“The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time.”
F. Nietzsche
One day in the distant future, the times we live in will most likely be described historically as part of the 4th revolution, or the digital revolution, which shapes how we gain and store information, amongst many other things.
Even me the academic that once was, concedes we do things differently now to when I was young. Through social media and ‘chat’ I have acquired knowledge which in itself can be placed into a narrative for further discourse on the history of Bedfordshire chess -something very close to my heart.
My very own research has revealed that Dennis Victor Mardle was the first from Bedfordshire to represent England but was he the only one to do so? I contacted GM James Plaskett on facebook, this is what I sent via Messenger.
The reply James gave me was as follows:
CIR Benedict, 1979
Telex match Vs Iceland, 1981
Lucerne World Team Championship, 1985
GM Plaskett was, then, the second from Bedfordshire to represent his country, however, there is a difference. Dennis, the first, played for England in England in a national match once only whereas James, the second, represented England abroad in an international tournament, helping England to achieve the Bronze medal 1 upon his third appearance. With certainty we can say that GM Plaskett’s representation of his country is, therefore, of greater significance for our purposes. His games are documented, notably his victories for England can be found here 2 and here 3, and the tournament as a whole here 4.
Interestingly, James won both games with the Benko Gambit, the games are quite interesting.
Should this not be enough to persuade you of my claims, I shall add also that as a senior, GM Plaskett went on to represent England 6 more times!
Dresden 3 times
Rhodes 1 time
Vilnius 1 time
Crete 1 time
Unfortunately, locating game information is proving tricky. I shall add when I find it… .
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Team_Chess_Championship ↩︎
- https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1429344 ↩︎
- https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1615441 ↩︎
- https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=90335 ↩︎
Mark. J. McCready, 00.05 Saturday March 16th, Al-Fursan, Dammam, KSA
McCreadyandChess 
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