Dragon
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Dragon
Clearing up some old stuff from my parents I found several copies of Dragon (Cambridge University chess magazine) from around 2000, arguably unrivalled as a scurrilous and libellous gossip-rag of British chess.
I'm not at the stage of wishing to lose them to a more official custodian, but it did me wonder whether Dragon has been formally archived and whether there is anywhere a complete 'run' of it. (I suppose the Cambridge University Library might be the most likely place)
I'm not at the stage of wishing to lose them to a more official custodian, but it did me wonder whether Dragon has been formally archived and whether there is anywhere a complete 'run' of it. (I suppose the Cambridge University Library might be the most likely place)
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Re: Dragon
Were you a Dragon editor at any stage, Joseph? I was the editor for a few years in the 1990s, and I did make sure the University Library had a copy of the issues I edited, but it is entirely possible some issues have not been deposited there. I think James Vigus was editor for a time as well. I first encountered John Saunders through Dragon, and there may be more memories surfacing where those came from...
The catalogue should tell you if your issues are in the University Library, but my recent experience of requesting old items from libraries is that sometimes they are not actually there, so someone might one day want to check what the holdings are. What are the issue numbers you have? I may still have some of those issues as well.
The catalogue should tell you if your issues are in the University Library, but my recent experience of requesting old items from libraries is that sometimes they are not actually there, so someone might one day want to check what the holdings are. What are the issue numbers you have? I may still have some of those issues as well.
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Re: Dragon
"I found several copies of Dragon (Cambridge University chess magazine) from around 2000, arguably unrivalled as a scurrilous and libellous gossip-rag of British chess."
"I first encountered John Saunders through Dragon, and there may be more memories surfacing where those came from... "
Those of us who encountered "Dinosaur" (Mitcham CC's magazine, edited by John...) would suggest it rivalled "Dragon". Admittedly, I doubt it was libellous as the insulting bits were probably true.
"I first encountered John Saunders through Dragon, and there may be more memories surfacing where those came from... "
Those of us who encountered "Dinosaur" (Mitcham CC's magazine, edited by John...) would suggest it rivalled "Dragon". Admittedly, I doubt it was libellous as the insulting bits were probably true.
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Re: Dragon
These all date from James Vigus’s editorial period ( he being a rare bird in doing an English degree rather than the more common science choices of chess players)Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑Wed Aug 17, 2022 4:02 pmWere you a Dragon editor at any stage, Joseph? I was the editor for a few years in the 1990s, and I did make sure the University Library had a copy of the issues I edited, but it is entirely possible some issues have not been deposited there. I think James Vigus was editor for a time as well. I first encountered John Saunders through Dragon, and there may be more memories surfacing where those came from...
The catalogue should tell you if your issues are in the University Library, but my recent experience of requesting old items from libraries is that sometimes they are not actually there, so someone might one day want to check what the holdings are. What are the issue numbers you have? I may still have some of those issues as well.
I think they are issues 93/94/95
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Re: Dragon
Scurrilous, irreverent, smutty, juvenile, sometimes cruel or snobbish, but probably not libellous, would be my verdict on Dragon. I once overheard two of those adjectives used by someone I shall refer to as 'Disgusted of Guildford' to describe my own oeuvre, Dinosaur, which he happened to pick up and browse. It was a conscious hommage to Dragon, of course, which I enjoyed reading as an undergrad and to which I later contributed in the late 1990s. Both publications concentrated more on taking the mickey out of those inside their respective clubs. I have featured one 1971 issue of Dragon at BritBase, should anyone wish to sample the house style.
Here's something from the 1974 Lent Term issue of Dragon, in which Bill Hartston provided a succinct summary of the game Rellstab-Miles, Hastings 1973/74, in verse and drawing. It exemplifies some of those adjectives with which I began this post.
For reference, here are the moves from the game.
Here's a Hartston limerick from a much later edition of Dragon which amused me, though nothing to do with chess:
My mental skills are due to one man,
And the memory courses he ran.
His name was... not Ron...
No... sorry... it's gone,
I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
Here's something from the 1974 Lent Term issue of Dragon, in which Bill Hartston provided a succinct summary of the game Rellstab-Miles, Hastings 1973/74, in verse and drawing. It exemplifies some of those adjectives with which I began this post.
For reference, here are the moves from the game.
Here's a Hartston limerick from a much later edition of Dragon which amused me, though nothing to do with chess:
My mental skills are due to one man,
And the memory courses he ran.
His name was... not Ron...
No... sorry... it's gone,
I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
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Re: Dragon
At least some of Hartston's material in "How to Cheat at Chess" and "Soft Pawn" could be credited as "first published in Dragon". For that matter so could some of Raymond Keene's annotated games. Talking of whom, a Dragon match report apparantly once excused his absence on the grounds that he was writing a book that afternoon.John Saunders wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 12:31 pm
Here's something from the 1974 Lent Term issue of Dragon, in which Bill Hartston
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Re: Dragon
There is a chess connection to it.John Saunders wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 12:31 pm
Here's a Hartston limerick from a much later edition of Dragon which amused me, though nothing to do with chess:
My mental skills are due to one man,
And the memory courses he ran.
His name was... not Ron...
No... sorry... it's gone,
I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
In the late 1990s, as I am sure you will remember, there was a limerick composing competition at the Varsity Match dinner on the evening following the match.
This limerick was the winner of the inaugural competition. It is a gentle dig at the late Tony Buzan.
I had no idea that it had subsequently been published in Dragon.
I remember only one of the later winners. It was composed by Joseph Conlon, later to become renowned a a professor, as a chess parent, and as the starter of this thread.
Well done to our woman and men.
For Cambridge have won yet again.
But you may surmise.
It's no great surprise.
For we're just superior to them.
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Re: Dragon
Yes, I rather thought that was the case. (I didn't attend the match until the 2000s.) Indeed, when I read the limerick aloud to her, my wife immediately twigged the Buzan connection.David Sedgwick wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 10:19 pm
There is a chess connection to it.
In the late 1990s, as I am sure you will remember, there was a limerick composing competition at the Varsity Match dinner on the evening following the match.
This limerick was the winner of the inaugural competition. It is a gentle dig at the late Tony Buzan.
There were a number of other limericks published in the Lent 1999 Dragon but some of them, like Conan Doyle's Giant Rat of Sumatra, are tales for which the world (or at least the delicate sensibility of the forum) is not yet prepared.
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Re: Dragon
I half-remember a couple of others, which I think your memory has done the decent thing to and obliterated.David Sedgwick wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 10:19 pmI had no idea that it had subsequently been published in Dragon.
I remember only one of the later winners. It was composed by Joseph Conlon, later to become renowned a a professor, as a chess parent, and as the starter of this thread.
Well done to our woman and men.
For Cambridge have won yet again.
But you may surmise.
It's no great surprise.
For we're just superior to them.
One started off, with characteristic undergraduate grace and subtlety,
"There once was a man named Buzan
Who was his own number one fan...."
The other, by the true author of the Dragon agony uncle column, does not deserve repetition (and I think contributed to either the end, or at least a substantial hiatus, in the limerick competition in subsequent years).
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Re: Dragon
Now you remind me, I think that it was the one that you mention above which caused the demise of the limerick competition.Joseph Conlon wrote: ↑Fri Aug 19, 2022 7:39 pmI half-remember a couple of others, which I think your memory has done the decent thing to and obliterated.
One started off, with characteristic undergraduate grace and subtlety,
"There once was a man named Buzan
Who was his own number one fan...."
The other, by the true author of the Dragon agony uncle column, does not deserve repetition (and I think contributed to either the end, or at least a substantial hiatus, in the limerick competition in subsequent years).
The next line was:
"2000's the Year of the Brain."
That fits with John Saunders's statement that he didn't arrive until the competition was no more.
Even now I had better not quote the last two lines.
The demise seems to be permanent.
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Re: Dragon
Getting back to current news, there has been a lot of chess success for players from St Catherine's College (Catz) at the University of Cambridge, see the college news report here (FMs Harry Grieve and Koby Kalavannan are mentioned):
https://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/chess
In another thread, Harry Grieve's exploits at the British are receiving attention. I wonder when was the last time that a university undergraduate was contending for the national title? Well, I say undergraduate, but depending what course Harry Grieve is studying, he may have graduated already (the report above says he is a third-year mathematics student; some Cambridge mathematics students do a fourth year for Part III of the Tripos).
I am also trying to find out if Dragon is still being published or not. It doesn't seem to have a current web presence, but maybe (for the scurrilous content reasons above) it is only visible to members of the club?
(EDIT: I should not have omitted Matthew Wadworth's exploits at the British either, as he is a recent Cambridge student {I presume he is not a current student any more} - I had temporarily forgotten this, the COVID effect has thrown my recollections of who is studying where a bit out of whack).
https://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/chess
In another thread, Harry Grieve's exploits at the British are receiving attention. I wonder when was the last time that a university undergraduate was contending for the national title? Well, I say undergraduate, but depending what course Harry Grieve is studying, he may have graduated already (the report above says he is a third-year mathematics student; some Cambridge mathematics students do a fourth year for Part III of the Tripos).
I am also trying to find out if Dragon is still being published or not. It doesn't seem to have a current web presence, but maybe (for the scurrilous content reasons above) it is only visible to members of the club?
(EDIT: I should not have omitted Matthew Wadworth's exploits at the British either, as he is a recent Cambridge student {I presume he is not a current student any more} - I had temporarily forgotten this, the COVID effect has thrown my recollections of who is studying where a bit out of whack).
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Re: Dragon
If we are referencing recent Cambridge graduates then obviously Peter Finn should be included. He did play in the Varsity match.Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑Sat Aug 20, 2022 7:39 pmGetting back to current news, there has been a lot of chess success for players from St Catherine's College (Catz) at the University of Cambridge, see the college news report here (FMs Harry Grieve and Koby Kalavannan are mentioned):
https://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/chess
In another thread, Harry Grieve's exploits at the British are receiving attention. I wonder when was the last time that a university undergraduate was contending for the national title? Well, I say undergraduate, but depending what course Harry Grieve is studying, he may have graduated already (the report above says he is a third-year mathematics student; some Cambridge mathematics students do a fourth year for Part III of the Tripos).
I am also trying to find out if Dragon is still being published or not. It doesn't seem to have a current web presence, but maybe (for the scurrilous content reasons above) it is only visible to members of the club?
(EDIT: I should not have omitted Matthew Wadworth's exploits at the British either, as he is a recent Cambridge student {I presume he is not a current student any more} - I had temporarily forgotten this, the COVID effect has thrown my recollections of who is studying where a bit out of whack).
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Re: Dragon
Indeed, thank you for pointing that out. And I noticed Gwilym Price as well (brilliancy prize in 2019 Varsity match). There may well be others.J T Melsom wrote: ↑Sat Aug 20, 2022 9:39 pmIf we are referencing recent Cambridge graduates then obviously Peter Finn should be included. He did play in the Varsity match.Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑Sat Aug 20, 2022 7:39 pmGetting back to current news, there has been a lot of chess success for players from St Catherine's College (Catz) at the University of Cambridge, see the college news report here (FMs Harry Grieve and Koby Kalavannan are mentioned):
https://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/chess
In another thread, Harry Grieve's exploits at the British are receiving attention. I wonder when was the last time that a university undergraduate was contending for the national title? Well, I say undergraduate, but depending what course Harry Grieve is studying, he may have graduated already (the report above says he is a third-year mathematics student; some Cambridge mathematics students do a fourth year for Part III of the Tripos).
I am also trying to find out if Dragon is still being published or not. It doesn't seem to have a current web presence, but maybe (for the scurrilous content reasons above) it is only visible to members of the club?
(EDIT: I should not have omitted Matthew Wadworth's exploits at the British either, as he is a recent Cambridge student {I presume he is not a current student any more} - I had temporarily forgotten this, the COVID effect has thrown my recollections of who is studying where a bit out of whack).