BCN remembers Roland Scott who passed away in Monte Carlo on Saturday, January 10th, 1953.
Roland Henry Vaughan Scott was born in either Barnes or Holloway depending which Census record is correct. His parents were Walter Frederick Scott, a GP who was born in April 1960 and died in 1891 when Roland was three years of age.
His mother was Lucie Vaughan was born in 1855 and died in October 1933.
Roland had two sisters, Nina Vaughan Scott and Lucie / Lucia Audrey Scott (who died before her first birthday) and a brother Guy Francis D Scott who lived until 1977.
In 1891 Roland lived in Tottenham, in 1901 in Hampstead and in 1911 in St. Pancras where he was listed as a law clerk.
In 1917 The London Gazette lists him as a lieutenant in the Norfolk Regiment.
The 1920 electoral rolls for the Gospel Oak polling district lists Scott as voter #2006 living at 2, Estelle Road, North St. Pancras which is now in Belsize Park, NW3 2JX. At the same address was his sister Lucie and in 1921 they were joined by brother Guy.
In July 1922 in the district of Brighton Roland married Irma Clareboudt. No children from the marriage are recorded.
The 1939 register lists Scott as “War Disabled ? Officer Retired In War 1914” (invalided from army) and Irma as a saleswoman (born 25th July 1895) living at 42, Sherwell Lane, Paignton, Torquay, TQ2 6BD.
The April 1953 British Chess Magazine (Volume LXXIII, Number 4, page 101 onwards) contained this obituary from DJ Morgan:
It is with much regret that we record the death, on January 10th, at Monte Carlo, of R. H. V. Scott. He had long been out of active chess, but older readers will need no reminding of the 1920 British Champion, with his quiet manner but attacking chess; one who was composure itself at the table but aggressiveness personified on the board.
The son of a doctor, Scott was born in 1889. He was nineteen before taking to the game, but a ready aptitude combined with great enthusiasm led to rapid progress. He joined the Hampstead Club in 1908, and in his first tournament, the Third Class, came out first. ln the years that follow he pursued the game with much energy.
At the B.C.F. Congress, Glasgow, l9ll, he won the only section of the First Class. In 1913 and in 1914 he was Hampstead Club Champion. In 1913 he was tenth in the British Championship, at Cheltenham, and equal fifth to sixth at Chester in the following year, defeating Yates and drawing with Blackburne.
In 1915 he came second in the City of London Club Championship, but won that of the Metropolitan Club. During the same year he lost a short match with Sir G. A. Thomas 1-3. The war years, with a commission in the Norfolk Regiment, intervened, but chess filled his available moments.
In 1916 he defeated L. I. Estrin, a young Russian who was Hampstead Champion, 5-2 in a match. ln 1919 he lost a match with Winter at Hastings (2-4), and shared seventh to eighth positions with Dr. Olland (Holland) at the B.C.F. Hastings Victory Congress, with victories over Olland,
[pgn]
[Event “Victory Congress Chief Tournament”]
[Site “Hastings”]
[Date “1919.08.12”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Olland, Dr. Adolf Georg”]
[Black “Scott, Roland Henry Vaughan”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B15”]
[Annotator “Fred Reinfeld & BCN”]
[PlyCount “70”]
[EventDate “1919.08.11”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “British Chess Masters, Page 39”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
{[%evp 0,70,19,38,60,60,55,40,50,35,41,13,43,54,65,5,45,45,73,47,32,7,-1,8,14,
14,17,-15,-15,-75,-31,-38,-32,-29,-43,-21,-52,-64,-64,-88,-90,-155,-167,-146,
-155,-199,-218,-227,-247,-259,-241,-260,-292,-271,-268,-258,-273,-273,-252,
-253,-255,-268,-304,-326,-295,-339,-352,-380,-347,-580,-581,-584,-600]} 1. e4 {
1) The Book of the Second Annual Chess Congress Hyères 1926. p.13. [Scott].} c6
{Scott’s trade-mark} 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 {More promising and also
more risky} ({than the usual} 4… Bf5) 5. Ng3 Bg4 ({Relevant:} 5… e6 6. Nf3
Nbd7 7. Bd3 Be7 8. Qe2 b6 9. Bf4 Nd5 10. Bd2 Qc7 11. Ne5 Bb7 12. O-O Rd8 13.
Rae1 N5f6 14. Nxf7 O-O 15. Nxd8 Bxd8 16. Qxe6+ Kh8 17. Nf5 Nb8 18. Qd6 Qf7 19.
Qe6 Qh5 20. Ng3 Qh4 21. Re5 Bc7 22. Nf5 Qh5 23. Nxg7 Qf7 24. Qxf7 Rxf7 25. Ne6
Bxe5 26. dxe5 Nd5 27. c4 Ne7 28. Nd8 {1-0 (28) Alekhine,A-Vasiutinsky Odessa
1918}) 6. f3 {[#]} ({Development with} 6. Be2 {would be more to the point} Bxe2
7. N1xe2 e6 8. O-O Bd6 9. Bf4 O-O 10. c3 Qc7 11. Bxd6 Qxd6) 6… Bd7 $5 $146 {
He does not care to lose time and part with the Bishop-pair by retreating with
6…Bh5} ({Predecessor:} 6… Bh5 7. Be3 e6 8. Bd3 Bd6 9. N1e2 Qc7 10. Qd2 Nbd7
11. O-O-O O-O-O 12. Kb1 Bg6 13. Bxg6 hxg6 14. Qc3 Nd5 15. Qb3 N7b6 16. Bf2 a5
17. c4 a4 18. Qc2 Nb4 19. Qc3 c5 20. Ne4 cxd4 21. Nxd6+ Qxd6 22. Rxd4 Qe7 23.
Rxd8+ Rxd8 24. Bxb6 Rd3 25. Qe5 Rd2 26. Bc5 Qd7 27. Nc1 Nd3 28. Qd4 Nxb2 29.
Qxd7+ Kxd7 30. Re1 Rxg2 31. Re2 Rxe2 32. Nxe2 Nxc4 33. Kc2 g5 34. Kd3 Ne5+ 35.
Ke4 Nc6 36. Nc3 {Kvicala,J-Cohn,W Berlin 1913 1-0}) 7. Bd3 Qb6 $1 {Good! Black
must free his game with ….c5} 8. N1e2 Na6 9. c3 c5 10. Qb3 {Realising that
in the middle game the weakness of the diagonal g1 – a7 is likely to be
troublesome, Olland heads for the end game. But the consequences are anything
but pleasant.} ({BCN: better was} 10. a4) (10. Be3 Qxb2 11. O-O) 10… cxd4 11.
Qxb6 axb6 12. Nxd4 Nc5 {Scott seizes the initiative here and retains it
throughout.} 13. Bc2 (13. Bc4) 13… e5 14. Nde2 $17 ({Or} 14. Ndf5 g6 {etc.})
14… Be6 15. a3 $6 {He must part with one of his Bishops, since} (15. b3 $2 {
loses a Pawn.} Nxb3 $19) (15. Be3) 15… Nb3 $1 16. Rb1 Nxc1 17. Nxc1 Nd5 $1
$17 {Directing his attention to the weakened black squares.} 18. Be4 O-O-O 19.
Nd3 {[#]} Ne3 $17 20. Kf2 (20. Ke2) 20… Nc4 $1 $19 21. Rhd1 g6 {Threatening
to win a piece. White is given no time to consolidate his position, and some
loss of material is inevitable.} 22. Ne1 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Bc5+ (23… Nxb2 {
is also strong} 24. Rb1 Bxa3 25. Nc2 Bc5+ 26. Ke1 Nc4) 24. Ke2 Nxb2 25. Rb1 Na4
26. Kd2 Rd8+ 27. Bd3 f5 {Every move tells. White’s position is crumbling.} 28.
Kc2 Be3 29. Nf1 Bf2 30. Nd2 Nc5 31. Be2 e4 {Decisive. White is helpless.} 32.
Nc4 Kc7 33. Nd2 e3 34. Nc4 ({The alternative was} 34. Nf1 f4 35. Nd3 Nxd3 36.
Bxd3 Rxd3 {etc.}) 34… Bxc4 35. Bxc4 Rd2+ {White resigns. Black’s conduct of
this game was impeccable.} 0-1
[/pgn]
R. P. Michell, Marchand, and Conde. Then came the B.C.F. Edinburgh Congress of 1920, Scott became British Champion, losing only
to Sir G. A. Thomas.
In this year he also drew a match, 3-3, with Marchand, of Holland, also at Hastings. There followed three more appearances in the championship, Malvern, 1921 (equal fifth to sixth); Southsea,1923 (equal third to fourth); and Southport, 1924 (fourth). And with this Scott passed out of British chess. Ill health and failing eyesight, direct results of sufferings and injuries endured on active service during the war, began to take their toll. On medical advice he sought a warmer climate, and the Riviera henceforth became his home.
We find him sharing seventh to eighth positions at the Hyères Congress, in 1926, and coming equal fifth to sixth, with B. Reilly (our Editor’s first international tourney we believe), at Hyères, 1927.
The days of active play were over, but his great interest in the game remained. Scott was a natural attacking player, more likely, perhaps, to win the Brilliancy Prize than the First Prize.
We have given the bare outline of a career that was all too short, one cut down, in a sense before reaching full maturity. Contemporary records sometimes expressed the need for more stability in Scott’s chess, but they chronicle games of his that speak forcibly of the imaginative, refreshing, and invigorating qualities of his play. We offer an early game, the Brilliancy Prize winner, City of London C.C. Championship, 1913-14. White’s 20th move sets the game alight.
[pgn]
[Event “City of London Championship”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1913.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Scott, Roland Henry Vaughan”]
[Black “Jacobs, H.”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D06”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “73”]
[SourceTitle “BCM, 1953, page 102”]
{[%evp 0,65,19,31,19,-16,41,-14,30,11,28,-22,30,-18,30,41,40,42,55,54,54,34,59,
68,57,57,48,44,85,80,55,67,75,70,70,69,57,57,57,13,5,0,0,0,0,-73,-27,-79,-43,
-38,-35,-35,-35,-61,-61,-12,-12,0,-25,-25,9,-15,101,32,31,-152,29991,29992]} 1.
d4 d5 2. c4 Bf5 {The so-called Baltic Defence hoping that b7 will not prove to
be an Achilles Heel for Black.} 3. Nf3 e6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. Be2 ({
Relevant:} 6. Qb3 b6 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O c6 9. Rd1 Nbd7 10. Bd2 Ne4 11. Be1 Bd6
12. Rac1 Qf6 13. Qa4 Rfc8 14. Qa6 Rc7 15. b4 dxc4 16. Qxc4 a5 17. bxa5 b5 18.
Qb3 g5 19. Bd3 Nxc3 20. Bxc3 Bg4 21. Be2 Qh6 22. h3 Bf5 23. Bb4 Qf8 24. a3 g4
25. hxg4 Bxg4 26. Bxb5 Bxf3 27. gxf3 cxb5 28. Rxc7 Qg7+ 29. Kf1 Bxc7 30. Qc3
Bh2 31. Qc6 Rd8 32. a6 Qg5 33. Ba5 Ne5 34. Qb7 Rd7 35. a7 Rxb7 {Swiderski,
R-Janowski,D Nuremberg 1906 1-0}) 6… O-O 7. Nh4 Be4 {[#]} 8. f3 $146 ({
Predecessor:} 8. Nxe4 Nxe4 9. Nf3 Bb4+ (9… Nd7 10. O-O Ndf6 11. Ne5 c5 12. f3
) 10. Kf1 c6 11. Qb3 Qe7 12. c5 Ba5 13. h4 Bd8 14. Qc2 Nd7 15. b4 Bc7 16. Bb2
f5 17. Bd3 Ndf6 18. Ne5 Bxe5 19. dxe5 Ng4 20. g3 Nexf2 21. Ke2 Nxh1 22. Rxh1
Qc7 23. h5 Nxe5 24. h6 Nxd3 25. Kxd3 e5 26. hxg7 Qxg7 27. Qh2 Rae8 28. Kc2 Rf7
29. a4 Qg4 30. Qh6 Qg6 {0-1 (30) Von Scheve,T-Riemann,F Leipzig 1888}) 8… Bg6
9. Nxg6 hxg6 $16 10. O-O (10. cxd5 exd5 11. g4 {is a modern way to proceed.})
10… c6 11. e4 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Nbd7 13. Be3 Nb6 14. Bb3 Rc8 15. Qe2 c5 16. Rad1
Qc7 17. Nb5 Qb8 18. Rc1 Nfd7 19. f4 a6 {[#]} 20. f5 $5 (20. Nc3 {leaves White
with a small edge}) 20… c4 {Jacobs responds correctly} 21. Bc2 axb5 22. fxe6
fxe6 23. Qg4 {The “point” of f5} Rc6 $17 24. e5 Nxe5 $1 25. dxe5 Qxe5 26. Bxb6
Rxb6 27. Qxg6 Qe3+ 28. Kh1 Qh6 $17 {[#]} 29. Qe4 Bf6 $2 {Looks like a very
natural move but} (29… Rf6 {Leaves Black on top.}) 30. Rcd1 $11 Rf7 $2 (30…
Rc6 {is very sensible. Black needs to look after his back rank.}) 31. Rf3 (31.
Qe5 $1 {was available.}) 31… Qh5 $2 {The losing move from Jacobs} 32. Rxf6 {
and White obliges with a losing blunder} (32. Rh3 Qf5 33. Qe2) 32… g5 $4 {
Ooops!} (32… Rxf6 $19 {and Black is winning}) 33. Rd8+ {and Black resigned.}
{in view of} Kg7 34. Rg6+ Kh7 35. Rxe6+ Rf5 36. Qxf5+ Qg6 37. Qxg6# 1-0
[/pgn]
From British Chess Magazine, Volume XLI (1920), Number 10 (October), page 305 we have the following report of his exploits winning the 1920 British Championship in Edinburgh:
“We are glad to be able to present to our readers a photograph of the new champion, Mr. R.H.V Scott. He informs us that it is his most recent one, taken in 1917 when subaltern in the Norfolk Regiment. He saw service with the latter in France, and, as is probably know to most of our subscribers, was badly gassed, from the effects of which is now happily quite recovered.
His victory in the recent Congress in Edinburgh is welcome from at least two points of view; one, that he is one of our youngest first class players (ed: he was 32 at the time, a veteran by the standards of 2022!), having been born in 1889 (ed: this should have been 1888), and therefore may justifiably be expected to improve still further with experience and some curbing of his impatience in defence; and, two, that he claim to represent the more brilliant school of chess, that of Pillsbury, Marshall, Charousek, and Morphy, rather than the more solid school, of say, Steinitz and Rubinstein, who theory was the pilling up of small advantages.
Scott has an excellent “nose” for attack, and has some exceedingly “chessy” ideas. During the congress he put a much greater restraint on himself than is his wont, and we believe this to be the reason he so improved on his previous records.
He had what might be described as the worst of the draw, since he had Black against Sir George Thomas, EG Sergeant and RP Michell. Some writers have described him as lucky to win, but a study of his games and a comparison with those of others in the tourney go to prove that he played more far-sightedly than any of the others.
We are quite aware that the form of any player is variable, and we have seen Sir George Thomas play much better chess and much less strainedly than he did at Edinburgh. EG Sergeant was generally playing quite at his best, but once or twice his play deteriorated, perhaps as the result of a sleepless night, he then seemed bereft of ideas, and allowed the clock to beat him. This also was the case with Michell, who had many a rush to save his flag falling before the necessary moves were made. Now Scott almost invariably had time to spare.
Perhaps the worst reversal of form was that of JH Blake; but he had been working very hard and late for some time right up to the day the Congress commenced, and was not really in a fit state of health to take part.
Scott has twice before competed for the Championship; in 1913 where he finished eighth, and in 1914 when he was fifth, beating FD Yates, the then Champion and drawing with JH Blackburne.
He has won several brilliancy prizes in congress and club tourneys, and was the champion of the Hampstead Chess Club (where he may have been said to have learnt the game) in 1913 and 1914. He was first acquainted with the moves in 1908.
He is keen on all sports, and puts his whole energy into each line he may be taking. With yet more self-restraint we think his chess will still further improve, and we venture to prophesy this will not be the last British Chess Championship he will win.”
In his memoirs William Winter wrote this:
“I also had the opportunity of playing a number of semi-serious games with RHV Scott and D. Miller, two of the leading London amateurs. Scott was probably the most brilliant combinative played England has ever seen and had already won almost every honour except the British Championship, which fell to him in 1920.
Since those days I have played over hundreds of games, including the beautiful brilliancies of the modern Russian school, and Scott’s best combinations stand up quite well beside them. There were however weaknesses in his play which I shall discuss later. Miller was just the opposite type, a dour solid player exceptionally hard to beat. He is, I am glad to say, still with us, but Scott died a few years ago – he had been out of chess for a long time.”
and this:
“It is entirely legitimate, and can prove very useful until one comes up against an opponent like Capablanca who had no weaknesses of any kind. ln Scott’s case, one of his foibles was an aversion to exchanging queens, and I took full advantage of this in the first two games of the match both of which I won with comparative ease; but Scott was not finished yet.’ In the third game he tied me up in a variation of the Sicilian which I had not previously seen, and in the fourth I made the fatal mistake in going for an early win of material and allowing him a king’s side attack. Things now looked bad for me. I had the black pieces in the fifth game and I dared not play my favourite Sicilian defence because I could not discover a satisfactory answer to his new line.”
Strangely, none of the Encyclopaedia’s by Golombek, Sunnucks or Hooper & Whyld felt that RHVS merited an entry. However Gaige does not forget.
Here is an interesting article from “introuble2” entitled 100 years ago… chess in London during World War I in which Scott is mentioned.
Here is an excellent article from John Saunders
[pgn]
[Event “Christmas Congress 1921-02 Premier”]
[Site “Hastings Town Hall”]
[Date “1922.12.31”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Yates, Fred Dewhirst”]
[Black “Scott, Roland Henry Vaughan”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C49”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “116”]
[EventDate “1921.12.26”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “7”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2001”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2000.11.22”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2000.11.22”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
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-756,-778,-756,-1560,-1593,-1593,-2018,-2304,-2392,-2172,-29986,-29993,-29994]
} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6 7. Bg5 Bxc3 8.
bxc3 h6 (8… Qe7) 9. Bh4 Qe7 10. Re1 ({Relevant:} 10. Qd2 Nd8 11. d4 Ne6 12.
dxe5 dxe5 13. Nxe5 Nc5 14. Qf4 g5 15. Bxg5 hxg5 16. Qxg5+ Kh7 17. Qh4+ Kg7 18.
Qg5+ Kh7 19. Qh4+ Kg7 20. Qg5+ Kh7 21. Qh4+ Kg7 22. Qg3+ Kh7 23. Qh4+ Kg7 24.
Qg3+ Kh7 25. Qh4+ Kg7 26. Qg5+ Kh7 27. Bc4 Be6 28. Ng4 Bxg4 29. e5 Ng8 30. Qxg4
Nh6 31. Qh5 Rg8 32. f4 Qd7 33. Rf2 Raf8 34. h3 Qf5 35. Qxf5+ Nxf5 36. g4 Ne3
37. Bd3+ Kg7 38. Rf3 Nd5 39. Bf5 Ne7 {Tarrasch,S-Spielmann,R Berlin 1920 1-0})
10… Bg4 11. h3 {[#]} Bxf3 $146 ({Predecessor:} 11… Bh5 12. g4 Bg6 13. Rb1
Nd8 14. d4 c6 15. Bf1 Re8 16. c4 Bh7 17. c5 g5 18. cxd6 Qxd6 19. Bg3 Nxe4 20.
Bxe5 Qd7 21. Bd3 f5 22. Bxe4 fxe4 23. Nd2 Nf7 24. Nxe4 Bxe4 25. Rxe4 Rad8 26.
Qf3 Re6 27. Rbe1 Nxe5 28. Rxe5 Rf8 29. Qb3 Rf7 30. Qxe6 {1-0 (30) Schlechter,
C-Marshall,F Ostend 1907}) 12. Qxf3 g5 13. Bg3 Kg7 $146 14. d4 $14 Nd7 15. Rad1
Rad8 16. Re3 a6 17. Bc4 Qf6 18. Qe2 Nb6 19. Bb3 exd4 20. Rf3 d3 21. Rdxd3 Qe7
22. Rf5 Nd7 23. f4 f6 24. Rf3 Rde8 25. Bd5 Nd8 26. Qf2 c6 27. fxg5 cxd5 28.
gxf6+ Rxf6 29. Bh4 Rxf5 30. Bxe7 Rxf3 31. Qxf3 Rxe7 $11 {[#]} 32. Qg4+ $2 (32.
Qg3+ Kf7 33. Qxd6 dxe4 34. Qxh6 Re6 35. Qh7+ Ke8 36. Qh8+ Nf8 37. Qh5+ Nf7 38.
Qd5 $11) 32… Kf8 $19 33. Qf5+ Nf7 34. exd5 Nb6 35. c4 Rc7 36. Qf2 Nxc4 37.
Qa7 Ke7 38. Qd4 Nce5 39. c3 Rc5 40. h4 Kd7 41. Qd2 Rc4 42. Qe1 Kc7 43. Kh2 Ra4
44. Kh3 Rxa2 45. Qd1 Ra3 46. Qc2 b5 47. g3 Ra4 48. Kg2 Rc4 49. Kf1 b4 50. g4
bxc3 51. g5 hxg5 52. h5 g4 53. Kg2 Nf3 54. Qe2 N7e5 55. Qe3 c2 56. Qa7+ Kd8 57.
h6 c1=Q 58. h7 Nh4+ 0-1
[/pgn]
