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Player History

Paul Buswell

Paul Henry BUSWELL
14th of March, 1950 to 18th of October 2022

Paul BUSWELL as he was generally known was born in Kingston on Thames on the 14th of March, 1950, I do not know much about Paul’s early life only that he has a sister Anita who is 10 years his junior. On leaving school Paul furthered his education at Norwich University and on finishing university Paul obtained a position as general Secretary of the British Chess Federation. At that time he was the only paid employee

I first met Paul at the British Chess Championships in Portsmouth in 1976. My first view of Paul was of a Ginger denim shirt and jeans on a stage, carrying boxes. Paul would have been 26 years of age I was 15

Paul was still based in Norwich with the British Chess Federation when they bought the British Chess Magazine in St Leonard’s and with a building there the BCF decided to relocate. Paul made the decision to relocate with them.

It was at this time I renewed my acquaintance with Paul when he required an office boy so to speak to do the mundane things in the office. This would have been about 1982, I worked for Paul for approximately three years as a one day a week person.

After 11 years Paul decided to give up the post of General Secretary of the BCF.

However, Paul’s interest in chess still continued when he joined the committee of the Hastings International Chess Congress. This was at the time the of the Foreign Colonial sponsorship and formed the local end of the trio of Buswell, Power and Bryant’.

During that time Paul instigated his famous Buswell and Bryant Rapid play at the Congress (and yes, I was still the office boy) and it got national and international press coverage.

Do not take my word on it just ask Mark Hebden, Keith Arkell or Simon Williams about them.

And I will always remember that night in the Carlisle when the Germans came to play in force. Well if not to play certainly to drink and sing. The atmosphere was electric, something that only Paul could do.

Paul was also involved with the Friends of British Chess of which, I believe, for some years he was treasurer.

In the 1990s Paul became involved with the Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club, holdings positions of match captain, treasurer and eventually chairman

It was about this time Paul instigated his famous French trips for club members with two packed out cars taking the tunnel and playing the French and this was so popular it continues to this day with the club having another trip on November 11th. This was all down to Paul who also introduced his one-day Rapid Play at the club which is always extremely popular.

Paul was also instrumental in converting the Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club into a limited company. This had huge implications when Covid came along through the club receiving numerous government subsidies that would never have happened had it not been for Paul’s insight

Paul was a no fuss kind of guy who never liked having his photo taken and was very modest when people or organisations wish to honour him too the best of my knowledge. He twice turned down the English Chess Federation’s Presidential Award for Services to Chess. I can think of no better honour to Paul to honour him in death with an award that he refused in life.

I considered nobody more deserving to this award for over 50 years serving British chess
What he refused in life should probably be awarded to him in death.

I was with him at Scarborough last year when he started to lose his appetite and Paul being Paul with an inherent fear of doctors put off getting diagnosed and unfortunately when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer it was already too late.

Paul died peacefully at Saint Michael’s hospice in his sleep on October the 18th at 9.15.
It has to be said Paul was a victim of his own fears and a self-fulfilling prophecy.
In accordance with Paul wishes, Paul’s funeral will have no guests, no fuss, no expense, no religious aspects. Therefore the Executors will honour those wishes.
However, we may do something at the spreading of the ashes. Anybody wishing to honour Paul may do so by offering a donation to Saint Michael’s Hospice in Hastings who gave Paul excellent care in the last two weeks of his life.

I would like to offer my sincere condolences to Paul’s sister and his extended family.

And lastly on a personal note good night my friend and sleep well you are already missed.

Marc A Bryant

Meetings

Annual General Meeting

NOTICE IS GIVEN that the Annual General Meeting of the:

Hastings & St Leonards Chess Club Ltd,

Company registration: 07737752

Registered Charity Number: 1151189

will be held on 11 September 2022, at 2:30 pm at Pelton House, 2 Cornwallis Terrace, Hastings TN34 1EB .

The meeting must be conducted in line with Articles 10 to 23 of the Club’s Articles of Association.

All Members are entitled to attend and speak but only Full Members are entitled to vote.

Members are encouraged to attend but if they cannot then company law permits them to appoint a proxy and a form of proxy is provided as an appendix to this notice..

Proxy givers are asked to consider carefully any directions they wish to give the proxy holder on how and when their vote is to be exercised or not to be exercised.

Members are encouraged to raise in advance with the appropriate person any points of information that might be answered outside the meeting.

Tea (complimentary) will be taken at approximately 4.00 p.m., and if necessary, the meeting will adjourn for that purpose.

After the AGM, there will be the customary President’s v Chairman’s Match (30 minutes per player,

ungraded) for the Reg Cload Trophy.

The reports given by Directors/ Officers/ Volunteers will accompany the minutes of the meeting once approved

Player History

Alfred Dempster H Whyte

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

Events

Wanstead and Woodford, friendly

Our next home friendly is on Saturday 3rd September against another regular, Wanstead and Woodford, we lost 7-11 last time in 2019 so looking for revenge! Please sign up on the list in the club. Arrangements to be confirmed

UPDATE. Revenge was ours with an 8-7 victory

Player History

Reg Cload

Reginald Cload

Chairman of Hastings & St Leonards Chess Club 1987- 1990.
President of Hastings & St Leonards Chess Club 1991 – 1999.

Reg Cload, as he was known to everyone at the club, was born in London on 8 July 1921. He moved to Hastings in 1951 to work for the civil service. He died in Hastings on 8 April 2010. The Reg Cload Trophy is played after each AGM between The Presidents team and The Chairmans team.

Reg Cload was the author, together with Raymond Keene, of the book Battles of Hastings published by Pergamon Press in 1990. This is subtitled “A History of the Hastings International Chess Congress”. It begins with the formation of the club in 1882, followed by an account of the famous 1895 Tournament that featured 22 leading masters of the day, including the World Champions Emanuel Lasker and Wilhelm Steinitz, and was won by H. N. Pillsbury. Each chapter covers a particular period and begins with an account of the historical developments of the time and the personalities involved. This is followed by an annotated selection of games from the annual tournaments. The last event covered is that of 1989/90. There are also two sections of photographs. Much of the historical material reproduced on this website comes from Mr Cload’s research published in this book.

Match Reports and Tables, Reports

Hastings v Hammersmith 18 June 2022

Friendly match – Hastings v Hammersmith

18 June 2022

It is enjoyable to travel around the country playing chess in different cities. But last weekend it was our chance to stay at home and let the challengers come to us. Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club were hosting a friendly match against one of the top London clubs, Hammersmith Chess Club. The visitors arrived at midday with a team of 10 players, and a number of supporters, and the competition was soon underway.

The home team were marginally stronger, and based on the grading tables would have expected to win 6 games and lose 4. However, the home advantage kicked in and Hastings were ready to shine.

The first game to finish was the bottom board where Hastings Junior Alex Lebedev was facing the youngest competitor, 7 year old Oliver Valle. Alex played good solid chess and steadily dominated the board, giving Hastings their first win.

This was followed by board 9, where Martin Fletcher was playing against Brian Joyce. Martin found some tactical ideas in the middle game and forced a victory before reaching the end game. A pattern was starting to develop, and these two wins were followed on Board 8, where Keith Hossack beat Frank Valle; Board 6, where Brendan Ruane beat Robin Sarfas; Board 5, where Mark Brougham beat Adam Cranston; and Board 2, where John Sugden beat Gaston Franco.

Hammersmith were able to avoid a clean sweep with Ian Calvert on Board 3 and Paul Kelly on Board 4 being held to a draw by Michael Saunders and Edoardo de Angelis.

After several hours of play there were just two games still continuing. On Board 1 Daniel Lowe was in an evently matched end game against Marios Kouis. With both players graded at 2170 this was always going to be a difficult result to call and as it reached its climax the game could still go either way. However Daniel’s faultless end game skills proved decisive and Hastings had one more win. The final game was Caelan Rooney against Charlie Sturt. This was also a very closely fought end game, with the clock also impacting on the play with

just minutes remaining. Like Daniel, Caelan showed that he was solid in the end game, and this proved too much for Charlie as the final chance of a win for Hammermith disappeared. This gave a final result of 8 wins and two draws to Hastings with a score of 9:1.

While the long play games were the main course for the day, these were followed by a dessert of rapid play with a five round blitz tournament. Twelve players took part in this and the winner (with 4 points) was Hammersmith player Gaston Franco. Jim Wheeler was joint second with visitor Michael Sunders, both achieving 3.5 points.

The day was a great success. Not only did both teams enjoy some great chess, but it was also a friendly atmosphere, and Hastings are definitely hoping that this will become a regular fixture – perhaps with a trip to London next time. After the match the Hastings team were quick to say that the cammeraderie was more inportant than the winning. However that is much easier to say when you have won 9:1, than when you have lost.

Martin Fletcher

Reports

Newmarket Chess Tournament

From our roving reporter Martin Fletcher
Newmarket Chess Tournament – 27 May to 29 May 2022
Here is a brief report on the Newmarket Chess Tournament, which I attended last weekend.
It is a relatively small event – limited to 96 players (this number was reached). It also has only three sections – Open; Under 1950; and Under 1650.
It is held in a hall on Newmarket High Street. There was a cheap car park very close to the venue (just £3 all day), so travel was fine. I also found a relatively cheap Travel Lodge 15 miles away which kept the costs down.
The five games were played over three days (one on Friday evening and then two on Saturday and two on Sunday).
It was a friendly/sociable event, and most of the players knew each other, with probably the majority being from clubs in East Anglia.
The time control was 40 moves in 90 moves – with a 15 second increment from move 1; and then an additional 15 minutes after move 40. This time control did give a problem on the Sunday, as one of the games which started at 10am was still going strong when round 5 was meant to start at 2pm. One of the players seemed convinced that the game was clearly drawn, but the arbiter was unable to declare it a draw, and it was not until 2:20pm that the other player decided to accept a draw. This did delay the start of the afternoon – even more so for the two players in that game (and their opponents) who had a 30 minute rest before they went into round 5,
With a relatively high cut off for the minor section, there were very few lower graded players entered, which meant I started the event ranked 15th out of the 18 in this section. However, I had a good tournament and managed to finish higher up the leader board. With one loss, two draws, and two wins I finished equal fourth, and also gained the rating prize (with a grading increase of 19 points over the five games). I was happy with this result; although I am still having flashbacks to the disastrous knight move in the endgame of game 2. I had an extra pawn in the endgame with a knight against my opponent’s weak bishop. My endgame play is not great, and I gave away a winning game – not only that, but that extra point would have won the tournament! If only …. Why? …. Sigh!
Once I have got over game two I shall definitely recommend this tournament to others in the club. I shall be back next year to try to atone for the knight move, and shall be very happy to have some club members on hand to commiserate if my endgame does not improve.
As an aside there was one interesting incident on Saturday afternoon. When the games started at 10am one of the players was sitting opposite an empty chair on board 5, watching the time tick away. Then at 10:10 a player scurried into the room, sat opposite him, and started to play. It was another ten minutes before a second late player arrived and came to board 5 to belatedly start his game. The first late player was not only a poor time-keeper, he was also playing at the wrong board – he was paired on board 2! An interesting situation for the arbiter’s examination.