Look at this. Following wartime regulations or perhaps prudence, the folk of Bedford kept their chess club closed during WW2 but did that stop them from playing chess? Not on your nelly!
3 years on there were developments…
‘The forerunner of many others’, so says the reportage below but what is that supposed to mean? No matter what, we have unearthed reportage providing details of what is claimed to be Bedford Castle’s first ever match. For the purposes of this post, please take note that WW2 had not ended when the match was played. What conclusions can we draw from this? Mine is that those up in Bedford were a brave, rebellious bunch that played on, undeterred by the danger of bombs dropping on them during play. They must have been tough nuts, just imagine having fashioned a won endgame only to then fail to covert your advantage due to the club being raised from the ground by the Luftwaffe!
Later that year in their bombproof chess club, those indestructible Bedfordians took on allied servicemen and took them out 6-1, finishing a host military men, chiefly Sergeants and Lieutenants. And this was described as ‘the first match of the season’ by those hardmen of Bedfordshire chess.
It gets worse, as the war came to a close there 6 -yes 6- clubs running in Bedford with plans to draw up its own league!
McCreadyandChess 
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