A call to arms

On Monday Leonard Barden's chess column was discontinued in the London Evening Standard. It had appeared daily virtually continuously for over 50 years. Now it has been relegated to the online version of the newspaper. Join the support.

80-year-old Leonard Barden was described by Brian Walden as the man who 'has done more for British chess than anybody since our famous 19th century champion, Howard Staunton'. Barden has been writing a column for the London Evening Standard for over 50 years, but apparently his last column for the paper version appeared last Monday. Now it has been relegated to the online version of the newspaper.

British chess fans have now sent out 'a call to arms' to prevent this.

Even if you never see the column, you should be able to appreciate that this is a serious blow to chess in this country. We get little enough publicity as it is and Leonard has been one of our greatest popularisers of the game. He deserves our support.

On previous occasions, when faced by such threats, we have mounted successful campaigns to reinstate columns. Please write to the Evening Standard in your own words decrying their act of vandalism. The contact details are:

Editor Geordie Greig letters@standard.co.uk managingeditor@standard.co.uk Evening Standard, PO Box 2309, London W8 5EE

Barden, born 20 August 1929 in Croydon, London, has been writing about chess for over half a century. Luckily his column in the Guardian is still going strong. On Christmas Eve 2009 this newspaper established a world record by publishing its weekly Leonard Barden chess column, the latest in an unbroken sequence of 54 years and 3 months.