Dave Rumens

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Dave Rumens

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Mon Jul 17, 2017 10:24 pm

It was Bronstein who was fond of the occasional "long think" in the first couple of moves, that wasn't really a Tal sort of thing. Though IIRC it was Samisch who sat cogitating for an hour after being faced with 1d4, and *eventually* came up with the highly original 1....Nf6 :lol:
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)

David Mabbs
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Re: Dave Rumens

Post by David Mabbs » Tue Jul 18, 2017 11:04 am

Adding a little more information about the East Ham Town Hall story - there were several hundred people trying to sleep on that floor that night, mostly exhausted people. But there was so much background noise, and comings and goings, that sleep was highly sporadic. Everybody left together the following morning.

(I'll complete the story in a day or two.)

Stewart Reuben
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Re: Dave Rumens

Post by Stewart Reuben » Tue Jul 18, 2017 11:38 am

Reg. The GM who thought for 50 minutes over his first move, possibly with Black, was David Bronstein. That would not have been typical of Tal!
I expect Dave thought, 'What a palooka!' he often used that expression, rather than the more common 'patzer'. I finally looked it up on Chambers online. It is North American slang for one guilty of stupid behavior.

In my obituary, I should have added: 'One cannot help speculating how his play would have been affected, if he had been dissuaded from moving his f pawn early in the game'.

Paul Habershon
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Re: Dave Rumens

Post by Paul Habershon » Tue Jul 18, 2017 1:46 pm

Stewart Reuben writes: In my obituary, I should have added: 'One cannot help speculating how his play would have been affected, if he had been dissuaded from moving his f pawn early in the game'.

Haven't checked, but I think in Matthew Sadler's '60 seconds with....' interview in 'Chess' magazine he cites not moving the f pawn early in the game as his main advice for the club player.

NickFaulks
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Re: Dave Rumens

Post by NickFaulks » Tue Jul 18, 2017 2:05 pm

I never realised Matthew was such a spoilsport!

Seriously, the answer to the question of Rumens and his f-pawn, as with Mike Basman and his g-pawn, must be "but then he wouldn't have been Dave Rumens".
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Gordon Cadden
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Re: Dave Rumens

Post by Gordon Cadden » Tue Jul 18, 2017 7:23 pm

Dave kept 1. f4 for the palookas. It was his favourite opening for demolishing the weaker players.

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Rejean Dupuis
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Re: Dave Rumens

Post by Rejean Dupuis » Tue Jul 18, 2017 11:25 pm

David was with us the night before he was rushed to the hospital. He had been ill the last few weeks with some ear problems but was assuring us that evening that he was starting to feel better.

He passed on his love for chess to my son who said to me recently "no matter what, David will always be my best chess coach ever". I take some small solace in the fact that until the end he was doing something he was passionate about and took joy in doing it. He had always been very generous with his time and expertise to help my son get confident and do his best. I can't imagine a better tutor. His enthusiasm and dedication will be missed. Last summer, he came with us to the Gigafinals, and then travelled daily from London to the British Championship in Bournemouth to coach my son. He was planning to come to the Gigafinals next weekend and Llandudno after that. His absence will be sorely felt.

I will miss our conversations ranging from cosmology, chess, religion to extraterrestrial life. Each time we met he had new science books to discuss with me, and new chess games to study with my son.

RIP David.

Here is a picture of him in the final game of the Youth World Chess Championships in Munchenstein in 1959:
http://bit.ly/2uGbGQi

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Dave Rumens

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Wed Jul 19, 2017 1:03 pm

It appears that Rumens has no Wikipedia article (his ex-wife does, but he isn't even mentioned there)

Maybe something should be suggested?
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)

E Michael White
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Re: Dave Rumens

Post by E Michael White » Thu Jul 20, 2017 2:51 pm

Gordon Cadden wrote:
Roger de Coverly wrote:
Gordon Cadden wrote:They knew the theoretical lines of play, and had no fear of Rumens aggressive style over the board.
There are a few examples where they came unstuck.

This may be one of the better known ones. The positions reached in this game hadn't been seen before and haven't been seen since.

7. ..., Qd7 was a serious blunder by Murray. Doubt if he published this game in the BCM.
David Rumens did well to find 15.Qd2. My computer has to analyse 21 deep before realising its the only winning move for White.

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Dave Rumens

Post by Roger de Coverly » Thu Jul 20, 2017 4:30 pm

E Michael White wrote: David Rumens did well to find 15.Qd2. My computer has to analyse 21 deep before realising its the only winning move for White.
See a check, play a check. Proving that it wins is another matter.

Gordon Cadden
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Re: Dave Rumens

Post by Gordon Cadden » Sun Jul 23, 2017 11:09 am

Rejean Dupuis wrote:David was with us the night before he was rushed to the hospital. He had been ill the last few weeks with some ear problems but was assuring us that evening that he was starting to feel better.

He passed on his love for chess to my son who said to me recently "no matter what, David will always be my best chess coach ever". I take some small solace in the fact that until the end he was doing something he was passionate about and took joy in doing it. He had always been very generous with his time and expertise to help my son get confident and do his best. I can't imagine a better tutor. His enthusiasm and dedication will be missed. Last summer, he came with us to the Gigafinals, and then travelled daily from London to the British Championship in Bournemouth to coach my son. He was planning to come to the Gigafinals next weekend and Llandudno after that. His absence will be sorely felt.

I will miss our conversations ranging from cosmology, chess, religion to extraterrestrial life. Each time we met he had new science books to discuss with me, and new chess games to study with my son.

RIP David.

Here is a picture of him in the final game of the Youth World Chess Championships in Munchenstein in 1959:
http://bit.ly/2uGbGQi
Very surprised to see the date 1st. January, 1955 on the above picture. Perhaps David Mabbs could shed some light on when Dave Rumens actually joined the Cedars Club.

David Mabbs
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Re: Dave Rumens

Post by David Mabbs » Sun Jul 23, 2017 4:42 pm

The photograph of Dave Rumens playing Bielicki is indeed from the World Junior Championship in 1959 - (I cannot explain the bye-line referencing January 1955.)

Dave Rumens was a member of Cedars Chess Club more or less from its outset. Cedars evolved from the grandiosely-named Carmelite Chess Club, which played on front door-steps in Carmelite Road. Dave Levens (10) owned the chess set; David Mabbs (9) was his original trainee and usual opponent. Dave Rumens met David Mabbs when both were train-spotting aged about 12 or 13. (Dave Rumens had been taught chess by his father Archibald.) A shared love of chess would draw Dave into the circle. Carmelite Road was on the Cedars Estate, a post-war overspill Council estate ... and a Cedars Community Association was formed. In due course its secretary, A J Bailey, offered to incorporate the Carmelite Chess Club as a section of the Association: this brought us a club-room, sets and clocks. (Mr Bailey claimed to have once played Sir G A Thomas.)

We lads gradually became more proficient and more ambitious, and became regulars at the long-established Harrow Chess Club. We owe much to Harrow, but - perhaps for good reasons - they did not offer us league team places as often or as high as we coveted. This sparked a turning point. Cedars Chess Club transformed from a social get-together into a fighting force. In three seasons it swept through the lower divisions of the London League, and it first topped the Middlesex League in 1958-9. In the new incarnation, as a successful chess club comprising mainly teenage players, it caught the imagination of many juniors from far and wide, who flocked to join.

There had been nothing quite like it. Elsewhere, look-alike clubs sprang up. And then, in a few short years, the original objectives had been achieved and we were now old men (in our early twenties) and by and large we all went our separate ways. By the mid-1960s, after a whirlwind ten or so seasons, Cedars dropped into obscurity if not oblivion. Most of us kept in a degree of contact with one another, and early this century we actually held a reunion.

I'll try to upload one or two photos.

David Mabbs
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Re: Dave Rumens

Post by David Mabbs » Sun Jul 23, 2017 4:57 pm

The jpg-files that I wanted to post are both "too big". Sorry. This smaller one was accepted. It was taken at Olympia in late 1958 (or just possibly early in 1959).
Olympia.jpg
Olympia.jpg (810.93 KiB) Viewed 2363 times
I am at the far right, in play (my wink can be seen in flight) and Dave, of course, is on my immediate left. Everything that we touched had to be competitive. I remember, when I first met Dave, he and Brian Tysoe had taken Subbuteo to amazing lengths. Dave was Newcastle United, Brian was Arsenal, and they kept records not only of their match results, but also of how their individual team members had performed. They were highly-skilled, and made minced meat of me. Of course, chess quickly superseded football.

Stewart Reuben
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Re: Dave Rumens

Post by Stewart Reuben » Sun Jul 23, 2017 5:12 pm

David
Who was the third person in the photo? I know I was there, but I didn't appear in the photo that was published in Chess.
The two chilren in the ptoto may have had nothing to do with chess.
I think the Daily Mail Boys and Girls exhibition was always held later in the year, possibly during the summer holidays.

David Mabbs
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Re: Dave Rumens

Post by David Mabbs » Sun Jul 23, 2017 5:23 pm

In response to Stewart Reuben. Sorry, I don't know the other identities. But I do know that the date was after mid-August in 1958, because of something very silly that happened. There was a celebrity autograph stand, that attracted hourly queues for each celebrity in turn. When a particular celebrity failed to arrive, the organisers - in what must have been sheer blind panic - could do no better than substitute - wait for it - "the British Boys' Chess Champion" ! It was quite a giggle, really ... but I occasionally wonder what on earth the customers ever made, in later years, of my squiggle alongside proper celebrities !

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