Worcester College For The Blind. A Chess Legacy. Words, Pictures And Games. Part One.

Good Afternoon Everyone. In times gone by I used to put together stupidly large, properly researched, articles. This is one of many that I never got round to putting on the page. So, loads here. Best advice - pop in and out when you have time to spare - like reading a book - and get to things in your own time. I will do it in two parts, whilst still leaving out a lot of the research!

Recently my friend @AstsroTheoretical_physics  posted a nice blog on Reg Bonham. You can find it here :-   https://www.chess.com/blog/AstroTheoretical_Physics/the-inspiring-chronicle-of-a-blind-champion    

So lets look at Reg Bonham - a legend in these parts - first. ( Incidentally, his skill as a rower also came from his time at the College - I have looked at a lot of reports in that regard!)

I have personal memories, but sadly my own chess archives were destroyed and my memory is not the best! I am sure I lost to him when I was in my chess youth. The wonderful secretary of my local chess club - the late Jack Roe - entered a team in the Worcestershire chess leagues to give us youngsters some experience. I got slaughtered repeatedly, but within a year I had graduated to the ( very strong!) first team, so it was a huge learning experience for me, for which I am eternally grateful.

I remember being very down after one game, having been murdered by an old, blind guy! Jack put his hand on my shoulder and said something like ''That old guy could beat our whole team at the same time!!''

One very clear memory I have of him is from a tournament in Hereford. He was playing Roland Graf who worked for Barry Wood at 'Chess' magazine. Now Roland was quite a character!! He decided to play 'blind' as well. He sat with his back to the board - the pieces never moved as I recall - calling out his moves whilst eating a loaf of sliced bread straight out of the plastic bag!!

The above blog notes that he was a fine correspondence player. Actually - and as a former c.c. player myself I find this staggering - he was elite world class. From comments I have read he carried all his c.c. games in his head and his wife would write out the cards for him and post them. How he could do it without being able to easily record his analysis and refer to his notes is beyond me. Just wow!

Elite world class? Indeed that is not me overstating the facts. There was an massive event - with, from memory,1860 players - The Dyckhoff Memorial. Bonham took part in the elite invitational tournament. Tim Harding in Chess Mail says that it was effectively a World Championship, albeit with a couple of countries not represented.

Lets look at some games. I have - with all the games here - thrown in notes as I go along, without engine input, so feel free to rip them to pieces!!

Frank Parr

Could seriously play! 4 times British c.c Champion - 2 jointly.

Some class. How did Bonham do all this in his head? Amazing.

And a real battle - I love my chess battles. Both players try to win and Bonham - with an unclear exchange sacrifice in the Simagin style - comes out on top.

Bonham eventually went back to Worcester College for the Blind, teaching braille and chess. We have a wonderful picture. Picture Post. May 26. 1945. This is the Getty Images version - they own the rights - because I can't be bothered to spend money to download the original!.

And finally on to Chess at Worcester College for the Blind. I have a great article by Watts from Chess Pie No.2. 1927. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Let's get to one of the pictures in the article - I will look at the other one in part two, with a mass of text!

Alekhine. Jan. 27th. 1926.

Two figures to Alekhine's right as we look should be noted. Firstly I think we have the school headmaster Mr. G.C. Brown. MA. and next to him I am sure is a young Rupert Cross. They will be mentioned again! Sadly, I do not have another source.

Also, the newspaper Archive I use does not have the main Worcester newspapers. However, I found this wonderful little report - I have no idea where the author got his facts from, but it's fun to read!

And we have a game - against the above headmaster, no less. He was clearly a very good player indeed. Alekhine wins, but that does not tell the story.

A convenient place to throw these bits in. Alekhine and Capablanca were not the only players of repute to give exhibitions at Worcester College For The Blind. Three more, as they come out of the folder.

Well, if you finally made it to the end of this marathon effort, congratulations! Perhaps I should have done it in three parts, but it's a bit late now! Back with lots more - including a lot of games - next time. Thanks for bearing with my self - indulgence. I have been having fun doing simaginfan stuff, and I hope you have taken some pleasure in joining me for it. Cheers guys!