Chess history trivia

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the death of the well known London player Sandys Dickinson (1950-2014). What did he have in common with the first official British Champion, Cecil De Vere (1846-1875)?

They both ran second-hand bookshops (or sold books)?

[John Townsend]

Both born on Valentine's Day?

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

No, but very close!

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Both born on Valentine's Day?

Actually I said no, but maybe you're right since his birth was registered in the first quarter of 1950. The answer I was thinking of was that both Cecil De Vere and Sandys Dickinson had a middle name of Valentine. Sandys' full name was Sandys Valentine Forster Dickinson. I guess there's a pretty good chance that the "Valentine" was because he was born on the 14th February.

Whilst looking through some random old material a few days ago I found a report of Middlesex III vs Middlesex IV county match played in October 1986. The strength of the Middlesex IV team was incredible - Top board was Robert Willmoth (he'd have been 19 years old), followed by Mark Lyell, Sandys Dickinson, Robert Kane, George Szaszvari, Nigel Alldritt etc. They still got soundly beaten by Middlesex III though.

[John Townsend]

Jon D'Souza-Eva wrote:

"The answer I was thinking of was that both Cecil De Vere and Sandys Dickinson had a middle name of Valentine."

They both had Valentine as a forename. In the case of De Vere, it was not a middle name, but was his first name.

[John Townsend]

Who was the first player to have been granted a patent for a mechanically operated chess board, which printed the moves and controlled the clocks?

(P.S. Anyone answering "Brian Eley" is just an optimist.)

[Kevin Thurlow]

Arthur Fey?

[John Townsend]

Kevin, a very good reply. As you pointed out in your book, A History of Chess in the English Civil Service, Fey did invent a self-recording chess board. It's not quite the right answer, though, in every respect.

[John Townsend]

Answer: Lala Raja Babu

[Kevin Thurlow]

That's impressive for 1906...

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Answer: Lala Raja Babu

I read through the patent here:

https://patents.google.com/patent/US810899A/en

It sounds like it would have worked in principle. I wonder how many working prototypes were made and how much it got modified (I have not read the follow ups).

The 1906 patent I read seems not to record the starting square of the piece moved, so would not accurately record ambiguous rook or knight moves. It also seems not to be able to record any form of castling, but does allow for promotion of pawns. The insistence on recording the identity of captured pieces is superfluous. As Kevin said, though, impressive for 1906.

[Kevin Thurlow]

Apparently he got UK and French patents as well. It may well be that he never made a working model.

e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Paul_Pedrick

[John Upham]

Which variation could, if punished, result in the wearing of a scold's bridle?

Who was (allegedly) it named after?

[Paul Habershon]

Which variation could, if punished, result in the wearing of a scold's bridle?

Who was (allegedly) it named after?

My guess:
the Gossip variation of the Torre attack, named after George Gossip, active in the second half of the nineteenth century and quite a character.

[John Upham]

Which variation could, if punished, result in the wearing of a scold's bridle?

Who was (allegedly) it named after?

My guess:
the Gossip variation of the Torre attack, named after George Gossip, active in the second half of the nineteenth century and quite a character.

Excellent and fully correct answer Paul. A special prize is winging its way to you.