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Robert Wade (chess player)

November 11, 2023

Robert Graham Wade[1] OBE (10 April 1921 – 29 November 2008), known as Bob Wade, was a New Zealand and English chess player,[2] writer, arbiter, coach, and promoter. He was New Zealand champion three times, British champion twice, and played in seven Chess Olympiads and one Interzonal tournament. Wade held the titles of International Master and International Arbiter.

Bob Wade
Full nameRobert Graham Wade
CountryNew Zealand
England
Born(1921-04-10)10 April 1921
Dunedin, New Zealand
Died29 November 2008(2008-11-29) (aged 87)
London, England
TitleInternational Master (1950)
International Arbiter (1958)

Early career in New Zealand edit

Wade grew up on a farm in Dunedin, New Zealand, far from the world's chess centres, and lacked strong competition early in his career. He developed his chess skills from materials in his local library, such as the British Chess Magazine and works by Australian champion Cecil Purdy.

After winning the New Zealand Chess Championship in 1944, 1945 and 1948, he travelled to Europe to further his chess career. International chess was starting up again after a six-year hiatus caused by World War II. For most Masters, it was a matter of dusting off their skills, but Wade had little if any high-class experience to draw upon, so he struggled at first with the new standard. Wade was attempting to become the first international-class player from New Zealand. He played in the British Chess Championship at Nottingham 1946, the first post-war championship, placing tied 10–12th with just 3½/11. His first continental European event was Barcelona 1946, won by Miguel Najdorf; Wade was a tailender with just 3/13 for a tied 12–13th place.[3] Wade played in the Australian Chess Championship at Adelaide 1946–47, placing tied 2nd–4th with 10½/15, with Lajos Steiner winning. Wade travelled as far as Canada to compete in the 1947 Canadian Chess Championship at Quebec City, scoring 7/13 to tie 7–8th places, with Daniel Yanofsky winning.[4]

British career edit

Better things lay ahead on Wade's next European foray. He scored 5½/9 at Baarn 1948 for a tied 2nd–3rd place, with Harry Golombek winning. Wade made 3½/9 at Hastings 1948–49 for 8th place, with Nicolas Rossolimo winning.[5] He represented New Zealand and Australia at the FIDE Congress at Paris 1949, which marked the 25th anniversary of the founding of FIDE in Paris in 1924.

Wade played many strong events in 1949, raising his standard significantly with competition against top-class Grandmasters. At Beverwijk 1949, he scored 4½/9 for a tied 6–7th place, with Savielly Tartakower winning. Wade placed 2nd at Arbon 1949 with 6/7, trailing only Ludek Pachman. He struggled at Trencianske Teplice 1949, placing last with 4½/19, as Gideon Ståhlberg won. At Heidelberg 1949, Wade scored 4/9 for a tied 6–8th place, as Wolfgang Unzicker won. Then at Oldenburg 1949, Wade made 8½/18 for 10th place, with Efim Bogolyubov and Elmārs Zemgalis on top.[6] At Southsea 1950, Wade scored 6/10 for a shared 7–13th place, as Arthur Bisguier won. The constant practice led to his best result to date, an excellent shared 5–7th place in a powerful field at Venice 1950 with 8½/15, with Alexander Kotov the champion. This earned Wade the International Master title later that year.[7] Wade drew a 1950 match at Bamberg by 5–5 with Lothar Schmid, and settled in England.

Wade was British Champion in 1952 (at Chester, with 8/11), and 1970 (at Coventry, with 8/11).[8] His other high finishes in the British Championship were 3rd at Hastings 1953 on 7½/11 (with Daniel Yanofsky winning), 2nd at Rhyl 1969 on 7½/11 (with Jonathan Penrose winning), and tied 3rd–6th at Blackpool 1971 on 7/11 (with Raymond Keene winning).[9]

Wade qualified for the Saltsjöbaden Interzonal 1952, scored 6/20, and did not advance to the Candidates level. Wade defeated many-time Scottish champion William Fairhurst in a match at Glasgow 1953 by 5½–2½.[10]

Wade went on to represent his adopted country in six Chess Olympiads, and his country of birth on one occasion. In 92 games, his totals at this level are: (+30−26=36), for 52.2 per cent. His detailed results in Olympiads, from olimpbase.org, follow.

Wade won several middle-strength Master events in the British Isles: Ilford 1957 and 1968, Paignton 1959, Dublin 1962, and Southend-on-Sea 1965.

Wade was generally no more than a middle-ranking player in strong international tournaments. His other highlights against high-standard international-level competition include:

Wade was the only British player to have faced Bobby Fischer in tournament play (outside of Olympiads). They met three times, with Wade drawing one game and losing the other two.

Later years edit

 
Robert Wade (right) vs. Kick Langeweg (IBM international chess tournament 1961)

Wade earned the title of International Arbiter in 1958, and made much of his living from directing events. He defeated tournament winner Viktor Korchnoi at Buenos Aires 1960 in a tough game that went through a Queen and Rook middle game to a queen endgame to a final king and pawn endgame. In addition to staying active on the international circuit, Wade served as chess editor with the respected Batsford publishers in the 1960s and 1970s. He eventually retired to make way for Raymond Keene. He managed the Batsford Chess Library after this. Well respected as a chess coach and author, Wade helped Bobby Fischer prepare for his 1972 World Championship match with Boris Spassky by collating a special file of Spassky's games. He was awarded an OBE for services to chess in 1979. He was made an 'Honorary Member' of FIDE, the World Chess Federation. He declined to "trade in" his International Master title for that of honorary Grandmaster, considering his title, awarded in the days before title inflation, far more valuable.

Continuing to be an active player into his 80s, Wade was still able to play at a high level. This is shown by his performance at the 2006 Queenstown Chess International, where he scored 6/10 with only one loss, and drew his game against Grandmaster Murray Chandler. Wade played in the European Senior Teams chess championship six times between 2002 and 2006.[11][12] His last major event was the Staunton Memorial in London in July 2008, where he was badly outrated (a single draw would have increased his Elo rating), and he fought gamely but scored 0/11. A few weeks before his death, he played his final serious game, for the Athenaeum Chess Club.

Wade built up an enormous chess library at his house in South London, which included books, magazines and many original bulletins from tournaments: these latter were the primary sources for many types of chess literature. The growth of this library was supported by B.T. Batsford. Eventually the library was given to the nation, though its eventual destination is not certain at present. In the days before computer databases the Wade library was often used by British and foreign players in preparation for matches.[13]

Wade was hospitalized on 26 November 2008, with severe pneumonia and died on 29 November 2008.[14][15]

Opening theory edit

This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Wade was one of the first to play the chess opening 1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 Bg4, and played it for over 30 years. As of 2008, it is a slightly unusual but well-respected opening that has been played by a number of high-level grandmasters. It is known as the Wade Defence for Wade's advocacy of and contributions to the opening.

Selected bibliography edit

  • Winter, William; Wade, Robert G. (1951). The World Chess Championship: 1951 Botvinnik vs Bronstein. Turnstile Press.
  • Wade, Robert G. (1964). The World Chess Championship: 1963 Botvinnik vs Petrosian. Arco Pub Co.
  • Wade, Robert G. (compiler) (1968). Soviet Chess. David McKay Co. Inc.
  • Wade, Robert G.; O'Connell, Kevin J. (1972). The Games of Robert J. Fischer. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-2099-5.
  • Wade, Robert G.; Blackstock, L. S.; Kotov, A. (1974). World Championship Interzonals: Leningrad and Petropolis 1973. RHM Chess Pub.
  • Wade, Robert G.; Gligoric, Svetozar (1974). The World Chess Championship. Batsford.
  • Wade, Robert G.; Harding, T. D. (1974). The Marshall Attack. HarperCollins.
  • Korchnoi, Viktor; Wade, Robert G.; Blackstock, L. S. (1978). Korchnoi's 400 Best Games. Arco Pub Co.
  • Kasparov, Garry; Wade, Robert G. (1988). Fighting Chess. Batsford.

References edit

  1. ^ There is some uncertainty over his middle name. Most sources give "Graham", but David Levy says it was "Grant" – see Levy's comments at the Chessbase obituary. He almost invariably published under the name "Robert G. Wade".
  2. ^ A Memorable Life: A Glimpse into the Complex Mind of Bobby Fischer
  3. ^ 1946 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ 1947 8 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ 1948 3 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ 1949 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ 1950 20 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Robert Wade player file http://www.chessmetrics.com
  9. ^ Robert Wade player file http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PlayerProfile.asp?Params=199510SSSSS3S140097000000131000000000033010100,
  10. ^ Robert Wade player file http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PlayerProfile.asp?Params=199510SSSSS3S140097000000111000000000033010100
  11. ^ "Internet Chessbase". ichessbase.com. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  12. ^ "Robert Graham Wade chess games – 365Chess.com". gzip.365chess.com. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  13. ^ Giddins, Steve (2003). How to Improve Your Chess Opening Repertoire. Gambit.
  14. ^ Robert Graham Wade 1921–2008, The Week in Chess, 30 November 2008
  15. ^ Chess legend Bob Wade dies at 87, Chessbase, 29 November 2008

External links edit

November 11, 2023
robert, wade, chess, player, robert, graham, wade, april, 1921, november, 2008, known, wade, zealand, english, chess, player, writer, arbiter, coach, promoter, zealand, champion, three, times, british, champion, twice, played, seven, chess, olympiads, interzon. Robert Graham Wade 1 OBE 10 April 1921 29 November 2008 known as Bob Wade was a New Zealand and English chess player 2 writer arbiter coach and promoter He was New Zealand champion three times British champion twice and played in seven Chess Olympiads and one Interzonal tournament Wade held the titles of International Master and International Arbiter Bob WadeFull nameRobert Graham WadeCountryNew Zealand EnglandBorn 1921 04 10 10 April 1921Dunedin New ZealandDied29 November 2008 2008 11 29 aged 87 London EnglandTitleInternational Master 1950 International Arbiter 1958 Contents 1 Early career in New Zealand 2 British career 3 Later years 4 Opening theory 5 Selected bibliography 6 References 7 External linksEarly career in New Zealand editWade grew up on a farm in Dunedin New Zealand far from the world s chess centres and lacked strong competition early in his career He developed his chess skills from materials in his local library such as the British Chess Magazine and works by Australian champion Cecil Purdy After winning the New Zealand Chess Championship in 1944 1945 and 1948 he travelled to Europe to further his chess career International chess was starting up again after a six year hiatus caused by World War II For most Masters it was a matter of dusting off their skills but Wade had little if any high class experience to draw upon so he struggled at first with the new standard Wade was attempting to become the first international class player from New Zealand He played in the British Chess Championship at Nottingham 1946 the first post war championship placing tied 10 12th with just 3 11 His first continental European event was Barcelona 1946 won by Miguel Najdorf Wade was a tailender with just 3 13 for a tied 12 13th place 3 Wade played in the Australian Chess Championship at Adelaide 1946 47 placing tied 2nd 4th with 10 15 with Lajos Steiner winning Wade travelled as far as Canada to compete in the 1947 Canadian Chess Championship at Quebec City scoring 7 13 to tie 7 8th places with Daniel Yanofsky winning 4 British career editBetter things lay ahead on Wade s next European foray He scored 5 9 at Baarn 1948 for a tied 2nd 3rd place with Harry Golombek winning Wade made 3 9 at Hastings 1948 49 for 8th place with Nicolas Rossolimo winning 5 He represented New Zealand and Australia at the FIDE Congress at Paris 1949 which marked the 25th anniversary of the founding of FIDE in Paris in 1924 Wade played many strong events in 1949 raising his standard significantly with competition against top class Grandmasters At Beverwijk 1949 he scored 4 9 for a tied 6 7th place with Savielly Tartakower winning Wade placed 2nd at Arbon 1949 with 6 7 trailing only Ludek Pachman He struggled at Trencianske Teplice 1949 placing last with 4 19 as Gideon Stahlberg won At Heidelberg 1949 Wade scored 4 9 for a tied 6 8th place as Wolfgang Unzicker won Then at Oldenburg 1949 Wade made 8 18 for 10th place with Efim Bogolyubov and Elmars Zemgalis on top 6 At Southsea 1950 Wade scored 6 10 for a shared 7 13th place as Arthur Bisguier won The constant practice led to his best result to date an excellent shared 5 7th place in a powerful field at Venice 1950 with 8 15 with Alexander Kotov the champion This earned Wade the International Master title later that year 7 Wade drew a 1950 match at Bamberg by 5 5 with Lothar Schmid and settled in England Wade was British Champion in 1952 at Chester with 8 11 and 1970 at Coventry with 8 11 8 His other high finishes in the British Championship were 3rd at Hastings 1953 on 7 11 with Daniel Yanofsky winning 2nd at Rhyl 1969 on 7 11 with Jonathan Penrose winning and tied 3rd 6th at Blackpool 1971 on 7 11 with Raymond Keene winning 9 Wade qualified for the Saltsjobaden Interzonal 1952 scored 6 20 and did not advance to the Candidates level Wade defeated many time Scottish champion William Fairhurst in a match at Glasgow 1953 by 5 2 10 Wade went on to represent his adopted country in six Chess Olympiads and his country of birth on one occasion In 92 games his totals at this level are 30 26 36 for 52 2 per cent His detailed results in Olympiads from olimpbase org follow Amsterdam 1954 England board 4 6 12 4 4 4 Moscow 1956 England board 3 6 14 2 3 9 Munich 1958 England 1st reserve 7 14 5 5 4 Leipzig 1960 England 2nd reserve 6 11 4 3 4 Varna 1962 England 2nd reserve 6 12 4 4 4 Siegen 1970 New Zealand board 2 9 15 7 4 4 Skopje 1972 England board 3 7 14 4 3 7 Wade won several middle strength Master events in the British Isles Ilford 1957 and 1968 Paignton 1959 Dublin 1962 and Southend on Sea 1965 Wade was generally no more than a middle ranking player in strong international tournaments His other highlights against high standard international level competition include tied 4 5th at Haifa Tel Aviv 1958 on 7 13 winner Samuel Reshevsky 3rd at Bognor Regis 1959 on 7 10 winner Erno Gereben 5th at Reykjavik 1964 on 7 13 winner Mikhail Tal tied 4 5th at Malaga 1966 on 7 11 winners Alberic O Kelly de Galway and Eleazar Jimenez 6th at Briseck 1971 on 7 13 winner Gideon Barcza 5th at Cienfuegos B 1975 on 10 17 winners Julio Boudy and Amador Rodriguez Cespedes tied 7 12th in the World Senior Championship Bad Woerishofen 1992 on 7 11 winner Efim Geller Wade was the only British player to have faced Bobby Fischer in tournament play outside of Olympiads They met three times with Wade drawing one game and losing the other two Later years edit nbsp Robert Wade right vs Kick Langeweg IBM international chess tournament 1961 Wade earned the title of International Arbiter in 1958 and made much of his living from directing events He defeated tournament winner Viktor Korchnoi at Buenos Aires 1960 in a tough game that went through a Queen and Rook middle game to a queen endgame to a final king and pawn endgame In addition to staying active on the international circuit Wade served as chess editor with the respected Batsford publishers in the 1960s and 1970s He eventually retired to make way for Raymond Keene He managed the Batsford Chess Library after this Well respected as a chess coach and author Wade helped Bobby Fischer prepare for his 1972 World Championship match with Boris Spassky by collating a special file of Spassky s games He was awarded an OBE for services to chess in 1979 He was made an Honorary Member of FIDE the World Chess Federation He declined to trade in his International Master title for that of honorary Grandmaster considering his title awarded in the days before title inflation far more valuable Continuing to be an active player into his 80s Wade was still able to play at a high level This is shown by his performance at the 2006 Queenstown Chess International where he scored 6 10 with only one loss and drew his game against Grandmaster Murray Chandler Wade played in the European Senior Teams chess championship six times between 2002 and 2006 11 12 His last major event was the Staunton Memorial in London in July 2008 where he was badly outrated a single draw would have increased his Elo rating and he fought gamely but scored 0 11 A few weeks before his death he played his final serious game for the Athenaeum Chess Club Wade built up an enormous chess library at his house in South London which included books magazines and many original bulletins from tournaments these latter were the primary sources for many types of chess literature The growth of this library was supported by B T Batsford Eventually the library was given to the nation though its eventual destination is not certain at present In the days before computer databases the Wade library was often used by British and foreign players in preparation for matches 13 Wade was hospitalized on 26 November 2008 with severe pneumonia and died on 29 November 2008 14 15 Opening theory editThis section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves Wade was one of the first to play the chess opening 1 d4 d6 2 Nf3 Bg4 and played it for over 30 years As of 2008 it is a slightly unusual but well respected opening that has been played by a number of high level grandmasters It is known as the Wade Defence for Wade s advocacy of and contributions to the opening Selected bibliography editWinter William Wade Robert G 1951 The World Chess Championship 1951 Botvinnik vs Bronstein Turnstile Press Wade Robert G 1964 The World Chess Championship 1963 Botvinnik vs Petrosian Arco Pub Co Wade Robert G compiler 1968 Soviet Chess David McKay Co Inc Wade Robert G O Connell Kevin J 1972 The Games of Robert J Fischer Batsford ISBN 0 7134 2099 5 Wade Robert G Blackstock L S Kotov A 1974 World Championship Interzonals Leningrad and Petropolis 1973 RHM Chess Pub Wade Robert G Gligoric Svetozar 1974 The World Chess Championship Batsford Wade Robert G Harding T D 1974 The Marshall Attack HarperCollins Korchnoi Viktor Wade Robert G Blackstock L S 1978 Korchnoi s 400 Best Games Arco Pub Co Kasparov Garry Wade Robert G 1988 Fighting Chess Batsford References edit There is some uncertainty over his middle name Most sources give Graham but David Levy says it was Grant see Levy s comments at the Chessbase obituary He almost invariably published under the name Robert G Wade A Memorable Life A Glimpse into the Complex Mind of Bobby Fischer 1946 Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine 1947 Archived 8 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine 1948 Archived 3 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine 1949 Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine 1950 Archived 20 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine Robert Wade player file http www chessmetrics com Robert Wade player file http chessmetrics com cm CM2 PlayerProfile asp Params 199510SSSSS3S140097000000131000000000033010100 Robert Wade player file http chessmetrics com cm CM2 PlayerProfile asp Params 199510SSSSS3S140097000000111000000000033010100 Internet Chessbase ichessbase com Retrieved 5 April 2016 Robert Graham Wade chess games 365Chess com gzip 365chess com Retrieved 5 April 2016 Giddins Steve 2003 How to Improve Your Chess Opening Repertoire Gambit Robert Graham Wade 1921 2008 The Week in Chess 30 November 2008 Chess legend Bob Wade dies at 87 Chessbase 29 November 2008External links editRobert Wade player profile and games at Chessgames com Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Robert Wade chess player amp oldid 1181292147, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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