English Chess Forum

Neil Blackburn wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 30, 2019 9:45 am

Indeed Paul, I am but a mere child!! Pity the creaky old body doesn't know that though! Yep, in one of my first events Damljanovich was there - I thought he must be wonderful with a name like that!

Matt Mackenzie wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 30, 2019 2:53 pm

I think you mean a slightly differently spelled player, Damjanovic?

(he was also Croatian, whereas the similarly named but younger man you cite is a Serb)

Heh, what you learn here!

Mato Damjanović (1927-2011)
Branko Damljanović (born 1961)

Can anyone work out which event Neil saw Mato Damjanovic playing in?

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 30, 2019 3:02 pm

Can anyone work out which event Neil saw Mato Damjanovic playing in?

Wasn't he the player in one of Korchnoi's put downs?

Allegedly when Soviet GM Eddie Gufeld got his title, he said to Victor, "Now I am a colleague of yours", to which the reply was "No, you are a colleague of Damjanovic".

He played in tournaments in Birmingham in 1975 and 1977, also Hastings that year.

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 30, 2019 3:02 pm

Can anyone work out which event Neil saw Mato Damjanovic playing in?

Birmingham International 1975 ,1976 or 1977, I presume.

Britbase only has a separate page for the 1976 event. I don't see Neil's name among the participants, so perhaps it was 1975 (1st Matulovic: Damjanoic shared 5th place with Simon Webb) or 1977 (1st Botterill, 2nd= Damjanovic & Rukavina), unless he was there as a spectator in 1976.

I seem to remember the entry form for either the 1975 or 1976 event: the front page announced, in large print, the participation of JOHN NUMM.

Another Hastings moment: I hitchhiked to Hastings in the late 60s and witnessed a postmortem between Gligoric and Portisch, players who I had previously only read about in the pages of the BCM or newspaper columns. Despite being the first GMs I had seen in the flesh they seemed quite pleasant and ordinary.

It would have been Birmingham 1975 or 1976. I won't be in the results - was playing in the u-16's!! As sadly I no longer have my scorebooks from the time, say can't say for sure which it was.

Neil Blackburn wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 30, 2019 5:00 pm

It would have been Birmingham 1975 or 1976. I won't be in the results - was playing in the u-16's!! As sadly I no longer have my scorebooks from the time, say can't say for sure which it was.

The 1976 U16 results (1st RM Webb, 2nd KC Arkell - I wonder what happened to him) are on Britbase - link above. The full results of all sections from 1975 may be in CHESS or BCM - I'll have a look next time I visit the Chess Palace.

Keith was definitely playing, and Nicky, so may be that one. John Cox was also there, I think. I was very much bottom end of the table and rightly so

"I drew with Kevin"

Not the most exciting game - I think I lost to Richard in the Thames Valley League many years later, but my database sadly just says R James and I have played at least 3 different "R James". Nigel Povah played at Guernsey and I first played him in the 1970 Surrey U18 tournament.

"The 1976 U16 results (1st RM Webb, 2nd KC Arkell"

I played both of them at the recent Bristol Blitz...

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 30, 2019 9:57 pm

"I drew with Kevin"

Not the most exciting game - I think I lost to Richard in the Thames Valley League many years later, but my database sadly just says R James and I have played at least 3 different "R James".

Yes, in 1988. I, on the other hand, have only played one K Thurlow, though I have also played another R James.

Richard James wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 30, 2019 5:07 pm

Neil Blackburn wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 30, 2019 5:00 pm

It would have been Birmingham 1975 or 1976. I won't be in the results - was playing in the u-16's!! As sadly I no longer have my scorebooks from the time, say can't say for sure which it was.

The 1976 U16 results (1st RM Webb, 2nd KC Arkell - I wonder what happened to him) are on Britbase - link above. The full results of all sections from 1975 may be in CHESS or BCM - I'll have a look next time I visit the Chess Palace.

Ok. Can save you looking mate! I am getting younger every day - the event was Birmingham 1977
Managed to work it out!! If you do find my results I will be fascinated to see how bad I was

O.K. First part of the story - the boring bit - Now posted on chess.com https://www.chess.com/blog/simaginfan/t ... r-part-one material basically for the record.
The more interesting stuff to follow when i can get it done. HUGE thanks to everyone!

Thank you for this Neil - but you have misidentified Barker's school. He attended - as did Alexander and Miles - King Edwards School, Birmingham - not Five Ways, which is an entirely separate school in the King Edwards' foundation. https://kes.org.uk/

Thanks mate!! Will amend at once. Carelessness on my part.

Great stuff - good to see a couple of names of people I've played!

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 10, 2019 9:44 am

Great stuff - good to see a couple of names of people I've played!

Thanks mate! Appreciated. Amazed at the number of names that I recognized one I started going through the reports given that I didn't start playing until 1975ish. Especially Theo Grove was a big surprise.