Who are these English players?

Historical knowledge and information regarding our great game.
User avatar
John Upham
Posts: 7162
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:29 am
Location: Cove, Hampshire, England.
Contact:

Who are these English players?

Post by John Upham » Thu Jan 20, 2022 3:32 pm

(Apart from JDP who kindly passed these photographs to myself) who would you say are the English players here and the approximate year?



img_0002_lv.jpg
Who are these English players?
img_0002_lv.jpg (743.1 KiB) Viewed 1666 times
British Chess News : britishchessnews.com
Twitter: @BritishChess
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/britishchess :D

User avatar
Christopher Kreuzer
Posts: 8781
Joined: Fri Aug 06, 2010 2:34 am
Location: London

Re: Who are these English players?

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:26 pm

Is JDP James Pratt?

No idea who the players are.

Apropos of nothing in particular, I found:
"James Davidson Pratt, Controller of Chemical Warfare at Porton [...] He was known by his close UK colleagues as JDP" (From Keen as Mustard (Bridget Goodwin, 1998)


:D

Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21291
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: Who are these English players?

Post by Roger de Coverly » Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:40 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:26 pm
No idea who the players are.
The player with White might be Michael Franklin, but the board position isn't from a London, Colle or Kings Imdian Attack. There's what looks to be a copy of Informator on the table, which started towards the end of the 1960s. Also they are using a wooden set. Haircuts too suggest the 1960s.

Nick Burrows
Posts: 1704
Joined: Sat Aug 14, 2010 12:15 pm

Re: Who are these English players?

Post by Nick Burrows » Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:47 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:40 pm
There's what looks to be a copy of Informator on the table, which started towards the end of the 1960s.
It looks to me like a copy of Keres' best games and a newspaper

User avatar
Matt Mackenzie
Posts: 5191
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:51 pm
Location: Millom, Cumbria

Re: Who are these English players?

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Thu Jan 20, 2022 6:10 pm

No, pretty sure that isn't an early Chess Informant (which was for the record first published in 1966)
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)

User avatar
JustinHorton
Posts: 10364
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:06 am
Location: Somewhere you're not

Re: Who are these English players?

Post by JustinHorton » Thu Jan 20, 2022 6:19 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:40 pm
Haircuts too suggest the 1960s.
Funny, I was placing it in the previous decade on the same basis, though of course it's not as if everything magically changes when the decade changes (and for that matter it can make a difference where as well as when photos like this are taken). That said, if it's Reinfeld's book on Keres' Best Games 1931-1948 a quick and unreliable Google gives a publication date of 1960.
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Ian Thompson
Posts: 3543
Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:31 pm
Location: Awbridge, Hampshire

Re: Who are these English players?

Post by Ian Thompson » Thu Jan 20, 2022 6:25 pm

I thought Michael Franklin as well. If the player standing is James Pratt, he looks several years too old for the photo to have been taken in the 1960's, so either it's 1970's or it's not James Pratt.

User avatar
JustinHorton
Posts: 10364
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:06 am
Location: Somewhere you're not

Re: Who are these English players?

Post by JustinHorton » Thu Jan 20, 2022 6:29 pm

On the other hand if it's the 1970s then the player of the White pieces would have to be close to forty at least if he were Michael Franklin.
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

User avatar
John Clarke
Posts: 707
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:07 pm

Re: Who are these English players?

Post by John Clarke » Thu Jan 20, 2022 7:03 pm

I don't think it's Franklin. The ear looks to be the wrong shape, and the hairline's slightly different.

Can we be sure they're both English? The player of Black looks a lot like Unzicker.

I'd put the date at any time from 1955 to about 1965.
"The chess-board is the world ..... the player on the other side is hidden from us ..... he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance."
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)

Nick Ivell
Posts: 1138
Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2011 6:33 pm

Re: Who are these English players?

Post by Nick Ivell » Thu Jan 20, 2022 7:18 pm

I don't know these people, but to me this photo is redolent of the 50s, not the 60s.

Leonard Barden
Posts: 1854
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 11:21 am

Re: Who are these English players?

Post by Leonard Barden » Thu Jan 20, 2022 10:35 pm

Could the black player be a young Ron Harman (born 1938)? The hair parting is similar. Here's a confirmed pic for comparison. https://www.kingpinchess.net/2014/10/ro ... hess-club/

User avatar
John Upham
Posts: 7162
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:29 am
Location: Cove, Hampshire, England.
Contact:

Re: Who are these English players?

Post by John Upham » Thu Jan 20, 2022 10:50 pm

Leonard Barden wrote:
Thu Jan 20, 2022 10:35 pm
Could the black player be a young Ron Harman (born 1938)? The hair parting is similar. Here's a confirmed pic for comparison. https://www.kingpinchess.net/2014/10/ro ... hess-club/
Most excellent and correct.

Ronald FA Harman who I recall resigning as Secretary of Cavendish Chess Club even when he was not Secretary!

The other two?
British Chess News : britishchessnews.com
Twitter: @BritishChess
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/britishchess :D

Kevin Thurlow
Posts: 5803
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:28 pm

Re: Who are these English players?

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:02 am

"Ron Harman"

I had got as far as thinking, "I've played him", but was nowhere near a name.

User avatar
John Upham
Posts: 7162
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:29 am
Location: Cove, Hampshire, England.
Contact:

Re: Who are these English players?

Post by John Upham » Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:52 am

While you are considering the above here is another English player to identify:



img_0001_lv.jpg
Who is this English player?
img_0001_lv.jpg (899.12 KiB) Viewed 1274 times
British Chess News : britishchessnews.com
Twitter: @BritishChess
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/britishchess :D

Paul Habershon
Posts: 550
Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2010 5:51 pm

Re: Who are these English players?

Post by Paul Habershon » Fri Jan 21, 2022 12:17 pm

Hoping not to be committing an embarrassing faux pas - Stewart Reuben?

Post Reply