Peter B. Anderson

Born: 02 October 1911, Glasgow- Died: 16 November 1973, Glasgow

This photo, from 1973, was kindly provided by Keith Anderson, a nephew of Mr Anderson.

  • Associated with the Bohemian Chess Club (Glasgow) and Glasgow CC.
  • Played for Bohemian in the Richardson Cup finals of 1930 and 1931.
  • His club won the event only once, in 1949;
  • He was on the winning team in the Spens Cup final 1937.
  • Scottish Champion in 1950 and 1954. He also tied for first with A.A. Thomson for the 1951 championship, but lost the play-off match.
  • Represented Scotland in matches against England 1951, 1955 and 1958.
  • West of Scotland Champion 1952, 1955 and 1956.
  • Glasgow Chess Club champion 1953 and 1954.
  • Founder of the Glasgow and District Schools' Chess League, which has a trophy named after him.
  • Involved as an administrator and organiser of Glorney Cup matches.
  • He was also actively involved in correspondence chess over the years.

Other tournament references:

  • He played in the British Boys' Championship at Hastings 1929, preliminary Section 'A', scoring 2/4. He did not reach the main final group, but in his own final group he was =1st scoring 2/4 again.
  • At the 1939 Scottish Congress in Aberdeen, Anderson shared =1st place in the Major with J.E. Bothwell.
  • He played in the British Championship at Nottingham 1954, scoring 5½/11.

Peter Anderson was raised in the Duke Street area of Glasgow. He attended the University of Glasgow, first matriculating in 1932-1933 when he took classes in Maths, Natural Philosophy and Russian. In later years (1934-1935) he studied Moral Philosophy, Natural Philosophy and English and in 1935-1936 he took Russian and Education. He graduated in 1938 with a M.A.

He was accepted as a new member of the Bohemian Chess Club, Glasgow, at a committee meeting held on 12 September 1928. He represented this club until it was forced to close in 1958. Thereafter, he played for Glasgow Chess Club in League matches, although he had already won that club's championship in 1953 and 1954.

During the 1939-45 war he served in the Royal Air Force, at one point being based at Aldergrove, Northern Ireland. During his time there he visited the Belfast office of his brother John and fell for the secretary, Annabelle, whom he would later marry.

Peter was able to continue his chess acrtivities during the war. The chess column in the Glasgow Herald of 17 December 1943 reported on a match played in Stromness between the RAF and the Army in which Anderson beat fellow Scot Aird Thomson, whom he would later face across the board on several occasions. Further, the Glasgow Herald chess column of 11 February 1944 reported that Flying Officer Anderson tied for first place in his section of the Irish Correspondence Championship.

After World War Two, Peter participated in both over-the-board and correspondence chess tournaments. As mentioned above, he won the Scottish Championship in 1950 and 1954, as well as losing a play-off match for the 1951 title to Aird Thomson.

Around 1959/60 he was involved in international postal chess, including games against the Soviet player I. Livshin, as shown by a letter to Anderson from his opponent dated 24 December 1959. He was interviewed by BBC Radio about the match.

Mr Anderson was a staunch supporter of Celtic FC (his brother supported Rangers) and he regularly commentated on games for the blind.

Peter Anderson was a teacher by profession. The Glasgow Herald chess column of 8 March 1957 reported that he had been appointed head master as from March 14 of Garrallan School, Cumnock, Ayrshire. He would later be appointed head master at Cronberry School, near Cumnock, Ayrshire.

Mr Anderson died 16 November 1973, at age 62, following an operation. Several tributes appeared in Scottish Chess No. 35, July 1974.

From C.W. Marshall:

'He was a personality both on and off the board-someone who has been a very successful player for many years. Everyone knows how often his name figures on the trophies of the Scottish, West of Scotland and Glasgow Club Championships and lastly but not least the Longwill Cup - the one, perhaps, he liked the most.

I cannot recall any competitor win it as often and this is more remarkable because this trophy was confined to a particular gambit and he was essentially a sound player.

In my view his greatest achievement was when he won the "Scottish" at Stirling in 1954. I feel it appropriate, therefore, to include the score of one of his games from this event. I have added no notes. It is such a splendis endgame on his part that the moves, especially the timing thereof, speak louder than words.'

C.W. Marshall - P.B. Anderson, Scottish Championship, 1954 1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.h4 a6 7.Qg4 Kf8 8.Nf3 c5 9.0-0-0 Nc6 10.Bxe7+ Qxe7 11.Qf4 b5 12.dxc5 Nxc5 13.Nd4 Nxd4 14.Qxd4 Bb7 15.b4 Nd7 16.Be2 h5 17.f4 f5 18.exf6 Qxf6 19.Qxf6+ Nxf6 20.Bf3 g6 21.Rhe1 Kf7 22.Rd4 Rac8 23.Kb2 Rc7 24.Nd1 Rhc8 25.Re2 Rc4 26.Red2 Ne8 27.Ne3 Nd6 28.g4 hxg4 29.Nxg4 Rxd4 30.Ne5+ Kf6 31.Rxd4 Nf5 32.Rd3 Nxh4 33.Nd7+ Kf5 34.Nc5 Rc7 35.Bh1 Bc8 36.Rd4 Kf6 37.Rd3 Kf5 38.Rd4 Rh7 39.a4 Kf6 40.Rd1 Nf5 41.Bf3 Nd6 42.Rh1 Rxh1 43.Bxh1 Kf5 44.axb5 axb5 45.Nd3 Ne4 46.Bg2 g5 47.fxg5 Kxg5 48.Kc1 Kg4 49.Kd1 Kg3 50.Bxe4 dxe4 51.Nc5 Kf3 52.Ke1 Ke3 53.Nb3 e5 54.Na5 Bd7 55.Nb3 Bg4 56.Na5 Bd7 57.Nb3 Be8 58.Kf1 Bf7 59.Nc5 Kd4 60.Nd7 e3 61.Ke1 Bg6 62.Kd1 Bh5+ 63.Ke1 Kc3 64.Nxe5 Kxc2 65.Nc6 Kc3 66.Ne7 Bf3 67.Nf5 e2 68.Nh4 Bg4 69.Ng2 Kxb4 70.Kd2 Kb3 71.Ne1 Bh5 72.Nd3 b4 73.Nf4 Bg4 74.Nd3 Ka3 75.Kc1 b3 0-1

From N.A. Perkins:

We first met in the Spring of 1938 when I was in Glasgow for a spell of telegraph training. It was at the Bohemians Chess Club where we had some friendly games from which I learnt to admire him both as a person and as an enterprising and fairly unconvential chess player. I then owned an old Standard tourer and with other friends we made excursions to Loch Lomandside. In almost his last letter to me he expatiated on the view from his new flat in Glasgow and evidently longed to see more of this lovely area...

We did not meet during the war but both played at the 1952 Glasgow Congress and at Stirling in 1954.

It must have been about that time that he embarked on the final stages of his teaching career in Ayrshire as head of first Garrallan and then Cronberry schools for retarded children.

For nearly all his brief retirement Peter and his wife lived in Hampstead. He gave up competitive play on medical advice. Nevertheless, he faced his illness and the final operation, from which he did not recover, with cheerfulness and courage.

Peter's colourful personality and his wide knowledge of chess and chess players, together with his understanding and appreciation of those beset by illness and adversity, leave a rich memory. I am proud to have been his friend.'

The following game from the 1954 British Championship created a lot of interest, due to the opening used by Anderson, and the sharp play of his opponent.

P.B. Anderson - D.G. Horseman BCF-ch Nottingham (2), 17.08.1954
Notes by Golombek in the BCM 1954, pp368/9.

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 Be7 4.Bc4 Bh4+ The old move, which is not regarded nowadays as so good as 4...Nf6. 5.Kf1 d5 The most aggressive continuation; 5...Bf6 6. e5, which is given by Euwe as preferable, seems merely to yield Black a dull inferiority. 6.Bxd5 Nf6 7.Nc3 7.Nxh4 Nxd5 8.exd5 (8.Nf3 Ne3+ would be a disagreeable surprise for White.) 8...Qxh4 9.Nc3 0-0 is in favour of Black. 7...Nxd5 Up to here as in the game Wisker-Bird, 1873, when Black got the worse game after 7...0-0. Here, however, Black, animated no doubt by a spirit of modernity, adopts a line suggested by Bird a year later. 8.Nxd5 f5 The Bird line-very risky and involving a rook sacrifice; but otherwise he has no good way of meeting White's threat of Nxf4. 9.Nxh4 Qxh4 10.Nxc7+ Kd8 11.Nxa8 fxe4 In return for the exchange (since White's Knight will hardly emerge from a8), Black has a number of advantages that makes things difficult for his opponent: (a) a powerful and dangerous line of advance pawns, (b) easy development for such pieces as are left, (c) some attack on White's vulnerable King, (d) White in his turn has difficulties in developing. All things considered, Black's attack is not to be underestimated. 12.Qe1 Qh5 Another interesting sacrifice to gain open lines. The analysis by Lowtzky here runs 12...Qe7 13.Qf2 Nc6 14.b4 and if 14...Qxb4 15.Qh4+ with a won game for White. 13.Qxe4 A mistake after which Black can, if he likes, force a draw. The pawns on e4 and f4 act more as a protection of White's King than a menace at this point. They should be left severely alone and instead he should complete his development by b3 and Bb2. 13...Re8 14.Qf3 Qe5 15.Kf2 Forced, since 15. Qd1 loses after 15...Bg4. 15...Qc5+ 16.Kf1 Nc6 Over-ambitious; he should take the draw by repetitin of moves with 16...Qe5 17.Kf2 Qc5+ etc.; If White tries to avoid the draw by 17.Qf2 then Black has a winning attack after 17...f3 18.gxf3 Bh3+ 19.Kg1 Qe1+. 17.Nc7 Kxc7 He must pause to capture the Knight; otherwise, say, after 17...Qe5, White exchanges Queens by 18. Qd5+. 18.d4! Qc4+ If 18...Nxd4 White can exchange Queens by 19. Qc3 or even play 19. Bxf4+, followed by 20. Qc3. 19.Qd3 Qf7 20.Bd2 Re3 A desperate throw indeed; but by now he has clearly overreached himself. 21.Bxe3 fxe3+ 22.Ke1 Qf2+ 23.Kd1 Bf5 If 23...Bg4+ 24.Kc1 e2 25.Qg3+. 24.Qc3 Kb8 25.Re1 Nxd4 An ingenious trap; if 26. Qxd4, e2+ winning the Queen. 26.Rxe3 Bg4+ White, who is himself threatening a mate by Re8+, is curiously immune to Black's checks. If 26...Bxc2+ 27.Kc1 Qf1+ 28.Re1 Ne2+ 29.Kxc2 Qf5+ 30.Qd3 Nd4+ 31.Kd2. 27.Kc1 Ne2+ 28.Rxe2 Bxe2 Allowing the exchange of Queens; but he is equally lost after 28...Qxe2 29. b3. 29.Qg3+ 1-0

The following correspondence game was of some theoretical interest, though it took some time for it to be properly noticed.

P.B. Anderson – S. Wilkinson
British Correspondence Chess Championship 1955/56.

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. d3 Nxc3 6. bxc3 d4 7. Nf3 c5  8. Be2 Be7 9. 0–0 0–0 10. Qe1 f6 11. Qg3 fxe5 12. Bh6 Bf6 13. Nxe5 dxc3 14. d4 Be6 15. Rxf6 Qxf6 16. Bg5 Qf2+ 17. Qxf2 Rxf2 18. Kxf2 cxd4 19. Bf3 1–0

Apart from my changing the notation from descriptive to algebraic, this is how the game appeared in the Glasgow Herald chess column of 6th April 1956. The only comment offered by the columnist (D. M. MacIsaac) was in his introduction to the game where he said: ‘Black’s faulty attempt to control his Q5 square [d4] is exploited in fine style, especially by White’s fourteenth move.

I have no way of knowing whether Anderson considered this game to have had any particular significance, and I do not know whether the game was reprinted in the chess columns of other major U.K. newspapers, which often did occur because of regular exchanges of information between chess editors. Suffice to say that Scotland had no chess periodical of its own at that time, and the game did not appear in either the British Chess Magazine or Chess.

Therefore, the game remained relatively unknown, that is until the same line was seen a few months later, in September 1956, at the Moscow Olympiad.

P.S. Milner-Barry – V. Hanninen
Moscow Olympiad 1956, Preliminary Group III, (Round 5)

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. d3 Nxc3 Black is not interested in the complications that would arise after 5…Qh4+ or 5…Bb4+, after which the English master Milner-Barry would have been in his element; he had been offering these complications to opponents in this line since the 1930s.
6. bxc3 d4 7. Nf3 c5 8. Be2 Be7 9. 0–0 0–0 10. Qe1 f6 11. Qg3 fxe5 The text move is not an outright error, but 11. ...Kh8 was safer.
12. Bh6 Bf6 13. Nxe5 Bxe5? Varying from the above example, but he should have continued his development with 13...Nc6.
14. Qxe5 Rf6 Black cannot win a piece with 14...gxh6 because of 15. Rxf8+ Qxf8 16. Rf1 Qd8 17. Bf3 (this could even have been played at move 16) aiming for Bd5+. Even stronger seems 17 Bh5 (Schach), when Black is unable to cope with the powerful cooperation of the white pieces.
15. Bxg7! Re6 Or 15...Kxg7 16. Qg5+ Kf7 17. Bh5+.
16. Qh5 Qe7 17. Bh6 Threatening Qg5+!
17...Nd7 If 17...Rxh6 18. Qxh6 and the Be2 is immune because of mate. Black could exchange queens with 17…Qe3+, but he still remains at a disadvantage.
18. Bg4 Re5 Or 18...Rg6 19. Rae1.
19. Qh3 Black is without hope, having no reasonable move left. White's immediate threat is
20. Bf4.
19...Nb6 20. Rf8+ Qxf8 21. Bxf8 Kxf8 22. Qxh7 Black resigns. 1–0

This short win was printed in the BCM and CHESS, and was also featured inthe German periodicals Schach and Schach-Echo.

Perhaps because of the game being featured in the British publications, further interest was shown in Anderson’s game. Leonard Barden used the game in his column in the Manchester Guardian (as it was then called) on 14 February 1957. Barden had a particular interest in the game for the Vienna had been part of his own repertoire, and he had included chapters on the Vienna Game & Gambit in his book, A Guide to Chess Openings, which was published in the early months of 1957. The book went to the printers with neither of the above games included, although he did use Milner-Barry’s win in his book Modern Chess Miniatures, written with Wolfgang Heidenfeld, and published in 1960.

Barden considered the Anderson-Wilkinson game to be of some value. In his column he commented after Anderson’s 14. d4:
‘This must have come as a great shock to Black. The first point is that if now 14…Qxd4+ 15. Be3 Qxe5 16. Qxe5 Bxe5 17. Bc4+.’ (Note that if 15…Bxe5, then 16. Rxf8+ Kxf8 17. Qf3+ etc.)

After Anderson’s 16. Bg5, Barden stated:
‘The second point. If now 16…Qf5 17. Bd3 and Black still loses his Q. A neat little combination by Anderson, and a game of theoretical importance.’ (To be strictly fair, Black could actually exchange queens with 17…Qf2+ 18. Qxf2 Rxf2 19. Kxf2, and hope to play on for a few moves.)

Shortly after Barden’s column appeared, the game was given further exposure in the April 1957 issue of Correspondence Chess, the quarterly magazine of the British Correspondence Chess Association.

In Scottish Chess No. 37, February 1975, p 11, information was given about the P.B. Anderson Memorial Trophy:

It is appropriate that this new trophy, which will perpetuate the memory of the former Scottish Champion, should take the form of an award for schools throughout Scotland, as P.B. Anderson did so much to encourage school chess clubs. The subscription list for the fund from which the trophy will be purchased remains open and the S.C.A. treasurer, A.J. Shaw, will de delighted to receive further contributions.

The trophy, which will be awarded annually, will not be won by competition. Schools wishing to be considered will have to complete a questionaire which seeks information regarding the number of pupils in the club, the number of meetings per week, the local and national competitions entered by teams from the school, details of internal competitions etc. A short leet of four wil be drawn up from the replies. Further enquiries will be made before the S.J.C.A. Council selects the winning school based on its contribution to the junior chess scene throughout the season.

Inter-County Jamboree, Rhuallan House, Giffnock, 17 June 1967.
Standing, left to right: P.B. Anderson, G. Shenkel, Tom Borland, E. Osenbaugh.
In front, Jim Lumsden and Tom Kinninmont. (Photo: Tom Borland)

 

Sources: Keith Anderson (nephew); BCM 1929 pp 176/7; BCM 1973, December, inside back cover; Scottish Championship 1939 tournament booklet; Scottish Chess No. 35, July 1974, pp 7/8; Scottish Chess No. 37, February 1975, p 11; Glasgow Herald, 6 April 1956, p. 11; BCM 1956, p. 280; CHESS 9 November 1956, p. 37; Glasgow Herald chess column of 8 March 1957; Schach 1956, p. 290; Schach-Echo 1956, p. 293; Correspondence Chess, April 1957 pp. 27-8; A Guide to Chess Openings, by Leonard Barden. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1957; Modern Chess Miniatures, by Leonard Barden and Wolfgang Heidenfeld. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1960; Chess Olympiads, by A. Földeák. Corvina Press, 1968.
See also P.B. Anderson's own chess Reminiscences.
University of Glasgow matriculation records:
R8/5/53/1
R8/5/54/1
R8/5/56/1
General Council Registers, DC183/11/64

Compiled by Alan McGowan