English Chess Forum

John Townsend wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:38 am

From a poem by Charles Tomlinson

Presumably not this one

No, sorry, I meant the C.T. of chess fame.

Was Harrwitz the Tiger and Löwenthal the Hungary (geddit) Fox?
oops the other way round!

edit

Harrwitz the Fox and Löwenthal the Hungary (geddit) Tiger?

Yes, exactly so, Gerard. The Fox went unpunished, as it turned out.

The Christmas Quiz in CHESS 1957 only had one item.

I never got No.4 or No.5 but figured who was 'Latvia's greatest player' by getting the rest.
Remember this was set in 1957 so the then 'Latvia's greatest player' has been slightly overshadowed.
(Ctrl + will make the picture a bit larger if you are having trouble reading it.)

Geoff Chandler wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 09, 2022 10:57 pm

The Christmas Quiz in CHESS 1957 only had one item.

I never got No.4 or No.5 but figured who was 'Latvia's greatest player' by getting the rest.
Remember this was set in 1957 so the then 'Latvia's greatest player' has been slightly overshadowed.
(Ctrl + will make the picture a bit larger if you are having trouble reading it.)

No.1 is not too difficult, but anyone having problems with it might like to look at recent posts in the "Pedants United" thread.

Hi David,

Not yet, but perhaps in a day or two you can give me numbers 4 and 5.
I have a an idea for 4 after I googled 'famous Hungarian chess players'
I go a whole load including the three sisters. No. 5 I've no idea.

This might be the Hungarian player: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajos_Asztalos

Hi Jack,

That is who I eventually got from google as well. Heard of him but I'm afraid little else.

I suppose number 8 is Te(i)chmann. Number 5 is a mystery. Hang on I think I've got it. His name is no longer spelled the same way and he was only technically Austrian at the time of his birth.

Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 15, 2022 4:10 pm

John Townsend wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 15, 2022 3:17 pm

Name the Oxford academic who floored Flohr's Winawer in an international tournament.

I suppose that leads on to another history question as to which Oxford academics have been international chess players. As a loose definition, represented their country in major team tournaments, major tournaments such as Nottingham or Hastings or been in the UK top ten.

Excluding those who studied at Oxford as undergraduates or post graduates, Adrian Hollis and John Nunn spring to mind plus various overseas visitors although most of these were there to study rather than teach.

Due to this thread going off on other tangents, I note that Roger's query doesn't seem to have been taken up.
During my time in the Oxford region (school+university, spanning early 1960s to early 1970s) there were certainly many players who represented British Isles countries (mostly England) internationally and some of them were even British champions. Mostly though as undergraduates and/or postgrads, not holding teaching or research positions.

I can think of P.N. Lee (who had left before I became a student), Andrew Whiteley, George Botterill (the last two at the same college as me), John Moles, Peter Markland, Martyn Corden. Of those Botterill, Markland and Corden all played the Hastings Premier. Botterill went on to teach at Aberystwyth and later Sheffield, Moles also became an academic and Corden went to CERN.

Obviously Cambridge around the same time had an even more distinguished list.

Perhaps Roger's criteria are a bit too tight. I don't think John Nunn ever held an academic position, at least not in Oxford. His specialist field of topology became fashionable, I think, just a bit too late for him.

If we do confine the query to people who held permanent academic positions in Oxford then the list probably isn't much longer than Tylor and Hollis. If you include correspondence chess (which became Hollis's main field of achievement) then I can add Michael P. Furmston who was a college fellow (in Tylor's field of law) when I was at Oxford, but who moved away to a professorial chair, in Bristol I think, and later Singapore.

Tim Harding wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 10, 2022 7:55 pm

His specialist field of topology became fashionable, I think, just a bit too late for him.

What?

Got 1-3 and 6-8 with little trouble, once I'd got the joke about 8. Had to think for a bit (and check the spelling) with 4. No 5 still eludes me - "Austrian" can cover an awful lot of players who assumed other nationalities after WW1.

Postscript: no 5 came to me the instant I'd logged out! Another wordplay, and my last comment above doesn't apply!! Anyhow, that's got 'em all.

I'll have a look at the following issue with the answers on Monday.

Can anyone now tell me who Number five is. I'll also check out Christmas 1958 and see if CHESS do another.

New Quiz (not so much of a quiz just a query ) When did Hugh Courtney's Christmas Quiz start.
I know that it ran for 40+ years but now curious as to the first and the last. Net search gives hints
but as yet no solid dates. (I should have the answer by Monday afternoon.)

If I still had my unbroken run of Chess from no. 501-756, I could give you a definite answer for the start date. Going solely by memory, I seem to recall it began in 1968 or 1969.