Britbase Updates

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

I remembered Adam Griffiths. Is Allan a correct spelling anyways?

That's interesting, James, because an Adam Jefferson Griffiths died in 1986. His date of birth was 10th June, 1961, and his probate gives his date of death as 9th February, 1986, and his address as 5 Glen Eyre Road, Southampton (though his death was registered in the Kensington and Chelsea registration district).

This obituary of Adam Griffiths' father, Hubert Brian Griffiths, mentions that Adam had cystic fibrosis, which would explain the terrible coughing that Nick Ivell commented on.
https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/O ... _Guardian/

[John Saunders]

Thanks, Jon. I buy into the Adam Jefferson Griffiths identification, having seen the above and then found a reference to Adam Griffiths (Southampton) being an ex-Hampshire U16 Champion and playing in the 1976 BCF Congress in a regional newspaper (Liverpool Echo, 12 August 1976). I've made the necessary BritBase updates. Thanks also to James for raising the query.

[Gerard Killoran]

The unlucky player of the White pieces missed a couple of wins against a highly regarded opponent.

R. T. R. Sergeant was a senior member of Edinburgh Chess Club and sadly died in 1962 at the age of 86, after being knocked down by a taxi.


[Event "BCF 15th First Class A"] [Site "London"] [Date "1922.08.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Sergeant, Robert Thomas Riley"] [Black "Muffang, André"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C50"] [Opening "Bishop's opening: King's pawn game"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bb5 exd4 7. Nxd4 Bd7 8. Re1 Nxd4 9. Bxd7+ Qxd7 10. Qxd4 Be7 11. c4 Nf6 12. Nc3 c5 13. Qxc5 dxc4 14. Bg5 Kf8 15. Qxc4 h6 16. Bh4 Rc8 17. Qb3 b6 18. Rad1 Qb7 19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Nd5 Rc5 21. Qf3 Qc6 22. Qf4 Kg8 23. Qe4 a5 24. h3 g6 25. Qf3 Bd8 26. Re7 Rh7 27. Nf6+ Kg7 28. Rxd8 Qxf3 29. gxf3 Kxf6 30. Red7 Rc1+ 31. Kg2 Rc2 32. Rd6+ {Exeter and Plymouth Gazette - Thursday 26 October 1922 p.3} 1/2-1/2

[GrahamStuart]

Thanks, Jon. I buy into the Adam Jefferson Griffiths identification, having seen the above and then found a reference to Adam Griffiths (Southampton) being an ex-Hampshire U16 Champion and playing in the 1976 BCF Congress in a regional newspaper (Liverpool Echo, 12 August 1976). I've made the necessary BritBase updates. Thanks also to James for raising the query.

Thanks for the info on the Hampshire U16 champion as a number of these are detailed in the AGM minutes in the 1970's, but not every year. Adam Griffiths must have been one of the years not mentioned. There used to be some trophies for the Hampshire Juniors, but these are not in the HCA's hands anymore. I think some may have gone to the HJCA but probably not these ones. These trophies would have all the details?

I will put a list together of the ones I know sometime, but the scanned minutes do detail some e.g.
1974 U16 & 18 Paul Hackman. States that U16 was already in his possession, so he may have won in 1973? 1975 had no info, which may be when Adam Griffiths won his title?
1976 was MR Charter.

I also need to double check the scans I added to the website for the 75/76 championship as the U16 champion was probably the highest finishing player in the U18 who was U16. The U14 had separate tournaments for both boys and girls.

https://hampshirechesshistory.co.uk/wp- ... 85-all.pdf

[Kevin Thurlow]

"1976 was MR Charter."

I assume that's Mark Charter, later of Civil Service?

[James Pratt]

Hackman turned up playing for Andover about 10 years ago. I only played once in Terry Hollington's junior events, in 1975, when Carey Groves and Jane Seymour played in the same event at Southampton Uni. There was no separate U16s or Girls' trophy or prizes. Glenn Lambert did the adjudications which dates it charmingly.
James

[John Saunders]

The unlucky player of the White pieces missed a couple of wins against a highly regarded opponent.

R. T. R. Sergeant was a senior member of Edinburgh Chess Club and sadly died in 1962 at the age of 86, after being knocked down by a taxi.

Thanks for the game, Gerard. I had some difficulty finding R T R S's name in statutory records but it turns out the usual spelling of his surname was Serjeant, under which name his birth, marriage, death and census records may be found. His work took him round the country: he seems to have been active in chess in Newcastle before going north of the border permanently in the 1920s. The Newcastle Chronicle for 16 July 1904 has an image of him with a splendid Kitchener moustache and a potted account of his chess background, and there are various game scores involving him to be found in this and other regional papers. I'm glad he spelled his name Serjeant as at least it means there should be less likelihood of his being confused with Messrs E G and PW Sergeant (although the 1922 BCM managed to do so, rendering his name as 'R Sergeant' in the tournament crosstable).

An unrelated minor point: when adding games to BritBase, I remove all diacritics (e.g. Andre Muffang rather than André Muffang). Though I think reasonably up-to-date versions of ChessBase can cope successfully with diacritics, earlier versions struggled, with the result that the player index could be seriously fouled up. So, for the benefit of anyone who still uses elderly versions of the CB software, I leave them out.

[Gerard Killoran]

An unrelated minor point: when adding games to BritBase, I remove all diacritics (e.g. Andre Muffang rather than André Muffang). Though I think reasonably up-to-date versions of ChessBase can cope successfully with diacritics, earlier versions struggled, with the result that the player index could be seriously fouled up. So, for the benefit of anyone who still uses elderly versions of the CB software, I leave them out.

Touché

[John Saunders]

Can anyone help reconstruct this score? From a David Mabbs scorebook...

1973-suradiraja-mabbs.jpg (192.16 KiB) Viewed 1517 times

Here's my very rough first take, but it is obvious that there's something wrong somewhere.

[Event "Hastings Challengers 1973/74"] [Site "Hastings"] [Date "1973.12.30"] [Round "4"] [White "Suradiradja, Herman"] [Black "Mabbs, David J"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C69"] [PlyCount "107"] [EventDate "1973.12.27"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "10"] [EventCountry "ENG"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O f6 6. d4 exd4 7. Nxd4 Ne7 8. Be3 Ng6 9. Nd2 Qe7 10. Nf5 Qf7 11. Nb3 b6 12. Re1 c5 13. Qd2 Bb7 14. Rad1 Ne5 15. Bf4 g6 16. Bxe5 fxe5 17. Ne3 Bg7 18. f3 h5 19. Qc3 O-O 20. Qc4 Rad8 21. Qxf7+ Kxf7 22. Nc1 Ke6 23. b3 Bc6 24. Rxd8 Rxd8 25. Nd3 Bb5 26. Rd1 Bxd3 27. Rxd3 Rd4 28. Nd5 Kd6 29. Kf2 b5 30. Ke2 c6 31. Ne3 Bh6 32. c3 Rxd3 33. Kxd3 a5 34. c4 {From around here, the score looks suspect. For the record, the moves recorded are 34...P-QR5 35 P-KN3 K-K3 36 N-N2 P-N4 37 PxNP RPxP 38 N-K3 K-B3 39 N-B5 B-B1 40 K-K3 K-K3 41 P-B4 P-KN5 42 P-KR3 PxRP 43 K-B2 K-Q2 44 K-N1 K-B2 45 K-R2 K-N3 46 PxP K-R4 47 P-K6 K-N5 48 PxP PxP 49 P-K7 BxP 50 NxB KxP 51 P-K5 P-N5 52 P-K6 P-B5 53 N-B6 P-B6 54 P-K7 1-0. What follows is no more than the bare bones of the later play which might aid a more precise reconstruction. JS} a4 35. g3 Ke6 36. Ng2 g5 37. cxb5 cxb5 38. Ne3 Kf6 39. Nf5 Bf8 40. Ke3 Ke6 41. f4 g4 42. h3 gxh3 43. Kf2 Kd7 44. Kg1 Kc7 45. Kh2 Kb6 46. fxe5 Ka5 47. e6 Kb4 48. bxa4 Kxa4 49. e7 Bxe7 50. Nxe7 Ka3 51. e5 b4 52. e6 c4 53. Nc6 c3 54. e7 {Source: David Mabbs} 1-0

[John Saunders]

Here's another tough one. This one exhibits signs of what I call Eric Morecambe Syndrome - the right moves, but not necessarily in the right order...

1973-burnett-mabbs.jpg (178.81 KiB) Viewed 1496 times

... and my not very convincing first go at interpreting (at least it saves people having key in the earlier accurate moves)...

[Event "Central London Open 1st"] [Site "London, Mary Ward Centre"] [Date "1973.06.09"] [Round "3"] [White "Burnett, Leon P"] [Black "Mabbs, David J"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A20"] [WhiteElo "2152"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "1973.06.09"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "BritBase"] [Source "John Saunders"] [SourceDate "2024.03.28"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2024.03.28"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. c4 f5 2. g3 e5 3. d4 Bb4+ 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. dxe5 Nxe5 6. Qd4 d6 7. b3 Nf6 8. Bg2 O-O 9. Bb2 Re8 10. O-O-O Bc5 11. Qxc5 dxc5 12. Rxd8 Rxd8 13. Nb5 Neg4 14. Nxc7 Rb8 15. Nh3 h6 16. Nd5 Kf7 17. Nxf6 Nxf6 18. Nf4 Re8 19. Re1 b6 20. Nd3 Bb7 21. Ne5+ Ke6 22. f3 Bc8 23. Bh3 Kd6 24. Rd1+ Kc7 25. Rd2 Nd7 26. Nxd7 Bxd7 27. Bxg7 h5 28. Bh6 Rb7 29. e4 Kc8 {There are problems with the rest of the score which may have been a reconstruction after a time scramble. For the record it continues 30 K-N2 (which I don't believe) P-R4 31 B-B4 P-QR5 32 PxP R-QR2 33 P-R3 R-K1 (it's already on that square) 34 P-N4 RxRP 35 B-B1 P-N4 36 B-Q6 R-K8 37 B-K2 PxNP 38 B-B5 PxP 39 PxP P-B6ch 40 KxP RxP 41 B-R6 K-B2 42 B-N4 R-N5 43 P-B6 B-K3 44 K-N2 R-R5 45 B-B5 K-B3 46 R-B2ch K-Q3 47 BxR 1-0. My very rough interpretation of what might have happened follows... (JS)} ({Or maybe here} 29... Re6 30. Bf4+ Kc8 31. exf5 Re1+ 32. Kb2 a5 33. g4 Re8 34. Bf1 a4 35. h3 Ra7 36. bxa4 Rxa4 37. a3 b5 38. Bd6 Re1 39. Be2 bxc4 40. Bxc5 Rh1 {, etc}) 30. exf5 a5 31. Bf4 a4 32. bxa4 Ra7 33. a3 Rf8 34. g4 Rxa4 35. Kb2 b5 36. Bd6 Re8 37. Bf1 bxc4 38. Bxc5 hxg4 39. fxg4 c3+ 40. Kxc3 Rxg4 41. Ba6+ Kc7 42. f6 { Source: David Mabbs} 1-0

This is the 2nd of three. One more to come.

[John Saunders]

The third of three - the last (for now)...

1973-mabbs-welsh.jpg (186.14 KiB) Viewed 1489 times

... and my early attempt at deciphering...

[Event "Central London Open 1st"] [Site "London, Mary Ward Centre"] [Date "1973.06.10"] [Round "5"] [White "Mabbs, David J"] [Black "Welsh, TD"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A43"] [BlackElo "1880"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "1973.06.09"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "BritBase"] [Source "John Saunders"] [SourceDate "2024.03.28"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2024.03.28"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. d5 g6 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 Bg7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. O-O Na6 8. Bf4 Nc7 9. a4 a6 10. Nd2 Bd7 11. Re1 b5 12. Qc1 Rb8 13. axb5 axb5 14. Nd1 Ng4 15. Bg3 e5 16. Bxg4 Bxg4 17. Ne3 Bd7 18. f3 f5 19. Bf2 f4 20. Nef1 g5 21. g4 h5 22. h3 hxg4 23. fxg4 Qf6 24. Ra3 Kf7 25. Nh2 Rh8 26. Kg2 Kg6 27. Ndf3 Ra8 28. Rxa8 Rxa8 29. c3 Qd8 30. Qc2 Ra2 {Around here the score seems to go wrong. For the record it reads: 31 R-QN1 Q-QR1 32 N-Q2 K-R3 33 N-KB3 (ambiguous) P-B5 34 R-KR1 Q-QB1 35 Q-N1 K-N3 (leaves a rook en prise so something must be wrong with the score) 36 P-KR4 BxP 37 NxNP K-R4 38 B-N6 N-R3 39 K-R2 N-B4 40 N-B7 N-Q6 41 NxQP Q-KB1 42 N-B5 R-R7 43 QxBch KxQ 44 R-N1ch K-R4 45 R-N5 mate. My free interpretation of this is as follows... (JS)} 31. Qb1 {(This has to replace Rb1 given in the score in order to get the queen over to g1 in order to make the tactical finish work)} Qa8 32. Nd2 Kh6 33. Nhf3 c4 34. Rh1 Ra4 ( 34... Qc8 {is the move in the score and tallies better with what follows - but that's a whole rook en prise. The rest of my reconstruction sacrifices good sense in favour of making the final combination work! JS}) 35. Qg1 Kg6 36. h4 Bxg4 37. Nxg5 Kh5 38. Bb6 Na6 39. Kh2 Nc5 40. Nf7 Nd3 41. Nxd6 Qf8 42. Nf5 Ra2 43. Qxg4+ Kxg4 44. Rg1+ Kh5 45. Rg5# {Source: David Mabbs. Results (BCM, July 1973, p285) (1-9) GH Bennett, PV Byway, A Helman (ISR), GH James, M Macdonald-Ross, D Parr, A Pope (AUS), M W J Thompson, D Wright 4/5 (69 competitors)} 1-0

My thanks in advance to anyone attempting to figure these scores out. I've also notified David himself to see if he can help.

An aside: I often find it easier to work from original scoresheets rather than neat copies entered into scorebooks. Time trouble is nearly always visible in the handwriting and gives you an idea when the score starts to go awry. Also, crossings out, moves written over dashes made in lieu of moves, etc - all of it helps the chess detective (so long as it is still legible). When entering games into scorebooks, it is not good practice simply to copy the moves from the original score without first checking them through on a board or screen.

Final question - anyone know forename(s) for TD Welsh? I'm hoping Roger de Coverly may know as I think TD Welsh was a contemporary of his at Cambridge. EDIT: Roger did know - he is Thomas D Welsh.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"When entering games into scorebooks, it is not good practice simply to copy the moves from the original score without first checking them through on a board or screen."

Yes - I put games on Chessbase first, correcting errors en route, then copy games from Chessbase into scorebooks (for proper games) and scorepads (for CC/RP etc.).

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

I used to throw my scoresheets straight in the bin as soon as the match was finished. I've never played a game worth keeping for posterity.

[Ian Thompson]

Yes - I put games on Chessbase first, correcting errors en route, then copy games from Chessbase into scorebooks (for proper games) and scorepads (for CC/RP etc.).

If it's a game of mine that's been published online, I always copy my version of the game and the online version of the game into a single database and double check the database to check for discrepancies between the two before I dispose of my scoresheet. It's usually the online version of the game that's wrong when there are discrepancies, but occasionally it's me that's made a mistake.

If the game's not available online I'll also keep the scoresheet until I've analysed the game with an engine. If that reveals any really bad moves I'll check the ChessBase version of the game against the scoresheet. Regrettably, when that happens, what I've entered in Chessbase is usually correct.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Can anyone help reconstruct this score? From a David Mabbs scorebook...

In the final position, doesn't Black at least have drawing chances after 54....c2?

Which makes me wonder if something was missed somewhere.