Many thanks to Peter Webster of the Oxford & Cambridge Club, who has agreed to share his speech at the recent event to mark what would have been David Jones’s 100th birthday.
David Jones, who was a very important and popular figure in the Hamilton-Russell Cup community died earlier this year at 99 years old. Please read Peter’s tribute to David Jones (PDF download), together with photos supplied by Peter.
It was with much sadness that I report the death of Thomas Bewley, at the age of 95.
He was a stalwart of the Reform Club Chess Circle and for many years a regular player in the Hamilton Russell Cup.
I am very grateful to Teddy Bourne for passing on the links below.
The game from 1950 is a real cracker.
https://www.ulsterchess.org/archives/chronicles/ulster-chess-news/ucn-2000-1/bewley-nash
I learnt to play chess at the age of six. I played in my first major tournament at the Paignton Chess Congress in 1952 when I was 14.
As I was the only child, it seemed to elicit the interest of the press which published my photo on their front page:
We played 40 moves/150 mins.
I was greatly encouraged by WIM Rowena Bruce which enabled me to be fearless and I finished in the top half.
I played at school, in chess clubs, and in cafes in rue St Jacques in the Quartier Latin, the oldest street in Paris.
I played chess on the seawall on the Malecon in La Habana during the Castro uprising. The players were unperturbed by the revolution surrounding them. The electric atmosphere seemed reminiscent of the fervour and legacy of Capablanca.
I went east to Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo, where the local population were so busy shooting each other that they had little time for chess.
In China, a Shanghainese scholar taught me to play Xiangqi and introduced me to a talented Shanghainese painter and calligrapher whom I married, when we were both aged twenty-six.
Chess sets were essential accoutrements of the Scholar’s Studio in China.
18th century examples of both Xiangqi and Weiqi are on display in the magnificent Gugong in Taibei.
I played chess extensively in the Far East, mainly in cafes and also in the street, often with improvised equipment sitting on wooden boxes. Western chess was predominant, and at the time many were surprised that I played Xiangqi as well.
From Paris in 1981 I became an overseas member of The Travellers’ Club, London.
Our sister club in Paris is housed in the magnificent Hôtel de la Païva, the only hotel particulier (townhouse) left on the Champs-Élysées, and had many backgammon and chess sets, whereas there was not one in London.
I organised chess meetings and the equipment, and as Captain formed a team to play in HR cup inter-club chess. We had great fun and did moderately well in the HR cup.
I brought the National Liberal Club and the Roehampton Club into the fold and organised matches with New Scotland Yard.
The centre of activities was very much the RAC and we enjoyed playing against some stellar GMs in simultaneous games. IM Bill Hartston was very helpful.
Henry Mutkin and his fellow members were outstanding hosts.
L’Art de Faire Mat first published in Monaco in 1947 by Georges Renaud and Victor Kahn, a simple and basic book covering standard mating combinations clearly laid out and codified, serving more as threats than actual mates.
Strong players are, of course, on auto-pilot.
For weaker players who do not see the threats, these could lead to time trouble and material loss.
Here are 2 amusing exercises from the book:
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White mates in four moves |
White mates in three moves |
Bobby Fischer
Brilliant first half of the 20th century players were the Cuban Capablanca and the Frenchman Alekhine.
However, in the second half of the 20th century, Bobby Fischer was confronted by the Soviet locomotive – a colossus which had analysed every possibility. Bobby Fischer, however, went off the beaten path at an early stage of the game, with outrageous moves. At the best, this put his opponent in time trouble.
Bobby Fischer electrified audiences and brought chess to a universal appeal, which has not been seen since.
Readers with long memories will recall the Captain’s Corner of Mike Radcliffe of the Chelsea Arts Club (CAC) back in 2013. I am delighted that we now have a profile of Izzie Thomas also of CAC.
Tell us about your connection to your club and thoughts on it
Started going to CAC in about 1988, and immediately enjoyed the raucous and creative atmosphere along with wonderful food. I was proposed for membership by a painter friend and I’ve been a member since 1994
And your chess circle
Joined in late 2009, after some years of not getting through to the captain on the phone!! Immediately felt at home when I went to my first Wednesday evening get together. Such an eclectic mix of wonderful people from hugely varying backgrounds all brought together by a love of chess.
Do you play online – what are your thoughts on it?
I’ve played online since 2001 – I used to work for instantchess.com as an administrator until 2008. I was hooked on playing bullet chess and blitz but slowed down after I started playing OTB. I enjoy online but not sure it’s great for longer games and I miss the interaction and camaraderie of live chess.
Who is your favourite chess player?
Fischer and Tal
Any chess book, video or DVD recommendations?
Batsford’s Modern Chess Openings, and Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess
Anything to add? Perhaps some biographical details or anecdotes about yourself?
Started playing chess aged 6 – I was taught by my grandmother. By the time I was 10, I’d beaten everyone in my family, and they all then stopped playing against me. Tried to play for my school, when I was 11, but in the chess open day I was paired against a boy a year younger, and I lost to Fool’s Mate in 3 moves…!! Oh dear. So decided it wasn’t for me. Around 24 years old I bought a Saitek Kasparov chess computer – a board with a module in it – It was all I ever played against until the internet arrived. Had never played over the board with a clock until I played Mike Radcliffe in 2009. Since then, the Hamilton Russell chess league and the CAC circle have become an important and significant part of my life, and I’ve been so lucky to have made many good friends as a result.
John Godfray of the Oxford & Cambridge Club and captain of their friendly team answers our questions.
Tell us about your connection to your club and thoughts on it
I resumed playing chess at club level in around 2010 and have captained the friendlies for the last 7 years or so.
Do you play online – what are your thoughts on it?
Yes – very convenient, both on the German-run playchess.com and chess.com and chess24.com – usually at 3+2 or 5 or for a more relaxed game 5+5. if you play anything longer against strangers, you’re exposed to bad sportsmanship – people walking away when they are losing and leaving you hanging for 10 minutes to claim your points! Or else they cheat with chess engines!
Who is your favourite chess player?
Kasparov. In today’s circle I like Ding Liren, who occasionally produces true brilliancies and produced some cliff-hangers in the Carlsen online rapid tournament back in April/May.
Any chess book, video or DVD recommendations? I can only come up with Korn’s Modern Chess Openings, 11th edition 1972!! Not enough on Budapest or Benko gambits!
Anything to add? Perhaps some biographical details or anecdotes about yourself?
I have followed chess all my life, but stopped competitive playing when I emigrated to Hong Kong in 1973 but resumed after retirement, like so many people in London clubland.
Continuing our series of Captain’s Corner. This time with Paul Chamberlain of the National Liberal Club.
Tell us about your club
The National Liberal Club was founded in 1882 – the largest clubhouse in London at the time. With the waning of the Liberals the Club contracted and in the 1970’s it sold off the bedrooms. However, it was able to retain several of the grander areas – notably the Smoking Room, the Dining Room and of course the Terrace. In recent years the membership has been reviving, growing by half as much again in the last five years. However, we’re still one of the smaller clubs, not having quite reached 3,000.
And your chess circle
We’ve been playing chess for many a long year and indeed were inaugural champions of the inter-club chess competition, now known as the Hamilton Russell, back in 1924. We won 13 times but our laurels have been languishing since 1968. Interest dwindled for some time, but it has revived in recent years and the Circle has been active again since 2016, with internal and external games. We’re not yet back up to our former glory, but we’ve steadily been attracting more players. A particular feature is our in-house website, http://www.nlcchess.net, masterminded by Ben Widdicombe, with excellent match reports and character studies.
Is your circle operating online? How is that going?
I’ve played quite a bit, from school, through university and beyond, although not very seriously and with little club involvement. I‘ve only twice played enough to be briefly graded – and that was nothing to crow about! But it’s been a source of pleasure over the years (most of the time!) and it’s something I’ve much enjoyed again since I became a member of the NLC. It’s a good social thing, particularly in the context of our Clubs with their splendid surroundings and convivial dining.
Who is your favourite chess player?
It’s hard to pick a favourite chess player, but I was quite aware of Bobby Fischer when I was growing up, and his games were often worth playing through. But it was good to see that even he could blunder occasionally (the infamous B x h2, game 1 in the Spassky world championship, losing his bishop for a couple of pawns). Like some other chess obsessives, he was rather a flawed character and probably rather unpleasant, as I was reminded recently when I read Patti Smith’s account of meeting him in Iceland – they ended up singing Buddy Holly together rather than talking.
Favourite chess book/DVD/Video?
I’ve garnered a few chess books over the years and occasionally go through a few pages, but I don’t find that I remember much. And videos don’t seem to help much either, although at the time I feel as though I’m benefitting from the wisdom of people like Dan Heisman, Joel Benjamin or Alex Yermolinsky on the ICC chessclub site. I’ve also enjoyed the Youtube videos with Matthew Sadler and Natasha Regan. But I think I benefit most by playing over-the-board chess with time to think, as in the Hamilton Russell games, for example. Yet another reason to hope for a return to some sort of normality before too long. Online 10-minute chess games are better than nothing, but they’re not my forte.
Anything to add perhaps some trivia about yourself
So why my online name of Hardicanute? No very good reason. I was trying to think of a nom de guerre and I was reading Dance to the Music of Time when I joined an online chess site – this is the name of the composer Moreland’s cat. In real life, he was the son of King Canute, sometimes known as Harthacnut, King of England for just two years from 1040. A cat may look at a king, and I can pretend to know how to play chess…
We are sorry to report that Ben Hooberman, an active and popular member of the Chelsea Arts Club’s chess team died on Wednesday after being taken into hospital on Tuesday following a stroke.
He will be sorely missed.
Oxford & Cambridge regular David Jones was featured in this month’s Chess magazine.
You can click on the image below to enlarge it.
I am one of the many players who have been on the wrong end of David’s excellent chess technique over the years!
As many of this website’s readers will know Sheldon passed away on 17 December 2017.
With kind permission of Stephen Meyler and the RAC I am reproducing their tribute to him. I have also added a few words of my own at the end.
Sheldon Marshall (1953 – 2017)
Sheldon Marshall long time member of the Club and Honorary Secretary of the Chess Circle passed away on Sunday 17 December in New Delhi, India having been on an expedition to Mount Everest in Nepal.
Sheldon joined the Club in 1989 and soon became an enthusiastic member of the Chess Circle participating in overseas trips to Washington, Paris and Gibraltar.
In 2010 he joined the Chess Committee and was the driving force behind the 100 Board Simultaneous Display with the UK’s leading Grand Masters and the production of the Chess Circle Centenary Book marking the Pall Mall centenary in 2011.
On becoming Chess Secretary in 2012 Sheldon led the expansion, overseas, of the Chess Circle with trips to Reykavik, New York, Dublin and Havana – where the Chess Circle became the first “club” chess team to play in Cuba since the revolution.
Not only did Sheldon organise exceptional trips but he possessed that really rare quality that ensured that he made long lasting friendships wherever he went.
Sheldon enjoyed in full what the Club has to offer and was frequently in attendance on Epsom Derby Day, golf days at Woodcote Park and was well known to Backgammon, Snooker and the Long Bar.
The Club has lost a great member and our thoughts are with his family, who are all current members.
He will be missed greatly by all who knew him but he will never be forgotten.
Danny Rosenbaum writes:
When I think of Sheldon Marshall, I think of a warm-hearted generous man with a terrific sense of humour, and, above all, I think of a good friend. I find I have to write these few words on two levels. Firstly, in my official capacity as Hamilton Russell secretary, I want to put on record how appreciative I am of all the tireless work and support Sheldon put in to the organisation of the various Hamilton Russell events. Secondly, I write as a friend. Shortly after I started as Secretary Sheldon kindly invited myself and my wife-to-be Sarah to RAC trips to Cuba and New York. It was during these times that I really got to know Sheldon and see what a force of nature he was. In spite of all the weight of looking after the itinerary and organisation of these trips, he was a constant shining light. His warmth, joie de vivre, and humour shone out. Back on home turf, we would often take each other to our respective clubs (not just the RAC and the Reform) and he was incredibly generous. There was never a dull moment. On top of all the anecdotes and stories there was always a wealth of interesting gems drawn from Sheldon’s extraordinary knowledge of history and geography. There was always a stream of interesting facts and thoughts to take home. Sheldon had such an aura about him. My wife’s children upon first meeting him over dinner at the RAC were totally captivated by him! He will always be a great inspiration to me and my heart goes out to Anne and all the family.
Sheldon Marshall
I am grateful to Peter Rust, the MCC’s captain for this tribute to Keith:
Keith Bevan Richardson was born in Nottingham in 1942. Keith excelled in chess from a very young age, winning the Nottingham County championship in 1959 and 1960. He participated in the 1962 British Junior (under 21) Championships where he won the championship. Next, he won the 1963 Durham county championship. He played for England Cricket U-19s whilst at Durham, where he read mathematics, and took part in Chess Olympiads in the 1960s.
The championship title enabled him to represent the country at the European Junior Championships at Gröningen in 1963, where he won a silver medal.
The most successful over-the-board tournament of his career was in 1968 when he came joint 7th in the 55th British Championship Tournament at Bristol, which was won by Jonathan Penrose. After that, he devoted much time to correspondence chess. He finished 3rd= in the World Correspondence Championships of 1975 and 1984. Keith was awarded the International Master Correspondence title in 1968. Before becoming a Grandmaster in 1975, Keith came second in the British Correspondence Chess Championship of 1964-5, and throughout the 1960s, ‘70s and early ‘80s, he was a member of the British teams at the Correspondence Chess Olympiad Finals. Keith was the first British citizen to become a correspondence grandmaster. He retired from international play in 2001.
Keith worked for many years for Barclays Bank and subsequently as a member at Derek Tidy and Partners LLP, until May 2008.
Well into his 70s – and still active in the Surrey Border Chess League – Keith was a life patron of the English Federation for Correspondence Chess. In 2015, he received the English Chess Federation’s President’s Award for services to chess. Apart from being a leading light in the Hamilton-Russell, he played for Surrey, and for Guildford II in the Four Nations chess league. He was still a strong player, representing England several times in Senior international team tournaments. Keith’s ELO rating in September 2016, was 1995 ELO points.
Keith, such a gentleman with his cheerfulness and kindness, made countless friends during his years representing M.C.C. at chess in the Hamilton-Russell Cup competition, some known from his earliest days in chess. Keith was participating in the 31e Festival International des Jeux at Cannes when he suffered a severe stroke, from which he did not recover, despite great support from his two sons, his wife Sandra, the Pasteur hospital in Nice and the Frimley hospital in Surrey.
Apart from those I have received as secretary of MCC Chess Society, many tributes to him are paid on :-
http://www.ecforum.org.uk/search.php?keywords=Keith+Richardson&sid=6fea4975fa2806ec314b61366d124c82
https://www.home.barclays/news/2016/12/from-the-archives-the-chess-grandmaster.html
Henry Blank, one of our stalwarts, told me…
“Caroline and I spent a day walking with Keith in Bermuda, when he might otherwise have been on his own, as Sandra could not accompany him on this trip because she could not go 8 days without kidney dialysis. We could not fail to notice what a profoundly decent and modest individual he was. He pooh-poohed my suggestion that he was a dead ringer for Andy Williams and claimed that I was the first to make this comparison. He seemed dismayed when I mentioned that I was aware that he owned a Ferrari. He asked how I had found this out; the answer to that question is of less importance than what his question says of him as an individual.
Wind back a few years before that trip, when Keith made his first appearance at MCC chess club night. Our (then) organiser Michael Clappe asked me to give him a game or two to assess his strength. I lost two games to him but I reckon I was (and am) too poor a player to appreciate how good a player he was. My verdict to Michael was that he should play above Wil Ransome and me in our cup team. His results playing on board 1 or board 2 showed how good he was. He was possibly toying with me to spare my embarrassment.”
Hamilton-Russell Chess Cup 