Books on English Chess.

[MJMcCready]

Has anyone ever written a history of English chess? If not, which publications -if-any- dedicate relevant chapters or sections? I am aware that Murray Chandler wrote about the English chess explosion but I was hoping to find something that would cover the whole of the 20th century rather than a small section of it. Something along the lines of the following article: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/100-year ... ederation/

thanks

[Roger de Coverly]

[quote="MJMcCready"]Has anyone ever written a history of English chess? [/url]
/quote]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Walsingham_Sergeant

P W Sergeant wrote a history of the hundred years of British chess from the 1830s to what was then the present day in the early 1930s.

Other than the John Poole/Stewart Reuben piece for the 2004 BCF Yearbook and the Chandler/Keene book on the 1970s, I'm not aware of any others. You can get personal memories going back to 1945 or even earlier if you ask the right people.

It is a local county chess history you are trying to establish?

[MJMcCready]

Has anyone ever written a history of English chess? [/url]
/quote]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Walsingham_Sergeant

P W Sergeant wrote a history of the hundred years of British chess from the 1830s to what was then the present day in the early 1930s.

Other than the John Poole/Stewart Reuben piece for the 2004 BCF Yearbook and the Chandler/Keene book on the 1970s, I'm not aware of any others. You can get personal memories going back to 1945 or even earlier if you ask the right people.

It is a local county chess history you are trying to establish?

It is yes, my home county neighbours yours and competes in the Fleming trophy. I think you drew with Steve Pike in the last match. But to set things in context, I also need a history of county chess as well.

[Gordon Cadden]

Phillip Walsingham Sergeant wrote the standard work on British Chess, but it needs to be updated.
It would be difficult to write a history of County chess, but considerable information can be gathered from BCF/ECF Yearbooks.
I suppose that you could nominate someone from each County, to send in their contribution towards British Chess History. It would certainly make a good book.

[John Upham]

Possibly this book may have relevant content.

[MJMcCready]

Hi thanks, yes I am assuming that the BCF yearbooks would be the main source. I haven't read one in a while since I've been out of the country for some time now but I am assuming that the relevant sections can be photocopied for the purposes of research without too much trouble?

[MJMcCready]

Has anyone ever written a history of English chess? [/url]
/quote]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Walsingham_Sergeant

P W Sergeant wrote a history of the hundred years of British chess from the 1830s to what was then the present day in the early 1930s.

Other than the John Poole/Stewart Reuben piece for the 2004 BCF Yearbook and the Chandler/Keene book on the 1970s, I'm not aware of any others. You can get personal memories going back to 1945 or even earlier if you ask the right people.

It is a local county chess history you are trying to establish?

Does the book discuss the anglo-amercian cable matches at all?

[Richard James]

Has anyone ever written a history of English chess? [/url]
/quote]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Walsingham_Sergeant

P W Sergeant wrote a history of the hundred years of British chess from the 1830s to what was then the present day in the early 1930s.

Other than the John Poole/Stewart Reuben piece for the 2004 BCF Yearbook and the Chandler/Keene book on the 1970s, I'm not aware of any others. You can get personal memories going back to 1945 or even earlier if you ask the right people.

It is a local county chess history you are trying to establish?

Does the book discuss the anglo-amercian cable matches at all?

Only briefly, but it does give the full results. My copy is in front of me now.

[MJMcCready]

Only briefly, but it does give the full results. My copy is in front of me now.[/quote]


ah okay thanks, I am trying to find out whether the player W.Ward, who played in roughly half the matches, comes from my home town Luton. I have 2 newspaper entries at the time that suggest so, however, he is more commonly referred to as W.Ward of London, as that is where he settled and established himself.

[Richard James]

ah okay thanks, I am trying to find out whether the player W.Ward, who played in roughly half the matches, comes from my home town Luton. I have 2 newspaper entries at the time that suggest so, however, he is more commonly referred to as W.Ward of London, as that is where he settled and established himself.

There are various mentions of him in the book (the index refers to him as William Ward) up to his death in 1920 in his 54th year. No indication of whether or not he came from Luton, though.

[Richard James]

The BCM obituary (Dec 1920) gives William Ward's date of birth as March 3 1867, but what appears to be his death record gives his age as 55.

Any idea which is correct?

I can't find anything very obvious in the 1901 and 1911 censuses. There was a William Ward born 1865, a Life Insurance Agent, in Islington, born in the area, in the 1901 census, which is possible.

As he wrote a controversial edition of the Laws of Chess he presumably had some sort of upper middle class occupation.

[Roger de Coverly]

As he wrote a controversial edition of the Laws of Chess he presumably had some sort of upper middle class occupation.

The Chess Arbiters' website has a collection of various historic versions.

This is the Ward edition

http://www.chessarbitersassociation.co.uk/Laws1912.pdf

The following Laws of Chess were in the first instance compiled by Mr William Ward, a leading member of the City of London Chess Club

[Richard James]

http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/laws1.html

More on Ward's controversial edition of the Laws of Chess from Edward Winter.

[Gordon Cadden]

Willliam Ward b. 03.03.1867 d. 10/1920 City of London Champion 1902,1904, 1906, 1909,1910,1911. West London Club Champion 1907. Middlesex Champion 1909. Played in the Cable Matches of 1900, 1901 (beat Frank Marshall), 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, and 1911.

[MJMcCready]

Beds Advertiser and Luton Times March 1st 1907 (cf. British Newspaper Archives)