Champions' Names

Historical knowledge and information regarding our great game.
Alex McFarlane
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Re: Champions' Names

Post by Alex McFarlane » Fri Sep 17, 2010 8:59 am

Thanks Paul,
I agree about Ian D Mackay - I unfortunately inserted the extra I. He is back in Scotland and playing some chess again.
It is Peter Hughes on my list too. This was one I was going to query with John but haven't finished comparing lists yet.
I agree about Clare and Ann.
Also M Rudula Namibar the GU15 in 2003 should be Mrudula as one word.

Richard James
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Re: Champions' Names

Post by Richard James » Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:04 am

Ivor A Friedlander born Q3 1949 Essex SW according to BMD

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John Saunders
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Re: Champions' Names

Post by John Saunders » Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:18 am

Thanks to Paul for his proof-reading and info. I have just updated the Britbase list of champions accordingly. Not sure where 'Phil Hughes' came from but it wasn't my amendment. 'Mrudula' already picked up.
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John Saunders
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Re: Champions' Names

Post by John Saunders » Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:26 am

Friedlander - Ivor or Ian. I must admit 'Ian' rings a tiny bell with me too but this might just be the natural assumption that an initial 'I' indicates the name 'Ian' as it nearly always does in an English context (not so Wales, of course - Ivor, Ieuan, Ifan, Iolo, Ianto, etc). But perhaps both are right. Maybe the guy decided he didn't like 'Ivor' and decided to become an 'Ian'. People often tinker with their names.
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Howard Grist
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Re: Champions' Names

Post by Howard Grist » Fri Sep 17, 2010 1:22 pm

It is definitely Ivor Friedlander. The Southend Congress website gives Ian on the basis of a comment in the 1964 Congress report - when he lived in Chingford. Subsequently he moved to Southend and the club even met at his parent's hotel for a short period. There are numerous references to him in the club correspondence of the time - including one from his mother - and they all refer to him as Ivor.
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Nick Thomas
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Re: Champions' Names

Post by Nick Thomas » Fri Sep 17, 2010 8:10 pm

I wonder if this is our Farrukh Khan?

http://www.spamjab.com/farrukh.html

Matthew Turner
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Re: Champions' Names

Post by Matthew Turner » Fri Sep 17, 2010 8:30 pm

"1991 U16 Not Phil(ip G) Hughes who would have been 22 at the time, but the late Peter N Hughes from Hull."

Another sad story thrown up by this thread. Peter committed suicide shortly after finishing his first book, the poignantly titled, Closing Time
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Closing-Time-Pe ... 0755200241

Neville Belinfante
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Re: Champions' Names

Post by Neville Belinfante » Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:48 am

I have just received the following from a teacher at Stowe school who used to run their chess club
Apologies for the delay the info from the war years is a little confused but I think it is John Patrick Richardson, the emminent Art Historian that is refered to.
I found an entry in the school magazine saying that he had entered the championships in April 1940, but I cannot find any follow up giving the results. He joined Stowe in September 37 so would have been in the current year 11 age group when he won the title. This also fits in with the timings for his performances in the Blues matches.
Sometimes middle initials are important
James M Foster (Oxfordshire) won the British Under 15 two years ago. James C Foster (Surrey) and James J Foster (Berkshire) are also active players in FIDE rated tournaments

This year's British Under 13s had two players called Adam Taylor - one from Surrey and one from Kent. The latter had a middle initial of 'C' so they could be told apart.

I once received a result in the 4NCL where one scoresheet said J E Lutton, and the other said E J Lutton, but cannot recall whether it was J Ezra Lutton or E Josiah Lutton who was playing that game

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Neville Belinfante

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Champions' Names

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Mon Sep 27, 2010 4:41 am

Neville Belinfante wrote:I have just received the following from a teacher at Stowe school who used to run their chess club
Apologies for the delay the info from the war years is a little confused but I think it is John Patrick Richardson, the emminent Art Historian that is refered to.
I found an entry in the school magazine saying that he had entered the championships in April 1940, but I cannot find any follow up giving the results. He joined Stowe in September 37 so would have been in the current year 11 age group when he won the title. This also fits in with the timings for his performances in the Blues matches.
Sometimes middle initials are important.
So the "J. Richardson" in the initial lists held by John Saunders and Alex McFarlane could now be either "John Edward Richardson" (records of whom John Saunders found in BCMs of the period) or "John Patrick Richardson" according to the Stowe School teacher that Neville contacted (see above). As the aforementioned teacher said, records for the war years can be confused, so it looks like a bit more research is needed here (probably going back to Stowe School again to ask if they have records of a John E. Richardson at the same time, or even trying to contact the art historian himself).

It would probably also be helpful to record the ages of champions, for future reference as well as full names, as the birth year is sometimes a useful piece of biographical data if you have a common name that may get confused with others.

If it is the art historian, I'd ask him about Picasso and chess!

Here is a very interesting interview of John Patrick Richardson:

http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/27719 ... ichardson/

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Champions' Names

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Mon Sep 27, 2010 5:03 am

Jon D'Souza-Eva wrote:> 1940 Boys J Richardson
Paul Buswell wrote:I don't have any more forenames, but Richardson was a scholar in Buckingham, if that gives any clues.
Now that's very interesting, because one "J Richardson" who fits is the famous art historian, John Richardson. He was born in 1924 (perhaps a little young to win the under 18 title? but then older boys might have joined up) and went to Stowe School in Buckinghamshire...

None of the online biographies mention chess, let alone winning a British Championship.

He's still alive, as far as I know.
Regarding the age, the fact that this John Patrick Richardson (the art historian) was a bit younger than would be expected of a winner (15-16 depending on birth date and when the contest was held) might be explained by the fact that this is during the war. Boys of 17 or close to 18 may have joined up by the summer of 1940. Indeed, this John Patrick Richardson (according to Wikipedia who source it to his 1999 biography): "A month short of seventeen, he enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art, was called up, fell ill pretty soon and spent the rest of the war with his mother and siblings in London." As he was born in 1924, this enrolling at the Slade School of Fine Art would have been in 1941, which allows for him contesting and winning the boys' championship of 1940.

Looking again at BritBase, I see that in the war years the only title holder named is this J. Richardson. It is interesting in itself that there seems to have only been a boys' championship and no other contests. The surprising fact not being that the other contests were not held (this is to be expected because of the war), but that the boys contest was held at all.

I've just found reports in the Times newspaper Digital Online Archive for Boys Chess Championships at Hastings for the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s (but nothing for 1939 to 1945). If anyone here has access to that (you can usually get it through local libraries), that is worth checking through. I'll put up a list here of the champions reported for that competition (referred to as the "Ginner Cup").

EDIT: As the Boys' U18 championships were held in Hastings in April during at least the years 1923 to 1953 except for 1941-1945 (i.e. as a separate championship rather than as part of the main British championships as they are now), that may explain why it was possible to hold these championships in April 1940, as the Phoney War was from September 1939 to May 1940 and saw "relatively little" fighting, and the London Blitz was from September 1940 to May 1941.

Alex McFarlane
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Re: Champions' Names

Post by Alex McFarlane » Mon Sep 27, 2010 8:26 am

Hi,

Just to clarify the MJ Neave situation.

Following an appeal by Andrew Walker on the ECF website, I have had contact from 2 former club/teamates of his who all played for Cedars in the 1950s. They assure me that his name was Martin.

John Saunders has changed Britbase accordingly.

Again, thanks to everyone who helped. A great team effort.

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Re: Champions' Names

Post by Richard James » Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:10 am

Neville/Christopher

Earlier posts suggested that the chess player was John Edward Richardson, not the art historian John Patrick Richardson, although it seems they were contemporaries at Stowe.
John Saunders wrote:I'm 99% certain I've got J Richardson...

John Edward Richardson (Jesus Coll, Cambridge) was board two for Cambridge in the (unofficial) Varsity match of 1941 (BCM refs May 1941, p138 and Jan 1942, p8) and beat John Cornforth (later Prof Sir John, of course, and still alive, I think). The following year Richardson was board one for Cambridge but this time Cornforth got his revenge (BCM, May 1942, p108). The reason I have his full name is the Jeremy Gaige booklet of Varsity matches (I think Timothy Whitworth did some of the research for him - he very kindly gave me his spare copy of the booklet). Also playing in the 1942 match was David Le Brun Jones (Trinity, Oxford), who still usually turns up at Varsity matches. Pretty sure he attended in 2010. I sometimes ask him about these ancient matches and he has often proved to be a very useful source of info.

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Champions' Names

Post by Roger de Coverly » Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:23 am

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:EDIT: As the Boys' U18 championships were held in Hastings in April during at least the years 1923 to 1953 except for 1941-1945 (i.e. as a separate championship rather than as part of the main British championships as they are now), that may explain why it was possible to hold these championships in April 1940, as the Phoney War was from September 1939 to May 1940 and saw "relatively little" fighting, and the London Blitz was from September 1940 to May 1941.
The annual Hastings Congress had taken place in December 1939/January 1940 (won by Frank Parr)

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John Saunders
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Re: Champions' Names

Post by John Saunders » Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:23 pm

A correction to the British Champions' names...

1953 U21: DEREK F Griffiths (not David)

I am grateful to Bernard Cafferty for passing on this information. Britbase has been amended.
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Re: Champions' Names

Post by John Saunders » Sun Oct 10, 2010 10:32 pm

I stumbled on some more information about John Edward Richardson (1940 Boys' Champion) in CHESS magazine today...
CHESS, May 1944, p 113 wrote:A/B J. E. Richardson snatched four days in Johannesburg recently, scoring 1½-1½ in three games against the new Jo'burg champion Dr. Blieden.
CHESS, September 1944, p189 wrote:It is difficult to realise it is five [sic] years since Stowe schoolboy Jack Richardson won the last British Boys' Championship. In 1941, he confirmed this early promise by defeating Imre Konig, the Hungarian-born Yugoslav expert, in a six-game match. Now, A/B Richardson is serving on a destroyer in foreign waters. Post-war chess should find well to the fore.
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