Mr. N.O. Body in Liverpool 1923

[Geoff Chandler]

This cross table is from Edward Winters Site.


"N.O.Bodey" was an amateur player who wished to be anonymous. The organisers agreed.
Apart from speculating as to the reason I was wondering if this would be allowed today in an OTB event.
I doubt it but what would be a valid reason if the organisers were positive the player concerned was not a strong player trying to enter a low rated event to clean up.

N O Bodey - Francis Percival Wenman, Major tournament, Liverpool, 1923
(the PGN won't work because I messed it up used 'pos' instead of 'pgn' see below Mick's posts below)

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Bd3 Bxd3 5. Qxd3 Qb6 6. Nf3 Qa6 7. Qf5 e6 8. Qg4 Nd7 9. Nc3 c5 10. Be3 cxd4 11. Bxd4 Rc8 12. Nd2 Nh6 13. Qf4 Nf5 14. g4 g5 15. Qxg5 Bh6 16. Qh5 Nxd4 17. Qxh6 Rxc3 18. O-O-O Qxa2 0-1

[Kevin Thurlow]

"I was wondering if this would be allowed today in an OTB event."

ECF would want a membership fee for a start.

[Paul Cooksey]

Has Sue Dunham paid up?

[NickFaulks]

what would be a valid reason if the organisers were positive the player concerned was not a strong player trying to enter a low rated event to clean up.

Because it's just wrong.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Nick,

I was just wondering why the 1923 organisers allowed this. A famous person, a member of the royal family or a top politician and they did not want to place covered by security men... Strange request, even stranger that it was allowed.

[Roland Kensdale]

In the opening post, think Geoff forgot to put the game score along with the diagram and player details.

One danger of allowing this is that N.E. Bodey would then expect to be allowed to play, and before long F.R.E. Bodey would expect the same rights.

(Black in that game was a Scottish Champion and sometime plagiarist.)

[Mick Norris]

[Event "Major tournament"] [Site "Liverpool ENG"] [Date "1923.04.??"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "?"] [Result "0-1"] [White "N O Bodey"] [Black "Francis Percival Wenman"] [ECO "B12"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [Source "'Hastings 1922/3 Margate 1923 Liverpool 1923', A Gillam, p.54 / C.N. 9881"] [PlyCount "36"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Bd3 Bxd3 5. Qxd3 Qb6 6. Nf3 Qa6 7. Qf5 e6 8. Qg4 Nd7 9. Nc3 c5 10. Be3 cxd4 11. Bxd4 Rc8 12. Nd2 Nh6 13. Qf4 Nf5 14. g4 g5 15. Qxg5 Bh6 16. Qh5 Nxd4 17. Qxh6 Rxc3 18. O-O-O Qxa2

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Rolad,

" think Geoff forgot to put the game score..."

The score is there but in error I used the position markers instead of PGN.
Thank you Mick for correcting it, I'll leave my mistake uncorrected for posterity.

The full report on Mr.Winter's site is here: chess note No.9881.
https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter141.html

[Roland Kensdale]

Idle speculation as we will never know:

Why Bodey and not just 'NO Body' or anon. etc.

Did the player choose an anagram of his name? Some descendant of Samuel Boden? Someone who was worried they would score badly and preferred to remain anonymous? Someone getting on in years?

Demolished efficiently by Wenman but scored quite well.

[Geoff Chandler]

Idle speculation as we will never know:

I'm thinking the others players must have known who it was and had explained to them by the organisers why the player wished to remain anonymous.

How about a German ex-pow from WWI who did not wish others to know he had survived the war.
Maybe a Russian in hiding, it was about then after the revolution The Soviet Union came into existence (December 1922) were they not rounding up those against the uprising. (one of the Romanov's!)

Is there a phobia about seeing your own name in print? (There is bound to be. All I know is that me and Roger do not suffer from it. I'll never catch him up on his number of posts.)

[John Saunders]

There are a few other examples of people using pseudonyms to take part in British tournaments back in the day. Two Dutch players, Abraham Speijer and M Hes, chose English names for themselves when they played in the Major Open (1912) and various Hastings subsidiary events (1930s) respectively. Speijer was "Mr A Green" while M Hes chose "E A Morrison". I think there were other examples, including at least one where I've not been able to discover the player's true identity. A browse through BritBase might discover some that I've forgotten. I imagine the organisers were tolerant of such things if they were aware of the pseudonymous player's true identity and satisfied it wasn't being done to win prizes or any other benefits to which the player would not otherwise have been entitled. In the modern era ratings are an additional issue making it unthinkable. That said, it has been mentioned here before how a 1960s/1970s player B F O'Sullivan used to play games under the pseudonym E Navilluso and I presume these were graded.

[Leonard Barden]

Lodewijk Prins competed in the Premier Reserves Major (later renamed the Challengers) at Hastings 1949-50 under the pseudonym 'L Smith'. I forget the exact reason, but think it was some kind of protest about not being invited to the Premier. I asked him what the L stood for and he said 'Len'.

I remember it well because although Smith/Prins only scored 4/9, he played to his real strength against me and bamboozled me right at the start with 1 e4 e6 2 b3, following up with Qe2, long castling, and g2-g4.

[Brian Denman]

Brian Hare became Ben Shannon in the 1980s. I wrote his obituary in the English Chess Forum a few years ago.

[SeanCoffey]

"C. Hess" is another example from BritBase: https://saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/19300 ... iewer.html (Major A).

Pseudonyms were probably intended to conceal participation from the outside world in many cases. For example, national newspapers carried daily round reports of the Irish Championship in 1972, including results of "J. Smith". At the event itself, he played under his real name, Colm Egan, as attested by the scoresheets (which survive).

With a similar motivation, it has been known for player names to be given in Irish. Newspaper reports on the Irish Championship in 1979 included the results of the previously unknown "Seosamh O Nuadhain". One newspaper slipped up in reporting that Joe Noone had finished "a popular third place", which I've heard came as a surprise to his employer, Joe having taken leave from work for some other reason.