An early Tony Miles game

Historical knowledge and information regarding our great game.
Andy Stoker
Posts: 348
Joined: Sun Jan 26, 2014 9:23 pm

Re: An early Tony Miles game

Post by Andy Stoker » Fri Oct 13, 2017 5:35 am

More evidence - if it were needed - of some of the many unique contributions made by Len Barden over the years. Thank you sir

Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21301
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: An early Tony Miles game

Post by Roger de Coverly » Fri Oct 13, 2017 8:46 am

Geoff Chandler wrote:I won a few good Gorings after being tipped towards it from
that book and Paul Motwani in an lecture spoke very highly of the Guardian book.
I've been using the Capablanca Defence ever since Leonard recommended it in the Guardian. That's the line where you play Bg4xf3 and Qd5-c4 to entice White to exchange Queens. You allow Bxc6 doubling the c pawns but that isn't a major problem in the ending. It's still recommended as the best by Bologan in his massive book of lines for Black after 1. e4 e5 .

I'll have to research it a bit, but the positions can transpose into lines of the Chigorin which never seem as hazardous for Black as from the Goring. That said on a rare excursion for me into 1. d4 2. c4, I was faced by the Chigorin, transposed to the Goring and won a piece quickly when my opponent missed a tactic.

Geoff Chandler
Posts: 3486
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:36 pm
Location: Under Cover
Contact:

Re: An early Tony Miles game

Post by Geoff Chandler » Fri Oct 13, 2017 2:54 pm

Hi Andy,

Another book excellent by Mr Barden is 'Play Better Chess' The one with the scary picture of John Nunn.

There you are skipping through mating attacks, you turn the page and........BOO!

Image

It's tagged to one of my favourite John Nunn quotes regarding the link between chess and maths:

"In maths you need to be right. In Chess only more right than your opponent."

I'd say this book is the best I've ever read to get a bog standard club player improving.
Of course they have to do some work on their own but Leonard gives them a healthy leg up.

Years ago someone asked why do I keep punting unsound openings. I replied something like:

"What else do I know? and you are not arguing with me, you are arguing with Leonard Barden."

and quickly pointed out the wee chapter headed 'Unsoundness Pays.'

Of course I've carried it too far , probably way too far, but to rephrase Dr. Nunn.
We are not after 2+2=4 (because 4 rhymes with draw.)
We are after 2 + 2 = 8 (because 8 rhymes with mate.)

Also recall someone as White playing the Mora Gambit against me.
I always feel uncomfortable grabbing gambit pawns, rather be the gambiteer.



I was thinking of playing the gutless 3...d3 then remembered a suggestion of 3...g6
from this book. Nothing else, just 3...g6. So played it and won.

One my really ridiculous quibble is the size of it.The inside pocket on my denim jacket
holds most books but not this one. (can I get an ECF nit-pickers badge for that grumble?)

Jonathan Bryant
Posts: 3452
Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 3:54 pm

Re: An early Tony Miles game

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Fri Oct 13, 2017 3:31 pm

Geoff Chandler wrote: One my really ridiculous quibble is the size of it.The inside pocket on my denim jacket
holds most books but not this one. (can I get an ECF nit-pickers badge for that grumble?)
Lack of standardisation in chess book size has long been an irritant for me. An unsightly bookshelf - rather than pockets - being the issue for me.

User avatar
Michael Farthing
Posts: 2069
Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2014 1:28 pm
Location: Morecambe, Europe

Re: An early Tony Miles game

Post by Michael Farthing » Fri Oct 13, 2017 4:10 pm

Severe case of OCD methinks :-(

User avatar
Christopher Kreuzer
Posts: 8805
Joined: Fri Aug 06, 2010 2:34 am
Location: London

Re: An early Tony Miles game

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Oct 13, 2017 7:56 pm

Michael Farthing wrote:Severe case of OCD methinks :-(
Being irritated by books being different sizes on a bookshelf is in no way shape or form a "severe case of OCD". That is a classic example of the general public misunderstanding and trivialising OCD.

Ironic, when it is OCD awareness week:

https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/lett ... 58351.html
OCD-UK in the Evening Standard letters page wrote:
The media should not trivalise OCD

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is frequently talked about but too often inaccurately, leading to distress for those already suffering with the condition. [...] OCD is far more than most people will realise, which is why this week – OCD Awareness Week is sadly necessary. It can be a devastating and debilitating condition — researchers suggest 63 per cent of people with the disorder have experienced suicidal thoughts. That is why it is important that inaccurate reporting is challenged.

Andy Stoker
Posts: 348
Joined: Sun Jan 26, 2014 9:23 pm

Re: An early Tony Miles game

Post by Andy Stoker » Sat Oct 14, 2017 8:30 am

Yes, Mr Chandler - I recently picked up Mr Barden's 'Play Better Chess' for 50p at a second hand book stall. I think it would have over-balanced you had you managed to get it into your pocket - this version is hardback and not far off A4. Currently shelved in the lavatory and perused when appropriate. Effective.

User avatar
Michael Farthing
Posts: 2069
Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2014 1:28 pm
Location: Morecambe, Europe

Re: An early Tony Miles game

Post by Michael Farthing » Sun Oct 15, 2017 8:24 am

Andy Stoker wrote:
Postby Michael Farthing » Thu Oct 12, 2017 3:44 pm

Andy Stoker wrote:
Thank you for posting this - a fine slice of nostalgia for me - a near-contemporary of Tony Miles.


Same here! I seem to recall I played an Andrew Stoker in the the Chess magazine's (Junior) Postal Chess Club. - would have been late 60s maybe just into the 70s. Would I be right?
Spot on Michael - I played a few seasons in the Junior Postal Chess Club ... did you beat me? I have records of only one game from then - http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1233501 - I made heavy use of Mr Barden's Guardian Book of Chess - still on my shelves
Sadly, though I still have scores of a few games from the tournament, yours are not amongst them

BUT


"Farthings with Chess puzzles
Spare neither land not gold
Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life
For the brave days of old"

In the town of Battle is housed a great Chess Library that surely must have answer to the difficult question posed? Undaunted by the 300 miles separating Battle and Morecambe arrangements were swiftly made for this august institution to be consulted and before dawn the Gallant Hero set off. The miles were swiftly traversed (the passive voice being used not only for dramatic effect but also to disguise the rather more mundane logistics than are admitted here) and the relevant tomes were consulted. Then the long weary journey back ensued, the adventure finishing within an hour of midnight. Alas, this must certainly be the last such triumphant escapade, for on the bell of midnight the great adventurer slipped from being a Manly Figure and this morning woke up as a lowly O.A.P.

But, partial success at least. The result of one of our two games was located and fittingly it was a draw - saving the faces of both our youthful selves. (I suspect I lost the other game, but genuinely did not find it - Publication of the postal chess club results was a somewhat haphazard affair). Also in my explorations I came across Andy's game, published in full, and with an introduction from B H Wood (modestly omitted by Andy) "an outstanding game for a junior". So I have drawn with a junior who has had published an outstanding game!

[Thanks to Gary Willson of the ECF office for his help in all this. I believe I can boast of being the first person to specifically request use of the library since its resiting at its new location].

User avatar
Joey Stewart
Posts: 1860
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 2:35 pm
Location: All Of Them
Contact:

Re: An early Tony Miles game

Post by Joey Stewart » Tue Oct 17, 2017 3:59 pm

Why were there so many English players of that era who went by their initials instead of their actual name - was that a convention of the times?
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21301
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: An early Tony Miles game

Post by Roger de Coverly » Tue Oct 17, 2017 4:29 pm

Joey Stewart wrote: was that a convention of the times?
Yes. Think cricket, ER Dexter, MJK Smith, MC Cowdrey etc.

User avatar
Joey Stewart
Posts: 1860
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 2:35 pm
Location: All Of Them
Contact:

Re: An early Tony Miles game

Post by Joey Stewart » Tue Oct 17, 2017 4:57 pm

Or even, much more famously, WG Grace
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

User avatar
John Clarke
Posts: 710
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:07 pm

Re: An early Tony Miles game

Post by John Clarke » Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:59 pm

To someone of my vintage, using initials only was what we'd grown up with. Seemed - and still does - perfectly normal. Use of full first names is a phenomenon of the the last 20-30 years (even our first OTB grandmaster was referred to, often as not, as A J Miles). Chess writers didn't even do it when distinguishing between Emanuel and Edward Lasker - it was nearly always Em or Ed.

(BTW, careful where you place those initials for previous generations of cricketers! Up to 1962, when the distinction was abolished, amateurs ("Gentlemen" had theirs before the surname; professionals ("Players") had theirs after it. Thus P. B. H. May, but Trueman, F. S.)
"The chess-board is the world ..... the player on the other side is hidden from us ..... he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance."
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)

John McKenna

Re: An early Tony Miles game

Post by John McKenna » Wed Oct 18, 2017 8:09 am

And, lest we forget, D.R. Jardine (b. Bombay, India... d. Montreux, Switzerland) and Larwood H. (b. Notts, Eng... d. Sydney, Australia)

User avatar
Gerard Killoran
Posts: 1006
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:51 am
Contact:

Re: An early Tony Miles game

Post by Gerard Killoran » Wed Oct 18, 2017 12:18 pm

From his Guardian obituary...

All the while he was a key Middlesex player through season after season, his name having gone down early in cricket's social folklore when, in days when a sensitive division between amateurs and professionals prevailed, a loudspeaker announcement at Lord's informed the purchasers of scorecards that they should amend one entry: "For FJ Titmus please read Titmus, FJ."

Neil Blackburn
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2018 3:47 pm

Re: An early Tony Miles game

Post by Neil Blackburn » Sat Nov 24, 2018 8:21 am

R.FT was indeed Frank Wood, son of Barry. He played for Redditch for a number of years, and was a very fine player in his own right.

Post Reply