Remembering IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)

Historical knowledge and information regarding our great game.
Post Reply
User avatar
John Upham
Posts: 7179
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:29 am
Location: Cove, Hampshire, England.
Contact:

Remembering IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)

Post by John Upham » Fri Dec 18, 2020 11:46 am

England's 7th - 9th International Master in 1954 he was very much a "marmite" player and personality when written about by others.

Steve Giddins described him as a Maverick, Anne Sunnucks wrote one of her more sympathetic articles, Golombek really wasn't a big fan, Lionel Sharples Penrose appeared to be keen, Hooper & Whyld lukewarm whilst his Swiss namesake was quite glowing in his appreciation.

His communist affiliations and tendency to become inebriated either endeared him or the opposite.

However, his writing was superb and his chess playing skills were pretty good too!

We have supplemented our article with more new material for your enjoyment.

Remembering IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)


img_0981_lv.jpg
IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)
img_0981_lv.jpg (628.86 KiB) Viewed 1553 times
British Chess News : britishchessnews.com
Twitter: @BritishChess
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/britishchess :D

Neil Blackburn
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2018 3:47 pm

Re: Remembering IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)

Post by Neil Blackburn » Fri Dec 18, 2020 6:34 pm

I have a yellow covered A4 book of Winter's chess 'memoirs'. Interesting piece of work. Hopefully a few others here have a copy!?

User avatar
John Upham
Posts: 7179
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:29 am
Location: Cove, Hampshire, England.
Contact:

Re: Remembering IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)

Post by John Upham » Fri Dec 18, 2020 6:42 pm

Nell,

I've never seen this. Can you post a photo of the front cover please?
British Chess News : britishchessnews.com
Twitter: @BritishChess
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/britishchess :D

Neil Blackburn
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2018 3:47 pm

Re: Remembering IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)

Post by Neil Blackburn » Sat Dec 19, 2020 5:44 am

Ha!!. I have no idea how to post pictures here - last time I tried it came out with nonsense🤣. Will have a go later when I am properly awake.👍

Neil Blackburn
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2018 3:47 pm

Re: Remembering IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)

Post by Neil Blackburn » Sat Dec 19, 2020 6:04 am

winterhills.jpg
winterhills.jpg (29.09 KiB) Viewed 1432 times

Neil Blackburn
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2018 3:47 pm

Re: Remembering IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)

Post by Neil Blackburn » Sat Dec 19, 2020 6:11 am

My own photo is to big, 4MB, but it is this book. Hope that helps.
One fascinating tidbit in there is that he was not much use at cricket, but was always immaculately turned out in his white, and that his father also played..
I have a record of Atkins getting a duck in a school match!! Cheers, Neil.

User avatar
John Upham
Posts: 7179
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:29 am
Location: Cove, Hampshire, England.
Contact:

Re: Remembering IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)

Post by John Upham » Sat Dec 19, 2020 9:34 am

Neil,

Thanks for this. Is this publication (I assume privately) the material found in CHESS in 1963 etc?

John
British Chess News : britishchessnews.com
Twitter: @BritishChess
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/britishchess :D

Neil Blackburn
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2018 3:47 pm

Re: Remembering IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)

Post by Neil Blackburn » Sat Dec 19, 2020 10:52 am

Yep, that's the material, as I understand it. There is also some material by the compiler, under 'observations' - no idea if that was in the CHESS version.

User avatar
John Upham
Posts: 7179
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:29 am
Location: Cove, Hampshire, England.
Contact:

Re: Remembering IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)

Post by John Upham » Sat Dec 19, 2020 12:59 pm

I see that there is material on Malik Mir Sultan Khan contained in the same publication. I wonder if Danny King found this?
British Chess News : britishchessnews.com
Twitter: @BritishChess
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/britishchess :D

Neil Blackburn
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2018 3:47 pm

Re: Remembering IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)

Post by Neil Blackburn » Sat Dec 19, 2020 3:15 pm

I should hope so - it is given in my quick article on Sultan Khan which pops up on a Google search. Then again, he claims the Capablanca simul game as a discovery, and I quoted that too - it is easily found on a BNA search - so who knows. I do not have King's book.

User avatar
John Clarke
Posts: 710
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:07 pm

Re: Remembering IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)

Post by John Clarke » Mon Dec 21, 2020 9:20 am

John Upham wrote:
Fri Dec 18, 2020 11:46 am
England's 7th - 9th International Master in 1954 he was very much a "marmite" player and personality when written about by others.

Steve Giddins described him as a Maverick, Anne Sunnucks wrote one of her more sympathetic articles, Golombek really wasn't a big fan, Lionel Sharples Penrose appeared to be keen, Hooper & Whyld lukewarm whilst his Swiss namesake was quite glowing in his appreciation.
B H Wood (writing once in response to a reader's letter to Chess) was even more brutally direct: "Winter often presented a most filthy and disreputable appearance". The photo above certainly doesn't do him many favours in this regard. (Anyone else think he looks like Lenin "getting peeved and depressed" (in the well-known phrase quoted by Mike Fox and Richard James)?
"The chess-board is the world ..... the player on the other side is hidden from us ..... he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance."
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)

Kevin Thurlow
Posts: 5820
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:28 pm

Re: Remembering IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:28 am

"The photo above certainly doesn't do him many favours in this regard."

Looks like a chess player...

User avatar
Gerard Killoran
Posts: 1006
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:51 am
Contact:

Re: Remembering IM William Winter (11-xi-1897 18-xii-1955)

Post by Gerard Killoran » Mon Dec 21, 2020 7:43 pm

An early victory...



Post Reply