Britbase Updates

[Matt Mackenzie]

IIRC it was Harry Golombek who was vocal about how weak a player Turing was (including a claim HG could give him Q odds and still beat him)

[Kevin Thurlow]

"IIRC it was Harry Golombek who was vocal about how weak a player Turing was (including a claim HG could give him Q odds and still beat him)"

Yes - I think that's right. Code-breaking and chess do perhaps require different skills as well. I suspect there is more logic in the former, and more imagination in the latter?

[Geoff Chandler]

Maybe the lad intended to play a Traxler (4...Bc5) dropped the Bishop on e7 and was, as Abrahams once put it, 'movebound.' Or an Oxford player could have been drafted in at the last minute after a quick announcement in the staff room.
"Bletchley have turned up with a team of twelve, any of you chaps know how to play chess?"

If indeed it happened. The BBC use to pass code words over the air. Why not; 'Go into action when
you see a game with an illegal move in it on the cover of CHESS magazine titled; 'Short and Sweet.'
In fact operation 'Short and Sweet' from WWII was so secret not many may have heard of it.

Harry Golombek persuading readers that a high level of intelligence is not needed to play chess;
"I have known one real mathematical genius in my life and he, while passionately fond of chess,
played it atrociously. I could give him the odds of a queen (the most powerful piece in the game)
and still beat him."
Chess Note 10602: https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter158.html

[Gerard Killoran]

Back to Britbase Updates (i.e. please post trivia in the trivia thread)

[Event "BCF-ch 4th Second Class A"] [Site "?"] [Date "1907.08.??"] [Round "Crystal Palace"] [White "MacAlister, John"] [Black "Heastie, Basil"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C65"] [Opening "Ruy Lopez: Berlin defence"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. e5 Ne4 6. O-O Be7 7. Nxd4 O-O 8. Nf5 d5 9. Nxe7+ Nxe7 10. f3 Nc5 11. Nc3 c6 12. Bd3 Nxd3 13. cxd3 Qb6+ 14. d4 Nf5 15. Ne2 Bd7 16. Qd2 Rae8 17. Kh1 Kh8 18. b4 Rg8 19. f4 h5 20. Bb2 Qd8 21. Rf3 Re6 22. Qd3 Rh6 23. Ng3 g6 24. Kg1 h4 25. Nh1 g5 26. fxg5 Qxg5 27. g3 hxg3 28. Nxg3 Qh5 29. Qe2 Nxg3 30. hxg3 Qh1+ {Birmingham Daily Post - Tuesday 20 August 1907 p.9} 0-1


[Event "BCF-ch 4th Third Class A"] [Site "Crystal Palace"] [Date "1907.08.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Lacy-Hulbert, Arthur Percival"] [Black "Rawlins, Francis Hooper"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B01"] [Opening "Scandinavian (centre counter) defence"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bc4 Bg4 6. O-O Nc6 7. Re1 e6 8. d4 Rd8 9. d5 Be7 10. Bd2 Nd4 11. Ne2 Nxe2+ 12. Qxe2 Qc5 13. Be3 Qd6 14. dxe6 Bxe6 15. Bb5+ c6 16. Rad1 Qc7 17. Rxd8+ Qxd8 18. Rd1 Qc7 19. Ba4 O-O 20. Ng5 Ng4 21. g3 Qe5 22. Nxe6 Qxe6 23. Bb3 Qg6 24. Bf4 Qh5 25. h4 Bc5 26. Be3 Re8 27. Bxc5 {Birmingham Daily Post - Tuesday 20 August 1907 p.9} 1-0

[Matt Mackenzie]

As far as the second game goes - whoops!

One of the less common variants of the familiar back rank trap.

[John Saunders]

Back to Britbase Updates

Many thanks for these, Gerard. I've added them to the BritBase Collection...

1907 British Championship

BTW, the Sir George Thomas collection is now up to 1,230 games (including 160 stubs).

[Gerard Killoran]

BTW, the Sir George Thomas collection is now up to 1,230 games (including 160 stubs).

That's nearly as many games as we now have for the Reverend Lacy Hulbert.

[Gerard Killoran]

Inspired by an earlier post in this subforum.

[Event "GBR-ch76 Major Open"] [Site "Plymouth"] [Date "1989.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Noyce, Robert C."] [Black "Wilson, Jonathan J."] [Result "1-0"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r2qkb1r/pp1bpp1p/2p2p2/8/4B3/5Q2/PPP1NPPP/3R1RK1 b kq - 0 12"] 12... Qa5 13. b4 Qc7 14. b5 O-O-O 15. bxc6 Bxc6 16. Rxd8+ Kxd8 17. Rd1+ Kc8 18. Bxc6 Qxc6 19. Qf5+ Qe6 20. Qc5+ Qc6 21. Qxa7 Bg7 22. Nd4 Qd5 23. Rd3 f5 24. Rc3+ Kd7 25. Qa4+ Kd8 26. Nc6+ Ke8 27. Qa8+ Kd7 28. Qxb7+ {Portsmouth Evening News - Wednesday 11 October 1989 p.13} 1-0

[John Saunders]

Inspired by an earlier post in this subforum.

[Event "GBR-ch76 Major Open"] [Site "Plymouth"] [Date "1989.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Noyce, Robert C."] [Black "Wilson, Jonathan J."] [Result "1-0"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r2qkb1r/pp1bpp1p/2p2p2/8/4B3/5Q2/PPP1NPPP/3R1RK1 b kq - 0 12"] 12... Qa5 13. b4 Qc7 14. b5 O-O-O 15. bxc6 Bxc6 16. Rxd8+ Kxd8 17. Rd1+ Kc8 18. Bxc6 Qxc6 19. Qf5+ Qe6 20. Qc5+ Qc6 21. Qxa7 Bg7 22. Nd4 Qd5 23. Rd3 f5 24. Rc3+ Kd7 25. Qa4+ Kd8 26. Nc6+ Ke8 27. Qa8+ Kd7 28. Qxb7+ {Portsmouth Evening News - Wednesday 11 October 1989 p.13} 1-0

Many thanks, Gerard. I've added the game to the 1989 British Championship file on BritBase.

[Gerard Killoran]

Southport 1905

Daily Mirror August 17, 1905 page 8.jpg (511.87 KiB) Viewed 9122 times

[Kevin Thurlow]

I paused to applaud Wainwright's win over Blackburne, then spotted that Miss Finn had defeated Mrs Herring AND Mrs Roe! Steve Boniface would have loved that...

[Gerard Killoran]

Cheltenham 1913

[Event "BCF-ch 10th Major Open"] [Site "Cheltenham"] [Date "1913.08.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Schumer, Jacob (Dr.)"] [Black "Muller, Oscar Conrad"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B10"] [Opening "Caro-Kann: anti-Caro-Kann defence"] 1. e4 c6 2. c4 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Qc7 5. f4 Bg4 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3 e5 9. Be3 O-O-O 10. Be2 Kb8 11. O-O h5 12. b4 h4 13. Qf2 exd4 14. Bxd4 c5 15. bxc5 dxc5 16. Be3 Qa5 17. Rfc1 Nb6 18. Rab1 a6 19. e5 Ne8 20. Bf3 Nc7 21. Qb2 Ka7 22. Nd5 Ncxd5 23. cxd5 Qb4 24. d6 {Morning Post - Monday 01 September 1913 p.9} 1-0

[John Saunders]

Cheltenham 1913

Many thanks, Gerard. I've added it the 1913 British Championship page at BritBase.

[Gerard Killoran]

1910 Kent CCA Second Class A...

https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/1 ... iewer.html

...has Mrs (Vera?) Whitehead of Rudgwick

I'm sure this is the mother of https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/9 ... -1895-1992

i.e. Nellie Vera White 1874–1942 who married Gervase Frederick Whitehead, and added four letters to her name.

[John Saunders]

Yes, looks convincing. I've added the details to the file. Many thanks, Gerard.