Chess By The Seaside. Games And Pictures With Some Of The Forgotten And The Ignored.
Afternoon everyone. As usual, far too much here for you to get through in one go, so pop in and out. Yep, I was having fun doing what I do and ended up with a mass of material. I will never be a 'content creator' who times everything down to the last second. Oh well!
Well, in my last blog, the comments went down the side road of tournaments played in seaside resorts. It put me in mind of three English tournaments from the 1920's, organised by the Western Counties Chess Union, during the Easter Holidays. For me they come to mind for a couple of reasons, which I will get to.
The nearest seaside resort to the town where I have spent my whole life is Weston-Super-Mare - see the header picture. Back in the day it was the big holiday destination for folks round here. During the factory shutdown weeks you could go to Weston
and meet your next door neighbours and workmates! Done it myself.
They were not big World Class tournaments. Some choose to ignore such events, thinking that 'chess history' is only about the world champions, etc, but I am not in that group. There is a huge amount of pleasure in looking at these events. Well, think of it like this - would you rather be driving down the motorway, hoping to impress everyone with your 'look at me' car, to a glass and concrete 'amazing holiday complex', or driving through some quiet villages, stopping off at the local pub for a pint overlooking the river. No right or wrong - we are all allowed to like what we like!
So, some chess, pictures, and a couple of 'the forgotten'.
First stop was to dig out the relevant books.
Tony Gillam is amazing! Not many have been over as many chess games as me, but he can beat me to a pulp on that score! These days you don't need to go buy the books - the wonderful britbase has all the games and details.
1922. Table from britbase. (always quote your sources and give them credit!)
It was won by Joseph Henry Blake, which is my first 'memorable' thing.
Fascinating chess figure you have never heard of. He was in his 60's at the time. He was around for ever! This was, in my opinion, his best result, although he came close to breaking Atkins' incredible streak of British Championship wins in 1909, I think, losing to Atkins in the play-off match. I recently got my hands on - after 40 years! - Chess Pie No. 1 - the souvenir of the London 1922 tournament, which gives this.
This game won the brilliancy prize and was instrumental in him winning the tournament. Not engine perfect, but a nice game in human terms.
On to the 1924 tournament. As I say these events would be largely bypassed by most, but those studying the career of the wonderful Max Euwe will be aware of them.
He played in a lot of these smaller tournaments in England in the 1920's.
So, a Euwe win, against a neglected - to a degree - figure, George Wainwright.
Well, my friend, the extraordinary Richard James, and I had a chat about Wainwright some time ago. He ended up doing a series of blogs on him, A quick link.
Minor Pieces 28: George Edward Wainwright (3) – Minor Pieces
Before I forget, a link to his latest, which will get you into his work.
https://minorpieces.uk/2025/11/24/minor-pieces-94-annie-mabel-gooding/
On to the 1926 tournament. By the way, for someone like me it is nice to go to britbase and look at the cross tables of the minor tournaments at these events and see the names there. Going into them would take me too far afield for a blog like this, but I enjoyed doing it anyway! The britbase cross table.
All fascinating figures in their own right, and a very fine performance by Euwe.
So, a game by the winner.
His opponent is another of the neglected, but worth talking about. Maurice Goldstein.
A clipping from the Sydney Morning Herald from May 1931.
He was one of the participants in a game which is half of my second reason for remembering these tournaments.
A long time ago I wrote a blog here:- https://www.chess.com/blog/simaginfan/the-lasker-exchange-chess-relativity-theory Back in those days giving up the Queen for an assortment of bits wasn't really the done thing. ( there was, of course, a famous precedent in the 50th M'Donnell - La Bourdonnais game) In this little tournament - just 5 games per round - there were two on the same day! What are the chances of that?
The other game involved the tournament winner.
His opponent is a bit of a legend around these parts. For a significant time he was the leading Birmingham player, as well as top board for the Staffordshire team. Hubert Price.
He is worthy of an article in his own right.
Luckily I try to include 6 games in these blogs, and the final choice was an easy one for me. Firstly, you can't get enough of the extraordinary 'Boys Own' character, the Baronet Sir George Thomas. Just the most amazing man. The B.C.M explains away his poor form in this tournament by pointing out that he had not long since returned from a badminton tour of Canada! He probably had his own suite on the Queen Mary and took his butler along!
A nice picture via a youtube clip, would you believe.
He was up against a fascinating personality, and genuine war hero, whose war injuries affected the rest of his life. One Captain Percivale Bolland. I had to include him here. ( He is in the 1924 photo given above)
He was originally from Worcester just down the road from here. I grew up as a chess player playing in the various Worcester leagues. Then he moved around quite a lot - I suspect due to his military career. At one time he lived on the South Coast, which explains his participation in tournaments in that area during that period. he ended up in Weston, where he died.
A bigger than usual thank you to my friend Richard, who, despite having far more important things to do, took the time to save me some digging. The material he sent me. Cheers Richard!
The 1921 census described him as 'retired and disabled', but by 1939 he and his wife were unexpectedly running a laundry.
In a 1921 simul he was described as being severely disabled and using a wheelchair to get from one board to another.
As usual, right click and open in new window to see properly.
The game.
A couple of pictures left in the folder.
And a little bonus, whilst I was in Chess Pie No.1.
Thanks for joining me on another journey down the side roads of chess history. look after yourselves, and the ones you care about guys. Cheers.
