Profiles
David Gilbert
DHSS
1. What are your earliest chess memories?
Sitting in the common room in 'A' Block at Alexander Fleming House at the Elephant & Castle with the late Ted Craddock and discovering that chess wasn't a game of pure chance! After losing, losing, losing, losing, losing, losing, losing, losing, losing, losing, losing, losing, losing, losing, losing, it dawned on me that there was bit more skill associated with this game, at least more than ludo!
2. How long have you been playing chess?
It all began in 1974 in that common room at Alexander Fleming House. A late starter – aged 23. I had been intrigued by games on the black side in the Sicilian Dragon (I had seen a Karpov/Korchnoi game in the newspaper), but some of my early opponents played c3 which I had naively considered a concession. This gave me false confidence that they didn't know what they were doing! Years later I found out to my cost that c3 led to something known as the Closed Sicilian – you mean there's more than one version of the Sicilian?! Oh yes!
3. How active are you in the chess world? (e.g. number of games a year)
Very, very, very! The second most active player from the Civil Service League after Brendan O'Gorman (it's said that, as a general rule, you can't run a chess congress if Brendan isn't present!). I played 119 long-play graded games in 2009/10, when I was the 28th most active player in the country! It'll be about the same in 2010/11.
4. What was your best chess experience?
My victory over Leonard Barden in a simul circa 1976, my prize was a copy of his Guardian Chess book. Unfortunately the game is long lost, but I still own the book and I've a photograph of me (left), wearing my old school hippy beads, with Stephen Thorpe-Tracey (far right), who still plays his chess in the South West and is President of the Devon Chess Association. The other person in the photograph (I think) is Neville Teller, known better these days as an author of Big Toe children's books. Neville told me he was by no means a chess player, which – if it is indeed him – he says explains his expression of total bemusement.
5. And what was your worst?
Losing in about 8 moves to Jon Speelman in a London Civil Service simul a few years ago and having to slink out of the hall in dreaded silence, with everyone's gaze upon me. However, the story has a silver lining because Jon had introduced me to the Mikenas-Flohr Variation, that over time has probably been the most successful line I've played.
6. Which historical (i.e. dead) chess player do you most admire and why?
W(Wilfred).H.M.Kirk. Not only a good chess player, but a great organiser too. He played at the highest level, finishing ahead of Max Euwe in a junior event at Hastings before the Great War. Kirk played on the top boards for the Ministry of Health for many years, delivering the League and Cup double on one occasion and was strong enough to play at the British Championships in Ramsgate in 1929, finishing 11th in a field of 12 players, in an event won by Sultan Mir Khan. But he would have been best known to chess playing civil servants as the man who ran the Civil Service Chess League between the Wars. After his retirement he moved to Hastings and managed the Hastings International event for one year before his death.
[WH Kirk was Secretary of the Civil Service Chess League for 34 years, from 1905 to 1938 – Ed.]
7. Who is your current chess hero / heroine, if any?
I've never felt anyone deserves the hero title for playing chess, so unless Clive Mendonca plays chess this is a nil return.
8. Which part of the game do you enjoy the most?
The bit where my opponent offers his hand in defeat! It doesn't happen as often as I'd like!
9. What piece of advice would you give to a young player who was just starting out?
Enjoy!
10. You are going to be marooned on a desert island with only a chess set for company. Which chess book would you take with you?
Pal Benko's excellent book with his life stories and games, and his contribution to chess theory, or an good end-game puzzle book which would keep me engaged for years.