Britbase Updates

[Richard James]

https://britishchessnews.com/2023/04/19 ... r-beamish/

This article gives my current views on the chess playing Beamish family.

[John Saunders]

Thanks, Richard. I've re-read your piece and concluded, like you, that the "A Beamish" active in London chess was Edmund Arthur Beamish, despite him being referred to as "A Beamish" in multiple contemporary references (at a time when forename initials seemed to be de rigueur). I think I shall compromise by identifying him as (Edmund) Arthur Beamish on BritBase.

The existence of another 'A Beamish' in Devon does still leave the door slightly ajar. Also on my database (courtesy of Brian Denman) is another "A Beamish" playing a correspondence game for Ireland against (would you believe) Devon in 1907. The game was on board 4, with F. U. Beamish playing on board 3 for Ireland.

[Event "Devon v Ireland corr 1907/08"] [Site "corr"] [Date "1907.??.??"] [Round "1.4"] [White "Erskine, Henry Erskine Biber"] [Black "Beamish, A"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C84"] [PlyCount "38"] [EventDate "1907.??.??"] [EventType "team-match (corr)"] [EventCountry "GBR"] [SourceTitle "Denman Collection"] [Source "Brian Denman"] [SourceDate "2023.11.29"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2023.11.29"] [SourceQuality "1"] [WhiteTeam "Devon corr"] [BlackTeam "Ireland corr"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"] [BlackTeamCountry "ENG"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. O-O b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d3 d6 9. a4 Bg4 10. axb5 Nd4 11. Bd5 Nxd5 12. Nxd5 Nxf3+ 13. gxf3 Bh3 14. Re1 f5 15. bxa6 f4 16. Kh1 c6 17. Nb4 Qb6 18. c3 Qxf2 19. Rg1 Rf6 {Sources: Cork Weekly News, 6 June 1908; Weekly Irish Times, 6 June 1908 and 30 January 1909; Devon and Exeter Daily Gazette, 8 September 1908 (Brian Denman Collection)} 0-1

I wonder... could this be (Edmund) Arthur Beamish playing for his ancestral country? Or the Devonian "A Beamish" deciding that blood is thicker than Devonian water? Answers on a postcard...

[Leonard Barden]

I played for Croydon against a West London team including Captain Beamish some time in 1945 (probably autumn). I vaguely remember looking at his game and thinking, yes, he does have a military air. My opponent was Dr SP Schotz, on or around Board 15, so the Captain and I may have been quite close. It was my first team game for Croydon. selected due to winning the club junior championship with 9/9. I was over-impressed by the important-looking figure seated opposite, and I guess Schotz feared he was playing some prodigy, so we ground our way to a mutually respectful draw in a Queen's Indian in around 15 moves. I think their top board was Mieses, who lost to Croydon's DR Lester.

[Gerard Killoran]

More on Leonard's opponent - and his brother - here:

https://www.chessscotland.com/documents ... others.htm

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

More on Leonard's opponent - and his brother - here:
https://www.chessscotland.com/documents ... others.htm

I don't believe either of Dr Schotz's children took up chess. However his daughter, Nina Padwick (maiden name Shotts), was a competitive rower. She was born in 1929 and I think she is still alive and was still rowing once a week until a few years ago.

[Gerard Killoran]

Another game of Schotz, in the individual championship of the London League.

[Event "Budget Cup"] [Site "London"] [Date "1947.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Gordon, A. L."] [Black "Schotz, Schachno Peisach"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D34"] [Opening "QGD: Tarrasch, Prague variation (7...Be7)"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. O-O d4 10. Na4 Be7 11. Bf4 O-O 12. Ne5 Bd7 13. Rc1 Rc8 14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15. Nc5 Bxc5 16. Rxc5 Rfe8 17. Rc4 Qe6 18. Ra4 Qxe2 19. Bxc6 Rxc6 20. Rxa7 Qxb2 21. Ra4 Rc2 22. a3 Nd5 23. Be5 Ne3 24. Qh5 Rxf2 {Middlesex County Times - Saturday 05 April 1947 p.4} 0-1

[Richard James]

A game from the 1904 British Ladies Championship. It's not specified which of Miss Finn's queens made the final move.

Source: The Pall Mall Gazette 10 September 1904

[Event "British Ladies Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "1904.08.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Tapsell, Edith Mary Ann"] [Black "Finn, Kate Belinda"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B40"] [PlyCount "74"] [SourceTitle "The Pall Mall Gazette 10 September 1904"] [SourceDate "2024.03.20"] [SourceVersionDate "2024.03.20"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8. Bg5 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. e5 Nd7 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. f4 Rb8 13. Kh1 f5 14. Rf3 Rxb2 15. Rh3 Rf7 16. Qh5 Nf8 17. Rg1 Bb7 18. Be2 d4 19. Nd1 Rxc2 20. a3 g6 21. Qf3 Rd2 22. Qf2 c5 23. Qe1 Rc2 24. Rb3 c4 25. Rb4 Qc5 26. Qf2 a5 27. Rb2 Rxb2 28. Nxb2 c3 29. Nc4 Be4 30. Rc1 Rc7 31. Kg1 c2 32. Nb2 Qc3 33. Na4 Qxa3 34. Qxd4 Qxc1+ 35. Bf1 Qxf4 36. Nc3 c1=Q 37. Ne2 Qfxf1# 0-1

[John Saunders]

A game from the 1904 British Ladies Championship. It's not specified which of Miss Finn's queens made the final move.

Source: The Pall Mall Gazette 10 September 1904

Many thanks, Richard. I have added the game to the BritBase collection.

[John Saunders]

I played for Croydon against a West London team including Captain Beamish some time in 1945 (probably autumn). I vaguely remember looking at his game and thinking, yes, he does have a military air. My opponent was Dr SP Schotz, on or around Board 15, so the Captain and I may have been quite close. It was my first team game for Croydon. selected due to winning the club junior championship with 9/9. I was over-impressed by the important-looking figure seated opposite, and I guess Schotz feared he was playing some prodigy, so we ground our way to a mutually respectful draw in a Queen's Indian in around 15 moves. I think their top board was Mieses, who lost to Croydon's DR Lester.

BCM, February 1945, page 38, reported on this match, which was played on 16 December 1944 when Leonard was 15. A couple of other minor inaccuracies in memory, but forgivable given that this was nigh on 80(!) years ago...

BCM1945-02p38-Barden.jpg

[Leonard Barden]

[quote=
I think their top board was Mieses, who lost to Croydon's DR Lester.
[/quote]

. A couple of other minor inaccuracies in memory, but forgivable given that this was nigh on 80(!) years ago...

[/quote]

I make it at least six errors in a short paragraph, so a more accurate summary would be that the writer is getting senile. At least I got the top board pairing and result right.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Any chance you met or know who "Capt. O. Range" was? (Mentioning it in case you or John missed the additions to that thread.)

[Leonard Barden]

No idea, I didn't start going to the Lud Eagle club until late 1945 or 1946.

[John Saunders]

Minor inaccuracies aside, your memory still seems phenomenal to me, Leonard, speaking as a youngster of 71 who is heavily reliant on printed sources for info.

Here's the record of an earlier Croydon v West London, on 7 October 1944, in which you took part. BCM (December 1944, page 281) spelt your name wrong.

BCM1944-12p281-Barden.jpg

Leonard's opponent that day was John Anthony Eaton Allum, born in 1925 and known as Tony. He died only two years ago, after a long and distinguished career as a geologist. If you click on the link, you will learn that "Tony revived his interest in chess and in 1997 defeated a past US grandmaster at the Bermuda International Open." I've not been able to discover who that was but perhaps Nick Faulks could comment if he happens to read this.

BCM also got DR Lester's initials wrong (I've found lots of newspaper references to DR Lester, who was also a Slough, Bucks and Ealing player from the early 1930s to the late 1940s, but no chess player called DK Lester. However, a search for DR Lester's forenames produced nothing). BCM also published Mieses's win from the October match, but not Lester's revenge in the December match.

[Event "West London v Croydon"] [Site "London"] [Date "1944.10.07"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Mieses, Jacques"] [Black "Lester, DR."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C45"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "1944.10.07"] [EventType "team-match"] [EventRounds "1"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [WhiteTeam "West London"] [BlackTeam "Croydon"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Be3 Qf6 6. Nb5 $5 Bxe3 7. fxe3 Qd8 (7... Qh4+ 8. g3 Qxe4 9. Nxc7+ Kd8 10. Nxa8 Qxh1 11. Qd6 {, etc.}) 8. Qg4 Nf6 $2 (8... g6 $2 {Mieses}) (8... Kf8 $142 {Mieses}) 9. Nxc7+ $1 Qxc7 10. Qxg7 Rg8 11. Qxf6 Nb4 12. Na3 Nxc2+ 13. Nxc2 $1 Qxc2 14. Qe5+ Kd8 15. Rd1 Rg6 (15... Re8 16. Qg5+ Re7 (16... Kc7 17. Bd3 Qxb2 18. O-O $18) 17. Bd3 Qxb2 18. O-O Qxa2 19. Qg8+ Re8 20. Qxh7 $18) 16. Bd3 Qxg2 17. Rf1 d6 (17... Qh3) 18. Bb5 $18 Kc7 19. Rc1+ Kb6 20. Qd4+ $1 Kxb5 21. a4+ Ka5 22. Qd5+ Kxa4 23. Rc4+ {"and mate in a few moves". Source: BCM, December 1944, p288} 1-0

[Kevin Thurlow]

There's a mention of STK Wilkinson in the junior event - I assume he is no longer with us?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

There's a mention of STK Wilkinson in the junior event - I assume he is no longer with us?

To prompt further interest in Kevin's enquiry (there are many references to Wilkinson over his playing career, far more than the two below):

(i) An S.T.K. Wilkinson is shown (graded 144) playing for Wimbledon 2 in 2000:

https://kingstonchess.com/wp-content/up ... n-2000.pdf

(ii) An earlier reference is from 1979, an issue of 'Knightmare' (I do hope these resources are being archived properly so that if websites go down eventually, they are still available somewhere more permanent):

https://streathamchess.org/assets/knigh ... _part1.pdf

Unfortunately something not quite right with the OCR-searching element, so you have to scan through it visually and get horribly distracted by all the enticing (and enthralling) chess history in there... (and failed to find what is presumably a mention of Wilkinson somewhere).

(iii) ECF Rating list

https://www.ecfrating.org.uk/v2/new/pla ... de=121679L

Listed as "Wilkinson, ST Kevin", last club was "Greater London Chess Club". Appears to have last played in 2014.

Might be one of those cases where it is difficult to find out more.