Kent’s club Luton was well established in the Bedfordshire league for decades. How did it come about? Read on.
Archive for the ‘History of Bedfordshire Chess’ Category
Kent’s club
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on May 14, 2024| Leave a Comment »
The Beds and Herts Pictorial 1950s (1)
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on May 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Tom Sweby, once described as a ‘tame communist by a former pupil who went on to put pen to paper also, is perhaps best known for his column in The Luton News, which ran for decades and was quite readable. That began in 67, but prior to that he also wrote for them and other newspapers on a freelance basis too. Not only that, he had a column in The Beds and Herts Pictorial which predated that in The Luton News. They are more or less the same and vary content both local and international, and both exude that lack of attention to detail he too frequently fell foul of. As far as I know, I am the only one who reproduces his columns and with this it is hoped that a greater appreciation and understanding of chess in the 50s in Bedfordshire will emerge. It must be said that chess wise the 50’s isn’t a decade which exemplifies strength and depth in Bedfordshire. This view is based on club and county results which were reported, the team members also indicate that the clubs in our league were not terribly strong back then.
Two poor adverts not one!
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on May 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Well done Tom Sweby, the one armed bandit, for posting an objection to evenings of chess in Luton. But was anything ever done about it? I thinketh not!
Dennis Victor Mardle’s wedding
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on May 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »
It would appear I am not the only Lutonian to have a marriage brought about by chess.
I should also add that Dennis and I share teammates and I am assured under circumstances containing no doubt whatsoever that Dennis suffered from Polio, which he contracted after drinking from a cracked cup at the ground of Luton Town football club. It was his work on polio that would lead to him receiving a C. B. E in 1988. I should also add that there is a further question pertaining to the reportage, that being that he did not in fact meet his wife at Hastings but rather at the British Championships, where they are both documented as participating in.
Luton had its own schools league once
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on May 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »
My home town Luton not only had its own league but also its own schools league simultaneously. Whereas reportage of the Luton league appears in several other posts, evidence of the schools league can be found below. If only it were true today!
It should be noted that at the bottom of the column the initials T.W.S are Tom Sweby’s, who was a science teacher at Challney Boys School, appearing in the league table above.
William Ward’s profession
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on May 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Figures from the past not forgotten
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess 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.
How not to win a chess match
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on May 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »
When you are up against stiff opposition, it’s not usually a good idea to field a weakened side! Especially when they have future Dunstable based J. M. Craddock on their team!
The Beds and Bucks Observer 1986
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on May 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »
W. B. Dixon of Leighton Buzzard
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess on May 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »
This individual is hard to track down. I first encountered him in the 1908 British Chess Magazine, and referred to him in the following post towards the end of it. Our clash of future champions
In the 1933 publication Chess in Bedfordshire he can be found playing board 1 for the county (as the link above shows) but here we learn that his achievements went beyond that. It would appear that he was an eminent member of the Bedfordshire chess scene of his day, although I must add one not often mentioned or written about. This may be due to him being from Leighton Buzzard and not Luton or Bedford.
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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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