Thanks to Brian Denman for this article
A D H Whyte
Little seems to be known about the early life of Alfred Dempster H Whyte. He was born on 29th October 1906, but it is uncertain where. Part of the problem may lie with the fact that the surname of Whyte could easily become confused with White. Unfortunately there also does not seem to be any trace of him in the 1911 census.
He does appear in the 1939 National Register and is living at 27, Marylebone Lane, London. His profession is listed as a painter and decorator. He is mentioned as marrying Violet Barnes at Hastings in 1945 and it seems that he first joined the club in that year.
He started playing on a relatively low board for club and county and he might not have played a lot of chess before coming to Hastings. However, in 1946 he was the East Sussex Queen winner and an example of his potential came a year later, when he defeated former British champion, R C Griffith, on board 14 of a Sussex v Middlesex match. It was not to be long before he established himself as a top ten county player. He seems to have reached his peak in the mid-1950s. In 1955 he came first equal with Arthur Winser in the club championship, though he lost the play-off match. In that same year he reached the semi-final of the county championship. After these performances he played a number of games on board 1 for the club when Arthur Winser was not playing. In 1958 he again tied first with Arthur Winser in the club championship and lost the play-off match.
His play declined only slowly and he continued to represent the club for many years. His name appears in the grading list for 1979 and perhaps later. He died in Hastings on 1st March 1982 at the age of 75. I believe that he left a good sum of money to the club on his death and the Alfred Whyte Cup was created in his honour. I enclose a couple of his games:
Rumble,JFS – Whyte,ADH [A54]
Hastings Congress 1947-48 Major ‘B’ (6), 03.01.1948
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nf3 Nbd7 4.Nc3 e5 5.e3 Be7 6.Qc2 0–0 7.b3 b6 8.g3 Bb7 9.Bg2 Qc8 10.0–0 c6 11.Bb2 Re8 12.Rad1 Bf8 13.dxe5 Nxe5 14.Nd4 c5 15.Nf5 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 g6 17.Nxd6 Qc6+ 18.Nde4 Neg4 19.Rd5 Bg7 20.h3 Rxe4 21.Nxe4 Nxd5 22.cxd5 Qxd5 23.Bxg7 Kxg7 24.hxg4 f5 25.gxf5 gxf5 26.Qc3+ Kg8 27.Qc4 Qxc4 28.Nf6+ Kf7 29.bxc4 Kxf6 30.Rd1 Ke6 31.Kf3 Rg8 32.Rh1 Rg7 33.Rh4 Ke5 34.g4 fxg4+ 35.Rxg4 Rxg4 36.Kxg4 b5 37.f4+ Kf6 38.cxb5 c4 39.Kf3 h5 40.a4 c3 41.Ke2 c2 42.Kd2 h4 43.a5 h3 44.b6 axb6 45.axb6 c1Q+ Sources: J F S Rumble and BritBase. 0–1
Whyte,ADH – Hall,A [D22]
Hastings CC Championship, 1963
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.e3 Bg4 6.Bxc4 e6 7.0–0 c5 8.Qe2 cxd4 9.exd4 Qc7 10.Bb3 Be7 11.Bg5 0–0 12.Rac1 Qa5 13.Ne4 Nc6 14.Nxf6+ gxf6 15.Bh6 Nxd4 16.Qe4 Bxf3 17.Qxd4 Rfd8 18.Qf4 Bh5 19.Rc7 Rd4 20.Qc1 Re8 21.Rc8 Red8 22.h3 Bb4 23.Rxd8+ Qxd8 24.Qe3 Bg6 25.Rc1 Rd3 26.Qa7 Rd7 27.Ba4 Bd2 28.Bxd7 Bxc1 29.Bxc1 Qxd7 30.Bh6 Qc8 31.Qd4 e5 32.Qd6 Source: Hastings and St Leonards Observer of 11.4.1963. 1–0