English Chess Forum

Liverpool Chess Club New Website
http://www.liverpoolchessclub.co.uk
The New website provides an in-depth look at the club since its foundation in 1837 through to life in the club today with much more detail to be added as research continues

Please provide any additional information you have re individuals or events at the club that may be relevant to the clubs history or indeed if you yourself were a previous member or visitor to the club?

Enjoy!
Would be good to get your feedback!

Here's a game between two club members I've mentioned elsewhere:

[Event "Club Game"] [Site "Liverpool Chess Club"] [Date "1889.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Leather, Robinson Kay"] [Black "Kaizer, Myer"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C65"] [Opening "Ruy Lopez: Berlin defence, Mortimer variation"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Ne7 5. c3 Ng6 6. Nbd2 c6 7. Bc4 d6 8. Nf1 Be6 9. Ng3 h5 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. Qb3 Qd7 12. Ng5 d5 13. f3 O-O-O 14. Bd2 h4 15. Nf1 dxe4 16. dxe4 Re8 17. O-O-O Bd6 18. Be3 b6 19. Nd2 Qe7 20. Nc4 Bc7 21. Qa4 Kb7 22. Rd2 Nf4 23. Rhd1 Rh5 24. Rd6 Rxg5 25. Qxc6+ Kb8 26. Rd7 Nxd7 27. Rxd7 Qxd7 28. Qxd7 Rd8 29. Qc6 Nd3+ 30. Kc2 Rxg2+ 31. Kb3 Rxh2 32. a4 h3 33. a5 Nc5+ 34. Bxc5 bxc5 35. a6 Kc8 36. Nb6+ axb6 37. a7 {BCM Dec 1889 p.487} 1-0

In the BCM the game is analysed by J. H. Blake.

Here's something for the Liverpool Chess Club website.
Also of interest could be my latest blogpost

http://ilkleychess.blogspot.com/2017/03 ... moted.html

Where I ask, 'What happened to Walter Chandler, John Evans and George Hadfield?'

Nice find.

Which prompts the question for me: when, or better why, did the likes of P R England, senior company/professionals, stop being members of chess clubs? Perhaps they didn't elsewhere, though I can think of none in the Liverpool area over the past four decades: senior academics, a few; commercial sector, none.

Did something change about the game, making it less attractive for them? Did something change about the nature of work at this level? Or the image/credibility of the game? Clearly something changed that rendered something pleasant, credible and worth doing at one time (1950/1960s?), no longer worth doing.

I muse

I never realised you knew what we all did for a living.

But you have a good point. Is it that in the olden days chess clubs were comprised mainly of people like that? Of a certain class and largely of a certain age. And then chess became a lot more inclusive, with a good spread of the whole (male) population. Certainly a great influx of young people. And, of course, in those days the Chairman of Royal Insurance finished work at five o'clock.

And isn't it good to see Liverpool Chess Club, by some claims the oldest in (I forget exactly), and with a tremendous history, back from the brink.

George Hadfield mentioned above worked at the Vauxhall Motors plant in Ellesmere Port.
He also played for their chess team for many years in the local leagues prior to his death in the late eighties / early nineties.

From 1975-77 G. Hadfield is listed as a President of the Chester & District Chess League

http://www.cdchessleague.org.uk/presidents.php

Gerard Killoran wrote:From 1975-77 G. Hadfield is listed as a President of the Chester & District Chess League

http://www.cdchessleague.org.uk/presidents.php

I think this is him:
George Edward Hadfield: born West Derby, Liverpool 12 Dec 1924
Death registered in Chester & Ellesmere Port, May 1989

A photograph of him as a young man in an online family tree seems to confirm this.

There's also:
Walter Robert Chandler: born West Derby, Liverpool 22 Nov 1924
Death registered in Liverpool Jul 1994

There are multiple births for John Evans in West Derby at the right time. Evans, a very common Welsh surname would also have been very common in Liverpool.

David Robertson wrote:Nice find.

Which prompts the question for me: when, or better why, did the likes of P R England, senior company/professionals, stop being members of chess clubs? Perhaps they didn't elsewhere, though I can think of none in the Liverpool area over the past four decades: senior academics, a few; commercial sector, none.

Did something change about the game, making it less attractive for them? Did something change about the nature of work at this level? Or the image/credibility of the game? Clearly something changed that rendered something pleasant, credible and worth doing at one time (1950/1960s?), no longer worth doing.

I muse

A year or two ago I tried to track down some of the players representing Twickenham Chess Club in the 1890s. Most of those I could locate appeared to be middle class: accountants, civil servants and so on, and, very often, unmarried. Perhaps not a lot different from today.