Korchnoi simultaneous display (5 October 1979)

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Here is a lovely account of the simultaneous display by Victor Korchnoi at St Paul's School in Barnes on 5 October 1979:

https://issuu.com/stpaulsschoollondon/d ... s/12062271

(Atrium, Old Pauline News, Spring/Summer 2021)

October 1979, Russian Grandmaster loses to Board 5 player at St Paul’s School

For a decade from the late 1970s St Paul’s was the leading school chess team in Western Europe. In 1979 the top three boards were Julian Hodgson (1976-81), William Watson (1975-79) and Richard Holmes (1975-79). Their BCF ratings were 211, 211 and 210 respectively.

[...]

In 1978 Michael Stean had been one of Viktor Korchnoi’s seconds in the World Championship match against Karpov. Michael was also a coach at St Paul’s. In October 1979 Korchnoi was his guest in London and the world’s second best player was looking for some competition. So on 5 October 1979 Korchnoi came to Barnes to play a clock simultaneous display against a School team of 10. Julian Hodgson on Board 1 lost, William Watson achieved a draw on Board 2, while Dan Rosen (1977-81) on Board 5 beat the Great Russian Grandmaster.

[...]

"[Dan Rosen:] the only reason I won was because Korchnoi blundered when I am sure he was winning. I did get Korchnoi to sign my scoresheet, which he did with good grace; I kept it safe in a wallet for several years, but to my eternal chagrin, I mislaid the wallet about 20 years ago. At least I still have all the trophies from the various competitions the school won during my time, although the team in 1977/78 and 1978/79 was so strong that only once in those two seasons did the result of my individual game actually matter."

Korchnoi1979simul.jpg (249.51 KiB) Viewed 4680 times

I hope the Pauline archivists have a better scan of the photo than that. Anyone want to try identifying the players? Only four of the 10 boards are visible, and it is entirely possible that the photo does not include anyone named above (apart from Korchnoi himself).

[Martin Benjamin]

Just catching up with this thread. I believe the four players (going anticlockwise) are myself, then Dan Rosen, then probably Kenny Shovel and finally Will Burt. It was not the easiest simul for which to prepare. I remember I did not know whether I would be board 3 or board 4 (depending on whether Richard Holmes made it back in time from an interview in Cambridge), and I had a whole day of lessons and mock exams from 9am until we started playing the simul in the late afternoon after school ended, so i was pretty frazzled. I recollect that Korchnoi slow cooked me in a King's Indian, but I don't have the game.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Thank you, Martin. I had never heard of Kenneth Shovel before.

Found a game here where aged 20 (and rated 2305) he drew with a 15-year-old Anand (2380) in the 1985 Lloyds Bank Masters:

https://2700chess.com/games/shovel-anand-london-1985

Another game here where he wins a game at the 1986 Oakham Young Masters:

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2535999

He studied at Wadham (University of Oxford) and reached BCF grades exceeding 200.

Played on board 7 in the 1985 Varsity Match (Nick Ivell was on top board for Cambridge):

https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/19 ... iewer.html

Apparently Shovel was studying Mathematics.

The blog here mentions both Shovel and Will Burt:

https://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot. ... -coup.html

Couldn't find any more immediately.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Shovel's father Ralph is mentioned in a long post by Leonard Barden here in 2009:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=981&p=15189&hilit=k ... vel#p15189

This comes full circle back to the Lord John Cup.

Will Burt appears to still be playing chess, but Kenneth Shovel appears inactive (though he became an FM at some point).

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

That takes me back a bit! It was my first term at St Paul’s. I had actually played for their team in my last year at the prep school Colet Court, as it gave them an advantage by bringing the team’s average age down … not that they needed it.

Korchnoi was the only person ever allowed to smoke in the school library, which he did throughout the match. Of course he beat me easily. In the photo I am at the front viewed from behind.

Kenny Shovel was yet another very strong player at my school, and his father often used to give us lifts to away matches. In consequence, we would frequently arrive at the venue in a Rolls Royce, with IM Julian Hodgson on top board!

But the main appeal of travelling with Mr Shovel was that he always provided a bag of chocolate bars, crisps and fizzy drinks. Once we were taking a larger team to a Jamboree and some of us had to be driven by a teacher. Our main gripe wasn’t the vehicle, rather the lack of snacks … but Mr Shovel hadn’t forgotten us, coming over with a goodie bag for us too.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Many thanks, Jon, for the memories from Will Burt (by email, I presume?).

I should add that it is not entirely clear that the person nearest the camera is indeed Will Burt. It may instead be someone standing and looking at Will Burt's board, but it seems Will Burt remembers playing in the simul (or recognises himself from behind - the partial view of the glasses would make it easier to recognise oneself).

Lovely reminiscence of Ralph Shovel. I tried to find out more about him, but drawing a blank other than that he may have been born in 1923 and unless over 100 now may no longer be with us:

https://find-and-update.company-informa ... pointments

That is Companies House record for a Ralph Shovel, born August 1923.

I will quote from the other thread (to keep it in one place) what Leonard Barden said about Ralph Shovel's role in the instigation of the Lord John Cup:

I know Leonard put together the LJC, but who was the arbiter? It certainly wasn't me.

The arbiter was David Levy.

<snip>

The Lord John Cup came about because Ralph Shovel, father of a talented junior Kenny Shovel (who later became an FM and drew with Anand at Lloyds Bank 1985) was a golf partner of the Lord John chairman. Ralph persuaded his friend to put up £20,000 for a grandmaster tournament. On his return home, the chairman had misgivings and consulted his PR firm who were horrified and wanted him to pull the plug. With Ralph urging him to honour his word, he compromised on £10,000 and a demand for a very detailed budget which I provided.

<snip>

So overall I guess that what we did in 1977 hastened the English Chess Explosion by 1-2 years.

Worth reading the whole post (click the little 'up' arrow next to Leonard's name).

But coming back to Ralph Shovel, is it possible this is RAPHAEL (RALPH) SHOVEL who appears in a few Jewish family history databases? I have no way to confirm or disprove this, as I am struggling to come up with any other records.

I did find a Raphael Shovel whose birth was registered in Bethnel Green in December 1923 to a mother with the maiden name Weiner. Is this the same person?

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

But coming back to Ralph Shovel, is it possible this is RAPHAEL (RALPH) SHOVEL who appears in a few Jewish family history databases? I have no way to confirm or disprove this, as I am struggling to come up with any other records.

I did find a Raphael Shovel whose birth was registered in Bethnel Green in December 1923 to a mother with the maiden name Weiner. Is this the same person?

Yes, that's him. He died in 2019. Here is his page on findagrave.com (it mentions his son, Kenneth):
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/256 ... ael-shovel

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Thank you, Jon. Kenny on the father's grave. Kenneth on the mother's grave. Sad to see the grave of their daughter Ketrina there. Slightly bemused by the plural "brothers" on Ketrina's grave. Interesting to see that Raphael (Ralph) was a "Sergeant Glider Pilot" (presumably in the Second World War when in his late teens and early 20s).

Found something here on glider pilots:

Glider Pilot Regiment, A.A.C. 1st Battalion, whose motto was ‘Nothing is Impossible’. It was a specialist unit responsible for crewing the British Army’s cargo gliders. It was formally inaugurated on 24th February 1942 as part of the Army Air Corps which then comprised the Glider Pilot Regiment, the Parachute Regiment and the Special Air Service

The advantage of the glider was that it could deliver an airborne platoon with all its equipment to a precise spot, day or night, to achieve surprise. The Horsa gliders were capable of carrying 28 fully armed and equipped airborne soldiers, or a Jeep and trailer or gun. A larger glider, the Hamilcar, could even carry a seven ton tank. A smaller American glider, the Waco CG-4A, officially called the Hadrian by the British, but "Waco" by the pilots and soldiers, was used in Sicily and in Burma.

Nicknamed ‘flying coffins’ due to their look, construction and high rate of casualties, British gliders were mainly made of wood and stretched canvas. The American gliders were stronger as they had tubular steel frames.

Volunteers were called for from Army units and after military and RAF aircrew selection tests they undertook rigorous training to become skilful pilots as well as use all the weapons and equipment of the fighting soldiers they carried into battle, so that they could fight alongside them on the ground.

Retired Gen. William C. Westmoreland had his thoughts on glider pilots. "The intrepid pilots who flew the gliders were as unique as their motorless flying machines," he said. "Never before in history had any nation produced Aviators whose duty it was to deliberately crash land, and then go on to fight as combat infantrymen. They were no ordinary fighters. Their battlefields were behind enemy lines. Every landing was a genuine do-or-die situation for the glider pilots. It was their awesome responsibility to repeatedly risk their lives by landing heavily laden aircraft containing combat Soldiers and equipment in unfamiliar fields deep within enemy-held territory, often in total darkness. They were the only Aviators during World War II who had no motors, no parachutes and no second chances."

Apologies for the long segue into military history there, which has taken us a long way from the genteel surroundings of Korchnoi giving a simultaneous display in a room at St Paul's School, but I would like to think maybe a 56-year-old Ralph Shovel was somewhere in the vicinity at the time of that photo (but probably not).