MARK RUBERY CHESS
Conel Hugh O’donel Alexander, (1909 –1974), was a British, chess player, chess writer and cryptanalyst. He worked on the German Enigma machine at Bletchley Park during World War II and is portrayed favourably in the Oscar nominated film ‘The Imitation Game’, about the life of Alan Turing.
Although for him chess was always a hobby he could boast victories over Botvinnik, Bronstein and Gligoric amongst other luminaries. He was twice British chess champion and was awarded the title of International Master.
Alexander,conel Hughes - Bogoljubow,efim [B91]
Staunton mem Birmingham (4), 1951
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.g3 e5 7.Nde2 Be7 8.Bg2 Be6 9.0–0 Nbd7 10.h3 Rc8 11.a4 0–0 12.Be3 Nb6 13.b3 Qc7 14.a5 Na8 15.f4 exf4 16.gxf4 Rfe8 17.Bd4 Qd8 18.f5 Bd7 19.Qd3 Bc6 20.Qg3 Bf8 21.Nf4 Nc7 22.Ncd5 Bxd5 23.exd5 Nb5 24.Bb6 Qd7 25.c4 Nc7 26.h4 Ne4 27.Qd3 Nc5 28.Qc3 Na8 29.Bxc5 Rxc5 30.Bh3 Qd8 31.f6 Qxf6 32.Qxf6 gxf6 33.Nh5 Re3 34.Nxf6+ Kg7 35.Ra2! Rxh3 (Bogoljubow obliges and allows a forced mate although the result was not in doubt after 35…Kh8 36 Nd7 Rc8 37 Rxf7) 36.Rg2+ Kh6 37.Rf5 1–0 (As both Ng8# and Rh5# are threatened)
Alexander,conel Hughes - Botvinnik,mikhail [C18]
ENG-URS radio corr (2), 1946
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 cxd4 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 Qa5 10.Rb1 Qxc3+ 11.Bd2 Qc7 12.f4 Nbc6 13.Nf3 Bd7 14.Ng5 Rxg5 15.fxg5 0–0–0 16.Qxf7 Qxe5+ 17.Kd1 Nf5 18.g6 Ne3+ 19.Kc1 Qe4 20.Bd3 Qxg2 21.Re1 Ne5 22.Qf4 Nf3 23.Re2 Qh3 24.Bxe3 e5 25.Qf7 dxe3 26.g7 Qg4 27.h3 Qg1+ 28.Kb2 Qg3 29.Bg6 Nd4 30.g8q Rxg8 31.Qxg8+ Kc7 32.Qh7 Kd6 33.Bd3 e4 34.Qh6+ Kc7 35.Rxe3 Qe5 36.Ka2 Nf5 37.Qg5 Be6 38.Be2 d4+ 39.Reb3 b5 40.Qd2 d3 41.Bg4 1–0
‘I remember once I was in Switzerland and my wife told me, ‘I put some of your stuff in the safe – the code is very easy to remember, it’s 2706, so you can take whatever you need.’ And I told her, ‘Well, 2706 is not really a good Elo rating. Normally it’s rounded off to the nearest 5 or 10’. So I told her I couldn’t see how I could remember that. She looked a bit shocked and then she explained to me that the 27th June is our anniversary.’ Viswanathan Anand