Chess history trivia

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Some familiar names from the 20 June 1992 final (Birmingham) of the Minor Counties Championships.

All three Ledger brothers. Simon Ansell for Oxfordshire. Were the Hares related?

Is the Oxfordshire board 1 US FM David Glueck?

https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2001110

While looking for Glueck in the Varsity match listings (not there, presumably in the country 'just' for work or other reasons? No idea if he was a student at Oxford) I did also spot that the board 5 was presumably Gregory D'Elia (also from the USA), who played for Oxford in the 1992 Varsity Match. Heidi Heron (board 8 Varsity Match) is on board 16 in the County Final match. Probably other students in that line-up as well.

[MJMcCready]

Some familiar names from the 20 June 1992 final (Birmingham) of the Minor Counties Championships.

All three Ledger brothers. Simon Ansell for Oxfordshire. Were the Hares related?

Is the Oxfordshire board 1 US FM David Glueck?

https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2001110

While looking for Glueck in the Varsity match listings (not there, presumably in the country 'just' for work or other reasons? No idea if he was a student at Oxford) I did also spot that the board 5 was presumably Gregory D'Elia (also from the USA), who played for Oxford in the 1992 Varsity Match. Heidi Heron (board 8 Varsity Match) is on board 16 in the County Final match. Probably other students in that line-up as well.

Yes the Hare's are/were brothers. They used to play for Milton Keynes, not sure where they are now though.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Does anyone know if this David Glueck is the chess player?

https://glueck.host.dartmouth.edu/Bio.html

David Glueck grew up in Cincinnati, and received his A.B. and A.M. degrees in chemistry in 1986 from Harvard University, where he did research with John Cooper. He moved to the University of California, Berkeley for his Ph.D. (1990), working with Bob Bergman. After working on crown ethers, intercalation, and buckyballs as an NSF-NATO postdoctoral fellow with Malcolm Green at the Inorganic Chemistry Lab, University of Oxford, he joined the Dartmouth faculty in 1992, and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 1998, then to professor in 2004. He served as department chair from 2007-2010.

Seems likely, as the dates fit when he was in Oxford, qualifying him for the above-mentioned Minor Counties Final. Was he not strong enough or not eligible in some way for the Varsity Matches of that time? Possibly too busy with his chemistry!

Hang on, I am being silly. As a postdoc, he is not a student, hence not eligible. Mystery 'solved'!

[MJMcCready]

I think the chances are quite high but I don't know enough, sorry. Perhaps ask one of his opponents or team mates from way back then if you know any?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I think some of the likely people to know the answer follow this forum but may not be reading this thread. I may have to post separately under a new heading.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Were the Hares related?

Yes the Hare's are/were brothers. They used to play for Milton Keynes, not sure where they are now though.

From the ECF rating list they are inactive and appear to be Paul D. Hare and Tim G. Hare.

[MJMcCready]

Yes that's right, there was little difference in their rating, and from what I remember they looked quite similar too.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Noting here that elsewhere it has been said the Hares are not related?

[AI Armstrong]

It was 22 June 1991 at Aston University, according to the SCUU Bulletin (July 1991, issue 200), page 5).

SCUUBulletin_July1991_200_p5.jpg

Looking it up is cheating, right? I'll post anyway, as it is really amazing to see Danny King on board 1 and P.S. Milner-Barry on bottom board.

!Wow, this takes me back! I don't remember it being so close but hey, we won.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Any memories of Milner-Barry to share? What was he like as a team-mate? (He was 84 at the time, not sure when he stopped playing chess or if he continued up to 1995, when he died?)

[AI Armstrong]

I'm afraid not. I know I was 23 at the time but 33 years ago seems very long ago now.

[Andrew Smith]

I knew Tim Hare who played for Lewisham in the 1980's. I mention him on page 141 of my book when talking about the Kent County Cup Final in 1987 when Lewisham played Charlton. I give the team result sheet where Tim lost on bottom board to John Wager. I also mention that Tim subsequently emigrated to Australia ( I don't recall where I got that information.

[Andrew Smith]

I also knew Sir Stuart Milner-Barry who eliminated me from the qualification group for the British Championship either in 1980 or the late 1970's. I was very close to winning the group and qualifying but I lost to Sir Stuart when I visited his house in Blackheath Village. On page 45 of my book, I mention being in awe of his reputation and surroundings, so I played very poorly in that game. He won the group, but unfortunately, was unable to take up his place in the Championship because of illness.
I subsequently played many times with Sir Stuart in the Kent County team. He established a tradition of hosting a celebration in his house every time Kent were victorious in winning the National Final during the era of Joyce Macdonald- Ross being captain and subsequently Bob Lee- Penticost. They were lovely evenings made even more special because of the generous spirit of Sir Stuart's wife Thelma, and his daughter who gave me and Bob Penticost a lift home afterwards.

[Andrew Smith]

Someone asked for anecdotes about Sir Stuart Milner Barry and why he was so low invthe kent board order. He had slowed up in his play, and sometimes went wrong in time pressure, so the lower board became appropiate.
On another subject, I remember asking Sir Stuart about his Knighthood/CBE (which I think is higher than OBE) and saying that i assumed it was because of his work during the war at Bletchley code breaking, and what was that like. He humbly and courteously dismissed my assumption by saying that he only got his award because he was the civil servant in charge of giving them out ! I didn't believe him, but before I could object, he calmly switched the direction of the conversation.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"He humbly and courteously dismissed my assumption by saying that he only got his award because he was the civil servant in charge of giving them out!"

That was probably true - but I must add that the decision would not have been his, someone even higher in the CS would decide that. In those days, a head of department would usually get a CB or knighthood on retirement, and someone would decide if Sir Stuart is giving the awards, he should be at least as well-rewarded as the other recipients.