Best Game by an English Player (the vote)

[John Townsend]

On the subject of P. Wenman (mentioned above), Edward Winter has produced a feature article, The Chess Writer P. Wenman:

https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/wenman.html

[Geoff Chandler]

The Standard, June 28th 1907, p.10:

Percy Wenman, aged sixteen, well-dressed, was charged at Bow-street, on remand, with stealing two books, value £1 1s., from a bookseller’s shop in New Oxford-street.
At the previous hearing it was stated that he had devoted a great deal of attention to chess, and had hopes of becoming the chess champion of the world.
Detective Henry now stated that the accused was discharged from a situation in the City for inability, but his employers gave him a very good character [sic]. He then took a room at New Cross at 2s. 6d. a week, furnished it with a table and a chair, and had since been earning money by solving chess problems by correspondence.
Wenman explained that he was hard pressed for money, and very much worried when he took the books.
The court missionary said he knew a gentleman who would give the accused employment, and the magistrate remanded him on his own recognisances for six months.

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/kibitzi ... 0&reply=16

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Thanks, Geoff! Lovely bit of history. Any chance that we know what Percy Wenman got up to during the First World War, when he would have been in his twenties? I see the Scottish chess and club championships appear to have continued to around 1916. I wonder if he was employed in a protected profession, or saw service at some point?

(The period 1916 to 1920 when little seems to be known about his activities perfectly cover the period when conscription was in force in the UK.)

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Chris,

No idea what he was up in WWI as I was more interested in the books he nicked. Were they chess problem books which makes the tale about him altering chess problems even more funnier. He plagiarised chess problems from chess books he had stolen is a sentence just itching to be typed. It lifts him up a few levels to almost Jack the Ripper status.

That famous picture where Edward Winter has of the 1920 British Championship ( see the link above) it was taken near where I live. Here it is without the players. The bust is Archibald Campbell Tait (21 December 1811 – 3 December 1882)



Of course I just had to have my picture taken there.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Thanks, Geoff! Lovely bit of history. Any chance that we know what Percy Wenman got up to during the First World War, when he would have been in his twenties? I see the Scottish chess and club championships appear to have continued to around 1916. I wonder if he was employed in a protected profession, or saw service at some point?

(The period 1916 to 1920 when little seems to be known about his activities perfectly cover the period when conscription was in force in the UK.)

There is a medal card available for Percy Wenman on the National Archives site:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov. ... r/D5824631

The only other Percy Wenman born between 1870 and 1905 that I could find was one who emmigrated to Australia around 1912, so I think (without a great deal of confidence!) that the medal card is for the chess writer.

[Geoff Chandler]

That is an interesting find Jon. He may have served and had a bad experience which resulted in him chancing his arm in problem diddling and hawking other chess books as his only a source of income. I have a couple of his books and have solved a few of 'his' problems.

He tied for first in the 1915 Scottish Championship but lost the play-off and in 1920 he won the title after a play-off. (so maybe WWI did not affect him at all) chessgames have him as Francis Percival Wenman so the army or navy would have him as that.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

If he did not serve (the Percy Wenman Jon found seems unlikely, IMO) then there should be records of why he was exempt from conscription. I am familiar with the Military Service Tribunals for England and Wales, but less sure what applied in Scotland.

[John Townsend]

Geoff Chandler wrote:

"He tied for first in the 1915 Scottish Championship but lost the play-off ..."

As a matter of interest, what is the source for that, please? (P.W. Sergeant describes a three-way tie at Easter 1912 in Edinburgh, when Wenman lost in the play-off (A Century of British Chess, page 257). It wouldn't be the first time if Sergeant had got the year wrong. Or did Wenman tie twice?).

[John Townsend]

Chess Scotland answers my question:

https://www.chessscotland.com/documents ... 2champ.htm
https://www.chessscotland.com/documents ... 5champ.htm

There was a three-way tie in both 1912 and 1915.

[Paul Ashton]

Back to the thread....no 10 Zukertort - Blackburne and no 67 Beliavasky-Nunn are favourites. Looking forward to playing through the ones I don't know.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Though of course Zukertort probably should not count as an English player if we are being honest.....

[IM Jack Rudd]

Though of course Zukertort probably should not count as an English player if we are being honest.....

Although Blackburne definitely does, so it's a game played by an English player either way.

[Matt Mackenzie]

I think the general idea is that the English player doesn't lose, though?

[Neil_Hickman]

I think the general idea is that the English player doesn't lose, though?

Not necessarily.
I included Lasker-Napier, which the Brit (by birth, even though he later became an American citizen) lost; and Kazimdzhanov-Adams, in which Mickey Adams didn't become World Champion.
Apropos Zukertort, he became a naturalised British citizen in 1878 at a time when there was an awful lot of "British=English" about (I've seen references to what is now Porthmadog as "Portmadoc, England") but indeed he wasn't technically English. But there's something to be said for the view that part of what made Zukertort-Blackburne such a magnificent game was the strength of Blackburne's play, forcing Zukertort to find some extraordinary moves in order to win.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Question for Neil (Hickman): Are there any particularly memorable (but maybe not as well known) games that you came close to including that you had to omit to keep the list manageable?

You said here that you made good some of the omission in articles in CHESS. Can you (or someone else) give references to those CHESS articles? Thank you.