Remembering Fred Dewhirst Yates (16-i-1884 11-xi-1932)

[John Upham]

A giant of British chess, we remember Fred Dewhirst Yates (16-i-1884 11-xi-1932)


You might be interested in learning of the appeal in his name to raise funds.

Fred Dewhirst Yates (16-i-1884 11-xi-1932)

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[Geoff Chandler]

A very good piece. The whole series on past players is good and will no doubt be a target of future raids by chess authors/historians.

One of the games you give, his win v Alekhine helped nudged me towards the KID.
I first saw it in Reinfeld, 'Great Brilliancy Prize Games of the Chess Masters'
(but alas not in The Mammoth Book of Great Games - Deep Blue, a tin pot machine gets in but no Yates.)

Then on a diet of Morphy and Du Mont miniatures (du Mont has a Yates game, a win v Rubinstein.)
I was puzzled that NC6 back to B8 and a7-a5 type moves was not crushed by Alekhine.
And a fianchetto - Morphy did not do that to his King Bishops - these things belong on c4 and c5.

I know for sure that one game gave me a big leg-up in understanding and appreciating the game.
A penny dropped...OK it got stuck for a while...but eventually it fell into place.
(the smashing up of the furniture after the game by Alekhine is probably a myth - cannot say for sure, I was not there.)

[John Upham]

I enjoyed learning that the London Chess League made a donation of £3 towards payment of FDYs debts.

This would have been around £60 in today's money.

There has been (in another place) further discussion of his middle name and if it should be spelt Dewhirst (correct) or Dewhurst (incorrect).

Hopefully there is more of interest about FDY than this.

The coroner retained his gas meter and associated plumbing.

Perhaps some discussion of his chess achievements (thanks Geoff!) would be welcome?

[Matt Mackenzie]

Playing the Kt back to b8 was far from unknown in the early KID days, and whilst little seen now I don't think the computers say it is too bad.

[Roger de Coverly]

I was puzzled that NC6 back to B8 and a7-a5 type moves was not crushed by Alekhine.

Ray Keene called the retreat back to b8 after playing Nc6 to provoke d5 as "silly" in one of his books. I've noticed Gawain Jones playing it that way in recent times, which at least has the merit of avoiding all the long lines of theory after the "normal" .. Na5.

[Matt Mackenzie]

There's also that line in the Neo-Grunfeld offshoot with 3f3!? where White follows up with f4 and d5 creating a big pawn centre - Black normally moves his Kt to a5 these days, but Nb8 used to be the "in" move and got very high profile use in the interwar years (eg at the AVRO tourney)

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Boys

It was Nc6-Nb8-Nd7 then a4 (eh?) Ahh it stops b4 after Nc5 which has become free by sucking forward the d-pawn.
White lost an irretrievable tempo pushing the pawn! - it cannot go back to d4) and on c5 the Knight also hits the e4 pawn....
Yabba Dabba Doo!

I was barely out of the 1.e4 e5 attack f7 stage and this game hit me like my unforgettable first kiss.
(I was 13 she had huge buck teeth and I thought this is going to hurt - it was soft, like a summer butterfly gently gliding over my lips.)

Of course 100's of other ideas picked up over the years but that was the first time an idea other than sac/sac mate sunk in.
I thank the three Freds. Yates, Reinfeld and Flintstone. (Yabba Dabba Doo!)

( see how I deftly shied away from using the full names - You won't catch me writing Frederick 'Dewhurst' Yates...OOPS! )

There are some games that, you never forget, even though you have only met them for a moment of two.
And though I'm old, and grade has gone cold, I still remember you.

Apologies to Bob Dylan.

[Nick Grey]

I think now the standard cost of a funeral is five thousand John will be posting more of these. I think I will leave my scoresheets to my clubs, my county and ECF.