Victorian times in the home counties -a gentleman cycles across rural Bedfordshire to participate in a chess match but ends up in prison -how quaint?
The gentleman’s destination.
Archive for October 27th, 2015
England’s green and pleasant lands?
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, Quaint Chess History on October 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Well spotted Peter!
Posted in Life beyond the chess board on October 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »
GM Michael Adams, arguably England’s greatest ever player, won a game in fine style against GM Maxim Matlakov at he European Club Championship with a deep move that had chess-playing friend Peter Frost in awe.
White (GM Adams) has just played 27 Bb3, a very deep move allowing a loss of material as well as structural damage.
You can play out the rest of the game here -Mickey at his best.
Amazing contribution by yours truly
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess, Quaint Chess History on October 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »
En route to becoming county champions of England for the first time, Bedfordshire received help from yours truly on more than one occasion. Just look at this…this amazing effort below kindly sent on by author Richard James.
I remember that match quite well, it was played one sunny afternoon at The Purcell School in Bushey, Watford on the B462. We took an early lead as I was left to wander around for ages in my green puma jumper, making jokes with teammates that the opposing side had brought ‘criminal types’ to the match (see board 11), not knowing if my opponent would arrive. Here’s the position when I won on time, I was black.
A stunning victory in which I played no bad moves, Bedfordshire then went on to make history.
Don’t switch off when you give a check.
Posted in Life beyond the chess board on October 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Someone once said ‘When I give check, I am never afraid’. Apart from the fact that the counter-check can give mate, it’s generally not a good idea to stop thinking in chess. Here’s an example of just that from the hallowed antiquity of 1987, taken from Burgess’s ‘Quickest Victories of all time’ (1998)
R.Huque – J.Hodgson London ‘Chess for Peace’ 1987
1 d4 Nf6
2 c4 c5
3 Nf3 cxd4
4 Nxd4 e5
5 Nb5 d5?!
6 cxd5 Bc5
7 d6? Ne4
8 Nc7+??
Instead of gaining a tempo, white now loses on the spot. Can you find the winning move?
8. … Qxc7!
9 Qa4+ Qc6 0-1
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A side note on how to read old Tom Sweby's columns
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Not perhaps, but quintessentially, Old Tom Sweby is best thought of as a passionate devotee to the newspapers he wrote for. He was well read and knowledgeable of the Bedfordshire chess scene and well beyond, given that he was the president of the S.C.C.U. once upon a time. He was generally well-respected and rubbed shoulders with many, if not all, of those eminent within British chess circles. It would, however, be a critical mistake to see his column is primary source material entirely. That it is not. You will also find secondary source material quoted too, and the reliability of that is not quite as Tom hoped. Given that he wrote for decades, this is to some degree inevitable, and after all we are all prone to error whether we realize it or not. Thankfully, with regards to old Tom Sweby, they are infrequent and for the most part old Tom continued to document events and developments in the Bedfordshire league from the get go as best he could but, of course, everything lies open to interpretation. Despite this, and generally speaking. this does indeed make him informative and thus worth reading. Dare I say his columns constitute a narrative describing the latest developments, match reports and changing nature of the Beds league...he knew his audience and wrote according. This manifested itself over decades but brevity was always in play courtesy of the restictions imposed by writing a column. Should you wish to read a in instrumental figure of the Beds' league post WW2, you are quite welcome to peruse what has been posted here... . :-) I should, however, point out that as the decades wore on he gradually moved on away from narratives concerning the Bedfordshire league towards affairs both historical and international. The reasons for this are multifarous, old age was a predominante factor presumably, however, the bottom line is with regards to how the Bedfordshire chess scene developed post WW2: old Tom Sweby is your go to guy. He wrote more about chess in Bedforshire than anyone else did but given he was a Lutonian and writing for a Luton newspaper there is both bias and greater coverage of his hometown than the rest of the county.
Gallery
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- I’m either 10 or 11 here
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- 1982, myself versus Brian from Sunderland.
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- At the Thai Junior chess championships. My daughter of course.
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- Pattaya 2011
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- 2011
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- Thai Junior Championships
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- 2008
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- 2011
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- Around 2011
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- 2011
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- Pattaya 2009
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- 2011
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- Kuwait 2008
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- 2012
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- 2012
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- 2011 BKK Chess club
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- 2011
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- 2011 Thai Open
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- 2011 Thai Open
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- 2013 approx
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- Around 2014
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- 2010
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- 2012
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- Around 2011
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- 2011
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- 2011
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- 2013
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- Around 2011
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- Around 2011
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- 2020
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- 2011
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- 2008
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- 2011
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- 2013 or thereabouts
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- 2010
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- 2017
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- 2014?
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- 2010
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- 2024
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