Archive for the ‘History of Bedfordshire Chess’ Category

Before Milton Keynes

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on November 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

In some shape or form there has always been a rivalry of sorts beween Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire it seems, or at the very least, a propensity for teams within both to play each other.

M J M

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National events reported locally

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on November 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

This does have some significance as it shows we were on the map back then as it were or were in the loop I should say instead perhaps. It is correct to presume this event has been reported on and written about before, which confirms one player from Bedfordshire attended, and one from Hertfordshire (female). 1 It should be noted that the second such event, in 1898, had W. Ward (played for Luton several times) as joint winner.

  1. Worth spending time on and points towards the publication the event is featured in. https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/189006cambridge-viewer.html ↩︎

M J M

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Bedford’s first claimed match.

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on November 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

It is argued, a home match against Luton it was, and that Bedford Chess Club formed in 1887. I do not have any sources which confirm or deny this.

M J M

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Dixon is located

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on November 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

W. B. Dixon, who would go on to become county champion, 1 and beat American champion Harry Nelson Pilsbury -albeit in a simul only- can be found playing for Dunstable here:

With the exception of William Ward, he was arguably the strongest player found on record in Bedfordshire prior to the great war.

  1. More about him can be found here. https://mccreadyandchess.com/2025/10/10/w-b-dixon-and-updates/ ↩︎

M J M

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Some corroberation, a little clarification, a bit more context…

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess, Life beyond the chess board on November 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Birds’ Nests
The summer nests uncovered by autumn wind,
Some torn, others dislodged, all dark,
Everyone sees them: low or high in tree,
Or hedge, or single bush, they hang like a mark.


Since there’s no need of eyes to see them with
I cannot help a little shame
That I missed most, even at eye’s level, till
The leaves blew off and made the seeing no game… .

Dear fellow players of Bedfordshire, I do hope you are well and good, and may your play in both our league and beyond it be resplendant and wonderous. Peripatetic, yes perhaps I am, but this does not preclude me from commenting further upon how things were once reported on. 1

Since I myself have no ambitions to write a book on Bedfordshire chess as such, this is the only one in existence Chess in Bedfordshire. This publication states that the beginning of Luton Chess Club came in 1878. (see below)

With myself being something of a post-modernist, I am inclined to suggest the handling of that is unambitious indeed. Why is there emphasis on the exact date? Because it constitutes a change of status? And what else? The propinquity of matches against St. Albans is left unexplained almost, something which the post in the footnotes cites 2, only St. Albans being a relatively new club also is offered up. The difficulties Luton faced on formalizing matters and establising itself in its infancy are not touched upon. I add below a recently discovered match against St. Albans and some of the challenges presented and also ambitions which traverse our county lanes and the fallow fields which stretch beyond them.

A year on some light is shed here on county chess but feint it is… .

‘Tis safe to assume the reporter meant County Chess Team and not County Chess club. The reportage below tells of much great intention to make things work and suggests that rivalry between St. Albans and Luton was not solely a matter of chess.

…’Tis a light pang. I like to see the nests
Still in their places, now first known,
At home and by far roads. Boys knew them not,
Whatever jays and squirrels may have done.


And most I like the winter nests deep-hid
That leaves and berries fell into:
Once a doormouse dined there on hazel-nuts,
And grass and goose-grass seeds found soil and grew.


Edward Thomas

M J M

  1. But what does, however, is concede that all this began over a decade ago now, and keeping it all together has already become a tough task, one which I am becoming weary of, if I am being frank. Over 140 posts already! Many of which I cannot remember and I really do not want to start repeating myself as it is rather embarrassing per se! ↩︎
  2. William Ward (who came 2nd in the British Championship in 1908, only ever beaten on a national level by GM Plaskett, plays for Luton against St. Albans. W. Ward plays for Luton ↩︎

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W. B. Dixon and updates

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on October 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Dear fellow chess players and enthusiasts from Bedfordshire, courtesy of his sustained efforts on his truly excellent website Britbase, archivist John Saunders has done what no one else has online and provided us with games from a reported former county champion of Bedfordshire. This means W. B. Dixon, formerly of Leighton Buzzard, becomes the first reported county champion who we have games for and can thus establish his chess playing prowess to some degree, and his successes further afield also.1

Who exactly was W. B. Dixon? I have twice posted about him,2 although I must say the evidence is rather depressing as he was indeed peripatetic but do click on the links in the footnote.

The exact page you need on John’s excellent site is already linked about but here it is again- Britbase. May I suggest you scroll down before you look at the games provided? Should you do so, you will note that W. B. Dixon not only did exceptionally well in the tournament he played in in Kent but also beat American champion H. N. Pilsbury in a simul. That game can be found as number 19.

N.B. Establishing exactly when the Bedfordshire County Championships began and who the first champion was is problematic as its inception has been left undocumented. There is a list of former county champions on Adrian Elwin‘s site, which can be found here –Former County Champions, however, this only begins in 1926/7. The local reportage in a previous post cites W. B. Dixon as county champion in 1906 and describes him as ‘the champion’, from which we must assume he was the current champion otherwise they would have described him as a former champion one would expect. How he also became champion of Buckinghamshire -I have no material pertaining to that. Until further evidence is uncovered, we can only state that W. B. Dixon is the first to be reported as county champion. We have no evidence that former multiple champion of London and participant in the Anglo-American cable matches as well as runner-up of the 1908 British Championships William Ward, was ever Bedfordshire County Champion.

In reaching out for further assistance on the English Chess Forum, further info on W. B. Dixon was provided by the knowledgeable contributor Jon D’ Souza-Eva

Pictures of his grave from the links above are shown below.

  1. There are only two games and in both a lack of king safety is abundantly clear and proves decisive. It is commonly argued that in Victorian times -from which the players involved emerged- chess was focused on attack and gambits much more than defence. Both games seem to lend support to that argument. ↩︎
  2. https://mccreadyandchess.com/2024/05/09/w-b-dixon-of-leighton-buzzard/

    Regarding Our Clash of Future Champions, you will need to scroll down to find him.
    https://mccreadyandchess.com/2016/02/12/our-clash-of-future-champions/ ↩︎

M J M

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Bedfordshire County Results 1965-83

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on September 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The content below has been gleaned from the S.C.C.U Bulletins only. Please note images 32 and 57 are of historical importance; image 32 shows the only instance of GM Sergio Mariotti competing for Bedfordshire with his brother Paolo, and image 57 shows GM James Plaskett making his debut for Bedfordshire.

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Even more on W. Ward

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on August 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »

“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”
― Voltaire

Should you, perchance, put W. Ward plays for Luton and also Our clash of future champions in the search bar, you will find documented evidence that William Ward competed in the Bedfordshire chess scene for Luton before moving to London and becoming champion of that city amongst many other achieved accolades.

With chess players placed in categories to denote ability only across Victorian England, establishing exactly how strong Ward was whilst playing in Bedfordshire is challenging because none of his scoresheets have survived. We do have help however. Regarding timelines: the two posts above show a few of his results for Luton in 1896 & 1897 respectively; the following year, at the 1898 Southern Counties Congress in Salisbury, his first success beyond Bedfordshire was achieved. Invaluable archivist John Saunders has once again offered us the details on that superb site of his, which can be accessed here: https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/189809sccu-viewer.html

W. Ward came joint first as you can see, about half of his games are available for you to play through also. This should enable you to develop your own opinions about how good he was when he left us. May I suggest you look at his game against George Bellingham and see how he plays the endgame?

Should you wish to refer to the edo website for its own estimation also, you may do so here: http://www.edochess.ca/years/y1898.html and learn that he was estimated at 2352 ELO in 1898, putting him 91st in the world. Above more esteemed gentlemen such as Jacques Mieses, Frank Marshall, Henry Bird, and John McCutcheon, as well as future world champion José Capablanca.

He was the first Englishman to play chess competitively in Bedfordshire and then go on to represent merry England (Anglo-American cable matches), the second being Dennis Victor Mardle (also of Luton), the third GM James Plaskett (of BMS/Bedford).

 “The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?” Edgar Allan Poe – the Premature Burial.

M J M

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Bedfordshire County Results 1958-64

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on July 31, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The content below has been gleaned from the S.C.C.U Bulletins only.

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More on Mardle’s debut for England

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on July 31, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The post created last year, Tom’s old friend plays for England (please use search bar), details Dennis Victor Mardle (of Luton, Bedfordshire) and his debut for England. Further information regarding that match has been found here on page 7: https://sccu-chess.com/bulletins/SCCUBulletin_1959_8.pdf.

M J M

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