English Chess Forum

I first met Gerald whilst I was at Southampton University in the early 1970s and we played in Hampshire chess events. He was living in the Bournemouth area. I knew him quite well in those days and we met over the board four times, he was higher rated although I managed to achieve a plus score. Gerry...

"Fundamental Chess Openings" by Paul van der Sterren, published in 2009, strikes a good balance between explanation and theory.

It gets good reviews and costs less than £20 at Amazon or Chess and Bridge. I've recommended it to newcomers at my chess club.

Murray Chandler and Nigel Davies were probably the longest residents at the Hannan house, both also playing for Charlton. Some other well known players also stayed there briefly.

The players in the photo are Gary Clark, David Bronstein, Tony Stebbings, Alan Hanreck, John Wager and Danny Gormally. It appears on the Charlton chess club website. The photo was taken after Charlton had beaten Maidstone in the Kent County Cup final in 1995. The team went back to the house of Peter...

I knew Clive well whilst we were at Southampton University. There was a friendly chess rivalry between Clive, Sunil Weeramantry and myself as we were all the same age and quite close in strength, although Clive had the edge. It helped me as my grade went up 14 points in 1970/71. Southampton Universi...