Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, is starting up a chess club. Details can be found in the link below.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2005719213024749/permalink/4425807084349271
M J M
Archive for September, 2026
Houghton Regis
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess on September 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Winning prizes for playing…
Posted in My own endeavours on September 22, 2026| Leave a Comment »
When I lived in Kuwait in 2008, I found online and befriended a certain Khalid Hashem, who introduced me to the chess scene there, and I would not stop playing. I entered many tournaments and won prizes in one of them. I have fond memories of that tournament and always remember I kept playing the Stonewall Attack as white, and the French Defence against 1. e4 and the Dutch defence against 1. d4. If you go to the 1.55 mark in the video linked below, you can see me tripping over a chair before, shaking many hands having my photo taken and collecting my prize.
M J M
Chesstime for the pupils
Posted in Chess on September 9, 2026| Leave a Comment »
American Gambit
Posted in Documentaries on September 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Another slow Sunday -American Gambit it is. When I was young, I found this documentary to be uncomfortable viewing in places as some of Kasparov’s behaviour leaves a lot to be desired. I think we can all agree that lecturing your opponent during the game and disturbing everyone else in the process of a simul is rather arrogant and not very gentlemanly. I used to offset this with admiration for GM Patrick Wolff, and a general interest in how play unfolded but that’s all. I haven’t seen it in so long so I thought I would watch it again. What I find interesting about this today is that since Kasparov, no other world champion has tried a feat similar to this.
GM Wolff’s win against GM Kasparov can be found here.
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1070358
M J M
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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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