English Chess Forum

We might have done this question, or a similar one, before, but I saw this question in the Guardian's Knowledge feature today.

It might be a silly question when applied to football (because careers are much shorter) but it suits our game very well, and we can expand it further. So my question is: who has played competitive chess, be that amateur or professional, against opponents born the longest period of time apart?

I assume we exclude simuls?

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 18, 2020 10:02 am

We might have done this question, or a similar one, before, but I saw this question in the Guardian's Knowledge feature today.

It might be a silly question when applied to football (because careers are much shorter) but it suits our game very well, and we can expand it further. So my question is: who has played competitive chess, be that amateur or professional, against opponents born the longest period of time apart?

It wasn't a tournament or match game, nor is it an answer to your exact question, but the centenary of the BCF on 7th May 2004 was marked by an exhibition game between players aged 102 and 5.

I have a recollection (memory, not fact) that shortly afterwards it was established that the 97 years' difference in the players' ages was not a record.

Michael Farthing wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:57 am

I assume we exclude simuls?

I reckon we can have different categories

ChessBase has one for 92 Years.

https://en.chessbase.com/post/age-diffe ... -92-years-

Well it has a game between opponents born 92 years apart, which is a different question.

Ok, so around 44 years ago I might have played someone aged 70, DOB say 1906, and last year I played a 12 year old, DOB 2007, which is a difference of 100+ years. Hypothetical example, but is that what we are looking for?

Yes!

I might just possibly have played somebody (no-one in particular, this is also just a hypothetical example) born in the nineteenth century when I was a junior in the Seventies and I've definitely had many opponents born in the present century, so I maybe span 100+ years myself, but that can't be anything special.

So you want someone really young playing someone really old, to then live to a very old age themselves and play someone very young?

e.g. An 8-year-old plays someone aged 102 in 1930 (i.e. they are born in 1922 and 1828 respectively) and is alive today at 98 and plays someone aged 7 (born in 2013), giving opponents born 185 years apart, something like that?

I suppose Leonard would have played some old people when he was young, but when did he last play OTB chess and did he play a young Nigel Short or Luke McShane or anyone like that?

Korchnoi played and beat Levenfish (b 1889) circa 1950, and played and beat Caruana (b 1992) when aged 80.

Any advance on 103 years?

What a good question! I played Fred Andrews (Redhill) who was born 1899, but another member was Major Claude J Low, who was (I believe) 80 or so when he gave up, and I last played him in 1971, so I guess he was born 1890ish. Last year, I played Akaash Agnihotri, who apparently was born 2007. (I've played about a dozen different people born 2000 or later.) I'm sure this difference will be beaten easily enough, by someone who is even older than me. An ever present in Minor events in the South East was the cheery Fred Coombes who played until a good age, and I imagine he must have stumbled over some young juniors towards the end of his career.

In the 1981 Guernsey tournament, I was paired against T van Scheltinga (graded 214ish) in round 1, so I idly wondered if he were any relation to the famous one. When a tall mature gentleman turned up, I realised it wasn't a relation... He was born 1914.

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 18, 2020 3:54 pm

In the 1981 Guernsey tournament, I was paired against T van Scheltinga (graded 214ish) in round 1, so I idly wondered if he were any relation to the famous one. When a tall mature gentleman turned up, I realised it wasn't a relation... He was born 1914.

I'm not sure I follow your line of thought here; did you ask him?
Theo van Scheltinga (born 1914 indeed) was a Dutch OTB international player who competed in the final of the 1st Correspondence World Championship.
I had a chat with him at Wijk aan Zee (probably in 1973) when I was collecting the games of the early CC championships and it sounds like your 1981 opponent was him.
He was still playing chess up to 1990 according to ChessBase's Mega Database.

At the 2019 East Devon congress, I played opponents born 70 years apart in consecutive rounds (John Wheeler and Shreyas Royal).

Michael Stoop played Freddie Sugden at at the WECU Congress in 2009. They would be roughly 70 years apart. I would imagine that Michael would have played someone relatively old in his younger days, so I imagine he would get well over the century mark.

"Theo van Scheltinga"

I wasn't clear - I realised he was the actual TVS, not a relation, a very nice man. Even back in 1981 I didn't expect to play people that had played Alekhine etc.

TVS and PS Milner-Barry must have played a variety of people over the years.