The History of the Norfolk and Norwich Chess Club

History of the Norfolk & Norwich Chess Club

Early Norfolk & Norwich Chess Club History - by Owen Hindle

We know there were chess clubs in Norfolk from at least 1836 for both Norwich and Yarmouth clubs were listed as subscribers to the book of Alexander McDonnell games published that year.

In the 1840’s, occasional references to chess in Norwich occur in the pages of the Chess Player’s Chronicle. Most notably, in 1841, Howard Staunton, the magazine’s editor, was requested by the Norwich club to act as arbiter in a dispute over a correspondence match with the Maryport chess club. Staunton ruled in favour of Norwich.

Around that time Norfolk possessed a distinguished figure in the chess world. Rev. Horatio Bolton (1793-1873), who was related to the Nelson family through the great British admiral’s sister Susannah, was one of the pioneers in the field of chess problem composition.

Much credit for the successful formation of a viable club in Norwich must go to Frederick G. Rainger (1829-1871) its secretary from 1857 to 1866. J.O.Howard Taylor, in his obituary of Rainger, referred to him as the club’s ‘very life and soul’. Rainger’s chess column in the Norfolk News from 1859-1863 did much to popularise the game in the county. He defeated Howard Taylor (who had joined the club in April, 1859) in a match for the club championship in 1860. By then (probably since about 1857) the fuller name of Norfolk and Norwich had come into use.

(A club history compiled by P.H.Bannock, published in booklet form in 1936, contained interesting information particularly regarding premises and lists of officials, etc.).

This account of the club’s early history will predominately feature the visits of great masters to the city.

Early on, Rainger had discovered the importance of inviting chess masters to a city that was far away from the main centres of population. Paul Morphy had excited the chess world with his blindfold exploits and although the club’s first visitor, the young blind player George Lumley, was far below the status of the great American player, considerable interest was aroused by his visit in March 1859. He was invited back again in January the following year. Rainger in his chess column provided this retort to one reader : “Had you attended the chess meeting on Friday evening last there would have been no necessity for your query respecting the play of Mr. Lumbley (sic). We beg to apprize you that Mr. L. did play four games simultaneously with the following result :- he won two games, lost one and the last was drawn.” Lumley, who came from Manchester, was particularly unusual in that he actually was blind. He earned a meagre living giving displays throughout Britain during 1859-1862 and then disappeared without trace.

Later in 1860, Josef Kling , a famous end game specialist and a player of some repute, gave the first standard simultaneous display (i.e. non-blindfold) in the city. It was not reported if his wife, who happened to have been Norwich-born, accompanied him.

The first master of true world class to visit was Ignatz Kolisch in June 1861. Presumably, he regarded provincial players as easy meat for he insisted on giving knight odds on every board. His result of 8 wins 2 draws and 3 losses just about justified his confidence.

The foresight shown by Rainger and Howard Taylor in their inspired choice as their next invited master is something of which the club can be proud. Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841-1924), possibly the greatest of all British chess players, was becoming nationally known through his blindfold exploits in Manchester and at the London 1862 Congress. On 3rd December, 1862, the Norfolk amateurs gave the blindfold player a stern test for he achieved only a minus score of +2 =5-3. Blackburne was to visit Norwich on numerous subsequent occasions and before almost every display he remarked how pleased he was to return to the city that had given him his first professional engagement.

In May, 1866, Rainger made his last great contribution to Norwich chess when he organised a successful double event. On the first day Blackburne entertained with one of his celebrated blindfold exhibitions (+8 =2 -0) and on the next day the distinguished veteran Lowenthal gave a conventional simultaneous display.

Unquestionably, the club’s most influential member was the previously mentioned local solicitor, John Odin Howard Taylor (1836-1890). He was an originator of the concept of awarding a ‘best game prize’ in tournaments. His book Chess Brilliants (1869) contained the best games of great players many of whom he was to entertain at his house ‘Pinebanks’ at Thorpe, near Norwich. His later Chess Skirmishes (1889), also published in Norwich, contains invaluable information about early Norfolk chess.

A great stalwart, both as a player and a club official in those early days, was W.G.Crook, who died aged 66, in 1895. His son, Dr.A.Crook, similarly gave the club yeoman service.

Howard Taylor conducted an excellent chess column in the Eastern Daily Press from September 1871 to the end of 1872. Zukertort arrived in Britain in 1872 and Howard Taylor wasted no time in inviting him to give simultaneous exhibitions in Norwich. A brilliant account of Zukertort’s visit appeared in the Eastern Daily Press on 29th September, 1872. The same column featured Howard Taylor’s fascinating interview with Zukertort entitled “The Chess Crichton”. It was from this article that all the fanciful stories of Zukertort’s prowess in fields other than chess emanated.

It is known that the eminent English player Samuel Boden was Howard Taylor’s house-guest in 1872, 1873 and 1875 and although he is reputed to have given displays at the Norwich club on all those occasions no record of them has survived. However, it is reported that whilst in Norwich Boden delivered a chess joke. Apparently, a Norfolk opponent remarked to him “I don’t like your style” to which Boden replied “Ah! but it’s a stile you can’t get over!

Following a further display by Blackburne in 1876 (blindfold +7 =1 -0), Howard Taylor persuaded William Steiniz to visit in both 1877 and 1879. Steinitz had already defeated in matches Anderssen, Zukertort and Blackburne, and was regarded as the world’s leading player though he was not officially acclaimed as Champion of the World until his further victory over Zukertort in 1886.

Steinitz’s first visit on 19th April, 1877 was also notable for two other reasons. On that occasion a chess board and men were presented to the club in memory of the Rev. Horatio Bolton by his widow and it was also the night that John Keeble joined the club.

It was reported that at the annual general meeting of the Norfolk and Norwich Chess Club on September 24th 1886, with the president, Mr. J. O. Howard Taylor, in the chair, the following gentlemen, Baron Kolisch, Herr Steinitz , Herr Zukertort and Mr.Blackburne were all elected as honorary members!

Zukertort in 1883 and Blackburne in December, 1888 gave large conventional displays (Blackburne played 29 games of which he won 26 and drew 3).

In 1891, James Mason achieved a score of +23 =0 -3 and it is thought that Gunsberg visited in 1893 though no record of his display has been discovered.

Before the end of the century the ever-popular Blackburne made further visits. His two-day display in April, 1896 was organised by the Norfolk Chess Association (most of his opponents were members of the Norfolk & Norwich Club). On the 23rd he played 38 games winning 31, drawing 3 and losing 4. The next afternoon he played 6 blindfold games and won them all. In the evening he visited the rooms of the Norfolk and Norwich Club and played many games against the members without losing a single game.

The club members were treated to a bumper year in 1900 with Blackburne visiting again in February and, in November, came the momentous appearance of Emanuel Lasker, the world champion. The British Chess Magazine for January, 1901 reported :“On November 28th, the President (Dr. Crook) celebrated the opening of the new rooms by giving a reception to the players of the district , and invited Dr. E. Lasker to give a simultaneous display for their entertainment . The rooms during the evening presented an animated appearance, crowded with players from all parts of East Anglia to witness the struggle between the champion of the world and twenty of the strongest players of Norfolk.” The Norfolk players acquitted themselves well winning three games, and drawing two. The club archives have a fine caricature of Lasker drawn on the occasion. Another prized possession of the club is the visitors’ book that was started on the evening of the world champion’s visit.

The annual congress of the Southern Counties’ Chess Union was held in Norwich in 1902. This event, held two years before the formation of the British Chess Federation, was almost the equivalent of a British Championship and was won by R.P.Michell.

Blackburne also visited in 1902 and another treasure of the club is a caricature depicting him on that occasion. He was in Norwich again in 1905. In 1907, the ‘grand old man’ of British chess gave his final performance in Norwich. Actually, the event was billed as a jubilee celebration under the mistaken impression that the club had been formed in 1857. It appears that John Keeble was the first to discover, some years later, the 1836 reference.

John Keeble (1855-1939) deserves an honoured position in the history of the Norfolk & Norwich club. A good, but never master-strength player, he was a familiar face at British events and occasionally those on the continent. He was regarded very highly in chess problem circles. In this he maintained the Norfolk chess problem tradition of Horatio Bolton and also of J.A.Miles (1817-1891), who had been a member of both the Fakenham and Norwich clubs. Keeble was an author of chess problem books and conducted successful newspaper columns. Perhaps his greatest fame was in historical chess research in which he made a number of significant discoveries. His obituary in the British Chess Magazine spread over more than two pages in the April, 1939 issue.

A welcome visitor in 1912 was the American grandmaster Frank Marshall. He gave his opponents the option of choosing either colour and many took the opportunity to make the first move.

Capablanca’s appearance in Norwich in October, 1919 generated enormous interest with the local press devoting to it many column inches. At the time Capablanca was regarded as a chess phenomenon and only two years later he was to take the world title from Lasker. At the Y.M.C.A. premises in St.Giles, the Cuban took on 41 opponents. His result was impressive for he was undefeated winning 38 games and drawing three.

In chess history, Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine are often ranked together as three of the greatest players. It is a pity that Alekhine never visited Norwich. However, a connection with the Russian world champion can be made. The last recorded game Alekhine played was in Lisbon, shortly before his death in 1946. His opponent was the chess problemist G.F.Anderson who had spent a number of years in Norfolk and was the Norfolk & Norwich club champion in 1929.

Amongst Capablanca’s simultaneous opponents was the Rev. F.E.Hamond, the club’s president. Rev. Hamond (1869-1932) ranks as one of the club’s strongest players in the years between the wars. He was British Correspondence champion in 1921 and won a game against Sultan Khan in the 1929 British Championship at Ramsgate.

Following Capablanca’s visit, Kostich came in 1921, and Yates in 1922. Marshall made a popular return in 1927 and Znosko Borovsky visited in 1928. The great woman player Vera Menchik was in Norwich in 1933. Sir George Thomas gave a display in 1935 and G.Koltanowski’s blindfold exhibition in 1937 provided a reminder of the earliest days.