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DTSTART:20190101T000000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210203
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210204
DTSTAMP:20210131T113738Z
CREATED:20200410T093145Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210131T113738Z
UID:4321-1612310400-1612396799@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Oliver Jackson (03-ii-1946)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Oliver A Jackson (03-ii-1946)
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-oliver-a-jackson-03-ii-1946/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210207
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210208
DTSTAMP:20220207T095801Z
CREATED:20200207T144432Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220207T095801Z
UID:3191-1612656000-1612742399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Ravi Haria (07-ii-1999)
DESCRIPTION:BCN sends birthday wishes to GM Ravi Haria. \nRavi Haria was born Sunday\, February 7th\, 1999  in Elstree\, Hertfordshire. “Maria” by Blondie was top of the hit parade. Ravi currently resides in London. \nRavi attended Lonsdale School in Barnet and then The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School  and now reads History at University College\, London. \nECF grading profiles for Ravi Haria\nRavi learnt at the age of 6 and joined Barnet Knights Chess Club in 2005. \nRavi’s first recorded tournament was the 35th Barnet Knights Under-8  rapidplay on September 25th 2005. Also playing of note were Jonathan Pein and Isaac Sanders. \nHis first recorded standard play game  was in the London Junior Under-10 Championships on December 9th 2006. \nBy the time he was eight he had attracted the attention of the England selectors and played in the 2008 Commonwealth Championships in New Delhi coming home with a bronze medal. \nRavi aged 8 photographed by The Borehamwood and Elstree Times in January 2008\nRavi aged 9 photographed by The Borehamwood and Elstree Times in August 2008\nIn 2008 Ravi won the British Under-9 title in Liverpool. He said afterwards: \nIt was quite nice to be leading everyone and I felt proud of myself. I’m not sure how I control my nerves but it feels really good to win. \nHis mother Sona said: \nIt’s a bit overwhelming but we just support him. It means you have to give up a lot of time for him but it’s really nice to see that he’s getting somewhere. \nThis was followed in 2014 by winning the British Under-18 championship in Aberystwyth aged 15 and then the same title in 2017 in Llandudno. \nRavi Haria\, UKCC Southern Gigafinal\, 2013\nIn 2016 Ravi was equal 2nd to Deep Sengupta at the Hastings Masters Open with an impressive 6/9 and a TPR of 2563.  This performance secured his second IM norm. \nThe IM title was conferred at the 88th FIDE Congress 2017\, 7-15 October\, Goynuk\, Antalya\, Turkey. \nHe scored six points after 11 rounds at the 2017 World Junior championship in Italy and 5.5 points at the 2017 WYCC U-18 group in Uruguay. \n\nRavi completed his British junior titles run by becoming the current (no OTB event in 2020) British Under-21 champion in 2019 in Torquay scoring an emphatic 6.5/9 securing a share of third place. \nPartial crosstable for the 2019 British Championships in Torquay\nRavi became a FIDE Master in 2015 at the age of 16 and and International Master two years later making him England’s second youngest IM after Matthew Wadsworth. \nOTB Elo rating profile for IM Ravi Haria according to MegaBase 2020\nHis peak FIDE rating was 2497 in October 2021 and currently (February  2022) is 2490. \nIn 2019 Ravi teamed up with IM Adam C. Taylor to join Adam’s Making Grandmasters training venture. \nFM Ravi Haria\, ECF Secondary Schools Rapidplay\, 2016\nOn January 28th 2021 Thinker’s Publishing released The Modernised Anti-Sicilians\, Volume 1\, Rossolimo Variation which is a massive 520 page tome on the following position : \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nwhich was reviewed by FM Richard Webb. \nwhich we hope will be followed by at least Volume 2! \nThe Modernized Anti-Sicilians – Volume 1: Rossolimo Variation\, Ravi Haria\, Thinker’s Publishing\, 2021\nRavi has plus scores against : Matthew Turner\, Simon Williams\, William Claridge Hansen\, Bob Eames\, David Eggleston and Arul Gupta to name but a few. \nGM John Emms plays IM Ravi Haria in the final round of the 2019 British Championships in Torquay\nWith the white pieces Ravi unsurprisingly plays the Moscow and Rossolimo variations against the Sicilian\,  the Ruy Lopez and\, in recent years\, he has adopted the Reti/English complex. \nAs the second player he plays the French Winawer and (refreshingly) the Abrahams-Noteboom Variation of the Semi-Slav. \nFor your entertainment we have these two  brevities : \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nand \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nRavi has played for University College London. Hendon and Cavendish in the London and other leagues and in 4NCL he started with Kings Head\, transferring to Cambridge in 2014 and finally moving in 2016 to Wood Green. \nIn this game Ravi punishes IM Malcolm Pein who has a bad day at the office : \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nRavi Haria\, British Championships\, 2014\, Aberystwyth\nRavi is Mesutgm on chess.com and lichess \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nOver the 19th – 23rd August  2021 Ravi played in the Wood Green Invitational round-robin event at Oddfellows Hall\, Stafford. \nRavi scored 7.5/10 and secured his second Grandmaster Norm and  a TPR of 2680. \nWood Green Invitational Round-Robin event at Oddfellows Hall\, Stafford. August Bank Holiday Weekend\, 2021\nOver the August Bank Holiday weekend of 2021 Ravi played in the Northumbrian Masters  GM Tournament at the splendid Marriott MetroCentre\, Gateshead winning jointly with Conor Murphy scoring 6.5/9 with a TPR of 2600. This gave Ravi his third and final GM norm. \nThe norm was ratified at a recent FIDE Congress. As of February 2022 Ravi stood at 2490 for standard-play.
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-ravi-hari-07-ii-1999/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,UKCC,Writer
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210207
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210208
DTSTAMP:20210206T200640Z
CREATED:20200401T104337Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210206T200640Z
UID:3908-1612656000-1612742399@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Jimmy Adams (07-ii-1947)
DESCRIPTION:BCN send birthday wishes to FM Jimmy Adams. \nJames Bernard Adams was born on Friday\, February 7th\, 1947 to James Adams and Ivy F Soule in Islington\, London. \nJimmy was married to Sharon and they have a daughter\, Charlotte. \nIn 1958 Jimmy at the age of 11\, joined his local Islington Chess Club and soon afterwards became London Junior Champion. Following this Jimmy played little chess and worked for John Lewis (echos of CHO’D Alexander!) \nThe Spasski-Fischer match of 1972 re-kindled his lapsed interest and he won with a 100% score the London Amateur Championship. \nHe joined (and was a staunch member of) London Central YMCA (CentYMCA) chess club and he wrote a privately published history of the club entitled The CentYMCA Story. This is now a much sought after publication. His membership continued during the 1970s until around 1979. \nThe CentYMCA Story by Jimmy Adams\, 1976\nThe CentYMCA Story by Jimmy Adams\, 1976\nDuring this period Jimmy was extremely active at the Endell Street premises. \nHere is Jimmy playing Viktor Korchnoi at Endell Street (in the Phase Two classrooms) : \nJimmy plays Viktor Korchnoi at the Endell Street premises of London Central YMCA on January 18th\, 1976. Photographer potentially John Yeo\nIn 1974 Jimmy embarked on a highly successful career as writer and journalist. He authored a number of acclaimed books for Batsfords\, The Chess Player\, Caissa Books and latterly\, New in Chess. His books on Chigorin\, Zukertort and Breyer being some of the finest chess biographies published. \nIn 1979 Jimmy joined Metropolitan Chess Club to play in the London League. He played top board and scored very highly with many significant scalps. \nJimmy gained his FM title in 2014 (at the age of 67!). 67 must be one of the most advanced ages to acquire an FM title. According to Felice his peak rating was 2300 in January 1981 aged 34. \nJimmy giving a simultaneous display\nHe was registered with Metropolitan and Barbican Chess Clubs. He joined Barbican\, as did many ex-CentYMCA players\, following the hiatus over their Tottenham Court Road venue loss. \nJimmy records a game between David Howell and Andrew Whiteley in 2000.\nIn December 2009 Jimmy visited the London Chess Classic and was photographed with VIP guess Viktor Korchnoi : \nViktor Korchnoi in conversation with Jimmy Adams at the 2009 London Chess Classic. Photograph by Mark Huba\nJimmy was Editor of CHESS / CHESS Monthly magazine from 1981 until 2010 although his name remained on the masthead until February 2012. \nIn 2012 Jimmy and Ray Cannon attended a meeting of the Ken Whyld Association in Norwich : \nJimmy Adams and Michael Negele at the 2012 meeting of the Ken Whyld Association\nJimmy and Ray Cannon at a 2012 meeting in Norwich of the Ken Whyld Association\nIn January 2016 Jimmy (together with Josip Asik) became co-editors of British Chess Magazine taking over from James Pratt and John Upham. Jimmy then took on a role at the newly created American Chess Magazine and then worked for Pavillion Books on their newly acquired Batsford Book imprint. \nIn 2014 Jimmy and Ray attended an event organised by the father of Emma Bentley \nJimmy Adams and Ray Cannon at an event organised by Emma Bentley’s father.\nHere is an interview with Jon Manley from Kingpin Magazine \n\n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nThe Games of Anatoly Karpov\, Batsford\, Jimmy Adams\, 1974\nThe Complete Games of World Champion Anatoly Karpov\, Jimmy Adams\, 1976\nThe Complete Games of World Champion Anatoly Karpov\, Jimmy Adams\, 1976\nSicilian Defence Najdorf Poisoned Pawn\, Jimmy Adams\, The Chess Player\, 1977\nSicilian Defence 10 : Main Line Najdorf\, Jimmy Adams\, The Chess Player\, 1977\nSicilian Najdorf Polugaevsky Variation\, Jimmy Adams\, The Chess Player\, 1978\nThe Richter Veresov System\, The Chess Player\, Jimmy Adams\, 1978\nTrompovsky Attack\, The Chess Player\, Jimmy Adams\, 1979\nSchliemann/Jaenisch Gambit\, The Chess Player\, Jimmy Adams\, 1982\nParis 1900\, The Chess Player\, Jimmy Adams\, 1986\nISAAC BOLESLAVSKY Selected Games\, Caissa Books\, Jimmy Adams\, 1988\nJohannes Zukertort: Artist of the Chessboard\, New in Chess\, Jimmy Adams\, 2014\nMikhail Chigorin\, the Creative Genius: New in Chess\, Jimmy Adams\, 2016\nGyula Breyer : The Chess Revolutionary\, Jimmy Adams\, New in Chess\, 2017
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-james-bernard-adams-07-ii-1947/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player,Writer
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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
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\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\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\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\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\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\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\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\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\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\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\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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SUMMARY:Birthday of John Saunders (22-ii-1953)
DESCRIPTION:Birthday 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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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\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\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\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nand in the Vienna Game The Mieses Variation is : \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\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\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\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\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\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\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\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nReggio (Monte Carlo 1903)\, \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nPerlis (Ostend 1907) \n\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\nand 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\n\n \n\n\n    \n        \n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.        \n    \n    \n    \n\n\n \n\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*).
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
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