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History of Harrow Chess Club

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History of Harrow Chess Club A History of HARROW CHESS CLUB The First One Hundred Years 1907-2006 Compiled by Roy Maddock Table of Contents Introduction.................................................................................4 The Opening Moves.......................................................................5 Early Days...................................................................................6 Difficult Years...............................................................................7 Into The Twenties.........................................................................8 The Early Thirties..........................................................................9 The Koltanowski Story.................................................................10 The Late Thirties.........................................................................12 War And Pieces...........................................................................12 Back On Board............................................................................13 Into The Fifties...........................................................................15 The Mid-Fifties............................................................................18 50 Years Old..............................................................................20 Rounding Off The Fifties...............................................................20 Into The Swinging(?) Sixties.........................................................22 The Second Half Of The Sixties.....................................................24 …And Into The Seventies.............................................................28 The Years 1971 To 2006 - Season By Season..................................29 1971-72..................................................................................29 1972-73..................................................................................31 1973-74..................................................................................32 1974-75. ................................................................................33 1975-76..................................................................................34 1976-77..................................................................................36 1977-78..................................................................................37 1978-79..................................................................................39 1979-80..................................................................................41 1980-81..................................................................................42 1981-82..................................................................................44 1982-83..................................................................................45 1983-84..................................................................................47 1984-85..................................................................................49 1985-86..................................................................................50 1986-87..................................................................................51 1987-88..................................................................................53 1988-89..................................................................................55 1989-90..................................................................................57 1990-91..................................................................................59 1991-92..................................................................................60 1992-93..................................................................................61 1993-94..................................................................................62 1994-95..................................................................................64 1995-96..................................................................................67 Playing On.................................................................................70 1996-97..................................................................................71 1997-98..................................................................................73 1998-99..................................................................................75 1999-00..................................................................................76 2000-01..................................................................................77 2001-02..................................................................................79 2002-03..................................................................................81 2003-04..................................................................................82 2004-05..................................................................................85 2005-06..................................................................................87 …And The Next One Hundred Years?..............................................89 Into The Second Century..............................................................90 2006-07..................................................................................90 2007-08..................................................................................93 2008-09..................................................................................95 Statistics....................................................................................97 Harrow Chess Club Officers..........................................................97 Years Of Service.......................................................................98 Post-War Officers.....................................................................99 Harrow Club Champions.............................................................101 Handicap Tournament................................................................103 Handicap Tournament Winners.................................................103 Team Player Award....................................................................103 ‘Junior’ Swiss Tournament..........................................................104 The Harrow ‘Open’ Summer Knockout Tournament........................104 Quickplay And Lightning Tournament...........................................105 Harrow Chess Club And The London League..................................106 London League 1st Team.........................................................106 London League 2nd Team........................................................108 Harrow Chess Club And The Middlesex League..............................109 Middlesex League 1st Team.....................................................109 Middlesex League 2nd Team....................................................110 After Commencement Of Promotion And Relegation...................110 Middlesex League 1st Team.....................................................110 Middlesex League 2nd Team....................................................112 Harrow Chess Club And The Thames Valley League........................113 Thames Valley League 1st Team...............................................113 Thames Valley League 2nd Team..............................................114 Harrow Chess Club And The Hillingdon League..............................115 Hillingdon League 1st Team.....................................................115 Hillingdon League 2nd Team....................................................116 Hillingdon League 3rd Team.....................................................116 Harrow Chess Club Headquarters - Premises Used.......................117 Introduction In 1996 I thought that it might be interesting to mark the ninetieth birthday of Harrow Chess Club by looking back over those years and recalling some of the events and many of the people that had contributed to the continuing life of the club. The centenary would perhaps have been a more appropriate occasion for such a venture, but I felt that if I were still 'available' in ten years time I could then complete the job. Fortunately, I was, and I did! 'A History of the First Ninety Years' was published in September 1996 and an account of 'The Final Decade' appeared in September 2006. This on-line version now combines the two. The club's first season was a short one, being only the first half of 1907, so the 'Centenary Season' was September 2005 to July 2006. On the actual 100th birthday of the club, members, both past and present, met at a dinner to celebrate the event. And... further to the comment in the 'Playing On' section (following the 90th season), we did indeed receive a letter from Buckingham Palace! The first half century of this account is based on the nineteen articles published in the club bulletin, 'Harrow Chess Pieces', between October 1971 and February 1975 (No's 2-32), which were researched from the club's minute books, of which we have the complete set, and by using other archive material. I have continued the story using the same sources, with the additional benefit of my own memory since 1961 and, from 1971, the further help of the magazine mentioned above which provides detailed coverage of all club activities up to the present day. Despite having all this information available there are still a number of occasions when details of results and final tables etc. are missing, because the relevant leagues simply failed to provide them. This account
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