Britbase Updates

[John Clarke]

That is really nice. You wonder how they found combinations like that without computer assistance! Maybe I have got it wrong... I will check.

"They" didn't find it. If you look up-thread you can see that Kelly played Ra3 and lost. I didn't find it either - the engine flagged it up when I was checking the score. Took me a few minutes to appreciate why it was so good. I doubt whether many players of any era, ancient or modern, would find it in a real game with the clock ticking.

I won't bother giving the solution since I assume everyone here has access to silicon if they are stumped.

As with most puzzles of this kind, the solution isn't that hard to find, once you've had a hint that something is "on". Finding it in the course of a game? As John S says, far less likely if you're short of time and probably feeling pessimistic about your chances anyway. But there's some would have hit on it via the swindler's technique of playing any move that doesn't immediately lose out of hand, and leaving it to the opponent to find the win. (Simon Webb goes into this in some depth in Chess For Tigers.) Spotting it when annotating? Least likely of all when it isn't one of your own games. Even the best can be caught out that way - Ray Keene once managed to overlook a mate in one!

[Matt Mackenzie]

Think that I have got it now, but not giving it away just yet.

(just think about what Black would *like* to play in the diagram position, but at the moment can't....)

[John Saunders]

Turning attention back to the...

1905 British Championship

... I've done some more research and given the file a 'make-over'. Six games added, a couple with more moves (one championship game had another 42 moves which we didn't know about), additional source references, forenames, details of residence, etc.

[John Saunders]

I've just posted a new file of games on BritBase...

1991 Greater Manchester Autumn Open

... with 40 games from this weekender played 27-29 September 1991. There was a five-way tie for first between Ian Dutton, James Howell, David Knox, Vic Knox and Brett Lund.

The bulletin didn't have details of round numbers and I was wondering if anyone here could provide further details so that I can append a full list of results or maybe even a crosstable.

[Mick Norris]

That's interesting John, I have emailed some Manchester contacts and they may be able to get in touch with you

[John Saunders]

That's interesting John, I have emailed some Manchester contacts and they may be able to get in touch with you

Many thanks, Mick. Note that I have just applied a couple of minor amendments to the file.

For Britbase I try to supply at least one full forename for each player, with either an initial or forename for the middle name(s). At the moment the following players from the 1991 Manchester event are shown with forename initial(s) only. Here's a list...

P Cook
JT King
A Lewis
J McKenna
K Richardson
A Spence
J Stephenson
G Toole

Any offers?

[Mick Norris]

J McKenna would be Jason who played for Droylesden with Dave Toole (who is the only Toole I know)

There's a Phil Cook of Hebden Bridge, who has been 180 standard for a while and would fit

There's Andrew (Andy) Lewis of 3Cs, not sure he would have been old enough to play

Is the Richardson Keith?

Stephenson is a familiar name, but that would be Paul not J

[IM Jack Rudd]

Andrew P Lewis, who would have been 30 or 31 at the time, seems more likely.

[Roger de Coverly]

Is the Richardson Keith?

There's also a Kevin D Richardson, currently anyway from the south of England. A similar rating to the late Keith B. Both old enough to have played in 1990 as well.

[John Saunders]

Thanks, guys.

When I see 'A Lewis' on a chess database, I know I'm going to have a problem. I have seven of them on my 223,000+ games BritBase database (not all of which finds its way onto the website, btw - lots of stray match games, random games from magazines/newspapers, etc). Andrew P Lewis (b c.1960), Andrew M Lewis (b c.1986), Andrew Lewis (b c.1980, the 3Cs player), Alex Lewis (b c.1973, professional guitarist), the late Adrian P R Lewis (Hastings), A C Lewis (1950s/60s player) - and A Lewis (either another player or else one of the above that I've not been able to identify).

Only now does it occur to me that, before asking the forum, I could and should have consulted a contemporary BCF Grading List, which I have just extracted from a filing cabinet. The 1992 edition...

P Cook - Philip R Cook (Widnes, Dista, 194) looks a strong candidate
JT King - not much help but J King (Oldham, Grantham, Scotland, 167) is likely
A Lewis - (I will deal with below)
J McKenna - James F (Bromley, 105); John R (Beckenham, 124); JP (Droylsden, 175) - definitely the latter, Jason as identified by Mick
K Richardson - KB [Keith Bevan] (Barclays, Camberley, 193); KD [Kevin Derek] (Macclesfield, 177) - I think the latter (proximity to Manchester)
A Spence - no such name found - I'm wondering if the bulletin editor misspelled another player's name - A[lan] Spice?
J Stephenson - J Stephenson (Pudsey, Undercliffe, 154) but we still have no forename (P Stephenson, Mersey Police, 115)
G Toole - no such name found - bulletin editor typo? Another game played by David Toole (Droylsden, 160)?

A Lewis in the 1992 BCF Grading List (with club/location and grade appended - square brackets indicate my interpolations)

AA Lewis - Rushden - 146
Alex Lewis - Whitefield, Brasenose College, Oxford - 170 [Whitefield is in Greater Manchester]
Andrew Lewis - 3Cs, Manchester GS - 134 (age group category 12)
Andrew P Lewis - Winchester - 211
APR [Adrian Picton Rossiter] Lewis - Hastings - 165 [died in 1998 so still technically a candidate]

Conclusion: Alex Lewis a slight favourite ahead of the pre-teen 3Cs player?

Anyway, the above gives you an insight into how I spend my retirement. More constructive than doing crosswords and sudokus, I like to think.

[Roger de Coverly]

A Spence - no such name found - I'm wondering if the bulletin editor misspelled another player's name - A[lan] Spice?

David J Spence perhaps.

[John Saunders]

A Spence - no such name found - I'm wondering if the bulletin editor misspelled another player's name - A[lan] Spice?

David J Spence perhaps.

Yes, that thought crossed my mind too. On the 1992 Grading List: Spence, David - Ipswich Jnr - 139 (age group category 14). Not a suspect as he was unlikely to be in the vicinity of Manchester at the time. I'm eliminating him from my enquiries...

[Mick Norris]

Whitefield was where the recently deceased Chris Murray played, so I'd agree that Alex Lewis is the likely one

A Spence - any chance this was Spencer? Not that I know any chess players of that name

[Howard Grist]

As a participant in this event who played two of the players concerned, I can reasonably confidently say that it's Jonathan T KIng and Alex Lewis.

[John Saunders]

Thanks to everybody for their help with this.

I have uploaded an amended file showing various updated names. I've also added 1991 BCF grades where known, converted to four-figure Elo format via the traditional formula (BCFx8)+600=Elo, plus a table showing names of players in the Open (or rather the ones whose games are available).