In
the early evening our anniversary celebration could start according to plan,
as our (at this moment still) German country’s representative Michael
Negele, coming from Wuppertal had arrived in time as well.
The
technical preparations are finished, our webmaster is acting invisibly
behind the Ken Whyld poster as the operator of the notebook.
Certainly there is no need for introducing the two gentlemen in
the picture ...
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The
audience in anticipation of the following events.
(in front, from the left:) John Donaldson, Gunnar Finnlaugsson,
Claes Løfgren;
(behind:) Per Skjoldager and (with a camera) Calle Erlandsson.
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Straight
after the obligatory short greetings things went on, the first of two "witty
speeches" of the evening was presented in an infectious manner by Michael
Negele ...
Starting point of his talk was the nice commemorative publication "100
Jahre Braunschweiger Schachclub" (100 Years of Brunswick Chess Club;
in the picture above); further explanations of the "Brunswick Chess
Metropolis", the XIII West German Congress 1880 at Brunswick including
a chess exhibition (quite a novelty at that time!) and of the formation
/ development of the Brunswick chess club library followed. The lecture,
livened up with some questions to the audience and seasoned with many amusing
quotations from the Deutsche Schachzeitung 1880, met with due approval
– here the presentation sheets linked as a pdf
file (1.9 MB).
For additional reading an article (in German only):
Die Bibliothek
des Braunschweiger Schachclubs (pdf file, 6 MB).
(sitting)
Tony Gillam, Andreas Saremba and Bob van de Velde;
standing (with a camera) our Dresden Member Frank Schubert
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The
second "congenial" lecture of our English friend Tony Gillam (picture
above) turned out to be a "not arranged" – so purely by
chance – continuation of the first talk! – as Tony reported
on his extensive efforts to trace the games of the Brunswick Chess Congress
1880. The inimitable description of his experiences in Brunswick archives
and libraries where our "hunter and collector" was exposed to
the merciless "German bureaucracy" inducing him to commute back
and forth again and again without any result, caused again a tremendous
atmosphere. After all he could announce as a conclusion that he had possibly
found a person who could supply the games sought after – though this
prospect is associated with a great "Maybe". We hope that Tony’s
research has been crowned with success in the meantime.
A further highlight awaited us this evening – the now following consultation
game of John Donaldson against the "KWA masters": It is quite
remarkable which joyful enthusiasm and dedication our members are able to
show at the board, beyond all collecting mania.
John
Donaldson before the start of the game, his eyes presumably
raised to goddess Caissa. Once again Mrs Klittich-Pfankuch
takes exemplarily care of the catering. |
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A short remark on the arrangements: the opponents played in separate rooms,
Michael Negele offered to transmit the moves to the opponents. John Donaldson
had the white pieces. The time limit was 75 minutes for each side where
only the own clock was decisive, leaving the time for transmitting the moves
out of account. A strong Nordic-Dutch combination constituted the KWA group
(Per Skjoldager, Gunnar Finnlaugsson, Claes Løfgren, Jes Knudsen,
Poul Bang Nielsen and Jurgen Stigter), but in the course of the game additional
members loudly joined in. Of course it was not allowed to consult chess
literature or even computer programs, and the players had to obey the old
"Touch and Move Law".
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Poul
Bang Nielsen (on the right) and Gunnar Finnlaugsson writing down
the moves – the game is still in the early opening phase.
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