English Chess Forum

On my ramblings around mid-20th century British chess history, I came across a few games by John A. Fuller (1928-2005), who is mentioned here:

http://www.chessgames.com/player/john_a_fuller.html

The comments there include this:

"He had been inactive as a chessplayer for many years, but played with some distinction in the Hastings Premier of 1949 scoring 3/9 and of 1955 scoring 3.5/9. He was typical of this era of strong English players who would unquestionably have become an international master, had the opportunities of today been available then."

Obituary by Stewart Reuben [28/4/05]"

But the link doesn't work! Is it possible for someone to find a link that works, to get the ECF to fix those old webpages that keep failing to work, or for Stewart to repost the obituary?

There is a mention of a "John Fuller" here:

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... john#p7571

But it may not be the same one.

There is also a mention of Fuller here:

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... ohn#p25531

I presume (again) that is the same Fuller and it is John and not another name.

That list of those holding the "British Master" title is interesting. I wonder if the ECF have a definitive record of the history of that title?

John Fuller was London U18 champion 1946 (equal with some weakie whose name escapes me) and British U18 champion the same year (beating Gordon Crown in 10 moves in the final round). He did well in the 1949 British championship and at Hastings 1949-50 but then played little otb chess (I believe his work took him to Northern Ireland).

Actually John's greatest service to English chess was that at school in Harrow he was friendly and played often with a keen but slightly weaker player who remained interested in the game and who later became the most significant benefactor English chess has ever known-Jim Slater.

Both the references you quote are to John.

The BCF quietly dropped the BM title and its Yearbook mentions when Fide titleholders became too numerous. The 1972 list probably wasn't much added to after the dumbing down to 216 and 213.

Leonard Barden wrote:John Fuller was London U18 champion 1946 (equal with some weakie whose name escapes me) and British U18 champion the same year (beating Gordon Crown in 10 moves in the final round). He did well in the 1949 British championship and at Hastings 1949-50 but then played little otb chess (I believe his work took him to Northern Ireland).

Actually John's greatest service to English chess was that at school in Harrow he was friendly and played often with a keen but slightly weaker player who remained interested in the game and who later became the most significant benefactor English chess has ever known-Jim Slater.

Both the references you quote are to John.

The BCF quietly dropped the BM title and its Yearbook mentions when Fide titleholders became too numerous. The 1972 list probably wasn't much added to after the dumbing down to 216 and 213.

Goodness! Getting from Fuller to Fischer via Slater and Crown! I've read about Slater's role in the Fischer match, but has there been a fuller account of his sponsorships of British chess? And of course, the Fischer match sparked a whole generation of British chess.

EDIT: to reflect Leonard's change of his earlier post.

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: Obituary by Stewart Reuben [28/4/05]"

But the link doesn't work! Is it possible for someone to find a link that works, to get the ECF to fix those old webpages that keep failing to work, or for Stewart to repost the obituary?

http://web.archive.org/web/200508110047 ... index.html

Obituary: John A Fuller died in March 2005. He had been inactive as a chessplayer for many years, but played with some distinction in the Hastings Premier of 1949 scoring 3/9 and of 1955 scoring 3.5/9.
He was typical of this era of strong English players who would unquestionably have become an international master, had the opportunities of today been available then.
Stewart Reuben [28/4/05]

i.e. the quote on chessgames.com was the complete obituary!

Jon D'Souza-Eva wrote:i.e. the quote on chessgames.com was the complete obituary!

Oh. Thanks. I must learn how to use that web archive service.

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:

Jon D'Souza-Eva wrote:i.e. the quote on chessgames.com was the complete obituary!

Oh. Thanks. I must learn how to use that web archive service.

In this case the link given still didn't work even when entered in archive.org and I had to go back to the original British Chess Federation website and poke around the archives of that.

Further research on JAF by Richard James, Leonard Barden and BCN has allowed us to publish

https://britishchessnews.com/2020/03/23 ... -xii-2004/

with the correct DoD and a photograph not seen previously.

John Upham wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:39 am

Further research on JAF by Richard James, Leonard Barden and BCN has allowed us to publish

https://britishchessnews.com/2020/03/23 ... -xii-2004/

with the correct DoD and a photograph not seen previously.

Beware fake news: the two novelty claims made in the last sentence are not valid. The correct DoD and the same photo appeared in BCM, May 2005, page 247.

John Saunders wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 23, 2020 1:38 pm

John Upham wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:39 am

Further research on JAF by Richard James, Leonard Barden and BCN has allowed us to publish

https://britishchessnews.com/2020/03/23 ... -xii-2004/

with the correct DoD and a photograph not seen previously.

Beware fake news: the two novelty claims made in the last sentence are not valid. The correct DoD and the same photo appeared in BCM, May 2005, page 247.

John,
Apologies. Should have checked ! I will correct my post.

I stupidly assumed that SR would have done his research before he came up with the March 2005 DoD or whenever he thought it was.