The Eumig Cup

Historical knowledge and information regarding our great game.
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John Upham
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The Eumig Cup

Post by John Upham » Sat Mar 25, 2017 2:34 pm

Ladies and Gentlepersons,

Am attempting to unearth the history of the Eumig Cup.

Any input would be appreciated.

Here is a photograph from the event: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... 297&type=3

Thanks!
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John Upham
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Re: The Eumig Cup

Post by John Upham » Mon Mar 27, 2017 11:26 am

Our man from The Guardian came up trumps (not sure if I should use this word !) with the following :
Leonard Barden wrote:It was indeed a one-off, a team event for maybe U12s (not sure of exact age qualification) where we hoped to include France, the Netherlands and Germany. There had been a similar event in France a year or two before, made famous when the Swedish team against England tried to play copycat chess with boards 2-4 copying 1-3. I don't remember who Eumig were or who found the sponsorship. In the event I think only two of the European teams turned up and England A won easily followed by England B. Of course we had very strong players then. The event led on to a telephone match with the US or New York where Stuart Conquest was our top board while Max Dlugy played board 2 for the US. I think Neil Fox's father provided the venue at his office. It was a lot of organisational effort so there were no later events.
Thanks Leonard !
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John Upham
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Re: The Eumig Cup

Post by John Upham » Mon Mar 27, 2017 11:29 am

Followed by
Leonard Barden wrote:To add, having enlarged the photo. I see from the wallchart that my memory was faulty and that there were several more teams from Europe than I had remembered.

After enlarging the photo:

front row Peter Morrish, Jimmy Hockaday, Darren Lee, Neil Fox, Neil Carr.

Second row James Howell, Stuart Conquest, Teresa Needham. I think the man behind James Howell was the Eumig representative. Probably Neil Fox's father (also organised of the annual Borehamwood congress) behind Stuart. Probably Daphne Lee got the sponsorship since her husband also had a photography shop on Cheapside.
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Colin Patterson
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Re: The Eumig Cup

Post by Colin Patterson » Tue Mar 28, 2017 6:42 pm

Wow, Leonard's memory ... I need one like that.

Colin Patterson
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Re: The Eumig Cup

Post by Colin Patterson » Wed Mar 29, 2017 1:53 am

BCM pages 464 and 501 give quite a few details, including final team totals and individual scores for the England A & B teams. Some other snippets:

Event details - European Children's Cup (sponsored by Eumig) - teams of under-13s - held September 1-3, 1978 at Waltham Forest YMCA. The event (5 round, teams of 4 players) received FIDE auspices and a letter of encouragement from Dr Euwe.

Regarding the photo (supplied by Eumig's PR dept) - the adults are, left to right, P Morrish, D Vaughan, M Price, L Barden.

The follow-up telex match challenge was reportedly issued by cable to the USSR, which appears to contradict Leonard's first post (he said USA). Either they switched the challenge to the USA later, or Leonard was simply recalling that Maxim Dlugy has been a USA player for a very long time, whereas he may still have been a resident of Moscow. Unfortunately Wikipedia and chessgames.com think he moved to the USA in 1977 and 1979 respectively, which, sod's law, prevents me from positively confirming one way or the other.

Interesting fact - Teresa Needham (B team) was the first girl to play in an 'open' England team - great quiz question!

Leonard Barden
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Re: The Eumig Cup

Post by Leonard Barden » Wed Mar 29, 2017 5:15 am

The telephone match England v USA was played in 1978 or 1979, with the American team at the Manhattan CC. Nigel Eddis, originally from England, assistant manager at the Manhattan and also the main photographer for Chess Life magazine, organised it at the US end. The England team played at the London offices of Malcolm Fox, who ran the annual Borehamwood congress, and was the nephew of Maurice Fox, the eight-time Canadian champion who beat Fischer in 1956. Malcolm Fox sponsored the match by providing the telephone time.
The England team was Stuart Conquest, Darren Lee, Neil Fox, and Neil Carr. I think it was double round and England won perhaps 5-3, with Conquest and Carr making plus scores, Fox even,and Lee minus. The top two US boards were John Litvinchuk and Maxim Dlugy.
Quite likely there is a contemporary magazine report of this event.

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