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English-resident strong chess players

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 3:11 am
by Christopher Kreuzer
I found a little snippet in a book I was reading recently about an English-resident strong chess player (i.e. those not born in the UK, but who were among the strongest in the country at various times), and was wondering if anyone has more information on him (the player in question here was Ernst Klein) or other players of similar background? Ideally, I'd like to end up with a list of strong players that emigrated here from other countries, along with an idea of their birth/death years, when they arrived here, when they were active, and their playing strength, and participation in British teams (if any) and other aspects of British chess (by which I mean England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland).

Not sure whether to include emigration or permanent or temporary residency from other Commonwealth countries, but have included those here as students and those born in non-Anglophone countries (e.g. Yanofsky was born in Poland, though his family moved to Canada when he was 8 months old). Would like to focus on ones from non-English-speaking countries, and the earlier ones rather than the more recent ones (which gets to be rather a large list once you drop below IM level, particularly after 1990, though including students may also threaten to make any such list unmanageable).

So far, I have:

Jacques Mieses (link)
Stefan Fazekas (link)
Cenek Kottnauer (link)
Imre Koenig (link)
Daniel Yanofsky (link)
Jana Malypetrova (link)
Raphael Persitz (link)
Ernst Klein (link)

The inclusion of Ernst Klein is because (as mentioned earlier) I read about him in a book I've been reading, where Tim Harding annotated his 1972 Oxfordshire-Essex county match loss to Jonathan Penrose in Why You Lose At Chess (1982), and stated:

"It was therefore somewhat surprising to encounter Penrose on board two in a county match. However, the Vienna-born Ernst Klein, British Champion in 1951, had briefly emerged from retirement and Penrose modestly conceded him top board."

I think Klein and Penrose were playing for Essex. I found a bit about Ernst Klein in this post (and the rest of that thread):

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... 7688#p7688

But presumably there were a lot of other strong county-level chess players around who had emigrated here from Europe, or were resident here. If you go back far enough, you get to Wilhelm Steinitz, born in Austria but resident in London (from 1862 to 1883, I think), though the year when he was considered to be 'world champion' (and hence where he was resident) is still not settled, apparently. Are there any other famous (or not-so-famous) names of strong chess players from non-Anglophone countries who became resident in Britain?

EDIT: Some other possible names. First three from the 19th century (could be a lot of these): Adolf Zytogorski, Leopold Hoffer, Bernhard Horwitz. I think Johannes Zukertort and Johann Löwenthal were also resident in London for many years. Then five from the first half of the 20th century: Georg Schories, Victor Buerger, Adrián García Conde, Olga Menchik, Vera Menchik. Possibly Mir Sultan Khan and Miss Fatima should also be mentioned here. One name from more recent times is John Rety. Slightly earlier is Aaron Alexandre. Much earlier is Philipp Stamma.

Re: English-resident strong chess players

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:32 am
by Roger de Coverly
Christopher Kreuzer wrote: Ideally, I'd like to end up with a list of strong players that emigrated here from other countries, along with an idea of their birth/death years, when they arrived here, when they were active, and their playing strength, and participation in British teams (if any) and other aspects of British chess (by which I mean England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland).
I suspect you will find loads. German and Austrian from the 1930's, Polish, Ukrainian from the 1940s, Hungarian from the 1950s.

The name is sometimes a clue, but many anglicised their names. More often than not, the back story only comes out in orbituaries.

www.olimpbase.org has material on England teams and the games databases would list everyone playing at Hastings or the British Championships

Re: English-resident strong chess players

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:39 am
by Nick Burrows
Mihai Suba:
In August 1988, he sought political asylum in Britain, and he played for England at the 1989 European Team Championship
3 times Romanian champion, with a peak rating of 30th in the world.

Re: English-resident strong chess players

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:04 am
by Mick Norris
Suba is currently leading in the European Seniors back playing under a Rumanian flag

http://chess-results.com/tnr47481.aspx? ... 30&wi=1000

Re: English-resident strong chess players

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:09 am
by Richard James
Mick Norris wrote:Suba is currently leading in the European Seniors back playing under a Rumanian flag

http://chess-results.com/tnr47481.aspx? ... 30&wi=1000
...but he was held to a draw by Ken Norman, an occasional poster here, in Round 2.

Chris: you could always research this in the Chess Palace! :P

Re: English-resident strong chess players

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:12 pm
by Matt Mackenzie
Paul List is another, Chris (played in the post-war GB v USSR match)

Re: English-resident strong chess players

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:20 pm
by Alex McFarlane
Though not English resident (though living in Edinburgh to a Glaswegian that's almost the same thing) Keti Arakhami Grant is a current example being Georgian by birth.

Jacob Aagaard may be another example.

Re: English-resident strong chess players

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 2:15 pm
by William Metcalfe
There was a American IM based in Scotland but i have forgoton his name for the moment

Re: English-resident strong chess players

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 2:22 pm
by Alex McFarlane
Danny Kopec

Re: English-resident strong chess players

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 2:31 pm
by Roger de Coverly
William Metcalfe wrote:There was a American IM based in Scotland but i have forgoton his name for the moment
If we're talking current players (American IMs), James Sherwin now of Bath, also in game 1 of 60 Memorable Games.

Re: English-resident strong chess players

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 2:41 pm
by LozCooper
Christopher Kreuzer wrote: Ideally, I'd like to end up with a list of strong players that emigrated here from other countries, along with an idea of their birth/death years, when they arrived here, when they were active, and their playing strength, and participation in British teams (if any) and other aspects of British chess (by which I mean England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland).
Recent ones that spring to mind include: GMs Bogdan Lalic & Alexander Cherniaev, IMs Roland Berzinsh, Bjorn Tiller, James Sherwin. Murray Chandler switched from New Zealand to England then back again. Alex Baburin emigrated to Ireland which now seems like a long time ago.

Re: English-resident strong chess players

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 2:44 pm
by William Metcalfe
Thanks Alex

Re: English-resident strong chess players

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 2:45 pm
by William Metcalfe
Wasnt Bob wade originally from New Zealand

Re: English-resident strong chess players

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 4:09 pm
by Matt Mackenzie
Mick Norris wrote:Suba is currently leading in the European Seniors back playing under a Rumanian flag

http://chess-results.com/tnr47481.aspx? ... 30&wi=1000
He defected whilst playing at a London tournament IIRC - it made the front pages of some newspapers.

Following the fall of Ceaucescu and Romania beginning its transition to democracy, he went back there sometime in the early 1990s.

It is fair to say that he attracted some controversy during his residence here, though one is hazy over the actual details :wink:

Re: English-resident strong chess players

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 5:18 pm
by Alex McFarlane
A sort of Suba story ...

I was on the team controlling the British Championship at Eastbourne just after the MP Ian Gow had been murdered by an IRA car bomb. There were a considerable number of Special Branch in attendance due to the impending funeral coupled with the number of Irish players taking part.

Anyway someone rushed into the room being used for the Championship about an hour before play and told me that Suba had been arrested. The story was that a plain clothes policeman had arrested him for stealing something from the canteen. The arrest was genuine but the identity was not. Turns out that it was someone in off the street with a passing resemblance to the GM who had been arrested.