Wilf Pratten was a very strong Portsmouth Chess player and we are indebted to Roger L Paige and Arthur Brameld for supplying his chess games. These are also included on Britbase along with a lot more information.
Wilf H Pratten – Chess Games
Taken from the Portsmouth Evening News, 08 August 1961
FAMOUS HAMPSHIRE CHESS PLAYERS by W. W. ROSE (Cosham).
No. 5: W. H. PRATTEN
Wilfred Henry Pratten learned chess in 1922 at the age of fourteen. He quickly developed a notable tournament style and established himself as the strongest of the “under 21s” in Great Britain The question—”What heights would he have reached had he pursued the career of a Chess Master?” is unanswerable; as it is, he plays chess for fun. Although he is recognised as still the strongest player in Hampshire, it is to his administrative ability that the chess world owes so much.
His work locally and nationally is of lasting importance. The Portsmouth League, the Portsmouth Schools League, the Portsmouth Individual Championships are all his creations and the “Sir William Dupree” owes very much indeed to him administratively; he has controlled this tournament quite solo for the past sixteen years.
Nationally, his claim to distinction rests on his work for the British Championship (men) and the Stevenson Memorial Tourney.
Previous to his election in Chairman of the Match Committee of the BCF the championship was confined to twelve players. In the
tournament at Felixstowe was flung open and 32 players played together on the “Swiss” System: nearly 60 entries were received for that tournament. The following year, he elaborated the completely open entry system which has ever since been followed.
With regard to the “Stevenson” he invented the entire conception between two cups of tea one summer day in 1948. The inspiration behind the “Stevenson” was Pratten’s realisation that the “Swiss” method offers the opportunity of collecting sufficient revenue to finance quasi-internationai tournaments.
When the Federation Internationale des Echecs founded the institution of International Judges in 1951, Pratten was amongst the first seventeen in the world to be so honoured.
It is of local interest to mention that since the death of Mr. H. A. Way [Hubert Augustus Way, 1884-1960], Mr Pratten has acted as Adjudicator to the local Chess League.
Besides controlling the 1950 “Stevenson,” he wrote the official tournament book “Rising Stars” which contains his annotation of the principal games.
Playable Games
I am not sure if this will be the final solution to play through the games, but for now this can be done through this Chessbase file.
Use the arrow in the game score to move to the game selection.
Downloadable Games
All the games can be downloaded here.
PGN File Download
Acknowledgements and sources:
- Arthur Brameld
- Roger L Paige
- Britbase