Warren Grey (sometimes spelled ‘Gray’) Hepworth was born in Mafeking, South Africa, on 7.9.1890. In the 1911 census he was shown as living in Tiverton, while a bank clerk. He fought in World War 1 in the Royal North Devon Yeomanry and the Devonshire Regiment. In 1915 he was unlucky enough to be stationed at Gallipoli. In 2021 three of his medals were auctioned at Bonhams and sold for £180.

In 1922 he married Elisabeth Grace Browne at Exeter. In the 1939 Register he was living at Rye as a manager of Lloyds Bank. The Hastings and St Leonards Observer of 5.1.1952 described him as a retired bank manager from Worcester, who was so impressed by the Hastings Chess Congress that he joined the chess club and accepted an invitation to become a vice-president. The same newspaper of 6.12.1952 mentioned that he was chairman of the Hastings Rotary Club.

I have a few references to matches in which he represented the club and I get the impression that he was an average club player or a little above average. I could not find a single reference to his playing in the East Sussex team in the Sexton Cup, so perhaps he was not very ambitious. Here are the few references that I have come across, though probably one could find several more:

1954 Board 5 for Hastings ‘B’ v Bexhill ‘A’. Drew with R E Smith.
1954 Board 2 for Hastings v Bexhill. Drew with F W Boff, a strong player, his best result.
1958 Board 13 for Hastings v Watford. Won v j Harvey.
1958 Board 14 for Hastings v Canterbury. Lost v R Boughey.

By 1958 he seems to have become inflicted by an illness and the Hastings and St Leonards Observer of 21.10.1958 mentions the new BBC chess programme called Network Three and states that it will be a godsend for chess-playing invalids like W G Hepworth. Hepworth himself added that he had high hopes that he would be in Hastings for the congress. He had lived for several years at 26, Warrior Square, but it appears that in that year he moved out to Hiham Green, near Rye.

Hepworth was a member of a revived Rye CC in 1959. During his time there he played in two matches against Hastings, the second of which was early in 1960.

I am not sure exactly when he moved to the Felpham District of Bognor, but in the Bognor Regis Observer of 12.5.1961 he is mentioned as playing in the club championship of Bognor CC. In another edition of the newspaper (10.2.1961) it is recorded that he played on board three for the club in a match against the local LEC Refrigeration Company and drew with G Biggs. He gave a brilliancy prize for the club and was a member in the 1962-63 season competing in the major event rather than the club championship. He died in 1963, aged 72. His wife died in 1982 in Exeter..

There was an obituary for him in the Hastings and St Leonards Observer of 4.5.1963. This described him as a former vice-president and auditor for the club. His professional help in committee was said to be invaluable. The article adds that until his move to Bognor, he had been a daily frequenter of the club. It is stated that he played a lively and quite formidable game, but he never bothered to play really seriously. He liked a bright, quick game with a fast-moving opponent. He was always excellent company. As a child he was in Mafeking during the seven month siege by the Boers in 1900. He vividly recalled the arrival of Lord Roberts’s relieving infantry.

B.Denman

Hi – some biographical notes.

I grew up and was educated in Glasgow. I played some chess while at school, and more frequently while at Glasgow University: at that time it was more fashionable than later to play for University chess clubs and Glasgow had a very strong club in the 60s and 70s including Roddy Mackay, Craig Pritchett, Peter Jamieson and David Levy along with many other strong less well known players. I played in one Scottish Championship with a middling score.

I was in Bolton for a year in 1974-75 where I played in one large tournament: an opponent told me he had just scraped a draw with a well known child player, Nigel Short.

I moved to Hastings in 1975 and worked at Hastings College until 1980. It was a very enjoyable chess period, playing at and for the club, a couple of matches for Sussex, and some large tournaments. I recall some interesting games against Howard Winser, Paul Carey and one exciting attacking game, eventually a draw, against a well known young player – Stuart Conquest.

In 1980 I moved to Berkshire with my wife and daughter where I have lived since, and played only some local league chess – quite strong in Berkshire, and rather more Bridge – in some ways less arduous to prepare for and keep up with than Chess. I’ve remained interested in Chess and followed some major tournaments online.

I am not sure I have managed to retain any Hastings game scores through various house moves, though I suspect the couple you have are lightning games.

Best wishes to all of you at the Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club

Mike Gallagher

March 2019

Here is a winning game from Hastings CC, Anslow Cup, 1977

Gallagher,M – Elliston,R
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Bc4 Bg7 7.h3 0-0 8.Bb3 Nc6 9.Be3 Bd7 10.0-0 Rc8 11.f4 Qa5 12.Nf3 Rfd8 13.Qe1 h6 14.Rd1 Qh5 15.Ng5 hxg5 16.fxg5 Be6 17.gxf6 Bxf6 18.Bxe6 fxe6 19.Rd2 Ne5 20.Bd4 Nc4 21.Bxf6 Nxd2 22.Qxd2 exf6 23.Rxf6 d5 24.exd5 exd5 25.Qd3 Rc6 26.Rf3 Qe5 27.Re3 Qf5 28.Qxf5 gxf5 29.Rd3 d4 30.Rd2 Kf7 31.Ne2 Ra6 32.Nxd4 Rxa2 33.c3 Rd5 34.Rc2 Kg6 35.Kh2 b5 36.g4 fxg4 37.hxg4 1-0 Black lost on time

and a losing game from the same event, brilliant play by Arthur Winser

Gallagher,MC – Winser,W Arthur
1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 d6 4.exd6 Bxd6 5.d4 Nf6 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 g5 8.Bf2 Ne4 9.e3 g4 10.Bh4 gxf3 11.Bxd8 f2+ 12.Ke2 Bg4+ 13.Kd3 Nb4+ 14.Kxe4 f5# 0-1

And another winning game from Hastings CC Championship, 1978

Conquest,S – Gallagher,MC

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e4 d6 6.Bd3 e5 7.Nge2 0-0 8.f3 Nh5 9.Be3 a6 10.Qd2 Nd7 11.g4 Nf4 12.Nxf4 exf4 13.Bxf4 Ne5 14.Be2 b5 15.cxb5 axb5 16.Bxe5 Bxe5 17.Bxb5 f5 18.gxf5 Qh4+ 19.Qf2 Qf6 20.Qc2 Bd4 21.0-0-0 gxf5 22.Bd3 Bd7 23.h4 Rfb8 24.Rh2 Rb4 25.exf5 Ba4 26.Nxa4 Rbxa4 27.b3 R4a7 28.Re1 Bf2 29.Rxf2 Rxa2 30.Re8+ Rxe8 31.Rg2+ Kf8 32.Qxa2 Qc3+ Source: ‘Kingpin’, Spring 2000 issue. 0-1

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

Martin has been a member for a few years and has driven players to and from away matches and also written many reports for the matches and home games. Martin is the current club secretary since February 2022

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

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.

Jan 17, 2005 at 7:11pm

GM Stuart Conquest is an honorary life member of the chess club.

By Stuart Conquest

Do No Adjust Your Chess Set

When one’s surname is Conquest, and when one spends ten years of one’s life in the town of Hastings, then the line: ‘Is your middle name Norman?’ (or similar witticisms) does tend to crop up with alarming frequency. I hold my parents entirely responsible, for it was their decision to move away from the rustic charms of Braunton, North Devon, and cross instead to the historically vulnerable town of Hastings, East Sussex, an area officially designated as ‘1066 Country’ by the local tourist board. In Braunton no-one had even heard of the Norman Conquest.

After I’d been up to the castle, and jumped off the pier a few times, and been blown off my bike by Force 10 gales whilst cycling along the sea-front, I started thinking that I’d exhausted all the possible leisure activities that the town had to offer, and so I informed my parents that I was completely and utterly bored with life. That’s when my father took me to the Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club for the first time.

I was nine years old. I was already keen on chess – my father had taught me the game when I was five or six – and I suppose that I had some sort of talent for it: I could beat my mother blindfolded (me, not her). But I had never been to a proper chess club before, so I imagined that I would meet other children of my own age, like at school chess club, except that was full of kids who thought that ‘pawn’ was a rude word. I wanted serious opposition.

The sun was high up in the clear, blue sky, and a refreshing summer breeze glided up from the calm sea, gently stirring the golden sand. An attractive young girl had stretched out on a beach-towel; she motioned to a tanned, muscle-flexing hunk down by the water’s edge, and he slowly walked over to her and started to rub coconut oil into her shoulders. ‘For the last time, will you turn that TV off, and get into the car,’ my father was saying. Outside it was pouring with rain. I hit the on/off switch, and the ‘Bounty bar’ girl disappeared from the screen.

The chess club is in the centre of town, just around the corner from the railway station; it is a tall, terraced building, with huge red lettering outside that says: ‘CHESS CLUB’, and yet were you to poll Hastings residents and ask them: (i) For which game is the town most famous?, and (ii) Where can one go to play this game?, then the most popular responses would almost certainly be: (i) crazy golf, and (ii) down on the sea-front by the trampolines. Perhaps we should have formed a combined ‘Chess and Crazy Golf Association.’ I once played crazy golf in the pouring rain with two chess club colleagues, and on the last hole one of them won a free game by fluking a hole-in-one, so the three of us went around again. Life was never dull in Hastings.

On the front door it says: ‘Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club. Founded in 1882.’ There was a notice of the opening hours, and a sign which read: ‘Open every day of the year except Christmas Day.’ Next to that was a piece of paper that said: ‘Please do not leave bicycles in the hallway.’ Clive Chamberlain once had his old bike pinched from there while he was upstairs playing a match game, so the following week he came on a brand new ten-speed racer (indexed gears, cantilever brakes, Reg Harris frame) and lashed it up to the outside railings with all manner of chains and padlocks. When he came downstairs again four hours later the thing had been nicked. After that some joker put up a new sign: ‘Please do not leave bicycles tied to the railings.’

Inside was a notice board with all kinds of information, and on a small table there was a musty old envelope addressed to some Club member whom nobody had ever heard of, and who had probably pushed his last pawn circa 1900. Along the walls were black and white photographs from past Hastings Congresses, with captions like ‘Fine plays Tartakower; Alexander looks on’, or, my favourite, ‘The Russians at Dinner.’ (I often thought of swapping all the captions around to see if anyone would actually notice the difference.) Halfway up the stairs was the toilet, from the window of which you could just glimpse the trains coming into the railway station. As you reached the landing there was a door marked ‘Kitchen’ to your left; the other door said ‘Club Room’. My father pushed the door open, and in we went …

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