Archive film featuring chess

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Neil Graham
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Re: Archive film featuring chess

Post by Neil Graham » Sat Oct 02, 2010 6:36 pm

Kevin Thurlow wrote: One player reported that he went to watch the panto and one of the cast invited the audience to stamp their feet so that the players could hear them. !

Oh no he didn't!

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Archive film featuring chess

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Sun Oct 03, 2010 3:18 pm

Oh no he didn't!

Oh yes he did...
"Kevin was the arbiter and was very patient. " Nick Grey

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David Shepherd
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Re: Archive film featuring chess

Post by David Shepherd » Thu Oct 15, 2015 8:22 pm

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/searc ... er_page=10 This link contains many old photos that may be of interest and various other chess related items

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Gerard Killoran
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Re: Archive film featuring chess

Post by Gerard Killoran » Fri Oct 16, 2015 10:17 am

If you do a Google video search using the terms 'ap archive chess' you get plenty of raw footage including Fischer-Spassky 1972. 'ap archive chess world junior' has two films with the youthful Tony Miles in 1974. Can someone name any of the faces in ''ap archive chess churchill' which is a Bognor Regis tournament from the 1960s?

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Re: Archive film featuring chess

Post by Roger de Coverly » Fri Oct 16, 2015 10:23 am

Gerard Killoran wrote:I Can someone name any of the faces in ''ap archive chess churchill' which is a Bognor Regis tournament from the 1960s?
Ray Keene and Dinah Norman (Dobson as she then was) can be observed. I think one of the other "young men with glasses" is David Levy. You could reverse engineer the visually handicapped player from the entry lists.

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Gerard Killoran
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Re: Archive film featuring chess

Post by Gerard Killoran » Fri Oct 16, 2015 2:57 pm

Aplogies for the block caps, but ITN also have this...

CLIP 1 OF 1 (COPYRIGHT: REUTERS)

CHESS GAMES IN PROGRESS AT THE CAMP -- BLIND PLAYERS WITH BRAILLE CHESS AIDS TO RECORD THEIR OPPONENTS' MOVES; MASTER PLAYERS; S. SEELEN OF DENMARK PLAYS N.J.DIVINSKY OF CANADA; YUGOSLAV MASTER, N. KARAKLAIC, PLAYS H. BOUWMEESTER OF HOLLAND; F. THORBERGSON OF ICELAND PLAYS G.VOGEL OF WEST GERMANY; K.KRATZ OF SWEDEN PLAYS A. GULBRANDSEN OF NORWAY; A. CIOCILTEA OF RUMANIA PLAYS T. TERBOURBI OF TUNISIA.

http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//RTV/ ... 4/?s=chess

UK: 10-DAY CHESS CONGRESS OPENS AT BOGNOR REGIS WITH 13 COUNTRIES REPRESENTED
13 April 1966 Story ref: BGY506050224 Contains: 1 Clips Format: imx 30

A 10-DAY INTERNATIONAL CHESS CONGRESS BEGAN AT THE ENGLISH SOUTH COAST HOLIDAY RESORT OF BOGNOR REGIS TODAY(WEDNESDAY), WITH CHESS PLAYERS FROM 13 COUNTRIES TAKING PART. THE CONGRESS IS BEING HELD ON THE GROUNDS OF A HOLIDAY CAMP, WHERE MANY OF THE PLAYERS ARE STAYING WITH THEIR FAMILIES.

THE MAIN EVENT OF THE CONGRESS IS THE CHURCHILL MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT, DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, THE BRITISH LEADER DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR, WHO DIED LAST YEAR. THE WINNER WILL RECEIVE A PRIZE OF GBP100 STERLING AND THERE ARE CASH PRIZES FOR THE FIRST SIX PLACES. ABOUT 80 PLAYERS ARE TAKING PART IN THE EVENT, MOST OF THEM BRITISH.

IN THE CHURCHILL MEMORIAL EVENT, PLAYERS HAVE TO MAKE A MINIMUM OF 45 MOVES IN THE FIRST TWO AND A HALF HOURS AND 18 MOVES AN HOUR AFTERWARDS. IN ALL OTHER EVENTS THE RATE OF PLAY IS 40 MOVES IN THE FIRST TWO HOURS AND 20 MOVES AN HOUR AFTERWARDS. THE CONTESTANTS INCLUDE FIVE STUDENTS FROM BELGRADE UNIVERSITY, KNOWN AS "THE GOLDEN BOYS", WHO HAVE PLAYED BEFORE LARGE AUDIENCES IN YUGOSLAVIA AND SET UP SEVERAL CHESS RECORDS.

HOWEVER, THE ORGANISERS OF THE BOGNOR REGIS CONGRESS ARE TRYING TO PREVENT CROWDING AROUND THE CHESS TABLES DURING GAMES. TO DO THIS THEY'VE INSTALLED CLOSED CIRCUIT TELEVISION CAMERAS TO RECORD PLAY -- IT'S BELIEVED FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER -- AND ENABLE ONLOOKERS TO WATCH THE GAMES IN COMFORT ON TELEVISION RECEIVERS AWAY FROM THE TABLES.

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Re: Archive film featuring chess

Post by Roger de Coverly » Fri Oct 16, 2015 3:10 pm

Where you see close ups of players making moves, it's obviously staged or just filming analysis, as the players never press the clocks or write the moves down. Still the idea of videoing the game evidently goes back fifty years although low cost recording devices were in the future. Puzzling that using demo boards wasn't employed by Bognor.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Archive film featuring chess

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Oct 16, 2015 3:38 pm

Just watched the clip. Fascinating. A clock was pressed once in one of the close-ups, and someone wrote down a move. The captions Gerard copied out say the congress set up CCTV to allow spectators to watch (when I was playing chess in Baku recently, the arbiter made an innovative use of the CCTV camera footage in the venue to resolve a touch-move dispute!). Right at the end, you get a woman smoking.

I know Bognor Regis fairly well, having stayed in the town for several childhood summers. A bit later on I also stayed at the Butlins resort there once, and I think that is where the congress is (one of the banners seems to have 'Butlins' on it) - the report above just says 'holiday camp'. I wonder if Butlins has always been on the same site in Bognor and how much the buildings have changed there?

http://www.butlins.com/where-to-stay-di ... nor-regis/

Maybe that main building is still the same one (with modernisations) as used back in 1966?

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Re: Archive film featuring chess

Post by Roger de Coverly » Fri Oct 16, 2015 4:07 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:J I wonder if Butlins has always been on the same site in Bognor and how much the buildings have changed there?
It was one of the earlier examples of the model now frequently used outside the UK of taking over a holiday venue out of season for a chess event. I never played in it, the last one I think was in 1969, but magazines of the era reported it in depth as befitted a major event. Yes it was held in the Butlins camp. The format of holding a week or longer tournament over the Easter period has never been copied in Britain since. The timing of it made it suitable for those of school and university age and in its heyday was also able to invite foreign participants.

I don't have a report on the 1966 event, but of the 1967 event, from Ray Keene's report in the BCM :-

433 total entry
Foreign players GM Padevski (Bulgaria), IMs Kurajica and Mihaljcisin (Yugoslavia) and Drimer (Roumania) and other untitled.
The Churchill Memorial was 92 players, there being numerous other events.

Prize winners (11 rounds)
1-3 Drimer, Kurajcia, Padevski 8.5
4-5 Perkins (AH) and Wright (D) 8
6-12 Botterill, Fox, Keene, Kottnauer, Martens (Sweden), May, Patterson

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John Saunders
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Re: Archive film featuring chess

Post by John Saunders » Fri Oct 16, 2015 5:38 pm

The elderly lady with the king-size cigarette is, I'm pretty sure, Lady Herbert, wife of the well-known writer A.P. (Sir Alan) Herbert. She was a regular congress-goer until the late 1960s as I recall. Her maiden name was Gwendolyn Harriet Quilter and she lived a long life, from 1892 to 1988.

In fact, I am now certain it is her, having discovered this photo of her, wearing the same top at Bognor. She was always known as "Lady Herbert" in chess circles and you can just make out this name on her badge in the photo. There is a trophy named after her, given for the British Women's Correspondence Championship.

I recall her playing at various congresses; definitely Hammersmith, in 1969, and possibly Marlow (Berks & Bucks), thereabouts. I'm pretty sure she played regularly at Hastings. She was a fairly modest performer: the 1970 SCCU grading list gives her as 107. I don't recall her husband playing as well, but it's possible. I'll leave the pleasure of following that up to someone else.
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John Saunders
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Re: Archive film featuring chess

Post by John Saunders » Fri Oct 16, 2015 6:08 pm

I've found a match for the Keene game depicted in the AP film clip. It is Keene-G.Wright, round 1 of the Bognor Regis 1967 tournament, except that the game as found on chessgames.com seems to be wrongly dated...



I've left the date as given by chessgames.com (24 March 1967) but, according to BCM, 1967, p134, the tournament started on 29 March 1967. I'm more inclined to believe BCM. The position shown in the clip is around move 23. I'm not familiar with a G.Wright but there was a player of that name who finished on 5½ in the Open that year.

If the above is correct, we can further deduce that the pairing at around 7 seconds into the clip is JG Brogden vs N Padevski, as this pairing was mentioned in Keene's report (0-1 in a drawn ending according to RDK). Unfortunately this was the only first round pairing specifically mentioned therein.
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John Saunders
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Re: Archive film featuring chess

Post by John Saunders » Fri Oct 16, 2015 6:30 pm

Of course, one thing leads to another when you're surfing and a search for "chess Hastings" on the Getty site brought up some wonderful images...

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/galleries/ ... s+hastings
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Leonard Barden
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Re: Archive film featuring chess

Post by Leonard Barden » Sat Oct 17, 2015 10:49 am

John Saunders wrote:The elderly lady with the king-size cigarette is, I'm pretty sure, Lady Herbert, wife of the well-known writer A.P. (Sir Alan) Herbert. She was a regular congress-goer until the late 1960s as I recall. Her maiden name was Gwendolyn Harriet Quilter and she lived a long life, from 1892 to 1988.

In fact, I am now certain it is her, having discovered this photo of her, wearing the same top at Bognor. She was always known as "Lady Herbert" in chess circles and you can just make out this name on her badge in the photo. There is a trophy named after her, given for the British Women's Correspondence Championship.

I recall her playing at various congresses; definitely Hammersmith, in 1969, and possibly Marlow (Berks & Bucks), thereabouts. I'm pretty sure she played regularly at Hastings. She was a fairly modest performer: the 1970 SCCU grading list gives her as 107. I don't recall her husband playing as well, but it's possible. I'll leave the pleasure of following that up to someone else.
I visited Lady Herbert's home many times in the 1960s to give her fortnightly chess training. The Herberts had a palatial mansion close to the Thames with an excellent view of the river in the room where we met. She was a very keen player although, alas, not able to improve much from my coaching. 107 sounds about right. I don't recall Sir Alan ever being present or having any indication that he played chess.

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Gerard Killoran
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Re: Archive film featuring chess

Post by Gerard Killoran » Sat Oct 17, 2015 12:14 pm

Take a look at

http://www.itnsource.com/en/

This site has a number of Chess films that can be previewed, just put chess in the search box and see what comes up. This one for example

http://www.itnsource.com/en/shotlist/IT ... 7/?s=chess

The question that is bugging me is this, why does almost every film from the sixties feature Ray Keene, however young and skinny? Was he a born self-publicist? Am I asking questions with obvious answers?

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Re: Archive film featuring chess

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sat Oct 17, 2015 12:41 pm

Gerard Killoran wrote: Am I asking questions with obvious answers?
I rather think so. Invitations to international events were at a premium, so the better known a player, the more likely the invite.

Who is it that he is playing in the Hastings clip? They are pressing the clocks, but not recording the moves, so a staged game, not one from the Congress.

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