Lionel Lewis

[Simon Rogers]

I am sorry to report that Lionel Lewis has died.
Lionel Lewis sadly passed away on 27th October, aged 92. He had been suffering from dementia.
It was announced on the Birmingham and District Chess League website on the 15th November, by his son John, who plays for Warley Quinborne.
John has done a lengthy and excellent tribute on the website.
Lionel had been a member of Mutual Circle Chess Club for over 40 years.
In his prime, he played in the Birmingham and District Chess League Division One, on board 2 or 3 and was still playing chess up until last season.
In the 2015-16 season, at the age of 88, Lionel helped the club win the Terrell Trophy with barely losing a game.
RIP

[John Saunders]

This rang a bell with me. Assuming I have the right man (and I'm pretty sure I have), Lionel Lewis played for Oxford in the 1949 Varsity chess match on board four and won his game. Details here: https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/1 ... iewer.html RIP

I was wondering if Leonard knew him. Or knew of him. Leonard made his Varsity match debut in 1950 so, like opposite-coloured bishops, their paths may not have crossed.

[John Saunders]

Here's a game played by Lionel Lewis in the Birmingham Post Cup, and published by BH Wood in his newspaper column...

[Event "Brimingham Post Cup"] [Site "Birmingham"] [Date "1956.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Lewis, Lionel"] [Black "Harris, Geoffrey F"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C51"] [PlyCount "101"] [EventDate "1956.??.??"] [EventCountry "ENG"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Be7 6. Qb3 Nh6 7. d4 Na5 8. Qa4 Nxc4 9. Qxc4 d6 10. dxe5 Ng4 11. exd6 cxd6 12. h3 Nf6 13. O-O O-O 14. Nbd2 d5 15. exd5 Qxd5 16. Bb2 Be6 17. Qxd5 Nxd5 18. Nd4 Bd7 19. Rac1 Nf4 20. Rc2 Rfe8 21. N2b3 Rac8 22. Rd1 b6 23. Rcd2 Bf6 24. Kf1 Ba4 25. Ba1 Nd5 26. Rc2 g6 27. Kg1 Bxd4 28. Rxd4 Bxb3 29. axb3 Re1+ 30. Kh2 Rxa1 31. Rxd5 Ra3 32. Rb5 Kg7 33. c4 Kf6 34. Rc3 Rc6 35. Rf3+ Ke6 36. Rd5 a5 37. Re3+ Kf6 38. Rf3+ Kg7 $2 39. Rd7 Rf6 40. Rxf6 Kxf6 41. Rd6+ Ke5 42. Rxb6 Kd4 43. Rb5 a4 44. bxa4 Rxa4 45. Rb7 f5 46. Rxh7 Rxc4 47. Rh4+ Kd5 48. Rxc4 Kxc4 49. Kg3 Kd3 50. Kf4 Ke2 51. f3 { Source: Birmingham Daily Post, 27 November 1956 - BH Wood column} 1-0

I found a grade of 6a for Lionel Lewis in 1961, which is between 161 and 168 on the recently discarded three-figure BCF/ECF scale.

[Simon Rogers]

According to the excellent tribute by his son John, after University Lionel returned to Birmingham and played for the City & Erdington Club.

[Mick Norris]

Birmingham and District Chess League website

John Lewis (Warley Quinborne) has the following sad news:

My father, Lionel Lewis, sadly passed away on 27th October aged 92. He had been suffering from dementia. Lionel had been a member of Mutual Circle for over 40 years but his chess "career" began at King Edward's School during the war. When he returned to Birmingham after university he joined the City & Erdington Club, as I believe it was named, playing alongside Ritson Morry. Following the club's demise he was briefly a member of Quinborne before joining up again with Ritson at Mutual. He was a very active and dedicated member, taking on most roles at one time or another. In his prime he was a Div 1 board 2 or 3 player,and was still playing league chess up until last season, just about holding on to a 3 figure grade. I know that Mutual members have not forgotten his performances in 2015/16 when at the age of 88 he barely lost a game and played a vital role in their Terrill trophy success. Lionel was never the fastest of players, and invariably found himself in time trouble (pre quick play finishes and the like of course). However, I remember him telling me about the time when he got held up and arrived at a match with less than 4 minutes on his clock. He proceeded to make his 30 moves, missing a back rank mate along the way, and ended up winning the the game!

It's fair to say that Dad taught me everything I know about chess, though self evidently not all that he knew! When I returned to Brum in the 80s I decided to stay local and join Warley Quinborne rather than follow him to Mutual. Although he and I regularly found ourselves on opposing teams we engineered things in such a manner that we never in fact played each other competitively. I think Dad had seen enough of my tears as a youngster when defeating me and didn't want to inflict any more pain, which he surely would have done!

Away from chess he enjoyed his working life, running a successful business, crossword puzzles, and a nice glass of red wine - the latter possibly the result of having a French wife.

The funeral has already taken place and numbers were of course limited. Anyone who wishes to may send a donation to the Alzheimer's Society.

[Leonard Barden]

This rang a bell with me. Assuming I have the right man (and I'm pretty sure I have), Lionel Lewis played for Oxford in the 1949 Varsity chess match on board four and won his game. Details here: https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/1 ... iewer.html RIP

I was wondering if Leonard knew him. Or knew of him. Leonard made his Varsity match debut in 1950 so, like opposite-coloured bishops, their paths may not have crossed.

I think Lionel Lewis might have played in Oxfordshire's team in some matches of the inter-county championship in 1949-50 and/or 1950-51, even though all the other references in this thread link him only to Warwickshire. BCM and Chess for 1951 would have team lists for Oxfordshire's final match that year against Cheshire and perhaps also for the semi-final against Devon, while at that time Ritson Morry was publishing a fortnightly bulletin which might have individual names for some other MCCU county matches.

I do have a memory of a L Lewis on a middle board for Oxfordshire, and as the team normally travelled together by train to away matches it is likely that I talked to him, but I have no memories of that or of any more than his name on team sheets. So it could have been a different L Lewis of similar strength, or a false nonagenarian memory by me, caused eg by him playing for a Warwickshire team against Oxfordshire.

In the 1949 varsity match pic on Britbase the queried player is definitely George Spencer-Brown in process of losing to Lewis, who is not pictured.

[John Saunders]

Coincidentally I was conducting a trawl through Ritson Morry's bulletins only yesterday looking for someone else*. I've dug them out again today and found that L Lewis played for Oxford University in the same team as Leonard when they played Midland Universities in Birmingham on 11 February 1950. (Leonard beat PB Dodson on board 1 while Lewis lost to PA Hopkins on board 9.) I haven't yet tracked down the detailed results of those Oxfordshire matches referred to but will keep looking.

* off-topic - I was looking for a late 1940s Hampstead player called H B Samuel, who may well have been Horace Barnett Samuel, a barrister and author, and also another London-based player called R C Somerville who turned out for a Combined Oxford/Cambridge side vs Hampstead in March 1950 (Leonard was also in the side and beat J Penrose that day). Both of these were opponents of Dr Aitken around that time. Any help with identifying Samuel and Somerville and their forenames much appreciated.

[David Sedgwick]

* off-topic - I was looking for a late 1940s Hampstead player called H B Samuel, who may well have been Horace Barnett Samuel, a barrister and author, and also another London-based player called R C Somerville who turned out for a Combined Oxford/Cambridge side vs Hampstead in March 1950 (Leonard was also in the side and beat J Penrose that day). Both of these were opponents of Dr Aitken around that time. Any help with identifying Samuel and Somerville and their forenames much appreciated.

I wonder whether R C Somerville might be a relative, possibly even the father, of our Cambridge contemporary J P Somerville.

[John Saunders]

I wonder whether R C Somerville might be a relative, possibly even the father, of our Cambridge contemporary J P Somerville.

Johann spelt his surname 'Sommerville', David.

[Paul Cooksey]

But we have not yet ruled out that R C Somerville and J W Somerville are related?

[David Sedgwick]

I wonder whether R C Somerville might be a relative, possibly even the father, of our Cambridge contemporary J P Somerville.

Johann spelt his surname 'Sommerville', David.

Whoops! So he did.

Note to self: Sedgwick, confine your posts on the English Chess Forum to the small number of topics about which you know something.