British Chess News

Birthday of FM Tony Corkett (29-iii-1958)
2021-03-29
Birthday of FM Anthony R Corkett (29-iii-1958)
Save as PDF

Death Anniversary of Augustus Mongredien (1807 - 30-iii-1888)
2021-03-30
Death Anniversary of Augustus Mongredien (1807 – 30-iii-1888)
Here is his Wikipedia entry
Save as PDF

Death Anniversary of IMC Ken Messere OBE (16-iv-1928 31-iii-2005)
2020-03-31
BCN remembers Ken Messere who passed away on Thursday, March 31st 2005 aged 76 in Paris-16E-Arrondissement, Paris, France.
Kenneth Charles Messere was born on Monday, April 16th, 1928 in Richmond-on-Thames, Surrey. His father was Charles (George) Messere (1901-1974) or Eisenberg and aged 26. His mother was Gertrude Marie Newman (1899-1978) and aged 29.
Ken had three siblings: Barbara Marie Messere (1930–2005), Hugh Martin Messere (1932–1985) and Derek R Messere (1934–2012)
Ken attended St. Peter’s College, Oxford from 1946 – 1951 to read philosophy and is reported in the 1951 St. Edmund Hall Magazine, as a member of the Trillick (debating) Society as follows:
‘ That this House would rather be a live Communist than
a dead Democrat.’ The proposer established to his own satisfaction that democracy was founded on ‘selfishness, capitalism and bourgeois hypocrisy.’ He did not satisfy J. F. R. Bonguard of St. Peter’s Hall who opposed, using arguments taken from Hindu philosophy. K. C. Messere of St. Peter’s Hall, spoke third and added some able arguments.
In June 1954 Ken married Mary Elizabeth Humphrey (1929-2003) in Ealing. They had a son Miles Jonathan Messere born in 1964 who passed away in 1965.
Prior the time of his passing his wife Mary was living at 142B, Herbert Road, Woolwich, London, SE18 3PU.
In 1991 he was awarded the OBE (Civil Division) in the Queen’s Birthday honours list. The citation reads: Kenneth Charles Messere, lately Head of Fiscal Affairs Division, OECD, Paris.
Ken appears each year from 1953 to 1967 in the noted publication Britain, Royal And Imperial Calendars the function of which is to list entries for those engaged in UK public service. He worked for HM Customs and Excise. Prompted by this we consulted the venerable A History of Chess in the English Civil Service by Kevin Thurlow (Conrad Press, 2021) on page 447 and found
“He played for Customs. In 1964, he went to work for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and was head of fiscal affairs from 1971 – 1991. In 1954 he began playing postal chess and became a leading player. He won a semi-final of the 5th World Correspondence Championship (1961 – 64) and became the first English player to compete in a World Championship Final.”
There are 31 games listed at his personal entry at chessgames.com starting with games from 1965.
Chessbase’s Correspondence Database 2020 records 69 games the earliest being from 1958 listing Ken’s federation as being France.
From British Chess (Pergamon Press, 1983) we have this lengthy contribution from Ken himself:
“Between the ages of 6, when I learnt to play and 23 (ed: 1951), when I ceased to be a student, chess had a relatively low priority among various time-competing interests and activities, so I never got around to studying theory. Things changed when I became a civil servant and needed a replacement for philosophy as an intellectually absorbing subject which could be argued about with friends over beers, and for the next 12 years chess became my main interest.
Since 1964 I have been working for the OECD in Paris, where my friends are not chess enthusiasts and, although chess remains a major pleasure, my commitment to it has lessened. Nowadays, out-side correspondence chess, I play only occasional blitz games.
Coming late to serious chess has probably had at least some influence on my deficiencies and stylistic preferences. The deficiencies include an inability to visualize ahead with sufficient clarity to support accurate analysis, slow sight of the board which leads to silly errors through time trouble or failing stamina and less familiarity with theory than my better opponents. As to chess style, I have had to play romantically and subjectively to get good results.
If a game takes the form of a clear-cut position, where strategical objectives are clear and superior technique prevails, then mine generally does not. Consequently I have tended to play either sharp gambits or counter-gambits or to try to render the position sufficiently obscure for imagination and intuition to assume maximum importance. In keeping, my chess heroes have been Alekhine, Bronstein and Tal who revel in fantasy, however much Alekhine may claim that it is logically based.
When I took up competitive chess seriously in 1952, I made some progress and won a few minor tournaments, but in view of the defects already mentioned, it soon became clear that my potential for improvement was limited and that nearly all my games were aesthetically flawed. Fortunately, these defects represent no great handicap at correspondence chess, where I found myself pleased with a reasonable proportion of the game I played, and in addition, capable on the day (or more accurately over the years) of winning against almost anyone. Thus, against world champions I have two wins and one loss, (see below). I also have 80 per cent from five games against Russian grandmasters, even if a meagre 28 per cent from my eighteen games against all correspondence grandmasters. In 1954 when I began playing postal chess competitively, I did sufficiently well in a few British Postal tournaments to be accepted at a reasonably high level in the official international tournaments.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Not without luck (see Diagram l), I secured the 75 per cent necessary in two seven-player tournaments to qualify for the fourteen player preliminaries, the winner of which was to qualify for the following world championship. In the 1961-64 preliminaries, I played the best chess of my life, including valid opening innovations, imaginative pawn and piece sacrifices and even a technically efficient win in a queen and pawn end-game. I won the tournament with eleven wins, one draw and one loss, 1.5 points ahead of Maly of Czechoslovakia and two points ahead of Masseev, the Russian favourite, thereby obtaining my first norm towards the International Master title. My first annotated game is the win against Maly (ed: to be inserted once we have tracked down the game score!) which was typical stylistically and also crucial, since if he had won it, he would have qualified for the World Championship instead of me: the second against Bartha of the United States is the most compulsive and difficult tactical game I have ever played, the last five moves alone requiring over 100 hours of analysis.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

IMC Ken Messere OBE (16-iv-1928 31-iii-2005)
The quality of my chess in the 1965-68 World Championship was much inferior. The tournament began disastrously. I went in for three losing variations as Black and made a suicidal clerical error in the opening so that after 3 months I had four losses from four games. Later, there were compensations. I won against V. Zagarovsky, the reigning world champion (the third annotated game) and obtained just (but only just) the necessary 33.3% per cent to obtain the correspondence chess international master title. For this I needed a win and draw from my last two games which
after 3.5 years, had to be adjudicated.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Fortunately, the win and draw were relatively clear, though this would not have been so a few moves earlier. An an illustration of how the threat of adjudication breeds irrationality, Diagram II gives the closing stages of my win against J.Estrin of the USSR – a more recent correspondence chess world champion. My only other game against a world champion was against the winner of this tournament, Hans Berliner of the United States, with whom I collaborated on a book of the tournament. The collaboration was stimulating but not without friction, since I had to write 75 per cent of the book to see it ever finished. It took a year to complete, 3 years to appear (published by BCM) but in the end was well-reviewed, sold over 2000 copies and royalties are still (gently) drifting in.
The Fifth Correspondence Chess World Championship, Hans Berliner & Ken Messere, British Chess Magazine, BCM Quarterly Nunber 14, 5th December 1971, ISBN 978-0-900846-05-2.

In the early seventies, in order to reduce numbers of games, I retreated altogether from individual tournaments, just playing twice for England in the Olympiads. Whether team play did not suit my style, or whether my technique had improved but imagination withered, I drew nine of my seventeen games from the two tournaments, winning four and losing four. As England looked likely to aspire to medals for the first time ever, my 50 per cent would not help matters and I gladly retreated to first reserve, which to my dismay required taking over five unfinished games of Hugh Alexander, who died during the tournament, and who, for me, has always been England’s most attractive player and writer. My most uncomfortable decision in correspondence chess was a rejection of Hugh’s intended continuation in one of these games, {Diagram III). Of these five games, I lost one and drew four and England won a bronze medal.
In 1974 was invited to compete in the Potter Memorial Tournament of four postal grandmasters and nine international masters. After so many years of responsible’ team chess for England, I went beserk and sacrificed a pawn in ten of the twelve games, trying later to salvage inferior end-games. Result 33 % per cent. B. H. Wood invited me to write a book of the tournament, to which a number of the players contributed and this was published in 1979.
The Potter Memorial, Ken Messere, CHESS (Sutton Coldfield), 1975
Also in 1979 I began to play in another invitation tournament of thirteen players organised by the Australian Correspondence Chess League, which became a memorial to CJS Purdy, its president and the first world postal champion, who died soon after the tournament began. At the time of writing, this tournament, comprising four grandmasters (including one former world champion and two runners-up) and eight international masters, is still in its early stages.”
From British Chess Magazine, Volume CXXV (125, 2005), Number 5 (May), page 226 we have this obituary:
“Kenneth Charles Messere (16 iv 1928, Richmond – 31 iii 2005, Paris) was one of Britain’s strongest correspondence players (he held the correspondence IM title) and well-known author of books on the subject. After graduating from Oxford University, Ken Messere went to HM Customs and Excise, and thence to the Organisation for Economic Development (OECD) where he became head of the fiscal affairs division and a world expert on fiscal law. He reached the final of 1965-8 world correspondence championship, beating world champions Zagorovsky and Estrin, and wrote the book of the tournament with Hans Berliner (published by BCM)”
From The Potter Memorial by Ken Messere, CHESS (Sutton Coldfield), “Chess for Modern Times” Series, 1975 we have this potted biography:
“Compiler of this book, took 3rd place in 1957 and 2nd in 1968 in the championship of the Postal Chess Club. Scores of 4.5 out of 6 in the ICCF Masters 1957-8 and 4/6 in the 1959-61 Championship took him to victory with 11/5 out of 13 in the 1961-3 semi-finals, securing him his first international master norm and qualifying him for the 5th World Championship 1964-7 in which he scored 5.5, just enough for the IM title, with wins over Zagorovsky, then world champion and Estrin, world champion now. Ken Messere collaborated with Berliner, who won it, in a book on the tournament.
He then switched to play exclusively as a member of the British Olympiad team, taking over 2nd board when Alexander died.
The switch back from rather cautious team play to enterprising individual games in 1974-7 provides some of the subject matter of this book.”

The Tax System in Industrialized Countries, Ken Messere, Oxford University Press, 1998, ISBN 10: 1982933135 / ISBN 13: 9781982933135
Save as PDF

Birthday of IM Miroslav Houska (02-iv-1978)
2021-04-02
Miroslav Houska
Birthday of IM Miroslav Houska (02-iv-1978)
Miroslav gained his International Master title in 1998 and his peak rating according to Felice was 2385 in January of 1998, aged 20.
Here are his games on chessgames.com
IM Miroslav Houska, photograph by Jovan Petronic
IM Miroslav Houska, photograph by Cathy Rogers

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Save as PDF

Death Anniversary of BH Wood MSc FCS OBE (13-vii-1909 04-iv-1989)
2021-04-04
We remember “BH” Wood MSc FCS OBE who passed away on Tuesday April 4th, 1989 in the district of Birmingham.
He was buried alongside his wife Marjorie in the Sutton Coldfield Cemetery Extension which was opened in 1934 as an extension to the Holy Trinity Church.
Yorkshire Childhood
Baruch Harold Wood (generally known as BH Wood, or simply “BH”, by the chess world) was born on Tuesday, July 13th 1909 in Ecclesall, Sheffield, Yorkshire. The registration district was Ecclesall Bierlow.
Gravestone of BH & ME Wood, photo by Glen Livet
The birth record suggests that he was baptised as Harold Baruch Wood. His parent’s were Baruch Talbot (1881-1951) and Florence Muriel Wood (née Herington). He appears as Harold Baruch on the 1911 census.
1911 Census record for the Wood household
1911 Census record for the Wood household
Interestingly, the Census form was signed by Talbot Wood so maybe BHs father also did not like his own first name! At the time of the Census the family lived at 30, Violet Bank Road, Nether Edge, Sheffield, S7 1RZ.
Welsh School Days
Baruch attended Friars School, Bangor (established in 1557) along with William Ritson Morry. BHW was one year and three months older than WRM so it is entirely possible that they had met.
Marriage to Marjory
In October 1936 BHW married Marjory Elizabeth Farrington in Ross, Herefordshire. When Marjory died on 7th September 1977 they were living at 146, Rectory Road, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands. Baruch and Marjory had four children, FM Christopher Wood, Philip, Frank and Peggy.
146, Rectory Road, The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, B75 7RS
Honours
In the 1984 New Years Honours List, Civil Division, BHW was awarded the OBE. The citation read simply : “For services to Chess”
He won the BCF President’s Award in 1983 alongside TJ Beach and Brian Reilly.
BH Wood playing board 9 in the Anglo team in the Anglo-Soviet Radio Team Match of 1946
The 1946 Anglo-Soviet Radio Match
From The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by Klein and Winter :
“BH Wood was born in Sheffield in 1909. A great lover of the game, he founded the magazine Chess in 1935, and has written a book for beginners. He scored a notable success by winning the British Correspondence Championship on one occasion. Wood has competed in the British Championship on several occasions, and in a number of Premier Reserves tournaments. He also played for Great Britain in the international team tournament (ed. Olympiad) at Buenos Aires in 1939.
Left to right Baruch H Wood, Stuart Milner-Barry, Vera Menchik (playing in the women’s world championship (held concurrently with the 1939 Buenos Aires Olympiad) which she won with 17 wins and 2 draws), Sir George Thomas, Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander and Harry Golombek. England withdrew after their preliminary group due to the outbreak of war despite qualifying for the top final. Thanks to Leonard Barden
He is a graduate of the University of Wales and Birmingham University. He has been very active in recent years in giving simultaneous exhibitions and in organising correspondence chess.”
Signature of BH Wood from a Brian Reilly “after dinner” postcard from Margate 1936.
Between 1938 and 1957, BH won the championship of Warwickshire eight times. He held the record (until 2006) for the most Birmingham & District Chess League Individual titles – nine, all won in Division 1: 1937, 1939, 1954, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1966, 1967, and 1983. He was the Records Secretary for the League from 1951-61.
Birth of a Magazine
CHESS Cover for volume 1, September 1935 – August 1936. Source : Michael Clapham
From CHESS, Volume 52 (1987), Number 1014-15 (Christmas), we have the very last issue of the magazine for which BH was the Editor before becoming Founding Editor (and Paul Lamford became Editor). BH Wrote:
“Countless people have asked me ‘Why did you start CHESS?’ I was in love with university life and has just taken an M.Sc., a waste of time after a good first-class honours, and decided to have a go at replacing the old Chess Amateur, which had closed down. I had edited the students’ magazine in both Bangor and Birmingham. The first had been produced by The Daily Post Printers in Liverpool, who agreed to print 1,000 copies for £90. That £90 would be nearly £2,400 now.
CHESS masthead for Volume 1, Number 1, 1935. Source : Michael Clapham
A year’s subscription I announced as 10 shillings (50p).
Two bits of luck! J.H. Van Meurs, a Dutchman who did a lot for British Chess, had listed in his still young B.C.F. Year Book some hundreds of chess clubs.
W.H. Watts, another great figure of those days, had floated a rather short-lived magazine The Chess Budget, donated a ‘Budget Cup‘, for knock-out team competition and published excellent books on big tournaments, etc. He handed me a list of keen chess players all around the world. I spent a week addressing envelopes by hand to all the clubs and people.
To individuals I sent single copies of CHESS; to each club three copies, inviting payment or subscriptions. Hardly anybody failed to pay. Obviously there was a demand for a chess magazine with a lighter touch than the B.C.M.
Years later, I learnt why Mr. Watts had been so generous. He had fallen out with the establishment and welcomed the arrival of a new publication.
Within three months I was selling 3,000 copies an issue.
Some early ideas were chessy short stories , cartoons and a competition for humorous anecdotes.
I soon went to Amsterdam for the first Euwe-Alekhine match. I traced Alekhine to his hotel room with difficulty. He was officially incommunicado. He came to the door in pyjamas, and within five minutes we had agreed to a £5 article per month. I was, of course, already on conversational terms with him (and remained so!).
Now I fell into trap. 3,000 readers in four months meant 6,000 in eight months, 9,000 in a year…?
Not so! This is extrapolation, a matter of calculation full of risks.
My preparations had been too good. In the remaining eight months of the year I picked up only a thousand more readers. Alekhine lost the title. With three months to go, my money ran out, I struggled to the end of the year. The twelfth issue was pathetically thin compared with the first few but renewals staring rolling in and CHESS blossomed again.
The fifty-two years since have been gruelling, unremitting toil but fascinating interest. How we bought our own presses and the effect this had on the world’s chess press – A law suit that went to appeal – How CHESS linked people in Malta, Australia, Hungary – Adventures in ‘simuls’, postal chess etc. How we helped police to identify a drowned man, etc. So many tales to tell!
BHW
BCF Obituary
Here is an obituary from the BCF Yearbook 1989 – 1990, page 14 :
B.H. Wood, O.B.E
Baruch H. Wood, O.B.E., founder of CHESS, and the magazines editor for 52 years, died at the age of 79 on 4th April.
Born in Sheffield on 13 July 1909, “B.H.”, as he was widely known in chess circles, took up the game early playing competitively at school and at University. After graduating from the University College of Wales, Bangor with a 1st class honours degree in chemistry, he took an MSc at Birmingham University. Soon, however, his love of chess took him away from a career in chemistry, with his launch of CHESS in 1935. He was to continue as editor, publisher, for many years printer, and often major contributor, for over half a century.
CHESS, Sutton Coldfield
The magazine quickly won an international reputation for its frankness and outspokenness. It speaks much for the character and determination of its editor that he was able to continue publishing CHESS throughout the difficult years of the Second World War, whilst holding a full-time job as director of a chemical research laboratory in Lichfield.
Wood will be best remembered for the magazine, and for his other journalistic activities. He was for many years chess correspondent of The Daily Telegraph and of The Illustrated London News, and his best known book Easy Guide to Chess went through three editions and many impressions.
Easy Guide to Chess, BH Wood, CHESS, Sutton Coldfield, 1945
The above book (albeit the later Cadogan version) is available online.
Easy Guide to Chess
Nigel Davies wrote “One of the best beginners books on the market.”
Wood’s feat in writing, publishing, printing and selling his own book may be unique. However, Wood was no mean player as his draw against the then world champion Max Euwe, who became a life-long friend, testifies.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

He represented England in the International Team Championship at Buenos Aires in 1939, scoring 50%. He also took first prize in international tournaments at Baarn 1947, Paignton 1954, Whitby 1963, Thorshavn 1967 and Jersey 1975 and was second in the 1948 British Championship. He was British Correspondence Chess Champion in 1945.
The Cedars Chess Club May 1962 – Baruch is seated, second from the right. Photograph sourced from ECF obituary.
A life member of F.I.D.E. Wood was also an International Arbiter, and organised 21 annual chess festivals at seaside venues from the 50’s onwards. In addition he was an active behind-the-scenes inspirer of many chess events, and in particular was known as a driving spirit of university chess, being until the time of his death President of the British University Chess Association.
The Author’s British Record Simultaneous Display. Some of the 127 schoolboys the author played simultaneously at Ilford County High School, Winning over a a hundred of the games in 4 hours and 50 minutes.
He founded the Postal Chess Club and League and was for many years President of the British Postal Chess Federation.
Letter from BH Wood to JE Upham dated 7th July 1983
“B.H.” at Bournemouth in May 1971
He was awarded the O.B.E. for services to chess in 1984.
His wife Marjory, predeceased him; he leaves three sons Christopher, Frank and Philip, and a daughter Peggy.
BH Wood & his daughter Peggy
and here is the article as it appeared in the Yearbook.
BCF Yearbook, 1989-90, page 14
BCF Yearbook, 1989-90, page 15
Golombek on Wood
From The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford, 1977) by Harry Golombek :
“A well known British player, editor of Chess (starting 1935) and chess correspondent of The Daily Telegraph and Illustrated London News. A FIDE judge, he has founded and conducted 21 annual chess festivals, notably at Whitby, Eastbourne and Southport.
BH Wood playing AY “Johnnie” Green in the 1956 British Championships in Blackpool, photographer unknown
Winner of a number of small and semi-international tournaments : Baarn 1947, Paignton 1954, Whitby 1963, Thorshavn 1967, and Jersey 1975.
Played for the BCF in the International Team Tournament at Buenos Aires 1939. His best tournament result was probably his equal second in the British Championship at London 1948.
In 1954 BHW was sued BH Wood for libel by William Ritson Morry over a letter BHW sent to Henry Golding of the Monmouthshire County Chess Association warning him of WRMs financial history. Here is a summary of the action :
The Birmingham Post, July 15th, 1954
and two years in 1956 we have this telling photograph of Ritson and BH playing at the British Championships in Blackpool. It must have been an entertaining pairing for the organisers if no-one else!
William Ritson Morry playing BH Wood at the British Championships in Blackpool from 1956
Possibly WRM was thinking this as they played:
Everybody Loves Wood
Among his books are : Easy Guide to Chess, Sutton Coldfield 1942 et seq; World Championship Candidates Tournament 1953, Sutton Coldfield 1954. “
World Championship Candidates Tournament 1953, BH Wood, CHESS, Sutton Coldfield, 1954
Cafferty on Wood (1989)
Here is the obituary from British Chess Magazine, Volume CIX (1989, 109), Number 5 (May), pages 210 – 211:
B. H. WOOD
Baruch Harold Wood (13 viii 1909-4 iv 1989) popularly known as “B. H.” was a significant figure of the last fifty-odd years in British chess. His life touched practically all aspects of the game as player, both OTB and CC, magazine publisher and editor, organiser of club, congress and university chess, journalist . . . the list seems endless. In 1984 he was awarded the OBE for services to chess.
Born at Sheffield, which he sometimes used as an excuse when he was accused of stubbornness, (“It’s my Yorkshire blood, you know”) he was educated in North Wales (Friar’s School, and then University College, Bangor) and at Birmingham University.
He started his chess magazine at Sutton Coldfield in 1935 as an impecunious graduate who could not find suitable work in the Depression, and his lively style ensured that it was a beacon in British chess for fifty years to come! For many British chess fans he was “Mr Chess” yet it seems a miracle that he kept the magazine going in the difficult times when interest in the game was at a low ebb. He may well have subsidised it from his journalistic work (Birmingham Post, Illustrated London News and Daily Telegraph) and from his wartime work as manager of a chemical laboratory (“The first time I ever earned a decent salary”).
His duodenal ulcer prevented him doing military service, and later in life he suffered from failing eyesight and the inability to walk which resulted from his diabetes, not diagnosed till he had suffered from it for decades.
He worked a seven-day week on the magazine, and his wife who predeceased him was often unsure when he would be home such was his devotion to the work. At times he would take off for trips abroad or long simul tours through Britain while trying to keep the magazine on schedule.
One of his last long tours was in 1967 when he drove Botvinnik around the UK. The world champion was duly impressed by the work load and wrote a very favourable account of the trip, revealing incidentally that Barry was still paying off the mortgage on his large house in Rectory Road, Sutton Coldfield where the car was parked on the forecourt as the garage was the reserve storage for a large library of chess books! His ability to quote chemical formula from memory also impressed Botvinnik.
He brought up a family of four, all of whom were skilled players, apart, perhaps from the youngest boy. Daughter Peggy
was prominent in women’s chess and married Peter Clarke at the time of the Botvinnik visit. Elder sons Chris and Frank were of over-200 strength, but had seen too much of their father’s life at close hand to want to take over the business from him. He ultimately sold out to Pergamon in 1987 though negotiations had been started much earlier. It was probably too much of a wrench to let go until failing health left him with little alternative, but he described
the terms as very generous.
Barry was a gifted linguist who was welcome abroad for his un-English approach of having a go at the native tongue. As a player he was at his best in the late 1930s (a member of the 1939 Olympiad team in Buenos Aires) till the 1950s. He should really have won the 1948 British Championship when he had the enterprising idea of having Paul Schmidt as personal coach! Yet his tournament wins run on as late as Guernsey 1975 and he was playing in the First Division of the Birmingham League within a few weeks of his death. The flesh may have been weak but a great spirit kept him going to the end.
Shall we ever see his like again?

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Julius Silverman former MP for Aston (Birmingham) writes: I am very sorry to learn of the death of Barry Wood. I knew him for about 55 years and I always found him a pleasant and interesting companion and a good friend. On the last few occasions that I have met him he seemed increasingly frail. I know that the death of his dear wife was a great blow to him.
Barry’s contribution to Chess in this country has been enormous and his passing is the end of an era in chess journalism.
Barry’s journalism and his imaginative editorship made Chess a fascinating journal which it was always a pleasure to read.
Its survival for well over 50 years was a unique achievement which required persistence and dedication. He has had many
hills to surmount.
One was “… the chess lawsuit of the Century …” (This ran for about two and a half years, ending in 1940 in a victory for the magazine on appeal, Ed). Jacques versus Chess which might have brought Chess to an end. I appeared for him as counsel. We won. I received a life subscription to Chess as part of my fee. My copy still comes to me regularly. I have never enjoyed a fee so much.
Here is the article in its original form:
British Chess Magazine, Volume CX (109), Number 5 (May), page 210
British Chess Magazine, Volume CX (109), Number 5 (May), page 211

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Bernard on Barry (2004)
REMEMBERING BARRY WOOD (1909-1939)
by Bernard Cafferty
One of the most influential figures in British chess of the 20th century was B. H. Wood, whom I knew personally from 1951, and whom I played regularly, over a period of three decades, till l moved from Birmingham to Hastings in 1981. Here are some
memories of the man who was thought of by many in Britain as “Mr Chess”.
Born in Sheffield, Baruch Harold Wood had his secondary education in North Wales at the same grammar school as W Ritson
Morry who was later to become his Midlands colleague and bitter rival. BH always attributed his well-known stubbornness (he never resigned early) to “his Yorkshire blood”. Wood and Morry were to be students together at Birmingham University after BH gained his BSc in Wales. Then the pair faced the hard task of finding work in depression-struck mid-1930s England. BH founded his monthly magazine CHESS in 1935, an act of amazing optimism which only his great appetite for work could justify. The magazine was based in Sutton Coldfield, just north of Birmingham, at gloomy premises known as Masonic Buildings.
The early decades of this publication were marked by the outpouring of glorious journalism of a popular sort. The man’s love
of the game shone through his work and he recruited such contributors as the chatty Koltanowski and the prince of annotators
Alexander Alekhine. Later he became the long-serving columnist of the Birmingham Post, from 1949 of the weekly Illustrated London News, and even later of the Daily Telegraph. A feature of the magazine was its lively letters from readers which made for more interesting reading than the equivalent occasional letter to be found in the staid
BCM. The readers also made pertinent contributions to opening theory, especially in going through the 1946 MCO with a fine toothcomb and reporting their discoveries to Sutton Coldfield.
BH wrote a best-selling Easy Guide to Chess which went through several editions and was far more user-friendly than other primers on the market at the time. He also designed a luxury set, the Coldfield, and produced various chess clocks with new features. BH was a member of the BCF Olympiad side that played in the first part of the Buenos Aires Olympiad in the autumn of 1939. After the team’s withdrawal due to the outbreak of war, he stayed on in Argentina for a short while, taking part in a short tournament where he met the legendary Alekhine.
One Hundred Victorian Chess Problems, BH Wood, Wayland Publishers, London, 1972
BH was married to Marjorie, a Birmingham primary school teacher, and had three sons and a daughter. The elder two boys,
Chris and Frank, were strong players but not Philip. His daughter Peggy was our leading girl player of the 1950s, and married Peter Clarke in 1962. One should note that BH was not Jewish, as many assumed from the name Baruch – he was generally addressed as Barry by his wife and close friends. Others called him just by the initials BH. Everyone in British chess knew exactly who you meant when you said BH. Many thought of him as a sharp business-man. In any event, the fearsome workload he shouldered meant that none of his children, seeing this at first hand, aspired to carry on the magazine as a family business. To many in the British chess community who had never seen top players in action, BH was their first contact with the wider chess world due to the exhausting simul tours he made to many clubs the length and breadth of the UK.
Later, he organized CHESS Festivals starting from 1953. These were our earliest open tournaments, held at attractive venues such as Cheltenham, Whitby, Eastbourne and Southport. These events created the opportunity for British amateurs to meet continental grandmaster opposition like Donner and O’Kelly. BH had great confidence in his ability – his MSc at Birmingham University was in chemistry, but in 1946-7 he started studying nuclear physics privately, telling Brian Reilly, who was employed by him at that time, that it was the science of the future. I have to simply marvel at this – where did he find the time? In his self-portrait in connection with the GB-USSR match of 1946 he revealed that he had been studying Russian privately with a view to taking an external degree in it at Birmingham University.
The post-war decade saw him at his most active. He was BCF delegate at early FIDE meetings post-1946, the period that saw the mighty Soviet Union admitted to membership in 1947. BH was instrumental in maintaining Spain’s membership of FIDE at the same time, despite Soviet opposition to Franco’s fascism. He claimed to me he was always a most welcome guest in Spain thereafter.
Battles with the BCF
BH had been exempt from military service due to a duodenal ulcer. He spent the war keeping the magazine alive in his spare time as he was put in charge of a research laboratory at the Birmingham Chemical Company. During the war the government had the power under emergency legislation to direct citizens into any sort of work that would contribute to the war effort. His comment to me on that intensive period was: “It was the first time I ever drew a decent salary”. After a short spell as BCF FIDE delegate, he fell out with the ruling body in the early 1950s. His view was that the national body was ultra-conservative and not open to fresh ideas such as the knockout championship open to all which he organised in 1949-50. Lo and behold, a few months later the BCF started organising regional competitions to arrange for qualification for the British Championship! BH often criticised the BCF in his magazine. In June 1950 he wrote the first of a planned series of articles on the evergreen theme “Where is British Chess Going?” and forwarded a copy to the BCF just before publication. The BCF legal eagle Professor Wheatcroft immediately threatened to take out an injunction, so putting the frighteners on the printers. Rather than delay the July issue (not that subscribers were not used to a rather irregular schedule!), BH brought out the issue with white space, on two pages, a dramatic way of alerting the readers to the dispute. The promised articles, which he said would appear after the dispute was settled, never appeared.
DW Anderton OBE plays BH Wood MBE in 1981 in a Blitz tournament outside of the National Film Theatre. Photograph courtesy of John Saunders
There were also tensions with BCF figures like Alexander and Golombek, in the latter case probably due to professional rivalry and Harry G’s identification with the BCM. Another prominent figure with whom BH crossed swords was the flamboyant Liverpool barrister Gerald Abrahams who threatened to sue over a report in CHESS of gambling debts incurred “on the turf’.
BH was no stranger to litigation. For example he had had a lawsuit with Jaques culminating in 1940 over the use of the term
“genuine Staunton-pattern sets” in his advertising. The case was initially lost, a potentially crippling blow, but then won on appeal with the aid of solicitor Julius Silverman (later a prominent Birmingham MP), Ritson Morry, Sir George Thomas and
other well-wishers. When Wood-Morry hostility was at its height in the early 1950s over pro- and anti-BCF views, BH drew attention in a letter to a Welsh chess organiser to Ritson’s short period in jail. The uncomplimentary term ‘gaolbird’ was used. A court case followed which the penurious Ritson, having been struck off as a solicitor could hardly afford, yet BH was cleared on the defence of justification. My fellow students and I at Birmingham University could only marvel at the daily press reports on the wrangles between two of our patrons whom we had feted at a celebratory dinner only a short while before.
Here is the point at which to mention BH’s support for chess in the universities. He was the long-time President of the
BUCA (British Universities’ Chess Association) and turned up at many of their events with support. He loaned equipment in the early days when not every chess club had sufficient clocks for a match – bear in mind that the austerity period in Britain lasted for years after 1945. BH also supported correspondence chess, being the founder of the Postal Chess League, a team event very popular in its day but now defunct.
BH’s best playing performance was the British Championship of 1948 when he came second to Broadbent. The Midlander had actually started with 6.5 points from seven games, but the unsatisfactory position arose that he had to meet Broadbent in the last round when each had an adjourned game still to finish off.
BH Wood during the 1948 British Championships at Bishopsgate Institute, London. Taken on August 30th 1948 by Keystone Press Agency
The tension got to BH, he missed a clear winning chance against the Northerner and lost. Yet he should really have taken the title on the merits of the positions he had achieved. His rivals resented the fact that he had hired a second, namely Paul Schmidt, the Estonian player who was once thought of as almost as good as Keres in his native land. Schmidt had won the German Championship during the war in 1941. The British amateurs of 1948 were not impressed by this intrusion of professionalism and the importation of someone who carried the taint of possible Nazism. According to Brian Reilly, Gerald Abrahams was particularly scathing.
BH made a good impression on Botvinnik when the latter stayed at the Wood residence in Rectory Road, Sutton Coldfield, in 1967 (the reference for those who can read Russian is Baturinsky’s “…Tvorchestvo” trilogy on Botvinnik. The article was entitled: Albion shakhmatny i inoy. It appears on pp435 -448 of the third volume. A shortened version appears in English in Botvinnik’s autobiography Achieving the Aim). When I drew BH’s attention to the article and its peculiar title he responded with his usual erudite comment: ‘Albion? Yes, that’s the Roman reference to the white cliffs of Dover”. For most Brummies, “The Albion” did not mean a local pub, but rather the West Bromwich Albion football team!
In theory, the communist Botvinnik should have been distant from his host, the Midlands entrepreneur and business man, who drove him round to his engagements in Britain for three weeks, but their common love of chess triumphed over ideological
differences. In particular, the speed of production of CHESS, now on its own presses, was compared very favourably by the Soviet Patriarch to that of Shakhmaty v SSSR. British trade unions had a different view of course, in pre-Thatcher days, and BH had some tricky obstacles to overcome in this field. The Muscovite Botvinnik recorded the fact that the garage of BH’s large house was full of chess books (as were various rooms – to the abiding despair of Marjorie), so the family car was always parked outside on the drive. BH revealed to Botvinnik that he had not been able pay off his mortgage for decades due to the variable cash flow from his business and journalism.
BH was in love with study as a young man, he once told me, and he had a facility in various European languages, which made him always welcome abroad. Over the years, BH had a number of employees who were strong players, such as Brian Reilly, Owen Hindle and Robert Bellin, but none of them lasted long. Owen Hindle, a person of placid temperament, stuck it out the longest, but even he had his patience tried by the ‘boss’. One cannot hide the fact that BH was a controversial figure – perhaps the clue after all is that reference to his stubbornness and Yorkshire blood? I contributed to his magazine for many years, but certainly never wanted to work for him full-time!
I used to see BH in the last decade of his life only in the Hastings press room. For his age, he still took on a fantastic workload. Peter Clarke once commented that his father-in-law gave the impression of believing he would live for ever. Finally, Anno Domini told and BH sold his business to Robert Maxwell of Pergamon fame/notoriety in 1988.
In his final year, BH suffered from diabetes, and the resulting inability to walk meant he was confined to a wheelchair, but he still insisted on visiting Hastings one last time, where, in his prime, he had specialised in taking away Premier score sheets. Often they were taken not just to his hotel room, but even back to Sutton Coldfield, so hindering the work of other chess journalists unless Ritson or later, Peter Griffiths had got in first to create the bulletin.
What a character! We lack such a colourful figure nowadays. Where he still alive today, I imagine he would still be trying to put a bomb under the BCF.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Winter, Jaques and Wood
From Chess Explorations (Cadogan Chess, 1996) by Edward Winter we have further detail on the Jaques court case:
“Paul Timson, a lawyer, sends us reports on two legal cases connected with chess. In 1939 B.H.Wood found himself in the dock for having advertised for sale in CHESS in 1937 ‘genuine Staunton chessmen’. The plaintiffs were John Jaques & Son, Ltd. Sir George Thomas., Max Euwe and Lodewijk Prins appeared as witnesses for the defence. The case is referred to by Fred Wren in his article ‘Tales of a Woodpusher: Woodpusher’s Woodpile’, which appeared in Chess Review, 1949 and was reprinted in Reinfeld’s The Treasury of Chess Lore. The issues of CHESS of the time also contained a huge amount of material on the case. The decision was that ‘Staunton’ alone was permissible description, but that the phrase ‘genuine Staunton’ implied a product made by Jaques & Son Ltd., as opposed to any Staunton pattern. However, B.H. Wood appealed and, in 1940, won.”
Other Sources
If you can get access then we recommend the eleven-page “B.H. Wood and his chess playing family” article in the August-2009 issue of Chess Monthly written by his son Chris Wood (helped by brother Frank).
Likewise The Chess Lawsuit of the Century is detailed in CHESS, volume 52, Number 1018, pp.392 – 394 by BHW himself.
Here is an obituary from the MCCU
Background information from Sutton Coldfield Chess Club
Alekhine’s Articles for CHESS by Michael Clapham
Here is his Wikipedia entry.
Save as PDF

Birthday of GM Murray Chandler (04-iv-1960)
2021-04-04
Happy Birthday GM Murray Chandler MNZM (04-iv-1960)
From The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld :
“International Grandmaster (1983), a New Zealander who settled in England at the age of 15. subsequently playing for his adopted country in the Lucerne Olympiad, 1982. He scored +4=6 to share first prize at New York 1980, came second (+5=5 — 1) equal with Hort at Dortmund 1983, and scored +5 = 6 (a GM norm) to share first prize at Amsterdam 1983, a Swiss systemtournament. Chandler has edited the magazine Tournament Chess since its inception in 1982.”
A White Pawn in Europe, Murray Chandler, 1975
Here is his Wikipedia entry
Murray Chandler, Ray Keene and Miguel Najdorf
From Chessgames.com :
“Murray Graham Chandler was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He was awarded the IM title in 1977 and the GM title in 1982. He was joint New Zealand Champion in 1975-76 (shared with Lev Isaakovich Aptekar and Ortvin Sarapu) and joint Commonwealth Champion in 1984. His best tournament results were 2nds at London 1984, London 1986 and Amsterdam 1987 and he has played both for New Zealand (1976-1980) and England (1982-86) in the Olympiads. He edited Tournament Chess for a time from 1981 onwards and as well as writing he became the managing director of Gambit Publications.
Leonard Barden (left) and Murray Chandler display the Lloyds Bank Trophy which the 19-year old New Zealander won ahead of 3 Grandmasters and 10 International Masters for his finest international success up to 1979. in the Lloyds Bank Masters
He was the organiser and winner of a large tournament, the Queenstown Classic in New Zealand in January 2006 and this tournament also incorporated the 113th New Zealand Championship making Chandler the New Zealand Champion for the second time. He won his third New Zealand title at the 115th New Zealand Championship (2008) which was held in Auckland where he currently resides.”
Murray Graham Chandler

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Murray Graham Chandler

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Murray Graham Chandler
The English Chess Explosion
Sicilian 2.c3
The Complete c3 Sicilian
Tournament Chess
How to Beat Your Dad at Chess
Chess Tactics for Kids
Chess for Children
Chess Puzzles for Kids
Save as PDF

Birthday of IM Geoff Lawton (04-iv-1960)
2021-04-04
Happy Birthday IM Geoff Lawton (04-iv-1960)
Geoff became an International Master in 1984. His peak rating according to Felice was 2407 in July 2003 at the age of 43.
He won the Maidenhead Open in 1995 with 5/5 and TPR of 2685.
Here are his games from chessgames.com
He has plus scores with the following notable players : Stuart Conquest, Mark Condie, John Nicholson, Jon Cox, Colin McNab, Julian Hodgon, Paul Littlewood, David Cummins and Vaidyanathan Ravikumar amongst others.
It’s Only Me, edited by Geoff Lawton

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Save as PDF

Birthday of CGM Christopher Jones (06-iv-1952)
2021-04-06
Birthday of CGM Christopher JA Jones (06-iv-1952)Here is an excellent biography from Chess Scotland
Here is an article about Helpmates from CJAJ published by Chessbase
Grandmaster of Composition Christopher Jones
CGM Christopher James Austin Jones
CGM Christopher James Austin Jones with James Pratt and David Shire at Eton College
Save as PDF

Death Anniversary of Julius du Mont (15-xii-1881 07-iv-1956)
2021-04-07
Signature of J du Mont from a Brian Reilly “after dinner” postcard from Southsea 1951.
BCN Remembers Julius du Mont (15-xii-1881 07-iv-1956)
Here is his Wikipedia entry
From British Chess Magazine, Volume LXXXVI, Number 5, 1956 we have this obituary written by DJ Morgan :
In our February issue we wrote an appreciation of one of the distinguished past editors of this magazine, R. C. Griffith. He had been followed in the chair in 1938 by our present Games’ Editor, and when he, in turn, was called in 1940 to sterner duties, he was succeeded by Julius du Mont. During the war years, and through the difficult post-war period, till 1949, he held the reins. As we wrote on another occasion, “His had been difficult years: the “B.C.M.” had survived when so much else had succumbed during the stress and strain of total war.” lt is with regret that we now record his death on April 7th, in a Hastings nursing home, at the age of seventy-four, after a protracted illness.
du Mont was born in Paris-a little-known fact which he himself once disclosed to us-on December 15th, 1881. lt was there also that he received his education. His early bent and ambitions were musical. The tradition that chess and music have a close relationship may be traced as far back, at least, as Philidor’s great eminence in both. du Mont was truly in the line of such dual personalities. He pursued his musical studies at the Frankfort-on-Main Conservatoire and at Heidelberg, and soon became established as a concert pianist.’ Later he achieved great success as a music teacher, and among his pupils was the well-known concert pianist, Edna lles. The French and German background also explains his facility as a linguist.
He came to England as a young man and brought with him a considerable talent for chess. Settling in London, he rapidly improved as a player, and successes followed. At the Kentish Congress, Tunbridge Wells, 1912, he came equal second and third. He was Champion of the strong Hampstead Club for two years, and Middlesex Champion in 1913 and 1915. He quickly mastered our language and showed this during the First World War by writing a manual on the Lewis gun. After the war, music kept its place in his life, but more and more chess became his main activity. He forsook playing and turned to journalism and authorship, and his output of books is evidence of his gifts and industry. Titles come readily to mind: Chess Openings lllustrated, Centre Counter Defence (1919) and Centre and Danish Gambit (1920); The Elements of Chess (1925) ; Ihe Basis of Combination in Chess (1938) ; 200 Miniature Games (1941); More Miniature Games (1953); (with Dr. Tartakower) 500 Master aomes of Chess, two volumes (1952), to which was added a third volume in 1954, 100 Master Games of Chess. He also translated Edward Lasker’s Chess Strategy, and Alekhine’s two volumes of My Best Games of Chess (the first with M. E.Goldstein).
The wealth of material ready to hand combined with a foreigner’s gift of lucid expression in “the other tongue” made his books very popular. To the great value and importance of these books, a whole generation of chess-players will readily testify.
For some years, du Mont was chess editor of The Field and of The Manchester Guardian. During the last war he organized chess championships for the Armed Services. We pay tribute to his services to the game, to his many kindnesses and friendships to its players, and, in particular, to his devotion to this magazine.-D. J. M.
D. C., who enjoyed a long friendship with our late Editor, writes to us as follows-
By the death of J. du Mont, the chess world has lost an eminent and popular personality. That this popularity was well deserved will be apparent even to those who knew him only slightly.
Essentially kind, he performed many generous acts, and having, by his own efforts, become the best-known British writer on chess, he not only filled this position with modesty and dignity, but was liberal in the help he gave to those starting on the road he had so successfully followed.
In the tournament room-where his presence was always welcome-he was invariably quiet and courteous, and although gifted with a fine wit, he never used it
unkindly. He *as an excellent companion, and players at many congresses will recall the happy times they spent in their visits to him at all hours of the evening. It is sad to think that these gatherings have now irrevocably reached their end: to quote A. E. Housman’s beautiful lines-
They come and were and ore not
And come no more anew.
But as long as a literature of chess remains, the name of Julius du Mont will not be forgotten. His many friends, however, have no need of his writings in order to keep alive their memory of him.
In Chess Secrets I learned from the Masters, Edward Lasker, Hollis and Carter, 1952 :
J. DuMont became the author of a number of interesting monographs on chess openings, and for many years he was the Editor of the British Chess Magazine. It was he who translated my own translation of Schachstrategie which I attempted in the summer of 1913. Naturally, my English was not fit to be printed. DuMont had to rewrite everything I had written, and except for his untiring labors Chess Strategy might never have been published. He gave the book a certain literary flavor, which no doubt added greatly to its popularity. It went into fourteen printings before it was replaced by Modern Chess Strategy in 1945.
DuMont was a pianist of note and I took lessons from him; however, the time I took from my chess activities to practise the piano was shamefully meagre. No wonder I have been told more than once that as a pianist I am a good chess player.”
Save as PDF

Death Anniversary of CGM Keith Richardson (02-iv-1942 10-iv-2017)
2020-04-10
BCN remembers CGM Keith Richardson who passed away on Monday, April 10th, 2017.
Keith Bevan Richardson was born in Nottingham, on Thursday, April 2nd 1942. On this day : The LA Times urges security measures against Japanese-Americans and US auto factories switch from commercial to war production.
Keith’s parents were Arthur (30) and Hilda May (née Nicholls, 25). He married Sandra Sowter on the 11th of September 1971 in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire. They had two children, Neil and Ian. They lived at 19, The Ridings in Camberley, Surrey.
Sadly, Keith was diagnosed in the 1990s with Parkinson’s disease and became unwell whilst playing in a chess tournament in Cannes in April 2017 and passed away on the 10th of May 2017. Keith was 75. He continued to actively play chess into his final year.
CGM Keith Richardson
Keith was the Treasurer of the Friends of Chess during the period known the English Chess Explosion (late 1970s and 1980s).
Keith received the ECF President’s Award in 2015 for services to the management of the BCF Permanent Invested Fund (PIF) together with Dr. Julian Farrand and Ray Edwards.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

From CHESS, Volume 41 (1975), Numbers 729-730 (September), pp. 380 the news of Keith’s success was initially reported:
“BRITAINS’ FIRST CHESS GRAND MASTER
The first grand master title to be won by a British player has been achieved in the field of correspondence chess by Keith B. Richardson, aged 33, of Camberley.
The title of Correspondence Chess grand master is awarded by the lnternational correspondence Chess Federation. Keith Richardson fulfilled the norm by sharing third place in the final of the 7th World Correspondence Chess Championship with a score of 11 points from 16 games. The tournament began in February 1972 and results of the last adjudicated games were recently announced making J. V. Estrin U.S.S.R. first with l2 points; J. Boey Belgium scored 11.5; K. B. Richardson G.B. and Dr. V. Zagorovski U.S.S.R. 11.
There are only 25 Correspondence Chess Grand masters throughout the world.”
This was followed in the next month’s issue by a correction and more depth in CHESS, Volume 41 (1975), Numbers 731-732 (October), pp. 30-31:
“K. B. Richardson, though the first Britain to become a grand master by play was preceded by Comins Mansfield as grandmaster of problem composition, a title he gained in 1972. Our report last month did not make this clear.
Keith B. Richardson was born 2 April 1942 and was educated at Nottingham High School. At 16, he passed Grade 8 in Royal
Schools of Music at pianoforte. At Durham University, he obtained a B.A. in French and German and was awarded the University Palatinate (equal to a ‘blue’) in cricket and fives. He could have become a professional cricketer or a concert pianist but
made his career instead with Barclays Bank which brought him to London and a home in Camberley, Surrey, where he has settled down with his wife, Sandra (from Sutton Coldfield!). They now have two baby sons, Neil aged three years and Ian who is only two months old – both born since the final of the 7th World Correspondence Chess Championship began.
CGM Keith Bevan Richardson (from a Barclays publicity article)
Keith’s other interests include bridge and squash. He plays squash for his bank and is Secretary of the London Squash League. As a young chess player, Keith won the Notts. under l4 Championship, held the Notts. under l8 Championship for four years and the Notts. Championship for two years and was British Junior Champion in 1962. In 1963, he was Durham County Champion and joint winner of the British Universities’ Championship which he won outright the following year. He was twice captain of the British Universities Students’ Olympiad team. He held the Midlands Championship (Forrest Cup) for three years and was joint London Champion and London Banks’ Champion in 1970 but has been content to hold the latter title since then and concentrate on correspondence chess.
Keith Richardson aged 20 at the 1963 Niemeyer Under-21 Tournament in Groningen. The forerunner of the European Junior Championship
Niemeyer Under-21 Tournament, Groningen 1963. The forerunner of the European Junior Championship.
In 1964, Keith Richardson was runner up for the British Correspondence Chess Championship and at the same time won a Master Class tournament of the lnternational Correspondence Chess Federation (I.C.C.F.) which qualified for a place in the World C.C. Championship semi-final. He came second in the 1965-67 semi-final and tried again in the 1968-71 event which he won. At the same time, he was representing Great Britain on Board 5 in the 1965-67 I.C.C.F. Olympiad Preliminary and on Board 4 in the 1968-71 event. His score of 5 points from 7 games helped the British team to win its section in the 1968-71 Preliminary and qualify for a place in the I.C.C.F. Olympiad Final which started in 1972. When Keith began play in the World C.C. Championship Final involving l6 tames, he was also asked to take Board 3 in the Olympiad Final involving another 9 games.
He accepted – a mistake which might possibly have cost him the World C.C. Championship! His next assault on the World title will be in 1979 and in the meantime he plans to play in the next I.C.C.F. Olympiad Preliminary and write a book on the 7th World C.C. Championship.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

In this position, with Black in Zugzwang, the game went for adjudication (after more than three years’ play, a very necessary evil):
“In order to substantiate White’s claim for a win, it was necessary to submit three pages of analysis proving that every possible move loses for Black. If the knight moves, White’s king claims an entry. If Black moves the bishop along the a7-g1 diagonal, White plays Ba5. If the Black bishop moves on the d8-a5 diagonal, White plays Bd4 : KBR”
The game was adjudicated a win for White. This was only defeat inflicted upon the new World Champion.
CGM Keith Richardson in 1975
This article was followed (with some glee no doubt) by an article in British Chess Magazine, Volume LIXIV (95, 1975), Number 12 (December), page 526 as follows:
“Keith B. Richardson recently became the third British player to receive a grandmaster title (the other two both in 1972, are Comins Mansfield for chess composition’ and R.W. Bonham’ correspondence grandmaster of the blind). The title of Correspondence Chess Grandmaster is awarded by the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) and Keith Richardson fulfilled the norm by sharing third place in the final of the 7th World Correspondence Championship. Leading scores in the tournament (February 1972 – Summer 1975): 1. Y. Estrin (USSR) 12/16; J.Boey (B) 11.5; 3-4 K.B. Richardson (ENG), V. Zagorovsky (USSR) 11; etc.
Keith, born 2nd April1942, was educated at Nottingham High School and Durham University-. He won the Nottinghamshire U-14 Championship, held the Notts U-18 championship for four years, the senior Notts Championship for two years and was British Junior Champion in 1962. In 1963, he was Durham County Champion and joint winner of the British Universities Championship which he won outright the following year. He was twice captain of the British team in Students Olympiads.
Keith Richardson from BCM, 1984, page 545
In 1964 Keith left university to make a career with Barclays Bank. In the same year he was runner-up in the British Correspondence Championship and won an ICCF master tournament which qualified him for a place in the World Championship final. He came second in the 1965-7 semi-final, tried again, and won the 1968-71 event thus gaining entry to the 7th final.
Keith Richardson lives in Surrey at Camberley. He is married and has two baby sons – both born since the final of the 7th World Correspondence Championship began. At present he is writing a book on the 7th Championship and, for a change playing some OTB (over-the-board) chess in the London League for the Athenaeum club, to which he makes a great contribution – it is a marvellous feeling to know that the player next to you (on your side!) is a grandmaster.
Keith Richardson playing for BCM Dragons in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL, courtesy of John Upham Photography.
The following three games are – Keith’s best from the -championship. In them he defeats three of the five Russians in the
tournament (his overall score against the Russians was 3.5/5 – a wonderful achievement.”

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

and here is the printed version of the above report:
British Chess Magazine, Volume LIXIV (95, 1975), Number 12 (December), page 526
British Chess Magazine, Volume LIXIV (95, 1975), Number 12 (December), page 527

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

From The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Hooper & Whyld :
“English player. International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (1975), bank manager. Around 1961 Richardson decided that over-the- board play, which had brought him some successes as a. junior, would interfere with his professional career and he took to postal chess instead. His best performance in this field was his sharing of third place with Zagorovsky after Estrin and Boey in the 7th World Correspondence Championship, 1968-71. ”
In October 1984 Keith took part in the A. E. Axelson Memorial tournament organised by the Swedish CC Committee and with fifteen grandmasters was one of the strongest CC tournaments in history. Keith finished in 11th place ahead of Boey.
In 1991 Jonathan Berry wrote a potted biography in Diamond Dust, International Chess Enterprises, ISBN 1-879479-00-1 as follows :
“Camberley, Surrey, England. Born 2 April 1942. Married with two sons. Bank Manager.
He was British Under-21 Champion in 1962. At Groningen 1962/63, he was placed 2nd in the European Junior Championship. At Bristol 1967 he was equal 5th in the British Championship.
In CC, he gained the IMC in 1968, GMC in 1975. In CC WCh VII, he won the semi-final with 9.5/12, and placed =3rd in the final, 11/16. In CC WCh X, he again tied for third in the final with 10/15. Playing board 3 for Britain in OL-VIII, finals, 1972-76, he scored 7.5/9, the highest score on any board. He won the Prefors Memorial, 1976-1980, 9.5.12”
1976-1980 Prefors Memorial
Keith was a founding member of Camberley Chess Club in 1972.

A one-day tournament (The Keith Richardson Memorial) in memory of Keith was started in 2017 and has been held four times in total being played on-line for the first time in 2021.
Ken Coates presents Clive Frostick with the trophy for the 2019 Keith Richardson Memorial Tournament.
From Chessgames.com :
“Keith Bevan Richardson was born in Nottingham, England. Awarded the IMC title in 1968 and the GMC title in 1975, he finished 3rd= in the World Correspondence Championships of 1975 and 1984.”
Here are his games from chessgames.com
An obituary from Ray Edwards / ECF.
Here is an excellent biography by Peter Rust from the web site of the Hamilton Russell Cup
Barclay’s Bank pay tribute to Keith on the corporate site.
Here is an entry from the Belgian chess history web site.
Save as PDF

Birthday of FM Erik Teichmann (11-iv-1961)
2020-04-11
FM Erik Oskar Michael Charles Teichmann
Birthday of FM Erik Oskar Michael Charles Teichmann (11-iv-1961)
Erik was born in Westminster, London, his mother (née Jorgensen) being Danish and his father was Max Teichmann. They lived in London for two years and then emigrated to Melbourne, Australia until Erik was six when Erik and his mother moved to Cambridge, England. Erik played much chess in England including the British U-18 and U-21 championships, Lloyds Bank events

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

and the Islington and other opens swisses. Erik played for Cambridge University (Magdalen College) in the 1982 (100th) Varsity Match drawing with Gareth Anthony (Trinity Hall).
Erik Oskar Michael Charles Teichmann (rear, far right) at a Lloyds Bank event
Erik (left) analyses with Mark A Johnstone (right) and James Pratt at the 1981 Islington Open. Your Truly was the photographer.
In 1985 Erik emigrated once more to Australia living in Eltham, Melbourne and became a lifestyle guru and coach.
Erik Teichmann standing, holding trophy)
Erik became a FIDE Master in 1990 and his peak rating was 2388 in July 2010.
FM Erik Teichmann
From Chessgames.com :
“FIDE Master Erik Oskar Michael Charles Teichmann won the Nova Scotia Open in 1999.”
Here is Erik’s favourite game :

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Erik now lives in Lyon, France with his girlfriend both being Buddhists.
FM Erik Teichmann, photo by Cathy Rogers
Save as PDF

Birthday of FM Richard Webb (11-iv-1962)
2020-04-11
Birthday of FM Richard Mark Webb (11-iv-1962)
This was written about Richard just prior to the 1979 Spassky vs the BCF Junior Squad simultaneous display :
“Forest of Needwood High and Burton on Trent.Rating 192. Second youngest British men’s championship finalist, 1977.”
Richard Webb (front, far left) at a Lloyds Bank event
At the Lloyds Bank Masters : Front (l-r) : Joel Benjamin, Ian Wells, Rear : Peter Morrish, Stewart Reuben, Richard Beville, Gary Senior, Richard Webb, John Hawksworth, Andrew King, Nigel Short, Mark Ginsburg, Daniel King, David Cummings, Erik Teichmann, John Brandford and Micheal Pagden
Save as PDF

Death Anniversary of Rev. Charles Ranken (05-i-1828 12-iv-1905)
2020-04-12
Death Anniversary of Rev. Charles Edward Ranken (05-i-1828 12-iv-1905)From The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Harry Golombek :
A leading member of the formidable band of reverends who played such a strong role in early Victorian English chess, he is described as ‘one of the writing rather than the fighting clergy in chess’ in P. W. Sergeant’s Century of Britsh Chess. Though he learnt chess at an early age’ he made his first really earnest study of the game when he was an undergraduate at Wadham College, Oxford 1847-50, in particular devoting himself to a theoretical study of Staunton’s Handbook, which he rightly regarded as a great landmark in chess literature.
On leaving Oxford he competed in the provincial section at London l85l where he came second to Boden.
In 1867 he became vicar of Sandford-on-Thames and lived at Oxford where, in collaboration with Lord Randolph Churchill (Winston’s father), he founded the Oxford University Chess Club
and became its first President.
Resigning his living at Sandford in 1871, he went to live at Malvern where he stayed till his death. He played in many of the congresses organized by the Counties Chess Association, his best result being 1st in the first class section at Malvern 1872 with a score of l2 points, followed by two other reverends, Thorold 11.5 and Wayte 10.5. It was at this congress that he brought about a reconciliation between Staunton and Löwenthal who had been estranged for a considerable time.
He played in the Yizayanaqaram tournament at London 1883 and started well but his health gave way after the first week and he divided fifth place with G. H. D. Gossip.
His chief importance during the later stages of his chess career was as a writer, first as editor of the Chess Player’s Chronicle in 1877 and later as a member of the staff of the British Chess Magazine in which he wrote on many aspects of chess but specialized in analysis (of the openings, middle-game and the endings)’ In 1889 he published, in collaboration with E. Freeborough, Chess Openings Ancient and Modern. (London)’ ( H’G’)
Chess Openings Ancient and Modern 1889
The Ranken Variation is a good line for White in the Four Knights Opening, analysed in the Chess Players Chronicle, 1879 by Ranken first president of the Oxford University Chess Club.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.

Save as PDF

Birthday of FM Peter Markland (13-iv-1951)
2020-04-13
BCN wishes a happy birthday to Peter Markland born on Friday, April 13th, 1951
From the rear cover of “Sicilian:…e5 :
“P.R. Markland is a British Master, and a member of many English international teams, including those at the 1972 and 1974 Olympiads, and is also a British correspondence international”
Peter first qualified to the British Championship in 1967 (Oxford) and obtained an IM and GM norm at Hastings 1971.
In 1984 he became a Grandmaster for correspondence chess (GMC).
Peter became a banker and lives in Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP13.
From British Chess (Pergamon Press, 1983) we have this contribution from Peter himself:
“1951 seems to have been a vintage year for chessplayers and although I cannot claim to count myself in the company of Andersson, Karpov, Ribli and Sax we do all share the same year of birth.
Although I learned the moves at the age of 5, I only took any real interest in the game at 13 when I began to play schools chess. Compared with such as Nigel Short I was a very late starter!
I was educated at Bolton School and played for Bolton and Lancashire in my early years. This was fortunate in that all three of these teams enjoyed great success in the late 1960s. In all three teams I played along side Martyn Corden who was to precede my rise to international level himself by playing in the Siegen Olympiad team in 1970. In 1967, I qualified for the British Championship at my first attempt and I was pleased to score 5/11. The following year the school team won The Sunday Times tournament playing without Martyn Corden in the finals.
Up to this time I had concentrated chiefly on junior teams and had won the NCCU junior titles. Over Christmas and New Year of both 1966-7 and 1967-8 I travelled down to play at the Devon Junior Congress at Plymouth but in 1968 I decided to try my luck at Hastings. This proved to be one of the turning points of my career.
I was placed in the Challengers Reserves for 1968-9 and after the first round loss (to the eventual winner) my play gained momentum and I qualified for the Challengers the following year. The intervening year passed quietly with a trip to Ireland in the Glorney Cup. I went up to Balliol College, Oxford in October 1969.
The Scottish Junior International, Glasgow, 1969. l-r: David Watt, Rene Borngässer, David Levy, Heinz Wirthensohn, Peter Markland. Courtesy of Chess Scotland
The Hastings Challengers tournament 1969-70 began when I met the same opponent as in the previous year in the first round. This time I managed to come out on top. By the time the last round came, I had played most of the leaders and had 6/8 including two pleasing wins with my favourite defence at the time – the Sicilian Pelikan variation.
Sicilian:…e5 by TD Harding & PR Markland, Batsford, 1976, ISBN 0 7134 3209 8
In the last round I was paired against de Veauce who had a reputation as a good strategist and whom I hoped to unsettle tactically. I had white and my plan failed. He outplayed me in the opening and middlegame and I sacrificed my isolated centre pawn to activate my pieces.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

So I then had to wait had to wait to see the other results before I could confirm a somewhat lucky place in the Premier.
In 1970 I had the opportunity to travel with the student team to the Olympiad in Haifa. My score of 5.5/7 was reasonably pleasing but the standard of opposition was far from good.
Peter Markland at Hastings 1970-71
At the end of the year came the Hastings Premier – a tournament which I can only describe as the highlight of my career. I began nervously and lost a nondescript game to Uhlmann in the first round. My confidence grew with two comfortable draws with Portisch (the eventual winner) and Keene. In round four I met the surprise leader, Mestrovic (who had 3/3) and perhaps partly due to the fact that this game was played on 1st January I won convincingly in 18 moves.
Peter Markland during his game with Portisch on December 30th 1970

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

The next four rounds brought an uneventful draw with Wade and three exciting encounters with Byrne, Krogius and Gligoric all of which after several reversals of fortune ended in draws.
Peter Markland at Hastings 1970-71
In the last round I was to play Hort who needed to to win to gain a share of first prize. He played a horribly passive opening and by move 14 I was already well on top. To try to compensate he snatched a queenside pawn and gave me the chance to play the type of move one can only dream about!

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

This victory meant an equal second on 5/9 with Gligoric, Hort, Krogius and Uhlmann and both a GM and IM norm.

As a result of this I became a regular member of the England side. During 1971 my results were erratic, possibly caused by too much play. I was pleased with my 3.5 score in my first Clare Benedict, although I lost my first game for England due to nervousness and I was first equal with George Botterill in the Slater Young Masters at Hastings (again). Here I declined a last round draw offer, blundered almost next move and lost to an up-and-coming junior by the name of Michael Stean! On the debit side my performances in the British Championship, The Oxford International Congress and the Robert Silk tournament left room for improvement.
Whilst playing with Bolton in the National Club Championship, we had never won the competition although we had reached the semi-finals many times. This year, 1971, playing for Oxford University, we won the tournament beating our old rivals Cambridge University in the final on board count.
The Hastings tournament of 1971-72 saw me firmly entrenched near the bottom. It is very difficult in this type of international tournament when one becomes marked as an out-of-form player. All the other players make extra efforts to beat you and this drains your strength further.
My main problem at Hastings was a lack of defence to 1.e4. I lost five games against this move. In the last round I had a very interesting struggle against Karpov who needed to win this game to tie first with Korchnoi who had beaten him in the previous round, but the strength of 1.e4 proved too much.
The summer of 1972 saw the advent of my University finals and thus I played very little for the first six months of the year – even I had to decline an invitation to the Teeside GM event. Later in the year I played in the student Olympiad in Graz and then in the Olympiad is Skopje.
In the preliminaries we had drawn Yugoslavia and Switzerland, who were the only other teams likely to qualify for the ‘A’ final. We missed qualification narrowly and I think that every team member had one poor result in the qualifying rounds – mine being a scraped draw against a Syrian team.
We won the ‘B’ final by beating the Israeli team in the last round and I felt pleased by my score of 11.5/16 with no losses. Indeed, in my last round game with Balshan I was quite rightly instructed to agree a draw in a winning position to secure the team’s first place.
I feel that this tournament from my point of view aptly demonstrates the difference in title norms in the early 1970s and today. I played five players who had no Elo ratings and only four titled players. Hence an IM norm would not have been available under any circumstances. The main reason for the lack of Elo ratings in 1972 was that the new system had only just been introduced and for many players this was their first Elo-rated tournament. In the last Elo list, all but one of the sixteen players are rated, there are now four GMs and five IMs amongst my opponents and the norm figures would be 10.5/16 and 12.5/16 for IM and GM respectively.
Here is my best game from the Olympiad. It is indicative of an early combination prevailing through into a winning ending.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

In 1973 I was once more plagued by too many invitations and played indifferently throughput the year. The only bright spots were my score of 3/7 on boards 3 and 4 of the European Team Finals and second place in the Woolacombe International.
1974 was once again an Olympiad year. The England team won the Clare Benedict for the first time in Menorca and I was able to contribute 5/6 winning both a board prize and the best score prize. I was drafted into the Olympiad team as a late replacement and although we qualified easily enough for the ‘A’ finals this was in no way due to my efforts as I had a 50% score in the preliminaries.
We had qualified for the ‘A’ final with one round to spare and our last group match against the USE (from which the score was to be carried forward) began the final matches. It had been decided, as a tactical measure and in our view of our differing styles, that I should take black whenever we had this colour on the fourth board, so that Whiteley and Stean could utilize a greater proportion of whites. This worked to a limited extent and indeed, Stean obtained an IM Norm. Also, as it worked out I played in matches against seven of the top eight teams (being rested against Yugoslavia) and only three teams below us. In the end, I was pleased with my +3 =1 -4 with black in the finals to give overall a 50& score.
During 1973 and 1974 I was co-author of two books in the Batsford opening series, both with Tim Harding on Sicilian Defence variations.
The Sicilian Richter-Rauzer, TD Hardign and PR Markland, Batsford, 975, ISBN 0 7134 2979 8
I also wrote a best game collection of Karpov which was by far the most interesting of the three books to write.
The Best of Karpov, PR Markland, Oxford University Press, 1975, ISBN 10: 0192175343
At about this time, I decided to embark upon a career in banking and to abandon that of a professional chessplayer. Since then I have concentrated on correspondence chess.
Having received master certificate, I entered a European and World tournament in both of which I finished first. The second of these two results qualified me for the world Championship Semi-finals. But first attempt in the eleventh championship ended in failure to qualify.
As a result of an invitation received by the BPCF I played in the Eino Heilimo Memorial Grandmaster event. I have , however, qualified as a postal IM by scoring the required seven points and had an outside chance of trying for first place at one stage.
Here is my best game from this event.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Here is his brief Wikipedia entry.
The English Chess Forum has discussed Peter.
Peter’s games are here.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Save as PDF

Birthday of FM Nathan Alfred (16-iv-1980)
2020-04-16
Birthday of FM Nathan SW Alfred (16-iv-1980)
Save as PDF

Death Anniversary of IM Colin Crouch (14-x-1956 16-iv-2015)
2020-04-16
Death Anniversary of IM Colin Stamford Crouch (14-x-1956 16-iv-2015)
Save as PDF

Birthday of FM Paul Macklin (16-iv-1967)
2020-04-16
Birthday of FM Paul Macklin (16-iv-1967)
Save as PDF

Birthday of GM Peter Wells (17-iv-1965)
2020-04-17
Birthday of GM Peter Kenneth Wells (17-iv-1965)
Here is his very brief Wikipedia entry
Peter Wells (seated, far LHS)
and from chessgames.com :
“Peter Kenneth Wells was born in Portsmouth, England and became a FIDE Master in 1982, an IM in 1987, and a GM in 1994. He is also a FIDE Senior Trainer (2015).”
Peter Wells (between Harry Golombek and Ray Keene) takes part in the obligatory “Staring at the board” posed picture during the 1985 Varsity Match

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Peter Wells (second from right) at a Lloyds Bank event.
GM Peter Wells
The Complete Semi-Slav
Piece Power
The Complete Richter-Rauzer
The Scotch Game
Winning with the Trompowsky
Chess Explained : The Queen’s Indian
Grandmaster Secrets : The Caro-Kann
Dangerous Weapons : Anti-Sicilians
GM Peter Wells
Save as PDF

Birthday of FM David Wood (18-iv-1969)
2020-04-18
Birthday of FM David A Wood (18-iv-1969)
Save as PDF

Birthday of GM Jonathan Rowson (18-iv-1977)
2020-04-18
Birthday of GM Jonathan Rowson (18-iv-1977)Here is his Wikipedia entry
GM Jonathan Rowson
Save as PDF

Happy Birthday Malcolm Barker (21-iv-1934)
2020-04-21
Happy Birthday Malcolm Barker (21-iv-1934)
Save as PDF

Birthday of FM Gary Kenworthy (22-iv-1957)
2020-04-22
Happy Birthday FM Gary Kenworthy (22-iv-1957)
Gary was born in Bradford and became an FIDE Master in 2002 and achieved a peak rating of 2315 in July 1994.
In 1994 Gary represented London in a match with Paris over nine boards and has played from London Central YMCA (CentYMCA) and Barbican in the London Chess League and in the BCF National Club competition.
In 2003 he was runner-up (to Kidami Sundararajan) in the Ron Banwell Masters in Blackpool.
Gary has played for King’s Head in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) and now plays for Mindsports.
In 2019 Gary joined the England Chess Coaching Team. He founded Bletchley Junior Chess Club and Chess School.
He has been board 1 for Milton Keynes and Open University First team. He is board 1 for the Bedfordshire County Chess Team and has retained the Bedfordshire Individual County Chess Championship Title. In 2019/2020 he was board 1 for the Leighton Buzzard Chess Club.
Gary Kenworthy, inaugurator of the new M25 Congress series, on his way to victory in the Spalding Quickplay. Earlier in the summer he defeated Grandmaster Michael Adams, photograph by Francis Bowers
Gary is a former Director of Chess Coaching for the (then) British Chess Federation (BCF).
Gary lives in Fenny Stratford, Milton Keynes and is an IT consultant and local councillor. He has been a former Director of the BCF.
Gary Kenworthy (holding board) at a BCF National Club Final (1992)

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Gary Kenworthy at the 2012 UKCC Terafinal
Save as PDF

Birthday of GM John Nunn (25-iv-1955)
2020-04-25
BCN wishes GM John Nunn Happy Birthday (25-iv-1955)
From The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Harry Golombek :
British International master and European Junior Champion, 1975. Born in London, Nunn learned chess at the age of four and soon revealed a great aptitude for the game.

Graham Ladds and John Nunn. See full caption below.
Supplied caption for above picture.
He came 6th in the Norwich Junior international tournament in 1970 and went up to Oxford University to take a mathematics degree at a very early age. He played on top board for the University from 1972-6 and is now preparing for a doctorate there.
John DM Nunn
He won the European Junior Championship and with it the international master title in Groningen in 1975. In that year too he was equal first in the IBM Master tournament, and at London in 1975 he reached an international master norm coming 5th in the international tournament there. He played on bottom board at the Haifa Olympiad 1976 and scored 64.2%
GM John Nunn
From The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld :
English player. International Grandmaster (1978), British champion 1980. He went to Oxford at the unusually young age of 15, graduated in 1973. Gained his B.Sc. the following year and his
doctorate in 1978.
GM John Nunn

A Junior Research Fellow, he lectured in mathematics until 1981 when he became a professional player. By then he had already achieved several good results in international tournaments: Budapest 1978, first; Hastings 1979-80, first (4-5 = 10) equal with Andersson; Baden-bei-Wien 1980, category 12, third (+5=10) after Spassky and Belyavsky: Helsinki 1981, first (+5 = 6) equal with Matulovich; and Wiesbaden 1981, first (+6=3). In the category 12 Wijk aan Zee tournament 1982, Nunn came first ( + 5=7 — 1) equal with Balashov ahead of Tal, Hubner, and Timman and at Helsinki 1983 he came second (+5 = 6) after Karlsson.
Maia Chiburdanidze and John Nunn from Lloyds Bank, 1985
Possessing a remarkably quick sight of the board, Nunn is an expert solver: he made the second highest individual score in the world team solving championship, 1978, and won the solving championship of Great Britain in 1981.
Lubomir Kavalek and John Nunn
Here is an excellent article from ChessBase
Polugayevsky-Nunn European team championship :

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

GM John Nunn

Here is his Wikipedia entry
46th USSR Chess Championships 1978, RD Keene, JDM Nunn, RG Wade, Master Chess Publications, 1978, ISBN 0 906634 00 8

The Benoni for the Tournament Player
Solving in Style
The Complete Pirc
Secrets of Rook Endings
Secrets of Pawnless Endings
New Ideas in the Pirc Defence
Beating the Sicilian 3
The King Hunt
Secrets of Grandmaster Chess
Secrets of Practical Chess
Nunn’s Chess Openings
John Nunn’s Chess Puzzle Book
101 Brilliant Chess Miniatures
Learn Chess
Secrets of Minor-Piece Endings
Understanding Chess Move by Move
John Nunn’s Best Games
Endgame Challenge
Tactical Chess Endings
Learn Chess Tactics
Mammoth Book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games
Grandmaster Chess Move by Move
Understanding Chess Endgames
Nunn’s Chess Endings
Understanding Chess Middlegames
Chess Tactics Workbook for Kids

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Chess Endgame Workbook for Kids
GM John Nunn
Save as PDF

Death Anniversary of Michael Haygarth (11-x-1934 27-iv-2016)
2020-04-27
BCN Remembers Michael John Haygarth (11-x-1934 27-iv-2016)
Here is an article from Yorkshire Chess History
Owen Hindle, Michael Franklin, Harry Golombek and Michael Haygarth
Here is an obituary written by Steve Mann which was published on the ECF web site.
The 1964 England Olympiad (Tel Aviv) Team : Owen Hindle, Čeněk Kottnauer, Peter Clarke, Michael Franklin, Norman Littlewood & Michael Haygarth

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Save as PDF

Birthday of IM Lawrence Trent (28-iv-1986)
2020-04-28
Birthday of IM Lawrence Adam Trent (28-iv-1986)
IM Lawrence Trent
Save as PDF

Death Anniversary of Norman Littlewood (31-i-1933 29-iv-1989)
2020-04-29
Death Anniversary of Norman Littlewood (31-i-1933 29-iv-1989)
Norman Littlewood circa 1967
From British Chess Magazine, Volume 109, June (#6), page 265 we have the following obituary which appears to have been lifted and used in the BCF Yearbook from 1989 – 1990, page 14, (editor Brian Concannon) with no acknowledgement :
“We were sorry to (announce the) hear of the death from cancer of Norman Littlewood of Sheffield(31 i 1933 – 29 iv 1989) who played with great force in British Championships of the 1960s.
Born into a working class family of 11 children, Norman played for England in the 1951 Glorney Cup, but did not make his debut in the British Championships until 1963 when he finished second to Penrose. He was then joint runner-up in the next three title contests, impressed at Hastings Premiers, particularly 1963-4 when he was the best of the English players, and represented England in the 1964 and 1966 Olympiads. By 1969, however, he was drifting away from play in the direction of problem and study composition, and his other interests such as bridge. He was also a skilled pianist, a true all-rounder.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

A great impression was made on the top players at the 1964 British Championships when Norman won his first four games with his dynamic style. His victims included both Golombek and Clarke. Had he won his next game against Haygarth, as he deserved to do, he would have surely taken the title which fell to his Yorkshire colleague.
Norman was always a modest but assertive character, and with more management might well have challenged Penrose even more closely than he did. Our thanks to elder brother John Littlewood for some of the above information.”
The 1964 England Olympiad (Tel Aviv) Team : Owen Hindle, Čeněk Kottnauer, Peter Clarke, Michael Franklin, Norman Littlewood & Michael Haygarth
Here is article from Yorkshire Chess History
See BCF Yearbook 1989-90, page 14.
Save as PDF

Birthday of GM Jonathan Hawkins (01-v-1983)
2020-05-01
Birthday of GM Jonathan Hawkins (01-v-1983)
Save as PDF

Birthday of FM Richard York-Weaving (01-v-1994)
2020-05-01
Birthday of FM Richard York-Weaving (01-v-1994)
Richard weaving at the 2012 UKCC Terafinal, Loughborough Grammar School
Save as PDF

Death Anniversary of Isidor Gunsberg (01-xi-1854 02-v-1930)
2020-05-02
Death Anniversary of Isidor Gunsberg (01-xi-1854 02-v-1930)
Save as PDF

Death Anniversary of David Hooper (31-xiii-1915 03-v-1998)
2020-05-03
BCN remembers David Hooper who passed away in a Taunton (Somerset) nursing home on Sunday, May 3rd 1998. Probate (#9851310520) was granted in Brighton on June 24th 1998.
Prior to the nursing home David had been living at 33, Mansfield Road, Taunton, TA1 3NJ and before that at 5, Haimes Lane, Shaftesbury, Dorset, SP7 8AJ.
For most of the time between Reigate and Shaftesbury David lived in Whitchurch, Hampshire.
David Vincent Hooper was born on Tuesday, August 31st 1915 in Reigate, Surrey to Vincent Hooper and Edith Marjorie Winter who married in Reigate, Surrey in 1909. On this day the first French ace, Adolphe Pégoud, was killed in combat. He had scored six victories.
David was one of six children: Roger Garth (1910-?), Edwin Morris (1911-1942), Isobel Mary (12/01/1917-2009), Helene Edith (1916-1982) and Elizabeth Anne Oliver (1923-2000) were his siblings.
Recorded in the September 1939 register David was aged 24 and living at 94, High Street, Reigate, Surrey:
Historical Map showing 94, High Street, Reigate, Surrey
In 2021 this property appears to be a flat (rather than bridge) over the River Kwai Restaurant:
94, High Street, Reigate, Surrey, RH2 9AP
Living with David was his sister Isobel who was listed a “potential nurse”. David’s occupation at this time was listed as Architectural Assistant and he was single. We think that three others lived at this address at the time but they are not listed under the “100 year rule”. We know that David was also a surveyor and went on to attain professional membership of the Royal Institution of British Architects (RIBA).
In the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette May 27th 1944 there appeared this report of a simultaneous display on Empire Day (May 24th) at Dr. Marsh’s house:
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, May 27th 1944
and from The Western Morning News, 9th April 1947 we have:
Western Morning News, 9th April 1947
and then from The Nottingham Evening Post, 16th August 1949 we have:
Nottingham Evening Post, 16th August 1949
In 1950 aged 35 David married Joan M Higley (or Rose!) in the district of South Eastern Surrey.
David 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.
Ken Whyld wrote an obituary which appeared in British Chess Magazine, Volume 118 (1998), Number 6, page 326 as follows :
DAVID VINCENT HOOPER died on 3rd May this year in a nursing home in Taunton. He had been in declining health for some months. Born in Reigate, 31st August 1915, his early chess years were with the Battersea CC and Surrey.
David Hooper (left) in conversation with Alan Phillips. Location and photographer unknown.
He won the (ed. Somerset) County Championship three times, and the London Championship in 1948. His generation was at its chess peak in the years when war curtailed opportunities, but he won the British Correspondence Championship in 1944.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

His games from that event are to be found in Chess for Rank and File by Roche and Battersby.
Chess for the Rank and File
Also at that time, he won the 1944 tournament at Blackpool, defeating veteran Grandmaster Jacques Mieses.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

David was most active in the decade that followed, playing five times in the British Championship.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

His highest place there was at Nottingham 1954, when, after leading in the early stages, he finished half a point behind the joint champions, Leonard Barden and Alan Phillips.
David was in the British Olympic team at Helsinki 1952, and in the same year accidentally played top board for England in one of the then traditional weekend matches against the Netherlands. British Champion Klein took offence at a Sunday Times report of his draw with former World Champion Dr. Euwe on the Saturday and refused to play on Sunday. Thus David was drafted in to meet Euwe, and acquitted himself admirably. Even though he lost, the game took pride of place in that month’s
BCM.
Alan Phillips plays David Hooper on August 20th 1954 in round five of the British Championships in Nottingham, photographer unknown

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

In the following game, played in the Hastings Premier l95l-2, he found an improvement on Botvinnik’s play against Bronstein in game 17 of their 1951 match, when 7.Ng3 was played because it was thought that after 7.Nf4 d5 it was necessary to play 8 Qb3.

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

In his profession as architect David worked in the Middle East for some years from the mid-1950s, and when he returned to England he made his mark as a writer. His Practical Chess Endgames
Practical Chess Endgames (Chess Handbooks), David Hooper, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1968, ISBN 0 7100 5226 X
has an enduring appeal. Two of his books appeared in the Wildhagen biographical games series on Steinitz, and Capablanca. The last was written jointly with Gilchrist.
William Steinitz : Selected Chess Games, David Hooper
With Euwe he wrote A Guide to Chess Endings;
A Guide to Chess Endings, Dover (1976 reprint), ISBN 0-486-23332-4
with Cafferty, A Complete Defence to 1.e4;
A Complete Defence to 1.P-K4 A Study of Petroff’s Defence, Bernard Cafferty & David Hooper, Pergamon Press, 1967, ISBN 0 08 024089 5
A Pocket Guide to Chess Endgames;
A Pocket Guide to Chess Endgames, David Hooper, Bell & Hyman Limited, London, 1970, ISBN 0 7135 1761 1
A Complete Defence to 1.d4;
A Complete Defence to 1d4: A Study of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, Bernard Cafferty & David Hooper, Pergamon Press, ISBN 0-08-024102-6
and Play for Mate;
Play for Mate (1990), DV Hooper and Bernard Cafferty, ISBN-13: 978-0713464740
with Brandreth The Unknown Capablanca,
The Unknown Capablanca, David Hooper & Dale Brandreth, Batsford, London, 1975, ISBN, 0 7134 2964
and with Ken Whyld, The Oxford Companion to Chess.
The Oxford Companion to Chess, 1st Edition, David Hooper & Ken Whyld, Oxford University Press, 1984, ISBN 0 19 217540 8
Ken Whyld
From The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Harry Golombek :
British amateur (an architect by profession) whose best result was =5 in the British Championship at Felixstowe 1949 along with, amongst others, Broadbent and Fairhurst.
Hooper abandoned playing for writing about chess and has become a specialist in two distinct areas. He is an expert on the endings and has a close knowledge of the history of chess in the nineteenth century.
His principal works : Steinitz (in German), Hamburg, 1968; A Pocket Guide to Chess Endgames, London 1970.
Here is an interesting article from Edward Winter
Here is his brief Wikipedia entry.
Save as PDF
