Origins & Early Years | BH Wood | Brief History | Life Members | Clubman of the Year | Lightning Tournament | 2002-03 | 1998-99 | Sutton-Wood Cup

Club History

Our thanks go to Lee Collier for uncovering much of the historical information to be found on this page.

Origins & Early Years

Sutton YMCA was affiliated to the Birmingham & District Chess League in 1937. In 1938-39 they played in Division IV finishing 7th/13, and were runners-up in the Terrill Trophy in 1938. They became Sutton Coldfield in 1939.

In 1945-46 Arthur Utton was the Club Secretary, and at that time they played at the Church House, Coleshill Street, Sutton Coldfield. Arthur was the BDCL Treasurer 1968-83. He died in 2007 at the age of 99.

BH Wood

Baruch Harold Wood OBE MSc (1909-1989), founder editor of CHESS from 1935, and Daily Telegraph correspondent, was a leading member of Sutton Coldfield Chess Club from its inception. His Easy Guide to Chess, first published in 1942, is still in print. GM Nigel Davies calls it “one of the best beginners books on the market.” Wood was also a great organiser, chess entrepeneur, and thorn in the side of the British Chess Federation. He was reputed to be "the most travelled simultaneous display practitioner in this country." Bernard Cafferty called him “one of the most influential figures in British chess of the 20th century.” In 1983 he received the BCF President's Award for Services to Chess.

He was born on 13/Jul/1909 in Sheffield. Apart from the Telegraph, he also wrote for the Illustrated London News, The Yorkshire Post, and was the Birmingham Post chess columnist from 1948 until February 1967 (when Peter Gibbs took over). He was a FIDE judge, and was awarded the rare title of FIDE Life Member in 1953. He won several semi-international events: Baarn 1947, Paignton 1954, Whitby 1963, Thorshavn 1967, and Jersey 1975. In the 1948 British Championship held in London he came 2nd (after scoring 6½ from the first 7 rounds).

He still holds the record for winning the Warwickshire Championship - eight times altogether: 1938, 1939, 1941, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, and 1957. And he still holds the record for the most Birmingham & District Chess League Individual titles - nine, all won in Division I: 1937, 1939, 1954, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1966, 1967, and 1983. He was the Records Secretary for the League from 1951-61.

His home was in Rectory Road, Sutton Coldfield. He died on 04/Apr/1989 aged 79. FIDE President, Florencio Campomanes, attended the funeral. There is an obituary in the May/1989 issue of Chess Monthly. Bernard Cafferty wrote a four-page tribute “Remembering Barry Wood (1909-1989)” in the Jun/2004 issue of the British Chess Magazine.

The Baruch H Wood Memorial Trophy is awarded under the auspices of the Birmingham League each season for best game submitted.

When the Sutton Coldfield Division I side won the Terrill Trophy in 1971, the team included three Woods: Baruch and his sons Chris and Frank. Philip Wood, Baruch’s youngest son, plays for Kenilworth CC in the Leamington & District Chess League.

Brief History

The following is the verbatim entry in BDCL 1897-1972.

Since then the Club has of course added to these successes. For example, in the 2001-2002 season the First Team, captained by Edward Ng (pictured left), were promoted to Division I as Champions of Division II, and completed the double by winning the Terrill Trophy (pictured right).

In its first ever season in the Cannock and District Chess League, Sutton Coldfield won the Division 2 Championship 2005-2006 under the captaincy of Tom Burgess.

The full list of Dudley M Townshend Memorial Trophy wins is: 1966 (Div IV), 1967 (Div IV), 2003 (Div VI), and 2005 (Div V).

Sutton Coldfield won the British Postal Chess Team Championship in 1970, 1977, 1980, and 1989.

The mid-1970s marked a high point in membership.

In years gone by, the Club played at “Chess, Sutton Coldfield,” once the home of CHESS magazine. The Club also played at Boldmere Junior School, the Veseyan Sports and Social Club (until it burnt down!) and then the British Legion in Rectory Road, Sutton Coldfield. It moved from the latter to Erdington Conservative Club, Orphanage Road, in July 1998. Its first meeting at its present venue, the Jaguar Sports and Social Club, was on 12/Mar/2007.

For several years the Club was able to boast of Sabrina Chevannes, several times a British champion. For example, she became the British U18 Girls Champion at the British Chess Championships held in Edinburgh Jul-Aug/2003. There is an example of her play in the Games section. “My friends at school thought I was a freak when I first told them I played chess, but now they think it’s cool that I go all over the world to take part in competitions.”

Incidentally, American GM Andrew Soltis has personally denied the rumour that he once played for Sutton Coldfield Chess Club. But strong players like IM Robert Bellin, FM Stephen Berry, Paul Lamford, Christopher Wood, and John Carleton, did all play for the Club.

Life Members

To quote from the the current Constitution and Rules of Sutton Coldfield Chess Club:

4.2.
The club at its Annual General Meeting may appoint Life Members (all other members are voting, ordinary members).
A proposal to appoint a member as a Life Member must be seconded at the AGM and then approved by at least two thirds of those present and voting.
A Life Member will not be required to pay an annual subscription to the club.

Presumably the proposal will be on the worthy grounds of exceptional service to the Club, which was certainly the case with the present appointees:

Clubman of the Year

At each AGM there is elected a “Clubman of the Year” for services to the Club, and (since 1989, at any rate) a trophy presented to keep for a year.

Lightning Tournament

Every summer the Club holds at least one lightning (buzzer) tournament, run by Keith Escott. Here are the winners of the last few years.

2002-03

Sutton Coldfield Chess Club, its Teams and its Members, enjoyed a very succesful 2002-03 season in the Birmingham and District Chess League.

• The 1st Team, captained by Brian Briscoe, came 6th in Division I.
• The 2nd Team, captained by Arthur Kent, came =8th in Division II.
• The 3rd Team, captained by Chris East, were the Division VI Champions (which was to earn them double promotion), plus they won the Townshend Trophy.
• The 4th Team, captained by Stephen Gardiner, were the Division VII Champions

Pictured below are the principal members of the victorious Fourth Team. From left to right they are Neil Owen, David Gardiner, Riccardo Pazzaglia, and Stephen Gardiner (Captain). The Team dropped only half a point in their League campaign, with Neil scoring a magnificent 10½ from 11 matches.

In addition to team successes, our players performed exceptionally in the League Individual Tournaments:

• Division I: Tristan Cox finalist.
• Division II: Arthur Kent semi-finalist.
• Division V: Sola Folayan winner.
• Division VI: Chris East winner, Collin Dandy finalist, John Wassell semi-finalist.

1998-99

Sutton Coldfield Chess Club’s teams had a wonderful 1998-99 season in the Birmingham and District Chess League.

• The 1st Team, captained by Brian Briscoe, were:
  • promoted back to Division I as champions of Division II.
• The 2nd Team, captained by Arthur Kent:
  • won the Frank H. Terrill Memorial Trophy; and were:
  • promoted back to Division III as runners-up in Division IV.
• The 3rd Team, captained by Tony O’Rourke:
  • secured their place in Division V, having recovered from losing their first 5 matches.
• The 4th Team, captained by Mike Needham, were:
  • runners-up in the Jim Barrington Memorial Trophy; and:
  • for a while were chasing promotion to Division VI.

Pictured below, at the neutral venue of South Birmingham CC in Moseley, are most of the 1998-99 Terrill Trophy-winning side (the Sutton Coldfield 2nd Team) on the very night of their triumph (26/Apr/1999).

From left to right: (standing) substitute Tony O’Rourke, acting captain Marek Soszynski, Chris East, Bob Greatrex, and (seated, facing) Ian Storey - in fact Ian’s game was still in progress while the photo was being taken, though by that time the cup had already been won. Roger Lee is missing from the photo, but his all-important win on board two is available to view or download.

Sutton-Wood Cup

For five years a longplay graded challenge match took place between Sutton Coldfield and Handsworth Wood chess clubs (until the later was wound up in 2006). Thanks to Tony Brown for donating a suitable trophy, and to Steve Chadaway for suggesting the name.

5TH SUTTON-WOOD CUP
12/Jun/2006
Sutton Coldfield CC

1     Neil OWEN      0     John MILDENHALL  1
2    David GARDINER  ½    Marek SOSZYNSKI   ½
3      Joe HIDER     0    Steve FRYER       1
4    Derek GREEN     0    Peter LOACH       1    
5  Stephen GARDINER  0   Adrian HUSSAIN     1
6   Henrik STEPANYAN 1  Stephen MILDENHALL  0
           SCCC     1½          HWCC       4½

The Sutton players all appear on the left, and had Black on the odd-numbered boards. Marek and Adrian made guest appearances for the opposition.

4TH SUTTON-WOOD CUP
21/Jun/2005
Handsworth Wood CC

1    Keith ESCOTT    1    Kevin JONES      0
2     Mark ADDIS     1     Andy LAKE       0
3  Tristan COX       1  Stephen EDWARDS    0
4  Russell JONES     1      Ron NEALE      0    
5    Glenn WINDOWS   1    Steve FRYER      0
6    Iqbal DHESI     0    Peter LOACH      1
7      Roy LAWRENCE  1     Mark CONNOR     0
8    Derek GREEN     1     John ROBINSON   0
9      Joe HIDER     0     Paul WAKEFIELD  1
10   Peter THOMPSON  ½   Graham GEE        ½
           SCCC     7½          HWCC      2½

The Sutton players all appear on the left, and had Black on the odd-numbered boards.

3RD SUTTON-WOOD CUP
12/Jul/2004
Sutton Coldfield CC

1   Keith ESCOTT     0    Kevin JONES       1
2    Sola FOLAYAN    ½     John MILDENHALL  ½
3   Marek SOSZYNSKI  ½  Stephen EDWARDS     ½
4   Chris EAST       0     Andy LAKE        1
5    Mark SLIGHT     1    Steve FRYER       0
6   Iqbal DHESI      1    Steve CHADAWAY    0
7  Collin DANDY      ½      Ron NEALE       ½
8  Adrian HUSSAIN    0     Pete LOACH       1
          SCCC      3½          HWCC       4½

The Sutton players all appear on the left, and had White on the odd-numbered boards.

2ND SUTTON-WOOD CUP
17/Jun/2003
Handsworth Wood CC

1    Keith ESCOTT    0     Kevin JONES      1
2  Tristan COX       1      John MILDENHALL 0
3    Brian BRISCOE   ½     Steve CHADAWAY   ½
4    Marek SOSZYNSKI ½      Andy LAKE       ½
5     Sola FOLAYAN   1   Stephen EDWARDS    0
6    Glenn WINDOWS   1     Steve FRYER      0
7     Neil OWEN      ½      Pete LOACH      ½
8  Kamiran SALIH     1      John ROBINSON   0
9    Chris EAST      0      Paul WAKEFIELD  1
10  Collin DANDY     0    Graham GEE        1
           SCCC      5½          HWCC       4½

The Sutton players all appear on the left, and had White on the even-numbered boards.

1ST SUTTON-WOOD CUP
24/Jun/2002
Sutton Coldfield CC

1     Tony BROWN     1     John MILDENHALL 0
2     Mark ADDIS     0    Kevin JONES      1
3    Keith ESCOTT    1    Steve CHADAWAY   0
4  Tristan COX       1     Andy LAKE       0
5    Brian BRISCOE   ½  Stephen EDWARDS    ½
6  Russell JONES     1    Steve FRYER      0
7    Marek SOSZYNSKI ½     Pete LOACH      ½
8   Arthur KENT      0      Ron NEALE      1
9      Rob MITCHELL  1     Paul WAKEFIELD  0
10    John WASSELL   1       *default*     0
           SCCC      7          HWCC       3

The Sutton players all appear on the left, and had White on the odd-numbered boards.