was\, in modern terminology\, a refugee and essentially a stateless person for much of her life. She was born in Moscow in 1906 during the period of the Russian Empire to an expatriate family who was forced to flee when she was 15 following the Russian Revolution having lost their livelihood.  As they passed through Europe\, her father and mother split up in his homeland Czechoslovakia which had been created out of the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian empire. She arrived in England and took up residence in the seaside town of Hastings. (The fact that Hastings had hosted the world’s longest series of annual chess tournaments since 1895 was a happy coincidence.) Vera never attained British nationality until near the end of her life even though she had been domiciled in England from 1921. She won the first-ever Women’s World Championships held in London in 1927 under a Russian flag; thereafter she nominally represented Czechoslovakia until finally she represented England in 1939 following her marriage to a senior official within the British Chess Federation. \nVera’s grandfather was Arthur Illingworth\, a wealthy trader from Lancashire who had set up business in Moscow where his Anglo-Russian daughter Olga married František Menčik. He was a successful estate manager. Vera learned chess from her father and performed well at school. Her younger sister Olga was also a good chess player and the sisters remained close throughout their lives. \nVera was a woman in a man’s world – she had to struggle harder to achieve the kind of recognition which was accorded to men. She appeared like a comet in the sky and it would be many years until other women were able to reach her level. At her first major international tournament at Karlsbad in 1929\, she was the only female participant in a tournament of 22 great players. Even as women’s world champion\, some of the male players objected to her participation.  The Viennese master Albert Becker joked that anybody who lost to her should belong to the Vera Menchik Club. By an irony of history\, he became its first member losing to her in the third round. She beat many other grandmasters during her career including the Dutchman Max Euwe in 1930 and 1931 (both at Hastings) who was to become world champion in 1935. \nAlthough she is often portrayed as being Russian or Czech or latterly British\, she was a true cosmopolitan. She knew that life could be unstable in any country. She had lived through the Russian Revolution; one parent was left behind in Czechoslovakia; she had moved westwards across Europe and embraced different cultures and languages at formative stages of her life. It is no wonder that she learned also to speak Esperanto which was designated to be the world’s lingua franca before English achieved its dominance. As a leading chess player\, she travelled back to Moscow and to Czechoslovakia several times as well as to South America for her final match to retain the women’s world champion title in 1939. She needed to be self-sufficient and was obtained roles as the games editor of a chess magazine as well as being appointed the manager of the National Chess Centre in Oxford Street which was destroyed during the Blitz in 1940. \nShe survived most of the war and now a widow moved in with her mother and sister to a house in south London.  They took the precaution of going down to the cellar during bombing raids. Tragically the house received a direct hit from a flying bomb and the entire family was wiped out. Hardly any of her possessions remained save for one dented trophy. The records at the national chess centre were destroyed as were her personal effects including her chess memorabilia. At least there remains a record of the moves played in her games which serve as testimony to her remarkable career as not only the first women’s world chess champion but also a woman who broke boundaries wherever she went and demonstrated that a woman is capable of standing on her own feet professionally and leading a full and eventful life. \nThe Bomb Attack \nBCN remembers that in the early morning of Tuesday\, June 27th\, 1944 (i.e. 77 years ago) Vera Menchik\, her sister Olga\, and their mother were killed in a V-1 flying bomb attack which destroyed their home at 47 Gauden Road in the Clapham area of South London. \nWe now know that the V1 in question landed at 00:20 hrs on the 27th and led to the death of a total of 11 people including the Menchik household. Here is a summary of recorded V1 and V2 landings in the Clapham\, SW4 area. \n47\, Gauden Road\, Clapham\, SW4 6LW in more modern times. \nAll three were cremated at the Streatham Park Crematorium on 4 July 1944. Vera was 38 years old. \nSignature of Vera Menchik from a Brian Reilly “after dinner” postcard from Margate 1936. \nVera’s Parents and Sister\nVera Frantsevna Menchik (or Věra Menčíková) was born in Moscow on Friday\, 16th February\, 1906. Her father was František Menčik\, was born in Bystrá nad Jizerou\, Bohemia. František and Olga were married on June  23rd 1905 in Moscow and notice of this marriage appeared in British newspapers on July 22nd 1905.  Vera’s sister was Olga Rubery (née Menchik) and she was born in Moscow in 1908. Olga Menchik married Clifford Glanville Rubery in 1938. Vera married Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson on October 19th 1937. \nHer Maternal Roots\nOur interest in unearthing her maternal English heritage / roots has led to the following: \nHer mother was Olga (née Illingworth (1885 – 27 vi 1944). Olga’s  parents were Arthur Wellington Illingworth and Marie Illingworth (née ?). Arthur was born in October 1852 in the district of Salford\, Lancashire\, his parents were George Illingworth (1827-1887) and Alice Whewell (1828-1910).  \nIn the 1861 census Arthur is recorded as being of eight years of age and living in the Illingworth household. \nIn the 1871 census Arthur is recorded as being of eighteen years of age and living in the Illingworth household of nine persons at 5\, Lancaster Road\, Pendleton\, Lancashire. Arthur’s occupation is listed as being a merchants apprentice. In fact\, he was a stock and share broker. \nArthur died in Moscow on February 21st 1898. Probate was recorded in London on July 6th\, 1900 as follows: \nIllingworth Arthur Wellington of Moscow Russia merchant died 21st February 1898 Probate London 6th July to Walter Illingworth stock and share-broker Effects £4713 7s \n£4713 7s in 1898 equates roughly to £626\,600.00 in 2020 so it would appear that Arthur was considerably successful and almost certainly left money to Olga Illingworth. \nWhat do we conclude from all of this? Quite simply that Vera’s maternal roots were from Salford in Lancashire. \nBCM Announcement\nThe August 1944 British Chess Magazine (Volume LXIV\, Number 8\, page 173 onwards) contained this editorial  from Julius du Mont: \nJulius du Mont\, Editor of British Chess Magazine from 1940 to 1949 \n“British Chess has suffered a grievous and irreparable loss in the death by enemy action of Mrs. R.H.S. Stevenson known through all the world where chess is played as Vera Menchik. \nWe give elsewhere (below : Ed.) an appreciation of this remarkable woman. Quite apart from her unique gifts as a chess-player-the world may never see her equal again among women players-she had many qualities which endeared her to all who knew her\, the greatest among them being here great-hearted generosity. \nWe sympathise with our contemporary “CHESS” : Vera Menchik was for some years their games editor. Few columns have been conducted with equal skill and efficiency and none\, we feel sure\, with a greater sense of responsibility. \nThe news of this remarkable tragedy will be received by the chess world with sorrow and with abhorrence of the wanton and useless robot methods of a robot people. \nOne shudders at the heritage of hatred which will be theirs\, but their greatest punishment will come with their own enlightenment.” \nBCM Contemporary Obituary from EGR Cordingley\nFrom page 178 of the same issue we have an obituary written by EGR Cordingley : \n“The death by enemy action of Miss Vera Menchik removes not only the greatest woman chess player of all times but a charming personality. \nThe world will remember her for her chess prowess\, for her exceptional skill as a woman player who had beaten in tournament play such gifted players as Euwe\, Sultan Khan\, Sir George Thomas\, Alexander and Yates. In such company\, and she played in several of the Hastings International tournaments and other of similar grade\, she usually obtained about 33%\, though in the Maribor tournament of 1934 she finished third\, behind Pirc and Steiner but ahead of Rejfir\, Spielmann\, Asztalos and Vidmar. \nHer game was characterised by solid position-play\, with the definite aim of bringing about a favourable end-game and of avoiding wild complications. The ordinary stratagems of the game\, small combinations and the like\, were of course part of her equipment\, but she lacked that imaginative\, inventive spirit without which few become really great players. \nIn recent times\, Reshesvky and Flohr (as a professional with a reputation to maintain and a living to earn) have shown that great success can be achieved by reducing the game to pure positional play\, the technique being firstly to build up a position devoid of weaknesses\, an ‘I can’t lose position\,’ and secondly to create and take advantage of the minutest weaknesses in the opponent’s camp\, a major weakness may show that imagination is not quite dead within. \nThis defect in her play was the inevitable reflection of her character: sound common-sense\, conscientious to an unusual degree\, and persevering\, while she had the combative\, tenacious nature so desirable and so often found in good chess players; for chess is battle of wits\, the fight is what most of use love in chess. Vera was\, seldom assertive\, a fault not uncommon in chess players. She sat placidly at the chess board\, never causing even mild irritation by any of those nervous mannerisms that may always be seen in any chess room\, the peripatetic fever being the most prominent. A slight flush would rise when the position grew difficult\, or when she was short of time on her clock – and that was recurrent according to the time-limit. \nAway from the chessboard show would readily talk of other subjects\, and her great interest was in persons\, in their actions and behaviour under the strain and stress of the unruly passions; in the moulding of their lives under the inscrutable dictates of chance; in the twists and turns of a mind warped perhaps by a casual incident long ago. Of course\, she was a pagan\, a thinking one\, who had asked and asked and found only the answer that reasoning gave. She judged kindly and never inflicted upon others her own opinions or beliefs: she asked only that these should be heard as one side of any argument\, for she enjoyed a dialectic bout. \nA delightful side to her character was her simple sense of humour\, and I remember so clearly her pleasure – glee would describe it more eloquently – when I gave her the punctuation necessary to make sense of that ludicrous collection of words\, ‘Jones where Brown had had had had had had had had had had had the master’s approval’ Anyone who knew her only at the chessboard would have been astonished at the amount of bubbling merriment she discovered of of life’s events. \nI shall remember her more for the woman as I knew her over many cups of coffee spread over many\, many weeks – complacent\, smiling\, and kindly; conscientious\, loyal\, and sincere; as I understand the word\, a Christian who would help any deserving person as best she could. E. G. R. C. \n”\nand here is the original article as printed: \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXIV (1944)\, Number 8\, August\, Page 178 \nBCM 1958 Appreciation by Peter Clarke\nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXVIII (128\, 1958)\, Number 7 (July)\, page 181 onwards) we have this retrospective from Peter Clarke: \n“The night of June 27th\,1944\, Vera Menchik\, World Woman Champion\, was killed when an enemy bomb demolished her home in London; with her perished her mother and sister Olga. In these tragic circumstances the chess world lost its greatest woman player\, still undefeated and at the height of her powers. \nVera Francevna Menchik was born in Moscow on February 16th\, 1906\, of an English mother and Czech father. There she spent her childhood\, showing a love for literature\, music\, and\, of course\, chess\, which at the age of nine she was taught by her father. She had a natural bent for the game and when only fourteen shared second and third places a schoolboys (!) tournament. The following year\, 1921\, the family came to England\, where Miss Menchik lived the rest of her life. \nAs if by some fortunate coincidence\, the Menchiks settled in Hastings\, though it was not until the spring of 1923 that Vera joined the famous chess club. Her natural shyness and lack of knowledge of English caused this delay. However\, they did not handicap her too much\nas she herself afterwards wrote: ‘Chess is a quiet game and therefore the best hobby for a person who cannot speak the language.” \nShe studied the game eagerly\, and very soon her talent caught the attention of the Hungarian grandmaster\, Géza Maróczy\, who was resident at Hastings at that time. Thus there began the most important period in her development as a player; a sound and mature understanding of positional play-and a thorough knowledge of a few special openings and defences: in particular the French Defence. The influence of\nthe grandmasters ideas was clearly apparent in her style throughout the whole of her career. \nMiss Menchik’s rise to fame was meteoric: by 1925 she was undoubtedly the strongest player of her sex in the country\, having twice defeated the Champion\, E. Price\, in short matches; and only two years later she won the first Women’s World Championship in London with the terrific score 10.5-0.5. She was just twenty-one\, but already in a different class from any other woman in the world. For seventeen years until her death Vera Menchik reigned supreme in women’s chess\, defending her world title successfully no less than seven times (including a match with Sonja Graf at Semmering in 1937\, which Miss Menchik won 11.5-4.5. In the seven tournaments for the World Championship she played 83 games; winning 78\, drawing 4\, and losing 1 only! However\, what was more remarkable was that she was accepted into the sphere of men’s chess as a master in her own right\, a feat which no woman had done before or has done since. Up to then\, women’s chess had been a very poor relation of the masculine game\, but here was a woman who was a worthy opponent for the strongest masters. \nFlohr wrote of her: ‘Vera Menchik was the first woman in the world who played chess strongly…who played like a man.’ It was as the ambassador extraordinary\, so to speak\, of the women’s game that Miss Menchik really made her greatest contribution to chess. Wherever she went\, at home and abroad\, she aroused great interest among her sex; others were eager to follow her\, to identify themselves with her. Nowadays women’s chess is well organized\, and much of the credit for this must go to Vera Menchik for first bringing it into the light. Among her many personal successes in international tournaments perhaps the greatest was at Ramsgate in 1929: as one of the foreign masters (she was still of Czech nationality) she shared second and third places with Rubinstein\, * point behind Capablanca and above\, among others\, her tutor Maróczy. \nEven the greatest masters recognized Miss Menchik’s ability; Alekhine himself\, writing on the Carlsbad Tournament of 1929\, said: ‘Vera Menchik is without doubt an exceptional phenomenon among women. She possesses great aptitude for the game…The chess\nworld must help her develop her talent!’ \nThe Vera Menchik Club\nAn amusing incident occurred at this tournament. There were naturally sceptics among the masters over the lady’s participation. Flohr recalls how one of these\, the Viennese master Becker\, suggested: \n‘Whoever loses to the Woman Champion will be accepted as a member of the Vera Menchik Club which I intend to organize.’ \nBecker was the first to lose to her\, and that evening the masters chided him: “Professor Becker\, you did not find it very difficult to join the club. You can be the Chairman.’ And forthwith he was chosen as Chairman for three years. Everyone wished that the new club would soon obtain more members! Indeed\, the Vera Menchik Club has many famous names on its lists-Euwe\, Reshevsky\, Colle\, Yates\, Sultan Khan\, Sir G. A. Thomas\, Alexander\, to mention a few. \nIn 1935 Miss Menchik returned to the country of her birth to take part in the great international tournament in Moscow. To be truthful\, she had very little success\, but she was everywhere treated with respect and sympathy by masters and spectators alike. The Soviet master l. Maiselis\, writing in CHESS in 1944.(Shakhmaty za 1944 god)\, related the following entertaining anecdote from the tournament: One day a group of players and organizers were discussing the chances of Alekhine and Euwe in the forthcoming match. Flohr said: ‘It is quite clear that I will be World Champion.’ We looked at him inquiringly. \n‘It’s very simple\,” continued Flohr\, ‘Euwe wins a match against Alekhine\, Vera Menchik beats Euwe (at that time her score against Euwe was +2\, =1\, -1) and I will somehow beat Miss Menchik.’ \nWe laughed at this good-natured joke\, and we laughed all the more the next day when Flohr was unable\, despite every effort\, to defeat her in a vital game. \nln 1937 Miss Menchik married R. Stevenson\, but in chess she continued to use her maiden name\, made famous by so many victories. Her husband\, a well-known organizer\, became\, Secretary of the B.C.F: in the following year and remained so until his death in 1943. \nSince the days of Vera Menchik women’s chess has taken great strides forward; now there is a special committee of F.I.D.E. to look after its needs.- Only last year the first lnternational Women’s Team Tournament took place ln Emmen\, Holland; the new World Champions\, the U.S.S.R.\, became the first holders of the Vera Menchik Cup. So chess goes onwards\, but the name of its first Queen will ever be remembered.” \n \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \n“Woman World Champion from 1927 to 1944. Vera Menchik was born in Moscow on 16th February 1906 of an English mother and a Czech father. Her father taught her to play chess when she was 9. \nVera Menchik 1906-1944 chess playerin\, CZ / GB portrait with chess board late twenties (Photo by ullstein bild / ullstein bild via Getty Images) \nIn 192l her family came to England and settled in Hastings (at 13\, St. John’s Road\, St. Leonards-on-Sea\, TN37 6HP) : \n13\, St. John’s Road\, St. Leonards-on-Sea\, TN37 6HP \nTwo years later\, when she was 17\, Vera joined Hastings Chess Club\, \nHastings Chess Club : 2 Cornwallis Terrace\, Hastings TN34 1EB \nwhere she became a pupil of Geza Maroczy. The first Women’s World Championship was held in 1927. Vera Menchik won with a score of 10.5 out of 11. She defended her title successfully in Hamburg in 1930\, in Prague in 1931\, in Folkestone in 1933\, in Warsaw in 1935\, in Stockholm in 1937 and in Buenos Aires in 1939. She played 2 matches against Sonja Graf\, her nearest rival\, in 1934 when she won +3 -1 and in 1937\, in a match for her title when she won +9 -1 =5. \nIsaac Kashdan plays Vera Menchik during the Hastings Congress on December 28th\, 1931. Kashdan won in 45 moves in a classical French. \nThe first woman ever to play in the British Championship and the first to play in a master tournament\, Vera Menchik made her debut in master chess at Scarborough 1928 when she scored 50 per cent. The following year she played in Paris and Carlsbad\, and it was at Carlsbad that the famous Menchik Club was formed. The invitation to Vera Menchik to compete among such players as Capablanca\, Euwe\, Tartakower and Nimzowitch was received with amusement by many of the masters. The Viennese master\, Becker was particularly scornful\, and in the presence of a number of the competitors he suggested that anyone who lost to Vera Menchik should be granted membership of the Menchik Club. He himself became the first member. Other famous players who later joined the club were Euwe\, Reshevsky\, Sultan Khan\, Sir George Thomas\, C. H. O’D. Alexander\, Colle and Yates. \nHer greatest success in international tournaments was at Ramsgate in 1929\, when she was =2nd with Rubinstein\, half a point behind Capablanca and ahead of Maroczy. In 1934 she was 3rd at Maribor\, ahead of Spielmann and Vidmar. In 1942 she won a match against Mieses +4 -l -5. In 1937 Vera Menchik married R. H. S. Stevenson\, who later became Hon. Secretary of the British Chess Federation. He died in 1943. She continued to use her maiden name when playing chess. On her marriage she became a British subject. \nLeft to right Baruch H Wood\, Philip Stuart Milner-Barry\, Vera Menchik (playing in the women’s world championship held concurrently with the Olympiad which she won with 17 wins and 2 draws)\, Sir George Thomas\, Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander and Harry Golombek. England withdrew after their preliminary group due to the outbreak of war despite qualifying for the top final. Thanks to Leonard Barden \nFrom 1941 until her death she was Games Editor of CHESS. She also gave chess lessons and managed the National Chess Centre\, which opened in 1939 at John Lewis’s in Oxford Street\, London and was destroyed by a bomb in 1940. \nIn 1944 Vera Menchik was a solid positional player\, who avoided complications and aimed at achieving a favourable endgame. Her placid temperament was ideal for tournament play. Her main weakness was possibly lack of imagination. Her results have made her the most successful woman player ever.” \nVera Menchik \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess\, (BT Batsford\, 1977) by Harry Golombek : \nProbably the strongest woman player in the history of the game\, Vera Menchik was born in Moscow and\, though her father was a Czechoslovak and her mother English\, she played for most of her\nlife under English colours. \nIn l92l her family came to Hastings in England and there Vera became a pupil of the great Hungarian master\, Geza Maroczy. This was to have a dominating influence on her style of play which was solidly classical\, logical and technically most well equipped. Such a style enabled her to deal severely not only with her fellow women players but also with contemporary masters and budding masters. Vera did extremely well\, for example\, against C. H. O’D. Alexander\nand P. S. Milner-Barry\, but lost repeatedly to H. Golombek who was able to take advantage of her lack of imagination by the use of more modern methods. \nVera was soon predominent in women’s chess. In the first Women’s World Championship tournament\, at London in 1927\, she won the title with a score of 10.5 out of 11 and retained the championship with great ease at all the subsequent Olympiads (or International Team tournaments as they were then known more correctly) at Hamburg 1930\, Prague 1931\, Folkestone 1933\, Warsaw 1935\, Stockholm 1937 and Buenos Aires 1939. \nVera Menchik at Margate 1935\, photographer unknown \nWith Sonja Graf\, the player who came nearest to her in strength among her female contemporaries\, she played two matches and demonstrated her undoubted superiority by beating her in 1934 (+3-l) and again in a match for the title in l937 (+9-l=5). \nIn 1937 Vera officially became a British citizen by marrying the then Kent and later B.C.F. Secretary\, R. H. S. Stevenson (Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson: ed).\n(Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson was home news editor of the British Chess Magazine\, secretary of the Southern Counties Chess Union and match captain of the Kent County Chess Association). \nOddly enough\, Sonja Graf\, many years later\, also became a Mrs Stevenson by marrying an American of that name some years after the Second World War. \nVera Menchik also played and held her own in men’s tournaments. She did well in the British championship and her best performance in international chess was =2nd with Rubinstein in the Ramsgate Team Practice tournament ahead of her old teacher\, Maroczy. She also had an excellent result at Maribor in 1934 where she came 3rd\, ahead of Spielmann and Vidmar. \nHer husband died in 1943 and Vera herself\, together with her younger sister Olga and her mother\, was killed by a V1 bomb that descended on the Stevenson home in London in 1944. \nVera Menchik\, circa 1935\, Historic Collection / Alamy Stock Photo \nThis was a sad and premature loss\, not only for British but for world chess\, since there is no doubt she would have continued to dominate the female scene for many years. \nAs a person Vera was a delightful companion\, jolly and full of fun and understanding. As a player she was not only strong but also absolutely correct and without any prima donna behaviour. Generous in defeat and modest in victory\, she set a great example to all her contemporaries. \nAn example of Vera’s attacking play at its best against her nearest rival\, Sonja Graf\, is shown by the following game which was played in her 1937 match at Semmering in Austria : \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \n27th November 1936: Britain’s world chess champion Vera Menchik (right) and challenger Sonja Graf after signing a contract at the Bloomsbury Hotel\, London\, to play for the championship of the world over 16 games. (Photo by J. A. Hampton/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) \nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess\, (Oxford University Press\, 1984) by Hooper and Whyld : \n“Woman World Champion from 1927 until her death. Daughter of a Czech father and an English mother\, Menchik was born in Moscow\, learned chess when she was nine\, settled in England around\n1921\, and took lessons from Maroczy a year or so later. In 1927 FIDE organized both the first Olympiad and the first world championship tournament for women. These events were run concurrently\, except in 1928\, until the Second World War began\, and Menchik won the women’s tournament every time; London 1927 (+10=1); Hamburg 1930 (+6=1 — 1); Prague 1931 (+8);\nFolkestone 1933 ( + 14); Warsaw 1935 (+9); Stockholm 1937 (+14); and Buenos Aires 1939 ( + 17=2). She played in her first championship tournament as a Russian\, the next five as a Czech\,\nand the last as a Briton. She also won on two matches against her chief rival\, the German-born Sonja Graf (c. 1912-65): Rotterdam\, 1934 (+3-1)\, and Semmering\, 1937 (+9=5—2)\, \nVera Menchik in a pre-event posed picture in which she faces unstoppable checkmate in one from Hastings 193? She was about to play Sir GA Thomas. \nIn international tournaments which did not exclude men Menchik made little impression; one of her best results was at Maribor 1934 (about category 4) when she took third place alter Pirc and L. Steiner ahead of Spielmann. In 1937 she married the English chess organizer Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson (1878-1943)\, A chess professional\, she gave lessons\, lectures\, and displays\, and was appointed manager of the short-lived National Chess Centre in 1939. In 1942 she defeated Mieses in match play (+4=5-1)\, She\, her younger sister Olga (also a player)\, and their mother were killed in a bombing raid. \nFrom left to right: Vera Menchik\, Alexander Alekhine\, Géza Maróczy and Sultan Khan. From London International Masters\, 1st February\, 1932\, French Defence\, drawn in 32 moves. \nHer style was positional and she had a sound understanding of the endgame. On occasion she defeated in tournament play some of the greatest masters\, notably Euwe\, Reshevsky\, and Sultan Khan. Men she defeated were said to belong to the Menchik club. When world team championships for women (women’s chess Olympiads) were commenced in 1957 the trophy for the winning team was called the Vera Menchik Cup.” \nVera Menchik commemorated on a postage stamp from the Czech Republic \nShe was inducted to the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2011. \nOther Articles\nHere is an excellent article from the Hastings and St. Leonard’s Club written by Brian Denman. \nHere is an excellent article from Neil Blackburn (aka SimaginFan) on chess.com \nHere is an excellent article by Albert Whitwood \nHere is her Wikipedia  entry. \nHere is an excellent record compiled by Bill Wall. \nBiography of Vera Menchik British chess player \nVera Menchik.\, EI Bykova\, Moscow\, 1957\, 176 pages\, 4s 7d. \nVera Menchik: A Biography of the First Women’s World Chess Champion\, with 350 Complete Games \nEdward Winter was less than impressed with the above book. \nVera Menchik \n\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-for-vera-frantsevna-menchik-16-ii-1906-27-vi-1944/ CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/c198bf98-ae7c-4fd7-8838-825fb5bbf63b_image1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200625 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200626 DTSTAMP:20210621T084953Z CREATED:20190823T192347Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210621T084953Z UID:1138-1593043200-1593129599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Marmaduke Wyvill (22-xii-1815 25-vi-1896) DESCRIPTION:Remembering Marmaduke Wyvill (22-xii-1815 25-vi-1896) \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nHere is an excellent article from the Yorkshire Chess History web site. \nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld : \nHe was winner of second prize in the first international tournament\, London 1851. He developed his chess skill in the 1840s\, meeting Dubois in Rome\, Kieseritzky in Paris\, and many players\, including Buckle\, in London\, His style was that of the English school\, and he understood well the positional ideas of the English opening and the Sicilian Defence. In 1847 he was elected Member of Parliament for Richmond\, Yorkshire\, a seat he held until 1868 except for a break of two years. The London 1851 tournament consisted of a series of knock-out matches. After defeating Williams (+4-3) in the third round and losing to Anderssen ( + 2=1-4) in\nthe fourth and final round\, Wyvill was placed second. His score against Anderssen was better than that made by other players (Kieseritzky\n“1—2\, Szen +2—4\, Staunton +1—4)\, Wyvill had\nproved himself one of the leading players of his time. Although he played in no more tournaments he retained an interest in the game throughout his\nlife. \nHere is an example of the Wyvill pawn formation : \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nThe Wyvill formation is a name given by Tarrasch to a pawn formation with doubled pawns as shown above. This formation was not unfamiliar to Wyvill but could with more justification have\nbeen named after Winawer who so frequently doubled his opponent’s c-pawns that this and similar formations became known as his trademark. The technique for attacking the Wyvill formation was also understood by Neumann and before him by Carl Hamppe (1814-76)\, the leading\nViennese player of the 1850s. \nMarmaduke Wyvill at Leamington Spa\, seated third from left. \n\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-marmaduke-wyvill/ CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Marmaduke-Wyvill.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200624 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200625 DTSTAMP:20210621T084640Z CREATED:20190624T001040Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210621T084640Z UID:6378-1592956800-1593043199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Alan Phillips (28-x-1923 24-vi-2009) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Alan Phillips (28-x-1923 24-vi-2009) \nHere is his far too brief Wikipedia entry \nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“Alan Phillips\, joint British Champion in 1954\, was born in England in 1923. He was the author of Chess: 60 Years on with Caissa and Friends (Caissa Editions\, 2003) and The Chess Teacher (Cadogan\, 1995).” \nHere is an item from the Shropshire Chess web site \nHere is Alan Phillips autobiography from his own book\, Chess: Sixty years on with Caissa & Friends \n“Born in Stockport in 1923\,I was playing pontoon in an air-raid shelter in the autumn of 1940 with a friend from our school\, Stockport Grammar\, when he suddenly announced that he knew a better game\, being the school chess champion. Ostensibly studying for a Cambridge Scholarship with a view to reading Classics\, I played about 200 games with Norman Stephens\, emerging the victor perhaps because I studied Alekhine’s and Euwe’s games\, obtained from the Public Library\, whence I had been borrowing difficult piano works for the previous two years. When I got up to Magdalene in 1941\, I found standing next to me in the University Chess Club Wykehamist James Lighthill\, destined to become\, arguably\, our greatest applied mathematician of the second half of the last century; I played chess with him one evening a week and piano duets another\, and as Match Captain and Hon.Sec. in my second year – shared top board\, while now supposedly reading Italian\, as a War Office scheme\, and French\, languages I unfortunately then considered beneath contempt\, compared with the glory that was Greek. \nAlan Phillips plays David Hooper on August 20th 1954 in round five of the British Championships in Nottingham\, photographer unknown \nEnrolled but not commissioned – the War Office having ratted on its promise to a large bunch of first-class linguists – in the Army Intelligence Corps from August 1943 to October 1946\,I spent nearly three years abroad in Sicily and Palestine\, riding a motor-bike – our American equivalents in the CIC were mostly majors or colonels and rode in Cadillacs – and playing\, when stationary\, much music with singers and violinists\, especially in Palestine\, and chess with the Captain of the Harbour in Sicily\, a charming moustached Neapolitan who got about three draws in 300 games\, and then in Haifa\, Hadera and Jerusalem chess clubs\, beating the youth champion of Palestine and Aloni when he played simultaneously\, but losing to Porath\, and enjoying ‘skittles’ in cafes with many other players of near-master rank. Demobilised and put\, like the Goons\, on the Z-reserve in autumn 1946\, I went back to Cambridge to read Classics Pt II and found Peter Swinnerton-Dyer\, as far as I know our best number theorist of the past fifty years\, waiting for me – we tied for the University Championship having begun a series of trips to Hastings with Alan Truscott\, and later continued to Birmingham for the Midland Championship\, which I won in 1951. I usually won prizes in increasingly strong sections at Hastings except in two Premiers\, 1950-1 and 1954-5\, when my emotions were otherwise engaged\, as happened in the British Championship in 1952\, when\, after I had beaten all the best players and scored 7/8 with three rounds to go\, a girl-friend turned up and I lost my last three games\, refusing a draw in round nine in a not superior position\, not out of arrogance\, but in order to clinch the title. \nAlan Phillips and Leonard Barden are joint British Champions of 1954 in Nottingham\, photographer unknown \nOtherwise\, with one or two exceptions\, I only lost to the strongest players in the British Championships I played in\, i.e. 1949-55 and 1961\, tying for first place at Nottingham 1954 and coming third equal in a very strong Championship at Aberystwyth 1955\, which earned me a place as Board 6 on the English team at the Moscow Olympiad in 1956\, where I only drew against Luxembourg\, and lost to Geller\, but drew in two cases from bad positions with Johner\, Sanguinetti and Ghitescu. \nDavid Hooper (left) in conversation with Alan Phillips. Location and photographer unknown. \nIn l96l I moved up to Derbyshire\, where – though playing top board for Manchester as well as the county – having switched to Maths teaching after several years part-time study at Birkbeck and acquired offspring as well as promotion\, I also started annual visits to Dartington Summer School of Music\, now totalling 38 out of a possible 40\, all of which made it virtually impossible for me to play in tournaments\, apart from the odd visit to Hastings or fairly strong week-end tournaments\, e.g. Ilford\, which I won for the second time in 1973\, beating Basman. My responsibilities on my return to London as Head of Charlton School in 1967\, where I got Bob Wade to teach chess as part of mathematics in the Lower School\, and then of Forest Hill School\, where we organised many tournaments\, although I played generally as top board for Kent\, whom I led twice to victory in the County Championship in 1975 and 1976\, meant that I had even less time for tournament chess\, except at Islington and in the Challengers\, so that my real heyday ended there\, with a final move to a ‘quiet’ county\, Shropshire – as far as chess was concerned – as Adviser for Secondary Education and Area Adviser\, 1976-82\, in which capacity I avoided as much paper-work as I could and taught chess in the lunch-hour to all the primary and handicapped pupils I visited. I should say most of my successes at chess have been at County Level\, where I played top board for Cambridgeshire and London University\, as well as the counties mentioned\, and in the very strong London League\, as far as I can estimate I had a success rate of some 70% in those contests. In general the games in this book\, with one or two exceptions for historical or anecdotal reasons\, were played at high levels\, and won by the right player\, not suddenly lost by a blunder\, like some games published nowadays because the blunder is perpetrated by a famous player. \nPhotograph taken in Hastings on 28 December 1950. Lord Dunsany (standing on the right) is watching the first-round game between Alan Phillips and Weaver Adams\, source : http://boylston-chess-club.blogspot.com/ \nWith regard to the general assessment of players and tournaments\, I have only one comment “Look at the games!” When even\, or especially\, David Bronstein wails “They give me a number”\, I think it time to end a spuriously precise system and revert to the earlier English practice or the traditional Soviet one of putting players in classes\, preferably according to a sufficiently large number of results in tournaments or strong club or county matches. And when players are inhibited\, when the match is won\, from offering an opponent\, who has played well\, a draw\, that is a diminution of sportsmanship\, so a draw\, even with Kasparov\, should not count in grading. Finally the use of seconds or computers once a game is started should be\nregarded as totally unsporting\, and players should be put on their honour\, as bridge-players are in matters of cheating\, not to use them. \nI should like to dedicate this book to the memory of my good friends\, David Hooper\, Stuart Milner-Barry\, and A.R.B.Thomas\, men of integrity\, humour\, and many other talents\, who brought to their chess the same qualities of courage and sportsmanship they showed in the rest of their lives. \nAlan Phillips (28-x-1923 24-vi-2009) : Source : https://www.shropshirechess.org/History/1970s.htm \nAlan Phillips\nBritish Master\, Joint British Champion 1954\nThorn Cottage\, Appleton Thorn\, Warrington\, Cheshire\nSeptember 2003″ \nObituary of Alan Phillips by John Saunders from British Chess Magazine\, 2009. Part One \nObituary of Alan Phillips by John Saunders from British Chess Magazine\, 2009. Part Two \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nHere is his obituary from The Times of London \nThe Chess Teacher \nChess: Sixty years on with Caissa & Friends \n\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-alan-phillips-28-x-1923-24-vi-2009/ CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/BCN_5128.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR