IN THE BEGINNING |
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Contemporary chess
players may imagine that there were no organised chess activities in
Birmingham prior to the formation of The League in 1897. This is far from the
truth however. Alan Brookes in his publication ' The First 75 Years '
discovered an obituary to Philidor in the Birmingham Gazette of the 7th of
September 1795 where it stated that this famous player had been a member of
the celebrated Chess Club since 1765, suggesting that the club, whose name
was not given had been in existence for some time already, even at this early
date! The Birmingham (Midland Institute) Chess Club was formed in 1851 and
apparently in the period leading up to the turn of the century the number of
clubs rose to 40! Whilst during this period there were no league activities
chess enthusiasts took part in internal club competitions, informal
inter-club matches and matches between cities. Matches were played by
Birmingham against for example Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, and London.
Organised county matches were being run and there were also a number of
regular congresses and national tournaments in existence. There were many
visits by international masters and lesser players, who provided simultaneous
displays, talks etc. The local press gave far more space to chess than it
does today. The Birmingham Daily Post had a column every day of the week and
there was also coverage in The Birmingham Daily Gazette, The Birmingham Daily
Mail and the Weekly Mercury. From The Birmingham Daily Post Aug 23 1858 we
learn of the visit to England by Paul Morphy and his attempts to stage a
match with Staunton. Whilst he was attempting this he was playing matches
against others, including a 26 game match against a Mr. Barnes of The St.
George's Club, which resulted in 19 wins to Morphy and 7 to Barnes,
indicating that the local talent was considerable, even then. The issue of
the following day reported the start of the Annual Congress of The British
Chess Association in the library and board room of Queen's College. The
Championship appeared to be a 16 player knockout and seemed to over run the
time allotted. (Did this pre-date the use of clocks?) Reference is made to The 1st Cambridge v
Oxford Chess Match in The Birmingham Daily Mail of Saturday 23rd March 1873
apparently won by Oxford by 9 games to 3. The Weekly Mercury of October 2nd
1897 is of particular interest. The following quote gives a hint of events
leading up to the formation of The League, "Following the successful
visit of Herr Lasker to Birmingham in March last, and, we understand, as the
direct outcome of that visit, a Midland Counties Chess Association has been
called into existence, which numbers already some 2000 members; and now a
Birmingham and District Chess League has been formed, to which all important
clubs in the neighbourhood have attached themselves. The senior clubs in
Birmingham are busy with their preparations for the ensuing season, and the
Birmingham Central Chess Club, to whom the initiative of Herr. Lasker's visit
was entirely due, are holding their annual meeting on Monday next October 4
". W.H.Dry in his Fifty Years of The League, pin-points a meeting on
August 31st 1897, at the Central Chess Club, at the London Restaurant in
Corporation Street, where five pioneers set the League in motion. These five
were, |
Mr.
A.J. Mackenzie (St. George's Club), Mr J.P. Derrington (Y.M.C.A. Club), Mr.
A.H. Davies and Mr. W.G. Renwick (Central Club) and Mr Ridgers (Bohemians
Club). |
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LEAGUE
COMPETITIONS, |
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The first League
Championship was won by Dudley in 1898 currently out of our competitions. By
1902 the League had grown to one operating three divisions and having
survived a stoppage of four years during the 1914-18 war prospered to such an
extent that a fourth division was added in 1925. The League grew in strength
through the 1950s and in 1959 Divisions 5, 6 and 7 were added to rationalise
the Division 4 North and Division 4 South and to cope with additional teams.
A further surge in the number of registered players occurred in the mid 1970s
in the wake of the 1972 Fischer Spassky World Title Match. Division 8 (1973),
Division 9 (1974) and Division 10 (1976) were added coupled with the
introduction of 8 board rather than 6 board teams for Division 1 to 5. Since
1990, however, the number of registered players has fallen and the League has
reverted to 6 board matches for all divisions except the bottom Division
which has 4 board matches. In the lower divisions it is now impossible for
teams to achieve back to back wins in a particular division since promotion
has been automatic since 1962. Following a run of four victories by St
George's 1899-1902 the dominant club over the next 26 years, was Bohemians,
who won the title 12 times. They folded up in 1931 and Birmingham and
Erdington became the major forces either side of World War 2, Erdington in
1936-37 achieved 100% in Div 1, Kynoch (1954-2005) have the most consecutive
appearances in the first division 51 Years. Kynoch (1981-85) & South
Birmingham (2006-10) have established the most consecutive victories 5.
Birmingham University (1953-56) & Wolverhampton Kipping (1969-72) have 4
consecutive victories. Walsall Kipping (2003-05) has 3 consecutive victories.
Since the Millennium South Birmingham has been the dominant force with 8
titles in 16 years also achieving 100% (2014-15). South Birmingham is the
only clubs to have fielded four teams in the first division (2016-17). No one
has yet matched Bohemians 12 League Championships; the chasing clubs are
Birmingham 10, Kynoch & Sutton Coldfield 9, South Birmingham 8, Mutual
Circle, Bushbury & Walsall Kipping 5 League Championships. |
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KNOCKOUT
TROPHIES, |
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The
Frank H. Terrill Memorial Trophy, a magnificent ornate rose bowl of sterling
silver was introduced in 1938 and its knockout handicap format has always
ensured a keenly contested competition. Mutual Circle were the first winners
and have won (6) times since, their victories have been achieved by teams
drawn from Divisions 1 to 4 whereas South Birmingham's (10) Successes have
been achieved with 8 from their division 1 team and one win each from their
division 5 and 3 teams. Sutton Coldfield's 9 successes have been achieved
with 6 from their division 1 team and 1 win each by their division’s 4 and 2
teams. The success of the Terrill led naturally on to the introduction in
1963 of the Dudley M. Townshend Trophy for teams in division 4 and below.
South Birmingham with 6 victories and |
St James, & Sutton Coldfield with 5 have been the most
successful to date, with each club also winning three years in succession.
Two plate competitions, for first round losers, have also proved popular. The
Gerald Homer Memorial Trophy (1989 onwards) has South Birmingham at the top
with 7 victories followed closely by Warley Quinborne with 6. The Jim
Barrington Memorial Trophy (1986 onwards) has been won 4 times by South
Birmingham, and 3 by Redditch, Kingstanding & Sutton Coldfield. |
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THE
LEAGUE INDIVIDUAL TOURNAMENT, |
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To anyone who has been
around in the Birmingham League for any length of time, it is impossible to
think of the Individual Competition, without thinking of Jack Nurcombe. It was his domain for 35 years! In the
Annual Report for the 1987-88 seasons, the General Secretary, David Thomas,
said amongst other things, "One of the first warnings of the impending
arrival of Christmas would be the telephone call reminding a scatter-brained
secretary that his club's entries for the individual were due." By this
means Jack maximised the entries. When all was complete, there would be his
masterly report on its outcome. Crisp, clear, full of facts and to the point.
Even when he was fighting his terminal illness, he ran the competition as
efficiently as ever. At the end of the 1982-83 seasons he would have reported
that John Hawthorne and Baruch H Wood had shared the Division 1 Individual
Title, and that this was John's first success, and that Baruch ( Sutton
Coldfield ) had won a record number of 9 times. John Edge (Halesowen) 7 times
then Andy Southall (Warley Quinborne)5½ wins five in a row, W.R.Morry has won
4 times having appeared in his first final in 1929-30 and his last in
1969-70, also 4 times P.J.Oakley and K.R.Ingram who also has 3 Division 2
Titles. In the lower divisions, one name stands out above all, L.E.Collier
with no fewer than 14 titles to his name, two gained in Division 3 and a full
dozen in Division 4. K.A.J.Francis has 7 successes, six in division 5 and one
in Division 4. H.W.Brockbank has 6, across a number of divisions, including
Division 1. Clicking the following
link will take you to the Seasons tab where a full list of BDCL club Honours
can be found as well as other historical data. BDCL Seasons Past
(birminghamchess.org.uk) |
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ORGANISATION, |
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When one looks back
over the years it strikes you how extremely efficient the League has been
run. The long stints in office by numerous officials have ensured stability
and continuity. Of course a glance at the record of Officers of the League
draws ones attention, to the massive double act of H.W.Clark and W.H.Dry,
each of whom served as Joint Secretaries for 30 years, embracing the period
just before World War 1 and just after World War 2. It is clear also however, that there had
been a number of significant contributions before this, notable amongst which
was, J.W.Wilder's contribution of 12 years. |
Following the 1950-51 seasons the practice of appointing Joint
Secretaries was changed to cope with the ever increasing administrative
burden to a General Secretary, Treasurer and a Records Secretary. In the
years since this time we have only had four Treasurers and such is the
commitment that no less than Nine officers, I.Boodson, A.E.Utton,
K.J.Langston, H.W.Stanley, B.H.Wood, D.Rowe, D.R.Thomas, D.Brelsforth, and
A.T.Woollaston, have served for ten years or more. D.R.Thomas who was General
Secretary for 16 years (1987-2003) has
then been the BDCL Grading officer for the last 17 years. |
Clearly the officers need support and this is provided by a
number of sub-committees namely Finance & General Purpose, Match, Rules,
Tournament, Grading, Lightning Again chairmen have served for long stints and
apart from Jack Nurcombe's previously mentioned 37 years, very significant
contributions have also been made by H.K. Bailey, J.B. Jones, W.G. Powell,
J.H. Baines, W.R. Morry, J.A. Crump, M.B.A. Walker, R. Tuckey, M. Biddle,
T.W. Walker and K.G. Humphreys. |
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COMMUNICATION, |
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The League Bulletin was
started in 1956 with B.H.Wood as editor. Recollections of it 1959-1963
suggest a well printed bulletin, similar in format to the old format of his
magazine "Chess" and that it was always late. Ritson-Morry took
over for three years and a cluttered foolscap format appeared. Initially a
vast improvement on speed of service, 14 issues instead of 6 and coverage of
other events such as County Matches and Congresses were featured. |
The bulletin evolved and improved slowly through the Hurst,
Brown, Brookes, I.MacGillivray and Latham era but there were periods when
there was a serious lag in the information and ones team position had to be
guessed at through the bush telegraph. When Maureen Clark took over as
Bulletin Editor, a quantum leap in quality of presentation, speed and
reliability occurred and was maintained over seven years. Maureen was
followed by Tony Szatanik, Philip Nightingale and Roy Tuckey and finally
Chris Evans, all maintained a very high standard news sheet however it was
very time consuming to source, edit and publish. With the internet now the
popular choice with the members for information and communication, the
Printed bulletin ceased to exist in 2010. In the 2002-03 BDCL Handbook the
name of M.J.Rees appears as Webmaster, a club league player for 50+ years.
For some time Mike had been running a Midland Chess Web site where
information could be found regarding News Results and events concerning
Wolverhampton, Dudley, & Birmingham Chess Leagues, there were also links
to all the clubs which had Internet sites. In 2009-10 the League took the
advice from the Webmaster to purchase its own site as he could not guarantee
to be around forever, Mike retired at the end of 2010-11. The current
Webmaster maintains front page and other domains where you will find news
reports, forums, obituaries, archives maps to club venues and more. The
online Results Bulletin on the BDCL site is currently maintained by Records Secretary
A.T. Woollaston and can be found at
BDCL Records (birminghamchess.org.uk). Results were originally
uploaded using specially designated attachment Ecards received by Email, from
the match Captains, you will also find fixtures, tables, and history which
you are reading. Since the 2017-18 season a delegated Match reporter can now
upload results straight to the ECF-LMS web site as soon as they are known.
The speed of results service is now down to you. |
NAMES, |
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Over the years many a
chess club name has disappeared, this is usually due to the venue becoming
unavailable or the rent to expensive. This often results in clubs having to
either change names to suit a new venue, or they merge with another club and
adopt their name or create a new name. Quite a lot of clubs were formed as
work teams and played from the company canteens but with the industrial
decline they have now all gone. To the unknowing record studier, it may seem
that many players changed clubs, but most often it was the club that changed
not the player. Examples of this are. The New Road club formed in 1952 then
became Handsworth in 1957 then East Birmingham in 1967. Solihull amalgamated
with West Warwickshire in 1990 to be West Warwickshire Solihull they were
later joined in 1992 by East Birmingham. Following no concessions being
offered at that venue/time to the juniors Solihull Youth Chess Club was
formed. University of Birmingham was only known as University until 1966 when
The College of Advanced Technology gained University Status and became Aston
University. West Birmingham who existed as a draughts club in 1894 joined the
league in 1932 and after one season as Lozells Street Hall became just Lozells
1947; playing in Newtown they merged with Tucker Fasteners 1977, the two club
secretaries after a night on the town chose North Birmingham to be their name
not realising 40 years earlier a club with the same name had existed. In 1998
North Birmingham amalgamated with Kingstanding and four seasons later 2002
they moved again and became Boldmere (playing from St Michael’s football
club). The football club was taken over and a large rent increase has caused
the club to move to and become Oscott. Overtime Lucas has had three Chess
clubs. The original and longest running Lucas club was associated to the
Great King Street works Hockley, and became Lucas North when the Lucas South
club associated to the Spring Road works Acocks Green was formed. Some years
later another Lucas club emerged at Dog Kennel Lane Shirley, first under the
name of Lucas Research Centre then as Lucas Advanced Engineering Centre and
finally Lucas Automotive. When the Lucas, (Lucas North) factory closed they
moved to play at the Settlement Buildings and became Lucas Birmingham
Settlement, while here they were joined by West Midlands Municipal and after
moving to the Local Church became Saint Georges, no connection to the 1897 St
George’s club. Solihull Lodge moved to the Colebrook Public House and became
Colebrook Shirley then after another move just Shirley, later when the Lucas
Automotive factory closed they joined to become Shirley & Lucas, after
more years passed they moved to Amalgamate with Wythall chess club and are now
Shirley Wythall. St James named after the church and original venue in Leach
Green lane Rubery, grew in size and moved to the King George V Pub
Longbridge, where they were fielding 8 teams in the BDCL, when the pub closed
down it was onto the near by Austin Social Club, with the demise of the
Austin car plant and the redevelopment of the Longbridge area St James in
2005 moved across the road and became Greenlands. Now 15 years later the
Greenland’s Social has been taken over they are back in the Austin Social and
become Longbridge. When the Birlec factory closed they became Aldridge, South
Staffordshire & Tamworth Joined to be Tamworth & District. Smethwick
became Bearwood Baptists then back to Smethwick then Warley then amalgamated
with Quinborne, Magnet Works became G.E.C. City (of Birmingham) joined
Erdington, Chapel Street playing from the Methodist Church won Div 7 in their
first season and moved to Cherry Orchard Hall Hampstead Hill and became
Handsworth Wood then after more venue changes became The Royal Antediluvian
Order of Buffaloes, (R.A.O.B), Holly Lane and then back to Handsworth Wood.
Nuffield (Metal Products) in Common Lane was the original name before
becoming Wolseley, formerly part of Leyland Cars they Joined Westminster in
2010, Westminster started as Lady Westminster named after the pub where they
formed, the Building was formerly a Bank. |
Clear
as Mud. |
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PERSONALITIES
OF THE LEAGUE |
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A.J.
Mackenzie 1871-1949 |
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Arthur John Mackenzie's
connection with local chess began as match secretary to the Birmingham St.
George's chess club in the early 1890s. By the end of the decade, he had
helped to form the Warwickshire Chess Association, the Birmingham and
District Chess League, the Midland Counties Chess Association (1897) and the
British Chess Federation in 1904. There is a slight mystery in this last item
as, The Birmingham Daily Post of 1858 refers to a meeting of the British
Chess Association in the Queen's Building in Paradise Street. One wonders
what the difference is between a Federation and an Association. |
He was the first columnist of Birmingham's Daily Post from 6th
October 1896 and it is interesting to note that during the first 100 years of
the League there had been only 3 columnists.
B.H.Wood took over some time after 1936 and Peter Gibbs has run the
column since February 1967. |
Three times the Scottish Champion, A.J.Mackenzie was the first
Warwickshire Champion in 1931 finishing ahead of W.R.Morry. Mackenzie played
on board one for Warwickshire and continued to do so after 1931 when he left
Birmingham to live in St Leonards on Sea, near Hastings. He played chess in
Birmingham for the Birmingham Chess Club, St George's, Municipal Officers and
Handsworth. |
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C.S.
Kipping 1891-64 |
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Cyril Stanley Kipping
was the Head Master at Wednesbury High School and was a leading problem
composer. Over 6000 of these were published, Most of them being three movers.
He was the problemist for "Chess Sutton Coldfield Ltd", "Chess
Amateur" and L, Echiquier".
His name has been honoured by being attached to two clubs
Wolverhampton Kipping and Walsall Kipping. |
C.H.O'D
Alexander 1909-74 |
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Conel Hugh O'Donel
Alexander was a pupil at King Edwards Grammar School in the days when it was
in New Street. Whilst there, he won the British Boys Championship in 1926 and
later in 1938 and 1956 The British Championship. He became an International
Master in 1950 and played a number of times in the International Team
Tournaments between 1933 and 1954 and subsequently took on the role of
non-playing Captain. It is interesting to note that he was followed by David Anderton
who also became The Chief Executive of the BCF. Alexander played some chess
for the Erdington Club during his time in Birmingham. Following a successful
career over the board he took to correspondence chess and gained an IM title
for this as well. During the war, he was one of three men who cracked the
German Enigma code. |
W.A.
Fairhurst 1903-82 |
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William Albert
Fairhurst played for Wolverhampton chess club for a number of seasons prior
to 1930 following which he went to live in Scotland where he won the Scottish
Championship eleven times. His ability can best be gauged by his drawn 6 game
match with Eliskases, his triumph in winning a strong British Championship in
1937 and taking the Commonwealth Championship in 1951. He became an
International Master in 1952 and played
in 6 Olympiads for Scotland and one for New Zealand |
B.H.
Wood 1912-90 and W. Ritson-Morry 1912-93 |
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Baruch H. Wood and
William Ritson-Morry were at school together in North Wales and played a lot
of chess against each other. B.H. went on to Bangor University to read
Chemistry and Ritson joined a legal practice. They then met up again when
B.H. came to University Birmingham and was a contemporary of the late Dr.
L.K. Ingram the father of K.R. Ingram. Ritson became a Solicitor and had a
local government post with Sutton Council. B.H. joined a manufacturing
company involved with Chemicals. B.H. found time to organise the seaside
congresses and in1935 founded his magazine “Chess”. In addition to the
magazine the business sold Chess sets, score sheets, chess clocks and chess
books, all this whilst still doing the day job. In 1937 YMCA Sutton Coldfield
Chess Club joined the BDCL with B.H. the Club Secretary. Ritson produced
chess articles and annotations for games and in 1939 when the company Jaques
sued 'Chess' magazine for describing their chess sets as ' Genuine Staunton'
it was Ritson who fought the case. Initially lost but won on appeal. When
World War 2 came along B.H. was deemed to be in a preserved Chemicals
occupation. Ritson had been identified with a weak heart during his
childhood. Chess was still
going on around the world in such places as USA, Argentina and Germany!
Although there was no League some friendly matches still took place in 1942
'Chess' magazine volume 8 for December (page 34) in a section News from
Everywhere the following from B.H. Wood. "Excellent work by Mr and Mrs
Ritson Morry has brought a Sutton Coldfield Chess Club into being with 30
members after ten days. The club room is in the Masonic Buildings, next door
to the "Chess" offices, the whole atmosphere just round there
simply reeks of chess” (Ritson was on the BDCL Management committee) the
magazine therefore carried on and a good relationship continued. Apart from their considerable
contribution to the League from the 1930s onwards, they were an influence in
Warwickshire, the Midlands, Nationally and Internationally. Ritson founded
the Birmingham Junior League and organised the first World Junior Championship
in 1951. He organised the Birmingham Easter Congress for decades, but his
real love was the Hastings International Congress of which he was for years
Congress Director. Both were F.I.D.E.Arbiters, Ritson being the longest
serving Arbiter at the time of his death. As players both represented England
(B.H. in the 1939 Olympiad), both were runners-up in the British Championship
and were British Postal Champions.
Their styles were different. B.H. played trappy openings and relied on
sharp tactics, whilst Ritson played quieter openings, relied on the
principles of Nimzovich in the middle game and was especially good at end
games. B.H. was the force behind the Sutton Coldfield Division 1 side and
Ritson the Erdington Division 1 side before moving on to Mutual Circle after
Erdington folded. They would not have liked being remembered together
following a rift between the players in 1954 over a slanderous remark, but to
the BDCL they were both a credit to our League. |
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A.J.
Miles 1955-2001 |
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One of Birmingham's
strongest players Anthony J Miles, like C.H.O'D Alexander, attended King
Edward's School. Tony played for Birmingham Chess Club he won the Division 1
Individual Title in 1970 and was in Birmingham's 1973 Division 1 Championship
team and represented England on top board at the Olympiads. In 1974, the
18-year-old Miles became the first and only Briton to win the world junior
chess championship, a notoriously demanding tournament. Two years later,
after further international successes, he won the £5,000 prize offered by Jim
Slater, the financier, for the first Briton to become a chess grandmaster. By
1980, he was one of the world's top 10 players. Miles's play became even more
formidable, if occasionally eccentric, among the players he defeated were
former world champions Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky, and Anatoly Karpov,
becoming only the second Briton in the century to defeat a reigning world
champion. It was a memorable confrontation. Miles opted for a bizarre
self-invented opening that Karpov later described as an insult and that Miles
later called the "Birmingham defence" after his home city. "It
was typical Tony. He had no respect for Karpov. He didn't want to get
involved with Karpov's immense technical knowledge of the game. Instead he
got him involved in a street brawl and eventually outfought and outplayed
him," said Ray Edwards, the chairman of the British Chess Magazine. He
believed that the bigger they were, the harder they fell. Miles's ultimate
ambition was, of course, the world championship, but he was never able to
scale these heights. In 1982 Miles won the British Chess championship - a
title that had hitherto eluded him - but the emergence of Garry Kasparov in
the 1980s saw the eclipse of Miles's hopes: he never managed to defeat the
genius from Baku. At the same time, another brilliant - and younger - British
player, Nigel Short, displaced Miles as the number one player in this
country. he continued to compete in tournaments. While he never recaptured
the brilliance of his early years, Miles had some successes. Tony was found
dead at his Harborne home aged 46. A post-mortem examination has revealed
that he died from natural causes: a heart attack brought on by his diabetes,
from which he had suffered. |
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J.A.
Crump 1931-2005 |
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If Tony was not part of
your committee then you really didn't have one. Tony seemed to be on every
committee, and once on it he stayed on it. Tony served his National Service
"out east" and afterwards he went to Lucas's as a draughtsman and
joined their Chess Club somewhere around 1953, his leadership qualities were
soon realised and in 1955 he became the Club Secretary which he held
continuously 50 years. In 1969/70 Tony was President of the BDCL and was
already involved on several different committees. He became Chairman of the
Lightning Tournament Committee in 1981/82 and ran it each subsequent year
until spring 2005. Mike Biddle writes "I first met Tony in 1961 when he
came to my school and recruited me, along with a few other pupils, to the
Lucas Chess Club. Tony was my first captain in the BDCL where we played
together in Division 6. Although I only stayed at Lucas for 3 seasons the
experience that I gained was invaluable. I was able to benefit from his
knowledge and experience as well as his good sense of fair play. I often gave
him a lift to Rules committee meetings which we were both on, and when
reminiscing about the past I found his memory to be wonderfully sharp, indeed
far better than mine. Tony was a great servant to the League, I hope space
can be found in the Roll of Honour for him; there is no more deserving
candidate." Here are some of the roles and committees that Tony served
on; Tournament Committee 1961-05; Match Committee 1963-05; Finance &
General Purpose Committee 1969-05; Centenary Committee 1991-95; Morry-Wood
Committee 1999-05; Publicity Committee
2000-05; Rapid Play Committee 2002-05; Individual Committee 2004-05; W.C.A.
Representative 1970-93; Birmingham Easter Congress Representative 1982-93;
Junior League Representative 1985-05; Staffordshire Whitsun Congress
Representative 1985-05. Thank you,
Tony. |
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Arthur
Utton 1908-2007 |
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Arthur E. Utton has
died, at the age of 99. Although a competent player - he once drew a game
with a visiting Master, possibly Eliskases - Arthur is best known, not for
his chess, but for the great service he rendered the League over four
decades. Arthur had not played competitively for many years, but was BDCL
Treasurer from 1968 to 1983, and a League auditor from 1984 until the year of
his death. Brian Whitehouse, Arthur's co-auditor, describes Arthur as "one
of the old school" and reports that he took his BDCL responsibilities
very seriously, determined never to "let anything get past him"
that might cause harm or risk to the League's finances. Assiduous and
risk-averse, Arthur was also good company, with many a story to tell. He
continued to work professionally until the age of 94, only finally giving up
work because, after a bout of pneumonia, he feared to "let down"
his clients! Referring to this, Brian Whitehouse writes: "Typical Arthur
and typical Arthur to have given so well and selflessly of his time and
expertise to the League for so many years. On behalf of the League and
myself; thank you Arthur; it was a privilege to have known you. |
D.
Rowe, 1948-2012 |
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Dave Rowe. first
appeared in the League Handbook in 1967 as winner of the League Individual
for Division Five while playing for Warley Chess Club; he first became an
official of any sort in 1974 when, unsurprisingly in view of his profession
of accountancy, he became one of the League's auditors. A couple of years
later he took over the critical role of Record Secretary, He held the post on
that occasion for four seasons, which given the size of the league at the height
of the Fischer-inspired boom in chess was an impressive achievement: In 1982
he became General Secretary a post he held for six years, In 1985 Dave still
found time to win another Individual title this time in Division 3 then in
1988 it was back to the Record Secretary's job for seven more years. Twice
more he was General Secretary when other candidates could not be found; if a
job needed doing he would always give it a go. Dave had successfully
qualified as a BCF arbiter and was heavily involved in the organisation and
running of most of the local congresses, notably the Midland Open which he
persuaded his club to take over as a franchise in the 1990s, and the
Warwickshire Championships. At Club level Dave moved from Warley Quinborne to
become the Secretary of the long running Birmingham Chess Club, a post he
held until ill health took is life aged 64. |
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M.B.A.
Walker 1938-2015 |
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Mike Walker was another
who would not let anyone down; many a mile was driven in order to chauffeur
players to and from games in order to get a full team out. Many a club night
he would brave the snow and frost to open the club room in case someone would
turn up and many a wise word was given when the phone rang to ask for advice.
My first encounter with Mike was playing at a congress where he had gone to
see how a young club player was getting on, I casually mentioned in-between
games I may be looking for a new club and before you could blink an eye he
had my Name Address and Phone Number and then wished me luck in the next
game. On arrival home a letter was through the door with all the facts and
figures and club History should I wish to join? He had driven 15 miles out of
his way at the drop of an hat to help the club. It was this overriding
willingness to turn out even when unwell that perhaps contributed to his
death of pneumonia aged 76. Mike had settled in Birmingham in 1968 taking the
post of Mathematics lecturer at University Birmingham, after befriending W.
Ritson Morry he Joined Mutual Circle and went on to become Chairman of the
Rules Committee 1988-98; President 1995-96; Honorary General Secretary 2008-13;
Mutual Circle Stalwart 33 years. I'm only Records Secretary because of Mike's
enthusiasm rubbing off on me. Set them up Mike we'll all be along shortly...
A.T. Woollaston. |
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David
Anderton, CM; O.B.E. 1941-2022 |
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David
joined the Walsall Kipping (K.) chess club in 1982, having played previously
for the Wolverhampton Kipping chess club, and then the Rock Kipping chess
club*. He brought a national reputation with him. |
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He had been honoured in 1977, ‘for services to chess. These had
included the (non-playing) Captaincy of the English men’s team at
International Chess Olympiads; and also, the provision of much legal advice
to the British Chess Federation (BCF). Together these had brought him into
contact with the cream of British chess players and this served him well
later on. He was also a strong player himself and his presence no doubt
assisted in attracting other strong players to the club. |
He only gradually took to participating in the club’s internal
competitions though, but when he did so he regularly became Club Champion.
However, after he had won it 7 times in succession, he very generously, and
voluntarily, withdrew from entering, so as to give others the opportunity to
shine. Nevertheless, he was a very competitive player and prepared for his
league fixtures with meticulous care. |
Since David’s arrival, Walsall K. consistently maintained
strong positions in both Divisions 1 of the BDCL and the WDCL; winning the
Birmingham League Championship 5 times and the Wolverhampton Championship 3
times. However it was a measure of the man’s willingness to take a back seat,
that it was only in 2002 that he finally became Captain of the Div. 1 team in
the Birmingham League, and even later, in 2008, that he became Captain of the
Div 1 team in the WDCL team. He was always particularly keen though on the
club fighting for the title of Staffordshire Champion, via its Hickman Cup
tournament; and in this he was very successful, the club winning it no less
than 18 times between 1982 and 2019. As a Captain he was determined to make
the most of the club’s talents. Consequently, he never failed to ensure,
before agreeing fixture dates, that he knew exactly who would be available;
and he expected a full commitment from his teams. In return, he consistently
provided lifts to team members to matches; although this became an
increasingly demanding task for him. David was also a great organizer, and
his skills in this area were highlighted when the club decided to celebrate
its 1992 Jubilee with a tournament. He willingly took on the task of
organizer and managed to attract sufficient sponsorship locally so as to
enable a major Chess Tournament to be played, at the Walsall Campus. The
WALSALL KIPPING JUBILEE CHESS TOURNAMENT 1992 was played over the three days
of the Easter weekend, and attracted entries from more than nine countries.
The players included Alexei Suetin of Moscow, a leading Russian grandmaster
(GM), six other GMs, and eleven international masters (IM). The winner was GM
Murray Chandler from New Zealand. |
It was regarded as a great success. The national magazine CHESS
described it at the time as 'the strongest ever weekend tournament on British
soil', and recognized that the 'enticing conditions…' provided by David
Anderton, chief organiser from the club, played a major part in this
achievement. Bernard Cafferty (Birmingham Post) claimed that it ‘brought a
collection of national chess talent to the West Midlands…’. It also attracted
the attention of the BCF and it was at their request that David produced a
leaflet ‘Note on the Organisation of the Walsall Kipping Jubilee Tournament’
for use by the BCF. |
David followed this up later by jointly organizing, along with
Lawrence Cooper of Stafford, the STAFFORDSHIRE CENTENARY INTERNATIONAL CHESS
TOURNAMENT 1997. It was hosted by the Walsall Kipping Chess Club at its
premises, and was arranged as A Nine-Round Scheveningen Tournament in which
the players are divided into two teams; and all the players in Team A play
all those in Team B. It was the first International Chess tournament to be
held in Staffordshire and recognized for international title purposes. It
attracted an entry that included 3 GMs; 1 WGM (Jana Bellin); 6 IMs and 1WM.
The two leading scorers were GM Bogdan Lalic and IM Jonathan Rowson. |
David was further involved in instigating and setting up a
training scheme for juniors at The Joseph Leckie Community School in 1993.
Professional help, in the shape of Robert Bellin, was provided through
sponsorship and it attracted a substantial number of local children. Much
progress and enthusiasm was generated, and it ran for three years. In turn
this encouraged Ray Dolan, another club member, to eventually set up the
currently very successful Bloxwich Junior Chess Academy, to carry on the good
work. |
In the meantime, the Walsall K. club was involved in organizing
an annual one-day Rapid play Congress. Again, David became instrumental in
attracting sponsorship for it, and this enabled it to offer larger prizes and
become a very attractive event. He became the organizer for it in 1999, and
ran it till it finished in 2008. It regularly attracted players from all over
the Midlands and sometimes further afield. |
In the meantime, David pursued his personal chess with much
commitment. This might be exemplified by the following: -in 1959 he became
the WDCL individual Champion by winning its premier individual tournament,
the Rock Cup; and in 2009 he successfully repeated this achievement, 50 years
later! Also, apart from his club and Staffs County matches he took part
annually in National events too. He organized teams in the 4NCL league and
participated in British events, achieving regular success- latterly in the
Senior Championships. His achievements were too complex to cover in detail
here; but they may be elsewhere. Here though is a brief list of some of them:
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WDCL
Rock Cup winner 1959, 1960, 1962, 2009. |
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WDCL
President 1967-9 (while at Wolverhampton Kipping) |
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Non-playing
captain of the English men’s team Skopje Olympiad 1972 until Novi Sad
Olympiad 1990 during which time the team won 3 silver and 2 bronze Olympiad
medals. |
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Midland
Champion 1979; |
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BCF
President 1979-82; |
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BCF
International Director 1982-1990; 2000-2002 |
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BDCL
President 1983-84 |
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Administrator
of World Championship in London in 1986 |
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FIDE
Executive Board member 1989-93. |
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Captain
and Organizer of up to 3AD’s teams in 4NCL, from 1999 onwards |
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Correspondence
IM (2000) |
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British
Senior Champion 2005 and 2011; Joint British Senior Champion 2003, 2007, 2009 |
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Former
Staffordshire Chess Association President |
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He
became Chairman of Walsall K. in 2010, and President in 2012, until he
retired from OTB chess in 2020. |
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David
sprinkled stardust on the club, and we shall long remember him. Mike
Groombridge (Walsall Kipping) |
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♞♝ |
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