Chess in Schools

Historical knowledge and information regarding our great game.
Roger de Coverly
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Chess in Schools

Post by Roger de Coverly » Tue Jun 03, 2014 12:53 am

The Irish Independent has an interview with - well the quote below makes it obvious.
The extraterrestrials told him to introduce chess in schools and become president of the world chess federation.
As far as the UK is concerned, chess in schools has a really long history, but just how far back does it go? There was a formal inter-schools competition with the Sunday Times, introduced in the 1950s, the original idea for which I believe dated back to the 1930s.

But what was there before that? Harry Golombek would remind everyone in almost every column that he had been London Boys Champion in nineteen twenty something, but did his school (Wilson's?) face other schools in semi formal competitions? I could believe that it did as inter-school sport, provided chess was classified that way, goes back to the Victorian era.

Neill Cooper
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Re: Chess in Schools

Post by Neill Cooper » Tue Jun 03, 2014 10:19 pm

The London Schools' Team Championship was running in the 1920s. It is referred to in Bill Hartston's obituary of Harry Golombek:

"Harry Golombek was born into a Polish immigrant family (the surname translates as "little dove") in the East End of London in 1911. His early chess prowess is still recorded on the shield for the London Schools' Team Championship, where the name of "Wilson's Grammar School" interrupts those of more illustrious educational establishments in the late 1920s. In 1928, Golombek played in his first London Boys' Championship, finishing last in his section. The next year, however, he won it, an achievement of which he seemed never to tire of reminding his readers."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 67343.html

The Briant Poulter League started in in 1937/38 as Croydon District Schools League (it is now the Surrey Schools League). Possibly other secondary schools leagues started before the second world war, though the only one I know the date for is the Kent Schools Chess League which did not start until 1953 http://www.sccu.ndo.co.uk/kscl/index.htm

Tim Harding
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Re: Chess in Schools

Post by Tim Harding » Fri Jun 06, 2014 6:38 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote: As far as the UK is concerned, chess in schools has a really long history, but just how far back does it go? There was a formal inter-schools competition with the Sunday Times, introduced in the 1950s, the original idea for which I believe dated back to the 1930s.

But what was there before that? ...inter-school sport, provided chess was classified that way, goes back to the Victorian era.
I cannot tell you when inter-school chess matches were first played over the board but almost certainly the earliest matches were by post. There are several references (indexed) in my book "Correspondence Chess in Britain and Ireland, 1824-1987."

During World War One, the BCF instituted a CC competition for public schools but indeed the idea does go back to the Victorian era.

In his "A Century of British Chess" P. W. Sergeant wrote that the earliest inter-school match was Norwich v Felsted in 1874 but there were several earlier examples. The Illustrated London News, 29 December 1849, has a correspondence game Shrewsbury School versus Brighton College though it may not be the earliest as Staunton said he had received other games (see pages 44-45 in my book).
Then in 1851 and 1852 there were published games between Wellesley House School in Twickenham against King's College School. It wasn't clear whether the latter was in Cambridge or London; can anyone clarify?
Tim Harding
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Author of 'Steinitz in London,' British Chess Literature to 1914', 'Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography', and 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'
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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Chess in Schools

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Jun 06, 2014 6:54 pm

Tim Harding wrote:Then in 1851 and 1852 there were published games between Wellesley House School in Twickenham against King's College School. It wasn't clear whether the latter was in Cambridge or London; can anyone clarify?
Looks like it might be difficult to find out (as the Wellesley House School is no longer there):

http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/det ... tentID=349

I do know that the King's College School in London (opened in 1831) was originally with King's College London on the Strand, but it then moved out to Wimbledon, SW London, in 1897. You could ask them or the Cambridge one if any records survive (some of the records might be in the KCL archives in central London). I would have thought the London one, but that is just a guess.

Gordon Cadden
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Re: Chess in Schools

Post by Gordon Cadden » Sat Jun 07, 2014 11:12 am

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
Tim Harding wrote:Then in 1851 and 1852 there were published games between Wellesley House School in Twickenham against King's College School. It wasn't clear whether the latter was in Cambridge or London; can anyone clarify?
Looks like it might be difficult to find out (as the Wellesley House School is no longer there):

http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/det ... tentID=349

I do know that the King's College School in London (opened in 1831) was originally with King's College London on the Strand, but it then moved out to Wimbledon, SW London, in 1897. You could ask them or the Cambridge one if any records survive (some of the records might be in the KCL archives in central London). I would have thought the London one, but that is just a guess.
University College School in Gower Street is very likely to have had a chess group, and they may have played against King's College School, the Strand. Research is required on this interesting subject.

Leonard Barden
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Re: Chess in Schools

Post by Leonard Barden » Sat Jun 07, 2014 11:54 am

Neill Cooper wrote:The London Schools' Team Championship was running in the 1920s.
The London Schools League (its official title, not 'team championship') was still running in 1946-47 when Whitgift won it. As I recall, there was a league format with around 6-8 matches before the top four played off in semi-finals and finals. We beat Tiffins, our strongest rivals, 3.5-2.5 in the semi-finals and Coopers from Essex 6-0 in the final at St Bride's. I think we met Wilson's, then at Camberwell, in the league stage and also met Battersea School of Building, when I played a Wing Gambit against Michael Franklin's Sicilian. The Penrose brothers were then at University College School but I don't think they entered.

The league was flourishing in 1947 so I would expect there to be players around who took part in later years. Possibly it declined in the 1950s when the Sunday Times national competition became popular.

Jonathan Rogers
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Re: Chess in Schools

Post by Jonathan Rogers » Sat Jun 07, 2014 2:42 pm

Leonard Barden wrote: ...when I played a Wing Gambit against Michael Franklin's Sicilian. The Penrose brothers were then at University College School but I don't think they entered.
....
I trust you were cunning enough to allow him to play his 2. Nf3 a6 before unleashing 3 b4!

My main memory of the Times schools competition is matches being decided by dodgy adjudications at the crucial final stages. Of course, all competitions that relied so heavily on adjudications generated contentious match results which were liable to remain contested between the participants for some time afterwards; but it seemed to be a particular feature of this event.

Neill Cooper
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Re: Chess in Schools

Post by Neill Cooper » Sun Jun 08, 2014 9:30 am

There is a very valuable article on school chess history by Brian Denman on the Sussex Junior website: http://www.sussexjuniorchess.org/History/History.htm

Excerpt:
"The earliest known school match in this country was played by correspondence between Brighton College and Shrewsbury School in about 1849. There was in fact little emphasis on junior chess in Victorian England. Inter-school matches were virtually non-existent for most of the time and if you were a promising young player, your best chance of advancement was to join a chess club which had mainly adults in it. In 1906 Henry Butler, who was one of the early pioneers of the Sussex Chess Association, presented a cup for school teams in Sussex, though it is unlikely that there were many entries at that time.

An important breakthrough came in the early 1920s when the Hastings Chess Club began to arrange annual boys’ tournaments. Players came from far and wide to play in these junior events and after about ten years of these competitions they became known as the British Boys Championships.

In 1922 the Wilson Cup was presented to the Sussex Chess Association by an anonymous donor in memory of the chess career of William Wilson, a strong Sussex player. This was to be contested by the older boys in Secondary Schools in Sussex, while the Butler Cup was to be fought out by a younger age group."

Neill Cooper
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Re: Chess in Schools

Post by Neill Cooper » Sun Jun 08, 2014 9:32 am

Leonard Barden wrote:
Neill Cooper wrote:The London Schools' Team Championship was running in the 1920s.
The London Schools League (its official title, not 'team championship') was still running in 1946-47 when Whitgift won it. As I recall, there was a league format with around 6-8 matches before the top four played off in semi-finals and finals. We beat Tiffins, our strongest rivals, 3.5-2.5 in the semi-finals and Coopers from Essex 6-0 in the final at St Bride's. I think we met Wilson's, then at Camberwell, in the league stage and also met Battersea School of Building, when I played a Wing Gambit against Michael Franklin's Sicilian. The Penrose brothers were then at University College School but I don't think they entered.

The league was flourishing in 1947 so I would expect there to be players around who took part in later years. Possibly it declined in the 1950s when the Sunday Times national competition became popular.
I think the London Schools League continued up to the late 1980s. Perhaps some who played in it can confirm it was active in the 1960s, 70s or 80s.

Gordon Cadden
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Re: Chess in Schools

Post by Gordon Cadden » Sun Jun 08, 2014 10:56 am

Richard Clewin Griffiths attended Charterhouse School (City of London), between 1885 and 1890. In his memoirs, he states that his school held an annual chess match against Westminster School.
Another annual fixture would be a match against the old Carthusians, which indicates a tradition of playing chess.