Charles L. Tadiello

[John Upham]

The following was sent by John Roper from Reading Chess Club:

Charles L Tadiello – born 17th October 1919, died 28th June 2014

Charles learned to play chess during a daily 10 mile school bus journey to Grammar School and was effectively self-taught. He was Andover Grammar School Chess Champion for 2 years.

Charles started at Lloyds Bank in Faringdon, Oxfordshire, in 1937 aged 17 years (he remained with Lloyds Bank until he retired in 1980). He was called up to the army in 1940 and remained in the forces until August 1946. He then returned to the bank in Faringdon. Charles moved to Reading in September 1948 and started club chess in 1949 at the age of 29. He says that prior to that time he had studied chess but had no match experience. In 1952 he became top board for Berkshire and remained so until 1962.

Charles joined Reading Chess Club in 1949 and left in March 2010 (at age 90) when he moved to Berkhamsted. Charles won various championships (in no particular order):
• Andover Grammar School x 2
• Berkshire Champion x 2
• London Banks champion x 1
• Reading Chess Club Champion x 15 (first won the Reading Championship in 1957-58 and the last of his 15 wins was in the 2007-08 season (at the age of 88!)
• Reading Chess Club Lightning Chess Champion x 10
• Bracknell Chess Club Champion x 2
• Berkhamsted Chess Club Champion x 1 (at the age of 93)
Charles married Barbara in November 1945. Barbara died in November 2011. Charles had two sons, Alan and Derek, two grandchildren (Carla and Marcus) and two great grandchildren (Anabel and Jessica). Charles lived independently in Berkhamsted until he died peacefully at home from heart failure on 28 June 2014, aged 94.

Charles was a long time subscriber and supporter of BCM.

[John Townsend]

Sad news. "Tad" was universally liked and respected in Berkshire chess. He joked that when people asked why he had no enemies, he replied that he had outlived all the b------s! The truth is that he had very few enemies. R.I.P., Tad.

[Graham Borrowdale]

I never played Tad in my early years playing in Berkshire, but I remember he was regarded as a bit of a legend locally.
Thanks for posting his story, John. It's inconceivable nowadays that anybody could work for the same employer and play for the same chess club for virtually the whole of their life.

[Gerard Killoran]

Reading Mercury _ Saturday 06 October 1956 _ p.3.png (1.06 MiB) Viewed 2763 times

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

That's a nice picture. Just for completeness, the 'L' stood for Luigi.

[John Townsend]

"Tad" kept his form well through advanced age, and that applied very much to playing at speed.

For some time he was manager of a branch of Lloyd's Bank on Broad Street, in the centre of Reading. His banking experience made him a popular and appropriate choice for a treasurer.

[GrahamStuart]

Maybe not the most accurate game, but certainly an entertaining one. Played on board 4 in the Berkshire vs Hampshire County match in October 1966. Many thanks to Arthur Brameld for his chess games.

[Event "SCCU Shannon Championship"] [Site "Reading"] [Date "1966.10.22"] [Round "?"] [Board "4"] [White "Brameld, Arthur F"] [Black "Tadiello, C."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B18"] [WhiteElo "174"] [BlackElo "2085"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "1966.??.??"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [WhiteTeam "Hampshire"] [BlackTeam "Berkshire"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. N1e2 h6 7. Nf4 Bh7 8. Bc4 Nf6 9. O-O e6 10. Re1 Be7 11. Bxe6 g5 12. Bxf7+ Kxf7 13. Ne6 Qd7 14. f4 gxf4 15. Bxf4 Bd6 16. Bxd6 Qxd6 17. Nh5 Nbd7 18. Neg7 Bg6 19. Nxf6 Nxf6 20. Re6 Qd7 21. Qe2 Qxd4+ 22. Kh1 Kxg7 23. Rd1 Qg4 24. Rd7+ Bf7 25. Rxf7+ Kxf7 26. Rxf6+ Kxf6 27. Qxg4 Rae8 28. h3 Re1+ 29. Kh2 Rhe8 30. Qf4+ Kg7 31. Qg4+ Kh7 32. Qf5+ Kg7 33. Qg4+ 1/2-1/2

[John Upham]

At the risk of appearing to emulate GMRDKOBE...

and incurring the retort of hypocrite...

I was lucky enough to play Charles in 2006 when I could still recall how the pieces moved and when, of course, he was very much in his twilight years.

Anyway, he was charming gentleman who was now playing for the Reading B team but I knew him as Berkshire Champion from England's glory year at Wembley in 1966.

An entertaining game for those that like that sort of thing...

[Event "Berkshire League"] [Site "Cove"] [Date "2006.10.27"] [Round "?"] [White "Upham, John E"] [Black "Tadiello, Charles L"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Upham,John"] [ECO "D00"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "51"] [GameId "285378745847"] [EventDate "2006.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "Camberley A"] [BlackTeam "Reading B"] [TimeControl "40/5400+30:900+30"] {[%evp 0,51,25,13,30,18,35,35,46,36,47,55,46,50,55,4,28,22,12,8,10,-13,12,-13,12,-13,66,135,156,141,187,182,186,96,126,132,145,153,221,232,575,615,760,782,827,870,1157,1169,29991,29990,29991,29992,29999,29999] 154MB, jeu.ctg, TUSCAN} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 {As named by Mark Hebden's father as the Barry Attack based on a slightly impolite use of the word "Barry" and not the Welsh place name.} c6 (4... Bg7) 5. e3 (5. Qd2 Bg7) 5... Bg7 6. Be2 O-O 7. Qd2 Re8 {[#]} (7... Nbd7 8. Ne5 Nxe5 9. Bxe5) 8. O-O-O $6 (8. Ne5 $142) 8... b5 $1 9. Bd3 $17 a5 10. Ne5 Qb6 11. h4 h5 $6 12. Rdg1 $16 Ng4 $2 13. Nxg4 Bxg4 14. f3 Bc8 15. g4 hxg4 16. fxg4 (16. h5 $1 {is more natural and stronger}) 16... e5 $1 17. dxe5 Bxe5 18. h5 $1 Bxf4 19. exf4 Kg7 20. hxg6 $18 fxg6 21. Qh2 Qe3+ 22. Kb1 (22. Kd1) 22... Rg8 23. Re1 (23. Bxg6) 23... Qc5 24. Qh7+ (24. Bxg6) 24... Kf8 25. Bxg6 Bd7 26. Qf7# {Charles was the perfect gentleman after the game and asked me about White's plan which I confessed I had employed previously. He said that he ought to look into it.} 1-0