William Winter (chess player)

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William Winter (born September 11, 1897 in Medstead , † December 18, 1955 in London ) was an English chess player and two-time British champion. In 1950 he was awarded the title of International Master .

Life

Winter was a maternal nephew of the writer JM Barrie . He learned the game of chess from his father at the age of 12 and joined the City of London Ches Club at the age of 15 . He began studying law at the University of Cambridge , which was interrupted by his military service with the Honorable Artillery Company . After the end of the First World War , he won the university's chess championship in 1919 and, against the will of his family, sought a career as a professional player. He gave up a job as a solicitor at a London company after a short time, led the life of a bohemian and agitated for communism . In 1921 he was sentenced to six months in prison for inflammatory speeches.

In 1925 he took part in the state championship for the first time and finished in 5th place. In 1931 he came behind Fred Dewhirst Yates to the 2nd place shared with Mir Sultan Khan . He finally won the title of British champion in 1935 and 1936. Until 1951 he continued to take part in national championships.

In 1928 he won a tournament in Scarborough before Edgard Colle . Otherwise he ended up mostly in midfield at international tournaments, but was able to defeat well-known players such as Aaron Nimzowitsch , Savielly Tartakower and Milan Vidmar in individual games . At the tournament in London in 1927 he came in 6th place (shared with Richard Réti ), in Łódź in 1935 he came in 5th place (shared with Lajos Steiner ). Winter's playing style was solid and influenced by the teachings of Siegbert Tarrasch .

Winter played for England in four Chess Olympiads : 1930 , 1931 , 1933 and 1935 . He scored a total of 35.5 points from 61 games (+17 = 37 -7). He was nominated for the 1937 Chess Olympiad, but could not take part because he had lost his passport. In the radio match between England and the Soviet Union in 1946, he was able to win a game against David Bronstein , but lost the second game. In competitions against Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union in 1947 he played 1: 1 against Jaroslav Šajtar and lost 0.5: 1.5 against Igor Bondarewski .

As a chess journalist, he wrote for the Manchester Guardian and the Daily Worker . In addition to his writing activities, he earned additional money by playing against amateurs at St. George's Cafe in London.

He achieved his best historical rating of 2589 in May 1928.

Winter, who had to struggle with health problems all his life and was not averse to alcohol, died of tuberculosis at the age of 58 .

Fonts

  • Modern Master-play (1929, with Fred Dewhirst Yates)
  • Chess for Match Players (1936)
  • Kings of Chess (1954)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Olimpbase , accessed April 10, 2020
  2. ↑ Chessmetrics.com , accessed April 10, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Winter, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English chess player
DATE OF BIRTH September 11, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Medstead
DATE OF DEATH 18th December 1955
Place of death London