English Chess Forum

While searching for early games by P. C Gibbs I came across this example, with the following remark:

The following game between P. C. Gibbs (Bradford) and Dr. H. P. Rickman (York) was entered for the I. M. Brown Brilliancy Prize, and described by the adjudicators as the best played game entered.

[Event "Bradford vs York"] [Site "?"] [Date "1953"] [Round "?"] [White "Gibbs, Peter Campbell"] [Black "Rickman, Hans Peter"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A52"] [Opening "Budapest: Alekhine variation"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ng4 4. e4 Nxe5 5. Nc3 Nbc6 6. f4 Ng6 7. Be3 Bd6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. e5 Be7 10. Nd5 d6 11. Nxe7+ Qxe7 12. exd6 cxd6 13. Be2 Re8 14. Bf2 Bg4 15. Kf1 Bxe2+ 16. Nxe2 Qe4 17. b3 Re6 18. Bg3 h5 19. h3 Qf5 20. Re1 Rae8 21. Bf2 h4 22. Kg1 Re4 23. Kh2 R8e6 24. g4 hxg3+ 25. Bxg3 Qh5 26. Nc3 Nd4 27. Rhf1 Rxe1 28. Bxe1 Nf3+ 29. Rxf3 Qxf3 {Halifax Evening Courier - Saturday 28 February 1953 p.2} 0-1

Which led me to https://philosophynow.org/issues/102/Pe ... _1918-2014

For recreation Rickman enjoyed playing chess. I never saw him lose a game, and by all accounts in his younger years he used to be a Yorkshire champion.

Rickman did play top board for York in the early Fifties, but was never Yorkshire Champion.

The game was probably played in a Woodhouse Cup match, which could have taken place in 1952.

Thanks, Gerard. Coincidentally, I went down exactly the same research path when I came across another of Rickman's games in one of Ronnie Ives' Yorkshire Evening Post columns a few weeks ago...

[Event "Wakefield-York"] [Site "Yorkshire"] [Date "1958.11.??"] [Round "1"] [White "Beaty, John Harold"] [Black "Rickman, Hans Peter (Dr)"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A12"] [PlyCount "58"] [EventDate "1958.11.??"] [EventType "team-match"] [EventRounds "1"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [WhiteTeam "Wakefield"] [BlackTeam "York"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"] [BlackTeamCountry "ENG"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. b3 Bg4 4. Bb2 Nd7 5. d4 f6 6. g3 e5 7. dxe5 Bb4+ 8. Nc3 Qa5 9. Rc1 fxe5 10. a3 Bxa3 11. Bxa3 Qxa3 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. Nxd5 Rd8 14. Nc7+ Ke7 15. Nd5+ Kf8 16. Nc3 Qe7 17. Bg2 Nc5 18. Qc2 e4 19. Nd2 Nd3+ 20. Kf1 Nxc1 21. Qxc1 e3 22. Nde4 Nf6 23. Nxf6 Qxf6 24. Qxe3 Rc8 25. Nd1 Qd6 26. Qf4+ Qxf4 27. gxf4 Ke7 28. Bxb7 Rc1 29. Ke1 Rd8 {Source: Yorkshire Evening Post, ? November 1958} 0-1

Clearly a strong club player, and a pity he didn't play more serious chess.

On the flimsy basis of just two games, he also seems to have had an aggressive attitude to playing with the black pieces.

I remembered the name from when I was posting here about my father, Ronnie Ives, so I had a quick look on my thread and found the attached. Dr Rickman is mentioned in the Woodhouse Cup score tables at the bottom. Would this be 1958 or 1959? Anyway, my father was a contemporary of his and also playing in Yorkshire so I would imagine there are other mentions in his YEP chess columns of which there are dozens still to go through.

Ingrid Ives wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 09, 2023 2:22 pm

Would this be 1958 or 1959?

The column must have been written in November or December 1958. It refers to the qualifying tournaments for the 1959 British Championship and goes on to say that players are playing for places in the championship "next year".

The schedule for the qualifying tournaments was that they started in September/October of one year and were finished by April/May of the following year, giving the winners places in the British Championship taking place in August later that year.