English Chess Forum

Some years ago I posted the 1956 BCF Grading List on BritBase...

https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pdfs/ ... glist.html

... showing the names of all active players graded from BCF 169 upwards (i.e. about Elo 2000+) based on competitions from 1956 and earlier.

I have now edited the list to show players' forenames where known to me. I'm sure the Forum will know more: amendments and additions welcome.

Geoffrey F Harris (Stourbridge) is Geoffrey Frank Harris. Born 4th January, 1930. Died 27th May, 2016.

I have asked elsewhere, meanwhile...
I believe TH George was Tom or Thomas
J E(?) Neale worked for GPO in London, then went to Cheltenham (probably the usual chess players' destination...) and was referred to as "Jimmy", but probably formally James.
R Smith could well be Roland, he was highly rated in his youth, and he arrived in London in 1952 to work for Inland Revenue. He was still 160+ when retired.

Here's a clue for J. B. Harmer

Thanks to Jon, Kevin and Gerard. I'm making a few more updates at the moment, based on your contributions and other items found (some of them already elsewhere on BritBase).

Re JB Harmer: I've already pondered the problem previously when compiling the Varsity Match Biographical File...

Varsity Chess Match Biographical File wrote:Edward James Barry Harmer (July 1922 - 20 August 2018). Wadham College, Oxford. Varsity match 1946. Admitted to Lincoln's Inn, 1947. There was a West London CC member and correspondence player called JB Harmer, graded 4a (193-200) in 1958, and an Oxford-based poet/writer called James Barry Harmer, but not clear if either of them is the player in question.

Must be a strong chance they are one and the same.

My source confirms that Roland Smith is very likely.

EC Hughes was known as Ted, so probably Edward, and at that stage it cannot have been in tribute to the future poet laureate.

And one I missed, "ET Jesty - His name was Edmund Tom Jesty (source: cross table for 1920 BCF First-Class B tournament in 13th British Chess Championship as reported in BritBase!)."

In fairness, these things are difficult to find. I believe one entry for Jesty in my Civil Service chess book has ES Jesty, which I am sure was a typo that I copied from another source.

I am led to believe that Fazekas was known as Stefan in England but as

István

in his native Satoraljaujhely, Hungary.

Not terribly helpful I admit.

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Thu May 23, 2024 4:34 pm

My source confirms that Roland Smith is very likely.

EC Hughes was known as Ted, so probably Edward, and at that stage it cannot have been in tribute to the future poet laureate.

And one I missed, "ET Jesty - His name was Edmund Tom Jesty (source: cross table for 1920 BCF First-Class B tournament in 13th British Chess Championship as reported in BritBase!)."

In fairness, these things are difficult to find. I believe one entry for Jesty in my Civil Service chess book has ES Jesty, which I am sure was a typo that I copied from another source.

Thanks, Kevin. I can remember spending ages trying to find EC Hughes' first name. I should have asked you first.

Re Jesty - if you look again at the 1956 list, you'll see that I had already made the link with Edmund Tom Jesty and placed a note to that effect beside the name that I wasn't sure if it was right. I'm still not entirely convinced (one factor being that the grading list doesn't show a middle initial).

John Upham wrote: ↑

Thu May 23, 2024 5:17 pm

I am led to believe that Fazekas was known as Stefan in England but as

István

in his native Satoraljaujhely, Hungary.

Not terribly helpful I admit.

Thanks, John. Once domiciled in the UK I believe Fazekas was known as Stefan in the chess community (when he wasn't nicknamed 'Faz' by some), though it's true that there are earlier UK references to him as I. Fazekas (e.g. when he played in London in 1927) before he became a resident. You've reminded me that someone managed to mangle Stefan Fazekas's Wikipedia page a year or two ago, mixing him up with a player of the same name born in 1988. I spent some time repairing the vandalised page back to something sensible.

If we were guided by statutory records, we should probably go with Stephen Fazekas as that is the name used in the relevant death and probate records. He was naturalised in 1948, where the names Stefan and Stephen were both recorded. He also appeared in the 1939 census but the latter part of his forename is obscured by an ink blot so that it's hard to tell whether it was Stephen or Stefan! However, for BritBase purposes, I think I prefer to go with names of players as generally known to the chess community and press. (If pop stars and actors can have stage names, why not chess players?) I suppose the best example must be Baruch Harold Wood, whose birth was registered as Harold Baruch Wood and he appeared thus in the 1911 census. By the time of his marriage in 1936 his forenames had shifted round (rather like king and rook in castling). To style him as anything other than B H Wood would be sacrilegious.

T Pruchnicki was in the grading database as late as 1996, with his club still recorded as Polish YMCA. I think his full name might have been Tadeusz Franciszek Pruchnicki, who was born on the 29th January, 1909 and died on the 30th March, 1998. His death was registered in Ealing and a 1973 edition of the London Gazette gives his address as 3 Eaton Rise, Ealing.

Thomas Harman

J. Narcross (Leeds) is John Watts Narcross b. 02/12/1896 - d. 26/09/1963

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Thu May 23, 2024 1:07 pm

I have asked elsewhere, meanwhile...
I believe TH George was Tom or Thomas
J E(?) Neale worked for GPO in London, then went to Cheltenham (probably the usual chess players' destination...) and was referred to as "Jimmy", but probably formally James.
R Smith could well be Roland, he was highly rated in his youth, and he arrived in London in 1952 to work for Inland Revenue. He was still 160+ when retired.

Definitely Roland. Very fine c.c. player.

Wolfgang Bernard Haase (1929-2010):
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/perso ... s/G54L-C8T

Charles Cordel

Vince Slowik's forename is spelt Wicenty on his gravestone (Nottingham Road Cemetery, Derby).