Posted in Chess on May 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »
As you may know, it’s a popular misconception that Tony Miles was the first Englishman to gain the title of GM. To clarify, for OTB chess yes it was Miles but problemist Comins Manfield was awarded the title before him. Taken from the 1923 B.C.M, here’s one of his problems.
More about him can be found here. Comins Mansfield.
M J M
Posted in Chess on April 26, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Former British champion, and celebrated author, retired GM Rowson offers up his thoughts upon the challenges of returning to competitive chess. Thought provoking indeed and wistful in places.
https://substack.com/@jonathanrowson/note/c-249105686?r=5lwyqf
M J M
Posted in Chess on April 25, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Much can be gleaned from Vishy’s life and thoughts on the modern game from this interview. A good watch.
M J M
Posted in Chess on April 25, 2026| Leave a Comment »
GM Fabi Caruana’s podcast C-squared can be highly engaging and informatative at times. In this episode, Fabi gives great insight into a wide range of topical points, beyond contemporary issues. He does indeed have so much to say sometimes… .
M J M
Posted in Chess on March 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Have you noticed how difficult it has become to say who the most famous chess player in the world is. It isn’t and can no longer be the world champion -that’s yesteryear. It’s one of the streamers as they have milions and millions of followers and are much more popular. What does that tell you? We are experiencing a 4th revolution -that’s what. Society is always subject to change.
M J M
Posted in Chess on December 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Chess, My own warped humour on December 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Cracking game in play here chaps, black’s position is jolly good but it is white to move, any suggestions?
M J M
Posted in Chess on October 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Chess on August 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »
In these wee hours, I rediscovered a game I have not looked at in 15 years or more, and so remembered little of. It surivived in the memory banks as little more than ‘GM Miles playing a strange game with the Dutch Defence in it against someone but who?‘ In reading -possibly re-reading- his autobiography ‘It’s only me’, it has been rediscovered -and yes it is highly unusual!
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1266657
M J M
Posted in Chess on August 8, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Ever wondered how GM Kasparov plays these days and how strong he still is? Watch this and decide for yourself.
Can we agree he’s still got it?
M J M
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A side note on how to read old Tom Sweby's columns
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.
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