English Chess Forum

I have heard that the first chess tournament held in England was Oswestry in 1652. The organisers announced it a year in advance so word would spread. The tournament was won by a Mr G Burton a blacksmith from Cheam with 31/31 !!

According to the tournament book people were going up to his opponents and saying 'Are you going for a burton?'

What?

We've all heard all sorts of things but some documented evidence is obviously required.

What does 'Are you going for a burton" mean I wonder?

MJMcCready wrote: What does 'Are you going for a burton" mean I wonder?

Possibly

this

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/gone ... urton.html


or this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_for_a_Burton

or something else.

Brewer's Dictionary Of Phrase And Fable offers a couple of other suggestions. Both are rather long-winded and (to my mind) a bit fanciful, so I won't waste space on them here. Anyone seriously interested can look them up.

I suppose the challenge is working out what it meant in 1652.

"I suppose the challenge is working out what it meant in 1652."

Assuming Francis was being serious, it's just possible the book was written somewhat later than 1652.

The RAF slang is the derivation which seems most likely, they were an inventive lot. "Gremlins" probably comes from RAF as well, and one suggested derivation is a mixture of Grimm's fairy tales and Fremlin beer. A theme is developing.

Kevin Thurlow wrote:"I suppose the challenge is working out what it meant in 1652."

Assuming Francis was being serious, it's just possible the book was written somewhat later than 1652.

The RAF slang is the derivation which seems most likely, they were an inventive lot. "Gremlins" probably comes from RAF as well, and one suggested derivation is a mixture of Grimm's fairy tales and Fremlin beer. A theme is developing.

I don't think for one minute that Francis was being serious remembering his limericks that don't rhyme/scan thread.

1652 would place this so-called tournament firmly in the era of Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth. Perhaps he's thinking of the Cavaliers v Roundheads match of the previous decade where the former team lost their king?

Someone must have more information about this topic. I would like to know what the first recognized tournament in the England was.

As far as I know a tournament played at Simpson's Divan early in 1849 was the first. In my forthcoming book on Henry Edward Bird I make mention of a few hints I found about a handicap tournament played at the same Divan in 1848, but I doubt if that ever took place.

Hmmm, does this mean I should now reject the claim that the claim that the first tournament in England was the 1989 Hitchin Open, as I was told as an impressionable youth.