English Chess Forum

I know that people use various resources for their Chess History research, one I have found very useful is the British Newspaper Archives. Anyone who uses this will know it is very good for resource pre second world war but not as helpful post.

The Portsmouth News had a weekly chess column from late 1950's until probably the early 2000's and the BNA does have the the copies up to 1959. I have added a request for the post ones to be made available and would appreciate anyone who has an account if they could vote for this as this may help this being moved up the list?

https://help-and-advice.britishnewspape ... d-add-next

If anyone knows of other resources where these would be available please do point me in the right direction.

I did have some copies from my Hampshire Chess Archives from 1976 to 1979 and these had been scanned to my site, but having access to others would help in my research into Hampshire Chess History.
https://hampshirechesshistory.co.uk/chess-notes/

If you mean on-line The British Newspaper Archive is right up there. Off line, you cannot beat The British Library.

Yes, on-line. Not based in London but will try and visit the British Library sometime in the future. The British Newspaper Archive is excellent but as per the Portsmouth News it is waiting until they add the more recent (or in this case from 1960) years.

I believe the BNA is based on the holdings of the British Library, though I don't know the exact overlap with other collections. Irish newspapers are (I found with my non-chess research) quite hard to obtain online, but I may not have looked hard enough or more recently. Lots paywalled, of course.

If Graham can't get to the British Library, he could always consider visiting Portsmouth Library. It may be a tall order to hope for on-line coverage of specific time periods in specific newspapers, but I wish Graham luck. He could try Gale, or Newspapers.com, or FindMyPast, though I think this last has coverage very similar, or identical, to that of the British Library.

Concerning the matter of cost, I can currently read at home, free of charge, on-line newspapers for the U.S.A., Australia, and New Zealand, but for English papers I would have to get my plastic out. Some local libraries have facilities, but it is a postcode lottery. Overall, I reckon researchers have a raw deal here, although a good selection of Welsh newspapers can be read free. So well done, Wales! England: need to try harder ...