Two games of William Winter

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Gerard Killoran
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Two games of William Winter

Post by Gerard Killoran » Wed Apr 30, 2014 5:32 pm

While scouring the chess columns of the Glasgow Herald, I came across these two games which don't seem to be in any of the available databases. Indeed the Chester Congress of 1934 doesn't even get a mention at Britbase.




Barry Sandercock
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Re: Two games of William Winter

Post by Barry Sandercock » Wed Apr 30, 2014 7:09 pm

William Winter won the British Championship in 1934,35 and 36. I remember seeing him many years ago. His health wasn't good and he died at 57.

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John Saunders
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Re: Two games of William Winter

Post by John Saunders » Thu May 01, 2014 1:54 am

A welcome discovery of those Winter games, which I have now added to my collection of 1934 British Championship games. The reason I hadn't published anything on BritBase to date is that I only had a handful of games, but these two, plus some more which I gleaned from the Times Online and various databases and sources, means I now have 25 complete games, plus 5 part-games of a possible 66 for that year. I have now posted them on BritBase, with a crosstable of the three main events that year.

http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/193 ... iewer.html

Incidentally, Winter didn't win the British Championship that year. As can be seen from the crosstable, Sir George Thomas won the title.

Note that now my regular workload has lessened, I'm slowly starting to get to grips with Britbase again. It will always remain a hefty 'work in progress'.
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Barry Sandercock
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Re: Two games of William Winter

Post by Barry Sandercock » Thu May 01, 2014 11:47 am

Sorry for the mistake about Winter and the British Championship 1934. I was only 4 at the time, so difficult to remember !

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Gerard Killoran
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Re: Two games of William Winter

Post by Gerard Killoran » Thu May 01, 2014 12:37 pm

The real hero of Chester 1934 was 22 year old Rupert Cross who came fourth. His achievement was all the more remarkable because he was completely blind. He went on to have a distinguished legal career but was a real loss to chess. There is a nice biography with games here:

http://www.braillechess.org.uk/hallfame/rupertcross.htm

I have found two more games not in John Saunders list (take a look at Alexander's stalemate swindle!) and will post more if I find them...




Leonard Barden
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Re: Two games of William Winter

Post by Leonard Barden » Thu May 01, 2014 12:57 pm

Gerard Killoran wrote:The real hero of Chester 1934 was 22 year old Rupert Cross who came fourth. His achievement was all the more remarkable because he was completely blind. He went on to have a distinguished legal career but was a real loss to chess. There is a nice biography with games here:

http://www.braillechess.org.uk/hallfame/rupertcross.htm
The biography states that Cross's win against (Sir) John Wall in a Worcester College for the Blind match was perhaps Cross's final game, but in fact Cross made a few appearances for the Oxfordshire team which won the county championship in 1951 and 1952. My memory is unclear as to which matches he appeared, though contemporary sources such as BCM or Ritson Morry's news letter may have it.
I do remember that we asked him to play in the notorious final against Middlesex in 1952, but he declined. According to Sir Theodore Tylor (who drew with William Winter in that match) Cross's reason was that he preferred to spend Saturday afternoons drinking sherry in the Magdalen Common Room rather than over a chessboard.....

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Re: Two games of William Winter

Post by John Saunders » Thu May 01, 2014 2:58 pm

The match Leonard refers to was eventually played on 29 November 1952. Here are the results and two games from the January 1953 BCM...

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Re: Two games of William Winter

Post by Gerard Killoran » Thu May 01, 2014 3:26 pm

Now a game and a finish from the Ladies Championship





Gordon Cadden
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Re: Two games of William Winter

Post by Gordon Cadden » Fri May 02, 2014 5:36 pm

The 1950/51 English Counties Championship.
hhr.jpg
hhr.jpg (215.06 KiB) Viewed 2781 times

Can anyone identify the second Oxford University blind player ? .

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Re: Two games of William Winter

Post by Leonard Barden » Fri May 02, 2014 6:55 pm

Gordon Cadden wrote: Can anyone identify the second blind player?
Our second blind player was Harry Booth, though he was a local resident and had no connections with the university. He was a cheerful man who made light of his disability, had no guide dog but still played regularly for the county, and was a specialist in the Budapest Defence. Sadly Harry died as a consequence of his disability, knocked down by a car when crossing the road.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Two games of William Winter

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri May 02, 2014 10:14 pm

That is a sad ending to an oddly inspiring bit of background there. Some of those other names look familiar. Is anyone able to give some of the story behind some of the other names? T. H. Tylor must have been a strong player (I am trying to remember how strong Leonard was at that stage). And the name Sir R. Robinson sounds familiar. Was he one of the university dignitaries, knighted for his academic or educational achievements?

EDIT: Ah, presumably Sir Robert Robinson, Nobel laureate (awarded the prize three years earlier in 1947). He has been mentioned here before. I see he was at one time President of the BCF, and also wrote a book on chess. I wonder if copies of that book are still around and how good it was?

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Re: Two games of William Winter

Post by Andy Stoker » Sat May 03, 2014 6:15 am

I do remember that we asked him to play in the notorious final against Middlesex in 1952, but he declined
(LWB)

This notoriety had passed me by ... please could we hear more? What was "notorious" about it?

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Re: Two games of William Winter

Post by Leonard Barden » Sat May 03, 2014 9:27 am

Andy Stoker wrote:
I do remember that we asked him to play in the notorious final against Middlesex in 1952, but he declined
(LWB)

This notoriety had passed me by ... please could we hear more? What was "notorious" about it?
http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... 5&start=30

See pages 3-7 of the above thread

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Re: Two games of William Winter

Post by Gordon Cadden » Sat May 03, 2014 10:39 am

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:That is a sad ending to an oddly inspiring bit of background there. Some of those other names look familiar. Is anyone able to give some of the story behind some of the other names? T. H. Tylor must have been a strong player (I am trying to remember how strong Leonard was at that stage). And the name Sir R. Robinson sounds familiar. Was he one of the university dignitaries, knighted for his academic or educational achievements?

EDIT: Ah, presumably Sir Robert Robinson, Nobel laureate (awarded the prize three years earlier in 1947). He has been mentioned here before. I see he was at one time President of the BCF, and also wrote a book on chess. I wonder if copies of that book are still around and how good it was?
A Guide to Bird's Opening, by Robert Ernest Robinson (1950).
Last edited by Gordon Cadden on Sat May 03, 2014 12:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Gordon Cadden
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Re: Two games of William Winter

Post by Gordon Cadden » Sat May 03, 2014 11:10 am

You will find information on Sir Theodore Tylor at Wikipedia. He attended Worcester College for the Blind, from 1909 - 1918.
Last edited by Gordon Cadden on Sat May 03, 2014 11:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

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