1941 Army v RAF Match, Hampstead CC, London, 25 October

Source: CHESS, December 1941, Vol.7/75, p33

The Army won their match with the RAF by a narrow margin. Several last-minute changes in the teams were necessitated by the exigencies of war.

Bd	Royal Air Force	3½-4½	Army
1w	P/O John David Solomon	1-0	Rifleman Frank Parr
2b	A.C.1 Douglas Eric Arnold Riley	0-1	Maj. George Shorrock Ashcombe Wheatcroft
3w	Cpl. E S Taylor/Tayler	1-0	2nd Lt. Dennis Morton Horne
4b	A.C.2 David Henry Butler	0-1	Cadet John Montgomerie
5w	A.C.2 John Hobbs	1-0	L/C (Alexander) Aird Thomson
6b	L.A.C. David Brine Pritchard	½-½	Pte. Frederick Walter Allen
7w	Cpl. J H Bavin	0-1	2nd Lt. (Richard) Nevil Coles
8b	A.C.2 William Harold Cozens	0-1	Capt. Harry Gethin Thorp Matchett
25 October 1941		3½-4½	at Hampstead CC, London

An informal match "Army v Civil Air Defence" was arranged, and played at the same time, without clocks...

Bd	Army	1-3	Civil Air Defence
1w	Cpl. John Todhunter Keable	1-0	Harold Lommer
2b	Pte. G Whatmough	0-1	W G Belinfante
3w	Pte. J E Ainsworth	0-1	A Boyce
4b	L.A.C. W E Wright	0-1	Sir Gilbert Jackson
25 October 1941		1-3	at Hampstead CC, London

The games of the Army-RAF match were unusually interesting, and we publish some of them later in this issue. The Allen-Pritchard game was adjudicated: the RAF man was a pawn up but in a position that could not be won. F W Allen is a recruit from Australia who has been a subscriber to CHESS for many years "out there". We congratulate him on his debut in Home chess circles.

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1941 British Forces v Allied Forces Match, Borough Club, Nottingham, 15 November

Bd	Allied Forces	5½-6½	British Forces
1w	2nd Lt. Georges Cartier1, F.F.F	1-0	Bdr. Harry Golombek
2b	2nd Lt. Franciszek Sulik, Pol.A	0-1	P/O John David Solomon
3w	Pte. A Simek, Cz.A	0-1	Maj. George Shorrock Ashcombe Wheatcroft
4b	2nd Lt. Oldrych Balcar, Pol.A	1-0	Pte. Frank Parr
5w	Pte. Victor Farkas, Cz.A	½-½	2nd Lt. John Montgomerie
6b	Pte. W Prytys, Pol.A	0-1	P/O Francis George Tims Collins
7w	2nd Lt. Adamczewski, Pol.A	0-1	A.C.1 Douglas Eric Arnold Riley
8b	Dr. Zak, M.O., R.N.B.	1-0	2nd Lt. Dennis Morton Horne
9w	2nd Lt. Maxime Chauvet, F.F.F.	1-0	L/C (Alexander) Aird Thomson
10b	S/M J J Reich, Cz.A	1-0	Cpl. John Todhunter Keable
11w	Sgt. Francis/Fleischmann, Cz.A	0-1	2nd Lt. (Richard) Nevil Coles
12b	Pte. J J Eshuis, R.N.B.	0-1	Serg. Victor B Rush
15 November 1941		5½-6½	at Borough Club, Nottingham

¹ nom de guerre of Saviely Tartakower whilst with the Free French Forces

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Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 17 November 1941

BRITISH ARMY TEAM BEATS ALLIES AT CHESS

Men who have fought Hitler in Poland, escaped to Rumania, fought him again in France, and escaped thence to Britain, sat down in the Borough Club here [Nottingham] yesterday afternoon [15 November 1941] to play chess with British soldiers. They wore the khaki uniforms of the French, Polish, Czecho-Slovak and Dutch Free Forces, distinguished by their shoulder badges, and their ranks included privates, sergeants and lieutenants.

The British Services team to meet this Allied side sat in equally contrasting uniforms and ranks. It was a strong side. Top board was Bombardier H. Golombek, runner-up for the British championship before the war, who had received special leave to travel from Northern Ireland. His opponent was Lieut. "Georges Cartier"—the nom-de-guerre of Dr. Xavier Tartakover, the Polish chess-master, who lived long in France, and to-day is serving under General de Gaulle.

Tartakover's Return

There Is an amusing story behind Tartakover's appearance. For nearly 40 years now he has played international chess as a professional all over the world. On the outbreak of war he adopted a French name, enrolled under General de Gaulle, and forswore chess—as much because he wanted a rest from the game as for any other reason.

Mr. J[ulius]. Du Mont, of the "British Chess Magazine," who helped to organise the match in his drive for popularising chess among the Forces, wrote to Free French headquarters direct, and the result was that Lieut. "Cartier" received notice in his company orders to present himself at Nottingham and play chess as part of the Entente Cordiale. He won fairly easily, although Golombek made a last-minute attempt to get a pawn through for queening by sacrificing a rook for a knight.

Next to Bombardier Golombek sat Pilot Officer Solomon, Major Wheatcroft and Private Frank Parr. Further down was Lance-Corporal Aird Thomson, one of the most promising young British players. All were outstanding in English chess before the war.

Best known among their opponents were Lieutenant Sulik, who played regularly in the Polish International team, and Private Victor Fargas, who was champion of Bratislava. Lieut O. Balcar, one of the Poles, told me after he had won his game, how he had fought in Poland against the German invaders.

"When my unit was driven back to the Rumanian border, we crossed over," he said. "Then we were interned. We had some money from the Polish Government, however, and I was able to buy a suit of civilian clothes and escape. I got to Greece, and from there I made my wav to France, so that I could continue the fight. When the Germans drove us back, I was able to get to a village near St. Nazaire. British warships were waiting off the coast, and I got aboard one, and here I am in England."

Jovial Poles

Saturday's match was a triumph for Mr. Du Mont in that the War Office arranged for the Poles to travel from Scotland and provided the railway vouchers for all the players. Despite their all-night journey, the Poles were in jovial mood, and brought a portable gramophone with them and records of Polish songs. "I am hoping to get further War Office co-operation in arranging more matches," Mr Du Mont told me. "There is keen interest in chess in the Services, and the wide extent of it is not always realised.”

Mr. R[ufus]. H. S. Stevenson, secretary of the British Chess Federation, was controller, and Alderman J. N. Derbyshire, of Nottingham, president of the Federation, was host to the two teams.

The British team beat the Allied team by 6½ to 5½ points.

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David Henry Butler (21 December 1914 - 9 October 1991) was born in Lancashire, for whom he played in OTB county chess, as he did for Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Berkshire at different times. He was in receipt of the 1986 British Chess Federation President's Award for his work as an administrator, in particular for his 47 years as match captain of the British Correspondence Chess Association. He was an International Arbiter for Correspondence Chess (IAC).

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File Updated

Date	Notes
18 July 2024	First upload. Five games from the Army and Navy match, two from the British v Allied forces match.
6 September 2024	Added three more games from the British v Allied Forces match. My thanks to Dominique Thimognier (of the excellent Héritage des Echecs Français website) for helping me with these games. Dominique also drew my attention to the newspaper report which I have added to the page. Many thanks to Dominique.