J. M. Craddock the schoolboy champion who took down those bigger than he
“History is on every occasion the record of that which one age finds worthy of note in another.” J. Burckhardt
There is no record uncovered where a Bedfordshire based player achieved recognition or success on a national or international level between 1910 and 1950. The only attention our county drew was courtesy of the chess scene in Luton and the high-profile simuls they arranged, attracting the likes of Blackburne (1905), Lasker (1908), Meises (1913) Tartakower (1918), Capablanca (1918), and Reti (c.1922). Yes its true a few of our homegrown talent achieved victories but this is hardly noteworthy (should you be interested you can find some of those victories on my site). But in the 50’s, according to our local columnist Tom Sweby, a certain J. M. Craddock was based in Dunstable and played board 1 for Bedfordshire (see fig 18. ‘Bedfordshire chess in the 70’s; its past and its future’). Who was J. M. Craddock? Once again there is a paucity of information, however, both Britbase and the ECForum enable us to fill in the blanks somewhat. The following is from Britbase:
We only have one game surviving from his time in Bedfordshire, comments are from Tom Sweby.
‘When Bedfordshire played Oxfordshire in the Counties Chess Championship in January a much-admired victory was that of Beds leader, J. M. Craddock, over R. J. A. Persitz, the Israeli international and Oxford first board. Craddock, who was Cambridge University champion in 1934, and who now lives at Dunstable, has again shown his strength by beating Raaphi Persitz in the Counties’ Correspondence Championship. As Mr. Craddock rarely plays nowadays, few outside his Bedfordshire colleagues would have anticipated this fine “double” and the accuracy of his play brought from Persitz the comment “Very well played!” (I am indebted to W. G. Everitt for the score of the game which went 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. cd5 Nd5 5. Bg2 Nc7 Craddock played his own 6. f4 (see diagram) and in view of Black’s subsequent difficulties it seems that in this line he should fianchetto his KB on moves 3 and 4 and avoid the central thrust, at least until White plays Nf3 [Up to this point the game had followed one between Kirilov and world champion Botvinnik. In that White continued 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. 0-0 e5]
6… g6 7. b3 Bg7 8. Bb2 0-0 9. Na4 Nba6 10. Bxg7 Kxg7 11. Qc2 Ne6 12. Nf3 Bd7 13 f5 gxf5 14 Qf5 f6 15. Qe4 b5 16. Nc3 b417. Nd5 Kh8 18. Nh4 Nac7 19. Qe3 Nd4 20. O-O Nce6 21. Qh6 Rg8 22. Ne7 Ne2 23. Kh1 Qe7 24. Ba8 Qf8 25. Qf8 Rf8 26. Bd5 N6d4 27. Kg2 f5 28. Rf2 f4 29. Nf3 Bb5 30. Nd4 cd4 31. Bc4 Bc4 32. bc4 d3 33. Rf3 Rc8 34. Rd3 Rc4 35. Re1 Source: Beds and Herts Pictorial – Tuesday 17 July 1956
With regards to retrospective ratings, we can find J. M. Craddock here,1. Craddock is remembered most for his achievements in the 30’s, some 20 years or so before he represented Bedfordshire. His victory over Mir. Sultan Khan in 1933 was rather daring in play it must be said!
Mir. Sultan Khan v J. M. Craddock
Imperial CC v Cambridge University, London
November 25th, 1933
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. h4
a6 7. Qg4 h5 8. Qf4 c5 9. dxc5 f6
10. exf6 gxf6 11. Bh6 e5 12. Qd2 Nxc5 13. Be2 Bg4 14. f3 Be6 15. O-O-O Nc6 16. g4 d4
17. Ne4 Nxe4 18. fxe4 hxg4 19. Rf1 Rc8 20. a3 Qb6 21. Bg7 Na5
22. Qd3 Rg8 23. Bh6 Nb3+ 24. Kd1 Nc5 25. Qd2 Nxe4 26. Qd3 f5 27. Bc1 Bc4
28. Qxc4 Rxc4 29. Bxc4 Rh8 30. Rh2 f4 31. Re1 g3 32. Rhe2 Nf2+ 33. Kd2 e4
34. Rxe4 Nxe4+ 35. Rxe4 d3 36. Nh3 Rxh4 37. Ng5 Rh2+ 38. Kxd3 Qd6+ 39. Kc3 Qf6+ 40. Kb3 Qxg5 41. Bxf4 Qg4 42. Bd6 Qd1 0-1
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1956229
Update with reportage on Craddock’s time in Bedfordshire.
McCreadyandChess 
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