Archive for the ‘History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000’ Category
The Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle 1989
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000 on November 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »
The Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle 1990
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000 on November 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Conversation with Ian
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1960-1980, History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000, tagged Ian Corden chess on November 7, 2024| 6 Comments »
Sandy Cordon‘s son Ian Cordon is the only player from Bedfordshire to participate in an Olympiad according to the research I have conducted so far. He played Board 1 for Bermuda twice. Old Tom Sweby also claimed he was the Bedfordshire first team’s youngest ever player, so I thought I should contact him:
‘Hi there, I am being asked by a number of your father’s former friends whether you have any of his games? There is one in particular where he played a stunning queen sacrifice at Hitchin in 83. GM Plaskett mentioned it to me as well as Paul Habershon. Don’t have it do you by chance?‘
‘Unfortunately no. I suspect all his old chess stuff got thrown out when the house was sold after he and his wife died. If I come across anything I will get back to you.‘
‘Also, I have a question. Columnist Tom Sweby, who wrote for the Luton News and Dunstable Gazette claims you were the youngest ever to play for the county first team. Is there any truth to this? Can you remember when you first played and how old you were?‘
‘I was 11, so in 1966. I tagged along with my Dad to watch a match between Beds. and Cambridge University and the Beds. team turned out to be a player short so I played on board 20. To everyone’s surprise, not least the student, I won.’
‘Sweby claims you were only 10, was he wrong there?‘
Hi Mark.
‘Yes I could have been 10, but quite honestly my memory of 60 years ago is a bit fuzzy! (Although weirdly I can still picture having to sit on a cushion to see the board.)‘
‘My Dad spent a lot of time and energy helping with chess administration. He was proud as president of the BCF of successfully changing the focus and finances to grassroots chess and away from the elite. I also remember him doing the gradings for everyone in southern England by hand.‘
‘As a player he was obviously a decent club player, but probably he was most proud of beating Tal when he came to give a simultaneous display (Luton I think in the 1960’s).‘
‘This was not reported on in the luton news. 75 wasn’t it or 74?‘
‘Yes he told me about his game against Tal (Tal sacrificed a piece for an attack and eventually my Dad returned the piece to defuse the attack and remain a pawn up). But I don’t know the date – I thought it was 1960’s but if it was 1970’s I would have been at university and only have heard about it later (which makes sense).‘
What can be gleaned from this? Until further research has been completed Ian Cordon remains the youngest to play for Bedfordshire first team and the only Bedfordshireonian to have participated at an Oympiad (1986 & 1988).
Update Dec 8th 2024, I am informed by former county team member Brian Valentine that Ian’s record as the youngest to participate for Bedfordshire has recently been broken by a certain Daniela Dairi, aged 9, who played on board 16 for Bedfordshire in the recently held Fleming Trophy.
Mark. J. McCready, Mandalay
Olympiad Appearances!
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1960-1980, History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000 on October 8, 2024| Leave a Comment »
If we broaden the criteria to those who played in the Bedfordshire league and also played at an Olympiad, then we have two players.
First was Sergio Mariotti (70-71 Beds. league). He was an IM then but soon became a GM and played for his home nation Italy.
Second was Ian Cordon from Kempston (Sandy’s son). He played for Bermuda twice.
The third case that never was. In 2004 Nick McBride of Dunstable was selected to play for Jersey but declined.
Former Beds. league players who can be discounted, having not participated in an olympiad.
- GM James Plaskett (England)
- Michael McDonald-Ross (Scotland)
- Dennis Victor Mardle (England)
- Donald Curtis (Wales: champion 1959)
Is there anyone I have missed? I really don’t think I need to research J. M. Craddock. Anyone else I should look into?
MJM
Olympiad appearance
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000 on October 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Has anyone from Bedfordshire ever participated at an Olympiad? Yes but perhaps only one, a certain Ian Cordon (son of Sandy Cordon). Details have been found from looking through previously posted content, which can also be found below.
And can be verified here via team results: https://www.olimpbase.org/1986/1986ber.html
MJM
The Dunstable Gazette 86/87
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000 on May 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Communist columnist KO’d by facist henchmen
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1920-1940, History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000 on May 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Old Tom Sweby, so he got beaten up by Oswald Mosley’s henchmen did he? One of the reds in Beds. went down against the black shirts then? Having spent what must be hundreds of hours documenting his column and correcting his frequent mistakes already-I can’t say I will be losing any sleep over that! 🙂
Side note I have spoken to one of his former pupils, a subject of his reportage countless times over, a noted author who knew him, and also reflected upon the comments & messages from a county player who was both his and my team mate many, many, many times over, as well as reflected upon how he presented himself to me in my youth: the consensus being without doubt Tom went after them, or if you like, threw the first punch!
What the reportage says the thing is with old Tom, you can never be sure if he’s correct or not as it is sometimes not the case. The reportage below does indeed show that there was trouble but it suggests he may have been a victim rather than a perpetrator. We may also concede that since Tom reported it himself, that suggests he probably didn’t cause the trouble in the first place because if he had, he’d be much less likely to tell anyone especially when he got beaten up for doing it!
McCready’s last words despite his honorable intentions and ever-lasting attempts to generate interest in chess locally, Tom was not exactly a well-rounded person and had a tendency to be forthright and shoot his mouth off when he saw fit -as I myself witnessed. There is clearly a hidden agenda in play here also as he was a known communist thus opposed to facism as a result of his own views. Many have seen him become vociferous when he didn’t like something (myself included), he even brought Luton chess club to a grinding halt one evening with some overblown tirade just because its members weren’t giving him enough stories to report on -I should know, I was a member of the club then! Given that history does have a tendency to repeat itself, in all probability, given the nature of his reported position when Mosley rolled into town, he went and shot his mouth off to the wrong people and got done over!
Poor old Tom, did he not know learning to control your emotions is advantageous?
Mark. J. McCready
Figures from the past not forgotten
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000 on May 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Can you remember your first game of your first full season? I can, although admittedly some details remain rather sketchy.
I played for Luton C, possibly Luton D, and it was away to Leighton Buzzard in late September 1988 when they played at Cedars School in Linslade. I went in the car with Peter Whone and Gary Aimes, perhaps one other too. On board 1, Peter played Kevin Williamson who was rated 142 at the time and beat him quite quickly, much to his surprise and delight. I played old Henry (Bill) Charlotte. I was white, he played the French, I went for the advance variation. It was the first time I faced the French and I hadn’t even been playing for one year and didn’t know what to do. He played an early Qb6 and piled on the pressure on my d-pawn. He also generated pressure down the c-file and I lost. My handwriting wasn’t very good and I had some difficulty writing down the moves. On the way home I told Gary I had lost and he said ‘anyone can lose to Bill’.
I have nothing but positive memories of old Bill. He always had a pipe and was always playing about with it. Sometimes it seemed like he was concentrating more on that than his game! I used to see him at county matches all the time. He always dressed 60’s style and was a jolly old fellow. He liked his chess and his mannerisms made me smile. I have two pictures here of Henry (Bill). He’s not forgotten.
The Beds and Bucks Observer 1986
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000 on May 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Bramwell Hirst -the Dunstable problemist
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000 on May 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Courtesy of Tom Sweby, some background information can be found here. Some advice -do not attempt to solve that puzzle!
Also from the oftentimes resourceful English Chess Forum.
MJM
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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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- 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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- 2011
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- 2013 approx
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- 2010
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- 2020
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- 2011
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- 2013 or thereabouts
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