Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Lesser known game of Raaphy Persitz

A figure not well known to younger players, but Raaphy Persitz was a strong master who played and lived in England before moving back to his native Israel in the 1960s. He was a long time contributor to the British Chess Magazine, his notes to games were deep and penetrating. He was Israeli Junior champion in 1951 and represented Israel in the Leipzig Olympiad in 1960. When he passed away in 2009 there were many moving tributes to him as a good and loyal friend of many leading lights in British Chess in the 50s and 60s. Here is a nice game he won against Robert Huebner in 1969

Thursday, November 11, 2021

Jonathan Penrose Brilliant at Southsea 1950

Aged only 16 Penrose had a marvellous result at the 2nd Stevenson Memorial at Southsea, beating Tartakower and Bogoljubov. Here is his game against A.R.B. Thomas from the event.

Tuesday, November 9, 2021

Early Penrose game

Continuing the thread of Jonathan Penrose here is a game he played at the age of 15 in the British Championships in 1950, an event he would dominate throughout the 1960s as the strongest British Player. Here he is playing the legendary Gerald Abrahams, Well known Barrister, Chess player and author of some very good Chess books. The Chess Mind and Technique in Chess are very interesting and I learnt Chess reading his Teach yourself Chess, the second Chess book I ever owned.

Monday, November 8, 2021

Penrose- Cafferty British Championship 1966

I have been looking at the games of Jonathan Penrose recently and found this remarkable game. I'll give the whole game below, but firstly, can you find what lovely move Penrose played on the 17th move?
[Event "BCF-ch"] [Site "Sunderland"] [Date "1966.??.??"] [Round "10"] [White "Penrose, Jonathan"] [Black "Cafferty, Bernard"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C05"] [PlyCount "101"] [EventDate "1966.08.08"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1998.11.10"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ndf3 cxd4 8. cxd4 Qb6 9. g3 Bb4+ 10. Kf2 f5 11. Be3 Be7 12. Qd2 Nf8 13. Ne2 Bd7 14. Nc3 Na5 15. Rc1 h6 16. Bd3 Nh7 17. Bxf5 Nc4 18. Bg6+ Kd8 19. Qe2 Nf8 20. Bd3 Nxb2 21. Rb1 Nxd3+ 22. Qxd3 Qa6 23. Qxa6 bxa6 24. Bd2 Bc6 25. Ne2 Nd7 26. Ba5+ Nb6 27. Rhc1 Kd7 28. f5 Nc4 29. fxe6+ Kxe6 30. Nf4+ Kf5 31. Bb4 Bxb4 32. Rxb4 g5 33. Nh5 Rab8 34. Rbb1 Ke6 35. Ng7+ Kf7 36. Nf5 Rxb1 37. Rxb1 Ke6 38. g4 Bb5 39. Ne1 Nd2 40. Rc1 Ne4+ 41. Ke3 Kd7 42. Nf3 Rh7 43. a3 a5 44. h4 gxh4 45. N3xh4 Ng5 46. Ng6 Ne6 47. Rh1 Ba4 48. Nf4 Nxf4 49. Kxf4 Bc2 50. Rxh6 Bxf5 51. Rd6+ 1-0

Lesser known game of Raaphy Persitz

A figure not well known to younger players, but Raaphy Persitz was a strong master who played and lived in England before moving back to his...