McCreadyandChess

Ever wondered who won the Bedfordshire League in 65? Read on.

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Commer chess club, which is reported as based in Luton below, wasn’t terribly strong in the Bedfordshire league. That conclusion is true if, and only if, we rely on inductive reasoning (moving from specific to general) and use the match below as the primary example. However, as Dr. Richard Eales points out, it is not the task of the historian to make predictions, so let’s refrain from saying how good they were overall for now and focus more on what’s below. Here we do have reportage of them failing to start (a bit like their vans used to when they got old) a match properly against Bedford and getting trounced as a result. Tsk, tsk.

Aside, your author would like to point out that not long after leaving school I played V. Maluga in Luton (early in 1989) and beat him with the Ruy Lopez. I wore a yellow jumper and took ages over all my moves. It was a long game, and he complained afterwards that I took too long to move…I could say sore loser but I won’t!

Mark. J. McCready

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Once again, archivist, English chess supremo, and dedicated admirer of our online proletariat John Saunders has done a fine job by placing the 1979 Lloyds Bank Masters on line for all and sundry to wonder over.

https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/197908lloyds-viewer.html

My fellow Bedfordshire county team mates, for our purposes this tournament signifies our top end strength well. Participating for Bedfordshire we have:

50th James Plaskett of Bedford (2410) [still untitled, classified as a junior]

63rd Michael MacDonald-Ross of Milton Keynes (2265)

79th Colin. P. Garwood of Dunstabubble (No FIDE rating, est. 2200 classified as a junior)

Something of a discrepancy? (See below)

Did Colin. P. Garwood play in the main event and a junior tournament?

Quick trivia question: The venue was the hotel Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe is the name of a novel by which author?

Another quick trivia Q: James Plaskett achieved his first ever norm, what norm was it?

MJM

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“The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time.”

F. Nietzsche

One day in the distant future, the times we live in will most likely be described historically as part of the 4th revolution, or the digital revolution, which shapes how we gain and store information, amongst many other things.

Even me the academic that once was, concedes we do things differently now to when I was young. Through social media and ‘chat’ I have acquired knowledge which in itself can be placed into a narrative for further discourse on the history of Bedfordshire chess -something very close to my heart.

My very own research has revealed that Dennis Victor Mardle was the first from Bedfordshire to represent England but was he the only one to do so? I contacted GM James Plaskett on facebook, this is what I sent via Messenger.

The reply James gave me was as follows:

CIR Benedict, 1979

Telex match Vs Iceland, 1981

Lucerne World Team Championship, 1985

GM Plaskett was, then, the second from Bedfordshire to represent his country, however, there is a difference. Dennis, the first, played for England in England in a national match once only whereas James, the second, represented England abroad in an international tournament, helping England to achieve the Bronze medal ¹ upon his third appearance. With certainty we can say that GM Plaskett’s representation of his country is, therefore, of greater significance for our purposes. His games are documented, notably his victories for England can be found here ² and here ³, and the tournament as a whole here ⁴.

Interestingly, James won both games with the Benko Gambit, the games are quite interesting.

Should this not be enough to persuade you of my claims, I shall add also that as a senior, GM Plaskett went on to represent England 6 more times!

Dresden 3 times

Rhodes 1 time

Vilnius 1 time

Crete 1 time

Unfortunately, locating game information is proving tricky. I shall add when I find it… .

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Team_Chess_Championship ↩︎
2. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1429344 ↩︎
3. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1615441 ↩︎
4. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=90335 ↩︎

Mark. J. McCready, 00.05 Saturday March 16th, Al-Fursan, Dammam, KSA

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Back in the 90s the word on the street across Bedfordshire was that Luton’s most handsome chess player was myself and that Luton’s best player was Andrew Perkins. This is probably true (though unconfirmed). However, I can confirm Mr. Perkins appears in the 1973 BCF rating list, which at the very least shows how strong he was in his youth:

This tells us there were 21 players rated 187 in 1973.

I believe this tells us his previous rating was 180.

Should you wish to take a closer look yourself, here’s the link: https://www.saund.co.uk/pdf.js/web/viewer.html?file=../../britbase/pdfs/1973gradinglist.pdf

MJM

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According to the 1979 BCF rating list, the 3 highest rated players in Bedfordshire were as follows:

1. James Plaskett        222  (14th in the country)
2. Michael McDonald Ross   194
3. Paul Habershon       192
   

Please click on the following for proof: https://www.saund.co.uk/pdf.js/web/viewer.html?file=../../britbase/pdfs/1979-bcf-grading-list.pdf

And who was topping the music charts with the best song that year?

Mark. J. McCready

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More than a few players who have emerged from the Bedfordshire Chess League have gone onto bigger and better things, GM James Plaskett being the most obvious example. That’s not exactly breaking news. But what about those who remained registered as a Bedfordshire based player and also achieved greatness in the modern era? Has anyone done anything of note against the very best? Oh yes indeedy.

So let’s take it from the top then. In terms of results, there is one that stands above all others. GM Michael Adams is considered to be the strongest player England has ever produced, usually because he’s won the British Championships more than anyone else (8 times), achieved a higher rating than anyone else (ELO 2761), was number 4 in the world for quite some time, and in 2004 reached the final of the FIDE World Championships, narrowly losing to Uzbek Rustam Kasimdhanov. What results do our players have against him? Has England’s very best ever lost to anyone in our league?

One GM Plaskett did beat him in a rapid in Leeds, 1986 but James wasn’t registered in our league then and had long since left it.

Two IM Andrew Ledger, whilst playing for Bedford, very nearly did in Hitchin 1990 round 2. I watched that game unfold closely. Andy was a piece up but fell into time trouble and looked visibly stressed from it to put it mildly. Sadly for us, he fell for a very clever back rank mate and lost the game.

Three FM Gary Kenworthy did beat him in a quick play in Spalding (location may be incorrect) 92. His comments on that game -courtesy of our online chat- are as follows: ‘…the won the world blitz title the month before -current BCM cover-I used the BCM to rest my scoresheet for recording the game -the title “mega bucks Mickey” he was 263 BCF, I was 213 BCF, so a rating more than 40 point difference – hence I only got +90 i. e. 303 BCF points not 313 BCF, next round – final round, I played GM J D M Nunn who was upfloated to me…he was in the world’s top 20’. Gary was participating in our league at the time for Milton Keynes, and so in terms of achievements for someone registered in our league, I don’t believe this can be beaten. I am sorry to inform you that at the time of writing Gary is unable to locate the game score. Should that change and it falls into my hands, I shall post it here.

MJM

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Let’s go back to when chess exploded in Bedfordshire as it did across the rest of our beloved nation. Who were our top three players that decade? And just how good were they then?

In @ number 1 IM Sergio Mariotti (Vauxhall Luton)

According to Bedfordshire’s Paul Habershon, Sergio played in our Division 2 in the 1970-71 season. His brother Paolo also played in our league whilst he worked as an engineer in Dunstable. Sergio was a strong IM whilst he played in our league and became the first titled player to grace us with his presence. His tournament performances whilst in England can be found on Britbase here ¹ showing he was rated ELO2520/240BCF that year. However, it should be pointed out that in the 1970/71 Grading List he is rated as 230, and ranked 3rd in the country.

In 1974 he went on to become Italy’s first GM, one year later in Milan he held world champion Karpov to a draw most impressively.²

I sent him an email some time back asking him what he remembered about his time in Bedfordshire. Sergio informed me that he was no longer able to remember anything about his life before his heart operation. None of his games in our league have survived.

In @ number 2 James Plaskett (B.M.S)

James Plaskett was a pupil at Bedford Modern School and showed very serious talent there. So much so that when he entered the British Championship in Ayr 78 he went and finished 2nd! He drew with the winner Jonathan Speelman and even beat former British champion Jonathan Mestel along the way ³. This is the first instance of a player based in Bedfordshire at the time defeating a former British champion. By the end of the 70s James was still untitled but winning tournaments often and ranked 14th in the country. Here ⁴ he is rated at ELO 2410 and retained a presence in Bedfordshire still, entering local tournaments and performing simuls according to Tom Sweby.

James left our county around the end of the decade and went onto bigger and better things. In 1981 he became an IM, then in 1985 a GM. James went on to become British Champion in 1990, becoming the only player ever to emerge from our county to do so. He played amongst the very best in the world throughout the 80s and informed me that he has plus scores against the following GMs: Plus 6 Vs Wells, Plus 2 Vs Short, Plus 2 Vs Anand, Plus 1 Vs Vaganian, Plus 1 Vs Larsen, Plus 1 Vs Kamsky, Plus 1 Vs Ivkov, Plus 1 vs Sax. A most impressive win against Anand can be found here ⁵

In @ number 3 Michael MacDonald-Ross (Bletchley/Milton Keynes)

I asked GM Plaskett who was the strongest player he came up against in the Beds league and he informed me it was Michael MacDonald-Ross, who for the most part played for Milton Keynes (as I remember). Obtaining information on Michael has been more difficult than I anticipated, however, he can be found participating in tournaments such as the Lloyds Bank Masters in the late 70s, which show him as rated ELO 2265 ⁶. In his youth he encountered Luton’s hotshot from the 50’s Dennis Victor Mardle at the 1965 British Championship, the result being a draw ⁷. Some eleven years later Michael defeated Rising star Murray Chandler at the British ⁸. Formidable yes and agreed upon as one of the very strongest in our league that decade by many who faced him.

So there you have it, comparative strengths in the 70s discussed. I put quite a bit more into that than it may appear and had to consult several prominent figures within our county to get answers, so I think I got it spot on. Many thanks to Paul Habershon and GM James Plaskett for their assistance.

MJM

1. https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/197012islington-viewer.html ↩︎
2. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1067879 ↩︎
3. https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/197808bcf-viewer.html (please go to game 61) ↩︎
4. https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/197910ramsgate-viewer.html ↩︎
5. https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/198808bcf-viewer.html (please go to game 120) ↩︎
6. https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/197908lloyds-viewer.html ↩︎
7. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2064348 ↩︎
8. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2280028 ↩︎

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Former Luton Grammar school pupil Dennis Victor Mardle, by far Tom Sweby’s favourite topic and former playing partner, who once contracted Polio at Luton Town football ground after he drank from a cracked cup whilst 15, only to receive a C. B. E in the 1988 New Year’s Honour’s list for his work on the very same illness decades later, won several national tournaments in the late 50’s and early 60’s, and made a name for himself on the British chess circuit. Once a stalwart at Luton Chess Club he played at Hastings in 64/65, where he met a certain Paul Keres, a certain Svetor Gligoric, and the then current women’s world champion Nona Gaprindashvili.

Details of this can be found in John Saunders truly excellent site Britbase, here is the link https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/196412hast-viewer.html

I don’t want to add diagrams or any annotation to any games because Mardle’s performance in the tournament was described as blunder prone, and if you look at his games, that was the case. But it is worth drawing attention to the fact Mardle played Keres as it was the first instance of a former Bedfordshire based player coming up against truly world class opposition since J. M Craddock dispatched of Mir. Sultan Khan some 30 years or so previously…it’s just a shame he wasn’t at his best and was instead far from it.

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