English Chess Forum

Perhaps I could ask John about the Rhodes v Cross game played at Worcester. The main score is from the Glasgow Herald from which it is clear that White had a lost position on move 30. As regards the BCM of 1931, does it just gives moves 27-30 and then state that White won? I was wondering if the BCM...

I enclose a couple of games from the BCF Congress at Worcester. [Event "BCF Congress at Worcester Major Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "1931.08.17"] [Round "7"] [White "Reeve, HT."] [Black "Jackson, EM."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E12"] [PlyCount "66"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. c4 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. Bg5 Be7 6. Qc2 c...

Brilliant discoveries, David and Roger! Agnes Stevenson took part in both the 1930 and 1931 tournaments. The Big Database 2013 includes six Vera Menchik games against the other three contestants in the 1931 event, which makes it extremely likely that the remaining two games in the double round event...

The enclosed three games between Vera Menchik and Sonja Graf were published in the Mega Database for 2013. I have to admit, however, that I have doubts about their authenticity. Sonja Graf did not take part in the 1930 and 1931 World Women's Championship and Vera Menchik nearly always played the Fre...

Thanks, John, for re-publishing the interesting collection of university chess annuals from the early 1950s. Some of the games are linked with other BritBase publications. For example you previously created a BritBase file for the 1952 BCF Congress at Chester, though the Oakley v Rhodes game does no...

Thanks for this, John and Roger. Sorry for the query - I think now that PHV is correct. In 1974 I played P M Collins of Berkshire in a county match and in recent years he has taken part in British Seniors events. I have a record of a D H Collins playing for Southampton Stoics against Hastings in a N...

One small point. I have seen this bulletin before and, if I remember rightly, the only initial given for the Southampton University player, Collins, was 'P'. I notice for the Thornton v Collins game, the Black player is listed as P H V Collins. I no longer have the bulletin to hand, but in the past ...

I met G H Diggle about twenty five years ago. He lived in Hove and let me look at his chess library. I was particularly interested in Chess Player's Chronicles of the 1840s, which at that time had not been reprinted and were rare books. We had a discussion about the first Brighton Chess Club. He was...

One minor point regarding the games for the 1973 Ilford Open. There is a typing mistake for the Szaszvari v Bulford game. The first round encounter must have been played on 25th May 1973 rather than 25th January of that year.

Thanks for the information, John. I was clearly wrong in assuming that there was a notable difference in standard between Kuiken and Stebbings. Earlier this season Anthony was graded 219, but he was quite a bit lower than that in 1973.

Thanks for this, Roger. Perhaps the Kuikens were related. L C Kuiken was listed as coming from Lensbury, Middlesex, in the 1973 grading list, but I am going to assume that J C Kuiken is correct.

Thanks for putting more 1970s games on to BritBase, John. Would you happen to know if the J C Kuiken, who played in the Ilford Open of 1973 was the Leo C Kuiken, who later became an Eastbourne and Hastings player? One or two of his games are given in the collection of Bernard Cafferty's games. If he...

Thanks for this auction listing, Richard, which provides proof that he was born in 1896. I had some difficulty finding out when he died as there seemed to be no local knowledge of his passing. I recently wrote about how Arthur Hall seemed to have been largely forgotten about by the chess community a...

Thanks for this, John. Anyone who is particularly interested in king pawn endings might like to look at the Rhodes v Drewitt game from Southport. It is uncertain that White can win the ending and in any case it is doubtful that Black should have resigned.

I do not know if anyone has carried out any research into the difficult biographical information regarding Herbert Gibson Rhodes. I note that three family trees on the Ancestry website state that he died in 1982, but a few years ago I obtained a death certificate for him, which gave his date of deat...