Chess Education Society

[David Mabbs]

Can anyone throw any light on the activities of the Chess Education Society ? I have found just two tantalising references.

It was founded in or before June 1945 by (Isaac) Reginald Vesselo, who was at that time a public schoolmaster living in Tottenham. Vesselo was born in Russia in about 1904, and the family migrated to England before 1911 when they lived in Whitechapel. Vesselo graduated from London University in 1923, B.Sc., and took up a career in school teaching. He married in 1936. Had two books published during the War, Maths for Air Training cadets, then Science ditto. He played in an early London Boys' Congress (the third), and participated in many congresses during the 1930s including Margate in 1935 (Capablanca) and Bournemouth 1939 (Euwe). He played a lot in Essex. The Chess Education Society had the ambition that chess should be taught in every school. These initiatives were all notches on his CV as a thrusting teacher. Come the 1950s he secured a prestigious post at the Cheshire County Teacher Training College, Alsager, as Head of Mathematics. In 1955 he won on Board Six for Cheshire against Yorkshire. He died in 1978 at Henley-on-Thames.

In September 1958 A E (Bert) Hopkins was the Society Secretary.

Between the dates 1945 and 1958 I would have been in the target audience for the Chess Education Society, but I never heard of it. Does anyone have any information on its history and activities ?

[Roger de Coverly]

Can anyone throw any light on the activities of the Chess Education Society ?

Did it become the British Chess Educational Trust (BCET) ? Or were there two bodies with similar objectives?

BCET has now been absorbed into the ECF's in house charity, "The Chess Trust"

https://www.chesstrust.org.uk/wp-conten ... .08.20.pdf

[Roger Lancaster]

Can anyone throw any light on the activities of the Chess Education Society ? I have found just two tantalising references.

It was founded in or before June 1945 by (Isaac) Reginald Vesselo, who was at that time a public schoolmaster living in Tottenham. Vesselo was born in Russia in about 1904, and the family migrated to England before 1911 when they lived in Whitechapel. Vesselo graduated from London University in 1923, B.Sc., and took up a career in school teaching. He married in 1936. Had two books published during the War, Maths for Air Training cadets, then Science ditto. He played in an early London Boys' Congress (the third), and participated in many congresses during the 1930s including Margate in 1935 (Capablanca) and Bournemouth 1939 (Euwe). He played a lot in Essex. The Chess Education Society had the ambition that chess should be taught in every school. These initiatives were all notches on his CV as a thrusting teacher. Come the 1950s he secured a prestigious post at the Cheshire County Teacher Training College, Alsager, as Head of Mathematics. In 1955 he won on Board Six for Cheshire against Yorkshire. He died in 1978 at Henley-on-Thames.

In September 1958 A E (Bert) Hopkins was the Society Secretary.

Between the dates 1945 and 1958 I would have been in the target audience for the Chess Education Society, but I never heard of it. Does anyone have any information on its history and activities ?

No, I remember Bert Hopkins very well and occasionally travelled - I would guess I was 12 or 13 at the time, having first played competitive chess in the 1956 London Boys - over to his home in Harrow (46 Somerset Road, if I remember correctly) to practice against him. But the Chess Education Society is new to me although the ECF website casts a little light in stating "The Chess Education Society was wound up in 1968, its assets being transferred to the Junior Trust Fund which had been set up in 1966, whilst the other work of the CES was developed by the Junior Committee".

[Ian Thompson]

"The Chess Education Society was wound up in 1968, its assets being transferred to the Junior Trust Fund which had been set up in 1966, whilst the other work of the CES was developed by the Junior Committee." according to the 100 Year History of the British Chess Federation.

It published some teaching pamphlets in 1958 according to the SCCU Bulletin (page 2).

A Google search finds several references to people who held positions within it and mentions of one or two of its Yearbooks.

[Gerard Killoran]

From 'Good Morning' - Tuesday 26 June 1945 p.2

Good Morning - Tuesday 26 June 1945 p.2.png

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Any hints as to what the (presumably) radio broadcast was in the USA? Is this some garbled reference to a radio (or telegraph) chess match between UK and US schoolchildren? An interesting reference there to the dice game "Crown and Anchor":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_and_Anchor

Going back to the Chess Education Society, a search in Google Books finds a Yearbook published in 1945 and 1948-9:

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/ ... CAAJ?hl=en
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/ ... CAAJ?hl=en

Presumably several such were produced and could be consulted where copies are still available.

There is also a tactics book from 1960:

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/ ... CAAJ?hl=en

There is more on Google Books that I have not mentioned here.

There are mentions in BCM and this mention from 1967 of the US organisation of that name:

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/ ... frontcover

"Edwin Jordan, founder of the American Chess Education Society"

The pdf of that issue of Chess Review is here:

http://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/CL-AND ... 968_08.pdf

The full quote from page 228 of CHESS REVIEW (August 1968):

Chess as Educational Tool ?

When Dr. Emanuel Lasker was asked whether chess is an art or a science, he is said to have replied that it is both and neither in that it is essentially a struggle.

Now Edwin Jordan, founder of the American Chess Education Society in Washington, D.C ., maintains that chess is also an educational tool. He suggests that controlled experiments in combining chess with certain curricula, such as math, might yield "startling" results in demonstrating the didactic utility of the game over and above its intrinsic values.

At any rate, chess is an elective in many British and German educational programs, and is practically a "'must" in Russian schools. The Institute of Physical Education in Moscow recently announced it would offer a degree in chess, enabling graduates to take jobs as official chess teachers. In America the Milwaukee Program is the closest approach to promoting chess among school children and instilling in them valuable disciplines of the game.

(Sorry to segue off to the US organisation, but there may be a direct connection between the two, and it is also interesting.)

[Gerard Killoran]

From the Eastern Counties' Times - Thursday 23 May 1935

Essex Championship.

In chess, perhaps more so than in many other games, the dividing line is often so fine that I sometimes think one is apt to overlook the good points of the loser's play, and glorify the winner to excess. Let me therefore say a few words about a gallant loser.

Mr. I. R. Vesselo is a teacher by profession, He learnt the game while a pupil at the Davenant Foundation School, and won the Secondary Schools' Championship during his last two years (1919-20). In 1921 he played for Toynbee Hall, when that club was a first division League team, and then became secretary to the London University club for three years. Followed a short period with the West London Club, then absence from London for years, with little or no chess. The year 1930 saw him with the Chelmsford Club, and he was one of the team which won the Essex County Trophy the same year. He returned to London and played for the North London Club until 1931, when he joined Wood Green, and is now that club's regular No. 3 board in the London League division one. As recently as Easter he took part in the Premier Reserves section of the Margate Congress, holding his own against strong British and continental opposition. At the 1931 London Christmas Congress he took third prize. His record for the 1933 season is 19 match games without a loss (14 were consecutive wins), including 8 London League and 2 county games.

Mr. Vesselo tells he has never yet won an individual championsship (school excepted), which surprises me. But that need not depress him, for in the years to come I hope and Feel that many honours will be his.

As an offset to chess Mr. Vesselo finds hockey excellent.

Now here is that game of fluctuating fortunes, which might so easily have ended the other way.

[Event "Essex County Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "1935.04.??"] [Round "Final"] [White "George, Thomas H."] [Black "Vesselo, Isaac Reginald"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B12"] [Opening "Caro-Kann: advance variation"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. g4 Bg6 5. h4 h5 6. e6 hxg4 7. Qxg4 Nf6 8. Qh3 Qd6 9. exf7+ Bxf7 10. Qc8+ Qd8 11. Qxb7 Nbd7 12. Qxc6 Rc8 13. Qa4 Qc7 14. c3 e5 15. Nf3 exd4 16. Qxd4 Bc5 17. Qf4 Ne4 18. Be3 Qxf4 19. Bxf4 Bxf2+ 20. Kd1 Bh5 21. Be2 Rf8 22. Nd4 Bxe2+ 23. Nxe2 Ndc5 24. Nd2 Nd3 25. Nxe4 dxe4 26. Bg5 Nxb2+ 27. Kc2 Nd3 28. Rab1 Bb6 29. Kd2 Ne5 30. Rhf1 Nf3+ 31. Kc2 e3 32. Kd3 Nxg5 33. Rxf8+ Kxf8 34. hxg5 Rd8+ 35. Nd4 Kf7 36. Kxe3 Kg6 37. Rb5 Rc8 38. Kd3 Rc5 39. Rxc5 Bxc5 40. Ne6 Be7 41. Ke4 Bxg5 42. Nxg5 Kxg5 43. Ke5 Kg6 44. Ke6 Kh7 45. c4 g5 46. Kf5 g4 47. Kxg4 Kg6 48. Kf4 {'...and White won.' Eastern Counties' Times - Thursday 23 May 1935 p.13} 1-0

Vesselo's opponent, who wrote the biography above, also had another claim to fame:

From http://chicagochess.blogspot.com/2010/0 ... rs_21.html

T.H. George of Essex, England may have been the last surviving player with a Morphy number of 2. The British Chess Magazine wrote in his 1971 obituary, "Essex chess players suffered a severe loss with the death of T.H. George on April 19th at the age of 85. He was the doyen of Essex chessplayers . . . . He was rather proud of having played a man who had played Morphy. This happened in his young days when he beat Jas. Mortimer in a club match; Mortimer had played friendly games with Morphy in Paris in the early sixties of the last century." British Chess Magazine, July 1971, p. 249. The claim that Mortimer played Morphy is corroborated by Chess Monthly, which had an article about Mortimer (1833-1911) in 1892. "In 1853, he was appointed attaché of the United States Legation in Paris, where he had an opportunity of renewing his acquaintance with Paul Morphy. The two countrymen thus became intimate friends. Both being passionately fond of chess, many hundreds of games were played by the master and pupil . . . ." Chess Monthly, Sept. 1892, p. 66.

[Gerard Killoran]

Re 'Broadcast'

[John Clarke]

Having recalled reading something about the CES many years back, I followed up a lead or two and came across this:

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6GjT_IH3yNM/ ... VER409.jpg

The piece I'd read all that time ago was in another (different) publication called Junior Chess, a short-lived magazine that appeared in the early 1960s. Its editors were John Love and John Hodgkins, who also authored a couple of chess books aimed at youngsters. Another pair likely to have been involved with the CES were Ray Bott and Stanley Morrison of Chess For Children fame.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Having recalled reading something about the CES many years back, I followed up a lead or two and came across this:

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6GjT_IH3yNM/ ... VER409.jpg

The piece I'd read all that time ago was in another (different) publication called Junior Chess, a short-lived magazine that appeared in the early 1960s. Its editors were John Love and John Hodgkins, who also authored a couple of chess books aimed at youngsters. Another pair likely to have been involved with the CES were Ray Bott and Stanley Morrison of Chess For Children fame.

That booklet (one shilling!) was edited by Bob Wade (R.G. Wade) with (some? all?) of the contents "chosen by Jonathan Penrose"! How old would those two have been in 1951? Wade would have been about 30 and Penrose about 28. How much would they have been involved in the CES compared to, say, their other commitments and activities?

(EDIT: In case anyone is confused, as I was, the image John linked is of a 1951 booklet called 'Junior Chess', with different editors/writers to the one he talks about from the 1960s - at least I think that is what has happened here. Are they definitely different publications with the same name?)

[John Clarke]

Yes, sorry for any confusion folks - I wrote that post in rather a hurry. The image referred to appears below. (BTW, Penrose was 17-18 in 1951, not 28.)

The 1960s magazine was definitely a different publication from this one, though I suspect it might have been a kind of direct descendant. I don't know if anyone's now in a position to confirm or disprove it, but possibly the CES had decided around 1961 not to continue publishing their version, and Love and Hodgkins decided to give it a go independently of them while being allowed to continue using the title. It was a rum sort of arrangement they had, with one of them (I forget which) living in Glenrothes, Fife, and the other in the Bristol area. Bob Wade continued to be a frequent contributor in the early days; Peter Clarke later did a whole series of articles as well. Many reports of junior events were by the participants themselves (e.g. David Smith on the 1961 world U-20s; Peter Lee on the 1963 ones). Mike Basman was becoming a regular towards the end.

The final issue was in December 1964, by which time the editors had evidently run out of money. There was a hint that another chess publisher might cut them some sort of deal, but it came to nothing. (The CES, while still in existence, was by then probably in decline and would have been unlikely to be interested.) All copies still in stock were bought up by B H Wood. Several months later (mid-1965) he was still flogging them off in job lots of 15 issues.

As for the CES itself, Bob Wade was certainly involved, along with the other names I mentioned in the earlier post. (Penrose I imagine withdrew as the demands of his education stepped up.) One issue of the Junior Chess magazine c1963 carried a report of some big meeting which mentioned the CES " ... rolling up its sleeves and getting down to work" or some such. It ended with a 20-board match in which several well-known names took part; unfortunately I can't remember any of them!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Thanks, John. The interesting thing is that this all comes before the Fischer boom. Is there an argument to be made (apologies if this is well known and has already been established by chess historians) that organisations and work like this laid some of the groundwork for the later English chess explosion, and so is an important contributory factor? It is difficult sometimes, to get a feel for what it was like in those days, with no internet, no mobile phones, and the way things needed to be organised, but of course things did get organised as people worked with what they had (I have no doubt future historians will say the same about our age with the technology they will have that we can't even begin to imagine).

Apologies for getting Penrose's age wrong! I calculated his age in 1961, not 1951... Would he have been formally employed at that young age, or would he have just been 'helping out' (maybe something as commercial as monetary reward was not really possible - I wonder who the people and organisations were that were paying a shilling for each issue)? Interesting that even at that age, Penrose's name was used as presumably someone that younger players could look up to and aspire to emulate. By December 1951 (according to the Wikipedia article) he had already beaten both Efim Bogoljubov and Savielly Tartakower, and performed reasonably well at his first Hastings.

Maybe I am misreading the contents list. Is "Chosen by Jonathan Penrose" maybe the title of a regular column he wrote?

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Is there an argument to be made (apologies if this is well known and has already been established by chess historians) that organisations and work like this laid some of the groundwork for the later English chess explosion, and so is an important contributory factor?"

Probably - when I was a junior, both Leonard Barden and Bob Wade were renowned junior coaches and had a good network going, and they clearly respected each other. As always, there would have been other people working hard to get juniors interested. So yes, there were already systems in place, and people available to try to build on that.

[David Sedgwick]

Apologies for getting Penrose's age wrong! I calculated his age in 1961, not 1951... Would he have been formally employed at that young age, or would he have just been 'helping out' (maybe something as commercial as monetary reward was not really possible

I can't see any reason why he could not then have been employed and paid in cash at the age of 17 or 18.

At the time the school leaving age was 15. Plenty of 15 and 16 year olds were working.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I think I meant more whether they had enough money to pay anyone, but you make a good point about working age, and I am not sure why I thought his age might have been a factor. However, it is possible he was only writing a column for the magazine, not anything more than that.