H.E.Atkins

[LozCooper]

Changing the subject - does anyone remember the HE Atkins tournaments every year in Leicester - they were absolutely brilliant.

I think there was one this year, I'm guessing Mark won it

[PeterTurland]

Changing the subject - does anyone remember the HE Atkins tournaments every year in Leicester - they were absolutely brilliant.

Hello Sarah,

I have only ever played in one tourney, the Atkins in the early eighties, can't remember the exact year.

I played one female cannot remember anything about her except that she was middle aged.

Glenn Flear was playing.

Won my first three games and gravitated to the top table, a single table no less, instead of rubbing elbows on a long bench, on my forth game, this chap opened with the English, made a couple of moves then disappeared for nearly two hours, this made me lose my nerve, like because he was playing fast I started playing fast lol, so I lost against him and lost the next two games.

Never played in another tourney, what he did was not illegal, but I think he did it, because he sussed that I was a bit green about these affairs and knew it would unsettle me.

It was an amazing room, enormously high ceiling with big chandeliers in the Grand Hotel on Granby st.

[Mick Norris]

2010 results here:

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2217

[Andrew Farthing]

Keith,

Regarding your original question - I wouldn't worry too much about the odd contentious comment. Chess books - any books, in fact - are a lot more interesting when the personality of the author shines through, so I don't think you should shy away from expressing your views. It's your book, after all!

Personally, I find it very interesting to hear your perspective on the relative standards of chess players past and present, and I'd be very happy to read more of the same in your book when it appears.

[Gerard Killoran]

There is a short appreciation of HE Atkins by Harry Golombek on pp70-74 (Penguin ed) of one of my favourite chess books, the Chess Treasury of the Air. Get a copy if you can, it's a joy from foreward to index.

As for comparisons across the generations, you have to make allowance for the lack of opportunities for someone like Atkins to compete with a variety of stronger players - essential for improvement.

There is one case where you can compare across generations - if a position is repeated.

Here

http://www.mychessblog.com/chess-tactic ... of-memory/

Chigorin finds a win that Smyslov misses. Maybe the old masters weren't that weak after all.

[Sarah de Lisle]

Peter and Keith - the playing hall was like a ballroom. What was it, the Town Hall??? There were lots of little rooms to analyse in that were book lined...

Does anyone remember the guy who had cerebral palsy (I think) who had a helper and used to speak his moves?? He played in the HE Atkins.

[PeterTurland]

Sarah,

I have started a new subject in the history section, memories of the Leicester Atkins tournament.

I have more memories that I will write of tomorrow.

[Keith Arkell]

I think it was simply the Grand Hotel if memory serves,Sarah.Splendid place! I wonder if the place is as nice today?
Yes I remember the player with cerebral palsy,but I've forgotten his name. He had a pointing device - like a long stick - attached to his forhead,which he used as an aid to convey to his opponent what move he wished to play. It was admirable really.

[Keith Arkell]

Do you remember Graham Waddingham? He solved the 'where to stay' problem by entrenching himself into a Grand Hotel bathroom for the night

[LozCooper]

Do you remember Graham Waddingham? He solved the 'where to stay' problem by entrenching himself into a Grand Hotel bathroom for the night

He was quite a character, 200+ player and a very good swindler. I remember him promoting to seven knights in a junior rapidplay and being told to blow his nose by Peter Kitson after a long spell of sniffing in a Birmingham weekend tournament.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

He's still playing chess:
http://www.chessclub.com/finger/SmoothBaron

[Sarah de Lisle]

Graham Waddingham! Yes I remember him well.

The Grand Hotel is now a Ramada Jarvis and is 'tired' and 'average' according to Trip Advisor....

[Jon Mahony]

A little known fact is Aleister Crowley (the Great Beast 666 ) Was a very promising Chess player, getting a draw against Blackburne in a simul game (all be it questionably - Blackburne had the game won in the opening - maybe the second bottle of whiskey took hold!) and regularly beating Bird at Simpson’s

An interesting article here, has some passages from Crowley’s biography in which he acknowledges Atkins as his only superior:
http://hermetic.com/crowley/other/aleis ... aster.html

I’m sure I’ve read online somewhere before that Crowley was taken to Atkins’ “abode” by his then, club captain, and played a lot of casual games with Atkins. Sadly I can’t find that at the moment.

[Paul Buswell]

A little known fact is Aleister Crowley (the Great Beast 666 ) Was a very promising Chess player, getting a draw against Blackburne in a simul game (all be it questionably - Blackburne had the game won in the opening - maybe the second bottle of whiskey took hold!) and regularly beating Bird at Simpson’s

An interesting article here, has some passages from Crowley’s biography in which he acknowledges Atkins as his only superior:
http://hermetic.com/crowley/other/aleis ... aster.html

I’m sure I’ve read online somewhere before that Crowley was taken to Atkins’ “abode” by his then, club captain, and played a lot of casual games with Atkins. Sadly I can’t find that at the moment.

Crowley attended the Hastings & St. Leonards Club during the last couple of years of his life (he died down here). The Minute Books show the Committee in two minds as to whether to admit him to membership, with no final decision recorded; he did however play at least one match, on a low board.

PB

[Kevin Thurlow]

Crowley doesn't appear to have played at Redhill Chess Club either. The early Minute Books only tend to name the Committee, and the Club Championship didn't start until 1899, by which time he had moved on. He would have been the ideal delegate to county meetings etc. and obviously a useful player...