English Chess Forum

I think Mr Bernfield (a wonderful character) spelt his first name Abram.

GH Davies is Gordon as he was playing for Redhill at the time. I can check his grade later to confirm.

_________________
Kevin J Thurlow

"One of the nicest people in English chess." - S Giddins 2011
"Not a gracious gentleman" - D Howes 2011

If it's the guy who ran that chess café in north London it is Ali

Shallcross is Doug

PB

I doubt the grading reference for GH Davies is right - he was about 175 in 1976.

Is it Huw C Morcom, now in Wales?

I know H Erdogan did change his name from something, but I'm not sure it was what was suggested earlier. (But that is only a vague memory).

_________________
Kevin J Thurlow

"One of the nicest people in English chess." - S Giddins 2011
"Not a gracious gentleman" - D Howes 2011

The 1976 Surrey was in the summer, so the grades quoted would be those from the August 1975 list.

I came across my copy of the 1976 results bulletin a while back, which I imagine is what Paul is working from. Something I had totally forgotten was that games were subject to adjudication, as the bulletin remarks that in the first two rounds, there hadn't been any. That was the change over period, for Congresses anyway, of the move to quick-play finishes, where the extra time was added and the game completed in the time remaining after Black made the time control. The short-lived "ten-minute" rule was a step in that direction.By the wording of his comments, the author of the Surrey bulletin evidently preferred adjudication to the notion of playing a ten minute game from the "final" position for a game unfinished at the end of the playing session.

Gordon H. Davies (probably the same person) is an ICCF senior international master.

Jo A. Wharrier has also been very active in correspondence chess; his first name is probably short for Jonathon (or the more usual Jonathan) but "Jo" seems to be what he goes by, though I don't know him personally.

I played Sams in a tournament in 1973; he then used three initials: R. J. F.

At the time of the 1975 Surrey congress H. Hakki [that “Hakan” may be wrong] was a pupil at Catford Grammar School (in Kent) where I taught chess for a few terms in 1973-75. I would guess he was born some time between 1958 and 1961. He was one of two pupils there who played club and tournament chess.
In 1975 or maybe 1976 he started going by the name of H. Erdogan. It's a long time
ago now, so the following is not certain.
I think his family (which must have been of Turkish or Turkish Cypriot origin) had looked at some old documents (maybe a birth certificate of the original immigrant) and discovered that what they had thought was a surname (i.e. Hakki) was actually a forename, and vice versa, so that Erdogan was in fact the correct family name.

_________________
Tim Harding
Historian and Kibitzer

Author of 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'
http://www.chessmail.com

Was Mr. Amin involved in organising the London 1987 'Chess for Peace' tournament in some capacity?

_________________
To find a for(u)m that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now. (Samuel Beckett)

Michael Ashley Pagden, acc. Gaige's Varsity Match booklet and the 'Michael' is confirmed by BMD. FIDE probably have some duff info.

Richard John Fairfax Sams, acc. Gaige again, 'Richard' confirmed by BMD. This page about his musical, showbiz brother Jeremy, mentions him, as does this one about his father Eric.

_________________
Associate Editor, CHESS Magazine www.chess.co.uk
Twitter @johnchess
Website www.saund.co.uk

There is a Mohammed Amin, I believe, who was involved with work with the BCF and later became a Conservative politician in the North of England. Perhaps it was him?

He is currently the ECF delegate of Greater Manchester, I believe.

_________________
February 16-17: 2013 BUCA Team Championship
April 20: 2013 British Blitz Championship
July 27-August 10: 100th British Chess Championships

The grading references are from the 1994-2012 grading database, and an odd grading list I have from 1988.

_________________
http://www.surreychesscongress.co.uk/

Any postings on here represent the truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.

Paul, I'm very surprised you write thus since Bob was involved with Ali Amin, see the text below which is an extract from a scurrilous but well-informed article which can be found online at chesscity.com

The players have behaved like perfect communist gentlemen. Not so the London Chess Establishment. Ali Amin, owner of the mediocre and overpriced Chequers Caff, was apoplectic at being left off the organising committee. Not surprising really, since he cancels almost as many events as he stages, and his well-known unreliability would be no asset when it comes to raising sponsorship. The Shriekh has chosen to create a vehicle for his diatribes called Zugswang, and this is distributed at the match free of charge each day. It contains personals attacks on various persons connected with the match, particularly David Goodman, editor of the rival Newsflash, a weekly journal with much higher production values and much more accurate content. Bob Wade , doyen of British Chess, has been soiling his reputation by providing Zugswang with high-quality chess content. No-one knows what spell Mr. Amin (no relation, except in personality) has cast upon him.

As regards the final sentence, Ali Amin paid very well (I believe the funds came from his girlfriend).

Thanks Leonard, I didn't know about this. tbh I don't scour the chess internet for references to RGW, they are usually very dubious. Can you tell me what really happened, you would be a more reliable source. Also does anyone have any copies of this "Zugszwang"? I had never heard of it. I would quite like to see what Bob wrote.

I was only on the periphery of these events. You would do better to ask Roger Lancaster, who was involved with Zugszwang and is still grading-listed as an active player for Watford.

Thanks, Leonard. BCM 1987, pp. 472-473 doesn't mention RGW in connection with the tournament. I'll check Chess later. His name appears to be spelled "Aly" in BCM.

btw. Leonard can you give me a URL for this web reference?

I found something written by Tryfon Gavriel at http://letsplaychess.co.uk/chessclubs/f ... agesize=10, but it doesn't mention RGW.

Aly/Ali, sources differ. Just google chess city Ali Amin for the article.