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P.B. Anderson Remembers
From the Scottish Chess Association Bulletin No. 2, Winter 1960/61, pages 1/2.
Compiled by Alan McGowan
It comes as rather a shock to me to find that I have been playing in first-class chess for more than 30 years, and thus qualify for the veteran stage. I joined the Bohemian Chess Club [in Glasgow, AMcG] in 1928, when its membership could be numbered in hundreds, of all nationalities. At a social function held in the club not long before I joined, Burns' poem 'A Man's a man for a' that' was rendered in no fewer than twenty languages. This was indeed the heyday of post-war chess, when the Edinburgh Ladies Chess Club could boast a hundred members, including Miss Malcolm, [See note 1-he means Miss Gilchrist] winner of the British Ladies Championship in 1929 and 1934. as far as I know the only lady ever to play in the Men's Scottish Championship, [2] and the Edinburgh Chess Club had 24 entries for its championship. Those were the days of stalwarts: the Glasgow Club had Willie Gibson, Jimmy McKee, Archie Murray, James Birch, James McGrouther (who died the other day aged about 90) et al. The Edinburgh Club had David Simpson, A.J.D. Lothian, A.A. Foster, R.T.R. Serjeant. The Civil Service was led by George Page. The Glasgow Central had Dugald MacIsaac, J.R. Draper, Jimmy Gilchrist (now living in retirement in London, and as active as ever). My own Bohemians had James Borthwick, F.G. Harris, John MacDonald (from Paisley) and Narendra Singh. From Inverness came that physical and intellectual giant Dr R.C. Macdonald, while Dundee had Forbes, and Turriff, and Thoms and Heath, the latter making quite a name for himself in the City of London Club. I was only a nipper when I played in my first Richardson series, and no doubt these men seemed larger than life to me.
P.B. Anderson
1956 Glorney Cup image extracted from photo courtesy of Michael Fallone
Looking back, it seems to mem that the greatest change that has taken place in chess is the advent of the Young Man. I was by far the youngest player in the Richardson when I started, and I learned later that there had been some opposition from the Bohemian committee to my getting a place in the team. However, I had friends at court, and by good luck I was successful in play. Some years later young Aird Thomson, son of Mrs Florence Thomson, herself a strong player, made his appearance. Nowadays youth has come into its own in Scottish chess. The Glasgow team which won the Richardson last season had four players under the age of 20, not one of whom lost a single game. The following circumstance may have helped the trend. At a meeting of the council of the SCA in 1951, we discussed an invitation from the Glorney Cup committee to send a team of Scottish boys to Dublin. This was for a team tournament between boys of the four countries, for a cup presented a year or two previously by Mr C. Parker Glorney of Dublin. I said that if the SCA sponsored a team, I would accompany it. [3]
The venture turned out to be a great success, and I accompanied the team each year until last year, when, the event being in Gloucester, Jimmy Aitken, [4] from neighbouring Cheltenham, looked after them. In last year's Richardson final there were five ex-Glorney boys - Fallone, Malcolm, Thomson and Bonner [5] of Glasgow, and Raymond Baxter, the Edinburgh top board. In passing, it may be remarked that the Glorney series has given England Jonny Penrose, Leonard Barden and Peter Clarke, among many others.
The death of Gibson [William Gibson] in 1932 marked the end of an epoch in Scottish chess. During a Richardson match in the Eldon cafe in Glasgow while Bohemians were playing Edinburgh Ladies, my attention was drawn to an English stranger who was attending the match as a spectator. This was young Bill Fairhurst, and he was to rule the roost in Scottish chess from then on. He has won every contest in which he has participated in Scotland, with the exception of two matches he lost to Aitken, [6] one he lost to Wade, and one he drew with the young Eliskases in the early thirties. [7] Only two players have arrived here who might have challenged Fairhurst's superiority, and their stay was all too short for that. One was H.A. Hunham, [8] of Northumberland, and the other was Max Pavey, from Brooklyn, N.Y. I was agreat admirer of both players, and knew Max very well. Hunham disappeared quickly from national chess; I never discovered the reason.
Max Pavey (1918-1957)
Pavey went on to be a top class American master, after winning the Scottish Championship at Aberdeen in 1939 at the age of 21. In my opinion this was the strongest "Scottish" ever held. From London there came Billy Winter, twice British Champion, his great friend Jimmy Gilchrist, and Tony Perkins. As well as Pavey there were two other American students, Geronimus and Bernstein. Among the Scottish contingent were Dr Aitken, George Page and Bobby Combe, who was destined to be British champion 7 years later. [9] Pavey took first place brilliantly. He had an exceptionally brilliant brain, taking the gold medals in all his subjects in his first year at medical school in Glasgow. It is one of [the] greatest regrets of my life that the war prevented him from returning to Scotland. It was a sad summer evening when I saw him off at Yorkhill quay that June evening in 1939. He did touch down in Scotland for a few hours in 1955 on his way home from the USA-USSR match at Moscow. I was playing in the Scottish championship at Aberdeen at the time, so my wife entertained him and his charming wife Violet. I have a host of remembrances of Max, and may have the opportunity of recounting them some day.
A word on the "Eldon" which I mentioned in my last paragraph. This was a restaurant in Renfield Street, just north of the tramway offices. The proprietor, Mr McIntosh [William McIntosh], was a great lover and patron of chess, and the Bohemians played there from early morning to late at night six days a week, and latterly seven days a week. The Eldon was the mecca of all chess-playing visitors to Glasgow - seamen, musicians, travellers, stage folk, and goodness knows how many other varieties, of all nationalities. When, in the early thirties, Mr McIntosh retired, and the Bohemians were forced to leave the place, I never again found a place where I could enjoy chess so much.
The El-Don Cafe, 94 Renfield Street, Glasgow
Situated between Bath St and Sauchiehall Lane, the
photo was taken in 1936 when the property was awaiting renovations after the cafe's closure the year before.
Courtesy Glasgow City ArchivesI kept my hand in during the early stages of the war through correspondence chess, which I recommend to all players. One snag was that other officers in the mess whose surnames began with "A" took grave exception to the pile of envelopes they had to wade through before getting their own! I got over-the-board play at the police office at Stranraer, where I had many games on Saturday nights off duty with the chief constable, George Scott, a strong player. Like most other service chess players, I attended the "Gambit" when I could. [10] This place, too, is now away in the reconstruction of the City.
On my return from the forces in 1946, I found myself leading the same team as we had in 1939. Our first post-war Richardson match was against the Glasgow [CC], and I was drawn against the redoubtable Fairhurst. The game we played had excitement; I ran very short of time about move 34, and had only seconds left for my 40th move. As I made it, I noticed that Fairhurst, who had the black pieces, had a full six minutes left for his 40th move and as I had lost a piece I felt it was all up with me. Taking stock of the position, however, unexpected resources appeared and when my opponent had made his move my reply was instantaneous - it gave me the win. I looked up to see the large concourse of engrossed spectators. Chess is a funny game.
P.B. Anderson - W.A. Fairhurst
Richardson Cup (Rd1), 19461.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 d5 4.Bxd5 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nxd5 6.Nxd5 g5 7.h4 c6 8.Nc3 g4 9.d3 Bd6 10.d4 Be6 11.e5 Be7 12.Bxf4 Bxh4+ 13.g3 Be7 14.Qd3 h5 15.Ne4 Na6 16.a3 Qb6 17.b4 0-0-0 18.Ne2 h4 19.Kf2 h3 20.Rh2 Nc7 21.c4 Rd7 22.Nd6+ Kb8 23.Kg1 Qa6 24.Qc2 Ne8 25.b5 Qa5 26.bxc6 bxc6 27.c5 Ka8 28.Rf2 Nc7 29.Kh2 Rb8 30.Bd2 Qa6 31.Nc3 Bd8 32.a4 Nd5 33.Nxd5 Bxd5 34.Raf1 Rb3 35.Bc3 Qxa4 36.Nxf7 Qc4 37.Nxd8 Rxc3 38.Qg6 Rxd8 39.Qxg4 Bg2 [39...Qxf1! 40.Rxf1 Rc2+ would win.]
40.Ra1 [40.Rf8] 40...Rc1 [40...Rb3] 41.Qg5 Qxd4 42.Rxc1 Black resigned.
Source: Page 9 of the same bulletin.
Notes in brackets added by AMcG.We lost our place in the Richardson Cup that year but a few years later we were not only back but had won the Cup, beating Glasgow in the final. Now, alas, the Bohemians are in a state of Quiescence and are in danger of extinction.
Notes
[1] Mr Anderson is confused; he should have referred to Miss Gilchrist, who did indeed win the British Ladies' title in 1929 and 1934. In earlier days she was associated with Glasgow Ladies' CC, but later moved to Edinburgh and represented the Edinburgh Ladies' CC.[2] Assuming Miss Gilchrist should have been identified (who did play in the main Scottish championship in, say, 1930), then we would have to add Miss F. Hutchison Stirling, who played in the 1927 event.
[3] 1951 was the first year that Scotland entered a team in the Glorney Cup.
[4] Dr James Macrae Aitken, winner of ten Scottish championships between 1935 and 1965.
[5] Michael Fallone, Colin Malcolm, Derek Thomson and Gerald Bonner.
[6] This is wrong. Fairhurst won the first match in 1937 by +2, -1, =3. Aitken won the second match in 1938 by a score of +4, -1, =3.
[7] The match with Erich Eliskases was played in Glasgow in 1933. Result +1, -1, =4.
[8] The name should read H.A. Hunnam. The BCM 1932, p 210 mentions that Hunnam went to Glasgow in 1929 and played top board in the Spens Cup matches for Pollock CC (Pollok United Free Church CC).
[9] William Winter (1898-1955), James Gilchrist (1894-1963; no relation to Miss Gilchrist mentioned above), N.A. Perkins (1912-1991), Louis Harold Geronimus (1915-1989), N. Bernstein, Robert Forbes Combe (1912-1952, British champion 1946).
[10] I believe Mr Anderson is referring to the famous Gambit chess cafe in London.
From the Scottish Chess Association Bulletin No. 15, October-December 1964, pages 2/3.
More reminiscences from P.B. Anderson
The announcement in the Glasgow Herald obituary column of the death of John Crabb has set me reminiscing again. John was an old member of the Bohemian Chess Club, and was one of the players who made Pollock Street Church Chess Club such a force in the early thirties. In those days one could play chess in the Eldon Cafe in Renfield Street from eleven in the morning till eleven at night, every day of the week. Nor can I recall an occasion in the years I was a member there that I entered the club room without seeing a game in progress. The kitchen in the Eldon was contiguous to the room where chess was played, with the result that one's clothes tended to smell of cooking fat. Many a time I walked home along Alexandra Parade with John at night to give the fresh air a chance to remove the effluvium from our raiment.
In those days, it seems to me, a lot of chess was played for fun - skittles chess we called it. With the passing of that generation - and the social life which peculiarly belonged to it - a lot of the fun went out of chess. I am not for a moment suggesting that the players then were better chess players. What I am suggesting is, that in those days it was the sheer joy of playing the game, and not the winning that mattered. I myself have been a pot-hunter, but, looking back, I find that my happiest hours were spent playing skittles with good players. How lucky I was that such opportunities presented themselves to me. I can truthfully say that these days enriched my life immeasurably. With the passing of that generation of Bohemians, and some of them were successful men, a lot of worthwhileness has gone out of life. I sometimes actually dream pleasurably that the Eldon Cafe has re-opened with all its old habitues there. Will there be an Eldon in the Elysian fields? The only place in Britain where I can today get a first-class game of skittles is the En Passant Club in the Strand in London, now run by Ted Isles, himself a first-class player, and Colin Kennedy, the old Cambridge University player.
It would be futile to assert that the old players were better than the present day ones. The fallacy that the old know more than the young was exploded 150 years ago by Jeremy Bentham, and probably by other logicians long before him. What makes me so nostalgic is that the present generation is different. Chess will perhaps flourish in a welfare state, but personalities and worthies will be few and far between in it.
Perhaps the explanation of my nostalgia is contained in the tag tempora mutantur... The departed souls from the Eldon are in themselves a history of all that is colourful in chess. Not only chess, but the world, is a poorer place without them. F.G. Harris, James Borthwick, Jack Harris, Jack Andrews, Jimmy McKee, Myer Davis, Sam Franks, Bailie Shaw Maxwell, Bert Weetch, old Mr Cleghorn, Tom Ballard, Tom Calderhead, Andrew Towers, Alfie Jonas, J.R. Dickson, Hugo Roy, Fred Smith and Veniri, the conjurer, are but a few of the great men I could mention. Veniri was a great Garibaldi man, and his dying wish was to be buried in his Garibaldi shirt. Of an older generation of Bohemians I can name Bonar Law the politician, and his brother J.R.K. Law.
Skittle players are by nature and inheritance what would be called nowadays kibitzers. Some players are very touchy about receiving gratuitous advice and to obviate their displeasure, a "tipping table" was introduced to the Eldon, where the kibitzers could have a free hand. Those who played there had no complaint if advice was offered. I remember one Saturday evening thirty-five years ago, when conditions were becoming rather heated at this table. Ex-Bailie (as he was then) Shaw Maxwell poured oil on the troubled waters by interjecting: "Now gentlemen, you know that at this table the players must not interfere with the game". On another occasion I remember an excited spectator at the table shouting: "Take the pawn!" "But if I take the pawn I will lose my queen". "Never mind, it is a valuable pawn!"
Mr McIntosh, the proprietor of the Eldon, relished the cosmopolitan array of chessplayers who daily frequented his establishment. To my knowledge he never charged us a penny for accommodation, even on Saturdays. When urged by someone to make a charge he replied: "I make enough money. I am delighted to have you". I date the decline in social chess in Glasgow from his death, nearly thirty years ago.
So attractive was the chess company that non chessplayers used to congregate at the tipping table. In this connection I will tell a story about the regence Cafe in Paris. At that renowned chess resort a particular gentleman attended the games there daily as a spectator, never uttering a word. When the inevitable dispute arose, and his opinion as an impartial bystander was asked, he startled everyone present by stating that he knew nothing of the game. "You have sat here every day and know nothing of the game. Why do you do this?" "Alas", was the reply, "I am married and do not want to go home".
FURTHER BOHEMIAN CC REFERENCES:
Falkirk Herald 1919, Wed. Feb. 5
Quoting "Glasgow Citizen" story about Bohemian CC - Eldon restaurant, Renfield St."A Man's a Man" was recited in a dozen ancient and modern languages, inc. Yiddish, Esperanto, Greek, Gaelic, Flemish and Burmese."
Falkirk Herald 1919, Feb. 12
Lines spoken by Peter Fyfe of Glasgow CC in the course of a lecture he gave to members of the Bohemian CC.O' a' the games mankind has seen,
Frae Santa Cruz tae Gretna Green,
There's nane can drive awa' the spleen
And keen distress,
Like ane we play wi' some guid frien' -
The Game O' Chess!When a' your daily work is done,
When business cares are left behin'
And some auld cronie wanders in
Wha kens the game,
Ye feel a rapture that's akin
Tae love's pure flame.Oot comes the board - the men are set -
And, quick, a' sorrows ye forget;
Ye feel there's only ane regret
Could have a sting -
That he micht get you in a net
And mate your King.The hours flee by till glint o' dawn,
When each has only King and Pawn;
And yet ye rise withoot a yawn
Wi spirit licht;
And bid him, though the game is drawn,
A grand "Guid Nicht!"
See also the history of the Bohemian Chess Club.Alan McGowan
Archivist/historian, Chess ScotlandUpdated 5/6/2020