3rd World Student Team Chess Championship: Uppsala 1956

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Details of this tournament (3rd World Student Team Chess Championship: Uppsala 1956) are here, courtesy of Olimpbase:

https://www.olimpbase.org/1956y/1956in.html

The booklet I recently acquired on this event gives some lovely games, and a lovely vignette of up-and-coming Soviet stars (and other soon-to-be-famous names). I think most of the games in the booklet are already in the PGN file at Olimpbase, and while that contains only around 15% of all the games, this is still more than the booklet (not sure where the other games are sourced from - presumably another, similar, publication).

Has any interest been shown in collecting together games played by England players in such events? I presume the Olympiad games of England players are reasonably well covered alteady, but maybe not international student events like these? How well known are the England players from this event?

Persitz, Raaphi
Martin, E.
Gibbs, Peter Campbell
Streater, R. F.

Anyone have further details on these players?

[I was going to look up more on them, but ran out of time, maybe more later.]

Slightly more: I am familiar with Persitz.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raaphi_Persitz

For Peter Campbell Gibbs, there are some details here:

https://mannchess.org.uk/YNotices/2017- ... etires.htm

R.F. Streater is here (Raymond Frederick Streater, British physicist):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Streater

Not sure who E. Martin is? Anyone?

[Mick Norris]

REMEMBERING RAAPHY PERSITZ (26-VII-1934 04-II-2009) from BCN

[Kevin Thurlow]

I played Streater in 1983 probably in the London League, but had no idea he was so eminent.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

It is interesting to see examples of chess players becoming, as Kevin puts it, "eminent" (and also those who do not, as drawing such a distinction is not always useful or sensible).

I have been randomly trying to find more about some of the more obscure student players for England from the 1950s and 1960s, and it is heartening to see some playing in the Seniors events. Some of the names are too common to be able to track down any later exploits.

I am wondering if the David Graham Wells who played in the 9th World Student Team Chess Championship: Mariánské Lázně 1962 is the British mathematician and author born in 1940, detail at the link below?

https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107868853

The name is so common it is difficult to tell, but the birth year would be possibly about right.

I think the James Edward Scholes that played in the 11th World Student Team Chess Championship: Cracow 1964, is the same player who played in the World Seniors in 2017, and who was at one point Mayor of Tunbridge Wells? But possibly not.

https://tunbridgewells.gov.uk/council/c ... ast-mayors

I had expected to find out more about the easily searchable Walid E. Poutrus, but drew a blank there.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"I think the James Edward Scholes that played in the 11th World Student Team Chess Championship: Cracow 1964, is the same player who played in the World Seniors in 2017, and who was at one point Mayor of Tunbridge Wells? But possibly not."

He may well have been a mayor - he certainly acted like it when I encountered him at the European Team Seniors.

[Roger de Coverly]

I had expected to find out more about the easily searchable Walid E. Poutrus, but drew a blank there.

My memory suggests he was an Iranian studying at the University of London. Like Persitz, studying in England made him eligible for the England Student Team.

(edit) If you Google for Poutrus chess, you find a number of references to a presence in Middlesex and University chess in the mid to late 1960s. (/edit)

[Ian Thompson]

I think the James Edward Scholes that played in the 11th World Student Team Chess Championship: Cracow 1964, is the same player who played in the World Seniors in 2017, and who was at one point Mayor of Tunbridge Wells? But possibly not.

https://tunbridgewells.gov.uk/council/c ... ast-mayors

The James Scholes who played in the World Seniors in 2017 and the James Scholes who was Mayor of Tunbridge Wells are definitely the same person.

We were both members of Tunbridge Wells chess club for a year or two, after he resumed playing chess after a break and before I left the club to go to university.

He worked for Grieveson Grant in the 1970s and 1980s (at least). I don't know whether or not he had any involvement in that company sponsoring the British Championship at that time.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Thank you, Ian. Could I ask for a slight clarification on dates. Which years did you and Scholes overlap in Tunbridge Wells?

Some of these players in the early Student Worlds/Olympiads who played for England pop up as directors of companies, which does seem to indicate a degree of, er, something. I shouldn't dig too deeply, as the focus should really be on the chess, unless something particularly relevant comes up, such as the Grieveson Grant connection Ian pointed out.

I am still failing to find anything about "E. Martin" (and I don't expect to). A first name would help! He did play second board behind Persitz, so presumably was reasonably strong. Am wondering if the county chess records of the time might help?

As for David Graham Wells, there is more information scattered in the comments at chessgames.com:

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=47727

"David Wells born 1940 became British U21 Champion in 1961 in taking the title at Aberystwyth. He played for Cambridge University in the Varsity matches. I believe he [h]ails from Bristol."

"Quite a forgotten player. Yet he finished 5th= at the BCF Ch. of 1962, represented England at the Student Olympiad the same year, and had two promising results at Hastings: 1st at the Reserves B in 61/2 and 2nd at the Reserves A in 62/3."

It seems the mathematician and the chess player are the same person!

https://www.bol.com/nl/nl/b/boeken-over ... 378+24013/

David Wells was born in 1940. He had the rare distinction of being a Cambridge scholar in mathematics and failing his degree. He subsequently trained as a teacher and after working on computers and teaching machines taught mathematics and science in primary schools and mathematics in secondary schools. While at university he became the British under-21 chess champion, and in the mid 1970s was a game inventor, a puzzle composer, and the puzzle editor of Games and Puzzles magazine. From 1981 to 1983 he published The Problem Solver, a magazine of mathematical problems for students. He has published several books of problems and popular mathematics including The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry, The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Puzzles, The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Mathematics, and, also for Penguin, You Are a Mathematician.

He would be in his eighties now. I wonder if he is contactable via his book publishers?

[Mick Norris]

E Martin was board 3 in Oslo 1954 and board 2 in Reykjavík 1957

[Christopher Kreuzer]

E Martin was board 3 in Oslo 1954 and board 2 in Reykjavík 1957

It might be worth trying to contact his fellow team player from 1957, Denis John Pereira Gray (who should be fairly easy to get in touch with). I am going to try that, and hope he is amenable to such contact.

Does anyone know how the World Student Teams were selected in those days (presumably some details were given in CHESS)?

Or even Peter Campbell Gibbs? Would anyone from the Yorkshire Chess Association be able to get in touch with him (he retired as President of the Midland Counties Chess Union in 2017 at the age of 83, so would be about 89 now...).

[David McAlister]

E Martin was board 3 in Oslo 1954 and board 2 in Reykjavík 1957

It might be worth trying to contact his fellow team player from 1957, Denis John Pereira Gray (who should be fairly easy to get in touch with). I am going to try that, and hope he is amenable to such contact.

The report on Reykjavik 1957 in the BCM (pp 237-8) is by the England captain, G. J. Martin. So, it looks like there are two Martins.

[David McAlister]

E Martin was board 3 in Oslo 1954 and board 2 in Reykjavík 1957

It might be worth trying to contact his fellow team player from 1957, Denis John Pereira Gray (who should be fairly easy to get in touch with). I am going to try that, and hope he is amenable to such contact.

The report on Reykjavik 1957 in the BCM (pp 237-8) is by the England captain, G. J. Martin. So, it looks like there are two Martins - or perhaps "E." is incorrect .

[Christopher Kreuzer]

E Martin was board 3 in Oslo 1954 and board 2 in Reykjavík 1957

It might be worth trying to contact his fellow team player from 1957, Denis John Pereira Gray (who should be fairly easy to get in touch with). I am going to try that, and hope he is amenable to such contact.

The report on Reykjavik 1957 in the BCM (pp 237-8) is by the England captain, G. J. Martin. So, it looks like there are two Martins.

Thank you. I think that is Geoffrey J. Martin, who is famous for a record-breaking simultaneous display:

https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter47.html

C.N.s 5025 and 5028 asked for more information about an event described as follows on page 260 of An illustrated Dictionary of Chess by Edward R. Brace (London, 1977):

‘The greatest simultaneous display was undertaken by G.J. Martin in London in 1957. He played 142 opponents, defeating 130, drawing 11 and losing to one in less than four hours 40 minutes.’

Jonathan Manley (Oxford, England) now reports that earlier this month Professor Geoffrey J. Martin confirmed to him that Brace’s account was accurate, except that the display took place in December 1956.

Furthermore:

G.J. Martin is an old boy of the school, plays for Essex on a very high board, has qualified in three successive years for the British Championship and has represented a British Universities’ team at Oslo and Upsala.’

Is anyone thinking that "E. Martin" is a type somehow for G.J. Martin?

EDIT: I see David above is thinking the same thing. It looks very likely to me that they are the same!

[Mick Norris]

Peter Gibbs was connected with both Leics and Warks, so that's probably the place to start, failing which try Ray Collett or Ray Dolan from the MCCU

[David McAlister]

It might be worth trying to contact his fellow team player from 1957, Denis John Pereira Gray (who should be fairly easy to get in touch with). I am going to try that, and hope he is amenable to such contact.

The report on Reykjavik 1957 in the BCM (pp 237-8) is by the England captain, G. J. Martin. So, it looks like there are two Martins - or perhaps "E." is incorrect .

And on further checking I see G.J. Martin also did the report on Uppsala 1956 (BCM pp 132-4).

Edit: I now see that you had already replied to my earlier contribution and with an impressive flurry of information!