Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1960-1980, History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000 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.
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1960-1980, History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000 on July 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Fellow Bedfordshire chess players: the only player who emerged from the Bedfordshire league and went on to become a GM was James Plaskett, and thereafter British champion in 1990 in sunny Eastbourne.
But just how good was he whilst still playing in the Beds. league? Well, he did finish second in the British championship in 78, however, that is just a statistic, so can hardly be classified as being heuristic for the average club and county player if drawing direct comparisons is the name of the game. What if I said his rating in the 1979 B.C.F list was 222, of further help? Let’s shift the goalposts somewhat.
In completing Norwood’s spiffing The Chess Traveller’s Quiz Book, I did notice that the very last puzzle comes from one of GM Plaskett’s games; an impressive victory accomplished while he was still playing in the Beds. league at the time. If you fancy it, I suggest you try to solve it, then decide for yourself how graspable it is, or is not! From that you should be able to deduce any disparity in ability there may be between yourself and that of a young Plaskett’s. You should bear in mind it is the very last puzzle of the book thus the hardest, (unsurprisingly, I couldn’t even get the first move right!). It is hoped that such endeavour should offer up some indication of his strength comparatively but do bear in mind this pertains to solving a puzzle, so you know something is afoot in the postion. That said, may I suggest you set aside a good few minutes for this if not more and, perhaps, put the right sort of thinking cap on? I should also add the solution to the puzzle is below.
Solution is below. Please refrain from reaching for it initially as it is somewhat self-defeating. Unhelpful clue -as I found out to my surprise, the first move is not Bxg6!
For further information on the game it should be pointed out that it was played in the European Junior Chess Championship, and that GM Plaskett finished 3rd, behind Soviet Union GM Sergei Dolmotov (2nd) and Dutch GM Jon Van Der Wiel. Some information can be found in the following link. https://www.olimpbase.org/~~V/ind-eicc/eu20b-1979.html?__r=5.8830a57d4c3c59c6d5e85f1c4c551575
NB. Comments placed on this site along the lines of ‘What in the devil’s name was the point in asking me to try and solve that!’ I shall not reply to. Praise along the lines of ‘Ah thanks, so that’s how good one of our own once was while still playing for Bedfordshire’ shall be welcomed.
“The Eleven Home Counties, which are thought in Land Taxes to pay more than their proportion, viz. Surrey with Southwark, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Kent, Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk, Berks, Bucks, and Oxfordshire.“
An Essay upon Ways and Means of Supplying the War, 1695 Charles Davenant
Mark. J. McCready
Colombia
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1940-1960, History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1960-1980, tagged dennis victor mardle, Luton Chess Club on December 16, 2024| 1 Comment »
We have Dennis Victor Mardle. Born and raised in Luton, a varsities champion who represented his country once in a match against Holland. Rarely out of England’s top ten players in the 50s.
We also have Michael McDonald-Ross, the man who Bedfordshire’s strongest player ever homegrown talent GM James Plaskett said was his toughest opponent ever in the Beds league in the 70s.
It’s 1965, the British Championship, and generations apart, they met over the board. The game itself was a draw and sadly uneventful, as the Sicilian Kan often is. Why is this game significant? It’s the first time two noted players from the Bedfordshire league met at the British Championship. They were both amongst the strongest our league has ever seen and met at the British championship in 65. I have no records of two eminent figures in Bedfordshire chess history doing so before them. If presenting Bedfordshire chess at a national level is important, this was the first recorded instance.
I did speak to Michael McDonald Ross about this and he does still remember the game. Fyi in terms of rating they were both about 2200-2300. Anyway, here’s the game, forwarded to me by Mr. Paul Habershon, he who continues to offer help and support when he can always.
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2064348
MJM
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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