Thomas Rayner Dawson

Thomas Rayner Dawson

Thomas Rayner Dawson (born November 28, 1889 in Leeds , † December 16, 1951 in London ) was a British chess composer , mathematician and Vice President of the British Institute of the Rubber Industry .

chess

Dawson, whose first composition - a two-move - appeared in 1907, published numerous tasks, ie tasks with clusters of a topic. In 1938 his book Ultimate Themes was published, in which he showed many of them. He was a friend of CM Fox, to whom he certified "never failing generosity". According to the British Chess Problem Society , of which Dawson was director from 1931 to 1943, Dawson created 5,320 fairytale chess problems , 885 mating problems, 97 self-mating and 137 studies . More than 320 of his compositions have received awards.

Dawson has been a clerk in several chess magazines. In 1909 he began working in the endgame department of Chess Amateur , but then paused until 1922. From that time Dawson was a clerk in The Problemist (1922-1931), Fairy Chess Review (1930-1951) and the British Chess Magazine (1931-19 March 1951). In addition to other chess magazines , he was in charge of Braille Chess Magazine for thirteen years .

Dawson's influence was noticeable in many chess magazines in Europe and America.

Innovations

With the invention of new fairytale chess figures and types, Dawson laid the basis for many new lines of development in chess composition. The following figures and terms were invented or popularized by him.

Rules :

• Series Züger (Engl. Series Mover ): The player located at the train may perform a certain number of moves. The other player may then make another move in the self and auxiliary mat . Dawson himself wrote, "It was one of my lucky days when I popularized this type of assignment." An example of a serial move from Thomas R. Dawson can be found in the Hilfsmatt article .

• Covered ( On Guard ): Covered pieces paralyze each other, but their chess-bidding effect is retained. The paralysis can be lifted by tying the paralyzing stone. In the example, the two white towers are defending themselves, which would also mean paralysis in the Madrasi.

• Longest puller : Black always has to make the geometrically longest move. If this condition applies to white, then it is called white longitudinator ; it applies to both sides, double longitude . Dawson first used the term in 1920, but had already composed a task with this condition seven years earlier. The move length calculation is part of chess mathematics . However, practical people have devised a method to get by without calculations. They measure the distances between the centers of the starting and destination areas of a train, mark this distance on a strip of paper, for example, and compare it with the length of other trains.

Figures :

• Night rider (English Nightrider ): A night rider (abbreviation: N) corresponds to a jumper as a line figure. It was invented in 1925. Pierre Drumare , who tried to depict the Babson task with a night rider instead of a knight, suggested in Thémes 64 , half a century after Dawson's invention, that the knight should also be replaced by night riders in the game of chess.

• Grasshopper (engl. Grasshopper ): The Grasshopper (abbreviation: G) was invented in 1913 by Dawson after the Chinese cannon perceived as impractical. The grasshopper needs any stone to jump over it and end the train immediately behind it. The stone is not captured, but an opponent's stone that is on the target field. If your own stone occupies the target space, the move is not possible. Multiple stones cannot be skipped. The direction of pull of the grasshopper is orthogonal and diagonal, thus similar to a lady. The first grasshopper problem was a two-breed, first published in the Cheltenham Examiner on July 3, 1913 .

• Neutral stones (Engl. You Neutral ): A neutral stone is a stone that can be used by both white and black. Dawson invented the neutral stones in 1912. By Dawson's death in 1951, 20 problems with neutral stones had been published, including 13 by Dawson himself. The editor of the Fairy Chess Review , D. Nixon, took the neutral stones in 1952 and made them public . Neutral stones can hit each other, but also white and black stones. Neutral pawns can convert to neutral pieces on both basic rows. Neutral stones are often used by today's composers.

Explanatory composition examples

Thomas Rayner Dawson
Reading Observer , 1912

	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

Mate in 4 moves. Covered

Solution:
Since the white pieces are paralyzed by the towers, only the pawn can move in the starting position. Black has no counterplay. With 1. c2 – c4 the paralysis of the king is lifted, but the pawn is paralyzed by the rook b4. This is followed by 2. Kd4 – c5 and 3. Kc5 – b5 , whereby the king and rook b4 paralyze each other. However, the rook on b7 is now free and mates 4. Rb7 – a7 .

Thomas Rayner Dawson
Fairy Chess Review , 1913

	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

Self-mate in 5 moves. Long-haulers

Solution:
The length of a train diagonally across a field has the length , i.e. about 1.41. A move from a3 to f8 would have the length , i.e. about 7.07. This is the root of 50. That would make it longer than the longest possible tower move. A knight move is almost 2.24 in length . 1. Sa6 – b8 Ra8 – a1 (length: 7) 2. Bf7 – h5! Bg8 – a2 (length: 8.48) 3. d4 – d5 Ta1 – h1 (length: 7) 4. Kb7 – a8 Rh1 – a1 (length: 7) 5. Bh5 – d1 La2xd5 mate. (Length: 4.24) ${\displaystyle {\sqrt {2}}}$ ${\displaystyle 5\cdot {\sqrt {2}}}$ ${\displaystyle {\sqrt {5}}}$

Rubber industry

In 1913, Dawson graduated from the University of Leeds with First Class Honors in Chemistry . In January 1922 he joined the Research Association of British Rubber Manufacturers (RABRM, Research Association of British rubber manufacturer in), he remained in until his death.

Thomas Rayner Dawson was a senior contributor to the Intelligence Division of the Research Association of the British Rubber Manufacturers . In this position he was jointly responsible for the construction of the Croydoner Rubber Library .

Dawson served as Vice President of the Institution of the Rubber Industry . In addition, he was a member of the Committee for Control and qualifications, member of the executive committee and member of the Subcommittee for the Annual Report of Progress of Rubber Technology ( Annual report of the progress of rubber industry ). He was previously chairman of the London division and a member of the governing body.

Dawson wrote several books on rubber. His last project was a work on the history of the rubber industry. Since he died of arteriosclerosis on December 16, 1951 , he could no longer witness the publication.

Dawson was from 1926 on clerk of the Summary of Current Literature of the RABRM.

Dawson system

The Dawson system, named after Thomas Rayner Dawson, is a system for documenting rubber. A system of the same name also exists for the classification of chess problems. It is believed that Dawson built this on his rubber literature system.

Other Dawson systems, such as the Dawson system in gambling, did not come from Thomas Rayner Dawson.

Dawson as a person

Dawson was described as a stout man of medium height in an obituary published by the Fairy Chess Review . He was an obnoxious and pleasant Yorkshireman according to the obituary. In doing so, Dawson was essentially himself. He was seen as a steady man who was never in a hurry, but still light on his feet and never reluctant. He had a deep and full, yet pleasant voice and sparkling eyes. Dawson has been described as intelligent and quick.

Dawson is said to have liked to be outdoors, for example near the Yorkshire Dales . He liked light literature and reportedly read fifteen to twenty books a month. Dawson solved more than 400 problems of the geometric cone .

useful information

• Many of Dawson's chess books began with a knight tour. The fields that the jumper enters are shown in alphabetical order. The letters formed words related to the book, such as My dear wife in a book Dawson dedicated to his wife. (Engl. In a book about fairy chess fairy chess ) standing in a fairy ring .
• Thomas Rayner Dawson was a nephew of the chess composer James Rayner . Rayner was also a clerk for British Chess Magazine from 1889 until his death in 1898 .
• A colleague of Dawson, who wrote a book with him, was also called Dawson's middle name (Benjamin Dawson Porrit).
• Dawson wrote the entry "Rubber" for the encyclopedia named after Ephraim Chambers . Dawson also wrote an article on the same subject for the Encyclopaedia Americana .

Fonts

chess

• Willem Hunsdorfer: Retrograde Analysis. Whitehead and Miller, Leeds 1915.
• as a contributor in: Eduard Birgfeld (Ed.): Fata Morgana. A study on changing trains in self-matting with more than 950 examples. = Fata Morgana. A study in "white-to-play" self-mates with about 950 examples. A. Stein, Berlin-Halensee 1922.
• with Wolfgang Pauly : Asymmetry (= ACW's Christmas Series. 1927). Chess Amateur, Stroud 1927.
• Caissa's Wild Roses (= CM Fox Fairy Series. No. 1). Self-published, Thornton Heath 1935.
• as editor: CM Fox, His Problems (= CM Fox Fairy Series. No. 2). Self-published, Thornton Heath 1936
• Caissa's Wild Roses in Clusters (= CM Fox Fairy Series. No. 3). Self-published, Thornton Heath 1937.
• Ultimate Themes (= CM Fox Fairy Series. No. 4). Self-published, Thornton Heath 1938.
• Caïssa's Fairy Tales (= CM Fox Fairy Series. No. 5). Self-published, Croydon, 1947 (in German: Caissas Märchen (= Schachmatt-Bücherei. Vol. 1). Self-published by the Märchenschachring, Frankfurt am Main 1949).
• Five Classics of Fairy Chess. With a new Preface and Introduction by Anthony SM Dickins. Dover Publications, New York NY 1973, ISBN 0-486-22910-6 (Reprinted from CM Fox Fairy Series. Numbers 1-5).
• Systematic terminology. K. Whyld, Caistor 1984, (edited by Ken Whyld ).
• Retro opposition. And other retro-analytical Chess Problems. GP Jelliss, St. Leonards on Sea 1989 (edited by GP Jelliss. Also, slightly deviating: 1990, 1990 and 1997).

Rubber industry

• with Benjamin D. Porritt: Rubber. Physical and Chemical Properties. Research Association of British Rubber Manufactures, Croydon 1935.
• The inflammability and fireproofing of rubber. In: Transactions of the Institution of the Rubber Industry. Vol. 11, No. 4, 1936, ZDB -ID 161151-3 , pp. 391-414, (also as a separatum: W. Heffer & Sons Ltd., Cambridge 1936).
• The Rubber Industry in Germany during the Period 1939-1945 (= BIOS Overall Report. No. 7, ZDB -ID 1342918-8 ). HM Stationery Office, London 1948.
• as editor with Philip Schidrowitz: History of the Rubber Industry. Compiled under the Auspices of the Institution of the Rubber Industry. Heffer, Cambridge 1952.

literature

• Karl Fabel and CE Kemp: Chess Without Limits / Chess Unlimited . Walter Rau Verlag, Düsseldorf 1969 (on Dawson's fairy tale chess exercises)

Web links

• Compositions by Thomas Rayner Dawson on the Schwalbe's PDB server

Individual evidence

1. ↑ TR Dawson: Caissa's Wild Roses . 1935, p. 2
2. ↑ Source here and below: Obituary from FAIRY CHESS REVIEW, Vol 8, No 2, February 1952 - Biography and obituary at the British Chess Problem Society (English) ( Memento from February 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ Source: Fabel and Kemp: Schach ohne Grenzen 1969, see the literature section
4. ↑ Original source is missing. Secondary source: Tim Krabbé: Chess Specials, Volume 2 . Econ Taschenbuch Verlag 1986
5. ↑ The Dawson system in gambling, which was not invented by Thomas Rayner Dawson, states that you should always double the bet until you win once. The profit expected by the players then always corresponds to the first bet with a 50:50 chance.
6. ↑ TR Dawson: Caissa's Wild Roses . 1935, p. 1
7. ^ TR Dawson: Caissa's Fairy Tales . Croydon, 1947, p. 1