1953 (1st) CHESS Festival Open, 25 July - 7 August, Cheltenham

1953 CHESS Festival Open		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
1	Jan Hein Donner	Netherlands	w4+	b33+	w3+	b1=	w16+	b5+	b10-	w7+	b6=	b8+	w11+	w13+	10
2	Cenek Kottnauer	(Czech / GBR)	b28+	w22+	b17+	w2=	w7+	b3-	w5=	b10+	b4+	b6+	w8=	w16+	9½
3	Dragoslav Andric	Yugoslavia	b19+	w14+	b1-	w17+	b8+	w2+	b4=	w6-	b5+	b7-	w18+	w10+	8½
4	Raaphi J A Persitz	Israel	b1-	w8+	w12+	b5-	w17+	b25+	w3=	b23+	w2-	b10+	b7=	w6+	8
5	Donald George Mackay	Balham	b12+	w17-	b22+	w4+	b14+	w1-	b2=	w9+	w3-	b24+	b6-	w7+	7½
6	Wolfgang Heidenfeld	South Africa	w21+	b20=	b10+	w16-	w11+	b7=	b19+	b3+	w1=	w2-	w5+	b4-	7½
7	Leonard W Barden	South Norwood	w29+	b16=	w34+	b21+	b2-	w6=	b8+	b1-	w12+	w3+	w4=	b5-	7½
8	Slade Milan	Stockport	+	b4-	+	+	w3-	+	w7-	16+	w10+	w1-	b2=	11=	7
9	(Thomas) Keith Hemingway	Bradford	b	w10-						b5-					7
10	Hugh Edward Guy Courtney	Chilham	b18=	b9+	w6-	b13+	+	b16+	w1+	w2-	b8-	w4-	w20+	b3-	6½
11	Francis Samuel Woolford	Cinderford					b6-						b1-	8=	6½
12	Maximilian Ernst Poolake	Stroud	w5-		b4-						b7-				6½
13	Douglas Saunderson	Chesterfield				w10-								b1-	6½
14	Peter Campbell Gibbs	Bradford	+	b2-	+	24+	w5-								6½
15	Michael Macdonald-Ross	Lee													6½
16	James Neale	Cheltenham	+	w7=	+	b6+	b1-	w10-		8-				b2-	6
17	Ivan Robert Napier	Lelans	23+	b5+	w2-	b3-	b4-								6
18	T Evenson	Faeroes	w10=										b3-		6
19	Michael J Haygarth	Leeds	w3-						w6-						6
20	H Olsen	Faeroes		w6=									b10-		6
21	Petras Monciunskas	Bradford	b6-			w7-									6
22	Kenneth Whyld	Nottingham		b2-	w5-										5½
23	Ralph N Shinn	Hanley Castle	17-							w4-					5½
24	Dr. Aaron Jacob Bernfield	London				14-						w5-			5
25	David Malet Armstrong	Storrington						w4-							4½
26	D L Hawkes	RAF													4½
27	R H King	London SW7													4
28	J Petterson	Walthamstow	w2-												4
29	Wilfred Partington	Stroud	b7-												3½
30	Philip Ashby Ursell	Bournemouth													2½
31	J Kozler	West Bromwich													2
32	Thomas H Wallis	Nailsworth													2
33	H Whitaker	Balham		w1-											2
34	(William) David Minty	Swansea			b7-										1½

It has not been possible to work out all the pairings for the tournament. BH Wood wrote that the Gloucestershire Echo had all the results of the tournament but the relevant issues do not yet appear in online archives of this newspaper.

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Other Sections

1953 CHESS Festival: Premier Full Fortnight A.M.

1953 CHESS Festival Premier Full Fortnight A.M.		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
1	James Ernest Pattle	Guildford	&;	½	1	½	0	0	1	1	1	1	6
2	Marshall William J Thompson	Southampton	½	&;	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	1	6
3	Alan Edgar Nield	Hastings	0	½	&;	0	1	½	½	1	1	1	5½
4	John James O'Hanlon	Dublin	½	½	1	&;	½	0	½	1	½	1	5½
5	Lt.Col. Francis Pakenham Goldney	Faeroes	1	½	0	½	&;	0	1	1	½	½	5
6	J(ohn?) Grosberg	Bournemouth	1	½	½	1	1	&;	0	0	0	½	4½
7	Robert F Pezet	Southampton	0	0	½	½	0	1	&;	½	½	1	4
8	Angus Rayfield Pitt	Cheltenham	0	½	0	0	0	1	½	&;	½	1	3½
9	John H Manners	Melksham	0	0	0	½	½	1	½	½	&;	0	3
10	P Morrish1	Penarth	0	0	0	0	½	½	0	0	1	&;	2

¹ not to be confused with the well-known chess organiser Peter Edwin Morrish (1922-2007) whom I don't think ever lived in Wales.

1953 CHESS Festival: Premier 1st Week Mornings

1953 CHESS Festival Premier 1st Week A.M.		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
1	Kenneth Charles Messere	Westcliff	&;	1	1	1	½	½	1	1	6
2	Peter Charles Tomlin	Wembley	0	&;	½	0	1	1	1	1	4½
3	John Reid	Adare	0	½	&;	1	0	1	1	1	4½
4	John G Cockcroft	Bingley	0	1	0	&;	1	½	1	0	3½
5	George Powell Moore	Cardiff	½	0	1	0	&;	1	0	1	3½
6	John Watts Narcross	Leeds	½	0	0	½	0	&;	½	1	2½
7	J E Fletcher	Leeds	0	0	0	0	1	½	&;	1	2½
8	A C B Smith	Birmingham	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	&;	1

1953 CHESS Festival: Premier 1st Week Afternoons (Swiss - 6 rounds!)

1953 CHESS Festival Premier 1st Week P.M.		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
1	H Clark	Sheffield	&;	1	½	½	½		1	1	4½
2	Hugh McKay Ewans	Sheffield	0	&;	1	1	1	1	½		4½
3	R Viellefond	France	½	0	&;	1		1	½	1	4
4	Bertram Goulding Brown	Cambridge	½	0	0	&;	1	1		½	3
5	Frederick L Tatler	Stourbridge	½	0		0	&;	1	½	½	2½
6	W A Reid	Stroud		0	0	0	0	&;	1	1	2
7	Leslie Edward Vine	Eastleigh	0	½	½		½	0	&;	½	2
8	D A Thomas	Bristol	0		0	½	½	0	½	&;	1½

1953 CHESS Festival: Premier 2nd Week Mornings (Swiss - 6 rounds)

1953 CHESS Festival Premier 2nd Week A.M.		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
1	Philip Ashby Ursell	Bournemouth	&;	1	1	1	½				1	1	5½
2	Bernard Landon Wilkinson	Chorley	0	&;	1	½	1			1		1	4½
3	B Abraham	Millom	0	0	&;	1		1	1	1			4
4	(Charles) Derek Simpson Paffley	Wakefield	0	½	0	&;	1	1	1				3½
5	Charles Cordel	Leicester	½	0		0	&;		1	1	½		3
6	Alexander Schofield	Castleford			0	0		&;	½	½	1	½	2½
7	John H Manners	Melksham			0	0	0	½	&;		1	½	2
8	K P Hughes	Newport		0	0		0	½		&;	1	½	2
9	Newman Clissold	Wallasey	0				½	0	0	0	&;	1	1½
10	Thomas H Wallis	Nailsworth	0	0				½	½	½	0	&;	1½

1953 CHESS Festival: Premier 2nd Week Afternoons (Swiss - 6 rounds)

1953 CHESS Festival Premier 2nd Week P.M.		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
1	Peter Darrell Sanderson	Coalville	&;	1	½	½	1	1		1			5
2	D J Collins	Harrow	0	&;	½			1		½	1	1	4
3	Marshall William J Thompson	Southampton	½	½	&;	1	0			1		1	4
4	Ronald Owen Powis	Stroud	½		0	&;	½	½	1	1			3½
5	Bertram Goulding Brown	Cambridge	0		1	½	&;		½		½	1	3½
6	J(ohn?) Grosberg	Bournemouth	0	0		½		&;	1		½	1	3
7	Reginald J Potter	Birmingham				0	½	0	&;	0	1	1	2½
8	D Thomas	Bristol	0	½	0	0			1	&;	1		2½
9	Janis Iljicevs	Coventry		0			½	½	0	0	&;	1	2
10	T C Johnstone	Gloucester		0	0		0	0	0		0	&;	0

Major First Week, Mornings, Section 1: (1-3) Walter John Dinnie Annand (Nantwich), Edgar Priestley (Huddersfield), J Dixon (Wheelock) 5/7; (4) George Adolphus Montagu Wilkinson (Cheltenham) 4; (5-6) Dorothea Denise Alma (Dody) Bourdillon (née Rodwell) (Gloucester), J Holdsworth (Bradford) 2½; (7-8) Ronald William Hornbrook (Plymouth), H B Howard (Bromley) 2.

Major First Week, Mornings, Section 2: (1-2) R A Smith (Birmingham), Anthony George Midgley (Huddersfield) 5½/7; (3) Conor O'Leary (Cork) 4½; (4-5) Donald Julius Groen (Surbiton), V Olsen (Denmark) 4; (6) J Jellett (Newry) 3; (7) H Hoey (Warrenpoint) 1½; (8) Norman G Thomas (RAF) 0.

Major Second Week, Mornings: (1-2) F Smith (Blackburn), George H Kaye (Coventry) 4/5; (3) Dorothea Denise Alma (Dody) Bourdillon (née Rodwell) (Gloucester) 3½; (4) H Hoey (Warrenpoint) 2; (5) P Johnson (London E17) 1½; (6) P Laurent (France) 0.

Major Second Week, Afternoons: (1) P Fredouille (France) 5/5; (2-3) A J Salmon (Chatham), Charles Edward Scutt (Bristol) 3½; (4-5) J Jellett (Newry), Wilfred G Oliver (Cheltenham) 1½; (6) W Barber (Keynsham) 0.

Major First Week, Afternoons (double round): (1) Ronald Owen Powis (Stroud) 5/6; (2) W Addison (Rochdale) 3; (3-4) Frank Ernest Tanner (Gloucester), P Sloan (Dundalk) 2.

First Class First Week, Afternoons: (1) Harry Dolphin (Nelson) 6½/7; (2) Anthony George Britton (Sutton Coldfield) 5½; (3) D Brydon (Newcastle upon Tyne) 5; (4) Arthur Clement Bannister (Leicester) 4; (5) George Burnett (Pershore) 2½; (6) G Jenkins (Neath) 2; (7) G Roberts (Luton) 1½; (8) E Thorne (Bristol) 1.

First Class and Junior Full Fortnight: (1) T O Read (Southampton) 7/9; (2) Michael Edward Ventham (Southampton) 6½; (3-6) Leslie Hesbrook (Wolverhampton), Stepas Ramanauskas (Halifax), Arthur E Chapple (West Harrow), David G Weir (Perth) 5; (7) D R Parsons (Southampton) 4½; (8) R D Holland (Timperley) 3½; (9) Frederick W Appleby (Chichester) 2; (10) Ernest Fowler Fardon (Malvern) 1½. Ventham won the Junior prize.

First Class First Week, Mornings: (1) N S Coles (West Drayton) 6/6; (2-4) Raymond Lhoste¹ (France), G I Carver (Wolverhampton), N H Turner (Rushden) 4; (5-6) H Carrick (Liverpool), O G Birch (Stoke) 3½; (7) Rev. E G Wood (Shifnal) 2; (8-10) Miss E M Humby (Edinburgh), P Crotty (Belvedere), A A Cooper (Burton) 1. (¹ Raymond Lhoste (1920-1992) was a French arbiter and translator of chess books from English and Russian into French. His wife played in a subsidiary section.)

First Class Second Week, Mornings: (1-2) Anthony George Britton (Sutton Coldfield), D Munro (Edinburgh) 4½/6; (3) Norman G Thomas (RAF) 4; (4) H T Walker (Gosport) 3½; (5-7) G Wood (Coventry), J A Grant (Wolverhampton), R N Harrison (Leyburn) 3; (8-9) H Handy (Gloucester), G Clarke (Leyburn) 2; (10) John Alan Vennor Peters (Cardiff) ½.

Junior Second Week, Mornings: (1) J Duncan (Northwood) 5/6; (2-3) R Coleman (Leicester), P Reid (Thorpe Bay) 4; (4-6) B Barst (Westcliff), R Woodier (Knutsford), Christopher Baruch Wood (Sutton Coldfield) 3½; (7) A J Taylor (Plymouth) 3; (8) Raymond Thomas F Williams (Plymouth) 2½; (9) G Leach (Markham) 1; (10) K Jones (Markham) 0.

Junior First Week, Afternoons: (1) David James Thouless (Cambridge) 5½/6; (2) M G Jones (Aberdare) 3½; (3) A Marshall (Leicester) 3; (4) David Roy Hopkin (Gloucester) 0.

Lady "Bunny Rabbits" Tourney: (1) Miss Cullen (Stroud) 6/7; (2) Mrs. Ashwin (Cheltenham) 4½; (3) Miss Cooper (Burton) 4; (4) Mme. Lhoste (France) 3½; (5-6) Mrs. (Edith) Olive Cock (Falmouth), Mrs. Daphne Irene Margaret Poolake (née Pitt, from Stroud) 3; (7-8) Miss Bolitho (Lelant), Mrs. Cooper (Burton) 2.

SECOND THURSDAY TO SATURDAY [6-8 August 1953]

Premier Second Weekend: (1) John James O'Hanlon (Dublin) 3/3; (2) Alan Edgar Nield (Hastings) 2; (3-4) S P Roberts (Southport), J Iljicevs (Coventry) ½.

Major Second Weekend Section 1: (1) David G Weir (Perth) 2½/3; (2) Stepas Ramanauskas (Halifax) 2; (3) A J Salmon (Chatham) 1½; (4) P Morrish (Penarth) 0.

Major Second Weekend Section 2: (1) George H Kaye (Coventry) 2½/3; (2-3) D R Parsons (Southampton), J A Grant (Wolverhampton) 1½; (4) H T Walker (Gosport) ½.

First Class Second Weekend: (1) T O Read (Southampton) 3/3; (2) R Kelly (Arklow) 2; (3) Miss Margaret Eileen Elizabeth (Peggy) Wood (Sutton Coldfield) 1; (4) George Burnett (Pershore) 0.

BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND [in 1953 the UK's August Bank Holiday was on Monday 1 August]

Junior and under-fifteen Bank Holiday Weekend: (1) (Rex) Frank T Wood (Sutton Coldfield) 5½/6 (winning both prizes); (2) D R Hopkin (Gloucester) 3½; (3) J P Walker (Paris) 3; (4) Philip R C Wood (Sutton Coldfield) 0.

First-class, Bank Holiday Weekend: (1) N S Coles (West Drayton) 4½/5; (2) A Marshall (Leicester); (3) V S Bayles (Diss) 2½; (4-5) R E Martin (Twyford), R D Hollands (Timperley) 1½; (6) Miss E M Humby (Edinburgh) 1.

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CHESS, September 1953, Vol.18/216, ppn 225-226

THE CHELTENHAM CHESS FESTIVAL

"We must make this Festival an annual event!" That was the verdict on Cheltenham’s Chess Festival, conveyed to us during and since the event by scores, nay hundreds of people, the Mayor of Cheltenham included. Well, there will be a 1954 Festival: bigger and better and, we hope, cheaper than 1953’s. We are grateful to those who came this time, for in giving themselves a real treat, they made possible the great success that was Cheltenham 1953.

With twelve rounds for 34 (eventually 30) players in the "Open," and a well spread out field, the Swiss system worked well indeed. All the first seven players, who scored 7½ or more, played each other.

It was announced several rounds before the end that, if necessary to avoid anomalous allocation of colours, we reserved the right to depart by half a point from the strictly numerical pairings. This step justified itself completely; it is far more unfair to have two more Blacks than Whites, than to meet an opponent who has scored 6 instead of 5½. In fact this rule should be made general in Swiss tournaments with an even number of rounds.

Donner failed to turn up for the prizegiving ceremony until it was all over, and the Mayor of Cheltenham, waving a bundle of one hundred £1 notes, said he only wished he had the right to donate it to some local charity, in default of claim.

In two simultaneous displays, a total of 45 players opposed B. H. Wood.

M. Macdonald-Ross, though he was rather favoured by weaker opponents in the draw, made a most promising score for a lad of only fourteen.

The ten lightning chess tournaments brought a total entry of 304, many from outside the ranks of the Festival players.

B. H. Wood took on, in all, 29 opponents with his wonder lightning clock (most of them from the Open Championship!) ending seven games to the good.

Fifteen nations were represented and it was pleasant to see a group of five players from France and of seven from Ireland, almost every one of whom vowed to come again.

The exhibition of photographs proved an acceptable relaxation from play for many participants.

We hope to have twice as many pictures on show next year.

H. Dolphin from Nelson, a chronic asthma sufferer, was very poorly throughout the whole of the first week but played splendid chess to win first place in his section, unbeaten. Minutes after receiving his prize, he went down with a terrible spasm, but was able to go home after two days in hospital. H. Whitaker probably sacrificed a lot of his chances in the Open by devoting himself to Dolphin's care. They had played each other in the Postal Chess Club, found themselves in the same diggings and were firm friends within half-an-hour. [Sad postscript: Harry Dolphin died in 1954, aged 24. JS]

The New York Times mentioned the event nearly a year ago.

The Gloucestershire Echo distinguished itself by reporting (we believe) the result of every game played in every section—about two hundred in the "Open" and nearly as much again from the minor events. The B.B.C. gave the scores every night and results were also beamed out on the Continental service. The Daily Telegraph reported the event daily, as also the Birmingham Post and (after a few blank days) the Times. The Sunday Mercury had a feature article and other newspaper publicity came from the Bristol Observer, Illustrated London News, The Tablet, Manchester Guardian, Western Morning News, Bristol Evening Post, etc., etc.

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File Updated

Date	Notes
1 July 2026	First uploaded - 14 games from the Open, plus 4 from other sections, results, crosstables and a photo.
1 July 2026	Added the part-game L Barden ½-½ W Heidenfeld, Open rd 6. Many thanks to Andy Ansel for sending the game.
2 July 2026	Two games, Barden-Heidenfeld and Andric-Heidenfeld, have been updated to include Heidenfeld's full published annotations of the games. The Barden-Heidenfeld part-game also includes an important move correction (46 Nc4, not 46 Nf3). Many thanks to Andy Ansel for supplying the Barden-Heidenfeld annotations.