English Chess Forum

Yes, on the matter of schools chess, I suspect that the establishment of chess as an organised activity at grammar schools goes back much earlier than we tend to think. I looked into chess at own old school (High Wycombe Royal Grammar School) and discovered there was a chess club there as early as 1...

The collection of Steve Berry's games on BritBase is now up to 393 following the addition of 38 more games supplied by Roger de Coverly. Many thanks, Roger.

My apologies for not being able to attend Steve's funeral as I shall be in Gibraltar.

... and now we're up to 355 games, with Brian Valentine sending me ten more games from the 2017 and 2018 Beacon Senior tournaments. Many thanks, Brian.

Make that 345 games... Roger de Coverly was typically quick out of the blocks and emailed me three more of his games against Steve Berry, which I have duly added. Thanks, Roger. Any more for any more?

I have now collected together 342 games played by Steve Berry and posted them at BritBase... http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/berrysh-viewer.html I am grateful to Mark Page and Kevin Thurlow for sending some games for the collection. If other forum members have any more games played by Steve that...

Thanks for letting us know. I've found three game scores for him but this is the only win (I think we should adhere to a chess version of the normal principle which I can render as 'de mortuis nihil nisi victoriae')... [Event "County Match"] [Site "?"] [Date "1951.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Swinner...

Like Mark, I was a club colleague of Steve at Mitcham Chess Club back in the 1980s and 1990s, and I have little to add to his moving tribute beyond saying how much I too liked Steve. Obituarists will want to know that Steve came originally from Dewsbury in Yorkshire and his date of birth, gleaned fr...

I've included this game in the Ian Wells collection at BritBase... http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/wells_ian-viewer.html ... many thanks to John Pitcher for this contribution. Also, I must once again acknowledge the splendid initial work by Sean Parker in sourcing some games from Ian Wells's own...

I mean, super GMs have blundered worse than that on occasion...... Indeed a couple of days ago Michael Adams made a similar error playing f6 and allowing ...Nc3+ https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/45015651_10156351434049681_2840761214332567552_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&_nc_ht=scontent-lht6-1.xx&...

I probably shouldn't admit this but, despite currently sitting in a room in which a vast number of the best chess players in the world are currently in action, on my computer I'm following progress at Guernsey as Jean-Pierre Le Roux attempts to beat Nigel Povah in order to share first place with Tig...

... 6 Qh5+ was in fact already known to be very bad. The same error of 5...Qh4+ in the (real) Vienna featured in Andrew Hon v Paul van der Sterren, Lloyds Bank 1993, when one of our 190-odd players scored an easy win against someone who had recently qualified for the Candidates (!). This is a cue f...

The Harlem Masters starts today and is obviously overshadowed (like all other events this week) by the Isle of Man event . In Guernsey we are endeavouring to ensure that that is not the case. Good luck with that, David. If you can organise a speed boat to get me from the Isle of Man to Guernsey in ...

A Spanish correspondent, Enrique Carcellach, wrote (of the Uruguayan team at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games): "I have been watching football for 20 years and have never seen any team play with the mastery of this Uruguay team. I did not suspect football could be brought to this degree of virtuosity, t...

I can't understand why nobody is talking about RdC v Sugden with the two ancient Cambridge graduates trying to knock lumps off each other. At the moment it looks like a case of "he who queens last, queens best" as the computer favours the Sage of Bourne End.

Already done it on FB, Chris. "Mike Basman opens with 1.a3 so Richard Bates calls over the arbiter to see if he can claim under article 11.1 of the FIDE laws of chess that states: 'The players shall take no action that will bring the game of chess into disrepute.'"