When I began thinking about the August gazette a tidal wave of anxiety swept over me. How would it be possible to fill the pages of another issue when, for the second consecutive quarter, we’ve had to postpone all our over the board events? I needn’t have worried! Like white knights in shining armour, members came to my rescue by sending in fabulous articles. More than ever, I’m immensely grateful to everyone who has contributed!

Inevitably, the overriding tone of this issue is a retrospective one. There are recollections of David Hodgkins, in whose memory our annual best game competition is held. Peter and Celia Gibbs have kindly chronicled 27 years of their Chess Theme Breaks for us. There is also an article about a tournament where two of our members rubbed shoulders with some of the finest players of the 20^th century. What better time than this to indulge in nostalgia!

The quip about nostalgia not being what it used to be is attributed to novelist Peter de Vries. As well as being witty, this remark is entirely accurate. Over time, usage of the word nostalgia has drifted away from its original meaning. Formed from Greek “nostos” homecoming and “algos” pain, grief or distress, it was coined in the 17^th century to describe an intense homesickness among military personnel. It was then listed in medical journals and in the first two years of the American Civil War, the North recorded 2588 cases and thirteen nostalgia fatalities.

For many of us, the concept of home is not about geography. When homesick, it’s our loved ones that we yearn for rather than the bricks and mortar. Missing my BCA friends acutely this summer, I have self-diagnosed nostalgia in its original sense and I suspect there are many fellow sufferers in our association. It is heartening though, that members are keeping in touch with each other by playing chess remotely or just picking up the phone to help each other through. We can all be each other’s white knights at this time of social distancing!

The archetypal white knight was Sir Lancelot of King Arthur’s legendary round table. Although Lancelot fell from grace, the notion of a white knight being gallant and courageous has endured in our language.

In chess, black knights matter too and our tables have corners. Nevertheless, we have much in common with the valiant knights of old. The first tournaments were mock battles where contestants displayed their skills, just as players do at our events. A report on our TESSLa tournament tells how it has turned out to be a marvellous mêlée of correspondence chess! Competitors are throwing down the gauntlet and conducting themselves with the utmost chivalry. There is lots of other correspondence chess news too, as well as puzzles and miniatures galore!

Back in May, your committee gathered around a virtual table of unknown geometry to meet by Skype and our Secretary has summarised the key points for you. Our Treasurer writes about the accounts and our Fundraiser introduces herself to the members! We also have an important message from our Chairman about future events.

Members might hesitate to travel by train or coach these days, but chess training or coaching is another matter! It can be conducted by Skype, email or telephone. Please contact Coaching Officer, Voldi Gailans, to find out more. This issue also has tips on Fritz from John Gallagher and advice on accessible chess media from Mark Kirkham.

Finally, we bid a sad final farewell to three of our friends, each of whom contributed much in their different ways.

Please send me your contributions for the November issue by the end of September.

Julie Leonard

A Note from our Chairman

I hope everyone is keeping safe and well during the challenging times we are going through. Perhaps we will be able to enjoy a little extra freedom now as we gradually ease out of the lockdown.

I had hoped to be able to report good news about our over the board events but sadly this is not possible at the moment. At the beginning of July the committee took the difficult decision to postpone our Autumn tournament, scheduled to take place at the end of October at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate. We were mindful of the current risks of using public transport, the difficulties for VI people to maintain social distancing in a hotel and the fact that a significant number of regular attendees are in the vulnerable group. We also had to act before we would have incurred substantial hotel penalty costs. We have informed the hotel and they have kindly agreed that we can postpone the event for a year without any extra charge which is very good news.

The annual chess theme break, normally held at Windermere, was due to take place at the Marsham Court Hotel in Bournemouth at the end of January next year. Unfortunately, the hotel has now decided that opening in January and February will not be cost effective. We have therefore postponed this event for a year too.

As a result, our next over the board event will be our AGM weekend, scheduled to take place at the Hallmark Hotel in Derby in March next year. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a much brighter outlook by then.

The committee has decided that, as a substitute for our Autumn event, we will run a five round weekend tournament by Skype or similar platform or by telephone. More details are given in the section on Forthcoming Events. Please give it your support! We are hoping it will be a fun weekend with games played in a spirit of friendship and cooperation.

Norman Wragg

Forthcoming Events

30^th October to 1^st November 2020, 1st BCA Telephone/Skype Weekend Tournament.

We are arranging this weekend event as a substitute for the Autumn tournament which has had to be postponed because of the pandemic. It will be a five round event played over the telephone, Skype or any other internet based platform such as Zoom, Facetime, WhatsApp etc. But all players must be prepared to play by telephone if they are drawn against an opponent who does not have the IT skills or equipment to use the other systems.

The rate of play will be all moves in 90 minutes for each player. The games will largely follow the normal timetable of the Autumn tournament, with one game on the Friday, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. We do envisage some flexibility on start times. For example, some players might prefer to play their Friday game in the afternoon. Each player can request one bye except in the final round.

A clock will be used in each game if at all possible. Normally, it will be the player with the white pieces who operates the clock but this can be changed by agreement between the players. If both players feel that they simply cannot use a clock in such circumstances their game can be played without one but the game must be completed within three hours and a result agreed amicably. It must be understood that it will be a fairly informal weekend, requiring friendly cooperation from all concerned.

Please let Gill Smith have your entries by 9^th October, letting her know which platforms you are able to use and whether you would want a bye in one of the first four rounds.

We have certainly not ironed out all the possible issues in staging such an event but those who have entered will receive updated information after the closing date. Please get in touch with a member of the committee or TSC if you wish to discuss the event. Indeed, if you do have any ideas about how the weekend should be run then please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

The weekend will be controlled by Gerry Walsh and Julie Leonard, fresh from their success in running the very popular and successful TESSLa tournament currently in progress.

19^th to 21^st March 2021: AGM Weekend Chess Congress

This will take place at The Hallmark Hotel, Derby. The AGM will be held at 2pm on Saturday 20^th March. We are pleased to be returning to this popular hotel with its excellent facilities. The hotel is very conveniently located within a few yards walk of Derby railway station.

There will be two five round chess tournaments. The Open section is open to all visually impaired chess players and associate members of the BCA. The Challengers is limited to those graded 100 or below. The entry fee for both tournaments is £10. The cost of dinner, bed and breakfast for members and associate members is £44 per person per night for Friday and Saturday nights in a single room, and £40 per person per night in a double/twin room. For those staying on the Sunday night, the cost will be £65 per person in a single room and £54 per person in a double/twin. For non-members of the BCA, please contact the organiser for the cost of accommodation. The closing date for entries is 23^rd January. Please send your entry fee and full payment for all accommodation to Gill Smith by this date. Please send any resolutions or other items for inclusion on the AGM agenda to Guy Whitehouse by 31^st December 2020. Also, let Guy know if you are planning to attend the AGM without staying at the hotel so that we can let you have the AGM papers.

Organiser Steve Burnell.

Dates for your diaries:

Looking further ahead, we have the following events planned, so please note the dates and keep them free!

Sunday 6th June to Sunday 13th June 2021: Combined British Championship and Chairman’s Cup, in memory of Sheila and David Milsom at the Marsham Court Hotel, Bournemouth.

Friday 15^th to Sunday 17^th October 2021: International Autumn tournament at the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate.

Sunday 30^thJanuary to Sunday 6th February 2022: The 28th Chess Theme Break at the Marsham Court Hotel, Bournemouth.

Tournament information and details of how to book will be published in future gazettes.

Booking Conditions and Procedures

By entering a BCA tournament, a player is deemed to have consented for their name and any special requirements to be passed to the hotel prior to the event. Also, consent is considered to have been given for a player’s name, club, results and possibly also their gender to be sent to the ECF for grading purposes. For juniors, the date of birth is also required if they are to get the age-related grading bonus they are entitled to.

If you have any queries about the hotel or the tournament please contact the organiser. Blind and partially sighted UK residents under the age of 25 receive free entry and free accommodation when playing in BCA events. In appropriate circumstances, free accommodation is also available to a parent or guardian accompanying a junior.

Visually impaired UK residents in their first year of membership receive their first BCA weekend event free or £100 reduction in the cost of a week-long event. They may also be accompanied by a guide or companion who will receive the same concession. For a first event we ask for payment in advance and we then make a refund at the event. You may pay in these ways:

Cheques payable to Braille Chess Association should be sent to Gill Smith, see the front of the Gazette for her address. Online or telephone payments may be made to:

Braille Chess Association, sort code 40 52 40, account number 00082456.

Credit/debit card payments may be made through the BCA website.

If you pay by direct payment then you should inform Gill when the payment has been made. Bookings accepted after the closing date are subject to a £10 late booking penalty for each person. Late bookings and entries are accepted at the discretion of the organiser. Bookings are confirmed when full payment has been received. Payments can only be refunded within the time limit set in the terms and conditions set by the hotels. Members are advised to take out holiday insurance to cover themselves.

When contacting Gill please let her know if you want a single, double or twin room and if you have a preference for a bath or a shower. And remember, if emailing Gill, copy in the tournament organiser.

Also say whether any of the following apply.

1 If you will be bringing a guide dog;

2 If you are on a special diet;

3 If you have mobility problems and would benefit from being located in a room near to a lift;

4 If you are a wheelchair user;

5 If you feel you would have any special difficulties in an emergency such as a fire evacuation;

6 Any other special requirements.

The BCA reserves the right to refuse or cancel any entry or to exclude any person from any event it runs.

Words from the Whitehouse

This article contains a brief selection from the reports prepared for our cancelled AGM congress weekend with a few additions from the minutes of a meeting the committee held via Skype on 2^nd May.

Finance: We’ve appointed a new firm of accountants to check and produce the final version of our accounts which are normally presented for approval at the AGM. The new firm, Dunkleys, is based in Bristol which makes things a lot easier for Gill.

We took advice on how to proceed in view of the fact we could not run our AGM and congress due to Covid-19 concerns. Based on that advice the trustees examined and approved the accounts and these were returned to Dunkleys together with a signed copy of our annual trustees’ report. This will form the basis of our submission to the Charity Commission, but any member who wishes to see the accounts only needs to contact Gill and ask for a copy.

The other significant development in this area of our activities is the appointment of a new fundraiser, Linda Innes. She takes over from Julia, who in her final year raised an amazing £34,000. Linda has already shown herself to have interesting fundraising ideas and has written an article introducing herself which appears in this gazette; if you haven’t already done so, I’d encourage you to read it.

Personnel changes: The Skype meeting ratified an earlier decision that Dan Rugman should take over from Chris Ross and stand in as Website Coordinator. Mark Kirkham had indicated that he wished to hand over his responsibilities as Congress Support Officer to someone else and it was agreed at the Skype meeting that we should offer the role to Tony Elbourn. Gerry Walsh has also replaced Owen Phillips as our representative to the ECF.

Constitutional matters: I had planned to propose a change to the constitution at the 2020 AGM; the change would make the position of Junior Development Officer a full committee post, the intention being to show the importance we attach to junior development. Unfortunately, this change will have to wait another year for proposal and ratification at an AGM. Nevertheless, Voldi Gailans did manage to visit RNC last year and spoke about the association to some enthusiastic students.

Tournaments: It may well be that by the time you read this we will have announced the cancellation of our autumn tournament. We have been aware for some time that because of the pandemic it was very unlikely we could run the event safely. We are still hoping to run the chess theme break next year, this time at the Marsham Court Hotel in Bournemouth. We also decided that the British Championships and the Chairman’s Cup should be run next year as a joint event. The combined tournaments would be dedicated to the memory of Sheila and David Milsom. If a visually impaired member brings their own sighted guide to one of our events, the guide will receive the same subsidy for accommodation as the visually impaired member, regardless of whether the guide is a member of the association or not.

The international scene: 2021 promises to be a bit of a hectic year. Two postponed events, the Six Nations and the European Individual Championships have been rescheduled for next year and there is also the small matter(!) of the Olympiad which was already scheduled for 2021. Attending all of those events could prove difficult, not least for financial reasons. Watch this space!

Accessible chess material: at the Skype meeting there was some discussion as to whether we could do more to make chess puzzles accessible. We’ve made an initial approach on this matter to the British Chess Problem Society. This is an area where we could risk spending a lot of effort which was not ultimately justified by the level of interest amongst members, so please do let us know if this is an area of chess you are interested in. I was wondering whether a brief series on composing problems might be of interest.

I’m contacting New in Chess to find out what formats they publish their magazine in and whether there was any way we could get more accessible material from them. We’ve also renewed our subscription to Chess Magazine.

Mark Kirkham has found a website chessable.com where members can sign up for some fairly accessible courses (there are accessible diagrams outlining positions). We don’t know exactly how accessible these courses are; it’ll probably be a case of finding out by trial and error.

Facebook: Julie continues to update our Facebook page with a variety of posts (videos, photographs and snippets of news). Her AGM report says that the number of people liking our page is 176; it would help if you asked your friends and family members to like our page as well.

Chess sets: at the Skype meeting we decided to approach Chess Baron for another batch of sets with a warning that if the sets were not of an acceptable quality this would be the last time we ordered sets from them. However, Ednun Pourtahmasbi has sent Stan Lovell and myself a traditional pin set from Italy which is of an excellent quality. We’re aware that quite a few of our active members have developed a preference for magnetic sets and the cost implications of ordering the more traditional style of set from Italy are not yet clear, but there may be a case for using Italy as our main source of adapted chess sets going forward.

Guy Whitehouse

Constitution of the Subcommittees

Finance and Fundraising: Norman Wragg (Chair), Gill Smith, Guy Whitehouse, Linda Innes

Information, Communication and Technology: Dan Rugman (Chair), Mark Kirkham, Gill Smith, Olly Leonard

Technical: Guy Whitehouse (Chair), Stan Lovell, Ed Pourtahmasbi

Tournament: Steve Burnell (Chair), Voldi Gailans, Stan Lovell, Norman Wragg

Millennium Club, the BCA’s monthly lottery

Thank you to Denise Ross who continues to keep track of Millennium Club membership and lets me know whose lucky number is drawn each month.

To take part in the monthly draw costs just £12 per number per year. You may have as many numbers as you like at £12 each. Every month a lucky winner receives £35. If you wish to take part in the draw, make a payment to the BCA or set up a standing order then next year’s subs will not be forgotten.

Recent Millennium Club winners: May: Jim Cuthbert, number 18.

June: Roger Waters, number 67.

July: Gary Wickett, number 4.

Gill Smith, Treasurer

Treasurer’s Report

Since writing my report for the May Gazette we have received another £4,000 in grants resulting from the work Julia had done before she retired last November. Generous donations were received from the Anson Charitable Trust, the Calleva Foundation, Moynitrust and the Provincial Grand Lodge of Warwickshire. We are fortunate to have some donors who give to our charity regularly and Linda is making contact with them to maintain the relationships.

At our May committee meeting, held over Skype, we ratified the accounts for the financial year ending in September 2019. I have now completed the annual return to the Charity Commission. This involves submitting our year end accounts and our trustees report and answering some questions about our activities.

Our accounts are published on our website. If you wish to be sent a copy please ask and let me know what format you would like it in.

Overview of the BCA accounts for the financial year to 30 September 2019.

All figures are to the nearest pound.

Total funds £91,923 which includes the following.

Total BCA cash funds £55,863. These funds are in accounts held with CAF Bank, Lloyds Bank and Virgin Money.

Total investment assets £36,060. These medium to long term investments are held with CCLA who specialise in services for charities.

Our investment funds continued to do well. We received £482 in dividends from our Income Units and their increase in value was nearly 6.5%. Our accumulation units increased in value by nearly 10%. For comparison, the FTSE index decreased by 1.17% over the same time period.

A breakdown of income and expenditure follows.

Receipts:

Donations, legacies, grants 34,001.

Chess tournaments 26,806.

Fundraising by members 1,293.

Interest on deposit accounts 579.

Dividends from investments 482.

Membership subscriptions 234.

Total income: 63,395.

Asset sales, sets and clocks 607.

Asset sales, BCA merchandise 46.

Total receipts: £64,048.

Payments:

Chess tournaments 53,011.

Professional fees (accountant, coaches, fundraiser, treasurer, web) 11,233.

Braille production, including Gazette 2,231.

Committee expenses (including recruitment costs) 1,555.

Print, post, stationery, supplies 931.

Subscriptions and publications 865.

Insurance 476.

Lottery prizes 420.

Bank charges 139.

Total outgoings: £70,861.

Current state of finances – values at 2 July 2020.

In CAF bank we have £16,929.

With Lloyds we have £4,179.

Virgin Money holds £33,572.

The total cash held in these accounts is £54,680.

Within the cash accounts, we have restricted funds, given for specific purposes, of £4,528.

Also, some of these cash funds are held as credit for members after events were cancelled, £2,752 altogether. If the BCA holds some money on your behalf and you decide at any time that you would like it paid back then please let me know and I can repay you.

Total investments with CCLA are valued at £36,884. Although our investment funds had reduced in value at March end, they have since rallied. The value of these investments has risen by £824 compared with the beginning of October and we have received dividends totalling £239.

Total funds, including cash accounts and investments, £91,564.

Gill Smith, Treasurer

Meet the Fundraiser!

I’m Linda Innes. I’d like to say I’m the nearly-new fundraiser for BCA, but I’m getting quite old now. I’m writing this on a sunny day in May, because Julie’s deadline was ‘as early as possible’. Hopefully, by the time you read this, we’ve all survived the pandemic, our days are easier, and we are approaching normality – whatever ‘normal’ is. I might even get to meet you at an event when events can happen in person again. Hopefully, you’re all well and managing to play chess by some means, regardless.

Who am I? (Amongst other philosophical questions). I’m from Liverpool, originally, where a sense of humour comes with the territory; but I’ve been around a bit – living in Leeds after being a student there, then in Gloucester, Sheffield and Middlesbrough, before moving a few miles to the North-East coast. I used to be an English teacher, but I’m all right now. I’m qualified as a life-coach and Neurolinguistic Programming trainer – but that’s another story. I’ve worked in the arts and education as a project manager, fundraising for lots of diverse projects, and ten years ago, I started freelancing. I've been writing applications for grants and tenders, and writing other things for clients – from policies and web content to horror novels! I’m loving working for the BCA – you lovely people. I’m busy writing to trusts and foundations, applying for donations and grants to ensure the BCA’s future. If you have any good fundraising ideas (or know anyone with money for a great cause!) please let us know!

Easy Fundraising

If you are shopping online please remember that at no cost to you there are fundraising initiatives available to raise funds for the BCA. AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon with the same products and prices as Amazon.co.uk. The difference is that when you shop on AmazonSmile, 0.5% of the net purchase price is donated to your chosen charity. Give as you Live allows you to shop with many different retailers and a percentage of the price is donated.

Gill Smith, Treasurer

Membership Secretary’s Report

We have a new visually impaired five year member to welcome into our fold: John Ramm from Wrexham. I am delighted to see that Malcolm Jones, also a relatively new five year member, has been extremely active in the BCA TESSLa Summer Tournament. He is doing extremely well and has had the opportunity of meeting many of our active chess players which is not the easiest thing to do in the current pandemic climate, when our OTB events have had to be cancelled. Well done to Gerry Walsh and Julie Leonard for organising such a splendid multi-platform tournament which has enabled a great deal of chess to be played and has encouraged much friendly social interaction.

Deceased Members

It is with very great sadness that I have to report the death of two long term members of the BCA, Michael Delaney and Mike Hague. Both of these members were very popular and will be missed by our members and their respective families. Michael attended many of our OTB events and Mike was a keen and very active correspondence chess player. They will be greatly missed.

Mark Hague

Editor’s Notes:

After Mark submitted his report, new member John Ramm took the plunge and entered the TESSLa event as well!

Also, sad news reached us that former BCA member, Ivor Wagner, had passed away. Ivor contributed a great deal to our association during his time with us and many members have happy memories of him, therefore there is a tribute to Ivor later in this gazette.

Audio Library and Other Chess Media

Mark Kirkham writes:

I look after our stock of audio chess books and articles which are designed to help you improve your knowledge of the game. I can send these in various formats, including cassette, CD, USB stick and via our shared Dropbox system. A list of titles is available on the BCA website or on request from me.

I would like to remind members of the monthly recordings of 'Chess Magazine' made by our volunteer reader Dewi Jones, who took over from Ray Pearson in February 2019. I am pleased to say that Dewi has kindly agreed to continue until at least the end of this calendar year, and we have renewed our subscription accordingly. If you don't already do so, please consider signing up to receive the magazine, which is free to UK VI members. The number of subscribers will help us decide if it is worthwhile continuing with it in future years. You can get it on cassette from Richard Harrington, or from me via computer file transfer. The magazine covers a wide range of top level chess activity both at home and abroad. A popular feature is the long-running series 'How Good is your Chess' by Grandmaster Daniel King, in which readers are invited to score points for working out the moves played by either black or white in a game with comments at every stage to help the reader follow the correct thought process.

Everyman Chess, the commercial e-book seller, stock a wide range of chess books by contemporary authors in a variety of accessible computer formats. If you are looking to improve your opening or endgame knowledge for instance, you will find that Everyman books have a rather more extensive and up to date range of titles than our audio library currently offers. You can subscribe to the Everyman mailing list via their website. The number of books is growing continually and they have a special offer every couple of weeks or so.

Everyman is not the only provider of chess ebooks. I have also briefly explored Forward Chess publishers. The drawback with these books is that you need to use a smartphone or tablet, as the books are delivered via their specialist app which can be downloaded from the app store or play store depending on your operating system. I mention this for information purposes only, and do not at this stage recommend them as a realistic way of reading chess material for all blind users. If anyone manages to make further progress then I would be delighted to hear about it.

For those who prefer the spoken word to the written one, I would like to draw attention to the increasing popularity of chess videos recorded by professional chess commentators. Whilst these are clearly designed for a mainstream audience, you may be pleasantly surprised by how easy some are to follow. There are free ones from sites like Youtube as well as those that you have to pay for.

One site that a few of us have discovered recently is Chessable.com, which offers video courses taught by chess masters. Users who sign up to the site are entitled to a limited number of selected free courses, with the option of buying more courses which then appear in their account. I cannot vouch for the complete accessibility of all these products, as experience of chess videos generally shows that some presenters are known to adopt the unfortunate habit of glossing over the moves and not announcing all of them, naturally assuming that the graphics on the board will suffice for the sighted viewer. However, a separate web page containing a rough transcript of the video is linked from the video itself, underneath which is a FEN diagram with the current position on the virtual board which can be used to verify the position, as it is displayed as text for those who are familiar with this format. It is possible to play through the current game using simple keyboard commands. Doing this of course changes the FEN. This last feature is not strictly necessary but it could help to check if you get lost during a video. I have spoken with one of the developers of the Chessable site, who is very keen that they make it as accessible as possible, so they are receptive to feedback.

Correspondence Chess Director’s Report

45th BCA CORRESPONDENCE TOURNAMENT 2019-20

Premier - Group Leader Paul Benson

Final scores: Guy Whitehouse 3-4, Alec Crombie 3, Ernie McElroy 2.5, George Phillips 1.5, Denis Warren 0.

Tie-break: Guy 4.75, Alec 4.25.

Challengers - Group Leader Gary Wickett

No results.

Scores: Mike Hague 4.5-5, Voldi Gailans 4-5, Eric Gallacher 3.5-5, Jim Cuthbert 1-4, Arthur Greatrex 1-4, Eleanor Tew 0-5.

BCA LEAGUE 2020-21

Division 1 - Group Leader Guy Whitehouse

Gailans 0 - 1 McElroy, Grunfeld, 30.

McElroy 0.5 - 0.5 Crombie, Queen's Pawn, 23.

Scores: Alec Crombie 2.5-3, Ernie McElroy 1.5-2, Mark Hague 1-2, Voldi Gailans 0-3.

Division 2 - Group Leader Voldi Gailans

No results.

Scores: Jim Cuthbert, Eric Gallacher, George Phillips, Denis Warren, all 0-0.

Division 3 - Group Leader George Phillips

No results.

Scores: Mike Flood 2-2, Malcolm Jones 1-2, Andrew Wood 0-0, Eleanor Tew 0-2.

FRIENDLY LADDER TABLE

Anyone wishing to play a friendly game on the Ladder should now contact myself, details as shown in list of Officers. Any friendly games played under correspondence conditions, such as by braille, cassette, email, Skype, telephone, can qualify as a Friendly Ladder game. Please report such games and let your efforts be reflected in your accumulating score.

Tew 1 - 0 Lawton, Englund Gambit Declined, 35.

Lawton 1 - 0 Tew, King's Pawn, 53.

Tew 0 - 1 Jones, Queen's Pawn, 30.

Lawton 1 - 0 Jones, Pirc, 65.

Jones 1 - 0 Lawton, French, 30.

Tew 0 - 1 Flood, Chigorin, 35.

Jones 1 - 0 T. Elbourn, French, 30.

T. Elbourn 0 - 1 Jones, Pirc Defence, 29.

Scores: 8 Malcolm Jones, Eleanor Tew; 7 Jim Cuthbert; 6 Mike Flood; 5 Stan Lightowler; 4 Tony Elbourn, Mark Hague, Dorothy Hodges, Tony Lawton, Stan Lovell, Denis Warren; 3 Ernie McElroy, Lea Ryan; 2 Paul Benson, Lionel Bryant, Derek Couchman, Jason Pearce, Gill Smith, Bill Tatum; 1 Christopher Huby.

In closing, to those about to start a game: Break a peg!

Paul Benson

Memories of the Chess Theme Breaks

By Peter and Celia Gibbs

During the early days of the opening of the Cliffden Hotel in Teignmouth, Devon, Stan Lovell, the then Secretary of the Braille Chess Association, and his wife Jan, spent a holiday there. They were so impressed with the luxury and setting of the hotel, which was then managed by the Guide Dogs Association specifically for visually impaired guests. The hotel featured many facilities for VI guests such as Braille menus, and catered also for guide dogs by providing grooming rooms, spending areas etc.

Stan Lovell discussed with the young manager, Nigel Potts, the possibility of holding a Chess Theme Break which would be a week of chess training and competition combined with social events and outings for both chess players and their friends and family. The Braille Chess Association, under the Chairmanship of Alec Crombie invited Peter Gibbs to organise the event. Peter, an Associate Member of the BCA, had for some years been coach for the then British Blind Chess Champion, Geoff Carlin. Peter was an experienced chess player and arbiter, and was used to working with VI players. Peter accepted the offer.

The more experienced chess players would provide training for the trainees and the trainees would enter a Chess Handicap Competition during the week.

The first event took place in February 1994 and proved to be very popular. It took place once more there in 1995. In 1994, the winner of the Chess Handicap Competition was proud Welshman Des Watkins who came along with his wife, Shirley. In 1995, also at the Cliffden, the chess trophy was won by Geoff Patching.

In 1996, the event moved to recently opened sister hotel - Windermere Manor, and continued to be held there until February 2020.

During the first visit to Windermere Manor, the chess trophy was won by Shirley Watkins, a staunch supporter both of the hotel and the Chess Theme Break.

Geoff Patching won the trophy in both 1997 and 1998. In 1999 Eric Gallacher won the chess competition followed in 2000 and 2001 by Alan Davey.

In 2002 Steve Thacker won the competition and once more in 2005 and 2009. In 2008 Steve tied with George Phillips.

In 2003 George Plechaty was the winner and in 2004 he tied with Philip Gordon.

Philip was the outright winner in 2006. In 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2018 George Phillips was the winner with the highest number of times as the winner of the trophy. In 2011, one of the Irish contingent of players who enjoyed the Chess Theme Break, Michael Meaney was the proud winner. Gary Wickett was the winner in both 2014 and 2019. In 2017 Mark Hague and John Jenkins tied as winners of the trophy and Mark was to win once more in 2020.

In addition to the chess training and competition, at each hotel outings were arranged so that guests could become familiar with the area in which they were staying.

At the Windermere Manor Hotel the event evolved over the years. Chess players benefitted from the training they received from the more experienced players in the group, enjoyed the rivalry of the chess competition and also enjoyed the relaxed holiday atmosphere in delightful surroundings. Over the years the musical talents have become a feature of the week. Having so much talent among the group, a regular Soirée evening was held each year. In the early days this was compered by Juliet Reeve and for many years Joan Shorrock has continued to be Mistress of Ceremonies. As a group, we have enjoyed the musical contributions, the poetry, the monologues, the singing and the pure enjoyment of being together in a friendly atmosphere.

On the final day before leaving the hotel, Peter organised a simultaneous chess display for trainees of the chess event. John Toothill (sadly now deceased), who lived in Kendall came along for several years to run the display. Peter has run a simultaneous chess display on numerous occasions and Mark Kirkham has also provided a simultaneous display.

Celia organised a Quiz Night and also ran a Bingo session for several years.

Over all this time, we have had the opportunity to visit numerous attractions of the Lake District. These include a visit to the wonderful waterfall at Aira Force, Grizedale Forest, the Wool Centre at Cockermouth, Lake Coniston, Derwentwater, Grasmere, Keswick, Kendal, a candle factory, Hawkshead and have enjoyed many cruises on Lake Windermere. With the help of Terry (now retired from the hotel) we were introduced to the life and works of William Wordsworth. Terry drove us on outings in the minibus and managed to give us a wonderful commentary at the same time. He introduced us to beautiful poetry. Whilst many of us are acquainted with 'Daffodils', Terry also recited the poignant poem 'We are Seven' a joint effort of Wordsworth and Coleridge. He also read to us 'The Cataract of Lodore' by Robert Sowrey.

Following Terry's retirement the Events Organiser at the hotel was Shery. We had loved the places Terry had taken us to and then Shery opened up some new destinations for us. She drove the minibus and introduced us to the Donald Campbell Museum, Kirby Lonsdale and Cartmel which had become firm favourites with our group.

We have seen many managers at the Windermere Manor over the years. They and their staff have provided our group with friendship, courtesy, good service, good food and a comfortable environment for our Chess Theme Breaks.

After 27 years at the helm Peter and Celia decided it was time to pass on the responsibility for the Chess Theme Breaks. Accordingly they have returned responsibility for the 28th Chess Theme Break to the Braille Chess Association and we wish the organisers well.

We would like to thank all the trainers and trainees who have given their time, expertise and interest in the Chess Theme Breaks. We would also express our thanks to all those from all corners of the UK who have attended as well as our friends from the Republic of Ireland, Canada and Sweden, who have added to the success of the Chess Theme Breaks.

Memories of David Hodgkins

By Ben Graff

When I wrote last month about some of the BCA related coincidences in my own life, I could not help but think more about my time with David. We played for the same Leamington team and I would usually pick him up from his house before matches. I have very fond memories of sitting with both David and his mother Phyllis in their front room. She would often very kindly make us both a sandwich and we would eat and chat about our day before David and I headed off to do battle for the club. These moments felt like an oasis of calm and I always looked forward to being in their company.

The car is generally a good place for a conversation, and we must have talked about everything over the years, as we trekked to Solihull, Banbury, Daventry and other such places for our matches. I found David to be incredibly wise and very funny. We would discuss family and work and what was in the news and of course our chess. His perspectives on what really mattered, and his wry sense of humour are things I will always remember.

I think chess must have been harder for David than for some, given his hearing loss in his later years. There were times when this could occasionally lead to mix-ups over the position on the board, which he and his opponents always dealt with gracefully and this did not ever cause any issues. David never complained about anything, which I thought was a real credit to him and made him atypical amongst many of the chess players I know. He simply loved the game and was going to get on with it whatever the challenges.

As the team captain, during a match night I would keep half an eye on all the games in progress. I would usually be able to assess my teammates positions very quickly, except for David’s. There was a real richness and level of complexity to David’s game, which required careful thought to properly understand. I certainly saw remnants of Korchnoi’s style in his play and would often wonder where David might be going with some manoeuvre or other, until many moves later all would become clear. I saw many a strong player’s radar go completely haywire when up against David’s deep and subtle chess brain.

One night we played a match where with all other games finished the score was 1.5 – 1.5. David was still playing. It had been a real slugfest of a game and a crowd of spectators were looking on as a time scramble ensued. David was turning up the pressure and his opponent seemed to be running out of options on the board and time on the clock. After a few minutes, the guys flag fell, but to my horror David did not react. To be fair to his opponent, he was so engrossed in the game that I genuinely think he had not noticed either. A few moves later, David delivered checkmate to win the match. I asked him afterwards if he had noticed his opponent’s clock. He grinned at me and said that he had just wanted to play. It is fair to say he had always had this one covered!

I will always regret that a work commitment meant I was not there when David played his final game for Leamington, two days before he died. Against another Leamington team, David had much the better of an interesting draw with a strong opponent. His play as complex and as strong as ever. Everybody who was present has told me that it was a fun night and David was on great form. He was amongst friends and players who respected him to the end.

David left a deep impression on all who knew him. His contribution to chess for Leamington is something that will always be remembered. He was a great player, a tough competitor, and a friend to many. I feel very privileged to have spent some time with him, talking and playing the game that has meant so much to both of us. He was one of those people who always knew the right move to make, both at and away from the chessboard.

David Hodgkins Memorial Annual Best Game Prize

Members in the British Isles are reminded that correspondence games in any BCA event (including the current TESSLa tournament) or for a BCA team can be entered for the Best Game competition by sending them to any committee member in whichever format is easiest for you. Peter Gibbs is our judge for this year and he awaits your games!

Creating a Database of Games using Fritz

John Gallagher writes:

Hello all!

When we study chess we are trying to make ourselves better at playing the game. For a blind person it can be very daunting going over many lines and finding an accessible chess book to learn from. One really good way I found to learn was to look at chess games with a set position for example a game you have played and you get to a certain point and then you are stuck. So, to be able to see how other very good players handle your setup is a huge help. It’s not just going over lines and lines of moves it’s a feeling to the setup on the board. I will try to explain here how to create a good lot of games so we can be better players.

First of all, if possible, it is much better to use Fritz9 chess playing program as it is much more accessible for a blind player. It’s very important that we configure some settings to make the program run better for us. The less clutter you have on the screen the better! Note that it is best to use the most updated version of Jaws if you can. NVDA works and the Windows speech software also works, but not as well.

To start the Windows narrator press the Windows key with the control key and the enter key all at the same time to start the Windows speech. Do the same to stop it. Now if you have a better version of Fritz it will not work as the menus will not speak.

From your computer load up Fritz9 and press the space bar to get to the game window. If you press enter it tries to go online. Press control with ‘n’ to start a new game. You should hear the pieces being put up on the board.

Now we will alter some important settings.

Press the left alt key let it go then press ‘t’ let it go and press ‘o’ for options. Press your left control key and see what it says. We should hear ‘clocks notation tab’. If you do not hear this press the shift key with your tab key.

Now press your right cursor until it says multimedia tab.

Press the tab key and it will say ‘audio talk check box’. This should be unchecked. To do so press the space bar.

Press your tab key for ‘audio announce moves check box’. This is very important. It must be checked. Again to do this press the space bar.

Press your tab key and it says ‘audio board sounds check box’. This must be checked by pressing the space bar.

Press tab again and it says ‘chatter messages’. I have this as checked. If you don’t it says daft messages to you in the game.

Press the tab key and it’s a combo box. Set this for no music. To open your combo box press your left alt key with your down arrow or should I say cursor key together. Now to go up or down press the down or up cursor.

From here press your tab key until it says okay and press enter.

Now we are ready to create a database of games. Please note you need a good database like bigbase. If you have Fritz9 it will have a database in it. So ready steady go let’s create our games! It’s very complicated I know.

First of all we need to enter our game in to Fritz to where we get stuck.

Press the left alt key with the f2 key.

This lets you enter a position in to Fritz without it replying back to you with a game. Now type in your moves like this: d2d4 g8f6 c2c4 g7g6 b1c3 f8g7 e2e4 d7d6 f2f3 e8g8 c1e3 e7e5 d4d5 c7c6 d1d2 c6d5 c4d5 d8a5 h2h4

Remember, after your move put in a space the computer should speak your moves.

Now we need Fritz to find this set up in the database so press the left alt key let it go and press the right cursor and it should say edit. Now press down cursor until it says find position now press the enter key and it may say the number of games to search. Press enter again and wait.

The program will now search the database for all games that you have put the position in.

If it says no games found press the escape key to go in your database and get to the top of it with the keystroke control home and try again. So press the escape key to go in the main game window press the left alt key then right cursor key until it says edit. Now press cursor down until it says find position and press the enter key.

If all has gone well go and get a beer! It will take a while to go and find your games.

Eventually, to see what’s happening you can press tab key and shift tab to hear how many games it’s found.

It could say stop when you press tab just ignore it and wait.

Now if you press cursor down or up you should see a list of games. You need to select these games now. So press control with a and then control c to copy the games to the clipboard.

From here get into your database by pressing the escape key and press left alt key then press down cursor for new now press right cursor for database. It will say file name and here give it a name for example “kingsindian”, press shift tab to files of type and set it to pgn and then tab to save.

Now go in to the database and press left alt key go down to open and press enter

Find your database that you created. It should be in chessbase then bases. When on it, open it.

From here you must paste your games into the database so press control with v.

And that’s it! Rather complicated I know! If anyone wants help with this please email me and we can arrange to go over it on the phone or Skype. If anyone is interested, we can configure more settings in Fritz to make it better.

12th BCA Email Tournament

Philip Doyle and Eamonn Casey write:

Hello Folks,

We have come to the end of another successful email tournament. It concluded a full six weeks ahead of the scheduled closing date, probably, in part, due to the fact that most of us have been confined to our houses by the COVID-19 virus. We had an overall entry of nineteen players, divided into three divisions of five players, and Division 4 consisting of four players. Division 1, on this occasion, saw Rod MacDonald come out on top, over his regular adversary, Peter Gibbs, and a resurgent Colin Chambers. Philip Doyle dominated Division 2, with a clear one-point victory from Mark Kirkham and Randy Kruzeniski, the draw specialist. In both Divisions 3 and 4 we had joint winners. Gill Smith and Mark Hague shared the spoils in Division 3, with Tony Lawton and new boy Malcolm Jones taking the honours in Division 4.

Due to the TESSLa event our next email tournament will commence a month later in October. Once again, to thank all those who took part this time, and to wish you all good health in these challenging times. Hope to hear from you all in the autumn!

Divisions 1, 2 and 4 were already complete when the May gazette was published, but a reminder of the final scores is below, together with the last few results and final scores in Division 3.

Division 1

Final scores: MacDonald 3.5, Gibbs and Chambers 2.5, Prasath 1, Burnell 0.5

Division 2

Final scores: Doyle 3, Kirkham and Kruzeniski 2, Casey and Gailans 1.5

Division 3

Hague drew with Elbourn

Thacker beat Flood

Hague beat Smith

Final scores: Smith and Hague 3, Thacker 2.5, Elbourn 1.5, Flood 0

Division 4

Final scores: Jones and Lawton 2.5, Warren 1, Borg 0

BCA TESSLa Tournament

Julie Leonard writes:

On the 23^rd of May, our Telephone Email Skype Summer Ladder tournament - TESSLa for short – got underway. It’s the first time the BCA has run an event of this type so it was a step into the unknown for the organisers and competitors alike! Naturally we were hoping for a good turn out and thought that we might get a dozen people, or perhaps twenty if we were lucky. So imagine our surprise when no fewer than 32 members entered! We immediately had to adapt the rules to cater for this number of players. We were delighted that the line up included members from Ireland, Canada and Malta, as well as many from the UK, some of whom rarely compete in BCA events these days. It was also especially pleasing to welcome two members to their first ever BCA event. What an exciting start!

There are two ways in which players can make progress in this event. Rung Challenges are issued against players who are higher up the ladder. Every challenge involves two games – one with each colour. If the lower placed player wins the challenge they swap places. Points are awarded for won and drawn games and also for completed challenges. To try to accrue more points, players can also issue Points Only Challenges. At the end of the event the player on the top rung will have won the ladder section and there will also be a prize for the player with the greatest number of points. In addition, prizes in both categories will be awarded to players with a grade or estimated grade under 100.

At the outset, competitors were placed on the ladder in order of playing strength with the strongest at the bottom. Controller, Gerry Walsh, then paired everyone with an opponent who has a compatible playing platform and is no more than five rungs away. Some players can only use email. Others prefer Skype or telephone. Most are very flexible and just want to play chess somehow or other!

Just six days later, results started to come in. Michaels took an early lead on the points board, with Michael Flood on 5 and Michael Keating on 4. The following day, Colin Chambers was the first player to win a rung challenge!

By the end of May, there were five joint leaders on the points table: including Malcolm Jones, Michael Flood, Colin Chambers and Colin Fisher, who had also won his first rung challenge

The pace began to hot up! By the 5^th of June, Stan Lovell was in the lead on the points board, only to be overtaken one day later by Anthony Borg! Sadly, by this stage, Denis Warren and Donna Jodhan had withdrawn from the event for personal reasons. We were sorry to see them go but glad that they’d given it a try!

By the 15^th of June, Malcolm Jones had claimed the top rung on the ladder! Other climbers included Voldi Gailans (11), Colin Fisher (15), Michael Keating (17) and John Gallagher (18). One day later, Malcolm drew level with Anthony Borg at the top of the points leader board and Stan Lovell was just three points behind them.

The next few days brought successful rung challenges for both Colins! Colin Fisher climbed to rung 9 and Colin Chambers to rung 17. Rung challenges between John Osborne (10) and Tony Elbourn (13) and between Dan Rugman (16) and Eamonn Casey (20) were drawn by the players winning a game each so they all stayed on their rungs. Meanwhile, Malcolm Jones, Colin Fisher and Anthony Borg were jostling for the lead on the points board!

By midsummer’s day, Malcolm Jones had a three point lead, but within 24 hours Colin Fisher had caught up with him again. There were also successful rung challenges for Graham Lilley (25), Norman Wragg (24) and Colin Fisher (8).

On the 24^th of June, Malcolm Jones defended a rung challenge from Voldi Gailans, but then Colin Fisher challenged Malcolm and three days later Colin was at the top of the ladder! By the end of June there were successful rung challenges for Stan Lovell (15) and Philip Doyle (22). Ed Pourtahmasbi successfully defended a challenge to stay on rung 3. On the points board Colin Fisher had regained the lead by a narrow margin.

The first week in July saw upward ladder moves for Alec Crombie (13), Eamonn Casey (12) and John Gallagher (15). Colin Fisher successfully fought off a challenge from Voldi Gailans to remain on the top rung.

On the 8^th of July Malcolm Jones edged ahead of Colin Fisher once again on the points board and Randy Kruzeniski defended a rung challenge from Richard Murphy. Another exciting development was that a brand new member, John Ramm, had jumped straight in at the deep end by entering this tournament! The rules allow for latecomers, so if anyone reading this feels they’d like to give it a try please do get in touch. The event will run until the 20^th of September so there’s still plenty of time to follow John’s example and fit in a few games!

The next few days saw a successful rung challenge for Norman Wragg, who moved up to rung 14, then lost no time in challenging Lea Ryan for rung 6! John Gallagher moved up to Rung 5. Malcolm Jones moved back up to Rung 3 and is now re-challenging Colin Fisher for the top of the ladder! Malcolm has reclaimed first place on the points leader board. Mark Hague is also performing very strongly on the points board, putting him in second place in the U100 section.

As I write, on the 14^th of July, an impressive total of 142 games have been played. Some participants are demonstrating a seemingly insatiable appetite for games! Tony Lawton is among the competitors who have already issued or received ten or more challenges! Eleanor Tew and Irene Elbourn are embarking on a points challenge, having never had the chance to play each other before now. Norman Andrews is taking on Gill Smith in a rung challenge.

Here are the current ladder positions, starting at the top, followed by the points total for each player. I’ve also indicated who is in the U100 section

Rung Name U100 Points

1 Colin Fisher 34

2 Anthony Borg U100 21

3 Malcolm Jones U100 38

4 Irene Elbourn U100 11

5 John Gallagher 21

6 Lea Ryan U100 3

7 Roger Williams U100 8

8 Ed Pourtahmasbi U100 6

9 Jermaine Raymond U100 22

10 John Osborne U100 10

11 Voldi Gailans U100 16

12 Eamonn Casey 14

13 Alec Crombie 16

14 Norman Wragg 19

15 Eleanor Tew U100 3

16 Dan Rugman U100 3

17 Colin Chambers 12

18 Stan Lovell 31

19 Randy Kruzeniski 14

20 Gill Smith U100 13

21 Tony Elbourn U100 5

22 Philip Doyle 14

23 Michael Keating U100 13

24 Tony Lawton U100 12

25 Graham Lilley 4

26 Michael Flood U100 12

27 Stephen Thacker 11

28 Richard Murphy 3

29 Norman Andrews 6

30 Mark Hague U100 25

31 John Ramm U100 0

The TESSLa tournament has already been of benefit to competitors, not just by allowing them to play socially distanced chess, but also by keeping in touch with old BCA friends and making new ones! Some people have acquired new skills such as learning more about Skype features or how to use an online timer for Skype games. Courtesy of Mike Flood, Steve Thacker has unexpectedly gained a new nickname, “Fearsome Steve”!

Controller, Gerry Walsh, and I are having great fun running the event and we would like to thank everyone for their support. We’ve had a few reports of difficulties but so far players have been able to resolve them without intervention from us. We’ve had many more reports of great sportsmanship, camaraderie, cooperation and mutual respect between players. Keep up the good work!

Regular updates on this event are emailed to the BCA usergroup. If you haven’t yet subscribed and would like to please contact me or our Website Coordinator.

BCA Email Address List

With the amount of correspondence chess that’s being played these days it’s all the more important to keep in touch with each other! One way in which we help members to do this is by circulating a list of our email addresses to members who opt in to being on the list. The list is only distributed to those members who are themselves on the list. If you would like to be added please let me know!

Julie Leonard

Trapped Again!

With members far and wide still helping to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus by staying at home as much as possible and perhaps feeling a little trapped, Gerry Walsh has taken the initiative and has been delighting members of the user group with daily examples of chess opening traps! He has kindly sent in another one exclusively for the gazette for everyone to enjoy. It incorporates the added challenge of being written in English Descriptive notation!

Ruy Lopez

1 P-K4 P-K4, 2 N-KB3 N-QB3, 3 B-N5 N-Q5, 4 NxN PxN, 5 B-B4

Castling is best here.

5 … N-B3, 6 P-K5 P-Q4, 7 B-N3 B-KN5, 8 P-KB3 N-K5, 9 O-O

If 9 PxB Q-R5ch, 10 K-K2 (or 10 P-N3 NxNP), Q-B7ch, 11 K-Q3 N-B4 Mate.

9 … P-Q6, 10 PxB B-B4ch, 11 K-R1 N-N6ch, 12 PxN Q-N4

Threatening 13....Q-R3 Mate.

13 R-B5 P-KR4

If 13....Q-R3ch 14 R-R5, but after 13....P-KR4, 14 RxQ PxPch, 15 R-R5 RxR is Mate.

14 PxRP QxR

Renewing the mating threat by 15....RxPch.

15 P-N4 RxPch, 16 PxR Q-K5

Intending 17....Q-R5 Mate.

17 Q-B3 Q-R5ch, 18 Q-R3 Q-K8ch, 19 K-R2 B-N8ch 20 K-R1 B-B7ch, 21 K-R2 Q-N8 Mate

Recollections of 7^th World Student Chess Championship, Leningrad 1960

From July 15th to August 1st 1960 the 7th World Student Chess Championship took place in Leningrad, now known as St. Petersburg, in the USSR. Fourteen of the best student teams from higher educational establishments on three continents took part, representing: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, England, Finland, German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Mongolia, Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, USA, USSR, and Yugoslavia. The teams battled it out over thirteen rounds.

Two BCA members were in the England team at that event! Peter Gibbs was on the top board and David Mabbs was the second reserve.

Peter scored 4 points from ten games. David describes this as “a brilliant result given that Peter’s opponents included Boris Spassky (World Junior Champion in 1955) and William Lombardy, USA, (World Junior Champion in 1957) to name but a few!”

David played seven games and scored 3.5 points. He didn’t get the chance to play Spassky, but he does have a treasured photograph that they’re both in! David’s opponents included Florin Gheorghiu (who became World Junior Champion in 1963) and Edmar Mednis (who finished second behind Spassky in the 1955 World Junior Championship): both of them scored wins against Bobby Fischer!

Peter writes about his encounter with Boris Spassky as follows: “Whilst I thought the game was extremely complex I found him a most charming person. It was almost a pleasure to come second to him!”

Here is the game with annotations by Peter.

White: Boris Spassky

Black: Peter Gibbs

King's Gambit. Throughout his career Boris won many victories with the King's Gambit. It is an extremely complex opening but it depends on a chess player's style whether his nerves can bear it!

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 h6

This was around about the time that attempts were made to refute the gambit by moves such as 3. … h6 or 3. … g5.

4. d4 g5 5. Nc3

Theory also considers a number of alternatives for White such as 5. h4 or 5. g3 or 5. Bc4.

5. … Bg7 6. g3 fxg3 7. hxg3 d5

There was no need to return the pawn. The sensible move was 7 … d6.

8. Nxd5 Bg4 9. Bc4 Nc6 10. Ne3 Qd7 11. c3 0-0-0 12. 0-0 Nf6 13. Qc2 Bh3 14. Re1 Ng4 15. Nf5 Bf6

16. Bb5 Qe8 17. e5 Be7 18. Kh1 Nf2+ 19. Kg1 Ng4 20. Kh1 Nf2+

White had plenty of time on his clock. I could not work out whether he was teasing me because I was quite sure he would not be wanting only a draw by perpetual check.

21. Kh2 Bxf5 22. Qxf5+ Qd7 23. Qxd7+ Rxd7 24. Kg2 Ng4 25. Bd3 1 – 0

Peter describes the scene in the tournament hall for us:

“During the game I could see that the large audience of chess players was following this game with avid interest. At this stage I wished to resign as I felt I had a lost position but my illustrious opponent was not in the playing hall. I thought that in his absence it would be rude simply to knock my king over. Therefore I awaited his return and then turned my king over on the board and shook his hand. In spite of the language barrier we did some analysis of the game, which was followed by the spectators.”

The tournament was won by the USA, with the USSR finishing in second place. Peter comments on the rivalry between the two top teams:

“At the time it was mortifying for the Soviet team on home ground to lose to the USA with Lombardy on top board defeating Spassky. I became quite friendly with one of the USA players, Raymond Weinstein. He borrowed from me a book which was in Russian by Taimanov on the Nimzo. When he returned the book he had written in it ‘August 1 1960 - To the top board of England's student team with best wishes for a successful chess career.’ Signed Raymond A Weinstein

“Sadly, things did not turn out so well for the members of the USA team. Lombardy, in spite of his huge chess talent went downhill and died in 2017 in a penurious state. He was formerly a Catholic priest. In 1963 Weinstein developed mental problems and the following year he murdered his room mate, suffered from schizophrenia and since then he has been in an institution.” David observes that with hindsight, it was tragically prophetic that the British Chess Magazine, commenting on Weinstein's games, remarked that Weinstein had a “killer instinct”.

For editorial balance, I asked Peter to select one of his wins from the tournament to share with us and he chose his Round 7 game.

White: Peter Gibbs

Black: Vladimir Sokolov (YUG)

1 e4 e5, 2 Nf3 Nc6, 3 Bc4 Nf6, 4 d4 exd4, 5 0-0 Bc5, 6 e5 d5,

The Max Lange Attack - due to its intricacies I think that Black is either intrepid or possibly foolhardy.

7 exf6 dxc4, 8 Re1+ Be6, 9 Ng5 Qd5, 10 Nc3 Qf5, 11 Nce4 0-0-0, 12 g4 Qe5, 13 Nf3 Qd5, 14 fxg7 Bxg4,

15 gxh8=Q Rxh8, 16 h3 Bxh3,

Black should have played 16 .... Bh5.

17 Nfg5 Rg8, 18 Qh5, Bf5, 19 Nf6 1-0

Peter remarks, “To think these two games showed how I played 60 years ago. Would that I could play like that today!”

I also asked David for a few more comments about the tournament, and perhaps a game. He kindly obliged and the remainder of this article was written by him.

***

We were all, I think, a bit anxious about quite what to expect when going behind the “Iron Curtain” during the Cold War - but the tone was set upon our arrival when we were all hailed as ‘Visiting Sportsmen’ and were awarded a monetary allowance! Two of our six-strong squad were not entirely what they seemed, and their ‘secrets’ were never shared with their colleagues: one was a member of the Young Communist League, and one was the son of the Director General of MI5. I imagine that the Soviets would have been only too aware of this information, but to the best of my knowledge they never acted upon it.

Julie asked me for one of my games from the event, but I fear that they are too technical and too unexciting for publication. So I'm offering a game that I played just a couple of months before, during my preparations for the Leningrad event.

David Mabbs v L Alexander, played for Cedars against Athenaeum in the London League, 1960.

1 d4 d5 2 e4 dxe4 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 f3

The infamous Blackmar-Diemer Gambit. At the time, I was quite well-known for it, and introduced various technical novelties. It poses a lot of problems for a careless Black, but of course it is fundamentally unsound and today's generation are well aware of how they should reply.

4 ... exf3 5 Qxf3 c6 6 Bd3 Qxd4 (Bold) 7 Be3 Qg4 8 Qf2 e5 9 h3 Qh5 10 Nge2 Bd6 11 O-O-O

White has a very formidable position now. Black hopes that his next move, giving back material, will free his game and bring counterplay, but he has miscalculated.

11 ... e4 12 Bxe4

Black expected 12 Nxe4, but capturing with the Bishop leads to a position that is already probably won for White.

12 ... Nxe4 13 Nxe4 Be7 14 Nf4 Qa5 15 Qg3 O-O

FEN: rnb2rk1/pp2bppp/2p5/q7/4NN2/4B1QP/PPP3P1/2KR3R

White would love to play 16 Nh5 now, but of course the Black Queen would snap the knight up. So to clear the way, White blocks the rank with his next move.

16 Rd5!

It's highly unusual to see a straight rook sacrifice like this so early in the game. I had pondered it for ages [I love whimsical stupid-looking moves] and I convinced myself that with the aid of a later straight Bishop sacrifice I could force mate in eleven. Indeed, this is the way that the game unfolded - but my analysis was flawed.

16 ... cxd5 17 Nh5 g6 18 Nhf6+ Bxf6 19 Nxf6+ Kg7

If 19 ... Kh8, 20 Qh4 wins quickly.

20 Qe5 Kh8 (avoiding the double-check)

21 Bh6 (planning 22 Bg7+ re-instating the double-check - this was my original idea when contemplating 16 Rd5) 21 ... Nc6

A better defence would be 21 ... Qd8 - which I had overlooked - and now White may no longer be winning.

22 Bg7+ Kxg7 23 Ne8+ Kh6 24 Qf4+ Kh5 25 Ng7++ 1-0.

In case you're thinking “hey, that Rook sacrifice was unsound” it wasn't. But I should have ignored the flashy Bishop sacrifice, and instead played the simple 21 Nh5+ f6 22 Qe7 with a quick mate to follow.

Sixty years on, most of my games are at best very stodgy, and at worst highly inaccurate, as I spiral down and down towards oblivion!

Best wishes to all in our community, and hoping to see you over the board before too long.

David Mabbs

Editor’s note: Many thanks to Peter and David for sharing these wonderful memories and games with us!

A Belgian Assortment!

Thanks to Hugo Roman for sending a puzzle and a few of his favourite chess quotes for the gazette!

Years ago, Australian IM, Johansen played in an international tournament organised by the Royal Chess Club of Ostend. One evening, Hugo had the opportunity to play blitz with him. Johansen regularly shouted “Death to the Obnoxious King!” This encounter gave Hugo the idea of gathering together chess quotes. He has named his collection in honour of Johansen’s battle cry! Here are some more of Hugo’s favourites:

Alexander Alekhine: “Time trouble can’t be an excuse. The fact that a player is very short of time is to my mind, as little to be considered an excuse as, for instance, the statement of the law-breaker that he was drunk at the time he committed the crime.”

IM Merijn van Delft: “Sometimes it is easier to let your opponent do the thinking.”

Daniel King: “It’s a girl!” (when promoting)

Nimzowitz: “The passed pawn is a criminal, who should be kept under lock and key.”

Omar Khayyàm (around 1100)

“Tis all a Chequer-board of nights and days

Where Destiny with men for Pieces plays:

Hither and thither moves, and mates,and slays,

And one by one back in the closet lays.”

An Arabian Mansuba, 13th century, unknown author: White: King f2 Knight h5 Black: king h2 pawn h3

How should White proceed to avoid the game being drawn (after Kh1 and h2)? The solution is after Personalia.

Gray Matter Test

May 2020 Puzzle

I. Gersits, 1930

FEN: 8/3b4/8/3N4/8/1QNkP3/8/4K3

White: King e1, Queen b3, Knights c3 and d5, Pawn e3

Black: king d3, bishop d7

White to play and mate in two.

Solution: 1. Nf6 If Kxe3, Ne2. If Ba4, Nxa4. Otherwise, Ncd5. 1. Rg1 Kh5 2. g4#.

August 2020 Puzzle

The website http://www.wtharvey.com contains many interesting conundrums, ranging from composed mates in a set number of moves to ones that challenge you to find a win from a position in a real game. Here’s an example of the latter sort for you to puzzle over this time.

Glenn Gaasland vs Magnus Carlsen, Norway, 2001

FEN: 2rr2k1/pb3pp1/4q2p/2pn4/2Q1P3/P4P2/1P3BPP/2KR2NR

White: King c1, Queen c4, Rooks d1 and h1, Bishop f2, Knight g1, Pawns a3, b2, e4, f3, g2 and h2

Black: king g8, queen e6, rooks c8 and d8, bishop b7, knight d5, pawns a7, c5, f7, g7 and h6

Black to move and win. The solution will appear in the November gazette.

Graham Lilley

Personalia

Please join me in congratulating Clare Gailans, who has stepped down as a magistrate after two decades! Clare writes about her work:

“I have sat on the East London Bench for just over 20 years. This work is voluntary, and although there is a certain amount of training, it does not require legal expertise, just common sense. In many ways it is ideally suited to a visually impaired person, as decisions are made on what you hear, and in consultation with your colleagues (most benches are made up of three magistrates). I found the work very interesting, and learned a lot about my fellow man and woman, colleagues as well as those to whom we dispensed justice. I will miss my sittings in some ways, but the recent disruption due to the Coronavirus has helped to make up my mind that it was time to go.”

I’m sure members will agree that Clare deserves a rest after such tremendous service!

Do let me know if you have any news for the next issue!

Julie Leonard

Solution to Hugo’s Arabian Mansuba: 1. Nf6 Kh1 2. Ne4 Kh2 3. Nd2 Kh1 4. Nf1 h2 5. Ng3 checkmate.

RIP Michael Delaney 1967 - 2020

Philip Doyle writes:

Michael Delaney was born in Brussels on 29th September 1967 and died at his home in Artane, Dublin, on 4th May 2020 after a long battle with cancer. He was the eldest of the four children of Michael and Deirdre Delaney, two boys and two girls.

Michael was born with Retinitis Pigmentosa and was educated as a day pupil at Rosmini Community School in Drumcondra. The School was recently built on the grounds of St. Joseph’s School for the Blind, which allowed Vision Impaired pupils to transfer easily to Rosmini for their secondary education. The next phase of Michael’s education was a nine-month computer programming training course at Roselyn Park College in Sandymount and then as part of the Trinity College three-year advanced computer programming diploma evening course. After that, Michael obtained employment as a Computer Programmer with the Irish Health Service where he spent the rest of his career.

Michael learned how to play Chess when he was at Secondary school and soon after got in touch with the Braille Chess Association of Ireland. He first appeared in The BCAI Dublin Millennium Tournament in 1988 when he gave a good account of himself. The following year he was selected to represent Ireland at the IBCA Junior Tournament in the town of Skelleftea in northern Sweden. Here he finished 4^th with a 50% score. The following year he was part of the Irish team at the World Cup Tournament in Segovia, Spain, where again he performed well against very strong opposition. This placed Michael firmly on the international stage and he went on to represent his country at two Olympiads, Three World Individual Championships, the European individual and two Six Nations Championships. He was also a frequent visitor to the BCA Autumn Tournament. Domestically, Michael was a regular at BCAI events and was winner of the 1994 Irish Open Tournament. He was a long-time loyal member of the Phibsboro Chess Club and played his last game for them on 9^th March, a few days before the Corona virus put a halt to club chess. Michael’s games were often long and intense and he frequently found himself in time trouble. That was when he was at his most dangerous as I know to my cost. Michael was fiercely competitive but modest and sporting whatever the result.

Michael had several other strings to his bow. He was a top track and field athlete and tandem cyclist. He represented Ireland at Paralympics in Atlanta, Sydney and Beijing, and in 2003 won bronze in the high jump at the World Paralympic Championships. Michael and tandem Pilot Dave Peelo medaled at the Paracycling Pan-American Championships in Colombia in 2007, taking bronze in both the match sprint and pursuit. He also had successes in the Triathlon in 2013 and 2014 and for good measure completed the 2017 Dublin City Marathon, coming first in his category. Michael never allowed his disability to hold him back, be it skiing in Germany, hiking in the Himalayas or climbing Kilimanjaro.

Michael’s wife Fionnuala recalls:

I remember the first time I met Michael. We were down in Wicklow at a cycling race and I was introduced to a tall athletic man with a cheeky grin. From then on our lives intertwined and we eventually started a family. When we had our two beautiful daughters, life had to slow down a bit. Michael was very musical and I bought him a clarinet one year for Christmas. He picked it up and played a tune straight away. There was no end to his talents and once he decided to do something his quiet determination kicked in. He set himself a goal and then he achieved it.

Michael Delaney (Ireland) - Miklos Rev (Hungary), Trompovsky Attack

1st IBCA World Cup 1990, Round 2

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bh4 d5 4. f3 Nd6 5. Nd2 g6 6. e4 dxe4 7. fxe4 Bg7 8. c3 O-O 9. Bd3 c5 10. dxc5 Nf5

11. exf5 Qxd3 12. fxg6 hxg6 13. Qe2 Qd5 14. Nb3 Nc6 15. Nf3 Bg4 16. O-O Qh5 17. Bg3 e5 18. Qe4 Rad8

19. h3 Bf5 20. Qh4 Qxh4 21. Nxh4 Be6 22. Rad1 a5 23. Nf3 a4 24. Nc1 f6 25. Bf2 Bh6 26. a3 Na5 27. Rd6 Rxd6 28. cxd6 Nc4 29. Nd3 Nxd6 30. Nc5 Bb3 31. Nxb3 axb3 32. Bc5 Rd8 33. Rd1 Nf7 34. Rxd8+ Nxd8 35. Be7 Bc1 36. Bxd8 Bxb2 37. Nd2 Bxc3 38. Nxb3 Kf7 39. Kf2 Ke6 40. Nc5+ 1-0

Editor’s note:

Michael's last tournament with us was the Autumn International in Solihull, 2019. He was already very ill but it was on his bucket list to attend one last BCA event and he was absolutely determined to get there. I asked him whether he felt well enough to play and suggested he might like to come along just for the social side. His response was that he wanted the full package i.e. the chess, the social side, the lot! This was typical of Michael's positive approach to everything he did. On the last evening in Solihull he surprised and delighted us with his harmonica playing! He was certainly a man of many talents. RIP dear friend.

RIP Mike Hague

Mike’s daughter, Julie Carter, writes:

Michael Hague, or just Mike to his friends, was born way back on January 4th 1933 into a farming family. He lived at Millburn Grange his whole life and passed away peacefully there on June 24th 2020 after a short battle with cancer.

Mike lost his sight after jumping in lime when he was 4 years old, mistaking it for a pile of sand. This was a big shock to the local community and his family. Mike lost one eye and badly injured the other. His mother was a very strong lady though and ensured Mike would have a near normal life. So the only time he was away from the farm was during his school years, firstly to Queen Alexandra’s in Birmingham before been evacuated to Wolverley and Kinlet Park and finally settling at Worcester College. Back on the farm he set himself up with a poultry unit and sold eggs for over 30 years before taking early retirement.

Chess always played a huge part in Mike’s life, learning the game from an early age and he was playing a friendly with his son-in-law only a month before his death.

Mike married Barbara in 1965 and they were married for 54 years with a son Ben and daughter Julie. The family enjoyed many Worcester reunions where old friends caught up and new friendships were also forged.

Mike loved his sport particularly cricket and would play when he could but best of all sat listening to it on the radio, even in the middle of the night when England were in Australia! He supported his local team of Coventry City through thick and thin and was over the moon that they have just been promoted back to the Championship.

A keen gardener, Mike grew large amounts of bedding plants and was famous for his tomatoes and huge pumpkins each year. Those green fingers have passed to his children who both work in horticulture.

It was lovely for the family to receive some of your memories of Mike and they thank those of you who took the time to write, especially Mark Hague as yes, it was always funny to have M Hague v M Hague.

Editor’s note: Julie contacted us via our Facebook page. When the news of Mike’s passing was announced on our user group many members who knew Mike felt moved to express condolences and share their memories. The messages were forwarded to Julie and it is these memories that she mentions at the end of her piece.

Mike’s family has kindly donated his chess sets to the BCA. He had seven, which just goes to show what an avid player he was! They are Merrick design, with prisons. Please contact me if you’d like to give one a new home.

RIP Ivor Wagner

Stan Lovell writes:

I first met Ivor, when he joined BCA in the 1980's. He soon became an active member of the committee, full of ideas of ways to improve our publicity and fund raising. It was Ivor who set up a series of collections at shopping centres and railway stations that raised hundreds of pounds for our association. When it became clear there was some risk to members collecting in public places, it was Ivor who persuaded us the way forward for BCA was to employ its own fund raiser. We all know what a significant step this was in the growth of BCA.

These, however, were not Ivor's only contributions to the life of BCA. He was a talented musician, and many will recall how he entertained us during the evenings of our tournaments.

Ivor was born in Cape Town, South Africa. His first day job was as a telephonist. In the evenings he used his multi musical talents playing with several Cape Town based bands. At one time he was lead guitarist with ‘The Big Beats’, a band playing Shadows type music. Then as organist with ‘Respect’, a band playing music described as, underground, psychedelic jazz. Later, now switching to the bass guitar, he teamed up with renowned jazz pianist, Tony Schilder.

In 1972 Ivor, with his young family, came to England where he studied law and became a solicitor specialising in property law. Jan and I spent many happy weekends with Ivor and Lavona, at each other’s homes, where we enjoyed music, putting the world to rights and Lavona's wonderful cooking, always accompanied by a glass or two of wine. Upon his retirement, Ivor and Lavona returned home to South Africa. Sadly, Lavona died a few years later. I last time spent with Ivor, when he and his lovely partner, Lynette, spent a few days with me at my home in Scarborough last September.

Ivor Wagner died on Monday 6th July 2020. He was a wise, multi-talented, warm hearted man, who will be mourned by many friends and his family. Our thoughts are particularly with Lynette and his son and daughter, Wayne and Janine.