The Game of Chess: Our Books
From the pen of Jerry Dowlen we offer two interesting and amusing books about the game of chess.
Win in Eleven Moves (2016): A book of eleven chapters offering a variety of true-life stories about chess at world championship, international and ordinary club level also mentioning a selection of some of the most colourful, exceptionally gifted and occasionally eccentric players who are established legends in the fascinating long history of the game.
You can read a short extract from Win in Eleven Moves at the foot of this page.
From the pen of Jerry Dowlen we offer two interesting and amusing books about the game of chess.
Win in Eleven Moves (2016): A book of eleven chapters offering a variety of true-life stories about chess at world championship, international and ordinary club level also mentioning a selection of some of the most colourful, exceptionally gifted and occasionally eccentric players who are established legends in the fascinating long history of the game.
You can read a short extract from Win in Eleven Moves at the foot of this page.
Problem Solved! (2020):
Who is Inspector Gledd?
These light-hearted fictional short stories follow his eventful career at Scotland Yard from the 1930s to the 1980s. His powers of investigation and deduction are tested by burglars, gangsters, missing persons, poisoners, spies and terrorists.
Whenever he has any spare time Inspector Gledd loves to play chess, which sometimes is helpful ...
Who is Inspector Gledd?
These light-hearted fictional short stories follow his eventful career at Scotland Yard from the 1930s to the 1980s. His powers of investigation and deduction are tested by burglars, gangsters, missing persons, poisoners, spies and terrorists.
Whenever he has any spare time Inspector Gledd loves to play chess, which sometimes is helpful ...
When the World Chess Champion Came to Bromley
In 1919, the world chess champion came to Bromley.
The local press treated it as big news. The Chronicle and the Bromley Mercury carried long reports that Jose Raoul Capablanca, born in Cuba, had come to town. The Mayor of Bromley (Alderman W.L. Crossley) presided over the formal reception and speeches.
This was not surprising. ‘Capa’ was the first chess player of the twentieth century to attract mass adulation. He was the son of a Spanish cavalry officer. Handsome and debonair, he was called the Rudolph Valentino of Chess. It was said that ladies came to watch him play, even though they knew nothing about the game. In 1911 his employers the Cuban Diplomatic Service had given him indefinite leave to travel the world, to play in international chess tournaments and in exhibition matches.
There was a big crowd and mass excitement at a crowded Central Hall in Bromley on 20th December 1919. Capablanca was staging an exhibition match in which he would simultaneously take on 42 invited local opponents in 42 separate games. Simultaneous displays are commonplace in chess. The professional usually wins the vast majority of the games. He pockets a nice little fee, too. The attraction of the event for ordinary players is to be granted a rare opportunity to play against a top international grandmaster – even if each player has to share the privilege with several others on the same occasion.
The organisers drummed up some strong local players to take on ‘Capa’ in Bromley. His 42 opponents included Mr Chapman, the Kent county chess champion, and Mrs Holloway who was the British lady champion. But in his characteristic effortless, almost aloof style, ‘Capa’ cruised to win 39 of the games. It took him just under three hours. He lost one game to Mr Germann, a former Kent champion, and he conceded drawn games to Mr Holliday of the Bromley chess club and Mr Whicker of the Sydenham & Forest Hill chess club.
All of the great world champions have made their own unique mark on the game. Capablanca’s trademark was a confident, risk-free, almost mechanical, style of play that gave him an aura of invincibility. He went eight whole years without losing a competitive game. His loss to Richard Réti in 1924, during a tournament in New York, made headline news that flashed round a disbelieving world.
Capablanca seemed to have mastered chess so utterly that some observers proposed that chess was played out and had become sterile. It was asserted that the top international players of the 1920s had discovered every single opening variation that held any value. It was mooted that the game should be altered, perhaps by changing the rules, or by enlarging the board to more than 64 squares, or by introducing new pieces.
Thankfully, there was no such meddling. Capablanca’s powers eventually waned – he seemed to get bored with chess, and to prefer being a socialite instead. But he loved the English seaside enough to make three late-career visits to Margate when that town hosted top-level international chess tournaments for five consecutive years 1935 to 1939. He died in 1942, aged 54.
The above is reprinted from Win in Eleven Moves Cray 150 Publications (2016).
In 1919, the world chess champion came to Bromley.
The local press treated it as big news. The Chronicle and the Bromley Mercury carried long reports that Jose Raoul Capablanca, born in Cuba, had come to town. The Mayor of Bromley (Alderman W.L. Crossley) presided over the formal reception and speeches.
This was not surprising. ‘Capa’ was the first chess player of the twentieth century to attract mass adulation. He was the son of a Spanish cavalry officer. Handsome and debonair, he was called the Rudolph Valentino of Chess. It was said that ladies came to watch him play, even though they knew nothing about the game. In 1911 his employers the Cuban Diplomatic Service had given him indefinite leave to travel the world, to play in international chess tournaments and in exhibition matches.
There was a big crowd and mass excitement at a crowded Central Hall in Bromley on 20th December 1919. Capablanca was staging an exhibition match in which he would simultaneously take on 42 invited local opponents in 42 separate games. Simultaneous displays are commonplace in chess. The professional usually wins the vast majority of the games. He pockets a nice little fee, too. The attraction of the event for ordinary players is to be granted a rare opportunity to play against a top international grandmaster – even if each player has to share the privilege with several others on the same occasion.
The organisers drummed up some strong local players to take on ‘Capa’ in Bromley. His 42 opponents included Mr Chapman, the Kent county chess champion, and Mrs Holloway who was the British lady champion. But in his characteristic effortless, almost aloof style, ‘Capa’ cruised to win 39 of the games. It took him just under three hours. He lost one game to Mr Germann, a former Kent champion, and he conceded drawn games to Mr Holliday of the Bromley chess club and Mr Whicker of the Sydenham & Forest Hill chess club.
All of the great world champions have made their own unique mark on the game. Capablanca’s trademark was a confident, risk-free, almost mechanical, style of play that gave him an aura of invincibility. He went eight whole years without losing a competitive game. His loss to Richard Réti in 1924, during a tournament in New York, made headline news that flashed round a disbelieving world.
Capablanca seemed to have mastered chess so utterly that some observers proposed that chess was played out and had become sterile. It was asserted that the top international players of the 1920s had discovered every single opening variation that held any value. It was mooted that the game should be altered, perhaps by changing the rules, or by enlarging the board to more than 64 squares, or by introducing new pieces.
Thankfully, there was no such meddling. Capablanca’s powers eventually waned – he seemed to get bored with chess, and to prefer being a socialite instead. But he loved the English seaside enough to make three late-career visits to Margate when that town hosted top-level international chess tournaments for five consecutive years 1935 to 1939. He died in 1942, aged 54.
The above is reprinted from Win in Eleven Moves Cray 150 Publications (2016).
