NZ Chessplayer Vol5 No27 Aug 1952
There is an interesting article on Charles Belton in this issue, as well as coverage of a match between Ortvin Sarapu and David Lynch.
NZ Chessplayer Vol5 No29 Dec 1952
The big focus of this issue is the Sarapu vs Purdy match – a landmark event.
NZ Chessplayer Vol6 No30 Feb 1953
Someone has stamped ADVERTISER’S COPY on the front and back covers and also on page 15, but I guess there’s nothing we can do about that now. The highlights of this issue are games from the annual championship, Dr Fulton’s picket fence in the Major Open, and the Sarapu vs Purdy lightning match.
NZ Chessplayer Vol6 No31 Apr 1953
This issue is somewhat slimmer than the previous ones. Also, I think there is a mistake in the game on page 44 – White is actually Burgess and Black is John Purdy.
NZ Chessplayer Vol6 No32 May 1953
With this issue, the magazine changed from bimonthly to monthly. Two pages are devoted to an obituary, or appreciation, of Fred McSherry who founded the NZ Chessplayer in 1947. There is also an interesting reference on page 54 to tournament books of NZ Championship Congresses; apparently such books were published for Napier 1911-12, Dunedin 1920-21 and Auckland 1921-22. I wonder whether these books have survived anywhere?
NZ Chessplayer Vol6 No33 Jun 1953
There is an interesting article by Ortvin Sarapu on pages 67-69 analysing an endgame Szabo vs Botvinnik, Budapest 1952.
NZ Chessplayer Vol6 No34 Jul 1953
It is yet another good issue. The first appearance of Roger Court on the chess scene, while still a schoolboy, is covered on page 91. Roger was later to become NZ champion.
NZ Chessplayer Vol6 No35 Aug 1953
This particular copy has ADVERTISER’S COPY stamped twice on both the front and back covers, but there’s nothing we can do about that. Some of the pages have come out just slightly crooked in the PDF and this is because the staples are slightly misaligned. You can see this by viewing pages 104 and 105. One staple is well clear of the central fold whereas the other is right on it. However, it’s another good issue, with Purdy winning the World Correspondence Title, Sarapu giving a blindfold simul, endgame and opening analysis by Sarapu and games from overseas.
NZ Chessplayer Vol6 No37 Oct 1953
The darker colour of the cover, relative to the previous issue, is due to a change from a paper cover to a cardboard cover. A highlight of this issue is Frank Hutchings’ picket fence in the schoolboys’ championship. I came across further details on Hutchings in Ortvin Sarapu’s book Chess Championships (25 years of New Zealand Chess Championships 1952-1977). Hutchings was in the NZ Championship in Dunedin in 1960 (finishing 6th equal with Richard Sutton) and married Diana Purdy (daughter of Cecil Purdy) in Sydney later that same year. Sarapu attended the wedding, which was held just after the Zone 10 Championship (also in Sydney). Hutchings led a long and successful life in Sydney, his obituary appeared in the April 2018 New Zealand Chess. His wife, Diana, was also a chess player, which is not too surprising considering that her father had been both Australian champion and World Correspondence Chess Champion.
NZ Chessplayer Vol6 No39 Dec 1953
Much of this issue is devoted to games of the 1953 Zurich/Neuhausen Candidates Tournament, one of the strongest tournaments in history.
NZ Chessplayer Vol7 No40 Jan 1954
The main focus of this issue is games played by Bob Wade in England – annotated by Wade himself.
NZ Chessplayer Vol7 No41 Feb 1954
This issue covers the NZ Championship; Sarapu won his 3rd NZ Championship with a 3-point margin over the rest of the field.
NZ Chessplayer Vol7 No44 May 1954
This issue has games from the annual Hastings tournament.
NZ Chessplayer Vol7 No 45 Jun 1954
This issue has a mix of local and overseas news. I have never heard of the National Autumn Tourney before; apparently the first one was held in 1954 and “was a resounding success”.
NZ Chessplayer Vol7 No 46 Jul 1954
Some of the pages are slightly crooked (especially towards the end of the magazine) because of misaligned staples. This issue focuses on New Zealand news, with the South Island Championship being the highlight.
NZ Chessplayer Vol7 No47 Aug-Sep 1954
The issues have been monthly but this one was running late and encompasses two months. This time there is a mix of local and overseas news. The latter, unusually, relates to South Africa and Brazil – not countries that normally feature in chess news.
NZ Chessplayer Vol7 No48 Oct 1954
An unusual feature of this issue is that the pages are scrambled. All the pages from 129 to 144 are present, but they are found in the following order: 129, 130, 131, 132, 139, 140, 135, 136, 137, 138, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144. Evidently a mishap occurred in the process of putting the issue together. There are two pages on the NZ Schoolboys Championships (pages 130 & 131) – apparently girls weren’t catered for in those days in terms of chess competition, or possibly just weren’t interested. There is also something of definite historical interest – the first-ever NZ rating list (pages 132 & 133). There were only 62 names on the list; however, many players did not appear in the list because they did not compete in the events which were used to generate the list.
NZ Chessplayer Vol8 No49 Mar 1955
On page 1 (which actually has no visible page number), there is an announcement that the publishers of NZ Chessplayer, Artcraft Press, is discontinuing publication, with issue No. 50 to be the last one. However, “a group of Auckland enthusiasts” were planning to continue publication. There is also an interesting article by Ortvin Sarapu on his game against Wolfgang Unzicker at Oldenburg 1949.
NZ Chessplayer Vol8 No50 Jun 1955
This is the last issue to be produced by Artcraft Press. In the issue there is an editorial announcement that production of the magazine is to be done in future by a Wellington group. There is also further analysis of the Sarapu vs Unzicker game and coverage of Max Euwe’s tour of South Africa. There is also some local news and correspondence chess association news. So this issue of the magazine was the end of an era. Artcraft Press had produced NZ Chessplayer from its first issue in late 1947 to issue no. 50 in mid-1955: a total of nearly 8 years, and had done the job to a high standard.
NZ Chessplayer Vol50 No1 Sep 1955
This is the first issue to be produced after transfer of production from Auckland (Alan Fletcher) to Wellington (H.F. Pobar). The Wellington-produced magazine is a non-standard page size so I have had to scan just one page at a time, rather than two. The volume and issue numbers have also changed to a different system. The last of the Auckland-produced magazines was Vol8 No50 Jun 1955, and this first Wellington magazine is Vol50 No1. The main items in this issue are the National Schoolboys’ Championship, Overseas News from England, and the National Autumn Open Championship.
NZ Chessplayer Vol50 No2 Oct-Nov 1955
There is a mix of national and international news, including Robert Wade in England, NZ vs Canada correspondence match and an article on the Goteborg Interzonal by Ortvin Sarapu. The standard of presentation isn’t quite as good as the previous (Sep) issue, e.g. the misspelling “Serapu” on page 15, but this issue followed soon after the previous one and the new team were probably still adjusting to the task.
NZ Chessplayer Vol50 No3 Jan-Feb 1956
On page 4 the errata sheet unfortunately conceals the result of the Marsick vs Douglas game. The game was drawn. Also, page 13 has somehow scanned slightly crooked but is perfectly readable. This time I included the back cover in the scan. For the two previous issues (50/1 and 50/2) the back cover was blank so I did not include it in the scan. This issue has coverage of the 63rd Congress, held in Dunedin; F.A. Foulds won the title (Sarapu did not compete). There is a lengthy article on Telegraphic Chess, which is of historical interest, plus correspondence and local news, as well as more on the New Zealand vs Canada correspondence match.
NZ Chessplayer Vol50 No4 Mar-Apr 1956
It is another interesting issue and it has scanned well. Whether the Championship should be a Swiss is discussed on page 5 (also page 13); this has particular historical interest as it definitely now is a Swiss. The first interclub match by radio-telephone in NZ is described on page 6 – also of historical interest. Pages 8 to 12 cover games from the annual Congress and pages 14-15 focus on the Easter Tournament in Wellington.
NZ Chessplayer Vol50 No5 May-Jun 1956
This issue has a lot of local and international news – the North Island Championship and the Major Open, plus the Gothenburg Interzonal, the Dutch Championship, Smyslov’s prospects for the World Championship, and Reshevsky vs Botvinnik 1955.
NZ Chessplayer Vol50 No6 Jul-Aug 1956
This issue has some annotated games: one from the NZ vs Canada correspondence match (a win for the NZ player), one from the Major Open 1955 (between the 1st and 4th-place finishers), one from the Wellington vs Civic Bledisloe Cup Match (Board 1) and one from the Canadian Championship of 1955 (Bohatirchuk vs Anderson).
There is also a spectacular sacrificial game from the Uruguay Championship of 1955 (Motinari vs Cabral) which lacks detailed annotations. The computer thinks that 22.e4 is better than the move played (22.Re1) but Black is still better after 22…Nxe4. The computer is initially not impressed by the spectacular 24…Rxc4 and considers that this leads only to equality, preferring 24…Nxe4. The ensuing moves after 24…Rxc4 are forced, and the computer changes its mind after 27.Be2 is played, when it finds that Black has a definite advantage. After 27…Nde5 the computer assesses the position as winning for Black. I gave the computer about 5 mins of thinking time at each position, so perhaps it needed longer. 28…Nxf2 is stronger than the move played (28…Bc5) but the latter is still pretty good. Move 30 is ambiguous (given as “30 B x N”) as there are two knights open to capture by the bishop – at e5 and f2. I think that move 30 must be 30.Bxf2, as it is mate in 3 after 30.Bxe5 (30…Nxe4+ 31.Bd4 Qg6+ 32.Kh2 Qg3#). If White tries 32.Kg1 then of course 32…Qg3+ is played. In the game White tried 32.Bg3, which was met by 32…Bg1+ and White resigned (because of 33.Qxg1 Ng4+ 34.hxg4 Qh6+ 35.Bh4 Qxh4#). Black could vary the move order by playing 32…Ng4+ first and then following up with 33…Bg1+, which comes to the same thing.
NZ Chessplayer Vol50 No7 Sep-Oct 1956
This issue has coverage of the National Schoolboys Championship (won by J.R. Phillips), a three-page article on Bob Wade (2 games, one a win against a GM), coverage of the San Benedetto tournament and also the Candidates’ tournament, plus local news from Oamaru, Auckland, Wellington and the NZ Correspondence Chess Association. I discovered that the keyword search is not working particularly well – it is not finding many words. I noticed, however, that the paragraph of text at the foot of the right-hand column of page 8 is being found correctly by the keyword search; this text is much clearer than the typewritten text that makes up most of the issue. I think it is the lack of clarity of the typewritten text that is causing the problem with the search. The typewritten text is, however, quite readable to the human eye.
NZ Chessplayer Vol50 No8 Jan-Feb 1957
This issue is dominated by two championships – the 63rd NZ Championship of 1956-1957 in Wellington, and the 23rd USSR Championship in Moscow. There is also club news from Gisborne and Otago. The scanning software turned page 13 upside-down; I think the software was confused by the problem solutions being upside-down at the foot of the page. The issue has Nov-Dec on the cover crossed out and Jan-Feb substituted. This is explained on page 4: the Nov-Dec issue was cancelled because of the editor’s commitment to assisting the running of the Congress.
NZ Chessplayer Vol50 No9 Mar-Apr 1957
This issue has games from the 1956/1957 Congress, a game from the 1957 World Championship match, and an article on the McSherry Memorial Shield competition for problem-solving. The inside back cover and the outside back cover have somehow been rendered upside-down. Whether this was an error in placement of the magazine on my part or a quirk of the scanning software I don’t know. Since those last two pages have only addresses of chess clubs plus advertising, I consider that it doesn’t matter much.
NZ Chessplayer No60 May-Jun 1957
This issue has no volume number; it has only an issue number. I’ve given up trying to comprehend how they worked out their volume numbers and issue numbers. It makes no rational sense to me. The main features in this issue are the North Island Championship (won by Charles Belton), the World Championship match between Botvinnik and Smyslov, and the NZ Correspondence Chess Championship. The cover, a pinky-red colour (not especially dark) has come out as rather dark in the PDF.
NZ Chessplayer No61 Jul-Aug 1957
Once again (as for No60) there is no volume number and only an issue number. The main items in this issue are the National Schoolboys Championship (won again by J.R. Phillips), the Phillips vs Sarapu match, the Dublin Zonal Tournament and the Canterbury vs Otago telegraph match.
NZ Chessplayer No62 Sep-Dec 1957
This issue features a striking Christmas-themed cover and focuses on New Zealand games, including Bledisloe Cup and correspondence games, plus a great deal of discussion concerning the format of the NZ Championship and whether it should be a round-robin or a swiss. The problem page (page 16) has been rendered sideways by the scanning software, but this is perfectly understandable as the only text on the page appears sideways.
NZ Chessplayer No63 Jan-Feb 1958
This issue is devoted largely to games and results of the NZ Congress 1957-58. The championship was won by J.R. Phillips at age 15 – a point clear of the field.
NZ Chessplayer No64 Mar-Apr 1958
At first sight the cover seems somewhat mysterious but I think it is illustrating Swiss System vs Round Robin. Also, in this issue there is some show-through from the other side of the page (possibly due to thinner paper?) but this is not affecting readability. The issue has more congress games, plus some endgame analysis and a Reshevsky game. There is an interesting article by Roger Court on Chess Skill and Intelligence. I’m not sure that I agree with his conclusion that highly intelligent people make the best chess players. For example: the mathematical genius Alan Turing was known to be hopeless at chess, probably not even up to the most basic club standard. There is also some discussion re: the awarding of the NZ Master title to Rodney Phillips at age 15. This was controversial, as he had not fulfilled the requirement of winning at least three NZ titles.
NZ Chessplayer No65 May-Jun 1958
On page 2 there is an announcement of the appearance of a rival publication, Ted Frost’s “Chess News”. The Editor of the NZ Chessplayer appears to have mixed feelings about this, stating: “… we welcome “Chess News” as a colleague as much as we deplore it as a competitor”. Major features of this issue are the North Island Championship (with Phillips and Sarapu both finishing on the top score, 7 points, but Phillips placing first on tie-break), former South African champion J.E. Eriksen arriving in New Zealand, Bob Wade finishing first equal at Bognor Regis, and games from the World Championship match between Smyslov and Botvinnik. There is also brief coverage of the Waikato and South Island championships
NZ Chessplayer No66 Jul-Aug 1958
Someone has written on the cover: “Received early October”. So the issue arrived about one month late. This issue looks at problems with telegraphic chess (interesting historically), NZ games from past and present, the Christchurch Schoolboys’ Championship, the National Schoolboys’ Championship, the 24th USSR Championship (with a focus on Tal) and a game Taimanov vs Karaklaic from Max Euwe’s “Chess Archives”
NZ Chessplayer No67 Sep-Oct 1958
In this issue there are eight New Zealand games – three from the interclub Bledisloe Cup event and five from the Wellington Labour weekend tournament. There are also four games from overseas – Yanofsky vs Olafsson, Dallas 1957; Janosevic vs Idovcic, Yugoslav Championship 1957; Spassky vs Bronstein, Candidates Tournament (Amsterdam) 1956; and Larsen vs Gligoric, Interzonal (Portoroz) 1958. Concerning the last-mentioned game there is an error in the magazine: the game is stated to have been played in the Candidates tournament when in fact it was the Interzonal.
NZ Chessplayer No68 Jan-Feb 1959
Although the issue has Jan-Feb 1959 on the cover, it also has Nov-Dec 1958 on the first inside page. It looks like the issue was initially Nov-Dec 1958 and was then changed to Jan-Feb 1959. It appears that Nov-Dec 1958 has been blacked out on the cover and Jan-Feb 1959 added, but the first inside page was left unaltered. The main focus of the issue is the annual Congress, held in Hamilton over the late December – early January period, which proves that Jan-Feb 1959 is the correct date of the issue. There is a report on the Championship (won jointly by F.A. Foulds and B.C. Menzies) by J.D. Steele, with 13 annotated games. There is also a report on the Championship Reserve (won by B. Douglas) by H.F. Pobar, with 11 annotated games. To round off the issue, there is a report on the Australian Championship by J.R. Phillips (3 games). Both Phillips and Sarapu competed; there were 32 players. Sarapu finished fourth and Phillips finished eleventh. The weather was very hot and Phillips lost 7lbs in weight. Phillips said that the standard of play in Australia is much higher than that in NZ at the top.
NZ Chessplayer No69 Apr-May 1959
Issue No69 focuses on local NZ chess, particularly the Easter tournaments in Auckland and Wellington (won by Sutton and Frankel respectively).
NZ Chessplayer No70 Jul-Aug 1959
This is the very last issue of NZ Chessplayer, and actually has the words “Last Issue” on the cover to prove it, plus a cartoon of a stunned figure who has just been whacked with a chessboard. The issue has games from the North Island Championship (won by Rodney Phillips), the South Island Championship (won by Tom Van Dijk) and the Waikato Championship (won by Len Whitehouse). There is also a game Steiner vs Phillips from the Australian Championship and a game Mackintosh vs Sutton from the Auckland Easter tournament. In the “Chess From Overseas” section there are three games: Friedgood vs Low in South Africa (Friedgood is stated to be three years old but that can’t be right), Payne vs Van Deene (a correspondence game from America) and Gligoric vs Keres, Zurich 1959. I haven’t scanned the outside back cover as it is blank. I forgot to mention previously that the outside back cover of Issue No69 was rendered upside down by the scanning software, but I felt that that didn’t matter as it was only advertising material.