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Event: (unofficial) Varsity Match • Venue: Oxford • Date: [day ? month ?] 1944 • last edited: Monday March 18, 2024 11:29 AM
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This unofficial Varsity Chess Match between Oxford University and Cambridge University was held in Oxford on [day?] [month?] 1944. No game scores from this match are available, but there are three games from the Oxford University v Bletchley match played on 2 December 1944.

1939 (Official) 1942 (Unofficial)«     1944 (Unofficial) Varsity Chess Match     »1945 (Unofficial) 1946 (Official)
Bd Oxford University 1944 Cambridge University
1 Valentine Grieve (St John's) ½-½ Klaus Friedrich Roth (Jesus)
2 Anthony Maitland Spence (Trinity) ½-½ Leonard Charles Walters (St Catharine's)
3 John Ouvry Lindfield Roberts (Wadham) 0-1 Edwin Darnley Clements (St Catharine's)
4 Sohrab Ardeshir (Hertford) 1-0 Michael Barker Glauert (Trinity)
5 Christopher Taylor (Merton) 0-1 Leonid Mitlin (Emmanuel)
6 William Timothy Whiffen (St John's) 1-0 Christopher Anderson Webb (Jesus)
7 Adrian David Hugh Bivar (Corpus Christi) ½-½ David Russell Bland (Trinity)
    3½-3½  

Sources: Oxford-Cambridge Chess Matches (1873-1987), compiled by Jeremy Gaige, Philadelphia 1987; BCM, April 1944, p87.

Notes

Venue: Oxford. Colours, openings not known.


[BCM, Apr 1944, p87] "The Inter-Varsity Chess match was played at Oxford this year, on seven boards, as usual. It was a very close match, and the result was a draw, the score being 3½-3½. The detailed scores were [as above - Grieve is shown as Oxford captain, Bivar the Oxford sec., Walters the Cambridge captain and Glauert the Cambridge sec.]. It is pleasant to be able to report the revival of this old-established fixture, which had lapsed for several years*. Mr. T. H. Tylor, of Balliol College, acted as referee and adjudicator for the match." [* only one year, in fact. There was no match in 1943 but unofficial matches were held in 1940, 1941 and 1942.]


Oxford University vs Bletchley, 2 December 1944

Later in the year Oxford University played a match against Bletchley Chess Club, which was actually a deliberate misnomer as the team was composed solely of Bletchley Park code-breakers.

It was reported in BCM (February 1945, p36) and CHESS Magazine. BCM: "the match was played on twelve boards, and took place on Saturday, December 2nd, at Oxford, in the Massey Room, Balliol College. The match began promptly at 2.30pm and ended at 6pm. Both side produced strong teams for the match, the University being strengthened by six senior members. The Bletchley team included C. H. O'D. Alexander, H. Golombek and Dr. J. M. Aitken, and the University side, T. H. Tylor, Dr. J. W. Cornforth and Dr. H. G. Schenk. The match produced many hard-fought games."

Bd Oxford University  1944  Bletchley
1w Theodore Henry Tylor (Balliol) ½-½ Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander
2b John Warcup Cornforth (St Catherine's) 1-0 Harry Golombek
3w Dr Hans Georg Schenk (Exeter) 0-1 Dr James Macrae Aitken
4b Sir Robert Robinson (Magdalen) 0-1 Irving John Good
5w Michael James Steuart Dewar (Balliol) 0-1 Nicholas Anthony Perkins
6b Dr Isaac Berenblum 0-1 Sgt Walter W Jacobs (US Army)
7w Valentine Grieve (St John's) 1-0 John Robert Gilbert
8b Robin Charles Oliver Matthews (Corpus Christi) 0-1 Malcolm Alfred Chamberlain
9w Sohrab Ardeshir (Hertford) 1-0 Peter John Hilton
10b John Ouvry Lindfield Roberts (Wadham) 0-1 William Robert Cox
11w Adrian David Hugh Bivar (Corpus Christi) ½-½ David Rees
12b Edward Chorley Crosfield (Balliol) 0-1 Lt. Arthur J Levenson (US Army)
    4-8  

1944 Oxford vs Bletchley match
Photo of the participants in the Oxford University v Bletchley match, 2 December 1944

There are three extant games from the Oxford University vs Bletchley match:

Oxford University Team:

Theodore Henry Tylor - see Varsity match pen picture file

Sir John Warcup Cornforth - see Varsity match pen picture file

Hans Georg Artur Victor Schenk - see Varsity match pen picture file

Sir Robert Robinson - see Varsity match pen picture file

Michael James Steuart Dewar - see Varsity match pen picture file

Dr Isaac Berenblum - see Varsity match pen picture file

Valentine Grieve - see Varsity match pen picture file

Robert (Robin) Charles Oliver Matthews - see Varsity match pen picture file

Sohrab Ardeshir - see Varsity match pen picture file

John Ovry Lindfield Roberts - see Varsity match pen picture file

Adrian David Hugh Bivar - see Varsity match pen picture file

Edward Chorley Crosfield - see Varsity match pen picture file


Bletchley Team:

Conor Hugh O'Donel Alexander - see Varsity match pen picture file

Harry Golombek (1 March 1911 – 7 January 1995) - chessplayer, journalist, author, arbiter and FIDE official. Honorary grandmaster (1985). Wikipedia.

James Macrae Aitken - see Varsity match pen picture file

Irving John (Jack, "IJ") Good - see Varsity match pen picture file

Nicholas Anthony Perkins - see Varsity match pen picture file

Walter W Jacobs (26 September 1914 - 11 February 1982). Born Newark, New Jersey, USA. Educ. BS, mathematics, City College of New York, 1934; MA, mathematical statistics, George Washington University, 1940, PhD. mathematical statistics, George Washington University, 1951. "Jacobs' wartime activities saw him spend a short period at Bletchley Park in England, although the major recorded activity of that period was his playing chess on board six in a challenge of the Oxford University chess club by the Bletchley Park regulars, including Jack Good and Hugh Alexander. Following the war, Jacobs took on a series of administrative positions at the US Department of Commerce, the US Air Force, and the National Security Agency. After retiring from the NSA. Jacobs undertook an academic career at American University. Computer Pioneer.

John Robert Gilbert - see Varsity match pen picture file

Malcolm Alfred Chamberlain - see Varsity match pen picture file

Peter John Hilton - see Varsity match pen picture file

William Robert Cox - see Varsity match pen picture file

David Rees - see Varsity match pen picture file

Lt. Arthur J Levenson (15 February 1914 – 12 August 2007). Cryptographer, US Army officer and NSA official who worked on the Japanese J19 and the German Enigma codes. Born Brooklyn, New York, USA. Educ. B.S. in mathematics, City College, New York. Graduate work in mathematics at New York and Columbia universities. Post-war career with the National Security Agency; inducted into the NSA Hall of Honor in 2009. Wikipedia.


File Updated

Date Notes
2018 Uploaded for the first time
17 November 2020 Added some details found for Leonard Charles Walters.
20 November 2020 Added details, photo and some comments received from Leonard Barden, relating to the Oxford University vs Bletchley match, 2 December 1944. Games of the top three boards available in the game viewer.
21 March 2021 Moved most of the pen pictures to the Varsity match pen picture file.
All material © 2019 John Saunders