English Chess Forum

The British Newspaper Archives have added the 1987 Portsmouth Evening News from 1987. Previously they had published up to December 1961. Not sure why they have specifically added 1987 but hopefully the years in between will be added.

I have extracted the Chess Notes articles from 1987 and added to my website. In addition, I have amended the previous draft documents for this publication, which were in the HCA archives from 1976 to 1979 to allow individual copies to be read. I will expand this for the 1957 to 1961 period in the future.

As has been mentioned on this forum, preserving this material is of value (the copies will also be added to the HCA Archives) but allowing others to download as well does mean if one source disappears these are lost to time if someone else has extracted them.

I am sure there are other Chess Columns for other areas (John Saunders Ronald Wilson (Ronnie) Ives Yorkshire Evening Post is the obvious excellent example which springs to mind. https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/iv ... r.html#yep).

I have not converted many games from the articles yet, but it anyone wishes to do so I will add. Otherwise I will get to them eventually (I do have some games sent to me from the late John Jones which I need to double check).

John Jones was the editor in 1987, but John Grant held the role for the longest period. I am sure local older Portsmouth players knew both of these players. The articles ran from 1957 to the early 2000's (or later?), but the Newspaper had articles way before 1900 and is a good source for Hampshire Chess.

https://hampshirechesshistory.co.uk/chess-notes/

Great work, Graham. Your website is a veritable gold mine of information.

Thanks Graham. I found a column of John Jones' which gave the end of the game where he beat me back in 1987. My memory is that it was a very short thrashing, but apparently it went to two sessions and 58 moves:
https://hampshirechesshistory.co.uk/che ... july-1987/

Jon D'Souza-Eva wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 21, 2025 5:01 pm

Thanks Graham. I found a column of John Jones' which gave the end of the game where he beat me back in 1987. My memory is that it was a very short thrashing, but apparently it went to two sessions and 58 moves:
https://hampshirechesshistory.co.uk/che ... july-1987/

John Jones sent me (a long time ago) about 100 games from Chess Notes, but your game not included (but I will transcribe and add). There was another one of yours from 1900 but as this was a loss to Bob Noyce I will not add here unless you wish me to. It was from Hackney vs Gosport in the NCC.

GrahamStuart wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 21, 2025 5:36 pm

There was another one of yours from 1900 but as this was a loss to Bob Noyce I will not add here unless you wish me to. It was from Hackney vs Gosport in the NCC.

I think I remember that game. I went through a short phase of playing 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 as White. I must have been graded 140+ at the time. Bob Noyce refuted it in very short order and it probably appeared in the Portsmouth News chess column because it didn't take up much room. As far as I know the only other time one of my games was published in a newspaper was much more recent and quite entertaining if you were not at the receiving end:
[Event "Oxfordshire vs Buckinghamshire"] [Date "2008.11.01"] [White "Roger de Coverly"] [Black "Jon D'Souza-Eva"] [Result "1-0"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. c4 d6 5. d4 Nbd7 6. Nc3 e5 7. O-O O-O 8. h3 c6 9. e4 h6 10. Re1 Nh7 11. Be3 Ng5 12. Nxg5 hxg5 13. Qd2 Bf6 14. Rad1 Qe7 15. b3 Re8 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. Na4 Kg7 18. Qd6 Qxd6 19. Rxd6 Nf8 20. c5 Ne6 21. Nb2 Be7 22. Rd2 Nxc5 23. Nc4 f6 24. Nd6 Bxd6 25. Rxd6 Ne6 26. Red1 Kf7 27. Bf1 Ke7 28. Bc4 Nd4 29. Bxd4 Kxd6 30. Bb6 Ke7 31. Bc5

GrahamStuart wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 21, 2025 5:36 pm

Jon D'Souza-Eva wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 21, 2025 5:01 pm

Thanks Graham. I found a column of John Jones' which gave the end of the game where he beat me back in 1987. My memory is that it was a very short thrashing, but apparently it went to two sessions and 58 moves:
https://hampshirechesshistory.co.uk/che ... july-1987/

John Jones sent me (a long time ago) about 100 games from Chess Notes, but your game not included (but I will transcribe and add). There was another one of yours from 1900 but as this was a loss to Bob Noyce I will not add here unless you wish me to. It was from Hackney vs Gosport in the NCC.

For completeness the Bob Noyce game .... This does mean 3 published games in Newspapers though

[Event "NCC (1) Hackney v Gosport"] [Site "?"] [Date "1990.11.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Eva, J.D."] [Black "Noyce, Robert"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B06"] [PlyCount "44"] [GameId "504444465602"] [EventDate "1990.??.??"] [SourceTitle "Chess Notes"] [Source "Portsmouth Evening News "] [SourceDate "1968.11.21"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "1878.01.01"] [SourceQuality "2"] {White's manic play typifies this whole "variation"} 1. e4 g6 2. Bc4 d6 3. Qf3 {The "Monkey's B_m" variation!} Nf6 4. d4 Nc6 5. c3 Bg7 6. h4 Bg4 7. Qd3 a6 8. b4 $2 d5 $1 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Ne2 $2 (10. a3 {was necessary}) 10... Ndxb4 $1 11. cxb4 Bxe2 12. Qxe2 Qxd4 {White could resign now!} 13. O-O Qxa1 14. Bf4 O-O 15. h5 Qd4 $1 16. Be3 Qb2 17. Nd2 Rad8 18. hxg6 hxg6 19. Rd1 b5 20. Bb3 Nd4 21. Qg4 Nxb3 22. axb3 Qc2 {And, White will lose further material on the d-file} 0-1

For those that use the British Newspaper Archives they have added the Portsmouth Evening News from 1988 to 1999. These will include the weekly Chess Notes. In time I will look to add the Chess Notes articles when time allows.
https://hampshirechesshistory.co.uk/chess-notes/

1998 to 1990 individual articles have been added now, although either some weeks were missing, or I was unable to locate. There are additional chess posts in the paper, but for the most part I have not included these. The main articles were written by John Jones and cover various Hampshire Chess activities, concentrating on the Portsmouth Chess League, although does cover Hampshire county matches, HCA championship, Hampshire chess league and junior chess.
https://hampshirechesshistory.co.uk/chess-notes/

The British Newspaper Archives now has up to 2004 although the more recent ones available are of less interest, as not as in depth as the earlier years. They also still don't include the 1962 to 1976 period yet.