English Chess Forum

Authors of a book on the European Team Championship in Bath, 1973.

Ray of course we know about, but the other two names are not familiar to me. Who are (or were) they?

Bill (WG) Raines, Alan Crombleholme.

Reverend Bill Raines of the Church of Holy Innocents, Fallowfield, Manchester these days.

Search the forum. You can even find a link to a photo.

Thanks. Anybody know how they came to be Ray's co-authors?

Athenaeum Chess Club along with Bob Wade.

Here are a couple of low resolution scans from my copy of the book:
and
I believe that there may be one or two other (at the time Berkshire Juniors) who received similar:

Maybe Graham Borrowdale, Mark A. Johnstone, Steven C. James, Gaynor D. James, Jeremy C. Hart, Kevin Beadle (sadly no longer with us), PAF Watkins etc.

I recall we speculated as to which of the signatures were genuine and which had been added by the Berkshire captain!

It has been drawn to my attention that Raines and Cromblehome may have been educated at Dulwich Collge, another connection with RDK, beyond the Batsford connection with RGW. This is awaiting confirmation, though.

It has also been communicated to me that Raines was Hübner's second at the Biel Interzonal, 1976. That is easily confirmed by reference to BCM, October 1976, in which Raines's report, as Hübner's second, on the tournament was published.

The book was published by Batsford. The main link seems to be with the Athenaeum Club. W.G.Raines is described as the Match Captain for Athenaeum. R.G. Wade was also a member of Athenaeum, and he was the chief Editorial Advisor to Batsford. The book also gives credit to Kevin O'Connell, for editorial assistance. This book has a good obituary for Leonid Stein, who died the very night before the Soviet Team's departure for the Bath European Team Championship.

I wrote to BCM at the time asking why Raines had been second to Huebner. They said 'maybe they were friends.' Still seems very odd to me. The Batsford book is a great tribute to a wonderful event which I visited as a child. If only we could have same or similar today!

James Pratt wrote:If only we could have same or similar today!

Cue the new ECF President!

What an incredible coup it would be to bring an Olympiad to these shores.

Alan Crombleholme is still an active player playing on Board 3 in Div 1 of the Birmingham League . I played him a few weeks ago

John Upham wrote:

James Pratt wrote:If only we could have same or similar today!

Cue the new ECF President!

What an incredible coup it would be to bring an Olympiad to these shores.

Wouldn't it! Who would sponsor it, for a start? (I assume that the Norwegians have serious sponsorship for 2014, though stand to be corrected).

Jonathan Rogers wrote: (I assume that the Norwegians have serious sponsorship for 2014, though stand to be corrected).

http://tromso2014.no/ is their website.

Although they have appointed a "marketing manager", the only logos represented on that page are the local authorities (town and county) and the national chess federation. Given the time lags implicit in an Olympiad application, perhaps they are relying on a "Magnus" effect to bring in other sponsors.

Whilst local authorities in the UK have been known to expend lavishly on international cultural or sporting events, they would be running the gauntlet of the press to do so. Part of the expense of an Olympiad is providing Board and Lodging for competitors, so the usual arguments about the economic benefit of attracting thousands of visitors are somewhat diluted.

(edit) Exploring the website, I found this
http://tromso2014.no/international-campaign/
which fills in the background.

The taxpayers of Norway or the oil revenues appear to be paying.

After Dresden, a strategic effort was implemented to market Tromsø as a serious contender for the Chess Olympiad in 2014. The big breakthrough came when the Norwegian parliament, the Storting, granted $US 11.8 million to the Chess Olympiad.

(/edit)

Here is a recent suggestion that although Magnus is basking in sponsorship, the 2014 Olympiad has problems:

http://www.newsinenglish.no/2013/08/14/ ... -sponsors/

Azerbaijan will host the 2016 Olympiad, with state backing.

I played Alan Crombleholme in the last round of Paignton this year! He is a lovely chap, whom I've known for yonks.