Author: Wesbury, Eric E (1881-1939) signed
Year: 1903
Publisher:
Place: Birmingham
Description:
Two page letter to Fritz Englund in Eric Westbury's hand (10 1/4" x 8") discussing exchange of problem publications. Written on the note paper of the famous St George Chess Club. Fritz Englund (1871-1933) was the problem editor of Tidskrift for Schach.
His obituary in The Problemist mentioned that" he held a very responsible position in a Birmingham firm", and there was a period from the mid to late 1920s when he was inactive as a composer. Aside from chess, music was his major interest. In an article in the Hampshire Telegraph and Post for December 18th 1914, G. W. Chandler wrote "He is a facile pianist, a student of orchestral scores, and has written some clever songs, much too good to be called ‘popular". He is connected with a powerful choral and orchestral society in Birmingham." Later Chandler continued "he is a deep thinker, a student of many perplexing social questions, and a man who finds time, in spite of many activities, to indulge in outdoor pursuits." As a player Westbury took a high board for the Worcestershire county team. He began composing at the age of 17, and held orthodox English views on composition, attaching great importance to the key move and trying to achieve the maximum degree of accuracy. In the two-mover he was one of the leading British exponents of the Good Companions style, and had a knack for finding artistic matrices. His three-movers were mostly in the standard English style of his youth, attempting to combine model mates with strategic features, although he occasionally composed pure Bohemian problems. Chandler, remembering Westbury in The Problemist for May 1964, wrote "It was not enough that he could fully present a complex idea. It had to be presented as a unified whole, with the white pieces economically used, and all the resources of the position adequately utilized." 10 of his problems appear in the FIDE Albums, though of course he was composing for a number of years before 1914.
Fritz Englund was a noted problemist and the Englund Gambit was named after in inadvertently. The opening was invented by Karlis Betins (1867-1943). He published his analysis "Konigsbauer gegen Damenbauer" in Deutsche Schachzeiting 1930. Two years later Englund, the leading chess figure in Sweden, sponsored a thematic tournament, held at Stockholm in late 1932 and 1933. Every game had to begin with Betins' main line. Probably because Betins' article had already been forgotten, or - more probable - because Englund died shortly afterwards, when chess magazines reported his death, they rarely failed to mention "Englund's Gambit Tournament." So the name stuck.
Condition:
Fold where folded to be mailed else a very good copy an active chess problemist.
Year: 1903
Publisher:
Place: Birmingham
Description:
Two page letter to Fritz Englund in Eric Westbury's hand (10 1/4" x 8") discussing exchange of problem publications. Written on the note paper of the famous St George Chess Club. Fritz Englund (1871-1933) was the problem editor of Tidskrift for Schach.
His obituary in The Problemist mentioned that" he held a very responsible position in a Birmingham firm", and there was a period from the mid to late 1920s when he was inactive as a composer. Aside from chess, music was his major interest. In an article in the Hampshire Telegraph and Post for December 18th 1914, G. W. Chandler wrote "He is a facile pianist, a student of orchestral scores, and has written some clever songs, much too good to be called ‘popular". He is connected with a powerful choral and orchestral society in Birmingham." Later Chandler continued "he is a deep thinker, a student of many perplexing social questions, and a man who finds time, in spite of many activities, to indulge in outdoor pursuits." As a player Westbury took a high board for the Worcestershire county team. He began composing at the age of 17, and held orthodox English views on composition, attaching great importance to the key move and trying to achieve the maximum degree of accuracy. In the two-mover he was one of the leading British exponents of the Good Companions style, and had a knack for finding artistic matrices. His three-movers were mostly in the standard English style of his youth, attempting to combine model mates with strategic features, although he occasionally composed pure Bohemian problems. Chandler, remembering Westbury in The Problemist for May 1964, wrote "It was not enough that he could fully present a complex idea. It had to be presented as a unified whole, with the white pieces economically used, and all the resources of the position adequately utilized." 10 of his problems appear in the FIDE Albums, though of course he was composing for a number of years before 1914.
Fritz Englund was a noted problemist and the Englund Gambit was named after in inadvertently. The opening was invented by Karlis Betins (1867-1943). He published his analysis "Konigsbauer gegen Damenbauer" in Deutsche Schachzeiting 1930. Two years later Englund, the leading chess figure in Sweden, sponsored a thematic tournament, held at Stockholm in late 1932 and 1933. Every game had to begin with Betins' main line. Probably because Betins' article had already been forgotten, or - more probable - because Englund died shortly afterwards, when chess magazines reported his death, they rarely failed to mention "Englund's Gambit Tournament." So the name stuck.
Condition:
Fold where folded to be mailed else a very good copy an active chess problemist.