David Glueck (Oxfordshire team 1991-2)

[MJMcCready]

Hi Joey. No particular significance. Just me doing a deep dive into more recent history and seeing "where people are now" for some of the participants in that match.

What started it was MJMcready saying that Glueck was American, me wondering why he was in Oxford, unearthing the academic connection (Glueck has been a professor at Dartmouth College for a long time and inactive in chess for even longer, but was a strong US junior) and the research going from there (mainly, per Mike Gunn, using SCCU bulletins).

I have a particular interest in "foreign stars" playing in the UK, by which I mean those from abroad popping up unexpectedly and (usually) strengthening County and Club teams. It can highlight some interesting connections.

In the vein of "where are they now", I have also looked at Heidi Heron, who was also an active junior and appears in the lists of British champions (1989 and 1990 I think, haven't finished the notes yet) and qualified for the WFM title (per a list Lawrence Cooper posted in 2012). But she vanishes almost without trace after completing her PhD in neutrino physics at Oxford.

Either she dropped out of public view, or she married and the connection to any married name is not obvious. I have established that the Heidi Heron in Australia (NLP practioner) is not her, but have not been able to get any further. I am wary of digging too much where people may want to stay private (e.g. there are 10 other people named Heidi in the ECF rating list, but I am not going to start seeing if any are Heron under a married name, partly because I think it unlikely she would not have wanted to retain a link to her junior chess, it is more likely she gave up chess altogether).

(EDIT: From Britbase: "Heidi Denise Heron's married name is Heidi Munn.")

A similar treatment of some of the County Chess finals in the early 1990s or 1980s (or any period, really) may throw up similar vignettes. Some find it interesting, some may not.

PS. I am also assuming that the games David Glueck played would have been quite good! I may try and contact him as he may possibly have a box somewhere with all his old scoresheets. Or he may not have kept them.

I remember you had an interest in GM Mariotti -or IM as he was then- coming to England in 1970.

[Jim Stayt]

As someone else has suggested, I was the Stayt involved.
The grades were as follows (obviously in those days we were using the old grading system, updated once a year):
A Ledger 211 D Glueck 227
D Ledger 195 ST Ansell 213 J (aged 16)
A Bryce 193 NJ Holloway 206
S Ledger 189 M Hazelton 193
TG Hare ?? G D'Elia ??
PP Hare ? 193 IR Dutton 191
B Valentine 178 F Von Hasselt 179
RCP Freeman 189 JJ Hastings 174 J (aged 17)
P Habershon 177 RJ Starkie 178
P Pritchard 171 M Rose 170
R Mahoney 167 GW Chapman 171
AJ Elwin 162 EJ Horton ??
P Clarke ?? DJ Bruce 172
M Ioannides 161 J (aged 13) JN Stayt 165
D Chandler 167 J (aged 17) TR Dickinson 155
P Thomas 166 ? H Heron 156

My game is probably not of particular interest, being on one of the lower boards, with white winning fairly routinely, but I've included it in case anyone cares. Sorry - don't know how to put it in with a board, so it's just text. Time control reached after move 40.
Milton Ioannides was white.
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Qb6 6 a3 c4 7 Nbd2 Bd7 8 g3 f6 9 Bg2 fe 10 Nxe5 Nxe5 11 d3 000 12 00 Nh6 13 b3 cb 14 Rb1 Ba4 15 Nxb3 Nf5 16 Bg5 Rd7 17 g4 h6 18 gf hg 19 Qd4 Bxb3 20 Qxb6 ab 21 fe Re7 22 Rxb3 Rxe6 23 Re1 Bc5 24 Bxd5 Reh6 25 h3 g4 26 hg Rh4 27 Kf1 Kc7 28 Bf3 Rf8 29 Kg2 Rfh8 30 Re2 Rh1 31 a4 g5 32 Bd5 R1h4 33 Be6 Rh2+ 34 Kf3 Rf8+ 35 Bf5 Rfh8 36 Ke4 Rxf2 37 Rxf2 Bxf2 38 c4 Rd8 39 Rd3 Ra8 40 Rd7+ Kc6 41 Rf7 Bg3 42 Be6 Kc5 43 Rc7+ Kb4 44 Rxb7 Rxa4 45 Rxb6+ Kc5 46 Rb8 Kc6 47 Bd5+ Kc7 48 Rb7+ Kc8 49 Rg7 Bf4 50 e6 Ra1 51 e7 Re1+ 52 Kf5 Kd7 53 Be6+ Ke8 54 c5 Rf1 55 Bc4 Rb1 56 Kf6 resigns

[Roger de Coverly]

Sorry - don't know how to put it in with a board, so it's just text. Time control reached after move 40.
Milton Ioannides was white.
1. e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Qb6 6 a3 c4 7 Nbd2 Bd7 8 g3 f6 9 Bg2 fxe5 10 Nxe5 Nxe5 11 dxe5 0-0-0 12 0-0 Nh6 13 b3 cxb3 14 Rb1 Ba4 15 Nxb3 Nf5 16 Bg5 Rd7 17 g4 h6 18 gf5 hg5 19 Qd4 Bxb3 20 Qxb6 axb6 21 fe6 Re7 22 Rxb3 Rxe6 23 Re1 Bc5 24 Bxd5 Reh6 25 h3 g4 26 hg4 Rh4 27 Kf1 Kc7 28 Bf3 Rf8 29 Kg2 Rfh8 30 Re2 Rh1 31 a4 g5 32 Bd5 R1h4 33 Be6 Rh2+ 34 Kf3 Rf8+ 35 Bf5 Rfh8 36 Ke4 Rxf2 37 Rxf2 Bxf2 38 c4 Rd8 39 Rd3 Ra8 40 Rd7+ Kc6 41 Rf7 Bg3 42 Be6 Kc5 43 Rc7+ Kb4 44 Rxb7 Rxa4 45 Rxb6+ Kc5 46 Rb8 Kc6 47 Bd5+ Kc7 48 Rb7+ Kc8 49 Rg7 Bf4 50 e6 Ra1 51 e7 Re1+ 52 Kf5 Kd7 53 Be6+ Ke8 54 c5 Rf1 55 Bc4 Rb1 56 Kf6 resigns

[Jim Stayt]

Thanks Roger!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Thank you, Jim, for posting your game, and supplying grades where known.

Are you getting those grades from the grading list that was in use at that time, or from a team-sheet that you have? Or maybe another source altogether?

Thank you also for putting in some ages. I had not twigged that you were 13 at the time!

Were you the youngest there? I am trying to get a feel for the ages of the other players, but that will take time. Maybe others will have a better idea.

Sadly, not all the players there are still with us. The late Ray Starkie (1955-2018) would have been 36 or 37 at the time. I should have mentioned this earlier when the decisive game was posted above.

I wonder if a similar look at other country finals from this era will revive other memories. Can anyone think of any particular county final that was particularly memorable? Some of them will have already been heavily reported on at the time (or since), but maybe some have not.

[MJMcCready]

Your opponent Milton was very strong when he was young, more so than his rating suggested. Eventually he was mostly rated around 180-185 when he left his teens.

[Jim Stayt]

Certainly too good for me that day!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Oh, no-one has typed up the David Glueck-Andrew Ledger game yet, and put that in PGN tags (and I forgot to thank those responsible for it being photographed and posted). I will do the transcribing now. I wonder if the other top board games are interesting as well? The board 2 game might be a good one.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

IMG-20240309-WA0008.jpg

[Event "Minor Counties Final"] [Site "Birmingham"] [Date "1992.06.20"] [Round "?"] [White "Glueck, David"] [Black "Ledger, Andrew"] [Result "0.5-0.5"] [PlyCount "80"] [WhiteTeam "Oxfordshire"] [BlackTeam "Bedfordshire"] 1.e4 c6 2.d3 e5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.Ngf3 d6 7.O-O Re8 8.Re1 Bg4 9.h3 Bh5 10.g4 Bg6 11.Nh4 Nfd7 12.Nf5 Bxf5 13.exf5 Bg5 14.b4 Nb6 15.c4 N8d7 16.Bb2 d5 17.c5 Na4 18.Bc1 Nc3 19.Qc2 Nb5 20.Nb3 Bxc1 21.Qxc1 g6 22.fxg6 hxg6 23.a4 Nc7 24.d4 e4 25.Qf4 Ne6 26.Qd6 Ng7 27.f3 exf3 28.Bxf3 Qh4 29.Rxe8+ Rxe8 30.Bg2 Nf8 31.Rf1 Nfe6 32.Kh2 Ng5 33.Nc1 Re3 34.Qf4 Rxh3+ 35.Bxh3 Qxh3+ 36.Kg1 N7e6 37.Qb8+ Kg7 38.Qe5+ Kg8 39.Qb8+ Kg7 40.Qe5+ Kg8

Hmm. Slight bit of reconstruction needed, as a couple of moves appear to be missing near the end? Probably some extra moves needed between 36.Kg1 and 36...Nxe6. Anyone? EDIT: Hang on, is that 36....N7e6? That makes more sense now.

[MJMcCready]

34. Qf4 was a slip by white. Lost his advantage.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Nice little exchange sac by Andy at the end there.

Does it spoil things slightly to point out that Andy Ledger was completely winning at the point he (unecessarily) sacrificed the exchange? I can't quite decipher the time control, but Glueck was the one in time trouble and maybe Andy tried to take advantage of that rather than looking for a win. Or maybe Andy thought the line he played was winning and didn't see that the queens can be forced off of the Black king goes to the h-file in the repetition line that was played. Doesn't matter hugely (as Bedfordshire still won), but a missed opportunity there.

[MJMcCready]

Certainly too good for me that day!

Yes but if I may say so, you did bring your queen out a tad early in the opening. Bd7 is definitely better, But if it's any consolation, he beat me many times. As I said, he was stronger than his rating suggested.

[MJMcCready]

Nice little exchange sac by Andy at the end there.

Does it spoil things slightly to point out that Andy Ledger was completely winning at the point he (unecessarily) sacrificed the exchange? I can't quite decipher the time control, but Glueck was the one in time trouble and maybe Andy tried to take advantage of that rather than looking for a win. Or maybe Andy thought the line he played was winning and didn't see that the queens can be forced off of the Black king goes to the h-file in the repetition line that was played. Doesn't matter hugely (as Bedfordshire still won), but a missed opportunity there.

Was he winning do you think? I put it in lichess and after Qf4 it did say -2.2, so yes I suppose so.

[Kevin Williamson]

A Ledger 211 D Glueck 227
D Ledger 195 ST Ansell 213 J (aged 16)
A Bryce 193 NJ Holloway 206
S Ledger 189 M Hazelton 193
TG Hare ?? G D'Elia ??
PP Hare ? 193 IR Dutton 191
B Valentine 178 F Von Hasselt 179
RCP Freeman 189 JJ Hastings 174 J (aged 17)
P Habershon 177 RJ Starkie 178
P Pritchard 171 M Rose 170
R Mahoney 167 GW Chapman 171
AJ Elwin 162 EJ Horton ??
P Clarke ?? DJ Bruce 172
M Ioannides 161 J (aged 13) JN Stayt 165
D Chandler 167 J (aged 17) TR Dickinson 155
P Thomas 166 ? H Heron 156

I note that four of the Bedfordshire line-up that day (S. Ledger, Valentine, Habershon & Elwin) have played for the county team as recently as this season.
This feels noteworthy, but I suspect not unusual when compared with other county teams.

[MJMcCready]

Half the team played for Milton Keynes too.