The Luton Chess Club trophy has reappeared on show at the club courtesy of long standing member, and former champion, Peter Montgomery.
But who selected and purchased that boy back in the mid-nineties? Here’s 4 clues to help with the answer:
Super tough clue: the trophy was bought on a Friday in late September in time for the AGM. Before he picked it up, he stopped off at Burger King and had a spicy beanburger, french fries and coke downstairs in the restaurant, which he paid for with his giro. He spent most of the time looking through the windows in St. George’s Square thinking about not very much at all whilst eating.
Tough clue: he’s rubbish at chess.
Medium clue: he had been the tournament organizer at the club for a couple of years already and was left with the responsibility.
Easy clue: he’s known around the world as Luton’s most handsome chess player of all time. 🙂
A happy 62nd birthday to Damon Gene D’ Cruz, formerly of Challney Boys School and pupil of Tom Sweby as well as Luton Chess club and Bedfordshire County Team.
Some time ago now, perhaps a decade or more, I was tasked with finding a better location for Bangkok Chess Club, which I did. The one I found was described as ‘perfect’, and so I was invited to the opening evening (which I declined for a reason I cannot quite remember).
More recently, I spent a month or so at Luton Chess Club and although there was a strong sense of relief that my club has a stable home now, in becoming used to playing chess in pubic houses -which is what Bangkok Chess Club does- playing chess in an empty university library left me feeling rather flat. It felt like I was playing chess in a morgue, and so most evenings I left to go home early even though the library closed at 10pm.
If a rather unappealing choice of location wasn’t bad enough, it is also the case that the chess club is at the whims of the University too. That means next week there is no chess club because the University staff are going on strike. So the chess club is shut next week, like it or lump it. Why are they going on strike? They aren’t being paid enough, and want more.
I can’t say I am overly impressed by how things stand regarding my home club but also accept that just having a home itself is a noticeable improvement on recent years despite there being more room for improvement. Let’s hope it attracts more members and finds somewhere to play with a bit of life in it some time soon.
Just how comedic is this strike? Not as comedic as that which I have linked I suspect.
In returning home recently, and reacquainting myself with friends and former playing partners stretching back some 35 years and more, a few things stood out – one in particular.
I can’t say I am entirely comfortable as being seen as the ‘go-to guy’ with regards to the history of chess in Bedfordshire and Luton, but then no one else writes about either, so it’s understandable I suppose…if a little embarrassing.
On this site, you can can choose which category you browse through and quickly find documented evidence of the history of Luton Chess club, some of which is more than 150 years old already. We can agree, then, that I speak with some authority when I say that Luton chess club has faced upheaval and uncertainty many times before in its less than illustrious past. Much more recently, having no fixed playing venue and a pandemic putting the brakes on everything put the future of the club in serious doubt, difficulties compounded by the fact that I am most usually abroad and not unwilling but unable to take over the running of the club, as I have been asked many times over already.
Numbers dwindled to the point where we had to withdraw from the Bedfordshire league and almost folded the club -that’s how critical it became. That never happened and how much better things are now. With the patronage of the University of Bedfordshire in play the club has a premises to use and money for equipment too. There is, however, a caveat in play. And that is to fulfil obligations towards the university by opening the club up to the students who study there. What better way to do that than appear on Freshers Day for both the Luton and Bedford campuses and grab those just joining for a game or two, and giving them the info they need to join the club thereafter if they so fancy it! Don’t believe me? Well see the pics below of club members in action in both campuses and decide for yourself whether I am making it all up or not. (btw, etymologically speaking the term ‘campus’ means ‘field’ in Latin and is first attributed to the use of the field adjacent to the now named Princeton University in New Jersey, USA.)
Luton Chess Club appears to be going from strength to strength. Not only does it have a secure and modern premises to operate from, there are now more than enough members to resume competition in the Beds. league. There’s also now a website which keeps you up to date with what’s going on there. https://www.lutonchessclub.com/
My repatriation with my home club has come to a close.
Tough and indifferent was my final visit.
I only played three games. I won them all.
New found approach is working well. OTB chess only now.
It makes playing chess more precious.
Makes me interact with what I am doing more.
Tough, tough night. My feet were sore. I couldn’t stop laughing.
Just before I left the club, Humuyan went around asking them if they would be free to play for Luton next season and what their availability was. Two teams are possible but only one will be formed at first. The league secretary has been notified.
Luton chess club is to field a team in the Bedfordshire league for the coming season. Presently, it is being formulated and who is willing to commit being established. Most likely it will enter the second division as its strongest players cannot sign up.
It’s good news and hopefully the club will continue to go from strength to strength.
…on what this site initially became…on what this site is now becoming…on what this site cannot become…
On what this site initially became…
…once upon a time, the chess-related musings of an adrift academic were bound playfully and electronically in this online journal of sorts. They grew and grew as the decade did too. I kept on because I love to write whether I had much to say or not; therefore, being read by others was usually of little or no importance, comparatively speaking. Content was based on personal thoughts and experience on various topics with no intended audience borne in mind. With topics broadening, my own take on things always shaped the narrative I constructed: I often thought I was insightful but never that I was right. Sometimes imagination gave rise to originality: and of that I have always remained proud. I often introduced humour, believing that I am funnier than I really am. Sometimes, I found my own style antithetical to the conservatism I believe chess is plagued by -oftentimes that has put a gracious smile on my face… .
On what this site is now becoming…
…this site is now becoming a collaboration of chess in Bedfordshire: much more so of the past than the present -that has become the dominant trend. I document the history of chess in Bedfordshire as much as I can, and as time has passed I have become more thorough and resourceful. However, I am not a trained historian as my background lies principally in philosophy but yes it is true I did study some modules on history as both an undergraduate and a post-graduate too; furthermore, I have trained myself up, particularly in terms of postmodern history. Since 2015, I have only read history and historiography as well as those philosophers who have been so influential on postmodern history, such as Nietzsche (whom I once wrote a 19,000 word dissertation on, entitled: Can the Will to Power be Found in The Birth of Tragedy?), also Richard Rorty and Foucault and I suppose certain structualists such as Claude Levi-Strauss too. Regarding postmodernism, mostly I keep to Hayden White, Keith Jenkins and Alan Muslow.
Some friends and former playing partners back home describe me as the ‘go to guy’ for the history of chess in Bedfordshire. This compliment says more about the lack of interest in the subject than my own endeavour. As mentioned, I am too adrift from academia to feel chuffed. Rather. I tend to lament that my historical research, like my chess, just isn’t what it should be. Even though I may well have a broad understanding of Bedfordshire chess history courtesy of the volume of research put into it, all of which began in 2014, this is not something I am particularly proud of. Nonetheless, out of courtesy compliments are graciously received. If the truth be told, I just see it as my job and only that – after all someone’s got to do it and no one else is that interested!
Amongst the many others, I have created three categories: ‘Bedfordshire Chess’ and ‘History of Bedfordshire Chess’ and ‘Luton Chess Club’. This website is slowly moving towards a consolidation of those (all of which can be found in one of the toolbars to the right).
On what this site cannot become…
…I like to be both creative and amusing when I can be, factor in that playfulness has been an ever-present factor, the content of this site should be thought of as multifarious. It could be said I continue to enjoy undermining the conservatism I believe chess is underpinned by even after all these years, and often try to use humour to do it still, believing I have got better at it. Consequently, despite the general direction its going in, this site cannot only be about Chess in Bedfordshire and nor will it be. It may become noted for that yes -in fact that’s been the case for years already even by established historians, archivists, and whoever else. External factors aside, this site is titled McCreadyandChess. I cannot, nor will I not, remove my own personal thoughts and experiences of chess from the posts of this site -especially if I think they are funny or original for they constitute my writing at its very, very best. In addition, the number of categories alone tells you that breadth of content is important to me. I am proud of my site, it is identity conferring and that is how it shall stay -end of story. All you really have are: ‘Some thoughts on the beautiful game’, which, incidentally, just happen to be my very own; nothing more, nothing less, take of it whatever you please… .
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.
Gallery
I’m either 10 or 11 here
1982, myself versus Brian from Sunderland.
At the Thai Junior chess championships. My daughter of course.
Pattaya 2011
2011
Thai Junior Championships
2008
2011
Around 2011
2011
Pattaya 2009
2011
Kuwait 2008
2012
2012
2011 BKK Chess club
2011
2011 Thai Open
2011 Thai Open
2013 approx
Around 2014
2010
2012
Around 2011
2011
2011
2013
Around 2011
Around 2011
2020
2011
2008
2011
2013 or thereabouts
2010
2017
2014?
2010
2024
2024
2024
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