Minor Pieces

Let me take you back more than 125 years, to the great London International Chess Tournament of 1899.

Most of the world’s strongest players were there: the first two World Champions, Steinitz and Lasker, Pillsbury and Chigorin, Maroczy and Schlechter, Janowski and Blackburne.

Here’s the cross-table.

There was also a second section, won by Marshall, ahead of the likes of Marco and Mieses, along with some local amateurs.

Two brilliancy prizes were awarded: to Lasker for his win against Steinitz and to Blackburne for his win against Lasker.

Here they are: click here and paste the pgn to play them through online.

[Event “London International R27”]
[Date “1899.07.05”]
[White “Steinitz, Wilhelm”]
[Black “Lasker, Emanuel”]
[Result “0-1”]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. d3 Nc6 5. fxe5 Nxe5 6. d4 Ng6 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Nxd5 Qxd5 9. Nf3 Bg4 10. Be2 O-O-O 11. c3 Bd6 12. O-O Rhe8 13. h3 Bd7 14. Ng5 Nh4 15. Nf3 Nxg2 16. Kxg2 Bxh3+ 17. Kf2 f6 18. Rg1 g5 19. Bxg5 fxg5 20. Rxg5 Qe6 21. Qd3 Bf4 22. Rh1 Bxg5 23. Nxg5 Qf6+ 24. Bf3 Bf5 25. Nxh7 Qg6 26. Qb5 c6 27. Qa5 Re7 28. Rh5 Bg4 29. Rg5 Qc2+ 30. Kg3 Bxf3 0-1

[Event “London International R4”]
[Date “1899.06.03”]
[White “Lasker, Emanuel”]
[Black “Blackburne, Joseph Henry”]
[Result “0-1”]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. d4 Bd7 5. d5 Nb8 6. Bd3 Be7 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Ne2 c6 9. c4 Na6 10. Ng3 Nc5 11. Bc2 b5 12. b4 Nb7 13. dxc6 Bxc6 14. cxb5 Bxb5 15. a4 Bd7 16. O-O g6 17. h3 h5 18. Be3 a5 19. b5 Rc8 20. Rc1 Nc5 21. Nd2 h4 22. Ne2 g5 23. Bxg5 Rg8 24. Bxh4 Bxh3 25. Bg3 Be6 26. Re1 Ng4 27. Nf1 Bg5 28. Rb1 Rh8 29. Nc3 Bf4 30. Nd5 Qg5 31. f3 Rh1+ 32. Kxh1 Bxg3 33. Nxg3 Nf2+ 34. Kg1 Nxd1 35. Nf5 Bxf5 36. exf5 Qd2 37. Rexd1 Qxc2 38. Rbc1 Qxf5 39. Nb6 Rd8 40. Nc4 Nb7 41. Ne3 Qf4 42. Kf2 Qxa4 43. Rc7 Nc5 44. Rh1 Rd7 45. Rc8+ Ke7 46. Rhh8 Qd4 0-1

If you’re running such a prestigious event you’ll want some shiny new chess sets. The chipped and stained old pieces at the back of your equipment cupboard won’t do for the likes of Lasker and Steinitz.

But have you ever wondered what happens to those shiny new sets once they’ve been put away and the players have gone home?

It appears that, at some point after the end of the tournament, some sort of competition was held. I have no idea what the nature of the competition was, and how many sets were on offer. What I do know (or believe) is that one of the sets was won by a certain William Grasty.

William came from a working class family: his birth was registered in the first quarter of 1878 in Lambeth. His father, a stoker in a factory, died in 1884, and, by the 1891 census, young William was living with his aunt in Southwark. I don’t at the moment know whether he acquired this board immediately after the 1899 tournament, but by 1901 he was moving up in the world, living in lodgings in Wood Green and working as a commercial clerk.

He married Arabella Edith Attwood in 1904, but, tragically, their first child, William Arthur, born in 1909, died before reaching his first birthday. By now the family had settled in Lewisham, and the 1911 census found him still working as a commercial clerk. Later that year, another son, named Leonard Francis, was born. Soon afterwards the family moved to Islington, where a daughter, Muriel Florence, was born in 1913.

By 1921 the family had left London, moving to Southsea, where William was working for Weingarten Bros Ltd, Corset Manufacturers as an accountant. As well as William, Arabella and their children, the household included two boarders: the sisters(?) Dorothy and Elizabeth Kilby, both schoolteachers. At the time, Portsmouth was known as the corset capital of the world (who knew?) and they’re still made there now. Many of my relations were employed manufacturing corsets in Market Harborough, but that’s a story for another time.

There’s no evidence that William ever played competitive chess, but his son certainly did. I guess they played at home using the board from the 1899 tournament, trying to emulate the play of Lasker and his colleagues. Between 1928 and 1931, Leonard was a student at Portsmouth Municipal College, playing on top board for their chess team. They started off with friendly matches against Portsmouth Chess Club before graduating to the second division of the local league.

In 1931 Leonard graduated with a BA General Degree with Honours and a First-Class Distinction in Maths awarded by London University and took a job as a Customs and Excise Officer. Like so many others before and since, on finishing his studies he stopped playing competitive chess.

We next meet him in Manchester in 1937, where he married a local girl, May Taylor Shaw, the daughter of a sheet metal worker.

By the time of the 1939 Register, Leonard and May, along, perhaps, with their chess set, had moved back south, now living in Stanmore, North London. They were blessed with three children, Barbara (1937), Robert (Bob) (1939) and Victor (Vic) (1943).

At some point the family moved down to Bognor Regis, on the West Sussex coast, not all that far from Portsmouth. It was there, in 1948, that Leonard returned to competitive chess, joining the local club. As it happens, the Bognor Regis Observer up as far as 1959 is available online. During this period they ran a regular column featuring local chess news, contributed by the pseudonymous King’s Pawn and The Rook, so we have a lot of information about his chess career over the next decade or so.

You’ll see that he soon established himself as one of their stronger players, although it must be said that Bognor were no match for the likes of Brighton and Hastings. What they did have, though, was some very effective and ambitious administrators. You might notice, for example, the name of Joseph Norman Lomax, who would do much to put his home town on the chess map.

Here they are, in 1949, inviting a very distinguished guest to give a simultaneous display.

In fact Harry Golombek took on 33 (or 34, depending on your choice of newspaper) opponents, losing two games and drawing six, including his game against Grasty. He stayed on overnight, the following day playing another simul against five teams of consultants, drawing two and losing one, against Grasty and his veteran partner Stephen Arthur Hardstone (1873-1952), a retired civil service engineer.

Golombek would give a number of simultaneous displays at Bognor over the next few years. Here’s a photo of one of them.

The games we have for Leonard Grasty in this period, sadly, don’t show him in a very good light. If he’d captured the bishop on move 13 in this game he’d have been fine rather than having to resign two moves later.

[Event “Brighton v Bognor”]
[Date “1951.??.??”]
[White “Winter, Leopold”]
[Black “Grasty, Leonard Francis”]
[Result “1-0”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bd2 c5 5. Nf3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nc6 7. Nc2 Bc5 8. g3 Qb6 9. e3 Qc7 10. Bg2 O-O 11. Ne4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 Rb8 13. Bxh7+ Kh8 14. Qh5 Qe5 15. Bf5+ 1-0

And here, in an equal position, he found one of the worst moves on the board, allowing a mate in one.

[Event “Essex v Sussex in London board 30”]
[Date “1951.04.14”]
[White “Anfilogoff, Nicholas Lionel”]
[Black “Grasty, Leonard Francis”]
[Result “1-0”]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. O-O Bg7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. b3 d5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Bb2 Nxc3 10. Bxc3 Nd4 11. e3 Nxf3+ 12. Bxf3 e5 13. Qe2 Qc7 14. Rac1 Re8 15. Qb5 Re7 16. d4 e4 17. Bg2 cxd4 18. Bb4 Qd7 19. Qc5 Re6 20. exd4 Bxd4 21. Qf8# 1-0

In 1952, the local organisers had a big idea.

In fact the first congress would be held the following year, run by Joseph Norman Lomax (later, after his second marriage he’d style himself Norman Fishlock-Lomax), continuing very successfully until 1969.

Later that year, Leonard Francis Grasty was the subject of a profile in the local paper.

Was his speed of play responsible for the careless mistakes he seems to have made? Perhaps someone should have advised him to slow down.

In 1954 Bognor Regis Chess Club put on a display of chess trophies in a local shop window for National Chess Week.

There you have it. Leonard had inherited the chess set which his father had won perhaps more than half a century earlier.

Here it is.

It didn’t help him in this game against one of Brighton’s young stars, where he had to resign after only nine moves, having fallen for a rather well known opening trap. The earliest example in MegaBase dates from 1908, but the variation itself dates back to Blackburne – Paulsen (Vienna 1882), where Black won after 8… Ng4.

[Event “Bognor v Brighton B1”]
[Date “1954.04.03”]
[White “Springgay, David George”]
[Black “Grasty, Leonard Francis”]
[Result “1-0”]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bc4 g6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. e5 dxe5 9. Bxf7+ 1-0

The following year’s National Chess Week also featured the display of chess trophies, along with a Teenagers v Old Stagers match in which Leonard and his older son Robert were on opposite sides.

A few months later, Bob took part in the Southern Counties Junior Championship, held as part of the 3rd Bognor Regis Congress, scoring 3/7. The other competitors included Michael Lipton, who would later achieve fame as a problemist. He returned the following year, when he managed half a point more, which was half a point less than the score achieved by Stewart Reuben.

Leonard continued his chess activity in Bognor throughout the 1950s.

Here’s a photograph from a club prizegiving from 1958, where Leonard shared the club championship with local journalist Alan Lawrence Ayriss (1934-2006), who, as it happens, has a very distant family connection with me (the 2nd cousin 2x removed of the husband of my 3rd cousin 2x removed). He’s holding a Bell book: The Art of Checkmate (Renaud & Kahn), which was published in that edition in 1955. The book is still within the family: an inscription inside reads “BOGNOR REGIS CHESS CLUB  Presented to L.F. Grasty RUNNER UP LIGHTNING TOURNAMENT 1958. We can also see copies of Edward Lasker’s Chess for Fun and Chess for Blood in a 1952 edition and Reinfeld’s Improving Your Chess (1954).

This, captioned 1958, shows Bob seated second left, perhaps from the same event as the previous photo.

By December 1959 Leonard had been joined by his younger son, Victor, who was up for selection for a match against Worthing. But, at that point, the online run of the Bognor Regis Observer comes to an end, so I have, at the moment, little information about what happened next.

We do have a photograph from 1961 where he’s playing a friendly game against William Clifford Kendal (1902-1988).

In this game from 1966, he chose an unsuccessful plan in the early middle game, allowing his opponent to bring off a smart finish.

[Event “McArthur Cup semi-final Eastbourne v Bognor B2”]
[Date “1966.04.02”]
[White “Williams, Robert H”]
[Black “Grasty, Leonard Francis”]
[Result “1-0”]

1. e4 c5 2. d3 Nc6 3. Nd2 d6 4. c3 g6 5. Ngf3 Bg7 6. Be2 Nf6 7. Nf1 Bd7 8. Bg5 Qc7 9. Qd2 h6 10. Bh4 Be6 11. Ne3 O-O-O 12. h3 Rdf8 13. O-O Qd7 14. Rfc1 Kb8 15. Bg3 Nh5 16. Bh2 f5 17. Nh4 Qe8 18. Bxh5 gxh5 19. Nhxf5 Be5 20. f4 Bf6 21. d4 cxd4 22. cxd4 Bxf5 23. Nxf5 Qg6 24. d5 Nd8 25. Nxd6 exd6 26. f5 Bd4+ 27. Qxd4 Qf6 28. Qc3 Qxc3 29. Bxd6+ Kc8 30. Rxc3+ Kd7 31. Bxf8 1-0

It’s unfortunate that the games of Leonard Grasty currently available have, so far, been rather unimpressive losses with the black pieces. Perhaps he played much better with white.

We do have a draw, from what must have been towards the end of his chess career, against a very strong opponent in Geoffrey James (no relation, but he played for my club, Richmond, for a few years in the 1970s). He was perhaps a bit lucky, though, as Geoffrey uncharacteristically missed a few winning chances.

[Event “McArthur Cup semi-final Brighton v Bognor”]
[Date “1973.04.28”]
[White “James, Geoffrey Herbert”]
[Black “Grasty, Leonard Francis”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. O-O-O Nxd4 9. Qxd4 e5 10. Qd2 O-O 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Qxd6 Be6 13. Qxd8 Raxd8 14. Nd5 Bg5+ 15. Kb1 f5 16. Bc4 Kh8 17. exf5 Bxf5 18. h4 Bh6 19. Nc3 Rc8 20. Bb3 e4 21. Rhe1 Bg4 22. Rd4 Rxf2 23. Rdxe4 Bd2 24. Re8+ Rf8 25. Rxc8 Bxc8 26. Rg1 Be3 27. Re1 Bf2 28. Rf1 Bc5 29. Rxf8+ Bxf8 30. Bd5 g6 31. a4 Be7 32. g3 a6 33. Ne2 b6 34. c3 a5 35. Kc2 Bc5 36. Bf3 Bf2 37. b4 axb4 38. cxb4 Be1 39. b5 Be6 40. Kd3 Bb3 41. a5 Bxa5 42. Nd4 1/2-1/2

This was a family steeped in chess: they counted Harry Golombek as a family friend. Bob and Vic’s sister Barbara recalls (although the Guardian journalist doesn’t) once going on a date with Leonard Barden. Barbara later married a man named Michael Armstrong. Their son Alastair, born in 1967, continued the family chess playing tradition into a fourth generation.

Leonard must have been very proud of his grandson’s success. He died in 1981, when Alastair was still quite young, but he still has many very fond memories of his grandfather, who encouraged his early interest in chess.

It was only right, then, that it was Alastair who would eventually inherit his great grandfather’s London 1899 chess set.

Here ‘s Alastair again, 13 years later, winning the Main A Section of the Hastings Congress (the Main A wasn’t the main event at the congress, but never mind).

Shortly afterwards, Alastair moved abroad, but, more than 30 years on, he’s now returned to England, deciding to take up chess again, joining Richmond & Twickenham Chess Club, and by chance living just round the corner from where I lived. There are two of his recent games here.

He still has the 1899 chess set and board, and provided the photographs above. His son, though, shows little interest in the game.

So there you have it: the story of a chess set and board first played on, perhaps, by Emanuel Lasker, spanning four generations of the same family and 125 years.

Join me again soon when we’ll return to London in 1899.

Sources and Acknowledgements:

ancestry.co.uk
findmypast.co.uk/British Newspaper Library
ChessBase/Stockfish 16 for game analysis
Alastair Armstrong and the Grasty family, for the story and photographs
Brian Denman for providing some of Leonard Grasty’s games