Benjamin Glover Laws

Laws around 1905

Benjamin Glover Laws (born February 6, 1861 in Barnsbury in London , † September 21, 1931 in London) was an English chess composer .

Chess composition

BG Laws
Morning Post , January 5, 1885

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

Checkmate in 2 moves
1. Re3 – e8! Rd8xd3! 2. Re8xc8 mate

BG Laws
British Chess Magazine , December 20, 1893

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

Reflex mate in 2 moves
1. e4 – e5!

Laws was one of the most important experts in the Bohemian School . He created about a thousand compositions.

Early in his career he sent four issues to Collins FC, the letter's clerk . He wrote on June 7, 1878, that Laws should concentrate in the future on perfecting one problem before tackling the next. He should be clear about the meaning of each piece and each pawn. Laws took this advice to heart.

Laws was involved in the publication of several chess books. The Chess Problem Text Book (1887) is the first chess composition book with compositions and articles (instead of just compositions, as before). Two-move chess problems (circa 1889), a high quality book for beginners in composition, was printed for at least forty-two years. He also worked for magazines. He took over the composition column for Chess Monthly when his acquaintance, Johannes Hermann Zukertort , died. After the death of James Rayner on June 4, 1898, Laws, who had recently stopped at Chess Monthly , took over the composition column in British Chess Magazine founded by Rayner in 1888 , which Laws also led until his death. When Laws' health was in poor health, he was helped by Mr. Chandler and James Rayner's nephew, Thomas Rayner Dawson . Two articles by Laws that appeared there had a major impact on chess composition in England.

Laws was president from the founding of the British Chess Problem Society (BCPS) until his death. He contributed a lot to their success. As president of the BCPS he also rendered the chess composers great service.

In 1906, when Laws' health was in dire straits , a lawsuit broke out with Emanuel Lasker when six columns appeared in Lasker's Magazine with a false accusation, for which Laws sought apologies on behalf of British Chess Magazine and the British chess composers. Lasker, who was 3,000 miles away at the time of publication, immediately expressed regret. However, the conflict was only resolved at the last moment through an apology from the author. After the litigation ended, many English chess composers signed an appreciation for Laws. Laws was delighted with this and expressed gratitude through several dedication assignments.

Laws, who mainly composed model mat tasks, invented the American Indian, a problematic subject. The corresponding task first appeared as # 85 on January 5, 1885 in the Morning Post (see diagram above). The subject later became well known through a famous problem by Samuel Loyd . Laws was also the inventor of the reflective matting , in which white or black - unlike the self-matting - have to be matted if it is only possible to do so. White's task there is to be mated (see diagram below). He also created several fairy tale chess problems , mainly those in which only one piece that had already been captured could be converted .

Laws represented England in the first three international chess composition solving tournaments from 1929 to 1931.

Stage name

Laws had several stage names . He mostly used these for compositions that, in his opinion, were of lower quality. Often he derived this from place names in London.

• Handley Rhodes when he lived on Hanley Road.
• S. Green when he lived in Stroud Green.
• C. Hill as an allusion to Crouch Hill.
• IS Lington as a reference to Islington .
• C. Horn as a reference to Hornsey .
• NRS , derived from the last letters of his name.

literature

• John Keeble: To English Bohemian: BG Laws . Modifications made by George Hume. AC White Christmas Series. Stroud, 1933.

Web links

Recollections. Laws lecture at the BCPS meeting in 1924