Chess articles have been included in the Portsmouth Evening News for many years, but Chess Notes started in 1957 until probably the early 2000’s. There were different columnists, although I don’t have the full details, but will update when I find out. I originally added the 1976 to 1976 editions from the Hampshire Chess Archives in 2022.
More recently the British Newspaper Archives added the 1987 Portsmouth Evening News and I have extracted the Chess Notes articles written by John Jones.
Editors
- 1956 – John (JEC) Grant
- 1960’s – John H Jones
- 1970’s – John (JEC) Grant
- 1987 – John H Jones
Years
1976 John (JEC) Grant
For many, many years, John (JEC) Grant used to write a weekly column titled “CHESS NOTES” for the Portsmouth Evening News / Evening News).
The structure of “Chess Notes” for this period was normally split into three sections:
- Portsmouth / Southampton League
- County Updates
- Grading / Game
These are a fascinating insight into local chess in this period including snippets from AGM’s, League and County results, player grades and charity events. I hope you enjoy reading through these as much as I have. For the games these are sometimes positions, so a bit of work re-creating these from the position detailed (no diagram in the notes!) is required. Also the games are in descriptive notation, rather than than algebraic.
Chess Notes for 1976. These are the original copies supplied to the Portsmouth Evening News, which as over a couple of pages are best shown as pdf files.
Click on the date to open the relevant article.
Chess Notes 1976
| Index | 6-Sep | 13-Sep | 20-Sep | 27-Sep | 4-Oct | 11-Oct | 18-Oct |
| 25-Oct | 1-Nov | 8-Nov | 15-Nov | 22-Nov | 29-Nov | 6-Dec | 13-Dec |
| 20-Dec | 27-Dec |
All 1976 editions can also be viewed in this larger file.
1977 – John (JEC) Grant
Chess Notes for 1977, including numerous Portsmouth and Hampshire League results, County Matches and Junior competitions which includes the West of England Junior Jamboree. In addition the results of an inter league Portsmouth vs Southampton match, played over 36 boards is detailed in no 26 (14 Mar), with various prominent players participating.
Number 38 (18 July) details the Gosport’s Club Tournament which was a 8 round Swiss with 23 participants and Fareham had 46! players in their club tournament which is recorded in no 39 (1 Aug).
These are the original copies supplied to the Portsmouth Evening News, which as over a couple of pages are best shown as pdf files.
Chess Notes 1977
These are the Chess Notes articles written by John EC Grant for the Portsmouth Evening News.All 1977 editions can also be viewed in this larger file.
1978 – John (JEC) Grant
Chess Notes number 57 to 89. Highlights include details on the Portsmouth Chess Congress (no 62 – 13 Feb), early details on future IM Paul Littlewood playing in the Portsmouth League (graded 215). Interestingly the Portsmouth Individual Championship (no 72 – 8 May ) had a play off between 2 players who would later become a GM (Peter Wells) and IM (Paul Littlewood) respectively. The other player was D.Smith. Peter Wells would only have been 13 years at the time, so no surprise that Paul at 22 and only a few years before he won the British Championship won his four games against the other two players.
Number 75 (10 July) details the four final division tables, with 26 teams participating, Fareham had 6 teams in the league. The game where Arthur Brameld beat Paul Littlewood is included in Arthur’s games in his profile.
Chess Notes for 1978. These are the original copies supplied to the Portsmouth Evening News, which as over a couple of pages are best shown as pdf files.
Chess Notes 1978
| Index | 2-Jan | 9-Jan | 16-Jan | 23-Jan | 30-Jan | 13-Feb | 20-Feb |
| 27-Feb | 6-Mar | 13-Mar | 20-Mar | 11-Apr | 17-Apr | 24-Apr | 2-May |
| 8-May | 15-May | 12-Jun | 10-Jul | 7-Aug | 21-Aug | 11-Sep | 2-Oct |
| 9-Oct | 16-Oct | 23-Oct | 30-Oct | 6-Nov | 13-Nov | 20-Nov | 27-Nov |
| 11-Dec | 22-Dec |
All 1978 editions can also be viewed in this larger file.
1979 – John (JEC) Grant
Chess Notes number 90 to 113, which are the last ones I have from the Hampshire Chess archives, although this continued to be published for many years. It goes without saying that if you have any copies of the other ones please let me know.
Details on the Hampshire League, the start of the “Ruth Rose Cup” (for best performance for players over 60 in the Portsmouth League), Portsmouth League information, Portsmouth Congress and numerous Junior competitions are included in this batch.
More details on the IOW playing in a inter island telephone contest, which was sponsored by Lloyds Bank. It seems the IOW won their first match, but no further details on if they won through to the final.
Chess Notes for 1979. These are the original copies supplied to the Portsmouth Evening News, which as over a couple of pages are best shown as pdf files.
Chess Notes 1979
| 1-Jan | 8-Jan | 15-Jan | 22-Jan | 29-Jan | 5-Feb | 12-Feb | 19-Feb |
| 26-Feb | 5-Mar | 12-Mar | 19-Mar | 26-Mar | 2-Apr | 9-Apr | 17-Apr |
| 23-Apr | 30-Apr | 7-May | 14-May | 21-May | 28-May | 4-Jun | 11-Jun |
All 1979 editions can also be viewed in this larger file.
1987 – John H Jones
John H Jones wrote the articles in two different periods. The Portsmouth News for 1987 has been added to the British Newspaper Archives and I have extracted these and made available below. Currently the Portsmouth Evening News is included up to 1961 and then just the one year in 1987. Hopefully the missing years will be added.
Anyone who knew John knows he was a larger the life character, who enjoyed exciting chess and this certainly came across in these articles.
Chess Notes for 1987. These are the ones in the Portsmouth Evening News, which can be shown as an image.
Chess Notes 1987
These are the Chess Notes articles written by John H Jones for the Portsmouth Evening News.Acknowledgements and Sources
- Hampshire Chess Archives
- Portsmouth Evening News
- British Newspaper Archives