After all the years of service he gave them, that is what they said. But Tom lives on through me, many others, and wont be forgetten -I have seen to that for he now has new readers who may take inspiration from him.
Archive for November, 2024
An ending it seems…
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on November 29, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Going nowhere
Posted in Life beyond the chess board on November 28, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Former county team mate Kevin Williamson handed this to me, a draw from the clutches of those scowling winds of Winter, way back in 1992. I can see why I gave up chess 5 years later. Puny little attack that was going nowhere in an opening I was uncritical of. Thankfully I have no recollection of this particular game, but can account for why I played that way at that particular stage of my life… .
Why Bedfordshire chess has been read both within and beyond our borders…
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess, Life beyond the chess board, Personal Interest & Experience on November 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Viewing history as a literary artefact is not a debillitating nor less a terminal complaint. Rather, recognizing the importance of narrative explanation in our lives as well as the study of the past could liberate historians as we acknowledge and try to narrate the disruptive discontinuity and chaos of the past and in the present. The desire is, in itself, a product of our own age’s preoccupation with understanding the nature of our seemingly chaotic lives. History is itself historical -its methods and concepts as well as the debates about its nature are the products of historical time periods. Alan Muslow – Deconstructing History (1997)
Those who put Bedfordshire on the map over the years:
- First, Dickens and White Chess in Bedfordshire (1933)
- Second, G.H. Diggle (1950’s onwards but sporadic)
- Third Walter Bramwell Hirst (1950’s onwards, problems appreared in The British Chess magazine and have been kept by The British problem society)
- Forth, Edward Winter (Chess notes, 90’s onwards)
- Fifth, Adrian Elwin (Archivist 2000 onwards)
- In terms of what has put Bedfordshire on the map. Inexorably, county results in the national county championships can be found in the (what was) BCF yearooks (and is now) the ECF yearbooks, all of which can be found in the British Library, should you consider them of interest…should it remain the case I have not done so and posted them on this site (more than less likely).
With regards to the digital revolution we are, happily, undergoing, a number of blogs have subsequently emerged: (most obviously this ‘un). Also:
https://www.bedfordchess.co.uk/
http://www.leightonbuzzardchess.co.uk /
But who be him that has written about our chess history the most? Moi of course.
Mark. J. McCready, Mandalay, Myanmar
The Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle 1988
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on November 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »
More on Bramwell Hirst from ‘old’ Tom
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on November 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »
More on Diggle from ‘old’ Tom
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on November 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Fellow Bedfordshire league and county players, the book Chess in Bedfordshire (1933) was the first to gain a nationwide audience for chess in our county. The second author to achieve the same feat was G. H. Diggle, who wrote about his experiences of chess in Bedfordshire some decades later; therefore, he is a significant figure in our history. You will find his articles many times over by searching for him in the search bar, and wikipedia gives a fuller account of his achievements.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Chess Special 2
Posted in Trivia, Who wants to be a millionaire chess special on November 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Unlike the popular gameshow, features such as ‘ask the audience, phone a friend, and 50/50‘ are inapplicable here -sincere apologies. Unfortunately, there’s no money to be made from this also. 🙂 However, do your best but do it alone please -no googling!
Question 1 £100
The knight moves in a way that corresponds to which letter of the alphabet?
A: C-shape
B: J-shape
C: L-shape
D: W-shape
Question 2 £200
en passant involves the capture of what?
A: A Pawn
B: A Bishop
C: A Rook
D: A Knight
Question 3 £300
Scholar’s mate is known to be delivered in how many moves?
A: 2
B: 4
C: 6
D: 8
Question 4 £400
Which organization was formed in 1993 in order to rival FIDE?
A: BBC
B: NBA
C: ECF
D: PCA
Question 5 £500
The mechanical what was invented in the 18th century and claimed to be the first chess engine/machine?
A: The mechanical Italian
B: The mechinical Swede
C: The mechanical Greek
D: The mechanical Turk
Question 6 £1,000
The Game and Playe of the Chesse was printed in which century by William Caxton?
A: 13th century
B: 15th century
C: 17th century
D: 19th century
Question 7 £2,000
Who wrote an autobiography entitled ‘Achieving the Aim’?
A: V. Smyslov
B: Y. Averbakh
C: M. Bovinnik
D: M. Taimanov
Question 8 £4000
Which variant of chess was invented in 1953 and took its name from the main character of a popular 19th century novel?
A: Alice chess
B: Phileas chess
C: Rebecca chess
D: Oliver chess
Question 9 £8000
Ding Liren was not the 1st Asian world champion. Which was he?
A: The 2nd
B: The 3rd
C: The 4th
D: The 5th
Question 10 £16,000
In which year did FIDE adopt the ELO rating system?
A: 1966
B: 1968
C: 1970
D: 1972
Question 11 £32,000
In Kasparov’s ‘Immortal Game’ in 1999 against GM Topalov in which he sacced a rook, what defence did Topalov adopt?
A: Pirc Defence
B: Caro-Kann
C: French Defence
D: Sicilian Defence
Question 12 £64,000
Which Dutch player once said the disapproved ‘”Chess is and will always be a game of chance.”
A: Jan Timman
B: Loek Van Der Wiel
C: Max Euwe
D: Jan Hein Donner
Question 13 £125,000
Which country has held the Chess Olympiad more than any other?
A: Germany
B: Russia
C: England
D: Phillipines
Question 14 £250,000
Who was the Soviet champion in 1971?
A: Petrosian
B: Savon
C: Stein
D: Karpov
Question 15 £500,000
Which world class American player’s death was described in The New York Times as an illness contracted by the over-exertion of his memory cells’?
A: F. D. Marshall
B: Harry Nelson Pilsbury
C: James Mason
D: Isaac Kashdan
Question 16 £1,000,000
Which of the following cities did the 1907 World Championship match between Lasker and Marshall not take place in?
A: New York
B: Philadelphia
C: Memphis
D: Boston
Mark. J. McCready
Mandalay
Answers to Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? Chess special 2
Posted in Trivia, Who wants to be a millionaire chess special on November 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »
- C
- A
- B
- D
- B
- A
- C
- A
- B
- C
- A
- D
- A
- B
- B
- D
The Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle 1989
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on November 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Isle of Man Documentary
Posted in Documentaries on November 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »
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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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- 2024
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- 2024
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