English Chess Forum

There was both a J B Hawson and a J B Howson.

Ben Graff, I would have thought that your book was valuable as I have never heard of it and it is about 150 years old. There is a book on the history of chess in Bristol by Burt and the local chess club at one time published it on their website. The club could probably tell you how to access it. Sel...

If anyone is interested in games played by Julius Du Mont, I have 47 of them, plus one consultation game.

There is a small book on the history of chess in Bedfordshire and I believe chess columns in the Luton News and Beds and Herts Pictorial. There is material here for anyone, who wants to write a local history.

Fischer did not beat any Russians at Santa Monica in 1966, so I have no idea who this alleged Russian called Ivanovic was. I believe also that false information was given about Paul Morphy, though it all happened so quickly that I am not sure about the words. Was it said that Morphy came to fame in ...

There was a chess column for Essex in the Borough of East Ham, West Ham and Stratford Express for 1939. Unfortunately it is not in the British Newspaper Library and research at the British Library is probably impossible at this time. Otherwise the British Chess Magazine for 1939 might contain the ma...

Thanks for this, Tim. I am still going strong! I have enjoyed two of your books, but I had not read that one. It seems that we have not identified who Captain King was. He seems to have had a number of contacts in the chess world, but I do not gain the impression that he was a top player. Unfortunat...

I was wondering if anyone has any information about Captain King. In the period from about 1901 to 1914 he seems to have edited more chess columns in this country than anyone else. He seems to have generally used the same material for the different columns. An address for him in 1904 was Whitefriars...

Brighton Chess Club had an annual match against Battersea in the 1960s. I know that Alan played either board 1 or 2 in the 1963-65 matches. He was a strong player and in the 1963 match I was outplayed by him for virtually the whole game, though it ended in a draw. In the 1964 and 1965 matches he dre...

Talented Brighton and Sussex player, John Henshaw, died suddenly on 17th June 2019 in Hove at the age of 74. Born in Halifax, Yorkshire, his family moved to Richmond, Surrey, where he became the top board in the Tiffin Boys’ Grammar School team at Kingston. His chess career began to really flourish ...

Thanks for this. I took the information from Reg Cload's book 'Battles of Hastings' written with Ray Keene (1991). In it he states (page 31): "Beginning in 1934, the Congress was recognised as a national event, re-named the 'British Boys Championship.'" However, this is clearly wrong as other inform...

This game, which was played on 11th April 1923, was a play-off to decide which player advanced from the preliminary section to the finals. William Ernest Francis Court (1906-1964) was a Hastings Grammar School pupil at the time of the Congress. This was the first time that the Hastings Boys' Congres...

In the game in which Messina were White, Gerard Killoran quotes the game as lasting 45 moves adopting as his source the Belfast News-Letter of 25.2.1909. However, 'The Chess Amateur' of February 1909 has a longer version of the game, stating that it took this from an article in The Field. The extra ...

Brian Henry Hare died on 27th January 2018 at Brighton. He was born on 3rd June 1940 at Stroud and was therefore 77 years of age. From an early age he demonstrated good skills at chess and in 1957 he won the West of England Junior Championship. This was followed by his selection for the England unde...

David George Springgay died on 12th February at the age of 80. Born in Brighton in 1937, he was a strong player as a junior and was only 16 when he won his first Brighton CC Championship and aged 21 when he first became Sussex champion. He went on to win the club championship four times and the coun...