Past recollection a split topic

Historical knowledge and information regarding our great game.
J T Melsom
Posts: 1294
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:12 pm

Past recollection a split topic

Post by J T Melsom » Thu Jan 10, 2019 11:29 pm

And also at Imperial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Buzzard. I played in the same teams as Kevin at school, Roger (d C) will remember his father who played for Bourne End.

J T Melsom
Posts: 1294
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:12 pm

Re: Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer

Post by J T Melsom » Thu Jan 10, 2019 11:39 pm

And then there is this chap last seen turning out for Oxfordshire against Bucks in a Chiltern League match. Professor Leigh tried in between school and university to establish a new club Beaconsfield in the Bucks league. https://www.classics.ox.ac.uk/people/pr ... thew-leigh. But we do probably need a separate thread out of respect to the deceased.

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

Re: Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer

Post by Roger de Coverly » Fri Jan 11, 2019 12:33 am

J T Melsom wrote:
Thu Jan 10, 2019 11:39 pm
But we do probably need a separate thread out of respect to the deceased.
Getting even more obscure, this guy recruited me for the school chess team.

https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/harold-tarrant

Mick Norris
Posts: 10329
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:12 am
Location: Bolton, Greater Manchester

Re: Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer

Post by Mick Norris » Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:16 am

There's also Chorlton's Ron Doney who had the misfortune to try and teach me Probability in 1983/4
Any postings on here represent my personal views

Nigel White
Posts: 126
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 4:22 pm

Re: Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer

Post by Nigel White » Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:28 am

Mick Norris wrote:
Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:16 am
There's also Chorlton's Ron Doney who had the misfortune to try and teach me Probability in 1983/4
A name from my past - he taught me in the 1970s.

Richard James
Posts: 1175
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:34 pm
Location: Twickenham

Re: Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer

Post by Richard James » Fri Jan 11, 2019 11:40 am

Nigel White wrote:
Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:28 am
Mick Norris wrote:
Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:16 am
There's also Chorlton's Ron Doney who had the misfortune to try and teach me Probability in 1983/4
A name from my past - he taught me in the 1970s.
And, 50 years or so ago, a member of Richmond & Twickenham Chess Club

Richard Thursby
Posts: 285
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:25 am
Location: origin + pathname + search + hash

Re: Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer

Post by Richard Thursby » Sat Jan 12, 2019 12:44 pm

J T Melsom wrote:
Thu Jan 10, 2019 11:29 pm
And also at Imperial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Buzzard. I played in the same teams as Kevin at school, Roger (d C) will remember his father who played for Bourne End.
Despite Kevin Buzzard teaching me most of what I ever knew about number theory, I never knew he had any chess interest, despite being at a school against which my own had a bit of a chess rivalry. There are two Buzzards in the ECF grading list whom I wonder might be related.

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

Re: Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sat Jan 12, 2019 2:00 pm

Richard Thursby wrote:
Sat Jan 12, 2019 12:44 pm
There are two Buzzards in the ECF grading list whom I wonder might be related.
Roger Buzzard died suddenly at a relatively young age. That might be approaching thirty years ago. I don't think his son played much after that,

AustinElliott
Posts: 662
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 11:01 pm
Location: North of England

Re: Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer

Post by AustinElliott » Sat Jan 12, 2019 8:51 pm

Richard James wrote:
Fri Jan 11, 2019 11:40 am
Nigel White wrote:
Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:28 am
Mick Norris wrote:
Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:16 am
There's also Chorlton's Ron Doney who had the misfortune to try and teach me Probability in 1983/4
A name from my past - he taught me in the 1970s.
And, 50 years or so ago, a member of Richmond & Twickenham Chess Club
Ron was a maths Lecturer at Imperial College in the late 60s/early 70s before he moved to M'cr Univ, so I guess that was when he played for Richmond & Twickenham. I think Ron is probably approaching 80 now, if not already there, but he is still a regular for the Chorlton 1st team.

On chess-playing Professors, the most obvious among living British players, as Richard Thursby already mentioned en passant, is Jonathan Mestel, who is a full Prof of Maths at Imperial. Among those no longer with us, another we've discussed on the forum previously was Sir John 'Kappa' Cornforth, who belongs to an even more select group of chess playing Profs who won the Nobel Prize. In fact, I can't immediately think of any other British ones in this latter group. Chess-playing mathematicians who won the Fields Medal might be comparable, if anyone knows any.

Re. Prof Swinnerton-Dyer, his name is obviously very familiar to people like me who worked in the Univs in the late 80s /early 90s from his time chairing the University Grants Committee, but I hadn't realised he was such a distinguished mathematician.

User avatar
John Clarke
Posts: 711
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:07 pm

Re: Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer

Post by John Clarke » Sat Jan 12, 2019 10:05 pm

Jeff Webb of Glasgow University - most likely now retired, and certainly no longer active at chess - played to a 190-plus standard. He was completing a PhD or holding a post-doc fellowship (not sure which) when we played together for Sussex U at the 1970 BUCA teams event.
"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.)

Ian Thompson
Posts: 3551
Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:31 pm
Location: Awbridge, Hampshire

Re: Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer

Post by Ian Thompson » Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:03 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Sat Jan 12, 2019 2:00 pm
The 4NCL anti-cheating arbiters had better monitor this forum in the future! :lol:
4NCL.JPG
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Alex McFarlane
Posts: 1757
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2008 8:52 pm

Re: Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer

Post by Alex McFarlane » Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:18 pm

John Clarke wrote:
Sat Jan 12, 2019 10:05 pm
Jeff Webb of Glasgow University - most likely now retired, and certainly no longer active at chess
He is still playing. He plays for Bearsden in the Glasgow league.

Leonard Barden
Posts: 1857
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 11:21 am

Re: Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer

Post by Leonard Barden » Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:46 pm

AustinElliott wrote:
Sat Jan 12, 2019 8:51 pm
an even more select group of chess playing Profs who won the Nobel Prize. In fact, I can't immediately think of any other British ones in this latter group.
Sir Robert Robinson FRS won the 1947 Nobel prize for chemistry. He held posts as a Professor at Sydney, Manchester, London and Oxford Universities. He was President of the BCF from 1950 to 1953, played in the famous wartime match Oxford University v Bletchley Park. played also in the Oxfordshire team which won the county championship final against Middlesex in 1952, and appeared in two photos in this CHESS article alongside competitors in the 1951 Commonwealth championship.
www.chessscotland.com/documents/history/1951oxford.htm

Leonard Barden
Posts: 1857
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 11:21 am

Re: Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer

Post by Leonard Barden » Sun Jan 13, 2019 12:05 am

Not a Nobel prizewinner, but Oliver Penrose, survivor from the first swiss system British Championship at Felixstowe 1949 and first British Universities champion in 1950, is an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. His father (and father of Jonathan Penrose) Lionel Penrose was Professor of Eugenics at University College, London.

User avatar
John Clarke
Posts: 711
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:07 pm

Other B

Post by John Clarke » Sun Jan 13, 2019 12:41 am

Alex McFarlane wrote:
Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:18 pm
John Clarke wrote:
Sat Jan 12, 2019 10:05 pm
Jeff Webb of Glasgow University - most likely now retired, and certainly no longer active at chess
He is still playing. He plays for Bearsden in the Glasgow league.
Is that right? He doesn't feature at all in the ECF Grading site (which has numerous long-retired and even deceased players). A very recent return to the fray?

Additional note (several hours later): just realised any Scot reading the above is going to be ROTFLHAO. Of course their players aren't going to feature on the ECF grading list!!
Last edited by John Clarke on Sun Jan 13, 2019 11:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
"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.)