Games of Sir George Thomas

[Gerard Killoran]

Badminton player defeats tricycle racer.


[Event "23rd City of London Club Championship - Preliminary Section B"] [Site "London"] [Date "1912.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Thomas, George Alan"] [Black "Ward, William"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C14"] [Opening "French: classical, Alapin variation"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Nb5 Nb6 8. c3 a6 9. Na3 f6 10. exf6 gxf6 11. f4 Nc6 12. Qh5+ Qf7 13. Be2 O-O 14. Qh4 Kh8 15. Nh3 Bd7 16. O-O-O Ne7 17. g4 c5 18. Nc2 Rac8 19. Bd3 c4 20. Be2 Ba4 21. Rd2 Bxc2 22. Rxc2 Ng6 23. Qg3 Rg8 24. Re1 Rc6 25. Bd1 Nc8 26. Rce2 Nf8 27. Bc2 Nd6 28. Qh4 f5 29. Ng5 Qf6 30. Rxe6 Qg7 31. Re7 {Hampshire Post and Southsea Observer - Friday 29 November 1912 p.15} 1-0

[Gerard Killoran]

Perhaps his mother needs a mention...

[Event "Simul"] [Site "Hastings"] [Date "1897.02.24"] [Round "?"] [White "Gunsberg, Isidor"] [Black "Thomas, Edith Margaret"] [Result "0-1"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. b5 Na5 6. Nxe5 Nxc4 7. Nxc4 d5 8. exd5 Qxd5 9. Qe2+ Be6 10. Nxb6 axb6 11. Nc3 Qxg2 12. Rf1 Qxh2 13. d4 Ne7 14. d5 Bf5 15. a4 Qd6 16. Ba3 Qf6 17. Bb2 O-O 18. O-O-O Qd6 19. Rg1 f6 {'And Black won.' Hampshire Telegraph - Saturday 13 March 1897 p.11} 0-1

[Richard James]

Congratulations, John! An invaluable resource.

Here's another game played by his mother. (Source: Streatham News 03 December 1898)

[Event "South Norwood v Ladies' Club B1"] [Date "1898.11.26"] [White "Thomas, Edith Margaret"] [Black "Beaumont, Alexander Spink"] [Result "1-0"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 b6 4. Nf3 Bb7 5. e3 d5 6. b3 Bb4 7. Bb2 c5 8. Be2 O-O 9. O-O cxd4 10. Qxd4 Nc6 11. Qd1 Ne7 12. Qc2 Qc7 13. h3 Rad8 14. Nb5 Qb8 15. Be5 Bd6 16. Nxd6 Rxd6 17. Bxd6 Qxd6 18. Rad1 Qc5 19. Bd3 Ng6 20. Nh2 dxc4 21. Bxc4 Qg5 22. f4 Qc5 23. Qf2 Ne4 24. Qe1 Qc6 25. Nf3 h6 26. Bd3 Nf6 27. Rf2 Qe8 28. Qd2 Ne4 29. Bxe4 Bxe4 30. Qd7 Qa8 31. Qd4 Ne7 32. Nd2 Rd8 33. Qa1 Qd5 34. Qc1 Nf5 35. Re1 Bd3 36. e4 Qd4 37. exf5 1-0

[Gerard Killoran]

Penny Illustrated Paper - Saturday 14 September 1895 p.10.png (793.31 KiB) Viewed 22322 times

[Gerard Killoran]

Things at home were rather complicated however...

Morning Post - Saturday 22 June 1895 p.9.png (898.51 KiB) Viewed 22313 times

[Matt Mackenzie]

George Thomas, & C. F. Chapman - H. Pillsbury, Tunbridge Wells, 1902

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 Bd6 6. O-O O-O 7. Be3 c5 8. f4 cxd4 9. Bxd4 Nc6 10. c3 Nxd4 11. cxd4 Qb6 12. Bxe4 dxe4 13. Nc3 f5 14. Qb3+ Qxb3 15. axb3 Be6 16. Nc4 Rfd8 17. Nxd6 Rxd6 18. Nb5 Rd7 19. Rfc1 Bxb3 20. Rc5 g6 21. Rxa7 Rxa7 22. Nxa7 Rxd4 23. Rc8+ Kg7 24. Rc7+ Kh6 25. Rxb7 e3

Presumably a win for Black, even if the result is not specified?

[JonManley]

Edward Winter's Chess Notes has much interesting material on George and Edith: https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/thomas.html

[Geoff Chandler]

Presumably a win for Black?

Yes Matt, Black won. (I'll nip back add it in the header.) Others seemed to be having trouble posting a pgn. I did a bare bones no pgn tags post just to see if it was working and not a faulty tag or a piece of loose text which I suspect was the trouble.

I was reading his bio at chessgames.com, it has been noted that Sir George passed away on the same day, the 23rd of July 1972 when Fischer played his famous 1.c4 v Spassky in game 6 (White won.)

[Matt Mackenzie]

Thanks for confirming, of course I was 99.9% sure anyway but one can never be too careful with these things

[John Saunders]

Many thanks to Gerard, Richard and others for games and information about Sir George. I've just updated the page at BritBase with five further game scores plus four complete scores where there were previously only stubs, thanks to Ulrich Tamm's contributions. The running total now is 1,214 game entries of which 160 are stubs.

The press report about marital disharmony between Sir G's parents I had forwarded to Edward Winter some time ago and it appears in the article already linked to.

Thanks also for the games played by Lady Edith Thomas. I have a further three examples of her play in my collection.

[Event "Ladies CC v City of London"] [Site "London"] [Date "1895.10.19"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Thomas, Edith Margaret"] [Black "Cosser, George Albert"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C78"] [PlyCount "39"] [EventDate "1895.10.19"] [EventType "team-match"] [EventRounds "1"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "BritBase"] [Source "John Saunders"] [SourceDate "2025.07.03"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.07.03"] [SourceQuality "1"] [WhiteTeam "Ladies"] [BlackTeam "City of London"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"] [BlackTeamCountry "ENG"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 Bc5 6. O-O O-O 7. Bg5 Be7 8. Qd2 d6 9. Nc3 Be6 10. Nh4 Nh5 11. f4 exf4 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Nf3 Ne5 14. Nxe5 dxe5 15. Ne2 Qg5 16. Rf3 Bg4 17. Rf2 Qg6 18. Kh1 Qh6 19. Kg1 Qg6 20. Kh1 {Source: Lady's Pictorial, 26 October 1895} 1/2-1/2

n.b. I've not been able to find forenames for G A Corser - one for the forum's genealogy wizards to get their teeth into... [now amended - see comments below]

[Event "Ladies International"] [Site "London, Hotel Cecil"] [Date "1897.06.23"] [Round "1"] [White "Thomas, Edith Margaret"] [Black "Watson, G (Miss)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D07"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "1897.06.23"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "19"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.05.21"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 Nf6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Nf3 Bd7 7. Bd2 Bxc3 8. Bxc3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Ne4 10. Qb3 Nxc3 11. Qxc3 Qf6 12. Rc1 O-O 13. O-O Ne7 14. Bd3 Nd5 15. Qd2 c6 16. Ne5 Qe7 17. f4 f5 18. Rf3 Be8 19. Rh3 Nf6 20. Qe2 g6 21. Qf2 Ne4 22. Qf3 Nf6 23. Rf1 Rc8 24. Qg3 Ne4 25. Bxe4 fxe4 26. Ng4 Kh8 27. Nh6 Rc7 28. Rh4 Qd7 29. Qg5 Qd6 30. Ng4 Rf5 31. Qh6 {"Resigns. Miss Watson having exceeded her time limit, resigned at once." Sources: The Field, June 26, 1897; La Stratégie, August 1897, ppn 236-237."} 1-0
[Event "Ladies International"] [Site "London, Hotel Cecil"] [Date "1897.06.24"] [Round "4"] [White "Thorold, Eliza Mary"] [Black "Thomas, Edith Margaret"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C50"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "1897.06.23"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "19"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.05.21"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. Be3 Bb6 6. O-O d6 7. h3 Be6 8. Bb3 Qd7 9. Ng5 O-O-O 10. a4 Na5 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. b4 Bxe3 13. fxe3 Nc6 14. Qd2 b6 15. c4 Nb8 16. b5 Rde8 17. a5 h6 18. Nf3 g5 19. Nxe5 Qg7 20. Nc6 Nxe4 21. Qa2 Nxc6 22. bxc6 Nc5 23. d4 Nd7 24. cxd7+ Qxd7 25. axb6 cxb6 26. Qxa7 Qxa7 27. Rxa7 Kb8 28. Rff7 {Source: London Standard, 28 June 1897; Penny Illustrated Paper, 10 July 1897} 1-0

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

G A Corser.
There was a George Alfred Corser, born on the 10th December, 1878, and died in 1954. However he seems to have lived in the Leeds area his entire life and I can't see why he would have been playing chess in London in 1895 (besides which he would have been very young then).

[John Saunders]

G A Corser.
There was a George Alfred Corser, born on the 10th December, 1878, and died in 1954. However he seems to have lived in the Leeds area his entire life and I can't see why he would have been playing chess in London in 1895 (besides which he would have been very young then).

Thanks for trying, Jon. Yes, I came across him but thought his 1901 occupation (plasterer) was inconsistent with the usual clientele of the City of London CC.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Having looked around a bit more, my new favourite candidate is George Albert Cosser (not Corser!) who was born in Portsmouth in 1866 and was playing chess for the Hampshire county team in the 1890s:
https://hampshirechesshistory.co.uk/ham ... s-1898-99/

In the 1901 census he was a bank clerk, living in Lewisham.

[John Townsend]

"Cosser, G.A." was listed as a subscribing member of the City of London Chess Club in the Annual Report, Volume 50, 1903, Page 43. It says he had been a member since October 1893. That is consistent with his having played for that club in 1895 against Lady Thomas, so it supports Jon's theory of Cosser not Corser.

[John Saunders]

Thank you, Jon & John. George Albert Cosser it is, then. I'll amend the entry above.