Bob Wade

Historical knowledge and information regarding our great game.
Paul McKeown
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Bob Wade

Post by Paul McKeown » Fri Dec 19, 2008 7:01 pm

Hello. I have been working with Bob Wade for several years on a biography of the man. Despite his large library, many things have still escaped me. To start with, I would like to properly document his work with FIDE. Can anyone help me with the following:
a) FIDE minutes or correspondence in the period 1948 - 1953 dealing with the re-entry of the three German states (BRD, DDR, Saarland) into FIDE following the war; Bob wrote a report on the subject for FIDE, does anyone still have a copy? Does anyone have access to German newspaper reports on Bob's travels through Germany in 1949 - 50 - I have a few, but would be very happy to receive more.
b) FIDE minutes or correspondence in the period 1948 - 1953 dealing with the reconciliation of the FIDE and Soviet codexes; Bob was on the sub-committee dealing with this important matter, as, of course was BH Wood. BH Wood wrote a fair bit about the subject in Chess and Bob also wrote a little in Chess, BCM, New Zealand Chess Player and Canadian Chess Chat. BH Wood's comments on the Rumens/Mabbs affair (March 20th 1958, pp. 174 - 176) give some insight into one of the positions that Bob took, but the topic is of course much wider than just that.
c) FIDE minutes or correspondence in the period 1948 - 1953 dealing with the awarding of GM and IM titles. Bob was again on the committee. Are there minutes or other close sources regarding the General Assembly which awarded Bob, on Soviet proposal, the IM title?
d) FIDE minutes or correspondence dealing with why NZ left FIDE in 1953.

All of these may be present in Czechoslovak journals from the time, which I don't have access to. Anyone?

e) Details of Bob's introduction of the ban on smoking in the 1980's when he was on the Rules Commission.
f) When was Bob made secretary of the Rules Commission? 1989?
g) Information regarding the Slough 1997 controversy. Does anyone have access to Einar Gausel's Norwegian (and hence independent) newspaper report on the incident. I have John Saunder's (teletext), Mark Crowther's (TWIC), John van der Wiel's and the Wienerzeitung reports and the ECU decision about this, but I have a feeling that Gausel's report will be the only truly and fair-minded independent report. Bob was still angry about the affair ten years later and muttered darkly about many things, including the hidden, but perhaps highly relevant fact that van der Wiel's wife, Jutta Borek, was an Austrian. Was Borek from Graz?

Anyway - enough for a first posting. Any help would be very welcome!

Paul McKeown
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Re: Bob Wade

Post by Paul McKeown » Fri Dec 19, 2008 7:25 pm

And does anyone have specific information about how Bob pushed through the GM title for Bogolyubov despite fierce Soviet opposition?

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JustinHorton
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Re: Bob Wade

Post by JustinHorton » Sat Dec 20, 2008 10:29 am

OK, what was Rumens- Mabbs all about?
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Bob Wade

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sat Dec 20, 2008 10:38 am

OK, what was Rumens- Mabbs all about?
If you check the FIDE rules, you will see that checkmate (or stalemate) ends the game. No need to press the clock.

I believe (before my time) this followed on from the row in Rumens - Mabbs

The sequence of events went

player delivers mate
player's flag falls.

The rules at the time were muddy as to who should win. The BCF couldn't resolve it, so it went to FIDE.

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Re: Bob Wade

Post by Paul McKeown » Sat Dec 20, 2008 1:41 pm

OK, what was Rumens- Mabbs all about?
Justin - Roger's account is accurate enough.

This was not a scandal, though. David Rumens and David Mabbs were good friends, they had set up the Cedars Chess Club together and remained friends after the affair. Indeed Mabbs, who I am proud to call a good friend, is still happy to recount the affair 40 years later, even though the verdict went against him.

What happened was that in the 10th round of the London Schoolboys Championships, 1957, Rumens mated Mabbs, but his flag fell at the same time. If Rumens was awarded the win, then he would win the tournament outright. This can be read in Chess, Vol. 22, Nos 307-8, Jan 20 1958, p. 105. No one felt able to give a verdict, so FIDE was asked to make a ruling, which as we now know, mate ends the game, the flag does not need to stay up. BH Wood wrote at length about this and the farcical carryings on in the Reshevsky - Byrne match in Chess, Vol. 22, Nos. 311-12, Mar 20 1958, pp. 170 - 176. What is of interest to the Bob Wade story is the following:
We well recall when this amendment to the Laws was adopted. Bob Wade, Vyacheslav Ragozin and B. H. Wood were revising the laws under the chairmanship of Folke Rogard, as a sub-committee specially appointed by the International Chess Federation, in Stockholm. When we came to the old time-control rule, Wade and Ragozin were of one voice in advocating this amendment. When a game is lost on time, it is usually on the last move before a control; and times without number the protest has been "I had made the move but had not pressed the button". The new idea, that the move should not be regarded as complete until the button had been pressed as well, had been tried out in a few front-rank international events and had been found so work well, in spite of the apparent artificiality, in disposing of protests, that it was rapidly becoming adopted universally. It was new to me, but so enthusiastic were Wade and Ragozin about it that, bowing to their wider experience of master tournaments, I accepted it. It was soon ratified and I think it has come to stay.

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JustinHorton
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Re: Bob Wade

Post by JustinHorton » Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:01 pm

Thanks for that.

Im assume there are still plenty of disputes involving "I mated first", ""no you didn't, I said your clock was down first" and so on....
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Paul McKeown
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Re: Bob Wade

Post by Paul McKeown » Sun Dec 21, 2008 4:14 am

Does anyone have a copy of Schach blüht aus den Ruinen, which was compiled from the writings of Frits Barkhuis in Caissa?
If so, does it mention anything about Bob Wade's travels in Germany in 1949-1950, or his efforts to overcome resistance to the re-admittance of the German republics to FIDE? Does it detail the 1950 FIDE conference which welcomed in the BRD and DDR?
Does it mention anything about the Nazi past of Alfred Brinckmann, particularly wrt the Großdeutsche Schachbund? And does it say anything about Richard Czaya - who was certainly not a Nazi, but founded the Arbeitsgemeinschaft deutscher Schachverbände in 1947 and then became, in 1950, the first president of the Deutsche Schachbund, the West German Federation, after the war.
I have a wonderful photo of Bob drinking with both of them and their wives from October 9, 1949 after a blitz tournament in Bamberg, which hasn't seen the light of day since then, and which Bob gave to me from his collection for inclusion in the book. I will upload this via email to Carl, if Carl doesn't mind.

And does anyone have access to newspaper reports from Bamberg in 1949 which might include any information about that blitz tournament?

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Re: Bob Wade

Post by Paul McKeown » Sun Dec 21, 2008 4:25 am

Also Ralf Woelk: Schach unterm Hakenkreuz. Politische Einflüsse auf das Schachspiel im Dritten Reich, Pfullingen 1996 might say something about Brinckmann. Anyone?

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Re: Bob Wade

Post by Paul McKeown » Sun Dec 21, 2008 4:38 am

Here's an easy one. Does anyone have a copy of Hein Donner's, "The King"? I understand that Donner describes how he played Bob in a simul in the Netherlands, presumably in the late 1940's or early 1950's. Could anyone send me a copy of the relevant passage, please?

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JustinHorton
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Re: Bob Wade

Post by JustinHorton » Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:06 am

I have one...if I remember this evening (I'm at work today) I'll try and have a look tonight.
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Paul McKeown
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Re: Bob Wade

Post by Paul McKeown » Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:29 am

Thanks!

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JustinHorton
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Re: Bob Wade

Post by JustinHorton » Mon Dec 22, 2008 8:31 am

OK, I have it here, but I am afraid there isn't very much: half a sentence. It's on page 251 of the New In Chess edition of 2006:
I once had the greatest trouble myself making a draw against Wade when he was playing thirty at the same time in The Hague
and unless I mistake myself, that's it.
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Richard James
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Re: Bob Wade

Post by Richard James » Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:52 am

I tried the 1997 edition but couldn't find anything at all.

Paul McKeown
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Re: Bob Wade

Post by Paul McKeown » Wed Dec 24, 2008 1:24 am

Richard,

Thank you for that. Can you tell me in what context Donner wrote that?

Regards,
Paul McKeown.

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JustinHorton
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Re: Bob Wade

Post by JustinHorton » Wed Dec 24, 2008 11:28 am

Do you mean Richard or me?
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com