I think I am right in saying (and I hope I will be corrected if wrong) that Oliver was for a time the stronger of the three brothers at chess. They were born on 6 June 1929 (Oliver), 8 August 1932 (Roger) and 7 October 1933 (Jonathan). So the age gap was 3 years and 2 months between Oliver and Roger, a year and 2 months between Roger and Jonathan, and 4 years and 4 months between Oliver and Jonathan. As you consider the dynamics of the family growing up, you need to consider where they went to school and indeed what country they were in (e.g. the Wikipedia article for Roger Penrose says "Penrose spent the Second World War in Canada where his father worked in London, Ontario, at the Ontario Hospital and Western University." - there will be more in the recent 2024 biography published on Roger Penrose, who like Oliver is still alive and aged 95 - Jonathan, as most people will know, died in 2021 aged 88).
As most people also know, the two older Penroses became physicists (both of a decidedly mathematical bent, and Roger a very famous physicist who shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on black holes). Jonathan also worked in a university setting, being a lecturer in psychology. Growing up, the Penrose household was a ferment of intellect that others have described elsewhere. I will confine myself to pointing out that apparently the recent biography of Roger Penrose described (from his perspective) their parents as "cold and distant" (the full quote is below, obviously a proper quote will come from the biography not the review of the biography). While that was Roger's perspective, something of the family dynamics for Oliver and Jonathan may also be gleaned from that.
[The above is sourced from the London Review of Books review by Steven Shapin of the 2024 biography of Roger Penrose: Vol. 47 No. 11 · 26 June 2025, Through the Trapdoor - The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius by Patchen Barss, published by Atlantic, 337 pp., £25, November 2024, 978 1 83895 932 6. "Penrose’s father and mother were both cold and distant; polyhedral puzzles were one of the few vehicles for father-son contact."]
On family dynamics, the age gaps between the brothers might have had some impact. I do not know if Jonathan being the youngest had an impact on how they developed as individuals (and as chess players), and whether they went to different schools or not. We do know that Roger was in Canada in the Second World War and later studied at University College School back in London (Roger would have been 14 when the war ended, Oliver 17 and Jonathan 11 [he turned 12 in October of 1945] - I don't know how that translates into school years - we know Jonathan went to school in London as well, but I am not sure where Oliver was schooled in his early years - it does say in Who's Who that he was educated in "Central Collegiate Inst., London, Ont" before doing his BSc at UCL in London - so presumably the whole family was in Canada during the Second World War, or at least Oliver and Roger were there). Oliver and Roger both went to Cambridge and did doctoral studies there, while Jonathan did his doctorate in London at UCL, see my post here in 2024. I have wondered how close the three brothers were, and how close they were to their much younger sister Shirley (born 22 February 1945). The age gap there was considerable (16 years to Oliver, 13 years to Roger and 12 years to Jonathan) - by the time Shirley was 7 or 8, all three of her brothers would not have been living at home any more, but would have been around to varying extents (there are some mentions of chess in the oral history by Shirley here from around 2016 - see the 'chess player in the attic' quote from that here).Steven Shapin in 'Through the Trapdoor' review wrote:The Penroses were a family of puzzlers. Father and sons amused themselves by constructing polyhedra out of wood and cardboard that could be taken apart and put together in interesting ways. Everyone played chess: Lionel set puzzles and his wife, Margaret, like him a qualified physician, was a keen player; Oliver Penrose, Roger’s older brother, is a physicist and a proficient amateur player; and his younger brother, Jonathan, was a grandmaster and ten times British chess champion.
There is also the Royal College of Physicians biography of Lionel Penrose, published in 1982:
They had four children: Oliver, who is a professor of mathematics at the Open University; Roger, who is Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics, Oxford; Jonathan, international chess master and many times British Chess Champion, and Shirley Victoria, a paediatrician. Lionel Penrose was a superb chess player who composed many chess problems and at least one or two excellent endgame studies, and this interest was shared not only by his son Jonathan but by all the family.
I have spent a long time on a preamble before coming to what I wanted to write about in this post, the chess career of Oliver Penrose. Rightly, chess historians have focused on documenting the career and games of Jonathan Penrose. But what I had not realised is how strong Oliver Penrose was. Before I pull together some threads on that, I want to return briefly to considering how they likely developed in chess strength (based on how this has been seen in other chess players). It would help to know when they first learnt chess and started playing. We know that their father, Lionel, was a keen player, but I have not seen an actual date given for when they would have started to play. Given their later chess strength in full adulthood (Jonathan the strongest, followed by Oliver and then Roger), I am presuming that Oliver started off the stronger player and that Jonathan and he were roughly level into their teens and Roger was nearly always outdone by them both, and that Jonathan pulled ahead at some point as his chess career took off and Oliver remained an amateur (focused on his physics career). But can this be backed up by rating lists, junior tournament results and surviving game scores?As well as chess, he played the spinnet, painted, was expert at woodcuts, and made many puzzles for his grandchildren.
I also get the impression that Roger Penrose was not really a chess player (or at least not one that played competitively in club chess). I surmise this from the description from BCM (sourced via BritBase's Varsity biography of Lionel) of three Penroses playing for Hampstead Chess Club in the 1950s (Lionel, Oliver and Jonathan - can anyone dig out the board orders they would have played in?):
From this Chessbase article on the Colchester tribute day to Jonathan (in October 2023):BCM, July 1972, p245-246 via BritBase wrote:His [Lionel Penrose's] association with Hampstead began many years later when he and his sons Oliver and Jonathan joined the club and the inclusion of three Penroses - one the London Champion and the other the Essex Champion - was a material factor in Hampstead winning the London League several times in the fifties.
Turning, finally, to chess games played by Oliver Penrose, there are lots on BritBase. I will limit myself to one here (his defeat of Leonard Barden on top board in the 1950 Varsity Match, documented by John Saunders on BritBase here. Some quotes from contemporary reports:Sir Roger Penrose had found that, despite being younger, Jonathan could beat him at practically any game. This had included ‘Stone, Paper, Scissors’; but how could Jonathan beat him consistently in such a game of pure chance? To refute a hypothesis of mind reading, Sir Roger found a source of random numbers and translated that into a sequence of plays. He broke even that time, concluding that patterns he had unwittingly repeated were recognised and remembered. A useful attribute for a future chess champion.
The Times 27 March 1950, p8 via BritBase wrote:The best game of the match, and indeed the best game I remember seeing in this series for some years, was that played on the top board between two of the better known of our young strong players. Here Barden tried an early advance of his Queen side pawns in defence of a Ruy Lopez, but only succeeded in weakening his own Queen wing. From then on Penrose gave him no chance of recovery. He fastened down on this weakness and, at the correct moment, transferred his attack to the other side to win by a neat mating combination.
Similar quote from Golombek (who would also have written the report for 'The Times') in BCM:
What is also apparent from that 1950 page on BritBase is the extent to which (more than is done today) the Cambridge and Oxford teams visited London for a whole week and there were a series of matches (Combined Universities and Oxford Past v Cambridge Past matches), with both Jonathan Penrose and Oliver Penrose playing for different teams:Harry Golombek in BCM, May 1950, p150 via BritBase wrote:The outstanding game was that played on the top board. This, one of the best I remember seeing in such a contest, was both worthy of the occasion and truly representative of the powers of two of our leading younger players. [...] readers will agree with me, on playing it over, that it reflects great credit on the winner, whilst the loser made a brave attempt to recover from his bad opening.
There are some recent photos of Oliver Penrose, from 2023 at the Colchester tribute event and simultaneous display (see the Chessbase article linked elsewhere in this post), but also from the Winton Chess Problem Solving tournament in 2025 - see here and here. Also in 2024 here, here and here.Harry Golombek in BCM, May 1950, p150 via BritBase wrote:On Monday the Combined Universities met and heavily defeated the Metropolitan club by 11-4, Barden beating D. Miller on top board. The next day they were beaten by the strong Hampstead team by 11½-7½. On Board 1 O. Penrose lost to A. W. Bowen, Barden taking a fraternal revenge by winning against J. Penrose on Board 2.
A note on family connections. The Wikipedia articles on Roger and Jonathan and Shirley give details of their marriages and children (Roger has four children, Jonathan two and Shirley two). The Wikipedia article on Oliver is the shortest of the three, and gives no details of marriages or children. There is a 'Prabook' page on Oliver (am not clear where they source their information from) - this gives details of wife and children (three). That makes it eleven cousins that are the children of the four Penrose siblings. I am sure that members of the Penrose family (which is large and has many prominent members) may have written about the family history, but I don't know how much is published or a matter of public record (some elements will understandably be kept private, especially with people still living - the biography of Roger Penrose being published in 2024 with him contributing to it while still living is not the general norm for scientists but is a boon to students of his life and career).
Some snippets trawled from forum posts:
24 July 2024:
15 June 2020:Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑Thu Jul 25, 2024 12:26 amOliver Penrose wrote the original letter (brother of ten times British champion, but well known in his own field), I think it was slightly tounge in cheek, referring back to a couple of games in an earlier issue where Chris Dunworth had lost to female players at Hastings. The screen was a Bridge reference, which might be needed/have been needed in competitions to prevent non-verbal signals between partners.Geoff Chandler wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 10:05 pmMoving some chess books from A to B I found an August 1993 CHESS tucked away at the back.
Inside was a letter from Rachel Reeves dated the 5th July 1993 complaining about a suggestion from a male player in the July 1993 issue that when a man is playing women a screen should be placed between them so the male player is not put off.
I do not have the July issue. (it may turn up in another bookcase) so I cannot judge if the letter as I suspect, due to the mention of a screen that it was a tongue in cheek. Also at the time of writing the letter the male player was 64 years old. He may have been answering a younger male player who said women were putting him off. (I stress 'may have been' I have not seen the original piece.)
5 April 2024:Geoff Chandler wrote: ↑Mon Jun 15, 2020 7:00 pmRecently I mistakenly reported on one with a 50 year gap. Leonard Barden corrected me. It is 52 years.
Oliver Penrose played John Littlewood at the 1950 Cambridge Open (I thought it was 1952)
The next time they met each other was at the 2002 Edinburgh congress. ([Oliver] won both games.)
17 April 2018:Leonard Barden wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 4:28 pmReginald Bonham is indeed second from left in the lowest standing group. The photo is of the competitors in the first Swiss System British Championship at Felixstowe 1949.
The last survivors from that British Championship are probably Oliver Penrose (eighth from left in the lowest standing group) and myself (second from left in the second lowest standing group), although Peter Harris (fifth from left in the front seated group) might still be with us.
I'm pretty sure I can still identify every one of the men in that picture , although a few of the ladies might be difficult even with a list of competitors.
11 January 2009:John Saunders wrote: ↑Tue Apr 17, 2018 6:10 pmWhilst perusing the records, I noticed I also had a score of the top board game O.Penrose-Barden, acquired via an email exchange with Oliver Penrose back in 2004. He didn't have the score of the game but attempted to piece it together from memory. It helped that it wasn't very long. Here is the game as remembered by Oliver with his comments interspersed...
There is a lot more that could be said about Oliver Penrose's chess adventures in Scotland.Alex McFarlane wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:44 pmThought you might like to know that Oliver Penrose continues to play competitive chess in Edinburgh, today winning the Lothians Championship.
There is also clearly a lot more that could be said about Oliver Penrose as a chess player - the tournaments he played in and the people he played. I have run out of steam here a bit, but hopefully there is (or will be at some point) a page that pulls all this together (e.g. what were the best results in British Chess Championships by Oliver Penrose? When did he stop playing OTB chess at a high level?).
On an admittedly brief perusal of BritBase (may have missed some), outside of the 1950, 1951 and 1952 Varsity Matches (where he beat Barden in 1950, drew with Barden in 1951 and drew with future Canadian GM Daniel Abraham Yanofsky in 1952) we find that Oliver Penrose's chess career is summarised in John Saunders' Varsity page biography of him:
We can add to this:John Saunders on BritBase wrote:Oliver Penrose (born 1929) [...] Essex chess champion in 1946/47 and 1947/48. Played in the 1948 BCF Premier [Major Open] tournament, sharing 1st place with his brother Jonathan and three others on 7½/11. Finished 12th= in the 1949 British Championship (with 6/11) and scored 4½/11 in the 1950 British Championship. In 1950 he won the inaugural British Universities' Individual Championship ahead of a strong field. Has played little high-level competition chess since the early 1950s, but competed in the local Edinburgh [league?] as recently as the early 2000s. In 2002 defeated FM John Littlewood in the Edinburgh Open.
1947/48 Hastings Premier Reserves C (Oliver Penrose scored 6/9 and came 4th in this 10-player APA won by Denis Morton Horne).
1949/50 PREMIER RESERVES, MAJOR SECTION (Oliver Penrose scored 4/9 and came 7th in this 10-player APA - Leonard Barden came third with 5 points, the winner was A.R.B. Thomas).
Oliver Penrose also played in the British Boys Championships in 1946:
1946 British Boys' [Under-18] Championship, 12-14 (Preliminaries) & 15-17 April (Finals), Hastings: Preliminary Section B: (1-2) Fuller, O Penrose 2½/3; Consolation A: (1) Oliver Penrose 4½/5; (2) Lewis 4.
This was in the days of John Fuller (the winner that year) and Gordon Crown (who came second), with Leonard Barden third.Fuller qualified for the final after a play-off with Oliver Penrose. They drew their game in the preliminary section, and also the first two play-off games before Fuller won the third.
As far I can tell, Oliver Penrose appears to have only taken part in one British Chess Championships, at Buxton in 1950 (EDIT: this is wrong, Oliver Penrose took part in two main British Chess Championships, in 1949 and 1950, see further post later in this thread):
37th British Chess Championship, 1950: Oliver Penrose came 27th with 4.5/11, while his younger brother Jonathan came third with 7.5/11 (aged 16) with the champion being Reginald Joseph Broadbent on 8.5/11 - on the face of it, Jonathan was strong enough to have won that year, but lost in rounds 3 and 4 to Norman Wallis and Harry Golombek, while Broadbent took the title with a finishing streak of 6/6 and Milner-Barry lost in the final two rounds).
[Jonathan Penrose had qualified as champion of the Southern Union section, while Oliver Penrose and others, including Leonard Barden, were "specially selected" to play that year.]L Illingworth likewise eliminated O Penrose in the Cambridge group, but these promising young enthusiasts have been given places on their general record.
Also BUCA (British Universities Chess Association) events (another BritBase page):
University Chess Annual from 1950s: 1951 - 16-26 July - Oxford - Oliver Penrose (on tie-break from Leonard Barden).
Two more games by Oliver Penrose (both from BritBase):
Does anyone know of any other sources or tribute articles (e.g. festschrifts) about the Penroses that might shed more light? Or have personal memories of the Penroses that they would be willing to post?
I would be particularly interested in knowing at what point Jonathan became a stronger chess player than Oliver, if it is possible to say that in a meaningful way (it looks like Jonathan was the stronger player by the summer of 1950 when he far out-performed Oliver at the 1950 British Championships, but that Oliver was still scoring significant results in Varsity Matches and Combined Universities matches).
I would also be interested in views on whether having Oliver as a older sibling who was a strong chess player was a significant factor in Jonathan's development as a chess player. That would have been a factor in the days when they and their father played for Hampstead, but do we know how much that was a factor in the later stages (when both were at universities)?
