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John Stewart
02 April 1893, Edinburgh - 09 December 1960, Edinburgh
A noted chess problem composer. Scotland's Chess Centenary Book (1984) noted: 'For a number of years he worked on a manuscript collection of problems by Scottish composers which he planned to give to the British Chess Problem Society. Unfortunately it cannot be traced.'
Other references:
Glasgow Herald chess column, 16 October 1942, p 3: '...studied problems with Mr G. Page when they became friends as young Civil servants.'
Glasgow Herald chess column, 24 March 1944, p 3: 'Mr J. Stewart.....is making a collection of problems by Scottish composers, and has already about 2000 samples from some 70 or 80 composers. Can any reader help with information as to possible manuscript collections of such past masters as Sheriff Spens, John Crum, or W. Finlayson?'
Michael Clapham, who has an excllent web presence at Chess Book Chats, kindly provided the following information and illustrations:
John Stewart edited (with George Page) the short lived periodical The Chess-Board. Volume I included 12 numbers from December 1913 to June 1914, and was issued in manuscript form only and passed around to subscribers.
The articles were hand written by Stewart and Page with hand stamped diagrams. The articles were mainly problem related including several interesting biographies of problem composers.
Volume II comprised 12 monthly numbers from November 1914 to October 1915 and it was hoped that the magazine would be resumed after the War but this never happened.
Volume II was also hand-written but then duplicated so that every subscriber had their own copy. Volume II was a more general chess magazine with games, problems, articles on openings and local news on the Edinburgh chess scene.
Although volume I was circulated in manuscript form only, A. J. Souweine, the New York chess literature dealer, stated that copies were also made for John G. White and Alain C. White.
From The Chess Amateur, December 1914
Gaige's Chess Personalia gives several references, including The Problemist, May 1961, p 232. This has not been seen. Further information on Mr Stewart would be welcomed.
Alan McGowan
Historian, Chess ScotlandUpdated 16/4/2020
