Baruch Harold Wood

[Luis Mendez]

Forum Members:
The English chess player Baruch Harold Wood, participated in the "International Chess Tournament in Gijon in the years 1948, 1949 and 1951. I need to locate the articles he wrote in his magazine "Chess" by talking about their participation in this tournament.
I'm writing a book on this tournament, held in my city Gijón, during the forties and fifties of the twentieth century.
I need help locating articles written by BH Wood. Where can I find it?
Best regards from Gijón.
Luis Mendez
[email protected]
http://comentariosdeajedrez.blogspot.com

[James Pratt]

I will help!

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/che ... =137560915

[Simon Spivack]

Forum Members:
The English chess player Baruch Harold Wood, participated in the "International Chess Tournament in Gijon in the years 1948, 1949 and 1951. I need to locate the articles he wrote in his magazine "Chess" by talking about their participation in this tournament.
I'm writing a book on this tournament, held in my city Gijón, during the forties and fifties of the twentieth century.
I need help locating articles written by BH Wood. Where can I find it?

You could try Tony Peterson at http://www.chessbooks.co.uk/
On page http://www.chessbooks.co.uk/BCM.html you will see that he has many complete bound volumes of CHESS.

[Dr Adrian Harvey]

I would have thought the best place in England to locate old copies of Chess would be the British Library in central London, which officially holds them all. I am sure there must be numerous libraries on the continent that hold similar collections. In England the university libraries at Cambridge, Dublin, Edinburgh and Oxford will hold copies. Good luck

[Simon Spivack]

I would have thought the best place in England to locate old copies of Chess would be the British Library in central London, which officially holds them all. I am sure there must be numerous libraries on the continent that hold similar collections. In England the university libraries at Cambridge, Dublin, Edinburgh and Oxford will hold copies. Good luck

Which is of no use to someone resident in Spain, unless either prepared to travel himself, or who could cajole someone else to do so for him.

Your reading skills leave much to be desired.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Luis

I'll be at the Edinburgh Chess Club tonight double checking on the lad who appears
to have started the Blackburne Shilling myth. I have found a pre 1980
reference, I just need to check the books he quotes as a ref. (if he gives one).

(Who was it? All will be revealed soon. if you were in a library full of chess books
this would be one of the last chess books you would look in. )

Whilst there I'll check out all the single issues of CHESS, easier to photo-copy.

If not I'll get the bound volumes and phot-copy the relevant articles.

Will let you know if I am succesful.

Geoff

[Luis Mendez]

Dear Geoff:
If you got an article by Mr Wood would be wonderful.
Thank you all for the advice.

Luis Méndez Castedo

[Andy Burnett]

I would have thought the best place in England to locate old copies of Chess would be the British Library in central London, which officially holds them all. I am sure there must be numerous libraries on the continent that hold similar collections. In England the university libraries at Cambridge, Dublin, Edinburgh and Oxford will hold copies. Good luck

Edinburgh University may often seem to be full of English students but it hasn't physically moved south of the border as far as I know. As for Dublin...it might be a good idea for you to give that part of the world a miss until your geography improves

[Dr Adrian Harvey]

I am a little puzzled that my brief note has produced the rather strange remarks that it has. With regard to Mr Spivack's declaration that my 'reading skills leave much to be desired', I am a little puzzled. Yes, I reallised that Mr Mendez was writing from Spain, but as the subject of his research was an English based writer, and that he had written to a British based web site for information, deemed it likely that he intended conducting some research in Britain. Given the comparatively easy travelling distance involved this did not seem an impossible assumption to make and scarcely seemed to me to justify Mr Spivack's rudeness. With regard to Mr Burnett, I assume that his response stems from my referring to Edinburgh and Dublin as being in England when I should have written Britain. He has my apologies for this, though I scarcely think that such an error merits the somewhat acid remark. Once again, I wish Mr Mendez well in his research and hope that he fishes up some interesting material.

[Andy Burnett]

I am a little puzzled that my brief note has produced the rather strange remarks that it has. With regard to Mr Spivack's declaration that my 'reading skills leave much to be desired', I am a little puzzled. Yes, I reallised that Mr Mendez was writing from Spain, but as the subject of his research was an English based writer, and that he had written to a British based web site for information, deemed it likely that he intended conducting some research in Britain. Given the comparatively easy travelling distance involved this did not seem an impossible assumption to make and scarcely seemed to me to justify Mr Spivack's rudeness. With regard to Mr Burnett, I assume that his response stems from my referring to Edinburgh and Dublin as being in England when I should have written Britain. He has my apologies for this, though I scarcely think that such an error merits the somewhat acid remark. Once again, I wish Mr Mendez well in his research and hope that he fishes up some interesting material.

There was nothing 'acidic' intended in my remarks Adrian, hence the wink. I will, however, reiterate that you'd do well to avoid Dublin; not only is it not in England, the locals might be less than enamoured with being told they are still in Britain

[Simon Spivack]

I am a little puzzled that my brief note has produced the rather strange remarks that it has. With regard to Mr Spivack's declaration that my 'reading skills leave much to be desired', I am a little puzzled.

What is worrying is that I am sure you are puzzled.

To give some instances:

In the thread "Professional chess in England" http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... 80&start=0 there is the comment:

Dear Isaac and anyone else who replied to my question concerning the disappearance of the chess clubs at Hampstead and Islington, sorry if I have given any offence by not thanking you for your interesting response ...

Isaac Wallis did not post in the thread "Deceased Clubs".

Furthermore:

I must admit that I was quite surprised when a previous correspondent blamed the demise of the Hampstead and Islington clubs on the payment of professional players.

No-one posted that Islington paid any professionals. I rather doubt that that happened. The club made some profits from the Islington congresses in the early seventies; at one time some consideration was given to the purchase of a house for use as a permanent venue, although I'm not sure it was ever seriously pursued. When Simon Webb went to America, he received a grant from Islington Council, I can't recall whether the club topped it up, I suspect not. However, unless something was very hush, hush, he was not paid to play in the London League.

As an aside: Čeněk Kottnauer (note the correct spelling of his family name, something you also got wrong) did give lessons, I can name two members of these fora who received some from him. However, it is utterly bizarre to use this as indicative that he was a professional. In my estimation Čeněk would have become a GM if he had given up his amateur status. A true gentleman, he helped others. Bob Wade told me that he once approached Čeněk for help on the Najdorf Sicilian (possibly the Opočenský, I did not ask). Apparently, several Czechoslovak players spent part of the war years analysing this opening. Čeněk worked for the hoteliers Forte, perhaps better known as Trust House Forte following the takeover of Trust Houses Group.

You could save yourself some heartache by employing the term "semi-professional".

Yes, I reallised (sic) that Mr Mendez was writing from Spain, but as the subject of his research was an English based writer, and that he had written to a British based web site for information, deemed it likely that he intended conducting some research in Britain.

A non sequitur. The beauty of the Internet is that it need not be essential to travel. Indeed, the answer that Mr. Méndez has given to Geoff strongly hints that he is unlikely to visit here for this purpose.

Dublin as being in England when I should have written Britain ...

Really? Dublin is in Ireland. Like Andy, I had noticed your error. My assumption was that you were following the example of many continentals by conflating England with its Celtic neighbours.

It is a pity that your post is somewhat intemperate. This perhaps explains this slip.

One of your posts asks about Olympiad players. I have known one of them since 1974. It is precisely because of your inability to read, probably through casualness. That I have made no attempt to contact him on your account.

[Dr Adrian Harvey]

Dear Mr Spivack, Thank you for your reply and I hope the following will clarify things.

(1) My reason for including an apology to Isaac Wallis and broadening it out to anyone who had participated in my request for information on the demise of the clubs at Islington and Hampstead was because Isaac's remarks made me aware that I might have given offence to those individuals and consequently if this were the case I regarded it as correct to apologise as soon as possible. I am always very careful to acknowledge the work of others as can be seen in either of my books or the vaious articles that I have had published.

(2) Sorry if I conflated the role of professionals in the Hampstead and Islington clubs and thank you for the very interesting information that you have provided.

(3) I suspect we are of one mind concerning Kottnauer (watch out for typos!) who I have always regarded as basically being a semi professional who would certainly have become a grandmaster had he focused exclusively on chess.

(4) I am not familiar with Mr Mendez's travel arrangements and did not deem it impossible that he might undertake a trip to Britain for a holiday. It is certainly the case that as a PHD student I, like many, undertook some travel to various archives.

(5) I accept that Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are different countries but from the research point of view I tend to regard them as all being British. So far as I am aware the main historical library in Irelend is Trinity College Dublin which enjoys the same privileges in terms of books as Oxbridge et al.

(6) I would appreciate it if you would endeavour to obtain any of the missing scores that I want from the 1974 Olympiad as so far as I am aware they do not appear in any publication.

Hoping this clarifies things somewhat

Adrian

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Luis

I have all Chess magazines front of me from October '46 - September '51.

I will enjoy going through them page by page. A very interesting period
in the history of Chess. Thank you for giving me the excuse.
I hope I find some good copy for you.

I am in the correct date range. Yes?

If you go to the link at the bottom of this post you will bump into Chandler Corner,
my email address is at the bottom. email me and we can communicate via that
from now on.

Hi Andy,

I had a wee private bet it would be you or Alex Mac that would post regarding
Edinburgh in England.

I always laugh when I see how one small slip often has people grumbling.

Was going to add that it never comes to blows but Sandy Bells I v Civil Service I
was abandoned as a 0-0 a fortnight ago due to both teams throwing punches
instead of pushing pawns. Chess players, I love them all.

Geoff

[Dr Adrian Harvey]

Dear Andy, Pardon me for misunderstanding you. I am afraid that I am ignorant concerning the meaning of the symbol that you used! I am afraid that I am not equipped with even the basic elements of tec speak and could probably do with something like a Ladybird (remember them!) book of computer terms. I hope no offence has been taken

Adrian

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Guys.

I see you have all made up over the Edinburgh/England slip up.

I was going to PM Adrian but then I recall reading in another thread
where the English County borders have all been re-drawn and in some
cases Counties invented.

So I figured perhaps Edinburgh and Dublin had been roped into Yorkshire.

I have sent that Spanish lad off the stuff he asked for.

BHW did well to fit a few reports in as there was a lot happening around
at that time. I had a brilliant 'sickie' day off work reading it all.

I have not quite finished as Vol 16 is clearly marked as Vol 13 so
I left with two volume 16's. (The club has many doublers). So will
pick up volume 13 tonight and tomorrow is another sickie I'm afraid.

Finished another Corner.

http://www.chessedinburgh.co.uk/chandle ... handID=391

Reveal source for 1978 mention of the Blackburne Trap.

The Machine Plays Chess by A.G.Bell.
....now where he did he it from?

You will also see my time going through those CHESS's was put to another good use.