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DTSTART:20190101T000000
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210212
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210213
DTSTAMP:20220212T164430Z
CREATED:20200408T124513Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220212T164430Z
UID:4179-1613088000-1613174399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Mark Condie (12-ii-1965)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Mark Lockwood Condie (12-ii-1965)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-mark-l-condie-12-ii-1965/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/IMG_1081-scaled.jpg
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210212
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210213
DTSTAMP:20260817T135454Z
CREATED:20201216T164542Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T135454Z
UID:12500-1613088000-1613174399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Robert Combe (16-viii-1912 12-ii-1952)
DESCRIPTION:Robert Forbes Combe (16 August 1912 – 12 February 1952) \nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Forbes_Combe
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/remembering-robert-combe-16-viii-1912-12-ii-1952/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200113
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200114
DTSTAMP:20230213T142309Z
CREATED:20200417T141944Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230213T142309Z
UID:4742-1578873600-1578959999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Geoffrey Diggle (06-xii-1902 13-ii-1993)
DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Geoffrey Harber Diggle (06-xii-1902 13-ii-1993) \nHere is his Wikipedia entry
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-geoffrey-harber-diggle-06-xii-1902-13-ii-1993/
CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Journalist,Player,Remembering,Writer
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210214
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210215
DTSTAMP:20210130T185850Z
CREATED:20200410T112203Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210130T185850Z
UID:4329-1613260800-1613347199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Brian Johnson (14-ii-1951)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Brian R Johnson (14-ii-1951)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-brian-r-johnson-14-ii-1951/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210214
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210215
DTSTAMP:20220214T190050Z
CREATED:20200410T131908Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220214T190050Z
UID:4346-1613260800-1613347199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of IM Čeněk Kottnauer (24-ii-1910 14-ii-1996)
DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers IM Čeněk Kottnauer (24-ii-1910 14-ii-1996) \nČeněk Kottnauer was born in Prague on Thursday\, February 24th\, 1910. Čeněk was employed in the Ministry of Education in Prague. \nWhilst playing in the Lucerne International tournament (28-xii-1952 03-i-1953) he sought political asylum : \nFrom the Milwaukee Journal\, January 3\, 1953 we have \n“Czech Chess Star Asks for Asylum \nLucerne\, Switzerland – Cenek Kottnauer\, 42\, Czecho-Slovakian chess champion and an employee of the ministry of education in Prague\, announced Saturday that he would not return to Czech-Slovakia and would request political asylum in Switzerland. Kottnauer had been participating in a chess tournament. \nHe said that the political situation in his country had grown “more and more critical” and he wanted “to leave before it is too late”. He said that he had been divorced recently and had no children in Czech-Slovakia”. \nIn a January 2009 post to the English Chess Forum Leonard Barden wrote : \n“Cenek Kottnauer defected from Czechoslovakia during the Lucerne New Year tournament of 1952-3 (I am precise on this because I was present). His wife Daniela joined him there\, having been smuggled from Prague in the boot of a diplomat’s car. Kottnauer had been a water polo player of international standard before 1939 so came into serious chess only his mid-30s. He made his name with his good showing in the Prague v Moscow match of 1946 and his Bxh7+ win then against Kotov. He competed in great tournaments like Groningen 1946 and Moscow 1947; his first visit to England was in 1947 when the Czech team came here. \nČeněk Kottnauer plays Friedrich Sämisch during the Duras Memorial in Prague. December 7th 1942\, The game was a Slav drawn after 42 moves\nIn the 1940s he had a job in the Czech sports ministry but got implicated in the purges following the Slansky trial. He also believed that Pachman and Opocensky were involved in the campaign against him.” \nČeněk married Daniela (née Horska\, also Czech\, having met in Austria) and they had a son Daniel VR Kottnauer. Daniela was born in 1934 and was 24 years younger than Čeněk. She died on February 20th 2008 in a hospice in Essen\, Germany close to where Daniel currently resides.  Daniel has been a pianist and singer for 30 years\, an event manager for 19 years and a coach and VIP limousine driver for 5 years and may be found on LinkedIn. \nČeněk  became a British citizen on 16th December 1960 when he obtained naturalisation certificate BNA64338. \nIn 1965 Čeněk and Daniela were living at Flat 2\, 7-8 Bathurst Street\, London\, W2. \n7-8\, Bathurst Street\, London\, W2\nIn Kings\, Commoners and Knaves (Russell Enterprises\, 1999)\, page 108\, Edward Winter wrote : \n“The obituaries of Čeněk Kottnauer (1910-1996) have\, in common with all of the encyclopaedia entries on him\, been strangely wanting in pre-1940s references to his chess career. Czech magazines of the 1930s contain occasional games by ‘Kottnauer’ (no forename or initial given)\, including the following : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Prague clock simul”]\n[Site “Prague”]\n[Date “1932.02.09”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Kottnauer\, Cenek”]\n[Black “Bogoljubov\, Efim”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D47”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “63”]\n[EventDate “1932.??.??”]\n[SourceTitle “chessgames.com”] \n{[%evp 0\,63\,19\,31\,19\,-16\,24\,16\,27\,44\,43\,47\,54\,39\,55\,63\,33\,16\,2\,-2\,4\,-18\,-15\,\n-35\,-43\,-46\,-45\,-45\,-18\,-23\,-23\,-33\,-43\,-49\,-29\,-29\,-34\,-88\,-86\,-86\,-65\,-107\,\n-71\,-77\,-56\,-131\,-77\,-183\,-156\,-174\,-199\,-189\,-96\,-144\,-117\,-117\,29\,36\,71\,88\,\n138\,132\,409\,422\,436\,443]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nc3 Nbd7 6.\nBd3 dxc4 {The Meran Defence} 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bb3 b4 $1 {Wells} 9. Ne2 Be7 {\nhas come back into fashion in 2020.} (9… Bb7 {is more common} 10. O-O Bd6 11.\nNf4 O-O 12. Ng5 Bxf4 13. exf4 c5 14. Be3) 10. O-O O-O (10… Bb7 {transposing})\n11. Ng3 (11. Nf4) 11… c5 {Black has equalised.} 12. e4 Bb7 13. Re1 $146 (13.\ne5) 13… cxd4 14. Nxd4 Nc5 $17 15. Bc2 Rc8 16. Bf4 Qb6 17. e5 Nd5 18. Qh5 $6 (\n18. Qg4) 18… g6 19. Qh6 Nxf4 20. Qxf4 Rfd8 21. Rad1 {[#]} Rd5 (21… Nd3 $1\n$19) 22. Nh5 Nd7 23. Ng3 Rc4 24. Nge2 Rxe5 25. Bb3 Re4 26. Bxc4 Rxf4 27. Nxf4\nBc5 $2 {[#]} (27… Nc5) 28. Nfxe6 $1 Ba6 (28… fxe6 29. Rxe6 {is crushing})\n29. Bb3 Bxd4 $6 30. Rxd4 $1 Nf8 $4 31. Rd8 $1 fxe6 32. Rxe6 {and Bogoljubow\nresigned.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nSource : Československý šach\, January\, 1932\, page 9. The score was also given\, with notes\, by Vera Menchik\, on page 153 of the April 1932 issue of The Social Chess Quarterly. ” \nFrom Šachový Týdeník\, 25th February\, 2010 that Čeněk was twice Prague lightning champion. \nIn 1943 Čeněk was a clear first overall with 10.5/13 in the Zlin tournament. \nCrosstable for the Zlin (Czechoslovakia) 1943 tournament\nČeněk Kottnauer plays Svetozar Gligorić during the Chigorin Memorial\, Moscow\, November 26th 1947.\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP\, 1984)\, David Hooper & Ken Whyld : \nInternational Master (1950)\, International Arbiter (1951)\, a Czech player who emigrated to England in 1953 and was naturalised in 1960. He played in Olympiads for Czechoslovakia (1950*\, 1952)\, on the second occasion making the best score (+10=5) on the fourth board\, and in two Olympiads for England (1964\, 1968). In 1961 he won the Beverwijk Masters tournament (not the concurrent grandmasters event) with a clean score\, a fine achievement. \n*Ed : In fact\, this is not true since Czechoslovakia did not send a team to Dubrovnik 1950.  This was the last year the event was limited to sixteen countries. \nCrosstable for Beverwijk 1961\nConsulting the 2nd edition (1992) of Hooper & Whyld may cause disappointment since there is no entry for CK. \nČeněk Kottnauer from Šachový Týdeník\, 25th February\, 2010\nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Robert Hale 1970 & 1976)\, Anne Sunnucks : \n“International Master (1950) and International Judge (1951). \nBorn on 24th February 1910. Kottnauer represented Czechoslovakia in the 1952 Olympiad in Helsinki. In the years after the war his successes in international tournaments included 3rd at Beverwijk 1947\, =2nd at Vienna 1947\, 4th at Bad Gadstein 1948 and 1st at Lucerne 1953. \nCrosstable for Lucerne 1952/1953\nAfter the Lucerne tournament he sought political asylum in Switzerland. He later settled in England and became a naturalised British citizen. He played for the British Chess Federation in the Olympiads of 1964 and 1968. \nKottnauer has played in the British Championship twice. In 1961 he came =4th\, and in 1962 he came =3rd.” \nIM Čeněk Kottnauer\nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977)\, Harry Golombek OBE (entry written by Bill Hartston): \n“Born in Czechoslovakia\, Kottnauer played for that country in many events including the 1952 Olympiad. He emigrated in 1953 and subsequently took British nationality\, representing England in the Olympiads of 1964 and 1968. Awarded FIDE titles of international master in 1950 and International Judge in 1951. Winner of Lucerne 1953 International tournament. \nČeněk Kottnauer plays Frans Kuijpers during the 1964 Anglo-Dutch match at Vlissingen on September 19th\nCo-author with TD Harding and GS Botterill of The Sicilian Sozin\, Batsford\, London\, 1974.” \nThe Sicilian Sozin\, TD Harding\, GS Botterill\, C. Kottnauer\, Batsford\, 1974\nFrom British Chess (Pergamon Press\, 1983) we have this insight from Tim Harding : \n“At a time when home-grown International Masters were thin on the ground in Britain (the 1950s and 1960s) this Czech-born IM brought a lot of valuable experience to BCF teams. \nAmsterdam 1950\, first day; Gideon Stahlberg versus Cenek Kottnauer Date: November 11\, 1950\nAfter emigrating to England in 1953\, he became naturalized and subsequently represented the BCF in the Tel Aviv\, 1964 and Lugano\, 1968\, Olympiads. On board one in 1964 he scored +8 =7 -3 (63.9%) on board two below Penrose in 1968 (with some board one games) he scored 41.7: +3 =5 -4. \nČeněk Kottnauer\nWhen FIDE rating lists appeared in the early 1970s\, Kottnauer was listed at 2370 but by this time had more or less retired from active play at the top level\, although he took (and still takes) a keen interest in coaching promising young players\, He was one of the most regular and most valuable coaches at the one-day junior training events organised by the London Chess Association at the Mary Ward Centre in Bloomsbury\, London in the mid-1970s. \nIM Čeněk Kottnauer\, event unknown\nAt this time he also wrote many articles for his friend Grandmaster Pachman\, who had been freed to live in West Germany where he became editor of Schach-Archiv\, and also made a major contribution to the Batsford opening theory work. The Sicilian Sozin\, written in collaboration with George Botterill and Tim Harding\, and published in 1974. \nLubomir Kavalek & Čeněk Kottnauer from Šachový Týdeník\, 25th February\, 2010\nKottnauer’s most active years as a player were however 1946-53; in the year that he came to England he took first prize in the Lucerne\, 1953 International tournament. Had he been a professional player throughout the the 1950s\, there is little doubt that he would have become a grandmaster. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Match/City Prague-Moscow 13\,0-23\,0”]\n[Site “Moscow”]\n[Date “1946.03.??”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Kottnauer\, Cenek”]\n[Black “Smyslov\, Vassily V”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D18”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “111”]\n[EventDate “1946.03.02”]\n[EventType “team-match”]\n[EventRounds “6”]\n[EventCountry “URS”]\n[SourceTitle “MCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,111\,80\,5\,26\,-10\,34\,32\,31\,31\,44\,-4\,0\,7\,21\,21\,2\,11\,20\,0\,7\,2\,-15\,-22\,-22\,\n-34\,-4\,-8\,-11\,-18\,-19\,-8\,-3\,-2\,17\,5\,0\,17\,57\,11\,69\,10\,17\,5\,16\,0\,14\,7\,30\,35\,106\,\n110\,60\,47\,166\,151\,148\,159\,172\,184\,192\,171\,180\,166\,182\,145\,160\,161\,160\,162\,170\,\n161\,183\,139\,195\,172\,185\,158\,149\,113\,201\,132\,214\,170\,273\,187\,199\,154\,223\,245\,\n260\,250\,267\,267\,260\,265\,265\,240\,247\,250\,245\,260\,264\,220\,265\,265\,271\,202\,209\,\n217\,338\,378\,385\,401]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3\ne6 7. Bxc4 Nbd7 (7… Bb4 8. O-O Nbd7 9. Qe2) 8. O-O Bb4 9. Qe2 {transposes}\nBg6 10. e4 Bxc3 (10… O-O) 11. bxc3 Nxe4 12. Ba3 {The point of sacrificing\nthe e-pawn.} Qc7 13. Rfc1 O-O-O 14. a5 Nd6 (14… Rhe8 15. a6 b6 16. Nh4 Nd6\n17. Bb3 e5 18. Nxg6 hxg6 19. Qg4) 15. a6 b6 16. Bb3 Bh5 $146 (16… Nf5) 17. h3\nKb8 18. c4 Nc8 (18… Bxf3 19. Qxf3 Nf5) 19. Qe3 Rhe8 20. Bb2 $11 (20. c5 $16)\n20… h6 21. Ba4 Ne7 22. Ra3 g5 23. Rb3 Ka8 24. Ba3 Nb8 25. g4 Bg6 26. Ne5 $16\n{[#]} f6 $2 (26… Ng8 27. Bb2) 27. Bxe7 fxe5 28. Bxd8 Rxd8 29. Qxe5 Qxe5 30.\ndxe5 $18 Be8 31. Rf3 Nxa6 32. Rf8 Kb7 33. Rh8 Nc5 34. Bc2 Kc7 35. Rxh6 Rd4 36.\nRh7+ Bd7 37. Bg6 a5 38. Be8 a4 39. Bxd7 Nxd7 40. Re7 Kb7 41. Rxe6 Nc5 42. Re7+\nKa6 43. Re8 Kb7 44. e6 Re4 45. e7 Na6 46. Rg8 Rxe7 47. Rxg5 Nc5 48. Rxc5 bxc5\n49. Ra1 Kc7 50. Rxa4 Kd6 $2 (50… Re4) 51. Ra3 Re1+ 52. Kg2 Rc1 53. Re3 Rxc4\n54. g5 Rb4 55. g6 c4 56. h4 {and Black resigned.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nAs early as the end of the war\, when regular play resumed\, he was almost of that strength (as wins against Kotov and Smyslov in the February\, 1946 Prague v Moscow match showed) but lacking in experience at the top level\, which told against him at Groningen\, 1946\, when he was placed 13th with 9 points out of a possible 19 in a very strong field.  This was the first great post-war tournament\, with nine Master and eleven Grandmasters (including Botvinnik and former world champion Euwe). \nPlayers at the 1946 Groningen Tournament\nAlso in 1946 Kottnauer scored wins against Simagin (in Prague) and Levenfish (in Leningrad) and was clearly one of the up-and-coming stars in a strong Czech team that included Filip and Pachman.  In 1950 he was one of the first players to be awarded the FIDE title of International Master. \nThe following year he was also made a FIDE International Judge (now known as FIDE Arbiter). \nUnfortunately there was no Czech representation at the Dubrovnik\, 1950 Olympiad\, but in 1952\, one of his last appearances for Czechoslovakia\, Kottnauer achieved a remarkable record playing board four (below Filip\, Pachman and Sajtar) at the Helsinki Olympiad. He went through unbeaten with ten wins and five draws (83.3%) and easily won the board prize. \nKottnauer shortly thereafter came to England where he eventually made a successful career as an executive with Trust House Forte’s hotel group; he has also helped with the BBC overseas service Czech-language broadcasts. He lives in West Central London with his wife and their son. \nThe following is undoubtedly Kottnauer’s most famous win. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Match/City Prague-Moscow 13\,0-23\,0”]\n[Site “Moscow”]\n[Date “1946.03.??”]\n[Round “4”]\n[White “Kottnauer\, Cenek”]\n[Black “Kotov\, Alexander”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D49”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News and Tim Harding”]\n[PlyCount “55”]\n[EventDate “1946.03.02”]\n[EventType “team-match”]\n[EventRounds “6”]\n[EventCountry “URS”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM\, 1949. 193\, game #96”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Prague”]\n[BlackTeam “Moscow”] \n{[%evp 0\,55\,19\,-12\,7\,-14\,-4\,-6\,41\,25\,43\,54\,55\,54\,37\,42\,20\,26\,24\,-1\,1\,-36\,-25\,\n-38\,-20\,-4\,0\,6\,12\,-6\,17\,-5\,-35\,-39\,0\,-47\,-47\,-149\,-60\,-60\,-60\,-43\,-27\,-28\,230\,\n-144\,216\,300\,740\,360\,1161\,1448\,1448\,1517\,1517\,1583\,1664\,1664]} {Source : BCM\,\n1946\, page 193\, game #9649.} 1. c4 ({Megabase 2020 has this as the move order\n(which is incorrect).} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3\ndxc4) 1… e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 c6 {The so-called Triangle Variation and a\npotential prelude to the Abrahams-Noteboom Variation.} 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. e3 Nbd7 6.\nBd3 dxc4 {The Meran Defence} 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 a6 9. e4 c5 10. e5 ({TDH :\nNowadays (1983)} 10. d5 {is usually preferred but that move was little\nanalysed at the time. The text leads to a very sharp middle-game in which both\nplayers followed up-to-date theory\, which was changed by this game!}) 10…\ncxd4 {[#]} 11. Nxb5 $1 axb5 ({TDH : Sozin’s} 11… Nxe5 {is now that approved\nrecipe for Black. BCM : The latest move is from Euwe v. Walthuis\, Amsterdam.}\n12. Nxe5 axb5 13. Bxb5+ Bd7 14. Nxd7 Qa5+ 15. Bd2 Qxb5 16. Nxf8 Kxf8 17. a4\nQxb2 18. O-O Ne4) 12. exf6 Qb6 13. fxg7 Bxg7 14. O-O O-O 15. Qe2 (15. Re1 Bb7\n16. Bf4 Bd5 17. Ne5 Nxe5 18. Bxe5 Bxe5 19. Bxh7+ Kxh7 20. Qh5+ Kg7 21. Qg5+ {\nis a well-known GM agreed draw variation}) 15… Nc5 $6 {[#] TDH : Probably\nlosing with best play.. White’s next may have surprised Kotov\, or perhaps he\nthought it was unsound.; Kottnauer says he played the sacrifice ‘without much\nthinking’. Stockfish 12 gives this as the top move allowing the Greek gift.} (\n15… Ba6 {is SF12’s next top move.}) ({TDH : A few months later\, Kotov\nreached the same position against Kottnauer at Groningen\, varied with the\nbetter move} 15… Bb7 {but went wrong later.} 16. Bxh7+ $2 Kxh7 17. Ng5+ Kg8\n18. Qh5 Nf6 $19) 16. Bxh7+ $1 {At this stage SF12 sees no more than a draw for\nWhite but cannot find anything better.} Kxh7 17. Ng5+ Kg6 ({TDH : A game by\nSatjar in 1944 had gone instead} 17… Kg8 $2 18. Qh5 Rd8 19. Qxf7+ Kh8 20.\nQh5+ {with a draw} ({In fact} 20. Qg6 Kg8 21. Bf4 $1 $18 {is crushing}) ({\nbut Kottnauer intended to improve on this by} 20. Bf4 $1 {‘with an\nirresistible attack’.})) 18. Qg4 f5 19. Qg3 {Now it is time to “pause the\nvideo” as [#] we reach a critical position.} Kf6 {SF12 rates this as second\nbest.} ({SF12 gives} 19… Rg8 $1 {as the best defence for Black.} 20. Nxe6+\nKf7 21. Ng5+ Kf8 22. Nh7+ Ke8 23. Re1+ Be6 24. Bh6 Qb7 $11) ({After the game}\n19… Rf7 {was recommended for Black\, and tried the following year by Pachman\nagainst Kottnauer in the Chigorin Memorial in Moscow.} 20. Bf4 {was played \,\nleading to equality\,} ({but Vukovic’s} 20. b4 {seems stronger.})) {Kottnauer\nopted for ‘power play’ using the maximum activity of his pieces!} 20. Bf4 $1 ({\nIn the present game\, both players had moved very quickly but now Kottnauer\nthought for three quarters of an hour\, rejecting the theoretical recommendation\n} 20. Qh4 {(which at best draws\,} {and would have been met by Keres’s idea} e5\n$1 {which Kotov knew about).}) 20… Ke7 21. Rac1 Ra7 22. Rfe1 Bd7 (22… Bf6 {\nloses to} 23. Nh7 Rf7 ({or} 23… Ne4 24. Rxe4) 24. Nxf6 Rxf6 25. b4 {but\nafter Kotov’s move ‘I saw in a flash the final breakthrough’\, wrote Kottnauer.}\n) 23. b4 $1 Na6 $2 ({Against} 23… Na4 {Kottnauer would have had to win in\nthe endgame\, although this would not have been difficult.} 24. Nxe6 Bxe6 25.\nQxg7+ Rf7 26. Bg5+ Kd7 27. Qh8 {Black could then play here} Nc3 {when\nKottnauer gives as best} 28. Rxe6 Qxe6 29. Qxd4+ Kc8 30. Rxc3+ Rac7 31. Rxc7+\nRxc7 32. h4 {winning the ending.}) 24. Nxe6 Bxe6 25. Qxg7+ Rf7 26. Bg5+ Kd7 27.\nQh8 $1 {Now you can see why 23…Na4 was superior -} Qb8 ({Black cannot block\nthe c-file with} 27… Rc7 {because of} 28. Qd8#) (27… Nc7 28. Qd8#) 28.\nQxd4+ {Black resigned.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nand here we have the same game analysed by Tryfon Gavriel : \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtPpdjZQWpg[/embedyt] \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXVI (116\, 1996)\, Number 4 (April)\, pp 202-203 we have this obituary by Bernard Cafferty : \nČeněk Kottnauer\, the Czech/British IM\, and the first chess defector died in St. Margaret’s Hospital\, London\, on 14th February after heart trouble and abdominal cancer. \nA giant of a man\, a fine athlete and swimmer\, he was born on 24th February 1910 and came to prominence in the 1942 tournament in Prague in which Alekhine took part. He extended the great man to 70 moves before resigning. His wins against Kotov and Smyslov in the Moscow-Prague match of 1946 and his 13th place in the great Groningen tournament of the same year confirmed his status\, as did his excellent showing for Czechoslovakia in the 1952 Olympiad at Helsinki (+10=5-0 on fourth board). He also took part in the 1947 Chigorin Memorial in Moscow\, and won a tournament at Lucerne in early 1953\, the same year in which he emigrated to Britain. \nHoogovens\, Beverwijk\, 1962. In the opening round (played 11th January)\, Theo van Scheltinga (Netherlands) faces Čeněk Kottnauer (England\, formerly ČSSR). (Photo credit: W. van Rossem\, ANEFO\, via http://gahetna.nl. Courtesy of Douglas Griffin\nOn this form he would have gained the GM title had he continued playing\, but he had to take a full-time job (with Trusthouse Forte) to support his family. \nČeněk had met his much younger wife in Austria\, though she too was Czech. They had a son. The master’s appearences were therefore limited to London League matches and other sporadic events. That he had lost none of his skill was shown when he played top board for England at the 1964 Tel-Aviv Olympiad (Penrose was not available) and made +8=7-3. His only other big event was the Lugano Olympiad of 1968 when he was on second board and made +3=5-4. \nThe 1964 England Olympiad (Tel Aviv) Team : Owen Hindle\, Čeněk Kottnauer\, Peter Clarke\, Michael Franklin\, Norman Littlewood & Michael Haygarth\nČeněk (pronounced CHEnek) Kottnauer was one of the early professionals in the German Bundesliga; on a visit to his Bayswater flat in 1995 by Murray Chandler and myself\, Čeněk told us about the great transport difficulties he had in those days. He mentioned that he had recently had a heart bypass operation and showed us the medication he had to take on a regular basis\, opining that after Golombek and Milner-Barry he would be the next to go. \nHugh Alexander\, Čeněk Kottnauer\, Michael Franklin and Owen Hindle\nČeněk was involved in junior coaching in London for many years\, wrote extensively for the Dutch and German press and in recent years was a regular visitor to the Lloyds Bank Masters to see old friends and acquaintances. Amongst those he coached were Julian Hodgson\, William Watson and Dharshan Kumaran\, as well as Stuart Conquest. \nIM Čeněk Kottnauer in Argentina during the 1981 World Under-16 Championship\nIn Stuart’s case he came regularly to Hastings to do the coaching which was financed by the Slater Foundation and by Lloyds Bank. \nThe fruit of his effort was Stuart’s 1981 World U-16 title in Argentina\, where Čeněk’s great physical strength came in handy when the huge trophy had to be carried back to Britain. \nIM Čeněk Kottnauer with Stuart Conquest during the World Under-16 Championship in Argentina.\nAll his pupils and friends will attest to his wonderful manner. A great personality has left us.” \nAccording to Leonard Barden “Čeněk’s students included Demis Hassabis\, then aged six.   He once told me that Dharshan Kumaran\, then seven\, was the more talented of the pair  but that Demis was also ‘very clever and tricky’ ” \nDaniel tells us that Nigel Short visited his family home for coaching and we believe that both Anita and Mira Rakshit were CKs students. Doubtless there were many more… \n[pgn]\n[Event “Olympiad-10 Final A”]\n[Site “Helsinki”]\n[Date “1952.08.30”]\n[Round “9”]\n[White “Rellstab\, Ludwig Sr”]\n[Black “Kottnauer\, Cenek”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B50”]\n[Annotator “Tim Harding and British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “78”]\n[EventDate “1952.08.21”]\n[EventType “team-tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “FIN”]\n[SourceTitle “MCD”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Germany”]\n[BlackTeam “Czechoslovakia”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “GER”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “CSR”] \n{[%evp 0\,78\,19\,28\,40\,40\,81\,18\,33\,-24\,16\,-13\,2\,-20\,-43\,-39\,-34\,-42\,-42\,-84\,-66\,\n-47\,-42\,-64\,-51\,-46\,-33\,-50\,-45\,-46\,-30\,-34\,-69\,-70\,-68\,-68\,-44\,-89\,-70\,-91\,\n-68\,-105\,-144\,-146\,-155\,-182\,-182\,-175\,-175\,-185\,-177\,-262\,-282\,-298\,-314\,-308\,\n-227\,-236\,-254\,-267\,-267\,-337\,-350\,-361\,-277\,-280\,-364\,-338\,-326\,-373\,-328\,\n-415\,-425\,-403\,-416\,-486\,-479\,-515\,-495\,-796\,-819]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3\nNf6 4. Bd3 Bg4 5. Bc2 {TDH : Incorrect. BCN : In 2021 Bc2 is the most popular\nmove in Megabase 2020 but h3 scores slightly better among the top players.} ({\nTDH : Pfeiffer-Kottnauer\, earlier in the same event\, went} 5. h3 Bh5 6. Bc2 {\nwhen} d5 {would be met by} 7. e5 Nfd7 8. g4 Bg6 9. Bxg6 hxg6 10. e6 $1 fxe6 11.\nNg5 {with a promising attack\, according to Kottnauer.}) 5… d5 $146 {was a\nnovelty in 1952 but has not really caught on since.} ({BCN : More usual is}\n5… Nc6 6. d3 e6 7. Nbd2 {This position resembles a reversed Hanham Variation\nwith the bishop on c2 instead of e2.} Be7 8. h3 Bh5 9. Nf1 d5 10. Ng3 Bg6 11.\nQe2 Qc7 12. O-O Bd6) 6. e5 (6. d3) 6… Nfd7 7. d4 e6 8. Be3 Qb6 $15 {[#] TDH :\nThe position is similar to the 3.e5 variation of the French\, except that\nBlack’s main worry in that line (his queen’s bishop) is here developed\nsatisfactorily.} 9. b3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Bb4+ 11. Kf1 ({TDH : Not} 11. Nbd2 Bc3 12.\nRc1 Bxf3 {when Black wins a pawn.}) 11… Nc6 $17 12. a3 Be7 13. Nc3 $6 (13.\nNbd2) 13… Rc8 14. Na4 $6 (14. Ne2) 14… Qc7 15. Bd3 f6 16. exf6 Bxf6 17. Rc1\nQd6 18. b4 O-O 19. Be2 a5 20. b5 $2 (20. Nc5) 20… Ne7 21. Nc5 {[#]} Nf5 22.\nNxd7 ({TDH : If} 22. Nxb7 Qxa3 {threatening Nxe3+}) 22… Qxd7 23. Rxc8 Rxc8\n24. a4 Qd6 25. Ng1 Qa3 26. Bd2 {TDH : Black was threatening 26…Nxe3+ 27 fxe3\nRc1} Bxe2+ 27. Nxe2 Nxd4 28. Bxa5 Nb3 29. Be1 Qxa4 {TDH: The rest is just\nmopping-up :} 30. g4 Qxb5 31. Kg2 Rc4 32. h3 d4 33. Ng3 Qd5+ 34. Qf3 d3 35. Nf1\nBg5 36. Qxd5 exd5 37. f4 Bxf4 38. Bg3 d2 39. Nh2 Bxg3 0-1\n[/pgn] \nLeonard added : \n“After he retired he did chess coaching and\, although never named in the BCF’s list of coaches\, was the most successful of all in terms of achievements by those he taught. He normally did weekly sessions of a couple of hours and got results through his challenging and sceptical approach to ideas from his pupils. \nKottnauer pupils included Hodgson\, Watson\, and Kumaran\, who all became grandmasters. When he came to our junior invitation tournaments in the mid-seventies I used to give a prize of a game and session with him to exceptional talents. So he played Nigel Short in spring 1975 (probably Short’s first one-to-one with an IM) and was enthusiastic about his promise. \nIn 1981 when Stuart Conquest was going to the the world U16 championship in Argentina Cenek coached him for several months beforehand and went with him to the event. No news reports were available during the tournament so the first I knew was when Cenek phoned me on his return to London and complained that he was tired having to carry this enormous trophy home (Stuart had broken his arm before the event and played in a sling) and how the food had been terrible but that Eliskases\, who was involved in the organisation\, had sworn him to secrecy. \nIM Čeněk Kottnauer in Argentina during the 1981 World Under-16 Championship\nI used to visit him a couple of times a month for talk and blitz sessions and have warm memories. A great guy\, and a significant figure in the long departed English chess boom.” \nHere is an excellent article from Tim Harding originally  on chesscafe.com but now via the Wayback Machine. \nHere is an obituary from Bill Hartston \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nAnd finally\, according to chessgames.com : \n“Cenek Kottnauer was born in Prague. He was awarded the IM title in 1950 and became an International Arbiter in 1951. Kottnauer played the Helsinki Olympiad 1952 on board 4 for Czechoslovakia\, scoring +10 =5 -0. In 1953 he won the Lucerne international tournament. That same year\, he emigrated to England\, and eventually became a naturalized citizen and played for England in the Olympiads of 1964 and 1968. In the 1970s he became one of England’s top coaches of young players.”
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-im-cenek-kottnauer-24-ii-1910-14-ii-1996/
CATEGORIES:Arbiter,Coach,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210215
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210216
DTSTAMP:20260817T135447Z
CREATED:20190822T151519Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T135447Z
UID:973-1613347200-1613433599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of IM Hugh Alexander CMG CBE (15-ii-1974)
DESCRIPTION:We remember Hugh Alexander who passed away on Friday\, 15-ii-1974. The death was registered in the Borough of Cheltenham.  Currently his burial / cremation site is unknown. \nConel Hugh O’Donel Alexander was born on Monday\, April 19th\, 1909 in Cork\, Munster\, Republic of Ireland. \nSignature of CHO’D Alexander from August 1970\nHugh’s parents were Conel William Long Alexander (1879-1920) and Hilda Barbara Alexander (née Bennett) (1881-1964) who married in Hook Church\, Hampshire. His father was a Professor of Civil Engineering from County Donegal and his mother was the daughter of a timber merchant and was from Birmingham. \nHugh’s father moved to Hook in Hampshire. At some point they returned to Cork and then relocated to Birmingham. \nIn the 1911 Irish census aged two Hugh was recorded as being a Presbyterian.  The household consisted of his father\, mother and two servants Maud McAuliffe (19)  from County Cork and Johanna Hanlon (20) from Cork City all living at 20\, Connaught Avenue\, Cork. \nAt the time of the census all members of the household were capable of reading and writing apart from Hugh who was recorded as “cannot read”. \nand Hugh’s father signed the Return as follows : \nSignature of Hugh’s father on 1911 Irish census Return\n20 Connaught Avenue\, Cork\, Ireland\nHugh attended Londonderry College and then went to King Edward’s School\, Birmingham. \nHugh married Enid Constance Rose Crichton Neate (1900-1982) in October 1934 and the marriage was registered in the district of Westminster\, Middlesex. \nAccording to Rodric Braithwaite : \n“Enid\, was an equally striking personality. She was descended from one of the defenders of the Eureka Stockade\, the “birthplace of Australian democracy”. She was educated at the Sorbonne\, a formidable dialectician\, art historian and collector. In her later years she returned to Australia\, where she was endlessly hospitable to passing Russian chessplayers\, and to itinerant musicians\, including my own father.” \nHugh and Enid had a son Michael (19 June 1936 – 1 June 2002) who became the foreign policy secretary to Margaret Thatcher and the UK ambassador to NATO. Here is Michael’s obituary. \nMichael married Traute Krohn. Michael and Traute gave Hugh a grandson\, Conel Alexander who is a Cosmochemist at the Earth and Planets Laboratory\, Carnegie Institution for Science\, Washington. \nConel M. O’D. AlexanderStaff Scientist\nPrior to the second world war Alexander was officially employed by John Spedan Lewis in his Department store in Oxford Street. When he returned from Buenos Aires (“good air”) from the 1939 Olympiad he travelled aboard the RMS Alcantara. Here is the entry in the passenger list for September 19th\, 1939 : \nPartial passenger manifest for the RMS Alcantara for September 19th\, 1939. Alexander is passenger #23.\nand here is Alexander’s entry in detail. Note that his occupation is described as “Drapery Manager” : \nPartial passenger manifest for the RMS Alcantara for September 19th\, 1939. Alexander is passenger #23.\nHugh sailed from Buenos Aires\, Argentina in September 1939 to arrive at Southampton September 19th 1939. The ship was the Alcantara operated by Royal Mail Lines Ltd hence the RMS Alcantara. \nRMS Alcantara off Rio de Janeiro between 1934 and 1939 by Kenneth Shoesmith\nAccording to Wikipedia : “RMS Alcantara was a Royal Mail Lines ocean liner that was built in Belfast in 1926. She served in the Second World War first as an armed merchant cruiser and then a troop ship\, was returned to civilian service in 1948 and scrapped in 1958. \nPorts of the voyage were : Buenos Aires; Montevideo; Santos and Rio de Janeiro and Hugh’s official number was 148151 and he travelled 2nd class. His proposed destination residential address was \n316\, Rodney House\, Dolphin Square\, London\, SW1 \nAccording to Wikipedia : “The proximity of Dolphin Square to the Palace of Westminster and the headquarters of the intelligence agencies MI5 (Thames House) and MI6 (Vauxhall Cross) has attracted many politicians\, peers\, civil servants and intelligence agency personnel as residents.” \nDolphin Square. London\, SW1\nThere was some discussion of Drapery Manager in another place. \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume XCIV (94\, 1974)\, Number 4 (April)\, pp. 117-120 by PS Milner-Barry : \n“A proper assessment of Hugh Alexander\, who died on February 15th 1974 must await a later issue. But I think he might have been pleased to see our last game published\, and I give the score of it below\, with notes based on our usual analysis immediately after the game. Over the past 45 years\, ever since he went to Cambridge\, we played whenever opportunity offered serious games with clocks. \nConel Hugh O’Donel Alexander\nBefore the war they were played mostly at my mother’s house in Cambridge\, and after the war and my own marriage at our house in Blackheath. When he moved to Cheltenham the opportunities became fewer but no year ever passed without two or three such games\, usually at Easter or Christmas. \nAlexander always used to say\, it was certainly true of me\, that this was the kind of chess that he enjoyed most. The games were conducted with the utmost vigour\, though not without a good deal of propaganda on both sides. I suppose he won in the proportion of about two to one\, but the disparity in strength never became one-sided. Nearly all the games opened 1 P-K4\, P-K4; he played the Lopez when I allowed him. (I usually played the Petroff or Philidor)\, and I played a mixture – in the early days the Vienna and latterly mostly the King’s Gambit. On the whole Black did better than White for both of us. \nCHO’D Alexander plays PS Milner-Barry\nThe only concession we made to advancing years was that latterly we contented ourselves with four hour sessions and 36 moves\, instead of 40 in 5 hours. We thought we had done enough for honour by then\, and the games were usually finished in the time. \nHugh stayed with us the weekend before Christmas\, when this game was played. He looked ill\, but he was very cheerful and as good company as ever. He loved a good argument\, and as my family so too\,- the evening meal was its usual lively affair! I am myself a man of peace\, and intellectually lazy; so in deference to my feelings the argument was suspended\, before it became too hot. I am afraid they all thought I was a spoil-sport. It was as happy a visit as any of us could remember and it is difficult to accept there will not be another. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Blackheath Friendly”]\n[Site “Blackheath”]\n[Date “1973.12.23”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Milner Barry\, Philip Stuart”]\n[Black “Alexander\, Conel Hugh O’Donel”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C34”]\n[Annotator “PS Milner-Barry & British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “70”]\n[EventDate “1973.12.23”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM. 1974\, page 118\, gam”] \n{[%evp 0\,9\,19\,38\,25\,3\,-5\,-5\,28\,23\,37\,-14]} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 h6 {\nMB: This rustic move was Alexander’s favourite\, and I never succeeded in\nrefuting it. It is a good way of transposing into a Classical Defence without\ngiving White the option of the Kieseritzky. In 2020 3…h6 is being played\nand has adherents such as Leko and Luke McShane.} 4. d4 g5 5. g3 {MB: This\ngoes back to Spielmann. It is of course double-edged to commit oneself so\nearly. BCN : Both Ivanchuk and Grischuk have played this.} d6 (5… fxg3 6.\nhxg3 {gives White good chances.}) 6. Bc4 ({Alexander expected} 6. gxf4 g4 7.\nNg1 Qh4+ 8. Ke2 {Another time I would try this – like the Steinitz Gambit\, it\nis not so bad as it looks.}) 6… Bh3 $1 $146 (6… g4 7. Nh4 f3 {BCN : has\nbeen tried a few times.}) (6… Nc6 {BCN : In the harsh and unforgiving world\nof engine analyis SF12 shouts loud for this.}) ({MB: An improvement on} 6…\nBg7 7. gxf4 g4 8. Ng1 Qh4+ 9. Kf1 {which in two previous games had turned out\nrather good for White (not that I won either of them).}) 7. Qe2 Bg7 8. c3 g4 9.\nNh4 f3 10. Qc2 Ne7 11. Kf2 $19 {[#] At this point both of us thought that\nWhite stood better\, because of the imprisoned bishop on h3. Alexander\ncriticised this move.} ({Alexander suggested} 11. Be3 {to be followed by Nd2\nand 0-0-0.} {but} O-O {followed by d5 gives Black the better game.}) 11… Bf6\n12. Nf5 Nxf5 13. exf5 d5 14. Bd3 Kf8 $1 15. Bf4 Nc6 16. Nd2 Bg5 $1 17. Bxg5\nQxg5 ({MB : I had expected} 17… hxg5 {and intended to continue with} 18. Nf1\nBg2 19. Ne3 Bxh1 20. Rxh1 {after which\, with Nxg4 and Kxf3\, White has full\ncompensation for the exchange.}) 18. Nf1 {White would much rather preserve his\nknight\,} ({but if} 18. Bf1 Re8 {is horrible}) ({if} 18. Rae1 {Black can launch\nan immediate attack with} h5 {and then …h4}) 18… Re8 19. Qc1 {Forced\, but\nthe writing is now on the wall.} Bxf1 {The depised Bishop has had great\nnuisance value.} 20. Rxf1 Kg7 $1 {He need not hurry. The weak f5 pawn will\nprove fatal.} 21. Re1 Kf6 22. b4 {He must do something!} Qxc1 23. Raxc1 Rxe1\n24. Rxe1 Ne7 25. Re5 Rg8 $1 26. h4 {Again forced.} ({If} 26. Ke3 Rg5 27. Kf4 f2\n28. Ke3 Rh5 {wins easily.}) 26… gxh3 27. Kxf3 Rg5 28. Re2 ({If} 28. g4 h5 {\nis decisive.}) 28… Nxf5 29. Bxf5 Kxf5 (29… Rxf5+ $2 30. Kg4 {would only be\na draw. (SF12 believes Black is winning easily.)}) 30. Rh2 ({Or} 30. g4+ Kg6\n31. Kg3 ({or} 31. Rh2 h5)) 30… Kg6 31. Rxh3 Rh5 {The final coup.\nSuperficially it looks as though White still has chances\, but it is not so.}\n32. Rxh5 Kxh5 33. Kf4 Kg6 34. a4 ({Because if} 34. Ke5 f5 $1 ({much better than\n} 34… c6 35. b5) 35. Kxd5 f4 36. gxf4 Kf5 {and wins easily.}) 34… c6 35.\nKg4 f5+ {and White resigned.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nAs for the game\, it was not one of our most exciting encounters. But it is quite an interesting one\, and shows Hugh playing as\nwell as ever – certainly much too well for me. But then he usually did.” \nFollowing PSMBs contribution\, in the same obituary there was this from Harry Golombek : \nC.H.O’D.  Alexander and the ‘B.C.M.’\nI have written elsewhere about Hugh Alexander both as a person and as a chess-player and I also intend to devote a forthcoming article in ‘The Times‘ on Saturday to an appraisal of his place in British Chess. Here\, however\, I would like to describe briefly his connection with this magazine over the years and to show how\nimportant his help was to the progress of the ‘BCM‘. \nIn the years immediately preceding the Second World War\, Ash Wheatcroft and I had made a determined effort to maintain and increase the role of the ‘BCM‘\, he in a managerial capacity and I as its editor. With the coming of war and the departure of both of us into the army a sort of caretaker regime had to be provided. It worked as well as could have been expected but inevitably there had been a decline both in quality and financially. When peace came\, the quality improved since it was possible to get more and better contributions but the financial aspect became almost alarming. \nThe question arose – was there a need for the magazine and if so how could that need be fulfilled with the fairly limited resources at hand. Some of us thought there was\, but the ways and means were not so clear. Of all those who thought like this Alexander was the most effective in his approach to the problems. I know that from his very youth onwards he had been convinced of the importance of the ‘BCM’ to British chess and\, being a practical idealist\, when the\ncrisis came he set about dealing with it in the most expeditious way. \nIn November 1946 he became a director of the B.C.M. and continued in that position till February 1952\, by which time the magazine had been set on a solid basis from\nwhich it was unlikely to be shaken. It was his idea that Brian Reilly be asked to act as editor and almost his first act as director was to write a letter to him inviting him to become so. Then\, in January 1947\, he himself took over the editorship of the games department\, an arduous task which he fulfilled with great competence and the utmost conscientiousness until May 1949 when the heavy work of the Civil Service department of which he was head compelled him to hand over the Games Section to me. \nBefore\, however\, that he gave up this post he\, again in the most practical way possible\, rendered the ‘BCM‘ another service. He wrote a book giving a selection of the games from the last period of Alekhine’s life and generously donated half the royalties to the ‘BCM‘ in order to bolster up its slender finances. \nAlekhine’s Best Games of Chess : 1938-45\, CHO’D Alexander\, G. Bell and Sons\, 1966 ISBN 4-87187-827-9\nEven after he had to give up official connection with the magazine he retained a strong interest in its welfare. So\, even though this recognition is belated and posthumous\, I thought it was right to afford readers the possibility of joining with me in thanking High Alexander for all that he did in this respect in especial. At any rate\, such matters should be on record for the chess historian. \nFrom The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by E.Klein and W.Winter : \n“CHO’D Alexander was born in Cork in 1909 and learned chess at the age of ten. He was educated at King Edward School\, Birmingham\, where he exhibited early prowess by winning the Birmingham Post Cup. In 1927 he won the British Boy’s Championship. During his student days\, from 1928 to 1932\, he was a convincing champion of Cambridge University. Subsequently he competed in five British Championships\, winning the title in 1938. He also played in several international tournaments\, his outstanding performance amongst these being Hastings in 1938\, where he shared second and third prizes with Keres\, following Reshevsky who won the tournament\, and ahead of Fine and Flohr. In 1939\, in the England-Holland match\, he had the satisfaction of defeating the ex-World Champion\, Dr. Euwe\, in a sensational games\, drawing the return game. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Match/Nation NED-ENG 10-10”]\n[Site “The Hague”]\n[Date “1939.05.28”]\n[Round “1.1”]\n[White “Euwe\, Max”]\n[Black “Alexander\, Conel Hugh O’Donel”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “E33”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “62”]\n[EventDate “1939.05.28”]\n[EventType “team-match”]\n[EventRounds “2”]\n[EventCountry “NED”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2003”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2002.11.25”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2002.11.25”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Netherlands”]\n[BlackTeam “England”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “NED”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,62\,19\,31\,25\,7\,-11\,-12\,27\,-3\,15\,5\,-1\,-41\,24\,-91\,-38\,-49\,-53\,-140\,-151\,\n-136\,-142\,-156\,-178\,-154\,-135\,-118\,-117\,-157\,-86\,-113\,-91\,-142\,-59\,-60\,-74\,\n-224\,-235\,-235\,-227\,-174\,-184\,-184\,-126\,-151\,-145\,-153\,-142\,-146\,-124\,-147\,\n-136\,-131\,-150\,-145\,-165\,-173\,-168\,-175\,-160\,-222\,-252\,-390\,-398]} 1. d4 Nf6 2.\nc4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 $6 (7. Bd2 O-O 8. a3\nBxc3 9. Bxc3 Qe7 10. e4 e5) 7… g5 8. Bg3 g4 9. Nh4 Nxd4 10. Qd3 e5 11. O-O-O\n$146 {[#]} Ne6 $17 12. Nb1 Ba5 13. Qa3 Bb6 14. Bxe5 Ne4 $1 15. Bxh8 Qxh4 16. c5\nQg5+ 17. Nd2 N6xc5 18. h4 gxh3 19. gxh3 Nxf2 20. Rh2 Nxd1 $19 21. Rg2 Qe3 22.\nRg8+ Ke7 23. Kxd1 Qxa3 24. bxa3 Ne6 25. h4 Bf2 26. h5 d5 27. Bh3 b6 28. Bxe6\nKxe6 29. Re8+ Kd7 30. Re5 Bb7 31. Bg7 Bd4 0-1\n[/pgn] \nA brilliant mathematician\, he took a first at Cambridge and chose a scholastic career\, joining a well-known public school (Winchester College). From there\, via a short spell in a business appointment (John Lewis)\, he entered the service of the Foreign Office\, where\, during the war years\, his valuable work earned him the OBE. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Match/Nation radio”]\n[Site “Radio”]\n[Date “1946.06.21”]\n[Round “2”]\n[White “Alexander\, Conel Hugh O’Donel”]\n[Black “Botvinnik\, Mikhail”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C18”]\n[Annotator “Ftacnik\,Lubomir”]\n[PlyCount “81”]\n[EventDate “1946.06.19”]\n[EventType “team-match”]\n[EventRounds “2”]\n[SourceTitle “MCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “England”]\n[BlackTeam “USSR”] \n{[%evp 0\,81\,34\,15\,46\,31\,28\,20\,32\,44\,21\,23\,30\,18\,26\,23\,44\,50\,51\,37\,77\,35\,68\,77\,\n117\,126\,136\,114\,127\,132\,113\,113\,118\,122\,119\,122\,65\,99\,125\,138\,150\,143\,143\,105\,\n106\,150\,609\,257\,335\,378\,413\,314\,314\,396\,396\,406\,379\,379\,458\,426\,407\,487\,500\,\n536\,516\,498\,504\,392\,379\,383\,435\,472\,447\,447\,447\,439\,482\,439\,461\,517\,572\,344\,\n417\,449]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4\ncxd4 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 Qa5 $6 (9… dxc3 10. Qd3 d4 11. f4 Nbc6 12. Nf3 $14 {\n(Yudovich)}) (9… Nbc6 10. f4 Qa5 11. Rb1 b6 12. Nf3 Ba6 13. Ng5 $1 $16 {Keres\n}) 10. Rb1 (10. Ne2 $1 {Keres} dxc3 11. Ng3 $1 Nd7 12. Nh5 d4 13. f4 $1 $14 {\nTimman-Korchnoi/Leeuwarden/1976}) 10… Qxc3+ (10… Nbc6 $5) 11. Bd2 Qc7 (\n11… Qxa3 $6 12. Nf3 (12. Bb4 {Keene/Levy}) 12… Nbc6 13. Bd3 Rxg2 $2 14. Ke2\n$18 {Moles}) 12. f4 Nbc6 13. Nf3 Bd7 14. Ng5 (14. h4) 14… Rxg5 (14… O-O-O\n15. Nxf7) (14… Rf8 15. h4) (14… Nd8 15. Bb4 $16 {Keene/Levy} Rf8 16. Qg7)\n15. fxg5 O-O-O (15… Qxe5+ 16. Kd1 $16 {Keene/Levy}) 16. Qxf7 {Fine} Qxe5+ 17.\nKd1 {Pachman} Nf5 18. g6 (18. Bd3 $1 Ne3+ 19. Bxe3 Qxe3 (19… dxe3 20. Qf6)\n20. Qf6 $1 e5 21. Re1 Bg4+ 22. Be2 Bxe2+ 23. Rxe2 Qg1+ 24. Re1 $16 {Botvinnik})\n18… Ne3+ (18… Nce7 19. g7 $1) 19. Kc1 Qe4 20. Bd3 Qxg2 21. Re1 Ne5 (21…\nNc4 22. Bxc4 dxc4 23. Qf6 $1 Qxh2 (23… Rg8) 24. Bg5 Qg3 25. Kb2 $1 Qc3+ 26.\nKa2 Qxc2+ 27. Rb2 Qc3 28. g7 Qxe1 29. Qxd8+ $1 Nxd8 30. g8=Q {Fine} Qa5 $1 31.\nRf2 $6 (31. Rh2 Ba4 $10 {Schwarz}) 31… Ba4 $1 {Schwarz}) 22. Qf4 Nf3 23. Re2\n(23. Ba5 $1) 23… Qh3 24. Bxe3 e5 25. Qf7 dxe3 26. g7 Qg4 27. h3 Qg1+ 28. Kb2\nQg3 29. Bg6 Nd4 30. g8=Q Rxg8 31. Qxg8+ Kc7 32. Qh7 Kd6 (32… Nxe2 33. Bf5)\n33. Bd3 e4 34. Qh6+ Kc7 35. Rxe3 Qe5 36. Ka2 Nf5 37. Qg5 Be6 38. Be2 d4+ 39.\nReb3 b5 40. Qd2 d3 41. Bg4 1-0\n[/pgn] \nHe plays imaginative and courageous chess and is never afraid of the wildest complications.” \nIM Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander CMG CBE (19-iv-1909 15-ii-1974). Source : The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match\nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume XCIV (94\, 1974)\, Number 6 (June)\, pp. 202-204 by PS Milner-Barry : \nWith the death of Hugh Alexander at the age of 64\, British chess has lost the outstanding figure of the past forty years. His active playing career over some thirty years included two victories in the British championship and regular appearances in all representative teams from l93l-58\, except when the nature of his Civil Service\nduties prevented him from travelling behind the Iron Curtain. During the whole of the period after the war he was the regular top board for the England team. In the Hastings international congress he twice won the Premier tournament\, on the second occasion tying with Bronstein. His victories in this series included two world champions (Euwe and Botvinnik) and numerous others in the Grandmaster class. He was an outstanding example\, like H.E.Atkins and Dr. Milan Vidmar\, of the amateur who could combine an exacting professional life of great responsibility and distinction with success in competitive international chess at the highest level and with the increasing professionalism of the game and the demands of knowledge and research that it makes upon the masters\, this was much more difficult in Hugh’s time than in an earlier age. \nIt was indeed in the international field that his fame will principally rest. On the British championship scene\, although he always did well before the War\, and won convincingly at Brighton in 1938 in a strong field\, his record did not match his abilities. He never established anything like the superiority over his contemporaries that Atkins in a former age and Penrose in a later achieved. He won the championship again\, in 1956\, but that was a weak year when the Moscow Olympiad took first claim on the leading British players. It was not that he cared less – like all the great players he hated losing\, though he was the most magnanimous of opponents – but that he seemed to require the stimulus of the great occasion\, and of a world famous name on the other side of the board\, to bring out the best in him. \nThe BCF Team at the Amsterdam Olympiad 1954. Left to right : Barden\, Clarke\, Penrose\, Wade\, Golombek (board three) and Alexander\nAlexander was perhaps the only English player of his day whom the Grandmasters would have treated as on a level with themselves. On his day he was liable to beat any of them\, and they were well aware of it. In his younger days he was very much the gay cavalier\, and a brilliant combinative and attacking player with a touch of genius. Latterly he lost some of this elan\, and adapted his style to the responsibilities of the B.C.T. top board. His opponents too\, with a healthy respect for his powers\, were less inclined to give him opportunities. He was as capable of the dead-bat technique as anybody\, and to that extent (to my way of thinking anyway) his games became less interesting\, with quick draws making a higher contribution to his top-board results than in earlier years. But none the less he was the anchor-man of the British team until his retirement after the 1958 Olympiad. \nKick Langeweg plays Hugh Alexander in the Anglo-Dutch Match of October 7th \, 1961. Peter Clarke (right) is playing Johan Teunis Barendregt and Harry Golombek observes\nIt was a great pity he gave up the game over the board at 50. He had years of good chess in him. But I think he felt he had scaled all the peaks he could scale\, and that he was finding top-class competitive chess a burden difficult to reconcile with his Civil Service work and the prospect of a gradual and inevitable decline in his powers did not appeal to him. I made many efforts to tempt him back to the arena\, but to no avail. I do not think he ever seriously regretted his decision\, and in his last years he immensely enjoyed correspondence chess. \nIn 1964\, Alexander became non-playing captain of the B.C.F. team\, and held that role continuously until after the Siegen Olympiad in 1970. \nHugh Alexander\, Čeněk Kottnauer\, Michael Franklin and Owen Hindle\nIt was rather a disappointing period for British chess\, and the results\, while we were rebuilding a young team\, could not – even with Penrose’s outstanding efforts at top board – have been expected to be favourable. But he threw himself wholeheartedly into all the work sponsored by the B.C.F. and the Friends of Chess to find and develop talent in the younger generation\, and before he died the fruits of these labours were beginning to appear. He would have been proud indeed to have witnessed our recent triumph in the Anglo-German match. \nAs a captain he was\, of course\, immensely liked and respected by his team. My impression was that he took his responsibilities almost too seriously\, and agonised too\nmuch over his decisions about whom to play and whom to rest. Nevertheless on balance he thoroughly enjoyed the work\, and certainly\, in spite of his innate modesty\, he\nwas never one to be disturbed by ill-informed or irresponsible criticism\, of which he had his share. \nConel Hugh O’Donel Alexander playing Alberic O’Kelly de Galway in a publicity shot before the start of the Hastings Premier.\, probably Hastings 1953-54\, the year Alexander tied first with Bronstein : thanks to Leonard Barden\nI suppose his most famous tournament result was his equal first with Bronstein at the Hastings Christmas Congress of 1953. Coming at a time when we were gloomily resigned to British players bringing up the rear in international tournaments\, this created a great sensation. \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im75EwDXEzg[/embedyt] \nThe game with Bronstein lasted over 100 moves and Alexander won a most difficult Queen and Pawn ending by impeccable technique. \nHugh Alexander plays David Bronstein during Hastings 1954\n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1953/54-29 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1954.01.06”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Bronstein\, David Ionovich”]\n[Black “Alexander\, Conel Hugh O’Donel”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “A83”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “240”]\n[EventDate “1953.12.30”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,240\,19\,31\,75\,-1\,-16\,-16\,3\,-21\,36\,30\,42\,26\,12\,4\,-19\,-13\,8\,-36\,-28\,-32\,\n-9\,-21\,-21\,-7\,0\,-3\,32\,-22\,0\,-58\,-29\,-41\,-39\,-41\,-41\,-41\,-51\,-55\,-79\,-79\,-71\,\n-65\,-43\,-60\,-26\,-41\,-24\,-24\,-41\,-32\,-60\,-64\,-75\,-70\,-73\,-74\,-74\,-86\,-84\,-114\,\n-141\,-149\,-153\,-159\,-157\,-157\,-102\,-108\,-112\,-108\,-108\,-105\,-104\,-113\,-104\,\n-102\,-102\,-102\,-103\,-103\,-110\,-128\,-134\,-157\,-147\,-155\,-142\,-166\,-159\,-166\,\n-161\,-154\,-154\,-151\,-155\,-155\,-167\,-168\,-168\,-171\,-171\,-171\,-153\,-176\,-169\,\n-169\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-153\,-187\,-193\,-189\,-190\,-190\,\n-190\,-190\,-193\,-194\,-194\,-194\,-190\,-194\,-115\,-194\,-194\,-194\,-194\,-194\,-117\,\n-151\,-165\,-181\,-188\,-193\,-193\,-193\,-190\,-190\,-190\,-195\,-195\,-208\,-215\,-214\,\n-214\,-214\,-226\,-229\,-237\,-226\,-226\,-226\,-202\,-208\,-215\,-226\,-226\,-226\,-232\,\n-229\,-237\,-236\,-229\,-236\,-232\,-271\,-206\,-217\,-205\,-205\,-206\,-211\,-211\,-211\,\n-218\,-226\,-234\,-235\,-236\,-216\,-214\,-228\,-241\,-245\,-239\,-288\,-262\,-263\,-281\,\n-417\,-381\,-468\,-513\,-496\,-420\,-420\,-290\,-301\,-301\,-308\,-301\,-421\,-267\,-338\,\n-263\,-335\,-355\,-409\,-478\,-554\,-588\,-764\,-1013\,-1240\,-483\,-624\,-503\,-503\,-503\,\n-545\,-569\,-589\,-642\,-701\,-829\,-931\,-982\,-1012\,-1022\,-1372\,-1012\,-1245\,-1022\,\n-1022\,-1022]} 1. d4 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. f3 exf3 5. Nxf3 g6 6. Bf4 Bg7\n7. Qd2 O-O 8. Bh6 d5 9. Bxg7 Kxg7 10. O-O-O Bf5 11. Bd3 Bxd3 12. Qxd3 Nc6 13.\nRde1 Qd6 14. Kb1 a6 15. Re2 Rae8 16. Rhe1 e6 17. Ne5 Nd7 18. Nf3 Rf5 19. Re3 e5\n20. dxe5 Ndxe5 21. Nxe5 Rfxe5 22. Rxe5 Rxe5 23. Rxe5 Qxe5 24. Qxd5 Qxh2 25.\nQd7+ Kh6 26. a3 Qd6 27. Qc8 Nd8 28. g4 Kg7 29. b3 c6 30. g5 Qe7 31. Qg4 Nf7 32.\nNe4 Qxa3 33. Qe6 Qa5 34. Nd6 Nxd6 35. Qf6+ Kg8 36. Qxd6 Qe1+ 37. Ka2 Qe8 38.\nQc7 b5 39. Kb1 Qe1+ 40. Kb2 Qe6 41. b4 Qe4 42. Qd8+ Kf7 43. Qf6+ Ke8 44. Qd6\nQd5 45. Qf6 Kd7 46. Qg7+ Kd6 47. Qf6+ Kc7 48. Qg7+ Qd7 49. Qe5+ Qd6 50. Qg7+\nKb6 51. Qc3 Qe7 52. Qd4+ Kb7 53. c3 Qf7 54. Qh8 Kb6 55. Qd4+ Kb7 56. Qh8 Qd7\n57. Ka3 Qe7 58. Qf6 Qc7 59. Kb2 a5 60. bxa5 Qxa5 61. Qe6 Qc7 62. Kb3 Qf4 63.\nQd7+ Kb6 64. Qd8+ Kc5 65. Qe7+ Kb6 66. Qd8+ Kc5 67. Qe7+ Kd5 68. Qd7+ Qd6 69.\nQg4 Qc5 70. Qd7+ Ke5 71. Qxh7 Kf5 72. Qd7+ Kxg5 73. Qd2+ Kf6 74. Qd8+ Kf7 75.\nQc7+ Qe7 76. Qf4+ Kg7 77. Qd4+ Qf6 78. Qe4 Kf7 79. Kb2 Qd6 80. Qf3+ Qf6 81. Qe4\ng5 82. Qh7+ Ke6 83. Qe4+ Kd6 84. Qd3+ Kc7 85. Qh7+ Kb6 86. Kc2 Qf4 87. Qe7 Qf2+\n88. Kb3 Qd2 89. Qe8 Qd5+ 90. Kb2 Qd6 91. Qe3+ Qc5 92. Qe8 Qf2+ 93. Kb3 Qf6 94.\nQd7 Kc5 95. Kc2 Qe5 96. Qd8 Qe4+ 97. Kb2 g4 98. Qd7 Kc4 99. Qd1 Qg2+ 100. Ka1\nc5 101. Qc2 Qf1+ 102. Kb2 Kd5 103. Qd2+ Ke4 104. Qg5 Qf5 105. Qh4 Kf3 106. Qh1+\nKe2 107. Qg2+ Ke1 108. c4 b4 109. Qg1+ Ke2 110. Qg2+ Ke3 111. Kb3 Qd3+ 112. Ka4\nQxc4 113. Qg3+ Kd2 114. Qf2+ Kc3 115. Qe3+ Kb2 116. Qe5+ Qc3 117. Qg5 g3 118.\nQg4 g2 119. Qg5 Qc1 120. Qxc5 Qc2+ 0-1\n[/pgn] \nStaged publicity picture of David Bronstein vs Hugh Alexander at Hastings 1953\nHe went on with the Black pieces to massacre Tolush\, the other visiting Russian Grandmaster. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1953/54-29 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1954.01.08”]\n[Round “9”]\n[White “Tolush\, Alexander V”]\n[Black “Alexander\, Conel Hugh O’Donel”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “A80”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “56”]\n[EventDate “1953.12.30”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,55\,19\,31\,75\,45\,45\,33\,27\,13\,23\,-9\,-22\,-3\,10\,9\,8\,-10\,-13\,-53\,-53\,-64\,\n-61\,-105\,-28\,-50\,-87\,-72\,-68\,-68\,-60\,-57\,-57\,-61\,-146\,-86\,-147\,-240\,-198\,-432\,\n-461\,-437\,-448\,-448\,-448\,-459\,-459\,-478\,-469\,-643\,-477\,-509\,-428\,-428\,-389\,\n-484\,-494\,-798]} 1. d4 f5 {Hugh usually preferred the KID or Grunfeld vs 1.d4\nbut he had a soft spot for the Dutch defence and trotted it out on special\noccasions.} 2. e3 {A fairly insipid approach by White.} Nf6 3. Bd3 d6 4. Ne2 {\nA fairly rare continuation.} (4. f4) 4… e5 {first played by Nimzowitsch in\n1925 and very rarely since.} 5. dxe5 dxe5 6. O-O $146 (6. Bb5+) 6… Bc5 {\nlimbering up …f4 at the right moment.} 7. Ng3 {intending Nh5 but is g3 a\ngood square for a knight?} g6 8. Bc4 {[#]} Qe7 $1 {Allowing …Be6 at some\npoint.} 9. Qd3 $6 {Encouraging a knight to come to b4.} (9. a3 {Keeping a\nknight out of b4.}) 9… Nc6 10. a3 e4 $1 $19 {Is this the move that Tolush\nfailed to appreciate the strength of?} 11. Qe2 Ne5 $19 {or is this the move\nthat Tolush failed to appreciate the strength of?} 12. Ba2 h5 $1 13. b4 Bd6 14.\nf4 exf3 15. gxf3 h4 {[#] White is being overwhelmed and without counterplay!}\n16. Nh1 g5 17. Nd2 Qg7 18. Bb2 g4 {Who would not enjoy having Black from this\nposition onwards!} 19. f4 Nf3+ 20. Kg2 h3+ 21. Kf2 Nxd2 22. Qxd2 Ne4+ {Ouch!}\n23. Kg1 Qxb2 (23… Nxd2 24. Bxg7 Rh7 25. Rf2 Ne4 26. Bb2 {was less\nadvantageous.}) 24. Qd5 Qf6 (24… Qxc2 25. Rf2 Qc3) 25. Bb3 c6 26. Qd3 Be6 27.\nBxe6 Qxe6 28. Qd4 {and Whte resigned before Black replied.} {Presumably the\nprospect of finding a move after} O-O-O {was too much to contemplate.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nImmense interest was created by this event. The popular press carried diagrams of the successive phases of the Bronstein saga. It was reported on the radio. By comparison with the furore created by the Spassky/Fischer match\, it was no doubt small beer\, but for those days the publicity was tremendous\, and Alexander became the\nhero of the hour. \nIt was entirely characteristic of him that this adulation did not go to his head. He kept everything in proportion\, and encouraged everybody else to do the same. He said all the right things about Bronstein\, but he did not claim\, as one tends to do on these emotional occasions\, that international sport was a panacea for friendship between the nations. Altogether it seemed to me an impeccable performance both on and off the board. \nChess\, CHO’D Alexander\, Pitman\, 1954\nIt is as a player that Hugh would\, I think\, have best wished to be remembered; and I have left myself little room to say anything about him as a journalist and writer. We are blessed\, as readers of the B.C.M. will know\, with many good and interesting writers on the game. But Hugh had\, I believe\, exceptional talents as a journalist. In his columns in the ‘Sunday Times‘\, and latterly the ‘Financial Times‘\, he set a very high standard. He always had something fresh and original to say\, especially\, I think\, to the intelligent amateur rather than the expert; and he said it in a way that was both disarmingly modest and yet lively and entertaining. The warmth of his personality came out clearly both in his writing and in his public speaking – both were entirely natural and wholly without amour-propre. \nHis articles gave great pleasure to a wide circle\, and many who never met him in the flesh must have felt that they had come to know him as a person. Similarly his book on the Spassky-Fischer match \nFischer v. Spassky : Reykjavik 1972\, CHO’D Alexander\, Penguin\, 1972\n(like the ‘Book of Chess’\, which was written in the last year of his life) is an extremely vivid\, as well as scholarly\, piece of writing. It is almost impossible to believe that it was completed\, within days of the conclusion of the match\, by a man apparently under sentence of death throughout its progress. \nA book of Chess\, CHO’D Alexander\, Harper & Row\, 1973\nNow that it has come\, the loss of Hugh Alexander to British chess and chessplayers\, alike as player\, writer\, administrator and friend\, is immeasurable. \nFrom CHESS\, Volume 39 (1974)\, Nos. 693-94\, March\,  p.162 by BH Wood : \nThe death of Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander deprived English chess of one of its most vivid characters. Born l9th April 1909\, he learnt chess at the age of 8. \nFrom a Londonderry college he went to King Edward’s School\, Birmingham\, where as a schoolboy he won the Birmingham Post cup\, which carries with it the unofficial championship of Staffordshire\, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Going on to Cambridge\, he not only won the University championship four years in succession\, but picked up first-class honours. He won the British championship in 1938. \nIn 1939 I found myself on a boat with him bound for the Chess Olympiad in Buenos\nAires. He was team captain with Sir George Thomas\, P. S. Milner-Barry and H. Golombek\nother distinguished members of the team. \nLeft to right Baruch H Wood\, Philip Stuart Milner-Barry\, Vera Menchik (playing in the women’s world championship held concurrently with the Olympiad which she won with 17 wins and 2 draws)\, Sir George Thomas\, Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander and Harry Golombek. England withdrew after their preliminary group due to the outbreak of war despite qualifying for the top final. Thanks to Leonard Barden\nWar broke out after about six rounds. With typical determination\, Alexander jettisoned chess for patriotism\, caught a boat home\, volunteered for service on disembarking\, and within a few weeks had attained the rank of colonel in British Intelligence. He remained attached to Intelligence and the Foreign Office until his\nretirement a few months ago. As a curious consequence of this commitment\, though he settled in to the team captaincy for the British Chess Federation in the biennial chess Olympiads and participated in many chess events abroad\, he was never allowed to travel anywhere behind the iron Curtain. \nHis fame certainly did\, however. In the radio match\, Britain v USSR in 1946\, the most important event in British chess for a decade before and after\, he found himself pitted against Mikhail Botvinnik\, then at the height of his powers and destined to hold the world championship for 14 years. The first game he lost; the second he won\, in superb style. His great adversary was outplayed. \nHe had some great years at Hastings. A 120 move victory over Bronstein with a queen and pawns endgame stretching over l3 hours through 3 days\, earned headlines in the national press unequalled until the Spassky-Fischer furore of 1972\, won him first place in 1954 and started him with a chess column in the Sunday Times. He was equal with Bronstein\, above O’Kelly\, Matanovic\, Olafsson\, Teschner\, Tolush\, Tartakover\, Wade and Horne. \nHastings illustrated Alexander’s weaknesses as well as his strengths. Twice he won the premier tournament there\, only to finish among the tail-enders the year after. Only once more was he to win the British champ- ionship; in a rather weak field\, entering at the last minute with typical opportunism. \nHe was a brilliant conversationalist and speaker\, a fine bridge player\, a master mathematician\, an expert on codes\, a first-class journalist and writer. Among varied other interests were croquet and philately. He threw himself wholeheartedly into anything he did. His organization\, “The Friends of Chess”\, provided generous financial support for a wide range of chess events. A few days before his death he was full of plans for the future\, including a big History of British Chess. He burnt himself out. The world of chess is a poorer and duller place without him.” \nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander was born in Cork\, Ireland. Awarded the IM title in 1950 at its inception and the IMC title in 1970\, he was British Champion in 1938 and 1956. \nDuring the Second World War\, he worked at Bletchley Park with Harry Golombek and Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry\, deciphering German Enigma codes and later for the Foreign Office. Alexander finished 2nd= at Hastings (1937/38) tied with Paul Keres after Samuel Reshevsky and ahead of Salomon Flohr and Reuben Fine. He held Mikhail Botvinnik to an equal score (+1\, -1) in the 1946 Anglo-Soviet Radio Match\, and won Hastings (1946/47) while finishing equal first at Hastings (1953/54). He represented England on six Olympiad teams. Alexander was also an author of note. He passed away in Cheltenham in 1974.” \n1st August 1933: C H O D Alexander playing Sultan Khan during the British Chess Championships at Hastings in Sussex. (Photo by Douglas Miller/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld : \nInternational Master (1950)\, International Correspondence Chess Master (1970). Born in Cork\, he settled in England as a boy. In spite or because of his intense application at the board his tournament performances were erratic. From about 1937 to the mid 1950s he was regarded as the strongest player in Great Britain\, although he won only two (1938\, 1956) of the 13 British Chess Federation Championships in which he competed; he played for the BCF in six Olympiads from 1933 to 1958. Holding a senior post at the Foreign Office\, he was not permitted to play in countries under Soviet control or influence; but when he did compete abroad he achieved only moderate results. His best tournament achievement was at Hastings 1937-8 when he was second (+4=5) equal with Keres after Reshevsky ahead of Fine and Flohr; but he is better remembered for his tie with Bronstein for first prize at Hastings 1953-4. He won his game against Bronstein in 120 moves after several adjournments\, and the outcome became a kind of serial in the press\, arousing great national interest in the game. Alexander was the author of several books on chess\, notably Alekhine’s Best Games of Chess 1938-1945 (1949) and A Book of Chess (1973). \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \nFor many years the chess correspondent of The Sunday Times\, The Spectator (pseudonym Philidor) and the Evening News. There was probably no “chess name that was better known to the non-chess-playing element of the British public than that of Hugh Alexander. His victory over Russian Grandmaster David Bronstein at Hastings in 1953\, after a struggle which lasted for 120 moves and took 13 hours\, made chess front page news in the British press. \nBorn in Cork on 19th April 1909\, Alexander picked up the game at prep school at the age of 8. In 1926 he won the Boy’s Championship\, later to be recognised as the British Boy’s Championship\, at Hastings. After coming down from Cambridge University\, where he won the university championship four times\, Alexander taught mathematics at Winchester College from 1932 to 1938. He later joined the Foreign Office. \nCaption as per photograph\nOne of the few British players who might have reached World Championship class if he had chosen to devote sufficient time to the game\, Alexander was at his best when he faced a top class opponent. \nDuring his chess career\, he scored victories over two World Champions Botvinnik and Euwe\, and he beat a number of other Grandmasters\, international tournaments were all at Hastings where he came =2nd in 1938 with Keres\, half a point behind Reshevsky and ahead of Fine and Flohr; 1st in 1947 and =1st with Bronstein in 1953. In 1951 tournament he came =5th.His other hobbies included bridge\, croquet and philately\, He was the Author of Alekhine’s Best Games of Chess 1938-1945 (Bell)\, Chess (Pitman) and joint author with T.J. Beach of Learn Chess; A New Way for All (Pergamon Press); \nLearn Chess : A Complete Course\, TJ Beach and CHO’D Alexander\, Everyman Chess\, 1994\nA Book of Chess (Hutchinson) 1973; The Penguin Book of Chess Positions (Penguin) 1973. \nThe Penguin Book of Chess Positions\, CHO’D Alexander\, Penguin\, 1973\nHere is an interesting article on his film appearance. \nHere is his detailed Wikipedia entry \nAccording to C.N. 10817 Hugh lived at various addresses when working at GCHQ : \n\nBrecken Lane\, Cheltenham.\n28 King’s Road\, Cheltenham\, GL52 6BG.\n\n\n28 King’s Road\, Cheltenham\, GL52 6BG\n\nOld Bath Lodge\, Thirlestaine Road\, Cheltenham\, GL53 7AS.\n\n\nAlexander on Chess\, CHO’D Alexander\, Pitman\, 1974\nThe Best Games of C.H.O’D. Alexander\nGolombek and Hartston\, The Best Games of C.H.O’D. Alexander (1976).
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-conel-hugh-odonel-alexander/
CATEGORIES:2023,British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Honours,Player,Remembering,Writer
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210215
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210216
DTSTAMP:20210130T190045Z
CREATED:20190824T105853Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210130T190045Z
UID:1165-1613347200-1613433599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Charles Tomlinson (15-ii-1897)
DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Charles Tomlinson (15-ii-1897)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-charles-tomlinson/
CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210215
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210216
DTSTAMP:20230214T152844Z
CREATED:20200409T180346Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230214T152844Z
UID:4288-1613347200-1613433599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Mark Hebden (15-ii-1958)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Mark Lesland Hebden (15-ii-1958) \nMrs. Joan Agar; Chairman of Leigh Interests\, presents the Leigh trophy (for 1981) to Mark Hebden. Left\, David Anderton\, BCF President; on the right Malcolm Wood\, Leigh’s Chief Executive. BCM\, 1981\, page 104
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-mark-lesland-hebden-15-ii-1958/
CATEGORIES:2023,Birthday,British Championships,Player
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210216
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210217
DTSTAMP:20210215T163618Z
CREATED:20200411T141412Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210215T163618Z
UID:4447-1613433600-1613519999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Philip Rossiter (16-ii-1969)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Philip J Rossiter (16-ii-1969)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-philip-j-rossiter-16-ii-1969/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200716
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200717
DTSTAMP:20230217T193732Z
CREATED:20200716T220105Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230217T193732Z
UID:7479-1594857600-1594943999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Raaphi Persitz (26-vii-1934 04-ii-2009)
DESCRIPTION:We remember Raaphy(i) Persitz who passed away on Wednesday\, February 4th\, 2009. \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXIX (129\, 2009)\, Number 3 (March)\, pp. 130-134 by John Saunders we have this detailed obituary: \nRaaphy Persitz\nA tribute to a great friend of British chess\, by John Saunders\nRaphael Joseph Arie (Raaphy) Persitz (26 vii 1934\, Tel Aviv – 4 ii 2009\, Tel Aviv) \n28th December 1955: Israeli chess player Raaphy Persitz in play at the International Chess Congress at Hastings. (Photo by Folb/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)\nRaaphy Persitz\, one of the strongest players resident in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s and also one of BCM‘s most popular contributors\, has died aged 74. Raaphy was born in Tel Aviv\, the grandson of Shoshana Persitz (1893-1969)\, a publisher who became an early member of the Knesset\, the Israeli parliament. Raaphy became Israel’s first junior champion in 1951 and shortly afterwards came to study PPE (Philosophy\, Politics and Economics) at Oxford University where he was a member of their very strong chess team and a close friend of Leonard Barden and others. \nRaaphy Persitz (26-vii-1934 04-ii-2009). 26 year-old Raaphy Persitz at the 1960 Leipzig Olympiad playing on board four for Israel. He scored +6\, =2\, -4.\nOne of his most publicised feats was to win his Varsity match game and also a county match against Hugh Alexander on the same day (see the May 1954 or March 2004 issues of the magazine for further details). Raaphy played three times in the Varsity match and also represented England in three Students Olympiads in the mid-1950s. He represented Israel in the 1960 Leipzig Olympiad on board four\, and also played twice in the Hastings Premier\, in 1955-56 and 1968-69\, the latter being his swansong in competitive chess as he turned his attention to a career in banking which took him first to Switzerland and eventually to his home town of Tel Aviv. As a player his best result was probably finishing third behind Reshevsky and Szabo at the first major international tournament held in Israel\, Haifa/Tel Aviv 1958. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1955/56-31 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1956.01.04”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Persitz\, Raaphi”]\n[Black “Penrose\, Jonathan”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C41”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “65”]\n[EventDate “1955.12.28”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “MCD”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,65\,19\,38\,25\,7\,75\,61\,61\,49\,73\,66\,59\,38\,43\,42\,60\,58\,63\,50\,75\,46\,71\,47\,\n29\,36\,48\,-15\,-26\,-13\,-26\,-42\,-32\,-31\,-22\,-26\,-3\,-28\,-48\,-35\,-20\,-32\,40\,61\,80\,\n-20\,18\,-1\,9\,-73\,-46\,-131\,-142\,-109\,-36\,-74\,-62\,-93\,-30\,9\,51\,8\,67\,67\,67\,20\,120\,\n63]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. h3 c6 8.\na4 Qc7 {[#]} ({Relevant:} 8… b6 9. Qe2 a6 10. d5 c5 11. Bd3 Ne8 12. Nd1 Nc7\n13. Ne3 Re8 14. Nf5 Nf8 15. c4 Rb8 16. Bd2 a5 17. Rae1 Ng6 18. g3 Bf6 19. Qd1\nNe7 20. b3 Rb7 21. Kg2 Na6 22. Qc1 Nb4 23. Bb1 Kh8 24. Ne3 g6 25. Ng4 Ng8 26.\nNxf6 Qxf6 27. Ng1 Qg7 28. f4 f6 29. Nf3 Rbe7 30. fxe5 dxe5 31. Nh4 Rd8 32. Kh2\nh6 33. g4 Kh7 34. Re3 Na6 35. Rg3 Nc7 36. Kg2 Ne8 37. Nf3 Nd6 38. h4 {Roehrich\,\nE-Rellstab\,L Hamburg 1952 1-0 (69)}) 9. Bg5 $146 ({Predecessor:} 9. Re1 h6 10.\ndxe5 dxe5 11. Nh4 Re8 12. Qf3 Nf8 13. Nf5 Be6 14. Nxe7+ Qxe7 15. Bf1 Ng6 16.\nBe3 Kh7 17. a5 Nh4 18. Qg3 Ng6 19. f3 Nh5 20. Qf2 Ngf4 21. Kh2 g5 22. g3 Ng6\n23. Bxa7 Rg8 24. Bc5 Qf6 25. Be3 Qg7 26. Red1 Nf6 27. Rd6 Ne8 28. Rd2 Nf6 29.\nBe2 Nf8 30. b4 h5 31. Rad1 g4 32. fxg4 hxg4 33. h4 Ng6 34. Kg1 Nh5 35. Na4 Raf8\n36. Nc5 Bc8 37. Nd7 Bxd7 38. Rxd7 Nf6 {Matanovic\,A-Porreca\,G Belgrade 1952 1-0}\n) 9… Re8 10. Re1 Nf8 11. Bh4 Be6 12. Qe2 Nh5 13. Bxe6 Nxe6 14. d5 Nef4 15.\nQe3 cxd5 16. exd5 Bxh4 17. Nxh4 Qe7 18. Nf3 f5 19. Kh2 Qd7 20. Rad1 e4 21. Nd4\nRe5 22. Nde2 g5 23. Rg1 Kh8 24. f3 exf3 25. Qxf3 g4 26. Qf1 Ng6 27. Rd3 f4 28.\nNd4 Ng3 29. Qd1 Rh5 30. Ne6 gxh3 31. gxh3 Rh4 32. Ne2 Ne5 33. Nxg3 1-0\n[/pgn] \nDespite giving up competitive play\, Raaphy never lost his love of the game and remained an avid reader of magazines and follower of the game until the end of his life. And\, of course\, he remained a perceptive and humorous writer on the game though his output was much lower than in the 1950s. The news of his death came as a particular shock to me as\, only a couple of weeks previously\, he had sent me a fax saying how moved he had been by the tribute I had writ- ten to Bob Wade in the January 2009 issue of BCM. That was typical of his kindness to wards me which dated back to when I took my first tottering steps as BCM editor in 1999. We never actually met in person but spoke occasionally on the telephone and exchanged faxes (Raaphy didn’t seem to communicate by email). \nRaaphy Persitz (26-vii-1934 04-ii-2009)\nAs a long-time reader of the magazine I had enjoyed his Student’s Corner column contributions. The column had been initiated by Abe Yanofsky in the early 1950s and Raaphy had inherited it in 1958. I was particularly delighted when\, in 2004\, after I had written about his 1954 feat in winning his Varsity match game and a county match against English number one CHO’D(Hugh) Alexander on the same day\, Raaphy consented to write another column (which appeared in the May 2004 issue of BCM). I never succeeded in getting him to write another one but it was such a pleasure to have him write for the magazine during my spell as editor. \n[pgn]\n[Event “County Match\, Oxon  v Gloucester”]\n[Site “Swindon ENG”]\n[Date “1954.03.27”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Persitz\, Raaphy”]\n[Black “Alexander\, Conel Hugh”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C47”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “79”]\n[EventDate “1954.??.??”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM\, May 1954\, -age 151”]\n[Source “‘Cabbage Heads a”]\n[WhiteTeam “Oxfordshire”]\n[BlackTeam “Gloucestershire”] \n{[%evp 0\,79\,28\,28\,28\,13\,25\,5\,8\,-17\,37\,33\,22\,2\,75\,57\,57\,57\,47\,36\,91\,58\,60\,29\,39\,\n22\,40\,83\,83\,24\,51\,41\,74\,79\,76\,76\,74\,74\,74\,69\,69\,37\,37\,30\,38\,0\,7\,10\,52\,-46\,52\,\n33\,-10\,-21\,27\,15\,34\,19\,14\,116\,117\,80\,95\,-102\,56\,56\,60\,194\,200\,196\,204\,0\,7\,0\,\n259\,268\,287\,290\,288\,288\,504\,523]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 Bb4 5.\nd5 Ne7 6. Nxe5 O-O 7. Qd4 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 {[#]} Re8 $146 ({Relevant:} 8… d6 9.\nNf3 Re8 10. Be2 c5 11. Qd3 Ng6 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. g3 Bh3 15. Nd2 b5\n16. Rb1 a6 17. f4 Qe7 18. Kf2 f5 19. Bf3 Qf6 20. Rhe1 Ra7 21. exf5 Rxe1 22.\nRxe1 Bxf5 23. Be4 Bxe4 24. Nxe4 Qf8 25. Ng5 hxg5 26. Qxg6 Rf7 27. Qxg5 Rf5 28.\nQg6 Rf6 29. Qe8 Qxe8 30. Rxe8+ Kf7 31. Ra8 Rf5 32. Rxa6 Rxd5 33. Ke2 Ke6 34.\nRa5 Rh5 35. h4 Kd5 36. Rxb5 Kc4 37. Rb3 Rh8 38. a4 {Cortlever\,N-Milner Barry\,P\nLondon 1952 1-0}) 9. Bg5 Nf5 10. exf5 d6 11. f4 dxe5 12. fxe5 Qxd5 13. O-O-O\nQxd4 14. cxd4 Ne4 15. Bh4 Nc3 16. Rd3 Nxa2+ 17. Kb2 Nb4 18. Rf3 a5 19. c3 Nd5\n20. Bc4 c6 21. g4 b5 22. Bd3 Bd7 23. g5 c5 24. Rhf1 a4 25. Be4 Bc6 26. g6 a3+\n27. Ka1 cxd4 28. gxf7+ Kxf7 29. e6+ Kg8 30. cxd4 Ra4 31. Rg1 Rxd4 32. f6 Rxe4\n33. f7+ Kf8 34. fxe8=Q+ Kxe8 35. Bf2 b4 36. Bc5 Rxe6 37. Rf8+ Kd7 38. Rxg7+ Ne7\n39. Bxb4 Bd5 40. Rff7 1-0 \n[/pgn] \n(Regarding the above game there is a note from Sally Simpson on chessgames.com as follows: \nRaaphi Persitz agreed to play for Oxford v Cambridge in London and also on the same day for Oxon v Gloucester in a county match in Swindon. \nThis is the second game\, he won both games. \nBe aware that Bruce Hayden in ‘Cabbage Heads and Kings’\, which is where I got this game from\, mentions this but also added that these games took place on the same day as the 1954 Grand National (won by Royal Tan). This is wrong as the Grand National that year was run on the 10 April. \nI think that maybe Bruce saw the score of the games with the two games a day story in a Sunday newspaper covering Saturdays Grand National and perhaps got the dates mixed up. \n) \nThe fax he sent me on 7 January 2009 seems particularly poignant now but it is a good example of Raaphy’s kindness and self-deprecating humour. Here is the full text: \n“Dear John\, I was moved by your wide-ranging obituary of Bob Wade in the BCM[January 2009\, p34l. I dare say you did justice to his contributions and devotion to chess\, spanning well over half a century. I have several pleasant recollections of conversations and over-the-board encounters with Bob. One such tussle\, a hard-fought draw\, was reproduced by Bob\, with comments (in the Student’s Corner) in a book containing his eventful games. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1968/69-44 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1969.01.02”]\n[Round “6”]\n[White “Persitz\, Raaphi”]\n[Black “Huebner\, Robert”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “E82”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “55”]\n[EventDate “1968.12.28”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,55\,19\,31\,14\,-14\,43\,38\,37\,33\,33\,10\,9\,21\,31\,23\,50\,27\,18\,21\,51\,55\,45\,38\,\n34\,27\,7\,-2\,-2\,13\,-9\,-14\,59\,21\,11\,14\,31\,24\,17\,-8\,-7\,-16\,-48\,-48\,-42\,-48\,0\,-1\,7\,\n5\,10\,28\,41\,-20\,183\,202\,29993\,29994]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5.\nf3 O-O 6. Be3 b6 7. Bd3 a6 8. Qd2 c5 9. d5 e6 10. Nge2 ({Relevant:} 10. dxe6\nBxe6 11. Bh6 Bxh6 12. Qxh6 Nbd7 13. Nh3 Ne5 14. O-O-O b5 15. Ng5 Qe7 16. Be2 b4\n17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. Rxd5 Rfd8 19. Rhd1 Nc6 20. f4 Nd4 21. Bf3 Qf8 22. Qxf8+ Kxf8\n23. R5xd4 cxd4 24. e5 dxe5 25. fxe5 Rdc8 26. exf6 Rxc4+ 27. Kd2 Rc5 28. Ne4 Ra5\n29. Kd3 Rxa2 30. Rb1 a5 31. Rc1 Rxb2 32. Rc7 Rb3+ 33. Kd2 Rb2+ 34. Kd1 d3 35.\nNg5 Kg8 36. Rxf7 Ra6 37. Rg7+ Kf8 38. Nxh7+ {1-0 (38) Szabo\,L-Najdorf\,M Mar\ndel Plata 1962}) 10… exd5 11. exd5 Nbd7 {[#]} 12. O-O $146 ({Predecessor:}\n12. Ng3 Re8 13. O-O Ng4 14. Bg5 f6 15. Bf4 Nge5 16. Be2 f5 17. Bg5 Nf6 18. Bh6\nBh8 19. Rfd1 Ra7 20. Rab1 Nf7 21. Be3 h5 22. Bf1 h4 23. Nge2 Nh5 24. Nf4 Nxf4\n25. Bxf4 Bd4+ {0-1 (25) Tamburini\,M-Botvinnik\,M Leipzig 1960}) 12… Ne5 13. b3\nNxd3 14. Qxd3 b5 15. Rae1 Qa5 16. Ng3 Rb8 17. Bd2 Qb6 18. Nce4 Nxe4 19. fxe4 a5\n20. Bc3 bxc4 21. bxc4 Bxc3 22. Qxc3 Qb2 23. Qxa5 Qd4+ 24. Kh1 Rb2 25. e5 Qxc4\n26. e6 Qb4 27. Qc7 Ba6 28. Qxf7+ 1-0\n[/pgn] \nAnother\, somewhat less felicitous\, recollection harks back to a game we contested at Ilford\, where\, in extreme time trouble\, I blithely played Rxh7+\, expecting …Qxh7\, but overlooking the simple …Kxh7\, leaving me a whole rook down with no compensation\, whereupon I duly resigned. What impressed me at the time was the lightning speed with which Bob reacted to my ill-fated blunder – as if it were nothing but inevitable… \nWith warmest wishes for a healthy\,\nhappy\, fruitful 2009. Raaphy.” \nI had hoped to publish the above as a Letter to the Editor but\, sadly\, it must now appear as part of Raaphy’s obituary. The draw with Bob Wade referred to in the fax was played in Dublin in 1962 and featured in Student’s Corner in BCM in the December 1966 issue on page 356. It seems appropriate to reproduce the game here in tribute to these two recently departed and much-loved chessplayers. \nNotes by Persitz\nUnlike the majority of games that have\, over the years\, appeared in the Student’s Corner\, the following dour struggle between Bob Wade (White) and myself (Black)\, from Dublin\, 1962\, is in no way outstanding: it does not contain any brilliant combinations; it is not a positional masterpiece; it is certainly not devoid of mistakes. Nor is it amusing\, or original\, or of theoretical interest or particularly instructive. Yet (with the aid of the interspersed comments) it ought to give the student a pretty shrewd and realistic idea of the stuff competitive chess is made of: the endless number of laborious variations that have to be examined; the annoying little threats that must be attended to; the treacherous pitfalls to be sidestepped; the technical hurdles to be surmounted; the frustrating little details\, indifference to which may be fatal; in brief\, the drudgery that has become part and parcel of contemporary tournament practice\, without which success is unimaginable. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Dublin”]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “1962.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Wade\, Robert Graham”]\n[Black “Persitz\, Raaphy”]\n[Result “1/2-1/2”]\n[Annotator “Raaphy Persitz”]\n[SetUp “1”]\n[FEN “5rk1/1p4bp/1pn1p1p1/3pPp2/r2P4/7P/PP2BPP1/R1BR2K1 w – – 0 19”]\n[PlyCount “54”]\n[EventDate “1962.??.??”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM\, 2009\, p.131”] \n{[%evp 0\,1\,-80\,-94] [#] White’s position does not inspire much confidence:} {\nAfter 40 minutes reflection\, White hits upon a drastic solution which displays\na profound understanding of the position.} 19. b4 $1 {The idea behind this\nremarkable move is a simple as the move itself is startling: since White’s\ncentral pawns exercise a cramping influence on Black’s king’s flank\, he will\ngo out of his way to hold on to them\, even if this involves jettisoning both\nhis queenside pawns. Black’s b-pawn will be subjected to a frontal attack\nalong the b-file.} ({the straightforward} 19. Be3 {\, to protect the hanging\nd-pawn\, will not do because of} f4 20. b3 Rb4 {etc}) ({whilst if} 19. Bb5 {\nsimply} Rxd4) 19… Nxb4 $2 {Frittering away most of his advantage.} ({\nAdmittedly neither} 19… Rxb4 20. Ba3 Rxd4 21. Bxf8) ({nor} 19… Nxd4 20.\nRxd4 Bxe5 21. Bb2 Bxd4 22. Bxd4 Rxb4 23. Rd1 {yields Black any superiority.}) (\n{But the tranquil} 19… Rfa8 {does} {For example} 20. a3 Rxb4 21. Be3 (21.\naxb4 Rxa1) 21… Rb2) 20. Bb5 $1 (20. a3 $2 Nc2) 20… Rxa2 $2 {Unnecessarily\njeopardising the black kinght.\, thus handing over the initiative to White.} ({\nThe safe course is} 20… Raa8 21. a4 Nc6 (21… Rfc8 $2 22. Bd7) ({or} 21…\nKf7 22. Ba3)) ({Less good is} 20… Nc2 $2 21. Bxa4 Nxa1 22. Bb2 Ra8 23. Bd7\nNc2 24. Bxe6+ Kf8 25. Bxd5 {when White’s connected passed pawns carry the day.}\n) 21. Rxa2 ({After} 21. Rb1 Nc6 (21… Na6 $2 22. Bd7) 22. Bxc6 bxc6 23. Rxb6\nRc2 {White does not appear to have enough for his minus pawn.}) 21… Nxa2 22.\nBd2 Ra8 {[#] The text move is aimed at rescuing the knight} ({Black had\noriginally intended to follow up 20…Rxa2? with} 22… Kf7 $2 {preparing for\n23…Rc8-c2 (which is not feasible right away on account 23.Bd7).} {but he had\nnot noticed that White would trap the displaced knight by means of} 23. Ra1 Ra8\n24. Bd3 {etc.}) 23. Rb1 ({If} 23. Ra1 Bf8 24. Bd3 Ra3 25. Bb1 {and the rescue\ncompletes} {by way of} Nc1 $1) 23… Kf7 24. Bd7 $2 ({If} 24. Be2 {then either}\nRc8 ({or} 24… Ra4 {suffices} 25. Bd1 ({or} 25. Rxb6 Rxd4 26. Rxb7+ Kg8 27.\nRb8+ (27. Rb2 Ra4) (27. Be3 Rb4 28. Ra7 Nc3) 27… Kf7 28. Rb7+ Kg8 29. Rb8+ {\nwith a draw by repetition of moves.}) 25… Rxd4 26. Rb2 Nc3 $1) 25. Rxb6 Rc2 {\netc}) ({More promising is} 24. Rb2 $1 {with Rc2 and Rc7 to follow whereupon\nBlack would find it extremely difficult to avoid the loss of his weak e-pawn.})\n24… Ke7 (24… Ra6 25. Bc8) 25. Rxb6 (25. Bb5 Rc8 $1 26. Bg5+ Kf7 27. Bd7 (\n27. Rb2 Nc3 $1) 27… Rc7) 25… Kxd7 (25… Bxe5 26. Bxe6 Bxd4 27. Bg5+ Bf6\n28. Bxf6+ Kxf6 29. Bxd5+ {which peters out into a draw.}) 26. Rxb7+ Kc6 {\nThe king is destined to play a leading part in the ending.} 27. Rxg7 {The game\nnow enters a new and tricky phase. White’s king is out of play\, but so is\nBlack’s knight.} Ra4 (27… Kb5 {\, in order to answer} 28. Re7 (28. Rxh7 Kc4\n29. Be3 {and White’s h-pawn becomes dangerous.} (29. Rg7)) 28… Ra6 {\, is too\nslow.}) 28. Re7 (28. Rxh7 {tends to favour Black} {i.e.} Rxd4 29. Bg5 Rd1+ 30.\nKh2 d4) ({Worse is} 28. Be3 Nc3 29. Rxh7 (29. Re7 $142) 29… f4 $1 30. Bd2\nNe2+ 31. Kf1 Nxd4 $17) 28… Rxd4 29. Rxe6+ Kb5 {[#]} 30. Be3 {Setting Black a\ndiscreet pitfall:} Re4 (30… Rd1+ 31. Kh2 d4 32. Rd6 d3 (32… dxe3 33. Rxd1)\n(32… Kc5 33. Bxd4+ $1) 33. e6 {and White wins.}) 31. Rb6+ Kc4 32. Rc6+ Kd3 (\n32… Kb5 $2 33. Rc5+) 33. e6 Nc3 {The knight returns from the cold.} ({instead\n} 33… d4 {loses outright to} 34. Rd6) 34. Rd6 ({If} 34. Bc5 Ne2+ (34… d4\n35. Rd6 Nb5 36. Rb6 Kc4 37. Bf8 d3) (34… Re1+ 35. Kh2 Ne4 36. Be3 f4 37. e7\nfxe3)) 34… f4 {warding off 35.Bg5 and denying the white king of access to\nthe flight square g3.} 35. Bc5 ({The alternative is} 35. Bb6 {(threatening 36\nBd8\, 37 e7\, 38 Rf6 and 39 Rf8 etc.)} Re1+ 36. Kh2 Re5 37. Bd8 Ne4 38. Rd7 {\nwith a draw after} Rxe6 (38… Nxf2 39. Bh4 Ne4 40. e7 g5 41. Rxd5+ Rxd5 42.\ne8=Q gxh4 43. Qf7 {being advantageous to White.}) 39. Rxd5+) 35… Re1+ 36. Kh2\nKc4 ({abstaining from} 36… Ne4 $2 37. Rxd5+ Kc4 {which goes down to} 38. Re5\n$1) 37. Bb6 {angling for Bd8 followed by e7\, Rf6-f8 and e8=Q.} Ne4 38. Rd7 (38.\nRc6+ Kb5 39. e7 {would lead to disaster after} Nd2) ({Likewise\, if} 38. Ba5 $2\nRa1 {menacing three white pieces}) ({if} 38. Rd8 Ng5) 38… Nd2 {attacking the\ne-pawn and threatening mate in three moves.} ({To} 38… Nf6 {White retorts not\n} 39. Rd6 ({nor} 39. Rc7+ Kb5 40. Bd4 Rxe6) ({but} 39. Re7 {with a level\nposition.}) 39… Ne8 40. Rc6+ Kb5) 39. Ba5 {Making the draw inescapeable.}\nNf1+ 40. Kg1 ({Of course\, if} 40. Kh1 $4 Ng3+ {and mates next move; which goes\nto show that other things being equal\, double check causes more damage than\ndiscovered ones.} 41. Kh2 Rh1#) 40… Nd2+ 41. Kh2 Nf1+ ({On} 41… Rd1 {\nWhite’s safest course is} 42. g4 {\, when Black does not appear to have\nanything more promising than} (42. Bxd2 Rxd2 {favours Black}) ({whilst the\nconsequences of} 42. h4 h5 {are obscure.}) 42… Nf3+ 43. Kg2 Nh4+ 44. Kh2 Nf3+\n{drawing by perpetual check.}) (41… Re2 42. e7) 42. Kg1 Ra1 {A last\, albeit\nharmless\, gesture.} 43. g4 Nd2+ {and a draw was agreed in anticipation of} ({\nThe careless} 43… fxg3 $2 44. Kg2 Rxa5 {would invite White to queen his\npassed pawn after} 45. e7 Ra8 46. Rd8 Ra7 47. e8=Q) 44. Kg2 (44. Kh2 Nf3+ 45.\nKg2 Nh4+ {and so on.}) 44… f3+ 45. Kh2 ({if} 45. Kg3 {he gets the worst of\nthe ending after} Ne4+) 45… Nf1+ {and so on and so forth.} 1/2-1/2\n[/pgn] \nRaaphy Persitz Tributes\nLeonard Barden: Raaphy was probably my best friend at Oxford – certainly so among chessplayers. We played hundreds of blitz games in the junior common room at Balliol and later for some months in 1957 we shared a London flat\, analysing Russian championship games over breakfast. He was a wonderful man to know\, bright\, witty\, gentle\, sympathetic and knowledgeable. \nLeonard Barden (centre) with Raaphi Persitz\, JB Sykes\, OI Galvenius and DM Armstrong\, Ilford\, May\, 1953\nA tribute by Amatzia Avni: Ordinary people have a mixture of good qualities and bad ones. After 20 years of friendship with the late Raaphy Persitz I can attest that he was a distinct type: one sided\, positive-only; pure gold. \nI first met him in 1989. I had just written my first chess book (in Hebrew) and was searching for someone to write me an introduction. The word was that Persitz was back in town\, after long years abroad. Having seen glimpses of his amazing linguistic skills\, I contacted him and he agreed immediately. He didn’t know me\, hadn’t read a single sentence of the book\, yet he didn’t hesitate: “yes\, sure\, I’ll be glad to”. \nThat was typical Persitz: always ready to help\, unconditionally. The introduction\, needless to say\, was a sheer delight\, a class or two above the rest of the book. In later years he gave me a hand several times polishing my texts and making them more reader-friendly to English-speaking readers. Somehow he seemed to know what I wished to express better than I did. His suggestions enabled me to convey my meaning in a clear and precise manner. \nRaaphy was modest and reserved. Once I called him and realized he was upset. “My mother had passed away some weeks ago\,” he said. I was puzzled why he didn’t tell me the sad news at the time. “I didn’t want to bother you” was his reply. \nA couple of years ago I stumbled upon Bruce Hayden’s old book Cabbage Heads and Chess Kings. One of the book’s chapters was headed “Raaphy Persitz star or comet?”. I learned that\, in the 1950s\, Persitz gained bright victories in England\, against Penrose\, Alexander\, Milner-Barry and others. Searching a Chessbase database I found out that he also done battle with some out- standing international players. Yet\, in all our meetings and hundreds of hours of conversation\, he never said a thing about that! \nPersitz was a master of understatement. I learned that if I wrote “very fine” or “extremely strong”\, the ‘very’ and ‘extremely’ would fly out of the window. If I made a firm stand on a certain issue\, he would add “probably”\, “apparently’ or “it may be argued that”\, because it was indeed only an opinion\, not a fact. Over time\, following his line of thought made me improve the way I expressed myself and thought about chess. \nPersitz’s distinctions in chess\, in linguistics and in journalism are evident to anyone who ever read his chess books and articles. He also excelled at economics\, but I am unqualified to comment on this. \nGod bless you\, Raaphy. I feel privileged to have known you. Amatzia Avni. \nHere is his Wikipedia entry
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-raaphi-persitz-26-vii-1934-04-ii-2009/
CATEGORIES:2023,British Championships,History,Player,Remembering
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210217
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210218
DTSTAMP:20210217T115734Z
CREATED:20200218T144741Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210217T115734Z
UID:3315-1613520000-1613606399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Mark Ferguson (17-ii-1977)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Mark Ferguson (17-ii-1977)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-mark-ferguson-17-ii-1977/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Fer02448.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210217
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210218
DTSTAMP:20260817T135436Z
CREATED:20200411T183514Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T135436Z
UID:4489-1613520000-1613606399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Ian Thompson (17-ii-1961)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Ian D Thompson (17-ii-1961)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-ian-d-thompson-17-ii-1961/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/jb4_7592_lv-scaled.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210219
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210220
DTSTAMP:20210217T115248Z
CREATED:20200402T170600Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210217T115248Z
UID:3973-1613692800-1613779199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Alexander Baburin (19-ii-1967)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Alexander Evgenievich Baburin (19-ii-1967) \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2jxFxnfCQU[/embedyt]
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-alexander-evgenievich-baburin-19-ii-1967/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210221
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210222
DTSTAMP:20220221T101840Z
CREATED:20200403T165557Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220221T101840Z
UID:4027-1613865600-1613951999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Martin Brown (21-ii-1993)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Martin Brown (21-ii-1993)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-martin-brown-21-ii-1993/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/jb4_9200_lv-scaled.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210221
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210222
DTSTAMP:20220221T101917Z
CREATED:20200403T170723Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220221T101917Z
UID:4035-1613865600-1613951999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Paul Byway (21-ii-1944)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Paul V Byway (21-ii-1944)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-paul-v-byway-21-ii-1944/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200222
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200223
DTSTAMP:20220221T102149Z
CREATED:20200531T151035Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220221T102149Z
UID:5873-1582329600-1582415999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of John Saunders (22-ii-1953)
DESCRIPTION:[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4phbZ3YwtM[/embedyt] \nBirthday of John Cameron Saunders (22-ii-1953) \nHere is John’s Wikipedia entry \nHere is his excellent blog \nHere is the superb BritBase \nMurray Chandler and John Saunders
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-john-cameron-saunders-22-ii-1953/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,History,Journalist,Player,Writer
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210223
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210224
DTSTAMP:20210223T110641Z
CREATED:20190823T085227Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210223T110641Z
UID:1050-1614038400-1614124799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Jacques Mieses (27-ii-1865 23-ii-1954)
DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers GM Jacques Mieses who passed away on February 23rd\, 1954 aged 88. He was buried on the 25th of February at the East Ham Jewish Cemetery in Section J\, Row 18\, Grave 1100. We hope to update his burial record with these details when we are allowed to do so. \nJakob Jacques Mieses was born on Monday\, February 27th 1865 in Leipzig in the German state of Saxony. He came to England in 1939 and was recorded in the UK Internees Index for 1939 – 1942 on 25th April 1939 : \nHome Office internment record for Jakob Jacques Mieses\, 25th April 1939\n65 Oakleigh (now Oakley) Square\, London\, NW1\nAt the time of the 1939 register Mieses was recorded as living at 66\, Oakley Square\, St. Pancras\, Camden\, London\, NW1 and he is listed as a Professional Chess Player. \nBy the time of Hastings 1945 (27th December) Jacques had relocated to : \n8 Fitzjohns Avenue\, London NW3 5NA\nOn June 7th 1947 he was granted Naturalisation Certificate AZ27326. \nIn 1950 he was one of the twenty-seven first players to be awarded the Grandmaster title by FIDE. He was therefore the first British National to be awarded the Grandmaster title for OTB play. The next (Tony Miles) would be twenty-six years later. \nHe has The Mieses Opening named after him : \n[fen]rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/3P4/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nwhich never really caught on to any significant degree. \nIn the Scotch Game (a favourite of his with both colours) we have The Mieses Variation : \n[fen]r1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/8/3NP3/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nand in the Vienna Game The Mieses Variation is : \n[fen]rnbqkb1r/pppp1ppp/5n2/4p3/4P3/2N3P1/PPPP1P1P/R1BQKBNR b KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976)\, Anne Sunnucks : \n“International Grandmaster. Born in Leipzig on 27th February 1865\, Jacques Mieses was educated at Leipzig University and in Berlin. He came to England as a refugee from Nazi Germany shortly before the 1939-1945 war and eventually became a naturalised British citizen. \nThe early part of his chess career was devoted mainly to the study of chess theory and to chess problems. It was not until he was 23 that his tournament career really started with a tie for 2nd place at Nuremberg 1888\, followed by 3rd at Leipzig 1888. \nJacques Mieses. Source : Chess Notes by Edward Winter\nOver the next 50 years\, he played in numerous tournaments with varying degrees of success. His addiction to speculative rather than sound openings and his attempts to combine playing in tournaments with reporting them were possibly responsible for his inconsistent results. Within a few months of one of the greatest performances of his career\, when he came lst at Vienna 1907\, ahead of Duras\, Maróczy\, Tartakover\, Vidmar\, Schlechter and Spielmann\, \nFull crosstable for Trebitsch Memorial\, Vienna 1907\nhe came no higher than =16th at Carlsbad. In 1923 he achieved another great success when he came lst at Liverpool\, ahead of Maróczy\, Thomas and Yates. \nFull crosstable for Northern Counties Congress Premier\, Liverpool\, 1923\nWhile his style of play prevented him from reaching the greatest heights as a tournament player\, it was also responsible for the numerous brilliancy prizes which came his way\, one of the last being at the 1945 Hastings Congress\, when he was 80. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Christmas Congress 1945/46-21 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1946.01.03”]\n[Round “6”]\n[White “Christoffel\, Martin”]\n[Black “Mieses\, Jacques”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “A34”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “58”]\n[EventDate “1945.12.28”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “HCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “2”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,56\,31\,-3\,16\,16\,15\,10\,25\,9\,12\,-20\,-9\,6\,1\,8\,1\,4\,16\,1\,1\,1\,55\,55\,55\,55\,55\,\n21\,41\,6\,6\,13\,16\,16\,37\,36\,36\,15\,21\,15\,11\,11\,17\,13\,15\,17\,17\,-197\,-197\,-195\,-193\,\n-477\,-484\,-29993\,-29994\,-29995\,-29996\,-29997\,-29998]} {From British Chess\nMagazine\, 1946\, February\, page 34: Mieses aged over 80 could\, of course\, not\nrepeat the successes of his prime. But he confounded the critics by scoring\nfour good draws and winning a game against the youngest competitor\, Christoffel\,\nto whom he was conceding 57 years\, for which he was awarded the only\nbrilliancy prize in the tournament\, Mieses is the sole survivor out of the\nmasters who took part in the great Hastings Tournament of 1895\, a unique\noccurrence in the history of chess. Julius du Mont.} 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3\nNf6 4. g3 b6 {A slightly offbeat choice but played by Short and Larsen.} (4…\ng6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 d6 10. Qd3 a6 11. Bd2\nRb8 12. Rac1 {is a popular continuation.}) 5. d4 (5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O e6 7. d4\nNxd4 8. Nxd4 Bxg2 9. Kxg2 cxd4 10. Qxd4) 5… cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nxd4 7. Qxd4 Bb7 8.\ne4 g6 9. Bg2 Bg7 10. O-O O-O (10… d6 {is\, perhaps more precise.}) 11. e5 Bxg2\n12. Kxg2 Ne8 13. Qe4 $14 {[#]} (13. Bf4) (13. Rd1) 13… Rc8 14. Bg5 f6 15.\nexf6 Nxf6 16. Qe2 Rc6 17. Rad1 Qa8 $5 18. Kg1 (18. Qxe7 $4 Re6+) (18. f3) 18…\nRe6 19. Qd3 Rd6 20. Qc2 Rxd1 21. Rxd1 Qc6 22. b3 (22. Qe2) 22… e6 23. Qd3 $2\n{[#]} (23. Qe2) 23… Ng4 $1 {Suddenly f2 is under pressure.} 24. Bf4 {hoping\nto block access to f2} g5 $1 $19 25. f3 Qc5+ 26. Kg2 Qf2+ 27. Kh3 Qxh2+ $1 28.\nKxg4 Rxf4+ $1 {and Christoffel resigned.} 29. gxf4 (29. Kxg5 Bh6#) 29… Qh4#\n0-1\n[/pgn] \nAmong the many books which Mieses wrote were The Chess Pilot\, \nThe Chess Pilot\, Jacques Mieses\, Williams & Norgate. London. 1947. First Edition\nManual of the End Game \nManual of the End Game\, Jacques Mieses\, G. Bell and Son Ltd.\, London\, 1947\nand Instructive Positions from Master Chess. \nInstructive Positions from Master Chess\, Jacques Mieses\, George Bell and Sons Ltd.\, London\, 1951\nA very popular player\, Mieses had a ready sense of humour. On one occasion\, when he was in New York\, he was asked by an American who mispronounced his name “Sind sie Mister Meises?”\, ” No sir\,” he promptly replied “Ich bin Meister Mieses.” On another occasion\, when submitting an article in German to a British magazine\, he could not resist asking ” Don’t you think my German is very good for an Englishman?” \nOn his eightieth birthday\, a dinner was held in his honour in London and he was presented with a cheque by his numerous chess friends and admirers. The speech he made on this occasion was later quoted in most of his obituaries: \nI have been told that a good many people never reach the biblical span of three score years and 10; and those who do-so some most reliable statistics assure us-are most likely to die between 70 and 80. Hence\, I dare say\, ladies and gentlemen\, that I for one have now passed the danger zone and may well go on living for ever. \nHe lived for nearly nine more years\, taking his daily swim in the Serpentine in Hyde Park or some open-air swimming pool\, until only a few days before his death. He died in a London nursing home on 23rd February 1954 and was buried in the East London Jewish Cemetery.” \nJacques Mieses\nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977) Harry Golombek OBE we have this from Wolfgang Heidenfeld : \n“Grandmaster\, theorist\, problemist\, tournament organiser and chess journalist. \nMieses was a spectacular player who won many brilliancy prizes but suffered as many very short defeats. As a a result the German master achieved only one full success in important international tournaments (Vienna 1907)\, but occupied good places in such events as Breslau 1889 (3rd)\, Hanover 1902 (4th)\, Ostend 1907 (=3rd)\, as well as some smaller events. \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M80F14AN1Mw[/embedyt] \nIn matches he showed a heavy preponderance of losses against the top-notchers\, losing to Lasker\, Tarrasch\, Rubinstein\, Marshall\, Teichmann (twice) and Spielmann\, but he drew with Walbrodt (1894)\, Janowski (1895) and Caro (1897) and beat Leonhardt\, Taubenhaus\, and (at the age of 81) Abrahams. \nHere is the first game from October 29th 1945 annotated by Mieses from his match with Gerald Abrahams played in Glossop: \n[pgn]\n[Event “Match”]\n[Site “Glossop”]\n[Date “1945.10.29”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “Mieses\, Jacques”]\n[Black “Abrahams\, Gerald”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C45”]\n[Annotator “Jacques Mieses and British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “41”]\n[EventDate “1945.10.29”]\n[EventType “match”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM\, 1946\, page 23\, game “] \n{[%evp 0\,11\,19\,38\,25\,16\,14\,26\,-11\,7\,57\,39\,29\,-34]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4\nexd4 4. Nxd4 Qf6 5. Be3 Bc5 6. Nb5 {JM : The so-called Blumenfeld Variation\nwhich is regarded by theorists with some scepticism. In my opinion\, however\,\nthe last word here has not yet been spoken. BCN : This line continues to be\nplayed to the present day and scores better for White than the so-called main\nline.} (6. c3 Nge7 7. Bc4 Ne5 8. Be2 Qg6 9. O-O d6 10. f3 O-O 11. Kh1 {BCN :\nis more usual}) 6… Bxe3 7. fxe3 (7. Nxc7+ $4 Kd8 8. Nxa8 Qxf2# {BCN : is in\nthe database!}) 7… Qh4+ 8. g3 Qxe4 ({JM : In “Chess Openings” by RC Griffith\nand PW Sergeant\, revised by R. Fine} 8… Qd8 9. Qg4 Kf8 {is recommened as\nbeing rather in favour of Black.} (9… g6 10. Qf4 d6 11. Bc4 Ne5 12. O-O Bh3\n13. Bxf7+ Kd7 14. N1c3 g5 15. Qf2 Nh6 16. Bb3 Rf8 17. Qxf8 Qxf8 18. Rxf8 Rxf8\n19. Nd4) {but after} 10. Qf4 d6 11. Nd4 {I should not prefer Black’s position.}\n) 9. Nxc7+ Kd8 10. Nxa8 Qxh1 11. Qd6 Nge7 ({JM :} 11… Nf6 {would be\npreferable.} {I should have continued with} 12. Qc7+ Ke7 13. Nd2 Qd5 14. O-O-O\n{Instead of} Qxa2 (14… Qd6 {then} 15. Nc4 {with about even chances in the\nendgame.}) 15. Nb3 {with an attacking position more than compensating the\nsacrificied pawn.}) 12. Nd2 $16 {[#]} Qg1 $146 {BCN : Not repeated since this\ngame.} ({JM : A blunder would be} 12… Qd5 $4 {because of} 13. Qc7+ Ke8 14.\nQxc8+ Nxc8 15. Nc7+ Kd8 16. Nxd5 {BCN: Funnily enough this blunder appears at\nleast 40 times in Megabase 2020!}) (12… Nf5 13. Qc7+ Ke7) 13. Nc4 $1 b5 14.\nQc7+ Ke8 15. Nd6+ Kf8 {[#]} 16. O-O-O $1 Qxe3+ 17. Kb1 Ba6 ({If} 17… Qf3 18.\nRe1 {Black cannot play} Qf2 $2 {because of} 19. Qxc8+ $1 Nxc8 20. Re8#) 18.\nQxd7 g6 19. Qe8+ Kg7 20. Qxf7+ Kh6 21. Qf6 {and Black resigned. A typical\nskirmish game.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nIn keeping with his sharp style\, Mieses preferred such openings as the Vienna Gambit\, the Danish Gambit and the Centre Counter-Gambit. Among his lasting achievements are his brilliancy prize games against Janowksi (Paris 1900)\, \n[pgn]\n[Event “Paris”]\n[Site “Paris”]\n[Date “1900.06.12”]\n[Round “14”]\n[White “Mieses\, Jacques”]\n[Black “Janowski\, Dawid Markelowicz”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C27”]\n[Annotator “ChessBase & British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “71”]\n[EventDate “1900.??.??”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “16”]\n[EventCountry “FRA”]\n[SourceTitle “100 Jahre Schach”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2000.04.19”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2000.04.19”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,71\,19\,36\,18\,22\,17\,13\,17\,17\,6\,-49\,-56\,-59\,-50\,-55\,-19\,-64\,-37\,-54\,-37\,\n-12\,0\,0\,1\,17\,6\,15\,7\,20\,25\,26\,10\,42\,19\,42\,109\,73\,113\,87\,96\,96\,90\,90\,137\,124\,120\,\n34\,66\,82\,109\,131\,167\,145\,191\,-83\,103\,140\,325\,306\,342\,350\,360\,408\,403\,407\,426\,\n423\,443\,458\,489\,639\,1229\,1261] Das Superturnier des Jahres fand anlässlich der\nWeltausstellung in Paris statt und wurde in überlegener Manier von Lasker\ngewonnen. Zwei Schönheitspreise waren ausgesetzt (von Baron Albert von\nRothschild). Einen davon sicherte sich der Leipziger Jaques Mieses\, der ob\nseines schneidigen Angriffsstils gefürchtet war\, doch für große Turniersiege\nreichte es bei ihm selten.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 d6 5. f4 {\nDas ist eine beliebte Überfallvariante.} Nc6 ({Vor allem nach} 5… Ng4 6. f5 {\nkann es lustig werden:} Nf2 7. Qh5 Qd7 8. Be6 Qe7 9. Nd5 g6 10. Qh6 Qf8 11.\nBxc8 Nxh1 12. Bxb7 Bxg1 13. Bxa8 Kd7 14. Qxf8 Rxf8 15. Bh6 {1-0 Emms\,J-Jackson\,\nA/Port Erin 1999/CBM 74 (15)}) 6. f5 {Mieses won three games with this in\nParis 1900 including games against Chigorin and Winawer. 1900 was the first of\nthis idea.} Na5 7. Qf3 c6 8. g4 h6 {[#]} 9. h4 $146 b5 10. Bb3 Nxb3 11. axb3 h5\n12. gxh5 Nxh5 13. Nge2 Qb6 14. Ng3 Nf6 15. Bg5 Bb7 16. h5 Nh7 17. Bd2 O-O-O (\n17… Nf6) 18. h6 g6 $6 {Mit dem gut gedeckten Freibauern h6 steht Weiß nun\ndeutlich besser.} ({Nach} 18… gxh6 19. Rxh6 Rdg8 20. Ke2 Nf8 21. Rah1 Rxh6\n22. Rxh6 {hat Weiß nicht viel.}) 19. O-O-O (19. Nce2 b4 20. fxg6 fxg6 21. Qg4+\nKb8 22. Qxg6 $16) 19… Rhg8 20. fxg6 fxg6 21. Rdf1 Kb8 22. Qf7 Rh8 $2 {\nIn der Annahme\, dass der Pg6 tabu ist\, aber…} (22… Qc7 23. Qxc7+ Kxc7 24.\nRf7+ Rd7 25. Rhf1 Rh8 26. Rg7 Nf8 27. Nd1 $16) 23. Qxg6 $1 Rdg8 {[#]} 24. Qg7\n$1 $18 Bc8 (24… Rxg7 25. hxg7 Rg8 26. Rxh7 Qd8 27. Nh5 $18) 25. Nf5 Bxf5 (\n25… Qc7 26. Qxc7+ Kxc7 27. b4 $1 Bb6 28. b3) 26. Rxf5 Bb4 27. Kb1 Bxc3 28.\nbxc3 Nf8 29. Rhf1 Ng6 30. Qd7 Rd8 31. Qe6 Nf4 32. Bxf4 exf4 33. R5xf4 Qc5 34.\nRf7 Qg5 35. Rf8 (35. Rg7) 35… Qc5 (35… Rhxf8 36. Rxf8 Rxf8 37. Qxd6+ Kb7\n38. Qxf8) 36. Qe7 1-0\n[/pgn] \nReggio (Monte Carlo 1903)\, \n[pgn]\n[Event “Monte Carlo”]\n[Site “Monte Carlo”]\n[Date “1903.03.02”]\n[Round “15”]\n[White “Reggio\, Arturo”]\n[Black “Mieses\, Jacques”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B45”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “78”]\n[EventDate “1903.??.??”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “26”]\n[EventCountry “MNC”]\n[SourceTitle “HCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “2”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,78\,32\,28\,49\,47\,59\,29\,41\,29\,29\,37\,31\,5\,8\,16\,37\,-3\,6\,-19\,30\,21\,43\,38\,38\,\n38\,38\,28\,42\,-19\,-21\,8\,-8\,8\,31\,6\,0\,-9\,-9\,-9\,54\,1\,69\,-40\,70\,-73\,-104\,-65\,-92\,-78\,\n-87\,-87\,-87\,-87\,0\,0\,0\,-55\,-68\,-114\,-117\,-125\,-129\,-141\,-142\,-154\,-171\,-189\,\n-190\,-227\,-227\,-227\,-242\,-244\,-244\,-246\,-234\,-339\,-327\,-442\,-371]} 1. e4 c5 2.\nNf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 (6. Ndb5) 6… bxc6 7. e5 Nd5\n8. Ne4 Qc7 9. f4 $146 {This was the first game to play this move.} f5 (9… Qb6\n10. c4 Bb4+ 11. Ke2 f5 12. Nf2 Ba6 13. Kf3 Ne7 14. Be3 Bc5 15. Bxc5 Qxc5 16.\nQd6 Qb6 17. b3 c5 18. Rd1 Bb7+ 19. Ke3 Qxd6 {is fairly modern theory.}) 10.\nexf6 Nxf6 11. Nxf6+ gxf6 12. Qh5+ Kd8 13. Bd2 d5 14. c4 Rb8 15. Qh4 Be7 $146 {\nhas never been seen since 1903.} 16. Bc3 Qb6 17. Be2 Kd7 18. cxd5 $16 cxd5 19.\nRd1 (19. O-O-O $16) 19… Rg8 20. Qh3 f5 21. Rf1 Ba6 22. Bd3 $2 {[#]} (22. Bxa6\nQxa6 23. g3) 22… Rg3 $3 {Deflection is the key idea. White must control e3\nor else.} 23. Qxg3 (23. hxg3 Qe3+ 24. Be2 Qxe2#) 23… Bh4 $1 24. Bxa6 {best}\nBxg3+ 25. hxg3 Qxa6 $17 26. Rh1 Rg8 27. Rxh7+ Kc6 $2 (27… Kd8) 28. Rh6 $2 (\n28. Rc1 $1 {Would have given White excellent winning chances.}) 28… Kb5 29.\nRxd5+ exd5 $1 30. Rxa6 Kxa6 $19 31. Kf2 Kb5 32. b3 Kc5 33. Kf3 d4 34. Bd2 Kd5\n35. Be1 Rc8 36. g4 fxg4+ 37. Kxg4 Rc2 38. g3 $2 (38. Kf3) 38… d3 39. Kg5 d2\n0-1\n[/pgn] \nPerlis (Ostend 1907) \n[pgn]\n[Event “Oostende Masters”]\n[Site “Ostend”]\n[Date “1907.06.20”]\n[Round “26”]\n[White “Perlis\, Julius”]\n[Black “Mieses\, Jacques”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B01”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “56”]\n[EventDate “1907.05.16”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “29”]\n[EventCountry “BEL”]\n[SourceTitle “HCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “2”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,56\,19\,36\,37\,50\,47\,63\,62\,58\,61\,42\,39\,11\,19\,-34\,6\,-44\,-36\,-52\,-63\,-61\,\n-61\,-61\,-42\,-36\,-37\,-25\,-41\,-49\,-50\,-56\,-57\,-61\,-60\,-76\,-66\,-60\,-55\,-95\,-83\,\n-194\,-263\,-475\,-470\,-484\,-479\,-479\,-488\,-488\,-498\,-506\,-506\,-505\,-508\,-503\,\n-512\,-511\,-503]} 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bd3 Nc6 ({\nNowadays} 5… c6 {would be an automatic choice.} 6. Nge2 Bg4 7. f3 Bh5 8. O-O\ne6 9. Bf4 Nbd7) 6. Bd2 (6. Nge2) 6… e5 $6 {Mieses clearly had had his\nWeetabix that morning !} (6… Bf5 {is much more sensible.}) 7. Nb5 {tempting\nbut not very good.} ({Better was} 7. Bb5) 7… Qb6 8. Qe2 a6 9. Nc3 (9. dxe5\nNd5) 9… Bg4 $15 10. f3 Nxd4 11. Qxe5+ Be6 12. Nge2 Nxe2 13. Qxe2 O-O-O 14.\nO-O-O {White has survived the opening} Bd6 15. Bc4 Rhe8 16. Bxe6+ Rxe6 $17 17.\nQc4 Qf2 (17… Bxh2 $1 {Crushing was} 18. Rxh2 Rxd2 19. Rxd2 (19. Kxd2 Qe3#)\n19… Qg1+ 20. Rd1 Qxh2) 18. Qf1 Qc5 19. g3 Be5 $17 {Black’s control of the\ndark squares is telling….} 20. Qg2 $2 (20. f4 Rxd2 21. fxe5 Rxd1+ 22. Qxd1\nQe3+ 23. Kb1 Rxe5 $17) 20… Rb6 $19 21. Be1 $2 {[#]} Qe3+ 22. Bd2 {and now it\nis time to pause the video….} Bxc3 $3 23. Bxe3 (23. bxc3 Qc5 24. Rde1 Nd5 25.\nQh3+ Kb8) 23… Bxb2+ 24. Kb1 Bd4+ 25. Kc1 Bxe3+ 26. Rd2 Bxd2+ 27. Qxd2 Rb1+ $1\n28. Kxb1 Rxd2 0-1\n[/pgn] \nand Schlechter (Vienna 1908). \nPersonally a very witty man (and something of a bon vivant) Mieses did not invest his writing with the same sparkle; both as a journalist and author he was rather dry and sober. He edited the eighth edition of the famous Handbuch\, several editions of the ‘little Dufresne’\, and published several primers as well as a treatise on blindfold play and an anthology Instructive Positions from Master Chess\, London\, 1938. \nOne of Mieses’s most important contributions to chess history was the payment of travelling and living expenses during a tournament\, which he insisted on when running the famous tournament at San Sebastian 1911 – it was only thenceforth that this procedure became the norm.” \nJacques Mieses\nHere is an obituary written by DJ Morgan from British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXIV (74\, 1954)\, Number 4 (April)\, pp. 107-108 : \nLast month we made brief mention of the death\, on February 23rd at a London Nursing Home\, of the old grandmaster\, on the verge of his eighty-ninth birthday. He was the last surviving link with a distant and largely-forgotten era. Mieses entered the international arena in the days of the great Romantics\, of Zukertort\, Charousek\, and Tchigorin. He reached his heyday in the times of Tarrasch\, Schlechter\, and Maróczy. But he could never assimilate the canons of this Classical School\, derived from Steinitz and codified and promulgated by Tarrasch. He preferred the dynamic to the static. He played the Scotch Game in tournaments long after it hat been\ndiscarded by Steinitz and Blackburne; the Danish Gambit and the Vienna became in his hands instruments of great attacking potential. As Black he long favoured the Centre Counter Defence\, and with it he brought off a number of thrilling victories in such great tournaments as those of Ostend\, 1907\, Carlsbad\, 1907\, Vienna\, 1908\, and St. Petersburg\, 1909. \nNice Masters\, 1931. Standing : Daniel Noteboom\, Abraham Baratz\, George Renaud (Organiser)\, Telling (Tournament Director)\, Marcel Duchamp\, Brian Reilly (winner)\, Seated : Eugene Znokso-Borovsky\,\, Arpad Vajda\, Sir George Thomas\, Jacques Mieses\, Stefano Roselli del Turco\, Jacob Adolf Seitz. British Chess Magazine\, 1931\, page 201\nJacques Mieses was born on February 27th\, 1865\, at Leipsic\, and was educated at the university there\, and in Berlin. In the capital he joined\, at seventeen\, one of the city’s chess clubs\, and soon won the first prize in its annual tournament. Nevertheless\, his earlier days were devoted mainly to the theoretical side of the game and to problems of which he was a good composer and a phenomenal solver. His public career really began with a tie for second place at Nuremberg\, 1888\, with the third prize at Leipsic in the same year\, followed by a third\, behind Tarrasch and Burn\, at Breslau\, 1889. His subsequent achievements span the years and are recorded in the literature of the game. He played at the famous Hastings 1895 (and was its sole survivor); fifty years later he played at a Hastings Christmas Congress. His preference for the speculative and the spectacular to the then ultra-modern-prevented him from winning the major prizes of the games. As we look up the record’s we can readily see how unpredictable his performances were. Thus\, in 1907\, a first at Vienna early in the year was followed later by an equal sixteenth-eighteenth at Carlsbad. But his Brilliancy Prizes were numerous: such endings as those v. Janowski\, Paris\, 1900; v. Reggio\, Monte Carlo\, 1903 (quoted\, incidentally\, as Diagram 52 in Fine’s The Middle Game in Chess\, but without giving its source); v. Znosko-Borovsky\, Ostend\, 1907; and v. Schlechter\, Vienna\, 1908\, will always be the delight of anthologists. \nJacques Mieses\nAs well as playing incessantly in match and tournament\, Mieses wrote copiously on all aspects of the game\, analytically as well as in a literary manner\, in books as well as in magazines. Three of his little books\, The Chess Pilot\, Manual of the End-game\, and Instructive Positions from Master Chess\, have enjoyed a long and wide popularity in English. \n24th April 1935: J Mieses of Germany in play against PS Milner-Barry during the Premier Tournament of the Kent County Chess Association in the Grand Hotel\, Margate. (Photo by F. Sayers/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)\nTwo personal memories come to the writer’s mind. We first met him during the Liverpool congress-of 1923 ((1) Mieses\, (2) Maróczy). one morning we took a stroll together up Dale Street\, a stroll which developed into a tie-hunting expedition\, ending up with a fine selection on his part to take back to a Germany emerging from recent disaster. He left the impression of a courteous and cultured man\, precise in speech and with something of the military in his bearing. ln 1939\, on hearing of his whereabouts\, we called at his lodgings in Camden Town one Sunday morning. We were diffidently greeted by a seriously-crippled Mieses\, who had recently\, under great difficulties\, made his exit from a Germany once more faced with disaster. \n24th April 1935: J Mieses of Germany in play against PS Milner-Barry during the Premier Tournament of the Kent County Chess Association in the Grand Hotel\, Margate. (Photo by F. Sayers/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)\nBut the prim and chivalrous personality soon exerted itself. His many English friends rallied round him in his exile\, all culminating in the great tribute paid to him on his eightieth birthday. Mon March 15th\, 1945\, at the Lud-Eagle Chess Club\, a large number of friends and admirers gathered to pay their respects. A cheque\, subscribed to by members of the club\, was presented to the veteran master. He had\, he said in his acknowledgement\, sought asylum in England\, and he had been shown great kindness and sympathy. The final gift was a last resting-place in the East London (Ed : we now know this to be East Ham) Jewish Cemetery. – DJM. \nObituary of Jacques Mieses by DJ Morgan. British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXIV (74\, 1954)\, Number 4 (April)\, pp. 107-108.\nObituary of Jacques Mieses by DJ Morgan. British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXIV (74\, 1954)\, Number 4 (April)\, pp. 107-108.\n[pgn]\n[Event “Ostend”]\n[Site “Ostend”]\n[Date “1906.06.07”]\n[Round “3”]\n[White “Mieses\, Jacques”]\n[Black “Chigorin\, Mikhail Ivanovich”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C25”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “29”]\n[EventDate “1906.06.05”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “31”]\n[EventCountry “BEL”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2020”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2019.10.17”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2019.10.17”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,29\,19\,31\,34\,33\,25\,25\,19\,-2\,9\,41\,71\,71\,142\,94\,94\,128\,128\,128\,145\,36\,\n299\,299\,299\,667\,685\,421\,811\,840\,839\,669]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Qg4\nQf6 $6 (4… Kf8 $142) 5. Nd5 Qxf2+ 6. Kd1 {[%csl Gc7\,Gg7]} Kf8 7. Nh3 Qd4 8.\nd3 {[%cal Gc1e3]} d6 {[%cal Gc8g4]} 9. Qh4 $18 (9. Qg3) 9… Bxh3 10. Qxh3 Na5\n11. Rf1 $1 Nxc4 12. Qd7 f6 13. Nxf6 $1 (13. Bh6) 13… Qf2 14. Rxf2 Bxf2 15.\nNh5 1-0\n[/pgn] \nJacques Mieses\nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“Jacques Mieses was born in Leipzig. He won the chess championship of Berlin at the age of 17\, and in 1888 he placed joint second at Leipzig and third at Nuremberg. \nIn 1889 he came third at Breslau (1889). He was\, however\, rather eclipsed by two great emerging talents – Emanuel Lasker and Siegbert Tarrasch. Mieses was crushed by Lasker in a match – Lasker – Mieses (1889/90) in Leipzig (December 1889 to January 1890). He also performed poorly at 8th DSB Kongress (1893) coming only 7th out of 9 against a field which was relatively weak compared to previous DSB congresses. \n1894-95 was a busy period for Mieses. He drew a match with Karl August Walbrodt. (+5\, =3\,-5) in Berlin (May-June 1894). Mieses then played in the extremely strong 9th DSB Kongress\, Leipzig (1894) (3rd-14th September\, 1894) coming 10th out of 18. He had then toured Russia giving simultaneous displays\, before travelling to Paris to play a match with David Janowski (8th January to 4th February 1895). \nVera Menchik plays Jacques Mieses in their match in 1942\n  \nMieses then crossed the English Channel to play a short match against Richard Teichmann in London (16th – 21st February 1895) which he lost by +1 =1 -4. A month later he played this match\, Mieses next professional engagement would be (which was his first tournament outside his own country) came at the famous Hastings event of 1895. Although he finished only twentieth (in a field of 22 players)\, he soon adapted to this level of play and in 1907 he took first prize at the Vienna tournament scoring ten points from thirteen games. \nIn 1909\, Mieses played a short blindfold match with Carl Schlechter\, winning it with two wins and one draw. The very next year Schlechter played Emanuel Lasker for the World Championship and drew the match 5-5. \nMieses tried his hand as a tournament organiser in 1911\, putting together the San Sebastian event that marked the international debut of future World Champion Jose Raul Capablanca. Mieses was defeated by one of Lasker’s title challengers\, Siegbert Tarrasch\, in a match in 1916 (+2 -7 =4). In 1938 Mieses resettled in England and took British citizenship. He was awarded the grandmaster title in 1950.” \nJacques Mieses.Jewish chess master from Germany; 1938 Escape from the Naziregime to England.27.2.1865 Leipzig – 23.2.1954 London.Simultaneous play in the Bar Kochba club against 25 chess players\, in the foreground: Mieses (left) against Felix A. Theilhaber.Photo\, undated\, around 1935 (Abraham Pisarek).\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld : \nGerman-born Jewish player and author from Leipzig\, International Grandmaster (1950)\, International Arbiter\n(1951). He never assimilated the positional ideas of Steinitz and Tarrasch; instead he preferred to set up a game with the direct object of attacking the enemy king\, a style that brought him many brilliancy prizes but few successes in high-level play. His best result was at Vienna 1907\, the first Trebitsch Memorial tournament\, when he won first prize ( +9 =2 —2) ahead of Duras\, Maróczy and Schlechter. Later in the year he shared third prize with Nimzowitsch after Bernstein and Rubinstein in a 28-round tournament at Ostend. He played 25 matches\, mostly short\, and won six of them including a defeat of Schlechter in 1909 (+2-1). \nMieses reported chess events\, edited chess columns\, and wrote several books. In 1921 he published a supplement to the eighth edition of Bilguer’s Handbuch\, and he revised several editions of Dufresne’s popular Lehrbuck des Schachspiels\, He also organized chess events\, including the tournament at San Sebastian in 1911 for which he insisted that competitors were paid for travel and board\, a practice that later became normal. \nAfter living in Germany for 73 years he escaped the clutches of the Nazis and sought refuge in England. A prim\, courteous\, and dignified old gentleman\, still upright in bearing\, he became widely liked in his adopted country. Asked about his lameness in one leg\, caused by a street accident in 1937\, he merely answered ‘it was my turn to move\,’ Soon after naturalization he became the first British player to be awarded the International Grandmaster title. A generation before him his uncle Samuel Mieses (1841-84) had been a German player of master strength. \nIn the various publications of Edward Winter there are many and varied references to Mieses. We recommend you consult : Kings\, Commoners and Knaves\, Chess Facts and Fables and Chess Explorations to read them. \nAccording to Edward Winter in Chess Notes JM lived at the following addresses : \n\nTauchaerstrasse\, Leipzig\, Germany (Wiener Schachzeitung\, July 1904\, page 211).\nChristianstrasse 23\, Leipzig\, Germany (Düsseldorf\, 1908 tournament book\, page 176).\nWettiner Str. 32\, Leipzig\, Germany (Ranneforths Schach-Kalender\, 1915\, page 70).\nChristianstrasse 19II\, Leipzig\, Germany (Ranneforths Schachkalender\, 1925\, page 158).\n8 Fitzjohns Avenue\, London NW3\, England (Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club visitors’ book\, 27 December 1945*).\n\n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrt9-OQ23x8[/embedyt]
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-jacques-mieses/
CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/mieses_foto.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210224
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210225
DTSTAMP:20220221T102314Z
CREATED:20200403T170437Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220221T102314Z
UID:4033-1614124800-1614211199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Graham Burgess (24-ii-1968)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Graham K Burgess (24-ii-1968) \nFIDE Master Graham Burgess needs no introduction to readers of English language chess books ! Minnesota\, USA based\, Graham has authored more than twenty five books and edited at least 250 and is editorial director of Gambit Publications Ltd. In 1994 Graham set a world record for marathon blitz playing and has been champion of the Danish region of Funen ! \nDesert Island Chess Puzzle Omnibus\, Adams\, Nunn\, Burgess\, So\, Gambit Publications Ltd.\, 2021\, ISBN-13 : 978-1911465652\n 
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-graham-k-burgess-24-ii-1968/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/gb.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210224
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210225
DTSTAMP:20210221T171133Z
CREATED:20200411T141006Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210221T171133Z
UID:4444-1614124800-1614211199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Jonathan Rogers (24-ii-1972)
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-jonathan-w-rogers-24-ii-1972/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/JEU5968.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210225
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210226
DTSTAMP:20210305T161528Z
CREATED:20200221T110026Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T161528Z
UID:3368-1614211200-1614297599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM David Goodman (25-ii-1958)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM David Simon Charles Goodman (25-ii-1958) \nFrom Chessgames.com : \n“David Simon Charles Goodman was awarded the IM title in 1983. He was World Under 18 Champion in 1975. He played #10 on the English national team in Moscow.\nHe currently resides in New York City where he is a chess trainer for promising young students.” \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nIM David Goodman\n[pgn]\n[Event “England”]\n[Site “England”]\n[Date “1978.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Goodman\, David SC”]\n[Black “Nunn\, John DM”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A28”]\n[WhiteElo “2320”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “47”]\n[EventDate “1978.??.??”]\n[EventType “game”]\n[EventRounds “1”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2010”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2010.11.25”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2010.11.25”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,47\,19\,-12\,-27\,-33\,-27\,-19\,-14\,-26\,-23\,-26\,-17\,-43\,-6\,-64\,-44\,-47\,-47\,\n-47\,-8\,-33\,-30\,-11\,-28\,-50\,21\,17\,38\,19\,9\,21\,-23\,-12\,-20\,-56\,350\,345\,346\,347\,\n347\,347\,347\,347\,381\,392\,760\,29996\,29997\,29998]} 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6\n4. e3 Bb4 5. Qc2 O-O 6. Nd5 Re8 7. Qf5 {First played in 1977 by Keene versus\nKorchnoi.} d6 8. Nxf6+ gxf6 9. Qh5 d5 10. a3 Bf8 11. d4 Be6 12. Bd3 e4 13. Bc2\nNe7 14. Nd2 f5 15. cxd5 Qxd5 16. f3 Qc6 $11 17. Nxe4 Qxc2 $2 (17… Nd5 18. Nc5\nBxc5 19. dxc5 Qxc5 20. Bd3 $11) 18. Nf6+ $18 Kg7 19. e4 Qxc1+ 20. Rxc1 Kxf6 21.\nQxh7 Ng6 22. e5+ Kg5 23. h4+ Kf4 24. Kf2 1-0\n[/pgn] \n(from l-r) Jonathan Kinlay\, Shaun Taulbut\, Jonathan Speelman\, David Goodman and Jonathan Mestel accepting 1st prize at the 1978 World U26 Student Olympiad in Mexico City\nShaun Taulbut (upper right) and David Goodman (lower right) from the 1978 U26 Olympiad
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-david-simon-charles-goodman-25-ii-1958/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,History,Player
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200226
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200227
DTSTAMP:20260817T141227Z
CREATED:20200709T181114Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T141227Z
UID:7201-1582675200-1582761599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary for CGM Adrian Hollis (02-viii-1940  26-ii-2013)
DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers CGM Adrian Hollis who passed away in Wells\, Somerset on Tuesday\, February 26th 2013  at the age of seventy-two. \nAdrian Swayne Hollis was born in Bristol\, Avon on Friday\, August 2nd 1940. During this critical period the Luftwaffe was wisely extending its Battle of Britain targets to include Britain’s airfields. Furthermore\, Bristol was bombed heavily between June 1940 and May 1944. The longest period of regular bombing\, known as the ‘Bristol Blitz’ began in autumn 1940 and ended the following spring. The first bombs of the Bristol Blitz fell at around 6 pm on Sunday 24 November 1940. \nAdrian was the only child of MI5 director general Roger Henry Hollis KB CBE (later to become Sir Roger Hollis) and Evelyn Esme Hollis (née Swayne) who was Roger’s first wife. Roger was from Wells and Evelyn from Burnham-on-Sea and they were married on July 17th 1937 in Wells Cathedral with Evelyn’s father performing the ceremony. \nAdrian won a scholarship in classics to Eton College and then went up to Keble College\, Oxford where he took a first in mods and greats. Whilst at Keble Adrian represented Oxford in four varsity matches between 1959 and 1962. Indeed\, his support for varsity matches was maintained for many years attending a large number into and beyond the Lloyds Bank era. Stalwart organiser Henry Mutkin would always be sure to extend an invitation. \nIn 1961 Adrian become the youngest ever West of England Champion at the age of 21. \nAdrian met Margaret Mair Cameron Edwards in 1967 at St. Andrew’s University where he taught Classics and she taught German. They married and had two daughters\, Jennifer (b. 1974) and Veronica (b. 1977) and a son. \nHe was the Games Editor for the British Correspondence Chess Association (BCCA) resigning in 1969. \nIn 1984 Adrian was forced to endure allegations against his father by Chapman Pincher (in CPs book Too Secret too Long) that Sir Roger had been a Soviet spy / mole. These allegations were demonstrated to be false. He may well also have been aware of allegations against his friend and chess mentor Graham Mitchell earlier in 1963. Ironically\, it was Adrian’s father who initiated the investigation into Graham. Again\, the rumours were shown to be unfounded. \nAdrian became a director of the company Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Limited on the September 1st 1996 and resigned on May 12th 2007. He was also a Vice President of the West of England Chess Union (WECU). \nBetween 2003 and 2007 (according to the Electoral Roll) Adrian lived at 63\, Bainton Road\, Oxford\, OX2 7AG : \n63\, Bainton Road\, Oxford\, OX2 7AG\nand following his retirement (and the time of the 2008 electoral roll) Adrian had moved to Pound House\, Southover\, Wells\, BA5 1UH : \nPound House\, Southover\, Wells\, BA5 1UH\nAdrian has written many learned papers and has had two books published : \nFragments of Roman Poetry C.60 BC-Ad 20\, AS Hollis\, Oxford University Press\, 2007\nand \nOvid Metamorphoses VIII (Schools Edition): Bk. 8\, AS Hollis. Oxford University Press\, 2008\nDuring his time at Keble College\, Adrian engaged with and mentored many chess players including Jonathan Rowson (1996)\, David Norwood (1988)\, Julian Way\, David Goodman (1977) and Dharshan Kumaran (1993). \nCGM Adrian Hollis\nJulian was a personal student of Adrian’s and was kind enough to tell us : \nI do remember Adrian well. He could quote Latin verse ad infinitum. He was an expert on Ovid.\nIn terms of chess he had a huge pile of Informators in his study still in their cardboard packaging. He was very kind to me and insisted I play above him for Keble in the intercollegiate matches. \nI gave him a copy of Developments in the Orthodox QGD which I had written in 1987. He was quite taken back when I didn’t want any money for it. He seemed to have quite a lot of respect for me. \nI once asked him why he had given me a place at Oxford. He replied that he couldn’t have rejected someone with my passion and enthusiasm.\nI kept in touch with Adrian until his passing. He gave me a lovely reference when I resumed my studies in 2007 at Kingston University.\nI remember him as a kind and unassuming man. He became a lifelong friend. \nCGM Adrian Hollis\nFrom British Chess (Pergamon Press\, 1983) Botterill\, Levy\, Rice and Richardson : \n“I was born on August 2nd\, 1940\, educated at Eton and Christ Church\, Oxford and now teach Classics at Keble College\, Oxford. I learned the moves at the advanced age of thirteen from a cousin who himself could have made a good chess player had he not been seduced by Philosophy and brain-teasers; all that remains in the mind from these encounters is a vision of perpetually losing my rooks to fianchettoed bishops. \nAdrian Hollis. Source : The Potter Memorial\nMy first ever tournament was the London Boys’ Championship 1956-7. In the opening round fate allotted me Black against David Rumens. As it happened\, the brochure included a game of his from the previous year in which he had answered 1.d4 with 1…Nc6\, quite enough\, in my opinion\, to condemn his utterly. \n[fen]r1bqkbnr/pppppppp/2n5/8/3P4/8/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \n(Ed: The above position did not impress Adrian hugely.) \nThis view seemed confirmed when within twelve moves of an advance French I was two pawns up. Then\, however\, aided by my over confidence he worked up a fierce attack\, and I just escaped with a draw. Nevertheless\, I won the tournament; an opponent remarked how quickly I played my moves. \nThereafter the game was never so easy\, but I did reasonably\, well\, winning the championships of the British Universities\, West of England and East of Scotland\, and playing for England quite regularly during the 1960s (including 7.5/12 in six Anglo-Dutch matches). \nLeonard Barden\, Henry Mutkin\, Adrian Hollis and Bob Wade observe Nick Ivell vs Ken Regan at the 1983 Varsity match\nThe high spot of my over-the-board chess was the series of World Student team championships from 1960 to 1964 in glamorous places (Leningrad\, Helsinki\, Mariánské Lázně\, Budva and Cracow); most enjoyable of these being Budva\, 1963 where one could bathe every day in the Adriatic and I won the (?) gold medal on Board 1 with 7.5/9.\, the year after Spassky (this must look good in the records\, unless they happen to reveal that for the first time in preliminary and final sections\, and that England did not qualify for the top final). \n[pgn]\n[Event “Paignton”]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “1966.09.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Hollis\, Adrian Swayne”]\n[Black “Beach\, Richard A”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “E63”]\n[Annotator “BCN”]\n[PlyCount “35”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM\, 1966\, page 289\, game”] \n{[%evp 0\,25\,61\,14\,28\,-9\,54\,37\,37\,18\,25\,20\,27\,19\,18\,29\,45\,2\,38\,27\,5\,20\,14\,3\,7\,\n-4\,24\,-17]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3\na6 8. b3 Rb8 9. Bb2 b5 10. cxb5 axb5 11. d5 Na5 12. Nd4 b4 13. Nb1 $11 {[#]} (\n13. Na4 e5 14. Nc2 Bd7 15. Ne3 Bh6 16. Bc1 Bxa4 17. bxa4 b3 18. Bd2) 13… e6 (\n13… e5) 14. a3 bxa3 15. Rxa3 c5 $2 ({Correct was} 15… e5 16. Rxa5 exd4 17.\nRa3 $16) 16. dxc6 {[#]} {Black punted} Nc4 $2 {but had missed} 17. Qc1 $1 $18 (\n{Black was hoping for} 17. bxc4 Rxb2 18. Nc3 $18) 17… Bh6 18. Qxc4 $1 {\nand Black resigned} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nMy best chess was probably played at Mariánské Lázně\, 1962\, where in successive rounds I had favourable draws with Radulov and Hort\, coming close to beating the latter. Ironically\, I was awarded the British Master title after I had virtually retired from over-the-board chess. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Paignton”]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “1966.09.??”]\n[Round “3”]\n[White “Hartston\, William Roland”]\n[Black “Hollis\, Adrian Swayne”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “A05”]\n[Annotator “Hollis\, Keene & BCN”]\n[PlyCount “80”]\n[SourceTitle “The Spectator\, 20th April”] \n{[%evp 0\,18\,19\,-22\,0\,-31\,-9\,-5\,9\,-19\,-25\,-22\,-34\,-17\,-10\,5\,21\,21\,31\,5\,13]} {\nThis game appeared in The Spectator\, April 20th\, 2013 as part of an obituary\nfrom Ray Keene. The original source was British Chess Magazine\, 1966\, page 302\,\ngame #14\,225.} 1. g3 Nf6 2. Bg2 d5 3. Nf3 g6 4. b4 {ASH : This set-up\, in fact\na primitive form of the Reti\, has been patronised recently by Smyslov\, among\nothers. RDK : This set-up\, a form of the Reti\, has been championed by\,\namongst others\, Vassily Smyslov.} Bg7 5. Bb2 O-O 6. O-O a5 ({BCN : Nowadays}\n6… c6 7. d3 a5 8. a3 axb4 9. axb4 Rxa1 10. Bxa1 Qb6 11. c3 Nbd7 12. Nbd2 e5\n13. e4 Re8 {is the modern (2020) continuation.}) 7. b5 ({ASH :} 7. a3 {\, or}) (\n{even} 7. c3 {came into consideration here.}) 7… c5 $146 {BCN : This was the\nfirst game to feature this position.} 8. d3 (8. bxc6 {ASH: was quite possible.}\n) 8… b6 $146 {BCN : This is the only recorded game with this move.} 9. c4 e6\n{ASH : Black decides to maintain a pawn centre\, without worrying if the pawns\nshould hang. RDK : Black decides to create a pawn centre without worrying if\nthe pawns will end up hanging.} 10. Qc2 Bb7 11. Nbd2 Nbd7 {[#]} 12. e3 {\nRDK : White has to prevent … d4 and … e5.} Qc7 13. Rad1 ({ASH : Harston\nlater preferred RDK: Hartston later preferred} 13. Rac1 Rad8) 13… Rad8 14.\nQb1 e5 {ASH : Somewhat risky\, but the only way to progress. RDK : Somewhat\nrisky\, but the only way to make progress.} 15. cxd5 Nxd5 16. Nc4 Rfe8 17. Qa1\nf6 18. Rc1 Nf8 19. d4 exd4 20. exd4 Ne6 21. Rfd1 {[#]} Ndf4 $1 $17 {ASH :\nSeizing his chance. This sacrifice is necessary because the central position\nis beginning to look rickety\, and appears to be sound. White has terrible\nweaknesses and his queen is marooned far away. RDK : Seizing his chance.\nThis sacrifice is necessary because the central position is beginning to look\nrickety. The sacrifice looks sound as White has terrible weaknesses and his\nqueen is miles away.} 22. gxf4 Nxf4 23. Ne3 (23. Bh1 Qd7 {ASH : is too slow.})\n(23. d5 {ASH : Might be a shade better – see next note.}) 23… Nxg2 $19 24.\nKxg2 Be4 $1 (24… Qf4 {ASH : is also possible but the win would not be so\neasy after} 25. d5 Rxd5 26. Rxd5 Bxd5 27. Nxd5 Qg4+ {ASH : etc}) 25. Nf1 Qf4\n26. Rc3 cxd4 27. Rcd3 Rd5 28. Qc1 Qg4+ 29. Ng3 Rf5 30. h3 {ASH : There is\nnothing better} Bxf3+ 31. Kh2 Rh5 32. Rxf3 Qxf3 33. Nxh5 {ASH : The rest is\nstraightforward} Qxf2+ {RDK : Now it’s straightforward for Black.} 34. Kh1\nQf3+ 35. Kg1 gxh5 36. Bxd4 Qg3+ 37. Kh1 Qxh3+ 38. Kg1 Qg4+ 39. Kh1 Rc8 40. Qd2\nRd8 {and White resigned.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nIn 1964 I decided that henceforth for me ‘serious’ chess would mean correspondence\, while OTB became a pleasant social activity. My introduction to the postal game had been made about 1955 by a colleague of my father’s\, International Master Graham Mitchell\, to whom I owe an enormous debt for the patience and kindness with which he played a series of games\, bearing with me when I lost interest in worsening positions. The switch to postal play was caused by a number of factors\, negative and positive : an impending move to Scotland\, where there was less OTB chess\, frustration at constantly spoiling good positions through mistakes in time pressure – on the other hand a feeling that correspondence chess should suit an academic temperament\, and a particularly fascinating game played in 1963-4 with Michael Haygarth (see below) on which I spent so much time and energy that I almost feared it would ruin my post-graduate exams. \n[pgn]\n[Event “County Correspondence Championship”]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “1963.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Haygarth\, Michael John”]\n[Black “Hollis\, Adrian Swayne”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B78”]\n[Annotator “ASH & British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “106”]\n[SourceTitle “British Chess\, page 104”]\n[WhiteTeam “Yorkshire”]\n[BlackTeam “Somerset”] \n{[%evp 0\,20\,19\,38\,40\,41\,66\,77\,66\,55\,55\,20\,70\,53\,40\,34\,30\,28\,47\,32\,47\,-3\,30]} 1.\ne4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Bc4 (\n8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 e5 13. Bc5 Be6 14.\nNe4 Re8 15. h4 h6 16. g4 Qc7 17. g5 h5 18. Bc4 Red8 19. Qf2 {is modern\npractise.}) 8… Nc6 9. Qd2 Bd7 10. h4 (10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. h4 h5 13.\nBg5 Rc5 14. Kb1 b5 15. g4 hxg4 16. h5 Nxh5 17. Nd5 Re8 18. Rxh5 gxh5 19. Qh2\nRxd5 20. Bxd5 Qb6 21. Qxh5 e6 22. Bb3) 10… Rc8 {ASH : At that time people\nalways played the queen’s rook to c8. Later it became the custom to play …\nQa5 and …Rfc8. Later still fashion swung back.} 11. Bb3 Ne5 (11… h5 12.\nO-O-O Ne5) 12. Bh6 {ASH : Of all the attacking possibilities\, White chooses a\nrelatively ineffective one.} ({The modern way is} 12. O-O-O h5 13. Bg5 Rc5 14.\nKb1 b5 15. g4 hxg4 16. h5 Nxh5 17. Nd5 Re8 18. Rxh5 gxh5 19. Qh2 Rxd5 20. Bxd5\nQb6 {transposes to a previous line.}) 12… Nc4 {ASH : A nice little finesse.}\n13. Bxc4 Bxh6 ({more usual is} 13… Rxc4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. h5 Qa5 16. hxg6\nfxg6 (16… hxg6 $4 17. Qh6+ Kg8 18. Qh8#) 17. O-O-O) 14. Qxh6 ({Believe it or\nnot\,} 14. Bxf7+ $4 Kg7 $1 {ASH : Resigns\, has actually occurred in an\ninternational (over-the-board!) tournament. BCN : It was\, in fact\, Zuidema\n– Lee\, Zurich Junior\, 1964.} (14… Kxf7 $2 15. Qxh6) (14… Rxf7 $2 15. Qxh6\n$14)) 14… Rxc4 15. O-O-O Rxc3 16. bxc3 Qa5 {ASH : Black has carried out his\nexchange sacrifice under unusually favourable circumstances.} 17. Kb2 Rc8 {[#]}\n18. Rd3 ({ASH : In a later game (British Correspondence Championship 1965-6).\nS.Milan played against me} 18. Qd2 Rc4 19. Nb3 {\, keeping more active chances\n(the game was drawnin 50 moves).}) 18… Bb5 19. Nxb5 {The exchange of minor\npeices suite Black.} (19. Qg5 Rc5 {would be ingenious but not better.}) 19…\nQxb5+ 20. Ka1 Rc5 21. Rb1 Qa6 22. Qc1 Ra5 23. Rb2 b6 24. Qb1 Nd7 25. Rb4 Ne5\n26. Re3 Nc4 {[#] ASH : Black’s knight has reached ideal squares\, and for the\nnext few moves makes the White rooks dance to his tune.} 27. Rd3 Rc5 28. Qe1\nRa5 29. Qb1 Ne5 30. Re3 ({ASH : Not} 30. Rd5 Rxd5 31. exd5 Qe2 {and White’s\nposition collapses.}) 30… Rc5 31. Rb3 b5 32. Qd1 Qc6 33. Qd4 Nc4 34. Rd3 a5\n35. g4 {ASH : Natural\, but in the end providing a target.} a4 36. Rb4 Ne5 37.\nRe3 Qc8 $1 38. Kb1 {[#] ASH : Something must fall so White decides to return\nthe exchange.} h5 $1 39. gxh5 Nc6 40. Qd3 Nxb4 41. cxb4 Rxh5 42. e5 {Unable to\nprotect his weaknesses\, White tries to break out.} Rxe5 43. Rxe5 dxe5 44. Qxb5\nQc3 45. Qxa4 Qxf3 46. b5 e4 47. b6 e3 48. Qb3 Qf1+ 49. Kb2 e2 50. b7 e1=Q 51.\nb8=Q+ Kh7 52. Q8b6 Qc1+ 53. Kc3 Qcf4 {White resigns. A remarkable position\,\nwith four queens on the board. Material is level\, but the exposed White king\nis helpless. This game was played just before I left Oxford to teach in\nScotland (where\, at that time\, over-the-board chess was not so strong as it\nhas since become)\, and it was to a great extent responsible for turning my\nmain interest to postal chess.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nIn 1964-5 I qualified for the British Championship by winning a candidates’ section with 100%\, and then competed three times in the British Championship itself (1965-6\, 1966-7\, 1970-71)\, winning on each occasion (the first time jointly with S. Milan) and remaining unbeaten. International play also proved successful\, and I soon collected the two norms necessary for the IM title (Ed: awarded in 1970). \nLinda Brownson (Newnham & Basildon)\, left\, playing Maria Eagle (Pembroke & Formby) being observed by John Nunn\, Adrian Hollis and Harry Golombek posing for the obligatory “staring at the board” picture for the 1981 Varsity Match sponsored by Lloyds Bank.\nThe first chance for the Grandmaster title came on Board 1 in the Seventh Olympiad final. Despite a rare loss with the White pieces(my only defeat with white for a stretch of 15 years)\, things went well\, including a lucky win against the reigning World Champion\, Horst Rittner\, and the enticing prospect beckoned if only I could beat the Russian Moiseyev. He held a slight advantage since the opening\, but I thought I saw the chance of tempting him to an incorrect sacrifice. Back came his move; he had indeed made the sacrifice and the envelope burnt a hole in my pocket during an important meeting (my mind was elsewhere). After a mere two days’ thought I sent my reply. The post between England and the USSR takes about a month for the return trip. Soon after posting my move\, as I was walking from the Ashmolean Museum to Keble\, just passing the front gate of St. John’s\, the realisation of what I had overlooked hit me\, and there followed an inexorable wait for the death blow which I now saw only too clearly. \nSo no Grandmaster title\, but Great Britain still took the bronze medals\, and I scored 6/9 (+5=1-2). \nBob Wade\, Harry Golombek and Adrian Hollis observe Penny Coxon (Newnam) and Anita Rakshit (St. Hilda’s) during the 1983 Varsity match sponsored by Lloyds Bank\nAnother opportunity came when the British Postal Chess Federation organised a tournament (1974-6) in memory of its former secretary RJ Potter.  This started inauspiciously for me with a heavy defeat at the hands of Grandmaster Endzelins of Australia.\, a country which has so far provided my least favourite opposition (not only is the postage extremely expensive\, but my score to date is 0/2). \nFrom The Potter Memorial\, Ken Messere\, Chess (Sutton Coldfield)\, 1979 we have this potted biography from Ken Messere : \nThe Potter Memorial\, Ken Messere\, Chess (Sutton Coldfield)\, 1979\n“Adrian Hollis is 36\, was educated at Eton and Oxford\, has written two books on the poet Ovid and is a Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Keble College\, Oxford. He is a British Master at over the board chess and has been Champion of British Universities\, West of England and East Scotland. \nIn 1964\, he went to teach at St. Andrews University where his wife\, Margaret\, taught German. They were married and moved to Keble College in 1967 and now have two daughters. Jennifer is nearly five and Veronica is two. \nAdrian began to concentrate on correspondence chess in 1964 and won the British Correspondence Chess Championship jointly in 1966 and outright in 1967 and 1971. He won the I.M. title in 1970 and his fine score of 6/9 on top board for Great Britain in the I.C.C.F. VIIth Correspondence Chess Olympiad Final contributed to the team’s winning the bronze medal in this event.” \nand now back to Adrian’s British Chess article… \nThereafter my fortunes improved; one opponent accepted too trustingly some faulty analysis by Szabo in Informator (for a while it seemed that the Hungarian might earn me not one but two points). The East German Dr. Baumbach failed to find an improvement in a line with which I had been successful in the Seventh Olympiad Final. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Potter Memorial corr7376”]\n[Site “corr”]\n[Date “1973.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Hollis\, Adrian Swayne”]\n[Black “Baumbach\, Fritz”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D44”]\n[Annotator “Baumbach\, ASH and BCN”]\n[PlyCount “63”]\n[EventDate “1973.??.??”]\n[EventType “tourn (corr)”]\n[EventRounds “12”]\n[SourceTitle “Myers”]\n[Source “Myers”]\n[SourceDate “2012.11.12”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2012.11.12”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%mdl 33284][%evp 0\,63\,19\,31\,32\,-10\,25\,31\,29\,4\,44\,-4\,-8\,27\,27\,28\,23\,24\,23\,20\,\n42\,40\,29\,37\,29\,-15\,64\,23\,79\,45\,12\,14\,15\,24\,38\,32\,81\,93\,66\,30\,25\,25\,35\,-38\,122\,\n205\,196\,191\,184\,184\,272\,340\,340\,293\,333\,518\,527\,532\,534\,534\,534\,534\,527\,533\,\n537\,541] Speelman: Really serious correspondence chess players are a breed\napart. In order to play “over-the-board” chess one must be able to maintian a\nreasonable level of concentration for up to five hours at a time; and also\npossibly to produce a quite prodigious amount of energy after (say) about four\nand a half hours. Correspondence players\, however\, must require a quite\ndifferent nervous system. In their case a game may last months or even years.\nIt will be necessary to sustain sufficient interest in\, and contact with\,\npossibly dozens of games simultaneously. There will not be a sudden explosion\nof frenetic activity in any game–i.e.\, time trouble–but rather a long hard\ngrind of analytical work\, work which can involve many hours of analysis on a\nsingle critical move. Adrian Hollis is\, together with Keith Richardson and\nPeter Clarke\, one of Great Britian’s three correspondence Grandmasters. A\nclassics don at Keble College\, Oxford\, he makes the time to play up to thirty\n(!) correspondence games simultaneously. This game\, against the East German\nFritz Baumbach\, is from the Potter Memorial tournament which Hollis won to\ngain the Grandmaster title. It is a very fine example of correspondence chess.\nAn exceedingly complicated theoretical opening leaves White with a clear\nadvantage\, which he exploits with beautifully precise middlegame play.} 1. d4 {\nMyers Speelman Baumbach} d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5\n7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Nxg5 {ASH : More natural} ({than} 9. exf6 {which also\nhas its supporters.}) 9… hxg5 ({ASH : Round about 1957 I spent many happy\nhours analysing} 9… Nd5 {\, a move which has recently been played and\nrecommended by George Botterill.} {is an intriguing possibility\, which remains\nquite unclear after} 10. Nxf7 Qxh4 11. Nxh8 Bb4) 10. Bxg5 Nbd7 11. exf6 ({\nASH : The immediate} 11. g3 {avoids any danger on the long white diagonal\, but\nblack can cause complications by} Qa5 12. exf6 b4) 11… Bb7 12. g3 $1 Qb6 ({\nASH : Whites move order may seem peverse\, in that it invites} 12… c5 {\nAnswered by} 13. d5 {However\, Black should look again at 12…c5\, and after 13.\nd5 probably 13…Ne5.}) 13. Bg2 O-O-O 14. O-O Ne5 {ASH : Botvinnik’s move in\nthe fifth game of the 1954 World Championship match against Smyslov\, who\ndeclined to put the idea to the test\,} (14… c5 {is still possible.}) 15. dxe5\n$1 ({ASH : Smyslov replied} 15. Qe2 {with a minimal advantage. Presumably\nBotvinnik had taken into account white’s queen sacrifice\, but it still seems\nvery strong.} Qxd4 16. Be3 Qd3 17. Rfd1 Qxe2 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Nxe2 Nd3 20. b3\nKc7 21. bxc4 bxc4 22. Bxa7 c5 23. Rb1 Bxg2 24. Bb8+ Kc6 25. Kxg2 Bh6 26. f4 e5\n27. a4 exf4 28. gxf4 c3 29. Nxc3 Bxf4 30. Bxf4 Nxf4+ 31. Kg3 Nh5+ 32. Kg4 Nxf6+\n33. Kg5 Nd5 34. Nxd5 Kxd5 35. h4 f6+ 36. Kg4 c4 37. a5 c3 38. a6 Ra8 39. Kf5\nRxa6 40. h5 Ra2 41. Kxf6 {Smyslov – Botvinnink\, 1954.}) 15… Rxd1 {[#]} 16.\nRfxd1 {MegaBase 2020 has moved the wrong rook to d1 but the position\ntransposes. Attempting to hack the pgn breaks many of the sub-variations as\nthere would be positions where either rook may move to e1 but the notation\nsays merely Re1. Ho hum!} ({The actual game move order was} 16. Raxd1 Bc5 17.\nNe4 Bd4 18. Nd6+ Kc7 19. Bf4 Rf8 20. Bh6 Rh8 21. Bg7 Rd8 22. Nxf7 Bxf2+ 23. Kh1\nRxd1 24. Rxd1 {transposes.}) 16… Bc5 (16… c5 17. Bf4 (17. Ne4 Bd5 18. h4 (\n18. Bf4 Qb7 19. Rxd5 exd5 20. Nc3 Bh6 21. Bxh6 Rxh6 22. Rd1 b4 23. Nxd5 Qa6 24.\nNe7+ Kc7 25. h4 Rh8 26. Rd6 Qa5 27. Nd5+ Kb8 28. Rd7 b3 29. axb3 Qe1+ 30. Bf1\nRg8 31. Rxf7 Rxg3+ 32. fxg3 Qxg3+ 33. Bg2 Qe1+ 34. Bf1 Qg3+ 35. Kh1 Qxh4+ 36.\nKg2 {1/2-1/2 Eldridge\,M-Van Damme\,L/corr ICCF 2009/}) 18… Qc6 19. Re1 Kb8 20.\nf3 a5 21. Kf2 a4 22. Nc3 Qa6 23. Nxd5 exd5 24. e6 fxe6 25. Bh3 a3 26. Rab1 Qa4\n27. Re2 e5 28. bxa3 Kc7 29. Rbe1 Bd6 30. f7 Rf8 31. Be6 d4 32. Bh6 d3 33. Bxf8\nBxf8 34. Rd2 c3 35. Rxd3 Qc2+ 36. Ke3 c4 37. Rd7+ Kb6 38. Red1 Bc5+ {0-1\nRutkowski\,P-Konieczny\,A/corr ICCF 2009/}) (17. Bxb7+ Qxb7 18. Rd2 (18. Re1 a5\n19. Ne4 a4 20. Bf4 Qa8 21. a3 Kc7 22. Rac1 Qc6 23. Rc2 Qa8 24. f3 Bh6 25. Bxh6\nRxh6 26. Rd1 Rh5 27. Rdd2 Rxe5 28. h4 Rxe4 29. fxe4 Qxe4 30. Re2 Qg4 31. Kh2 b4\n32. Rcd2 c3 33. bxc3 b3 34. Kg2 Qf5 35. Re1 Qxf6 {0-1 Hassim\,U-Kireev\,S/corr\nIECG 2009/}) 18… b4 19. Rad1 Qc6 20. Rd8+ Kc7 21. Ne2 Qa4 22. Be3 Bh6 23.\nR1d7+ Qxd7 24. Rxd7+ Kxd7 25. f4 Kc6 26. Kg2 a5 27. h4 Bf8 28. Kf3 Kd5 29. Bc1\nc3 30. bxc3 c4 31. Ng1 b3 32. a4 Kc6 33. Bb2 Bc5 34. Ne2 Rd8 35. Nd4+ Bxd4 36.\ncxd4 Kd5 37. Ke3 Rg8 38. Kf3 c3 39. Bxc3 Rc8 40. Bb2 Rc2 41. Ba3 Ra2 42. Bc1\nRxa4 43. Ke3 Ra2 44. Kd3 b2 45. Bxb2 Rxb2 46. f5 a4 47. fxe6 Kxe6 {0-1 Epiney\,\nF-Zielinski\,S/corr IECG 2003/}) 17… b4 (17… Bc6 18. Rd2 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 a6\n20. Rad1 Qc7 21. Ne4 a5 22. f3 a4 23. h4 a3 24. bxa3 Rh5 25. Kh3 Rh8 26. g4 Qa5\n27. Rd7 c3 28. Rxf7 c2 29. Rc1 Qxa3 30. Kg3 c4 31. g5 Qd3 32. Rxf8+ Rxf8 33. g6\n{1-0 Ingersol\,H-Almeida\,R/corr IECG 2009/}) 18. Ne4 Bd5 (18… Qb5 19. Rac1\nBxe4 20. Bxe4 Qa4 21. Rd2 c3 22. bxc3 bxc3 23. Re2 c4 24. Kg2 Qa5 25. h4 Ba3\n26. Rh1 Bf8 27. g4 Qd8 28. h5 Qd4 29. g5 Rg8 30. Kf3 Rh8 31. Kg4 {1-0 Lehnhoff\,\nH-Djoudi\,A/corr IECG 2006/}) 19. Rxd5 exd5 20. Ng5 Bh6 21. Nxf7 Bxf4 22. gxf4\nRf8 23. Bxd5 c3 24. Nd6+ (24. bxc3 bxc3 25. Nd6+ Kc7 26. Rc1 c2 27. Bb3 Rg8+\n28. Kf1 Rg4 29. Rxc2 Qc6 30. Be6 Rxf4 31. Kg1 Qf3 32. Rxc5+ Kb6 33. Rb5+ Kc6\n34. Bd5+ Qxd5 35. Rxd5 Kxd5 36. Nc8 Kxe5 37. Nxa7 Rxf6 {1/2-1/2 Schrancz\,\nI-Kireev\,S/corr IECG 2009/}) 24… Kd8 25. Nc4 Qb5 26. bxc3 bxc3 27. Ne3 Qb4\n28. Bb3 Qxf4 29. Rd1+ Kc8 30. Rd5 Kb8 31. Rxc5 Qg5+ 32. Kf1 Rxf6 33. exf6 Qxc5\n34. f7 a5 35. Nd5 a4 36. Nb6 Kc7 37. Nxa4 c2 38. Bxc2 Qc4+ 39. Kg2 Qxf7 40. Bb3\nQg7+ 41. Kf3 Qd4 42. Kg3 Kd6 43. Kg2 Ke5 44. Kg3 Qe4 45. h3 Qf4+ 46. Kg2 Qd4\n47. Kg3 Ke4 48. Bc2+ Kd5 49. Bb3+ Ke5 50. Kf3 Kf5 51. Kg3 Kg5 52. Kf3 Kh4 53.\nKg2 Qf6 54. Kf1 Kxh3 55. Ke2 Qd4 56. Be6+ Kg2 57. Bb3 Qe4+ 58. Kd2 Kxf2 59. Nb2\nQe2+ 60. Kc3 Qe5+ 61. Kc2 Ke2 62. Nc4 Qd4 63. a4 Qf4 64. Kc3 Qf6+ 65. Kc2 Qd4\n66. Na3 Qd2+ 67. Kb1 Qc3 68. Ka2 Qf6 69. Nc4 Kd3 70. Nb2+ Kc3 {0-1 Skeels\,\nJ-Kireev\,S/corr IECG 2008/}) (16… b4 17. Ne4 c5 (17… Qa5 18. Bf4 Bc5 19.\nRac1 (19. h4 c3 20. bxc3 bxc3 21. Rac1 Bb4 22. Nd6+ Bxd6 23. Rxd6 Rd8 24. Rxd8+\nKxd8 25. h5 Qxa2 26. h6 Qe2 27. h7 Qh5 28. Be4 Ba6 29. Kg2 {1-0 Borisenko\nBelovba\,V-Matveeva\,S/Tbilisi URS 1973/}) 19… c3 20. bxc3 bxc3 21. Rxc3 Bb4\n22. Rb3 Rd8 23. Rdb1 c5 24. Nd6+ Rxd6 25. Bxb7+ Kxb7 26. exd6 Kc6 27. Rd1 Kd7\n28. a3 Qa4 29. Rdb1 a5 30. axb4 c4 31. Rc3 Qa2 32. Rbc1 axb4 33. Rxc4 {1-0\nKolin\,J-Menges\,G/corr ICCF 2003/}) 18. a3 Bd5 (18… c3 19. bxc3 b3 20. c4 Qa6\n21. Nd2 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Qb7+ 23. f3 a5 24. a4 Qb4 25. Rab1 b2 26. Ne4 Qxa4 27.\nRd2 Qxc4 28. Rdxb2 a4 29. Be3 a3 30. Rb8+ Kc7 31. R1b7+ Kc6 32. Rxf7 a2 33. Ra7\n{1-0 Rensen\,M-Schild\,R/corr IECG 2009/}) 19. axb4 Qb7 20. Rxd5 exd5 21. Nc3\ncxb4 22. Nxd5 Qd7 23. Be3 Kb8 24. Bf4 Qe6 25. Be3 Qd7 26. Ra5 c3 27. bxc3 b3\n28. Bxa7+ Qxa7 29. Rxa7 Kxa7 30. Be4 b2 31. f4 Ba3 32. Kg2 Rc8 33. h4 Rc5 34.\nNe7 Rxc3 35. h5 Re3 36. Bf5 Re2+ 37. Kf3 Rh2 38. Kg4 Kb6 39. Kg5 Rh3 40. g4 Bc5\n41. Be4 Kb5 42. h6 Bf2 43. Nf5 Kc4 44. h7 Kb3 45. Nh6 Re3 46. Bb1 Re1 47. h8=Q\nRxb1 48. Qb8+ Kc2 49. Qc7+ Kd2 50. Qa5+ Kc2 51. Qa4+ Kc3 52. Qc6+ Kd2 53. Qd5+\nKc1 54. Qh1+ Kc2 55. Qg2 {1-0 Illescas Cordoba\,M-Morovic Fernandez\,I/Spain ESP\n1993/}) (16… Qc5 17. Bf4 b4 18. Ne4 Qa5 19. Rd4 c5 20. Rxc4 Bd5 21. Rcc1 Bxe4\n22. Bxe4 Bh6 23. Bxh6 Rxh6 24. Rc4 Kc7 25. Rac1 Kb6 26. a3 bxa3 27. bxa3 Qxa3\n28. Rb1+ Kc7 29. Rb5 Rh5 30. Rcxc5+ Kd7 31. Kg2 Qa1 32. Bc6+ Kd8 33. Rb8+ Kc7\n34. Rb7+ Kd8 35. Bd7 {1-0 Budde\,V-Hoffmann\,H/BL GER 1982/}) (16… Bb4 17. Ne4\nRd8 18. h4 Rd3 19. h5 Qd8 20. Rxd3 cxd3 21. Rd1 Kc7 22. a3 Ba5 23. Nd6 Qg8 24.\nBe3 Bb6 25. Bxb6+ Kxb6 26. Bf3 Qh7 27. b4 Ba8 28. g4 a5 29. Kg2 axb4 30. axb4\nBb7 31. Kg3 Ba6 32. Be4 Qg8 33. h6 c5 34. h7 Qf8 35. bxc5+ Kxc5 36. Nxf7 {\n1-0 Mollov\,E-Thierry\,C/Orange FRA 1994/}) (16… Qa5 17. Ne4 Bb4 (17… c5 18.\nNd6+ Bxd6 19. Bxb7+ Kxb7 20. Rxd6 c3 21. bxc3 Qxc3 22. Rad1 Rc8 23. Rd7+ Rc7\n24. Re7 Kc8 25. h4 b4 26. Rc1 Qb2 27. h5 Qe2 28. h6 Qh5 29. Be3 Rd7 30. Kg2 Rd3\n31. Rxc5+ Kd8 32. Rb5 Kc8 33. Bxa7 Qf3+ 34. Kh2 Qh5+ 35. Kg2 Qf3+ {1/2-1/2\nLoskamp\,S-Behle\,B/Porz GER 1995/}) 18. h4 Qc7 19. a3 Bf8 20. Nd6+ Bxd6 21. exd6\nQd7 22. a4 a6 23. Be3 Rh5 24. Bf3 Rf5 25. Bg4 Rd5 26. Bf4 Rxd1+ 27. Rxd1 c5 28.\naxb5 axb5 29. h5 b4 30. h6 Be4 31. Ra1 c3 32. bxc3 bxc3 33. f3 Bh7 34. Ra5 c2\n35. Rxc5+ Kd8 36. Rc7 Qa4 37. Bxe6 Qa1+ 38. Kf2 Qd4+ 39. Kg2 c1=Q 40. Bxc1 fxe6\n41. Rxh7 Qxd6 42. Ra7 Qc5 43. h7 Qxa7 44. h8=Q+ {1-0 Poletov\,V-Kuznezov\,A/Tula\nRUS 2006/}) 17. Ne4 $1 Bd4 (17… Rd8 $2 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Rd1+ Kc7 20. h4 $16\nBd4 21. h5 c5 22. h6 Bxe4 23. Bxe4 Bxe5 24. h7 Qb8 25. Kg2 Qh8 26. Rh1 Kb6 27.\nRd1 Kc7 28. Bf4 Bxf4 29. gxf4 Qxf6 30. Rh1 Qh8 31. f5 exf5 32. Bxf5 Kd6 33. Rh5\nf6 34. f4 Qe8 35. Bg4 Qh8 36. Kf1 b4 37. Bf5 Kd5 38. Rh3 Kd4 39. Rg3 Qa8 40.\nRh3 Qh8 41. Kf2 a5 42. Rh1 c3 43. Rd1+ Kc4 44. b3+ Kb5 45. Rd6 c4 46. Rd5+ Kc6\n47. bxc4 a4 48. Be4 Kc7 49. Rc5+ Kd6 50. Rc6+ Ke7 51. Bf5 Qd8 52. Kg3 b3 53.\naxb3 axb3 54. Rc8 Qxc8 55. Bxc8 c2 56. h8=Q c1=Q 57. Qg7+ Kd6 58. c5+ Kd5 59.\nQb7+ Kd4 60. Qb4+ Kd5 61. Bb7+ Ke6 62. Qe4+ Kf7 63. Qh7+ Ke6 64. f5+ Ke5 65.\nQe7+ Kd4 66. Qxf6+ Kc4 67. Qe6+ Kb4 68. f6 Qg1+ 69. Bg2 b2 70. Qe4+ Kc3 71. f7\nb1=Q 72. Qxb1 Qxb1 73. f8=Q Qe1+ 74. Kh2 Qe5+ 75. Kg1 Qe1+ 76. Qf1 Qe3+ 77. Qf2\nQc1+ 78. Bf1 Qg5+ 79. Kh2 Qh5+ 80. Kg2 Qd5+ 81. Qf3+ Kd4 82. c6 Qg5+ 83. Kh3\nQh6+ 84. Kg3 Kc5 85. Bg2 Qg5+ 86. Qg4 Qe5+ 87. Kh4 Qe1+ 88. Qg3 Qb4+ 89. Kh5\nQb2 90. Qg5+ Kd6 91. Qd5+ Ke7 92. Qd7+ Kf6 93. Qd6+ Kf5 94. Qg6+ {1-0 Alster\,\nL-Kupka\,S/Prague CSR 1963/}) 18. Nd6+ $1 (18. Rd2 Rd8 19. Rad1 c5 20. Nd6+ Rxd6\n21. Bxb7+ Qxb7 22. exd6 Qf3 23. Re1 e5 24. d7+ Kd8 25. h4 Qxg3+ 26. Kf1 Qh3+\n27. Ke2 Bxb2 28. Rb1 Bc3 29. Rd6 Bd4 30. Be3 Qg4+ 31. Kf1 a6 32. Ra1 Qh3+ 33.\nKg1 Qf5 34. h5 Qxh5 {0-1 Tan Hiong Liong-Sydor\,A/Warsaw POL 1959/}) (18. Be3\nBxe3 19. fxe3 Qxe3+ 20. Kh1 Kb8 21. Re1 Qd4 22. Nd6 Qf2 23. Nxf7 c5 24. Rg1 Rh5\n25. Rad1 Qxg3 26. Rd8+ Kc7 {0-1 Vente\,J-Officier\,T/corr NED 1995/}) (18. Bf4\nBxb2 19. Nd6+ Kc7 20. Nxf7 Rf8 21. Ng5 Bc8 22. Rab1 Bd4 23. Ne4 a5 24. g4 Bd7\n25. h4 b4 26. h5 c3 27. Rd3 a4 28. g5 c2 29. Rf1 b3 30. axb3 axb3 31. g6 b2 32.\ng7 Ra8 33. f7 b1=Q 34. f8=Q Rxf8 35. gxf8=Q Q1b4 36. Qxb4 Qxb4 37. h6 {1-0\nMoscoso\,F-Brunet\,R/corr IECG 1996/}) 18… Kc7 (18… Kb8 19. Nxf7 Rf8 20. Rxd4\n$6 (20. Nh6 $2 Bxf2+ 21. Kf1 Bd4 $19) (20. Nd6 $1 Bxf2+ 21. Kh1 Be3 22. Bh4 $16\n) 20… Qxd4 21. Nd6 $8 Qxb2 22. Re1 Qc3 23. Rb1 Qxe5 24. Bf4 Qe2 25. Nxb5+ e5\n26. Nd6 Ka8 27. Be3 c3 $17 {Myers}) 19. Bf4 (19. Nxf7 $1 Rf8 20. Nd6 Bxe5 21.\nBe3 Qa6 22. Ne4 Bc8 23. Bc5 Rxf6 24. Nxf6 Bxf6 25. Bd4 Bxd4 26. Rxd4 c5 27.\nRdd1 Bb7 28. Bxb7 Qxb7 29. Re1 Kd6 30. Rad1+ Ke7 31. Re3 a5 32. Rde1 a4 33.\nRxe6+ Kf7 34. R6e5 Qd7 35. h4 b4 36. Rxc5 Qd2 37. Re3 c3 38. bxc3 b3 39. axb3\nQc1+ 40. Kg2 axb3 {1-0 Vilela\,J-Frey Beckman\,K/Havana CUB 1985/}) 19… Rf8 (\n19… Bxf2+ $1 20. Kh1 Be3 21. Nxf7 Rg8 22. a4 $1 Bxf4 23. gxf4 Qf2 $132 {Myers\n}) 20. Bh6 $1 Rh8 {[#]} 21. Bg7 $2 (21. Nxf7 $142 Bxf2+ 22. Kh1 Rh7 23. Nd8\nRxh6 24. Nxe6+ Kc8 25. Rd8+ Qxd8 26. Nxd8 Kxd8 27. Rf1 $16 {[%cal Gf6f7] Myers}\n) 21… Rd8 $4 (21… Bxf2+ $1 22. Kh1 Rh7 23. Rd2 (23. Nxf7 $2 Rxh2+ $1 24.\nKxh2 Qe3 $19 {[%cal Re3g3]}) 23… Qe3 {[%cal Ye3g3]} 24. Rxf2 Qxf2 25. Nxf7\nQxg3 26. Bh6 Qh4 $19 {Myers}) 22. Nxf7 $1 Bxf2+ (22… Rd7 23. Ng5 Kb8 (23…\nBxe5 24. Rxd7+ Kxd7 25. Rd1+ $18) 24. Bf8 Bc8 25. f7 Bxf2+ 26. Kh1 Rxf7 27.\nNxf7 Bd4 28. Bd6+ Kb7 29. a4 $18 {Myers}) 23. Kh1 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Qe3 (24… c5\n$2 25. Nd6 Bxg2+ 26. Kxg2 Bd4 27. f7 Qc6+ 28. Kh3 Qf3 29. Rxd4 cxd4 30. f8=Q\n$18 {Myers}) 25. Nd6 Qe2 {[#]} 26. Ra1 $3 (26. Rf1 $2 Ba8 $1 27. Ne4 (27. f7\n$140 c5 28. f8=Q Qxf1#) 27… c5 $1 28. Rxf2 Qe1+ 29. Rf1 Qe2 30. Kg1 Bxe4 31.\nBxe4 Qe3+ $1 $11) (26. Rb1 $6 Qh5 27. f7 (27. g4 $2 Qh7 28. Rf1 $8 Bg3 $8 29.\nh3 Bxe5 30. f7 c5 $11) 27… Bxg3 28. h3 c5 $1 29. Nxb7 Qxf7 30. Nd6 Qg6 31.\nRf1 $18) 26… Qh5 (26… Qxb2 27. Rf1 c3 28. f7 c2 29. Bh6 $18) 27. g4 $1 (27.\nf7 $2 Bxg3 28. h3 c5 29. Nxb7 Qxf7 {Speelman} 30. Nd6 Qg6 31. Bf6 Qc2 32. Nxb5+\nKd7 33. Nxa7 Bf2 34. Nc6 Be3 35. h4 $1 $18 {Myers}) 27… Qh7 28. f7 Bg3 29. h3\nc5 30. Nxb7 Qxg7 31. Rf1 Qf8 32. Nxc5 $1 1-0\n[/pgn] \nAlso\, I had a win with the Black pieces against the Russian Kopylov. The result was a score of 9/12 (+8=2-2)\, which sufficed for the grandmaster title and first place half a point ahead of the Finn Kauranen. \nSince then I have played quite well on second board behind Keith Richardson in the Eighth Olympiad Final (+5=7-0)\, and very badly indeed (scoring just about 50% in the Heilimo Memorial Tournament organised from Finland (I was much impressed by the strength of the Finnish players\, most of whom I had not encountered before). Having twice narrowly failed\, I would still like to qualify for the Final of the Individual World Championship. Of course life becomes increasingly busy\, but the examples of Hugh Alexander and Graham Mitchell encourage me to believe that one can continue to play well at postal chess longer than over-the-board. So perhaps around the year 2000\, when the children are grown up….” \nAdrian Hollis and Harry Golombek observer Andrew Dyson (Trinity) having played 1.d4 versus IM William Watson (Merton) during the 1984 Varsity match sponsored by Lloyds Bank\n[pgn]\n[Event “olm7 fin B1 corr”]\n[Site “ICCF corr”]\n[Date “1972.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Hollis\, Adrian Swayne”]\n[Black “Florian\, Tibor”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “D76”]\n[Annotator “Averbakh/Hollis/Howell & BCN”]\n[PlyCount “121”]\n[EventDate “1972.??.??”]\n[EventType “team (corr)”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[SourceTitle “Corr 2002”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2002.05.23”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2002.05.23”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,121\,18\,26\,36\,-22\,54\,32\,37\,19\,27\,28\,30\,3\,26\,19\,17\,42\,20\,13\,27\,31\,31\,31\,\n19\,24\,27\,11\,47\,61\,50\,85\,90\,77\,66\,63\,67\,54\,73\,53\,40\,43\,55\,36\,46\,65\,45\,46\,49\,49\,\n48\,54\,48\,69\,83\,93\,102\,102\,103\,112\,98\,89\,114\,100\,99\,91\,98\,98\,94\,79\,79\,82\,90\,87\,\n91\,85\,91\,82\,78\,76\,96\,101\,96\,75\,100\,91\,92\,103\,118\,118\,118\,118\,118\,118\,121\,139\,\n179\,182\,206\,240\,191\,212\,205\,205\,205\,192\,192\,192\,192\,183\,192\,104\,155\,96\,96\,96\,\n100\,527\,537\,28911\,29983\,29984\,29985\,29986]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3\nd5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 O-O ({ASH : It is rather more challenging for Black to\npostpone castling\, and to organise an immediate attack on White’s d-pawn with}\n6… Nb6 7. Nc3 Nc6) 7. O-O Nb6 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. d5 Na5 ({ASH : I have never yet\nfound an opponent to accept the pawn with} 9… Bxc3 $6 {too risky to accept P}\n10. dxc6 Bg7 11. Qc2 bxc6 12. Rd1 Bf5 13. Qb3 Qe8 14. Nd4 Bd7 15. Qc2 {BCN :\nis a typical line.}) 10. Bf4 c6 11. dxc6 {ASH : Such are the subtleties of\ntransposition that\, although occasionally played before\, this line does not\nappear in the Grunfeld books of Hartston or Richardson and Boyd.} Nxc6 ({\nASH : In Olympiad VIII Finals (1977) Dr. S. Aarseth (Norway) played against me\n} 11… Qxd1 12. Rfxd1 Nxc6 13. Nd2 $1 Bf5 (13… Be6 {Hollis}) 14. Rac1 Rac8\n15. Nde4 Nc4 16. b3 Na3 $6 (16… N4e5 {wastes two tempi}) 17. Nd5 Rfe8 (17…\nKh8 18. Nxe7 $1 Nxe7 19. Bd6) 18. Bg5 Kf8 (18… f6 $5 {although Hollis says\nit “hardly appeals”}) 19. Nxe7 Nxe7 20. Nd6 b6 (20… Rxc1 21. Bxc1 {xNa3}) 21.\nNxc8 Bxc8 22. Bxe7+ Kxe7 23. Rc7+ Kf6 24. Bc6 Rf8 25. Rxa7 Nc2 26. Be4 $18 {\nHollis-Aarseth\, corr-CCOL8 fin 1975-77}) 12. Qc1 e5 13. Be3 {13 Rd1 was theory\nbut why drive Black Q where she wants to go?} Nd4 {An outpost which cannot be\nmaintained.} 14. Rd1 Be6 15. Nxd4 exd4 16. Bxd4 Bxd4 17. e3 Bxe3 18. Qxe3 $14 {\n[#] ASH : So White emerges with a small but clear advantage (better placed\npieces\, pressure on the b-pawn and on the Black squares).} Qe7 19. Ne4 Bd5 20.\nQc5 Qxc5 21. Nxc5 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Rac8 $6 {ASH : A difficult decision. Black\nsurrenders a pawn for some counterplay.} ({ASH : He might have had better\nchances of a draw with the passive} 22… Rab8 {better drawing chance despite}\n23. Nd7 Nxd7 24. Rxd7 {not sufficient to win}) 23. Nxb7 Rc2 24. b4 Re8 25. Rd8\nRxd8 26. Nxd8 Na4 27. a3 Rc3 28. Re1 Kf8 29. Re5 Rc7 30. h4 h6 31. Ra5 Nc3 32.\nRa6 {threat Nc6 forces play} Rd7 33. Nc6 Rd6 34. a4 Nxa4 35. Rxa4 Rxc6 36. Rxa7\nRc3 37. b5 Rb3 {See page 80 in Essential Chess Endings by Howell.} 38. Rb7 Kg7\n39. b6 h5 {This move produces a model endgame as analysed by Hollis etc. [#]\ncf ending in Portisch-Petrosian [INF 17-0568] after Portisch’s 47th move.\nWhite plan is to play K to d-file\, Black captures f-pawn but then K goes to\nc-file and R cannot return behind passed P (only works with b-pawn)} ({Hollis\nsuspected Black should have played} 39… g5 $5 {not fearing h4-h5}) 40. Kf1 {\nThe general case of a draw is threatened but not overturned. Averbakh\n“Comprehensive Chess Endings” vol 5 (Pergamon ed) analyses both the Hollis and\nPortisch endgames (see pp291-292)} Rb2 41. Ke1 Kf6 {As White threatens to\nsupport the advance of his passed P with his K\, it is very important for Black\nto seek counterplay on the other wing – Averbakh} 42. f3 Rb3 43. Kd2 Rxf3 44.\nKc2 {ASH : The idea is realized.} Rf5 $2 (44… Ke6 $2 45. Rc7 $1 (45. Re7+ $6\nKxe7 46. b7 Rf5 47. b8=Q {hard to see how White can win}) 45… Rf5 {see game})\n(44… Rxg3 $6 45. Rc7 $1 {Howell wrongly attributes this move to Hollis but I\ndon’t find it in Hollis’ notes. Averbakh claims as his?} (45. Rxf7+ Kxf7 46. b7\n{Hollis said this may win as Pg6 weak but Averbakh gives:} Rg2+ $1 47. Kc3 Rg3+\n48. Kc4 Rg4+ 49. Kc5 Rf4 $1 50. b8=Q Rf5+ 51. Kd6 Kg7 $1 {“Black creates an\nimpregnable fortress” – Averbakh}) 45… Rg2+ $140 46. Kb3 Rg1 47. Kb2 Rg2+ 48.\nRc2 $1 Rg4 49. Rc3 Rxh4 50. Ka3 Re4 51. b7 Re8 52. Rc8 Re3+ 53. Kb2 Re2+ 54.\nKc3 Re3+ 55. Kc2 Re2+ 56. Kd3 Rb2 57. b8=Q Rxb8 58. Rxb8 Kf5 59. Rf8 f6 60. Ke3\ng5 61. Kf3 $18 {Averbakh}) (44… Re3 $3 {is the right plan:} 45. Rc7 Re8 46.\nb7 Rb8 {Hollis thought White could now win:} 47. Kd3 Kf5 $1 48. Rxf7+ Kg4 49.\nRf4+ $1 Kxg3 50. Rb4 {[#]} g5 $1 {The saving move not considered in Hollis\narticle\, but later discovered by Russian analysts. Black creates a\ncountervailing passed pawn.} (50… Kh3 $2 51. Ke2 $1 Kg3 (51… Kg2 52. Rb3) (\n51… Re8+ 52. Kf2 Rf8+ 53. Ke3 Rb8 54. Kf3 {as in main line}) 52. Ke3 Kh3 53.\nKf3 Rf8+ 54. Ke4 Rb8 55. Ke5 $18) 51. hxg5 h4 52. g6 (52. Ke2 h3 53. Kf1 h2 54.\nRb3+ Kf4 55. Kg2 Kxg5 $11) 52… h3 53. g7 h2 54. Rb1 Kg2 $11 {Averbakh}) 45.\nRc7 Rb5 46. b7 {“The outwardly active position of Black R prevents his K from\napproaching the pawns” – Averbakh} Ke6 (46… Kf5 {according to Fine’s recipe\n(idea 47 Rxf7+? Kg4) but..} 47. Kc3 $1 {threat 48 Rxf7+ Kg4 49 Rf4+ and 50 Rb4;\nprevents …Kg4 by same idea} f6 $140 (47… Kg4 48. Rc4+ $1 Kxg3 49. Rb4 Rxb7\n50. Rxb7 Kxh4 (50… f5 51. Rg7) 51. Rxf7 Kg3 52. Kd2 g5 53. Ke1 $18) 48. Kc4\nRb1 49. Rc5+ Kg4 50. Rb5) 47. Kc3 f6 48. Kc4 Rb1 49. Kc5 Kf5 50. Rd7 $1 $18 {\nprevents Kg4 and threatens Rd5+ followed by either Rd6+ or Rd4+ and then\ninserting R on b-file} Rc1+ 51. Kd6 Rb1 52. Kc7 Rc1+ 53. Kd8 Rb1 54. Kc8 Kg4\n55. Rd6 g5 56. Rxf6 gxh4 57. gxh4 Kxh4 58. Rg6 $1 Kh3 59. Kc7 {According to\nHowell\, Black resigned here but Hollis gives further moves\, see e.g. ‘British\nChess’ pp105-107} Rxb7+ 60. Kxb7 h4 61. Kc6 {ASH : It would be extremely rash\nto claim this ending as a theoretical win. The outcome nearly always depends\non a single tempo\, and may be swayed by secondary factors (e.g. it proved\nvital in the above for White’s rook to be on the seventh rather than the\neighth). But at least this game can be added to the example for future\nresearch. Perhaps this is the kind of problem that one day computers might be\nable to solve.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXXIII (133\, 2013)\, Number 4 (April)\, pp.194-5 we have this obituary written by James Pratt : \nAdrian Swayne Hollis (2 viii 1940 Bristol – 26 ii 2013 Wells)\, British Master and Correspondence Grandmaster (1976)\, three times British Correspondence Champion\, has died. He played most of his OTB chess as a young man\, finishing seventh equal at the British Aberystwyth\, 1961\, when he beat\, amongst others\, A.R.B. Thomas and former champion\, Alan Phillips. He gave future champion\, Jonathan Penrose\, a tough fight in the last round before conceding the half-point. He played in the Hastings Premier\, 1962/3 and emerged with a plus score in the Anglo-Dutch matches. He was an occasional reviewer for BCM. \nIt was\, of course\, in the realm of postal player that he shone most brightly! \nIn 1966 we see him playing board two for England\, below Slade Milan\, and\, two years later\, Adrian scored 9/12 in a World Postal Qualifier\, narrowly missing a place in the final. In 1971 he won the British Correspondence Championship\, easily outdistancing a tough field. He played top board for England in the 1972-7 Olympiad. In 1974-6 he won the Reg Potter Memorial. In the ninth Olympiad – 1982-5 – Adrian Hollis was undefeated on board two. And England took the Gold Medal! \n[pgn]\n[Event “Alekhine mem-A corr9196”]\n[Site “corr”]\n[Date “1991.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Gipslis\, Aivars P”]\n[Black “Hollis\, Adrian Swayne”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B81”]\n[Annotator “Hawkes”]\n[PlyCount “64”]\n[EventDate “1991.??.??”]\n[EventType “tourn (corr)”]\n[EventRounds “12”]\n[SourceTitle “Corr Nr. 1”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1997.09.01”]\n[SourceVersion “2”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2000.04.19”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,64\,32\,37\,46\,50\,80\,80\,71\,47\,43\,38\,82\,21\,81\,78\,77\,54\,60\,63\,69\,68\,77\,41\,\n27\,22\,70\,6\,6\,3\,12\,33\,18\,-2\,3\,-47\,-62\,-45\,-59\,-59\,-70\,-53\,-53\,-108\,-27\,-27\,-1\,\n-116\,-143\,-148\,-88\,-204\,-180\,-252\,-271\,-247\,-199\,-231\,-468\,-531\,-562\,-531\,-638\,\n-660\,-627\,-704\,-510]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g4\na6 (6… Nc6 7. g5 Nd7 8. Be3 Nde5 9. Be2 a6 10. f4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Nc6 12. Qd2\nb5 13. Bf3 Qa5 14. O-O Be7 15. Qf2 Rb8 16. Ne2 O-O 17. Bg2 Re8 18. c3 Bd7 19.\nRfd1 Qd8 20. Rd2 Bf8 21. Rad1 $14 {Haag-Penrose\, 9 Olympiad}) (6… Be7 7. g5\nNfd7 8. Be3 Nc6 9. Rg1 Nb6 10. Qd2 O-O 11. f4 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 e5 13. Be3 d5 14.\nfxe5 Bb4 15. O-O-O Be6 16. Rg3 Na4 17. Bd4 Bxc3 18. Bxc3 Nxc3 19. Rxc3 dxe4 20.\nQf4 Qb6 21. Qxe4 Rac8 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Kb1 g6 24. Bd3 $6 Rd8 $1 {0-1 (43)\nPalciauskas-Bang\, Axelson mem.}) 7. g5 Nfd7 8. Bg2 (8. Be3 b5 9. a3 Bb7 10. h4\nBe7 11. Qd2 Nc6 12. f4 h6 13. Bg2 hxg5 14. hxg5 Rxh1+ 15. Bxh1 Nxd4 16. Qxd4 e5\n17. Qd2 exf4 18. Bxf4 Ne5 19. O-O-O Nc4 20. Qg2 Qa5 21. Nd5 b4 $1 {1/2-1/2 (44)\nFranzen-Hollis\, 10 Olympiad bd.2}) (8. h4 b5 9. a3 Nb6 10. Be3 N8d7 11. h5 Bb7\n12. Rh3 $1 Ne5 13. g6 Nbc4 $2 14. Bxc4 Nxc4 15. gxf7+ Kxf7 16. Qg4 Qe7 $2 (\n16… Qd7) 17. Bg5 Qd7 18. Nd5 $1 Ra7 19. Rf3+ Ke8 20. Nc7+ $1 {1-0\nKauranen-Estrin\, 10 world ch. final}) 8… b5 (8… Nc6 9. f4 h6 10. h4 hxg5\n11. hxg5 Rxh1+ 12. Bxh1 Qb6 13. Nf3 g6 14. Qd2 Qc7 15. b3 b5 16. Bb2 Bb7 17.\nO-O-O O-O-O 18. Nh2 Nb6 19. Ng4 d5 20. e5 d4 21. Ne4 Nd5 22. Qf2 Qa5 23. Nd6+\nBxd6 24. Bxd5 Bc5 $1 {1/2-1/2 Khasin-Walter\, 8 world ch. final}) 9. f4 b4 10.\nNce2 Bb7 11. h4 Nc5 12. Ng3 g6 13. b3 Bg7 14. Bb2 O-O 15. Qd2 Qb6 16. O-O-O a5\n17. Nde2 Bxb2+ 18. Kxb2 a4 19. Nc1 axb3 20. cxb3 Nc6 21. h5 Qa5 22. Kb1 {[#]}\nNa7 $1 23. Qb2 Nb5 24. Ka1 Nc3 25. Rd2 Ra7 26. Rh2 Rfa8 27. Bf3 Qc7 28. Rc2\nNxa2 29. Nxa2 Rxa2+ 30. Qxa2 Rxa2+ 31. Kxa2 Qa5+ 32. Kb1 Qa3 {Hawkes} (32…\nNxb3 $4 33. Ra2 Qc5 34. Rhc2 Qg1+ 35. Kb2 Qxg3 $4 36. Ra8+ $1 Bxa8 37. Rc8+ Kg7\n38. h6# {(Hollis)}) 0-1\n[/pgn] \nObituary from Raymond Keene in The Specatator \nObituary from Kenneth Shelton in The Independent \nObituary from ? in The Times \nObituary from John Rhodes in The Chess Improver \nObituary from Bob Jones of Keverel Chess. \nWikipedia article.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-for-cgm-adrian-swayne-hollis-02-viii-1940-26-ii-2013/
CATEGORIES:Correspondence,History,Player,Remembering
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/hollis3332.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210301
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210302
DTSTAMP:20210305T164044Z
CREATED:20200221T113359Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T164044Z
UID:3374-1614556800-1614643199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Richard Tozer (01-iii-1970)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Richard John D Tozer (01-iii-1970) \nRichard became a FIDE Master in 1989 and an International Master in 1995. According to Felice his peak rating was 2400 in January 1996. He has played for White Rose in the Four Nations Chess League. He currently plays for Cambridge City and maintains a 222 ECF grading. \nThe Cambridge Examiners Team\n[pgn]\n[Event “Lloyds Bank op 13th”]\n[Site “London”]\n[Date “1989.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Adams\, Michael J”]\n[Black “Tozer\, Richard”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B45”]\n[WhiteElo “2505”]\n[BlackElo “2235”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “120”]\n[EventDate “1989.08.??”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “10”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “TD”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1994.03.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1994.03.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,120\,19\,31\,72\,53\,33\,22\,31\,23\,31\,41\,37\,8\,27\,-5\,33\,4\,13\,13\,-1\,20\,16\,17\,\n34\,38\,47\,45\,29\,25\,20\,20\,-20\,-54\,-57\,-64\,-61\,-54\,-71\,-71\,-89\,-103\,-101\,-87\,-84\,\n-94\,-89\,-93\,-96\,-96\,-90\,-88\,-79\,-86\,-65\,-70\,-87\,-92\,-65\,-102\,-109\,-109\,-34\,-83\,\n-48\,-54\,-29\,-92\,-104\,-74\,-48\,-38\,-38\,-27\,-11\,-1\,-10\,-165\,-123\,-123\,-86\,-172\,\n-208\,-208\,-186\,-263\,-256\,-358\,-273\,-425\,-245\,-220\,-259\,-258\,-244\,-301\,-318\,\n-329\,-353\,-360\,-362\,-367\,-367\,-367\,-367\,-364\,-378\,-369\,-364\,-377\,-281\,-280\,\n-261\,-276\,-319\,-430\,-223\,-316\,-352\,-348\,-103\,-348\,-383]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.\nd4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nd5 8. Ne4 Qc7 9. f4 Qb6 10.\nc4 Ne3 11. Qd3 Bb4+ 12. Bd2 a5 13. b3 O-O 14. Bxb4 Qxb4+ 15. Ke2 Nxc4 16. Kf3\nNb6 17. a3 Qe7 18. Qd6 Qxd6 19. exd6 Ba6 20. Nc5 Bxf1 21. Rhxf1 Ra7 22. Rac1 f6\n23. g4 Kf7 24. h4 Re8 25. Rfe1 Raa8 26. h5 h6 27. Rc2 Rh8 28. Rh2 Ra7 29. a4\nNd5 30. Rg1 Nb4 31. g5 hxg5 32. fxg5 Na6 33. Ne4 Rb7 34. g6+ Kg8 35. h6 Rxb3+\n36. Kf4 e5+ 37. Kg4 gxh6 38. Kh5 Kg7 39. Rf2 Rf8 40. Ng3 Rxg3 41. Rxg3 Nc5 42.\nRb2 f5 43. Rc3 Ne4 44. Rb7 Nf6+ 45. Kh4 Kxg6 46. Rc5 e4 47. Rxa5 f4 48. Re5 e3\n49. Rb1 Nd5 50. Rf1 f3 51. Kg3 f2 52. Re4 h5 53. Re5 Ra8 54. Re4 Kf5 55. Kf3\nRg8 56. Rh4 Ke6 57. Rxh5 Kxd6 58. Rxd5+ Kxd5 59. Kxe3 Ra8 60. Ra1 Rxa4 0-1\n[/pgn]
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-richard-jd-tozer-01-iii-1970/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Toz10004.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210301
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210302
DTSTAMP:20210305T164208Z
CREATED:20200221T114653Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T164208Z
UID:3380-1614556800-1614643199@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Stuart Conquest (01-iii-1967)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Stuart Conquest (01-iii-1967) \nStuart Conquest (far left) at Paul Buswell’s house\nStuart Conquest
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-stuart-conquest-01-iii-1967/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/JB4_8005-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210302
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210303
DTSTAMP:20210305T164410Z
CREATED:20200221T115331Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T164410Z
UID:3385-1614643200-1614729599@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Peter Large (02-iii-1956)
DESCRIPTION:Peter Graham Large (Front row \, far left)\nBirthday of IM Peter Graham Large (02-iii-1956)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-peter-graham-large-02-iii-1956/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,History,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/6577306.c564f3dc.160x160o.ed00937175fc.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210304
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210305
DTSTAMP:20210304T122602Z
CREATED:20210301T142500Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210304T122602Z
UID:14612-1614816000-1614902399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Nancy Elder MBE (25-v-1915 04-iii-1981)
DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Nancy Elder MBE who passed away on Wednesday\, March 4th 1981\, i.e\, forty years ago in Perth\, Western Australia. \nNancy Conchar Gordon was born on Tuesday\, May 25th 1915. On the same date was born Robin Day in High Wycombe who went on  to design the polypropylene stacking chair. \nNancy was born in Kirmabreck\, Kirkcudbrightshire in the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. \nIn the 1939 register Nancy was living at 18 Thornton Avenue\, Urmston. Manchester\, M41 5DJ with a married couple\, William Furnish (a railway time keeper) and Gertrude Furnish who performed unpaid domestic duties. Presumably Nancy was a lodger. \n18 Thornton Avenue\, Urmston. Manchester\, M41 5DJ\nHer occupation was given as a teacher of music and physical training. At this time she was single at the age of twenty-four. \nIn the mid-1940s Nancy relocated from Manchester to Dundee where she continued her teaching career at Dundee High School. During that time she encouraged and coached a number of players some of whom represented Scotland. \nIn 1950 in Tealing\, Angus\, Scotland Nancy married David Livie Elder. They had a daughter Christine who played chess as a junior. Tealing has a strong connection with the Elder family. \nAccording to Alan McGowan (Chess Scotland): “She was the main instigator in forming both the Schools’ and Primary League in Dundee\, and she assisted in the organisation of the Dundee 1967 International Centenary Tournament.” \nWhen she passed away Nancy was living at 39 Whitefauld Road\, Dundee\, DD2 1RJ : \n39 Whitefauld Road\, Dundee\, DD2 1RJ\nHer passing was reported in the Dundee Courier and Advertiser  on March 6th 1981 as follows : \nNancy Elder dies after heart attack on flight\nMrs Nancy Elder 39 Whitefauld Road\, Dundee\, a former music teacher at Dundee High School and one of Scotland’s best known chess players\, has died after taking ill on a flight to Australia.\nShe was off for a long holiday which she planned to spend with relatives and friends from the world of international chess\, but\, after suffering a heart attack on a plane from Singapore\, had been in intensive care in Perth\, Western Australia. \nHer daughter Christine\, a primary school teacher in Tighnabruaich\, received daily telephone reports on her mother’s condition from a cousin and\, at the weekend\, heard that she was improving gradually. \nThe shock news of her mother’s death came late on Wednesday night. \nMrs. Elder\, who went into semi-retirement recently\, has been to the fore in chess for about 35 years at local\, national and international levels. \nNancy Elder MBE. Source : Milos Petronic\nShe has represented her country five times\, having taken part in the chess Olympiad in Yugoslavia in 1963 and 1973\, in Israel in 1976\, in Buenos Aires in 1978 and in Malta last year. \nBuenos Aires Olympiad 1978. From left: Morag McGhee\, Nancy Elder\, Owen Hindle\, Kathleen Hindle and Lynne Houston. Courtesy of Chess Scotland\nShe turned down the chance to take part on three other occasions. \nHaifa Olympiad 1976 – Scotland v Switzerland. From left: Nancy Elder\, Kathleen Hindle\, Lynne Houston. Courtesy of Chess Scotland\nShe was awarded the MBE for her services to chess in 1974. \nShe was President of Dundee Chess Club\, chairman of the congress committee of the Scottish Chess Association and on the council of the Scottish Junior Chess Association. \nSelf-taught\nShe started playing chess during her school days with her brother and the two of them were more-or-less self taught. \nIt wasn’t until after the Second World War that she received any sort of coaching\, by which time she had established her own style. \nShe retired on April 14th last year after 24 years in the music department of Dundee High School\, where she specialised in teaching the oboe. \nShe continued to teach privately. \nDundee Courier and Advertiser\, March 6th 1981\nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CI (101\, 1981)\, Number 6 (June)\, pp. 219-220 we have this obituary from Bernard Cafferty : \n“Nancy C. Elder\, MBE\, died in Perth\, Western Australia on March 4th 1981. Mrs. Elder had recently retired after a lifetime of teaching\, her last post being in Dundee. I well remember her account of teaching under difficult conditions in World War 2 in Manchester. 15 Scottish Women’s Champion (the record for the event which she set-up at Troon in 1980). \nPrizegiving at the 1966 Scottish Championships. From the left: Michael Fallone\, Nancy Elder\, W.P. McColl\, President of Dundee Chess Club\, Kathleen Patterson\, Gerald Bonner. Courtesy of Chess Scotland\nMrs Elder was a regular competitor in the British Women’s Championship (sometimes in rivalry with her daughter Christine) and showed her playing strength with a score of 5.5/12 on board two for Scotland at the Women’s Chess Olympiad\, Malta\, 1980. \nMalta Olympiad 1980 Left-right: Kathleen\, Rosie Giulian\, Owen Hindle (Team Captain)\, Nancy Elder\, Lynne Houston. Courtesy of Chess Scotland\nI am sure she will be best remembered though for her decades of effort in the organising of chess in Scotland\, particularly for juniors and in schools\, in recognition of which she was awarded the MBE\, the only such honour ever given for services to chess ‘north of the border’ as Alan Borwell puts it in his Newsflash obituary.” \n[pgn]\n[Event “British CF-53 Women”]\n[Site “Sunderland/ Tyne and Wear”]\n[Date “1966.08.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Elder\, Nancy Conchar”]\n[Black “Moore\, Gillian A”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B73”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “71”]\n[EventDate “1966.08.08”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “GBR”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,71\,19\,31\,72\,53\,51\,40\,38\,35\,42\,42\,41\,21\,45\,40\,44\,31\,38\,44\,43\,35\,37\,37\,\n56\,37\,60\,54\,156\,124\,220\,183\,183\,139\,160\,91\,90\,96\,101\,80\,101\,0\,5\,0\,6\,0\,1\,16\,1\,5\,\n21\,25\,38\,2\,28\,0\,37\,8\,42\,20\,45\,6\,202\,261\,285\,366\,920\,931\,29993\,29994\,29995\,\n29996\,29997\,29998]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2\ng6 7. Be3 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. h3 {A choice of Smyslov and Kudrin.} ({A more\nmodern way to proceed is} 9. Nb3 Be6 10. f4 Qc8 11. Kh1 Rd8 12. Bf3 Bc4 13. Rf2\ne5 14. Rd2 Qe6 15. fxe5 Nxe5 16. Nd4 Qe7 17. b3) 9… a6 (9… Bd7 10. Qd2 Rc8\n11. f4 a6 12. Rad1 b5 13. a3 Qc7) 10. Qd2 Qc7 11. f4 Rd8 12. Rad1 Nxd4 13. Bxd4\ne5 $2 $146 {[#] The only game to feature this position.} (13… Be6) 14. Bxe5\n$18 Qb6+ 15. Kh2 (15. Bd4 {Appears more natural.}) 15… Be6 16. Bxf6 (16. Bd4)\n16… Bxf6 17. Nd5 {White immediately seeks exchanges.} Bxd5 18. Qxd5 Rac8 19.\nBc4 Qc7 20. Bb3 (20. Bd3) 20… Bxb2 21. a4 Qe7 {Black has equalised after the\nearlier blunder.} 22. Rf3 Rc5 23. Qd3 Rc3 24. Qe2 Rdc8 25. Rxc3 Bxc3 26. Rd3\nKf8 27. Qf3 Bb4 28. g4 Rc5 29. Kg2 h6 30. Kf1 {[#]} f5 $2 {after all of\nBlack’s efforts lashing out is not a good idea.} (30… b5 {was reasonable.})\n31. gxf5 gxf5 32. Qh5 $1 {and Black is busted.} fxe4 33. Qxh6+ Qg7 34. Qxd6+\nQe7 35. Qh6+ Qg7 36. Rd8+ {and Black resigned.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nChess Scotland award the Nancy Elder Cup annually for an individual competition for “club level” players. \nWe are grateful to Helen Milligan who told BCN : \nMy most memorable incident was when I refused to play in the Scottish Ladies at the annual Congress\, preferring to try to improve my chess by playing in the Open section (really the B-Grade\, below the Championship proper). I got given a piece of Nancy’s mind for that – she did not approve! \nHere are her playing records from the Olympiads. \nHere is a potted biography from Chess Scotland.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-nancy-elder-mbe-25-v-1915-04-iii-1981/
CATEGORIES:Death Anniversary,History,Honours,Player,Remembering
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Eld02271.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210305
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210306
DTSTAMP:20210305T164549Z
CREATED:20200319T151631Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T164549Z
UID:3610-1614902400-1614988799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Daniel Fernandez (05-iii-1995)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes Happy Birthday to GM Daniel Fernandez who at 26 is currently England’s youngest Grandmaster. The previous GM title holder was Jonathan Hawkins in 2014 making two in seven years. \nDaniel Howard Fernandez was born in Stockport\, Manchester on Sunday\, March 5th 1995.  “Think Twice” by Celine Dion was top of the UK hit parade. \nDaniel started playing chess at the age of seven (after his father taught him the rules) and at this time attended King’s School\, Harpenden.  His first chess club was Little Heath which became the ECF Small Club of the Year in 2015. They play in the Potter’s Bar area and include IM John Pigott in their membership. \nAt Little Heath Chess Club Daniel was coached by Mark Uniacke (who worked extensively on the early chess engine HIARCS). \nDaniel went up to Queen’s College\, Cambridge to read mathematics and left to become a Data Analyst at Mu Sigma Inc. He can speak several languages (including Serbian!) and works as a translator when opportunities arise. \nHe currently lives in Australia offering coaching and writing chess books (for Thinkers Publishing) and columns for Chessbase. In his spare time (!) Daniel is studying for The Master of Complex Systems degree at The University of Sydney. \nDaniel’s first ECF graded game was rapidplay on July 5th 2003 in the SCCU Junior Under-14 Final. \nHis first standard play game was in August 2003 at the Edinburgh based British Under-8 Championship. \nDaniel Fernandez\nDaniels ECF grading profile demonstrated rapid improvement : \nECF grading profile for Daniel Fernandez\nOn August 13th 2004 in Scarborough Daniel became British Under-9 Champion sharing the title with Daniel Hunt & Saravanan Sathyanandha. \nThe Fernandez family relocated to Singapore in August\, Daniel attending the Anglo-Chinese School in Singapore. He was swiftly recruited into the Singapore Chess Federation’s (SCF) National Junior Squad. Also in that squad were Danielle Ho and Howard Chiu (remember this for later!). \nBarely three weeks after his Scarborough triumph on September 4th 2004 Daniel played his first FIDE rated game in the 5th Asian Under-10 Championship organised by the ASEAN Chess Confederation. His performance in this event was rewarded with a FIDE Master title in 2005. Because he was no longer active in English events the ECF had the unusual scenario of having a ten year old FIDE Master with a published grade of ~120! \nIn typically modest fashion Daniel confesses  that he did not “deserve” the FM title at this time and that it was the consequence of the strong position of the ASEAN and SCF organisations  within world chess. At the same event Wesley So gained his FM title in the Under-12 section. \nFM Daniel Fernandez\nAnother interesting consequence of the relocation was that when Daniel returned to England in 2012 his last published grading went from ~ 120 to ~230! \nOne of the motivations of  returning to England was to obtain the necessary entrance requirement to study mathematics at Cambridge. This he did by studying for A-levels at Manchester Grammar School. \nDaniel with IM Jovan Petronic during the 2010 world juniors in Chotowa\, Poland | Photo: Diana Mihajlova\nConsequently Daniel’s FIDE rating profile also showed a fast pace of development: \nFIDE rating profile for Daniel Fernandez\nSydney 2009 and Sydney 2010 both provided IM norms with the third one coming from Kuala Lumpar 2010 and with these Daniel became an International Master in 2010 the title being confirmed at the 3rd quarter Presidential Board Meeting 2010\, 24-25 July 2010\, Tromso in Norway. \nIM Daniel Fernandez\, 100th British Championships\, Round 5\, Torquay. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nHe won the Budapest Sarkany Tournament in 2014 as follows: \nFull Crosstable from Budapest Sarkany Tournament\, 2014.\nearning his first GM norm in the process. \nIM Daniel Fernandez\, 101st British Championships\, Aberystwyth. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nBCN asked Daniel for three of his favourite games. The first one is this Polish Defence game from 2015 played at the Visma Arena in Vaxjo\, Sweden. First we have the crosstable showing that Daniel earnt his second GM norm from this event. \nFull Crosstable for Vaxjo\, Visma tournament in Sweden\, 2015.\nand here is the game: \n[pgn]\n[Event “Vaxjo Visma GM”]\n[Site “Vaxjo”]\n[Date “2015.06.27”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Smith\, Axel”]\n[Black “Fernandez\, Daniel Howard”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B00”]\n[WhiteElo “2452”]\n[BlackElo “2447”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “86”]\n[EventDate “2015.06.24”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “SWE”]\n[EventCategory “10”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 167 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2015.09.14”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2015.09.14”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,86\,63\,13\,126\,116\,101\,97\,97\,97\,84\,96\,96\,57\,79\,51\,50\,52\,38\,58\,82\,70\,93\,\n31\,-1\,-22\,-19\,-35\,-16\,-50\,29\,-1\,0\,-22\,-36\,-36\,-36\,-92\,-81\,-92\,-84\,-82\,-73\,-104\,\n-95\,-79\,-36\,-33\,-51\,-74\,-42\,-51\,-51\,-91\,-86\,-99\,-91\,-87\,-87\,-82\,-105\,-100\,-127\,\n-111\,-148\,-160\,-139\,-127\,-136\,-254\,-164\,-257\,-259\,-257\,-309\,-663\,-691\,-933\,\n-153\,-747\,-809\,-824\,-875\,-986\,-1014\,-2303\,-2794\,-29999\,-30000]} 1. d4 b5 {\nThe Polish Defence as used by Spassky against Petrosian.} 2. e4 a6 3. Nf3 {\nWhen is it the right time for White to play a4?} Bb7 4. Bd3 e6 5. O-O c5 6. c3\nd6 ({more common is} 6… Nf6 7. Re1 Be7 8. Bg5) 7. Re1 Nd7 8. Nbd2 Qc7 {\nA rare choice but must be reasonable.} (8… Be7 9. Nf1 Ngf6 10. Ng3 O-O 11. h3\nQc7) 9. a4 $18 {[#] and eventually we get the thematic break against …b5 The\nengines are complimentary of White’s position.} c4 10. Bb1 $6 {This would\nappear to be a strange decision.} (10. Bf1 {Maintaining the presssure on\nBlack’s pawns must be superior.}) 10… Be7 11. Nf1 {You’d imagine that b3 at\nsome point would make sense leaving the pressure on c4.} Ngf6 12. Ng3 O-O 13.\nh4 Rfe8 14. h5 {White seems to be struggling to find a decent plan.} e5 15. Nf5\nBf8 16. axb5 axb5 17. Rxa8 Rxa8 18. Nd2 g6 $1 {If Black can expell the knight\non f5 then probably he is better.} 19. hxg6 hxg6 $17 20. Ne3 Bg7 {Strong\npointing e5 further.} 21. d5 Nc5 {[#] Black is gaining the upper hand.} 22.\nNg4 Bc8 23. Nxf6+ Bxf6 24. Qf3 Bg5 25. Nf1 Qe7 26. Ne3 Nb3 27. Bc2 Nxc1 28.\nRxc1 {Black can now really dominate the dark squares.} Ra2 29. b3 Qa7 30. bxc4\nbxc4 31. Qe2 {[#]} Bg4 $1 {Ouch! Perhaps White had missed this shot?} 32. Qe1\nBxe3 33. fxe3 Qa3 $1 {and it is all over bar the shouting…} 34. Kh2 (34. Rb1\nRxc2 35. Rb8+ Kg7 36. Qh4 Qc1+ (36… Bh5 37. Qe7 Qc1+ 38. Kh2 Rxg2+ $1 39.\nKxg2 Qd2+ 40. Kg3 Qe1+ 41. Kh2 Qe2+ 42. Kh3 Qf1+ 43. Kh4) 37. Kh2 Bh5) 34…\nKg7 35. Qf1 Be2 $1 36. Qe1 Qb2 37. Bb1 Ra1 38. Rc2 Qxb1 (38… Qxc2 $1 {\nis more efficient} 39. Bxc2 Rxe1) 39. Qxe2 $2 (39. Qxb1 Rxb1 40. Rxe2 {is a\nbetter defence.}) 39… Qg1+ 40. Kg3 Re1 41. Qf2 Rxe3+ $1 42. Kg4 Qd1+ 43. Kg5\nQh5# 0-1\n[/pgn] \nand during the 2015/15 4NCL season Daniel obtained his final GM norm playing for Wood Green. \nIn March 2015 he made his first of three Varsity match appearences for Cambridge re-uniting with Danielle Ho and Howard Chiu (remember those names from earlier?). \nDaniel won the 10th Jessie Gilbert Memorial in 2017: \nFull Crosstable from the 2017 10th Jessie Gilbert Memorial\nand also in 2017 Daniel was awarded the Grandmaster title at the 88th FIDE Congress 2017\, 7-15 October\, Goynuk\, Antalya\, Turkey. \nOn March 11th Daniel represented Cambridge in the 135th Varsity Match at the RAC Club in Pall Mall.  According to chess24.com ‘IM Daniel Fernandez\, playing board 2 for Cambridge\, was awarded the Brilliancy Prize by GM Ray Keene in consultation with McShane and Speelman\, for his “high-class swindle” after recovering from a bad blunder.’ See here for details. \nGM Daniel Fernandez\, 2019 British Championships\, Torquay. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nIn 2018 Daniel ventured into the world of book writing when Thinker’s Publishing released The Modernized Caro-Kann on September 8th 2018.  This was a repertoire book for Black based around the Smyslov Variation : \n[fen]r1bqkbnr/pp1npppp/2p5/8/3PN3/8/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nand was reviewed in this place favourably and quickly established Daniel as a significant author. \nThe Modernized Caro-Kann\, Daniel Fernandez\, Thinkers Publishing\, 2018\nFrom the rear cover we have: \n“GM Daniel Fernandez (born 1995) has been an active and accomplished player for several years. He represented his native Singapore twice at Olympiads (2010 and 2012) before transferring to the English chess federation. There\, he won the national classical titles at U-18 and U-21 levels and worked to become a Grandmaster while simultaneously studying at Cambridge. The Caro-Kann was instrumental in his quest for that title. Currently\, Daniel is known in the chess scene not only as a solid player\, but also as a mentor figure to younger English players\, as a producer of well-received commentary and analysis\, and as a multilingual chess coach. This is his first book.” \nFrom January 2019 we have this interesting encounter between Gawain Jones and Daniel from the annual 4NCL meeting of Guildford and Wood Green: \n[pgn]\n[Event “BCF-chTa 1819 (4NCL)”]\n[Site “Daventry”]\n[Date “2019.01.13”]\n[Round “4.13”]\n[White “Jones\, Gawain C B”]\n[Black “Fernandez\, Daniel Howard”]\n[Result “1/2-1/2”]\n[ECO “B12”]\n[WhiteElo “2691”]\n[BlackElo “2465”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “124”]\n[EventDate “2018.11.10”]\n[EventType “team-tourn”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 188 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2019.02.26”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2019.02.26”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Guildford”]\n[BlackTeam “Wood Green”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,124\,21\,36\,69\,63\,74\,50\,56\,34\,45\,48\,52\,37\,37\,37\,46\,8\,46\,16\,76\,62\,52\,40\,\n40\,13\,13\,29\,32\,28\,16\,22\,24\,9\,9\,14\,15\,11\,11\,-15\,33\,8\,42\,8\,-4\,-4\,0\,0\,-14\,0\,0\,-63\,\n-75\,-75\,-21\,-61\,-23\,-91\,-96\,-75\,-106\,-110\,-113\,-111\,-111\,-111\,-111\,-111\,-111\,\n-111\,-111\,-111\,-78\,-102\,-123\,-119\,-124\,-122\,-122\,-128\,-128\,-125\,-82\,-62\,-92\,\n-111\,-102\,-130\,-126\,-123\,-137\,-182\,-142\,-164\,-127\,-127\,-127\,-127\,-122\,-202\,\n-196\,-196\,-209\,-204\,-173\,-242\,-218\,-303\,-244\,-244\,-244\,-244\,-242\,-222\,-98\,-98\,\n-89\,-87\,-57\,-52\,-26\,-31\,-9\,-13\,-11\,-8\,-8]} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 h5\n5. Bd3 (5. c4) 5… Bxd3 6. Qxd3 e6 7. Bg5 Qb6 8. Nd2 Ne7 (8… c5) 9. Ngf3 Qa6\n10. c4 Nf5 11. O-O Bb4 12. b3 Nd7 13. Rfd1 O-O 14. a3 $146 (14. Nf1) 14… Bxd2\n15. Rxd2 Nb6 16. c5 Qxd3 17. Rxd3 Nd7 $11 18. b4 {[#]} b6 $1 19. Rc1 $6 (19.\nRb3 f6) 19… Rfc8 {Black now proceeds to outplay his higher rated opponent.} (\n19… bxc5 20. bxc5 Rfb8 $17) 20. Bd2 f6 21. Re1 Kf7 22. g3 bxc5 23. bxc5 Rcb8\n24. Bf4 Rb2 25. Rdd1 Rb3 26. Kg2 a5 27. a4 Ra7 28. Re2 Rab7 29. Ra2 Rc3 30.\nRaa1 Rbb3 31. Nd2 Rb2 32. exf6 gxf6 33. Nf3 Rbb3 34. Nd2 Rb4 35. Nf3 Rcc4 36.\nRab1 Kg6 37. Bd6 Rxb1 38. Rxb1 Nxd4 39. Nxd4 Rxd4 40. Rb6 Ne5 41. Bxe5 fxe5 42.\nRxc6 Kf6 {[#]} 43. Ra6 $2 (43. Rc8 Rxa4 44. Rf8+ Ke7 45. Rh8 e4 $19) 43… Rxa4\n$19 {Black has the upper hand.} 44. f3 d4 45. Ra7 Ra2+ 46. Kf1 Ra3 47. Kf2 e4\n48. fxe4 Ke5 49. g4 hxg4 50. h5 Rf3+ 51. Kg2 Kxe4 {Surely Black is winning?}\n52. c6 Rc3 53. Rc7 d3 ({Better is} 53… Kd5 {but White’s h-pawn is little\nconcerning.}) 54. h6 d2 55. Rd7 Rxc6 $6 (55… Rd3 56. Rxd3 Kxd3 57. c7 d1=Q\n58. c8=Q Qf3+ 59. Kg1) 56. h7 Rc8 $6 {Sadly this lets the win slip.} ({Better\nwas} 56… Rc2 57. Kf1 d1=Q+ 58. Rxd1 Rh2) 57. Rxd2 Rh8 58. Rd7 Kf5 59. Kg3 a4\n60. Rf7+ Ke5 61. Kxg4 a3 62. Ra7 a2 {and the position is drawn.} 1/2-1/2\n[/pgn] \nWith the White pieces Daniel has played  a wide range of first moves but the majority move by far is 1.e4. His choice versus the Najdorf is some eclectic : sometime ago 6. Rg1 was the favourite and now 6.a4 is preferred. \n[fen]rnbqkb1r/1p2pppp/p2p1n2/8/3NP3/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBR1 b KQkq – 0 1[/fen] \nAgainst 1…e5 Daniel offers a main line Ruy Lopez. \nWhat does a Caro-Kann expert play against the Caro-Kann? Nowadays the Two Knights Variation is employed! \nAs the second player he plays the Sicilian Najdorf as well as the Caro-Kann plus an equal mixture of the Grünfeld and King’s Indian Defences. \nIn 2019 Daniel was interviewed by Edwin Lam on behalf of ChessBase : fascinating reading! \nIn the same year Daniel joined IM Adam Taylor’s venture Making Grandmasters. \nOur final games is from July 2019 : \n[pgn]\n[Event “Gent Eastman op 42nd”]\n[Site “Gent”]\n[Date “2019.07.22”]\n[Round “6”]\n[White “Fernandez\, Daniel Howard”]\n[Black “Michiels\, Bart”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A03”]\n[WhiteElo “2466”]\n[BlackElo “2563”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “63”]\n[EventDate “2019.07.20”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “BEL”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 191 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2019.09.30”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2019.09.30”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,63\,19\,-30\,-33\,-42\,-34\,-34\,-35\,-26\,-27\,-27\,-5\,-28\,-2\,5\,14\,-30\,-62\,-77\,\n-39\,-90\,-40\,-79\,-59\,-73\,-56\,-52\,-37\,-37\,-38\,-105\,44\,60\,63\,56\,98\,17\,60\,3\,86\,32\,\n61\,68\,65\,66\,96\,95\,118\,109\,136\,153\,132\,211\,211\,202\,269\,280\,383\,424\,450\,477\,542\,\n539\,782\,836]} 1. f4 d5 2. b3 {Larsen would have been proud!} Nf6 3. Bb2 Bf5 4.\nNf3 e6 5. e3 h6 {Black creates a luft on h7 for his light squared bishop.\nOtherwise with a knight on e5 combined with a h-pawn push Black could get into\ntrouble. You might not think it but …h6 scores best for Black and is\nlabelled “Hot” by Megabase 2020.} (5… Be7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Ne5 h6 9.\nd3 {is a more usual way to proceed.}) 6. h3 (6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Ne5 Nbd7\n9. d3 Nxe5 10. Bxe5 Nd7 11. Bb2 Bf6 12. d4 c5) {The first appearence for this\nTN.} 6… a5 $146 7. g4 Bh7 {As facilitated by h6….} {Now pause the video….\n} 8. Bxf6 $5 {I bet you did not predict this capture and nor did I!} Qxf6 9. d4\na4 (9… c5) 10. bxa4 g5 $1 11. fxg5 hxg5 $17 {I’d give Black the nod here but\nonly just.} 12. Bd3 {[#]} Bd6 (12… Nc6 {would take advantage of White’s lack\nof control of b4 and is a bit awkard to meet. Black threatens ….Nb4}) 13. Ke2\n{an ugly requirement with the h-file open. This is needed so as White may\nre-capture on d3 with the queen.} Nd7 (13… Bxd3+ 14. Qxd3 Nc6) 14. Bxh7 Rxh7\n15. c4 dxc4 16. Nbd2 Qg6 17. Nxc4 Ke7 18. Qb1 (18. Qb3) 18… Qxb1 (18… Rxa4\n{seems natural}) 19. Rhxb1 Rxh3 20. Nxg5 Rh2+ 21. Kd3 Ra7 ({Why not} 21… Rxa4\n{I don’t understand.}) 22. Ne4 $1 $18 {[#] white is getting on top.} Nf6 $2 23.\nNxf6 Kxf6 24. a5 $1 {black must be regretting leaving this pawn on and is\ndefinately worse now.} Bf8 25. Rb5 Rf2 26. a4 Bh6 27. Rh1 Kg6 28. Rhb1 b6 29.\nNe5+ Kh7 30. Rh1 f6 31. Nc6 Ra6 32. Rbh5 {and Black resigned.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nDaniel’s most recent publication is The Modernized Modern Defence from Thinker’s Publishing: \nThe Modernized Modern Defence\, Daniel Fernandez\, Thinker’s Publishing\, 2021\nand BCN has been told that Daniel has a book in the pipeline about the Tata Steel 2021 tournament at Wijk aan Zee.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-gm-daniel-fernandez-05-iii-1995/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210305
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210306
DTSTAMP:20210305T164800Z
CREATED:20200412T132557Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T164800Z
UID:4552-1614902400-1614988799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Adam Ashton (05-iii-1980)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Adam G Ashton (05-iii-1980)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-adam-g-ashton-05-iii-1980/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/JEU8980.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200305
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200306
DTSTAMP:20210305T153853Z
CREATED:20200625T101854Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T153853Z
UID:6686-1583366400-1583452799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of GM Daniel Yanofsky OC QC (25-iii-1925 05-iii-2000)
DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of GM Daniel Abraham Yanofsky OC QC (25-iii-1925 05-iii-2000)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-gm-daniel-yanofsky-oc-qc-25-iii-1925-05-iii-2000/
CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,Hastings,History,Player,Writer
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/IMG_0940-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210308
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210309
DTSTAMP:20230308T130207Z
CREATED:20200408T105518Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230308T130207Z
UID:4171-1615161600-1615247999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM James Cobb (08-iii-1977)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM James E Cobb (08-iii-1977)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-james-e-cobb-08-iii-1977/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/BBC_4959.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210308
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210309
DTSTAMP:20210305T165000Z
CREATED:20200410T162610Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T165000Z
UID:4352-1615161600-1615247999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Bogdan Lalić (08-iii-1964)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of GM Bogdan Lalić (08-iii-1964)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-bogdan-lalic-08-iii-1964/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/JUA3990.jpg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR