English Chess Forum

Sad to say, in the first round of the World Cheese Championship, Miss Reid (Leicester) fell victim to a sacrificial attack by MN Tal.

And in 1936 Elsie M Reid married Alfred Lenton, who shared first place in the 1934 Major Open Reserves before going on to bigger and better things later in the decade. More useful info. Thanks, Richard. As it happens I've done quite a lot of research into the Lenton family. I met Alfred a couple of...

Mick has divined right. Gerard's intention was twofold: to inform me (so that I would add the fragment to the 1934 British Championship page on BritBase - which I have done) and to provide a snippet of historical interest for the rest of the forum. Or even threefold: I'm not sure I had a forename f...

I knew Frank Winter very well, as I'm sure several other forum members did. I'll see what I can find out.

[Event "RTCC arena 26-08-20 Arena"] [Site "https://lichess.org/tzvreZQl"] [Date "2020.08.26"] [Round "?"] [White "Opponent"] [Black "Richard James"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B00"] [WhiteElo "1894"] [BlackElo "1948"] [Annotator "lichess.org"] [PlyCount "99"] [EventDate "2020.??.??"] [TimeControl "300+10...

I've managed to find out a bit more about Abe's family, although, rather surprisingly, as he both came from and had a large family, I haven't been able to locate any helpful online trees. His father was a bricklayer from Camberwell, South London, which makes his background very unusual for both a fu...

I was interested in the name of Board 2, A W Mongredien. Is he related to Augustus Mongredien, a friend and opponent of Paul Morphy some 90 years earlier? He was Alfred Wornum Mongredien (1877-1954), the son of Augustus Mongredien junior and the grandson of Morphy's friend, better known as a proble...

Although the sad death of Mr. Cockman is recorded elsewhere in this issue of the Journal, we feel that we cannot allow an event which has caused unfeigned and unbounded sorrow to every member of the Grantham Chess Club to pass without some few words in reference to the deceased gentleman, as a ches...

I'm pretty sure the widespread industrial action by teachers in the mid-80s - which meant stopping most "extra-curricular" activity - was a significant factor in getting the decline in schools chess really going. This is always mentioned whenever this subject is discussed but it shouldn't be overst...

But if accepting that such an article could not credibly be written in 2020, how, why and when did it go wrong? I could tell you (and am planning a series of articles on this topic) but my answers would be unpopular with those currently involved in junior chess. It's complex and also involves what'...

John Saunders wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 18, 2020 2:23 pm

Stray thought... he was a Diamond, with a broken heart (cf. his comment about hospital), and a member of two clubs (West London and Lud-Eagle). Can anyone trump that with an apposite spade reference?

Not yet, but I'll keep digging.

Some games from the West London Chess Club Gazette: [Event "West London Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "1944.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Green, Arnold Yorwarth"] [Black "Diamond, Shamaria"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A09"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "1944.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2020.10.20"] {[%evp 0...

I wrote an article about John a few months ago.

I hadn't posted on here at the time as I was told someone else was going to post first, but they never did. I'm grateful to Martin for starting this thread.

This was very sad news: I'd known John for many years. It's players like him who make the chess world what it is. It will be poorer for his passing.

There's a fine tribute on the Hammersmith website here.

Paul Habershon wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 07, 2020 10:06 pm

As it's all anagrams at the moment, my favourite, probably familiar to you:
SCHOOLMASTER
THE CLASSROOM

ASTRONOMER
MOONSTARER