English Chess Forum

The West London Chess Club web site has a useful History section listing, amongst other items, its publication "Gazette"

Sadly all the Gazettes are afflicted with the dreaded http 404 error message.

Luckily all of these may be retrieved via the rather useful WayBack machine.

Anyone in this place from West London Chess Club know why they have been removed?

Bit of a late reply, but the gazettes are available again. A problem with Google Docs, apparently.

If you wish to view them, please visit https://www.westlondonchess.com/history/gazette.

Thanks for the post, some interesting stuff here.

I note that number 51 mentions D Rabinovitch, that I think later became D Raeburn of Mitcham? There is also an intriguing comment about a dispute, "AJ Duke said (deleted by typist.)"

I note too in 52, a mention of Dr Creed, later to play for Redhill, also mention of young stars like Frank Parr and Leonard Barden.

/dev/null

"Had Dr. Creed been a boxer earlier in his life?"

Dog or pugilist? He was a noted problemist (allegedly he invented the "rifleman") and musician. That's about all I know.

/dev/null

John Upham wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 11:27 am

Possibly his forename (but not Foreman) was Apollo without making appearences on the Battlestar Galatica,

I once visited Dr Creed's home in Redhill or Reigate for a British Championship qualifying game. His initials, as I recall, were JJ or possibly JH or JA. He was very polite, thin and rather nervous, with an extensive library. His memory deserves respect.

"I once visited Dr Creed's home in Redhill or Reigate for a British Championship qualifying game. His initials, as I recall, were JJ or possibly JH or JA. He was very polite, thin and rather nervous, with an extensive library. His memory deserves respect."

John Edward Hodgson Creed - known as "Jack". I played a club championship game there in late 60s, he was certainly in Reigate then. I think he said he had about 10000 music scores plus books. He was a useful player (about 170 then, when he must have reached retirement age), notable on club evenings for producing a brown paper bag and consuming the biscuits concealed therein, completely oblivious to the noise of the bag. He would also sit there thinking, and then chuckle a bit, which we knew denoted that he had found a really elegant idea, which he might be able to incorporate in a problem.

We had an annual fun Kriegspiel event, and when anyone was not playing, they would watch Jack's game, as he seemed to work out where all the pieces were very quickly. I think he died in the early 80s. A great character. He once asked someone if they would like to play, whilst he was playing me, I raised an eyebrow and he apologised for the implied insult. He was right though and I resigned a couple of moves later.

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 1:34 pm

I think he died in the early 80s.

Kevin, January 1974, I never got the chance to play him although our Redhill membership did overlap for a few months.

A fair amount out there about Creed and chess problems (and chess variants).

e.g. https://www.chessvariants.com/page/MSpi ... uerquisite

Does anyone know if he was a medical doctor or if it was (more likely) a doctorate in some musical area?

He is listed in databases of music composers:

https://www.musicanet.org/bdd/en/compos ... ard-hogson

If anyone wants to subscribe to the Biographical Dictionary of the Organ, you get:

https://www.organ-biography.info/index. ... dgson_1904

"Creed, Dr John Edward Hodgson. Mus.D ... Grammar School ... Organist of St. Luke’s ... John’s ... Philip’s ... &c ... 1904. (13 of 78 words)"

So he was a Doctor of Music (Mus.D). Not sure which "St Luke's". I think you have to pay for access to that biography.

"January 1974, I never got the chance to play him although our Redhill membership did overlap for a few months."

Thanks Brian. I last played him in 1972 and got my only win, to go with a draw (1971) and half a dozen losses. The two I failed to lose were the only two that went beyond about 25 moves... He was an inventive player.

I would guess that the St Luke's Church is this one https://www.stlukesreigate.org.uk/ imaginatively enough in Church Road.

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:37 am

I note that number 51 mentions D Rabinovitch, that I think later became D Raeburn of Mitcham? There is also an intriguing comment about a dispute, "AJ Duke said (deleted by typist.)"

I note too in 52, a mention of Dr Creed, later to play for Redhill, also mention of young stars like Frank Parr and Leonard Barden.

Yes, David Rabinovich became David Raeburn of Mitcham CC. Coincidentally, I had a message from Dave Raeburn's daughter only yesterday, asking what had become of the obituary I posted on the web many moons ago. (It must have disappeared during a web reorganisation some time after Chess & Bridge bought and took over the original BCM website.) I was glad to tell her that I still have copies of most of the material I posted 20 odd years ago and was able to revise it and republish it on BritBase...

https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/artic ... eburn.html

I was able to do the same for the obit I wrote on Frank Parr at that time...

https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/artic ... kparr.html

I have quite a lot of other news material which I published on the web in the early 2000s, though some of the late 1990s news items (before I joined BCM) seems to have disappeared completely. I may republish some more of it in due course.

John Saunders wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 5:53 pm

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:37 am

I note that number 51 mentions D Rabinovitch, that I think later became D Raeburn of Mitcham? There is also an intriguing comment about a dispute, "AJ Duke said (deleted by typist.)"

I note too in 52, a mention of Dr Creed, later to play for Redhill, also mention of young stars like Frank Parr and Leonard Barden.

Yes, David Rabinovich became David Raeburn of Mitcham CC. Coincidentally, I had a message from Dave Raeburn's daughter only yesterday, asking what had become of the obituary I posted on the web many moons ago. (It must have disappeared during a web reorganisation some time after Chess & Bridge bought and took over the original BCM website.) I was glad to tell her that I still have copies of most of the material I posted 20 odd years ago and was able to revise it and republish it on BritBase...

https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/artic ... eburn.html

I was able to do the same for the obit I wrote on Frank Parr at that time...

https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/artic ... kparr.html

I have quite a lot of other news material which I published on the web in the early 2000s, though some of the late 1990s news items (before I joined BCM) seems to have disappeared completely. I may republish some more of it in due course.

From The Jewish Chronicle 1934-04-27 page 37