Who was L. Alexander?
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Who was L. Alexander?
I came across this photograph on Ancestry.com and was pleased to find a report of the match. The second board for Lud Eagle (the name comes from an amalgamation of the Ludgate Circus and Spread Eagle clubs) was L. Alexander. He is not to be confused with F. F. L. Alexander. Does anyone know more about him?
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Re: Who was L. Alexander?
This is the report:
Black's 26th move is missing, but it think it was Qa8.
Black's 26th move is missing, but it think it was Qa8.
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Re: Who was L. Alexander?
Possibly Laurie Alexander?
Some information here.
Mike Sheehan knew him well and often spoke to me about him.
Some information here.
Mike Sheehan knew him well and often spoke to me about him.
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Re: Who was L. Alexander?
Laurie Alexander was a strong Surrey player, about 2350 at his peak. Writers sometimes confused him with CHO'D or FFL Alexander, notably Horowitz in Golden Treasury who praised a trivial win to the skies while naming CHO'D as the winner. The game is possibly from the 1947 Surrey championship: Laurie Alexander v Edgar GR Cordingley
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 g3 Bb7 5 Bg2 c5 6 d5 ed 7 Nh4 d6 8 Nc3 Qd7 9 Nxd5 Nxd5 10 Bxd5 Be7 11 Nf5 O-O 12 Bxb7 Qxb7 13 Qd5 1-0.
from nearest camera going backwards Fred Leicester v J Montgomerie (ridiculusly high board for Fred who was just a Gambit Cafe coffee house player, but he probably subsituted for an absentee)
HH Cole (former British championship competitor) v A Peters
Otto Friedman v O Range
Jacques Mieses (absent from the board) v Milton Hanauer
Laurie Alexander v Albert Simonson Simonson was second to Reshevsky in the 1936 US championship and third to Reshevsky and Fine in 1938
Paul List v Savielly Tartakover
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 g3 Bb7 5 Bg2 c5 6 d5 ed 7 Nh4 d6 8 Nc3 Qd7 9 Nxd5 Nxd5 10 Bxd5 Be7 11 Nf5 O-O 12 Bxb7 Qxb7 13 Qd5 1-0.
from nearest camera going backwards Fred Leicester v J Montgomerie (ridiculusly high board for Fred who was just a Gambit Cafe coffee house player, but he probably subsituted for an absentee)
HH Cole (former British championship competitor) v A Peters
Otto Friedman v O Range
Jacques Mieses (absent from the board) v Milton Hanauer
Laurie Alexander v Albert Simonson Simonson was second to Reshevsky in the 1936 US championship and third to Reshevsky and Fine in 1938
Paul List v Savielly Tartakover
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Re: Who was L. Alexander?
A game between L Alexander and FFL Alexander, played in the 1936 Surrey County Championship. (Linlithgowshire Gazette 26 June 1936: the column also includes a problem by FFLA)
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Re: Who was L. Alexander?
FFL in old age defeated Bogolyubov at Southsea 1950.
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Re: Who was L. Alexander?
Surrey's interclub cup competition is called the Alexander Cup and is presumably named after either L or FFL Alexander.
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Re: Who was L. Alexander?
"Surrey's interclub cup competition is called the Alexander Cup and is presumably named after either L or FFL Alexander."
FFL, it's stated in "50 Years of Battersea Chess" (assuming I remembered the title correctly.) I did inform one of your Surrey colleagues a few years ago, but he never acknowledged receipt.
FFL, it's stated in "50 Years of Battersea Chess" (assuming I remembered the title correctly.) I did inform one of your Surrey colleagues a few years ago, but he never acknowledged receipt.
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Re: Who was L. Alexander?
The Alexander Cup has been going since 1922 so it wouldn't have been named after L Alexander. Possibly something to do with FFL Alexander, but I can't find anything immediate online.
L Alexander was Surrey Champion in 1934, 1937 and 1946. His name first appears in Surrey county teams in early 1931. FFL Alexander was Surrey Champion in 1924.
I've found a death record for a Laurie Alexander born 11 Nov 1913 died in Hatfield, Hertfordshire November 1986, which might be him, although it would mean that he was 17 when he first represented his county. However I can't find any birth, electoral roll or 1939 Register records which match. He may, I suppose, have been in the Forces at the time of the Register.
The name Laurie suggests a possible Scottish connection but I couldn't find anything on Scottish genealogical sites. It's possible, of course, that his first name was Laurence/Lawrence, but I can't find anything obvious that matches. I also can't find him in any online trees.
All a bit of a mystery at the moment: perhaps Mike Sheehan knows more.
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Re: Who was L. Alexander?
From the Battersea website:
The trophy was in fact in memory of another earlier Alexander, believed to be F. F. L. Alexander, who is mentioned in our club history and was Battersea treasurer from 1919, Surrey champion in 1924 and Surrey treasurer from 1931 to 1938.
Battersea first won the Alexander Cup in 1927 and went on to pick it up a further six times, the last being in 1953. Wimbledon hold the record for wins in this competition, having scooped it 12 times.
The trophy was in fact in memory of another earlier Alexander, believed to be F. F. L. Alexander, who is mentioned in our club history and was Battersea treasurer from 1919, Surrey champion in 1924 and Surrey treasurer from 1931 to 1938.
Battersea first won the Alexander Cup in 1927 and went on to pick it up a further six times, the last being in 1953. Wimbledon hold the record for wins in this competition, having scooped it 12 times.
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Re: Who was L. Alexander?
BCM, May 1944, p109, gives the score of the board which is nearest the camera, where about half the board can be seen with the white bishop on c4, etc.
Leonard's earlier assessment of Fred ('Red'?) Leicester's ability seems accurate. BCM promised more annotated games from this match in the June 1944 issue but, infuriatingly, that issue is missing from my collection. Can anyone else oblige?
In the photo the gentleman paying close attention to the games from the Armed Forces side, roughly between boards 3 and 4, is Harold Meek, then secretary of the BCF and, so BCM tells us, in charge of the Forces team. I recognise him from lots of other photos from the era.
BCM dates the match to 22 April 1944 but I'd be more inclined to put my trust in the date supplied by the professional agency photographer present at the match. All manner of riff-raff edit chess magazines...
Leonard's earlier assessment of Fred ('Red'?) Leicester's ability seems accurate. BCM promised more annotated games from this match in the June 1944 issue but, infuriatingly, that issue is missing from my collection. Can anyone else oblige?
In the photo the gentleman paying close attention to the games from the Armed Forces side, roughly between boards 3 and 4, is Harold Meek, then secretary of the BCF and, so BCM tells us, in charge of the Forces team. I recognise him from lots of other photos from the era.
BCM dates the match to 22 April 1944 but I'd be more inclined to put my trust in the date supplied by the professional agency photographer present at the match. All manner of riff-raff edit chess magazines...
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Re: Who was L. Alexander?
Linlithgowshire Gazette published a lot of reports on Southern England chess, which is interesting. Nowadays, local papers are owned by the same company and there is little local news in them, but I would not have thought that applied then.
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Re: Who was L. Alexander?
Very cheesy. I thought he was known as 'Coxy' Leicester because he played for Cox's Bank.
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Re: Who was L. Alexander?
When looking for other mentions of this match I chanced upon this extraordinary article from a magazine called Good Morning (22 July 1944).
Intrigued by the idea of servicemen playing chess, they commissioned an article from a non-specialist writer.
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Re: Who was L. Alexander?
The June 1944 issue published the L Alexander-Simonson and Hanauer-Mieses games, both annotated by Dr Aitken. Stockfish 12 is not very impressed with the annotations.John Saunders wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 2:56 amBCM promised more annotated games from this match in the June 1944 issue but, infuriatingly, that issue is missing from my collection. Can anyone else oblige?
Here's the latter game:
Last edited by Richard James on Sun Nov 01, 2020 1:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.