A contestable formation

Tom Sweby, in the reportage below, argues that the date of formation regarding Luton chess club which appears in the 1933 publication Chess in Bedfordshire is contestable. You will find the aforementioned publication on this site.

Kent’s club

Kent’s club Luton was well established in the Bedfordshire league for decades. How did it come about? Read on.

The Beds and Herts Pictorial 1950s (1)

Tom Sweby, once described as a ‘tame communist by a former pupil who went on to put pen to paper also, is perhaps best known for his column in The Luton News, which ran for decades and was quite readable. That began in 67, but prior to that he also wrote for them and other newspapers on a freelance basis too. Not only that, he had a column in The Beds and Herts Pictorial which predated that in The Luton News. They are more or less the same and vary content both local and international, and both exude that lack of attention to detail he too frequently fell foul of. As far as I know, I am the only one who reproduces his columns and with this it is hoped that a greater appreciation and understanding of chess in the 50s in Bedfordshire will emerge. It must be said that chess wise the 50’s isn’t a decade which exemplifies strength and depth in Bedfordshire. This view is based on club and county results which were reported, the team members also indicate that the clubs in our league were not terribly strong back then.

It’s always pleasant when former team mate Diggle gets a mention

Two poor adverts not one!

Well done Tom Sweby, the one armed bandit, for posting an objection to evenings of chess in Luton. But was anything ever done about it? I thinketh not!

Dennis Victor Mardle’s wedding

It would appear I am not the only Lutonian to have a marriage brought about by chess.

Luton had its own schools league once

My home town Luton not only had its own league but also its own schools league simultaneously. Whereas reportage of the Luton league appears in several other posts, evidence of the schools league can be found below. If only it were true today!

It should be noted that at the bottom of the column the initials T.W.S are Tom Sweby’s, who was a science teacher at Challney Boys School, appearing in the league table above.

William Ward’s profession

Figures from the past not forgotten

Can you remember your first game of your first full season? I can, although admittedly some details remain rather sketchy.

I played for Luton C, possibly Luton D, and it was away to Leighton Buzzard in late September 1988 when they played at Cedars School in Linslade. I went in the car with Peter Whone and Gary Aimes, perhaps one other too. On board 1, Peter played Kevin Williamson who was rated 142 at the time and beat him quite quickly, much to his surprise and delight. I played old Henry (Bill) Charlotte. I was white, he played the French, I went for the advance variation. It was the first time I faced the French and I hadn’t even been playing for one year and didn’t know what to do. He played an early Qb6 and piled on the pressure on my d-pawn. He also generated pressure down the c-file and I lost. My handwriting wasn’t very good and I had some difficulty writing down the moves. On the way home I told Gary I had lost and he said ‘anyone can lose to Bill’.

I have nothing but positive memories of old Bill. He always had a pipe and was always playing about with it. Sometimes it seemed like he was concentrating more on that than his game! I used to see him at county matches all the time. He always dressed 60’s style and was a jolly old fellow. He liked his chess and his mannerisms made me smile. I have two pictures here of Henry (Bill). He’s not forgotten.

How not to win a chess match

When you are up against stiff opposition, it’s not usually a good idea to field a weakened side! Especially when they have future Dunstable based J. M. Craddock on their team!

McCready gets tough -euphoria!

As the years have gone by, I have become increasingly ambivalent towards the English Chess Forum due to its conservatism, which is the thing I dislike the most in the chess world. Nonetheless, it does contain professional players, many knowledgeable souls and some established historians too. There is a chess history trivia section of which I am a contributor and recently I have started upping the ante, asking difficult questions which no one can answer. Now I’ve gone a bit cryptic and deliberately asked a question that only I on this planet can answer (the key to it lies in a column I have not yet published on my site)! Not only that, no one is likely to attempt it either, and that includes the most senior chess historians in the world even though they are actually familiar with the person who is the answer. It is worded in such a way, no one is going to get it. Or has McCready got it all wrong and is going to be shot down in flames? Is this nothing more than some sort of Killing Joke? Want to see what it is?

English Chess Forum

It’s cryptic and quite unlikely to be answered seeing as no one will know the answer. This will be the second question in the last three that will not get an answer 🙂

What was the other one?

English Chess Forum

I should add that this is answerable if you know where to look. It is buried deep within a publication and isn’t googleable. No one answered it though.

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To conclude, is McCready going to get super-tough and ask even harder questions, perhaps in a verbose manner with jargon thrown in? Naughty naughty! 🙂

Mark. J. McCready