History of Chess in the English Civil Service

Kevin Thurlow

Description

This book covers more than a hundred years of chess in the Civil Service, with information about the clubs, the individuals, the events they contested, the successes, and the arguments that sometimes resulted. Clubs regularly featured leading players of the day and the Civil Service representative team frequently beat strong counties in 50-board matches, as well as participating in a mammoth 500-board match against the rest of England. Names of chess clubs bring a whiff of nostalgia, with India Office, War Office and Civil Service Rifles no longer in existence. Leading players served their country not only in their departments, but at establishments like Bletchley Park in the Second World War. Several civil servants represented their country in international matches. Over a thousand players participated in the league at one stage.

Sujets

• Hobbies
• Afición
• Hobby
• Loisir

Informations

• Publié par: The Conrad Press
• Date de parution: 07 juillet 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781839783104
• Langue: English

Extrait

A History of Chess in the English Civil Service
Kevin Thurlow


A History of Chess in the English Civil Service
Published by The Conrad Press in the United Kingdom 2021
Tel: [phone] www.theconradpress.com 
 [e-mail]
ISBN 978-1-839783-10-4
Copyright © Kevin Thurlow, 2021
The moral right of Kevin Thurlow to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved.
Typesetting and Cover Design by: Charlotte Mouncey, www.bookstyle.co.uk
The Conrad Press logo was designed by Maria Priestley.


Dedicated to everyone ever involved in Civil Service chess


Preface and Acknowledgements
T his book has been a long time coming. The author was in regular correspondence with EC Baker and received a letter containing this (dated 7/8/1987),
‘I have not collected chess memorabilia & long ago sought to complete CSCA records from 1922 plus a stray CS & Metropolitan League item and had them bound as far as practical & passed them to the safekeeping of succeeding Secretaries. In such circumstances I could not attempt an official history but in all histories, we miss the small personal details, the odd incidents that often give us a clearer picture of how things were than all the match reports and minutes of meetings. The ordinary club members are the raison d’être of our organization so it seems appropriate to record a few of their chess experiences.’
When the centenary of the league approached, there were a number of proposals on how to celebrate the milestone, including a book on the history of the league. The Annual General Meeting dismissed this idea, but a few days later the Chairman (Ian Pheby) received a telephone call from someone saying that there should be a book. Ian explained that the AGM had rejected the idea so the league could not spend money on it. The caller said that he wanted a book and he was willing to make a sizeable donation to ensure it happened. In view of this amazing generosity, the Committee decided to proceed with a book and asked the author to write it. All the clubs including some defunct ones were invited to contribute and a large number of individuals provided information, or searched archives. The author visited the BCF Chess Library in Hastings, and spent several days at the British Chess Magazine premises, reading every copy of their magazine from the late 19 th Century onwards. The staff provided many cups of tea to help. Ian Pheby and Roland Smith visited Civil Service Sports Council and trawled through their archives at great length.
Juggling the production of a book with full-time work is not easy, which has caused some delays, but here it is at last. Retirement and the Covid-19 outbreak have produced some spare time.
Many people and organizations have helped, and they are listed alphabetically below. Any omissions are accidental and much regretted.
Kevin Thurlow
Aircrew Remembered, Tony Ashby, EC Baker, Geoffrey S Barker, British Chess Magazine , British Newspaper Archive, BTHQ (British Telecom Headquarters CC), Susie Cairns, ‘ Chess ’, Chess Scotland website, Civil Service Sports Council, DHSS Chess, Paul Efstathiou, Essex CCA (Ivor Smith, Steve Wedlock, Howard Grist, John Philpott), Falkirk Herald , Ron Fleming, The Fowler Family, Richard Fries, Raymond Gedling, David Gilbert, Bernard Glaze, Edward Godly, Greater London Chess Club, Angela Hales, Hastings University, Eric Hazell, Home Office Chess Club, Inland Revenue, John James, Ian Jewesbury, Kingston Cemetery, Kingston History Centre, Marian Holmes, Paula Keay, Gary Kenworthy, Gerard Killoran, John McAllister, Meteorological Office Chess Club, David Mills, Steve Murray, National Rifle Association, Danny O’Byrne, Malcolm Pein, Tim Pelling, Ian Pheby, Tim Paulden (Chess Devon), Ray Pomeroy, Carl Portman, Chris Reeve, John Sargent, John Saunders, The Scotsman , Martin Smith, Roland Smith, St Paul’s Church, Kingston, Surrey Comet , Surrey Mirror , Sussex Agricultural Express , Wilf Taylor, David Thomson, The Times , James Toon, Chris Torrero, UNATS Chess Club, Gareth Ward, Paul Watson, Westmorland Gazette , Edward Winter (creator of Chesshistory.com)


Abbreviations and Acronyms
BCF British Chess Federation
BCM British Chess Magazine
BFCC British Federation for Correspondence Chess
BT British Telecom
BTHQ British Telecom Headquarters
Centels Central Telecommunications
COMPOST Cabinet Office, Management & Personnel Office, Central Statistical Office, Treasury, formerly Civil Service Department/Treasury.
Credex Export Control Guarantee Department
CS Civil Service
CSCA Civil Service Chess Association
CSD Civil Service Department
CSRC Civil Service Recreation Centre
CSSC Civil Service Sports Council
DETR Department of the Environment, Transport and Regions
DHSS Department of Health and Social Security
DOE Department of the Environment
DSIR Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
DSS Department of Social Security
DTI Department of Trade and Industry
EC Executive Committee
ECF English Chess Federation
EFCC English Federation for Correspondence Chess
Fortels A telephone department
GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters
GLC Greater London Council
GLCC Greater London Chess Club
GPO General Post Office
ICCF International Correspondence Chess Federation
IR Inland Revenue
LCC London County Council
LCCL London Commercial Chess League
MCCA Middlesex County Chess Association
NALGO National Association of Local Government Officers
PO Post Office
SBD Savings Bank Department
SCCA Surrey County Chess Association
SCCU Southern Counties Chess Union


Chapter 1
1845 - 1927 Beginnings
T here have been links between the Civil Service and chess for many years. The famous Russian player Mikhail Chigorin was a civil servant, as was Petroff, but we will confine ourselves to these shores in this work
Although the Civil Service League started in 1904, there was chess activity before that, both for individuals and teams. There were other associations as well. An article in British Chess Magazine in 1975 reported that on 9 th April 1845, chess was played over an electric telegraph line between London and Gosport, play ending after seven hours, ‘perhaps because the Post Office clerk wanted to get home’. This drew a mild rebuke from EC Baker, who commented that the Post Office did not become responsible for telegraphs until 1870, and that the Admiralty had paid for the line and managed it up until then.
The Wells Journal of 19 th October 1867 reported,
‘It is in contemplation to start a chess club for the Civil Service. A preliminary meeting has been held in the Post Office library, which was well-attended, and sundry forms were agreed to be submitted at a subsequent meeting.’
An identical report appeared in a Kent newspaper, and the London Daily News added that the meeting was held on 17 th October at 5 pm. This clearly led to something, as The Era reported on 27 th December 1868 that there was,
‘Talk of the Civil Service Chess Club using the venue of St. George’s Chess Club.’
Chess was played in a cabinet meeting in 1872, when Gladstone’s Cabinet was awaiting a tribunal’s decision on the ‘Alabama’ case. America was demanding compensation from Britain for selling warships to the Confederacy in the American Civil War, and Gladstone suggested international arbitration. The ‘Alabama’ had captured or destroyed 55 Union ships, so it had been quite successful. After a few hours waiting for the decision, Lord Granville summoned a chess set, to stop the members of the Cabinet arguing amongst themselves. Granville and William ‘Buckshot’ Forster settled down to play whilst the remainder watched. (He was nicknamed ‘Buckshot’ by the press, due to his alleged approach to a troublesome crowd in Ireland.) No news came through, but nobody argued! Britain lost and paid 15.5 million dollars, which was a lot of money in those days, and actually more than USA was claiming.
The Morning Post of 2 nd October 1873 said that the Postmaster General’s report had drawn attention to the Crystal Palace chess tournament, where wires transmitting the moves had communicated with Glasgow, Hull, Nottingham, Birmingham and Bristol. Nowadays, we are used to live coverage of games on the internet, but clearly the basic idea is not new. The North Wales Chronicle reported on 18 th October 1873, in a section called ‘London News’, that,
‘Another new club, called the Belgrave, for the use of the Civil Service, is about to be established in the Buckingham Palace Road, within two minutes’ walk of Victoria Station. It provides two spacious dining rooms, billiards and smoking rooms, library, reading and writing rooms, rooms for chess, cards etc., lavatories, and sleeping accommodation for about twenty members.’
In the late 1870s, the ‘Civil Service Publishing Co.’ was publishing chess books. A former civil servant in India was a prime mover in the 1883 London Congress. The Pall Mall Gazette reported on 30 th July 1884 that SJ Stevens and GA Hooke (‘both of the third class’) had shared the chief prize in a tournament of one hundred members of the City of London Chess Club. The first-rate players said that many of the prize winners should become first class players in due course, and, ‘will be required to give odds’. It was not unusual in those days for championships to be played at odds, i.e. a player might start with fewer pieces or pawns than his opponent, which is unthinkable nowadays. We will hear of Mr Hooke again. Players of the ‘third class’ were probably quite good. Within a couple of years Hooke was probably of master strength.
The Manchester Evening News reported on 8 th Septemb