| Apr-15-05 | | WorldChampeen: Alfred Lenton may have even been a more of a premier player before World War II. He passed away just last year at the age of 92. This page, http://www.bcmchess.co.uk/news/ches... contains an obituary Apparently he defeated Czech IM Tibor in matches between the Midland Chess Club and Czechoslovakia "and won the Leicestershire championship nine times. He reappeared briefly in 1961 in a short international tournament held to celebrate the centenary of the Leicestershire club. He carried on with club chess into his extreme old age, and last appeared in a grading list as late as 2003, playing for the Thurnby club ..." It appears that these games are from that 1961 centenary tournament of the Leicestershire club and may not have been during his best playing time. |
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Apr-16-12
 | | GrahamClayton: Here is a Lenton victory that I have just uploaded into the database: [Event "1935 BCF-ch"]
[Site "Great Yarmouth"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Alfred Lenton"]
[Black "Rupert Cross"]
[Result "1-0"]
1. ♘f3 ♘f6 2. c4 c5 3. g3 b6 4. ♗g2 ♗b7 5. O-O g6 6. ♘c3 ♗g7 7. d4 cxd4 8. ♘b5 O-O 9. ♘bxd4 ♕c8 10. b3 d5 11. ♗a3 dxc4 12. ♗xe7 ♖e8 13. ♗xf6 ♗xf6 14. ♖c1 c3 15. ♘b5 ♖d8 16. ♕c2 ♘a6 17. a3 ♕d7 18. ♘xc3 ♖ac8 19. ♘e4 ♗g7 20. ♕b1 ♕e7 21. ♖xc8 ♖xc8 22. ♘fd2 ♖d8 23. ♕c2 b5 24. b4 f5 25. ♘c3 ♗xg2 26. ♔xg2 ♕c7 27. ♕b3+ ♔h8 28. ♘db1 ♘b8 29. ♔g1 ♕c4 30. ♕xc4 bxc4 31. ♖d1 ♖xd1+ 32. ♘xd1 ♘d7 33. ♘dc3 ♘f6 34. ♔f1 ♔g8 35. ♔e1 ♔f7 36. h3 ♔e6 37. ♔d2 ♘d5 38. ♘xd5 ♔xd5 39. ♘c3+ ♔c6 40. e3 ♔b6 41. ♘e2 ♔b5 42. ♘d4+ ♔a4 43. ♔c3 ♔xa3 44. ♔xc4 ♔a4 45. ♘c6 a6 46. f3 1-0 |
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| Nov-01-16 | | Nosnibor: One of the strongest players in England in the mid 1930`s.In 1935 he finished second in the British Championship but was disappointed not to be invited to play in the Hastings Premier 1935/36.
R.I.P. Alf. |
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| Dec-26-16 | | Nosnibor: Alfred Lenton passed away on the 5th November 2004 and was therefore 93 years of age at the date of his death. His funeral was held on the 24th November 2004. |
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| May-16-18 | | Nosnibor: Here is a game from a simultaneous over 40 boards given by Alekhine where Lenton pulled off a nice win. [Event "1936 Simultaneous"] [Date "29 August 1936"] [White "Alexander Alekhine"] [Black "Alfred Lenton" ] Caro Kann Defence Ply count B14 [Result "1-0"]
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 dxc4 7.d5 Na5 8.Bxc4 Nxc4 9.Qa4+ Bd7 10.Qxc4 e6 11.0-0-0 Rc8 12.Qe2 Qb6 13.dxe6 Bxe6 14.Nf3 Bc4 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Nd5 Qh5 17.Kg1 Kf8 18.g4 Be7 19.Qe4 Rc5 20.Nb4 Rb4 21.Nd4 Qxb4 22.Nxe6+ fxe6 23.Qxe6 Re4 24.Qd5 Re2 25.Qd4 Kf7 26.Qd5+ Kg7 27.Qb3 Qxb3 28.axb3 Rc8 29.Rd7 Kf8 30.Ka2 R1c2 31. Rb1 b5 32.b4 Rc4 33.Rxa6 Rxg4 34.Kg3 Rxf2 35.Re1 Bxb4 36.Rd1 Be7 37.R1d7 Re4 38.h4 Re3+ 39.Ka2 b4 40.Rdb7 Rff3 41.Kg1 b3 42.Kc1 Rd3 0-1 Alekhine won 33 drew 5 and lost 2 games. He came straight on to Leicester from playing in the Nottingham Tournament. His agreed fee was £10 and I still hold the handwritten letter sent from the Victoria Station Hotel,Nottingham signed by Alekhine. |
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| May-17-18 | | Nosnibor: The opening result should of course read 0-1 in my last post. |
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May-17-18
 | | MissScarlett: Your score is corrupted in multiple places when comparing with the one in Skinner & Verhoeven, starting with 14...Bc4 instead of ...Bc5. Bad show. I will submit the game with a corrected and properly formatted score. |
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May-17-18
| | MissScarlett: Another thing, is the date, August 29th, correct? It certainly fits with the narrative - dashing up from the Nottingham event which finished the previous day - but Skinner & Verhoeven have it as the 15th September. |
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| May-17-18 | | Nosnibor: <MissScarlett> The date shown was the suggested date Alekhine put in his personal letter. I have now discovered that he actually played the simul on Saturday 5th September 1936 which is confirmed by the "Leicester Mercury".Therefore the Skinner & Verhoeven date is incorrect. I am afraid that when I entered the score yours truly was under the weather. But I felt that this game was of historical importance.I knew Alfred Lenton for almost 50 years and played him many times over the board ,obtaining a slight plus score against him. |
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May-17-18
| | MissScarlett: Hmmm, I'll let you off this time. But be warned. As to the S&V misdating, I see now - well, I saw before but it didn't compute - that their sources for this and another game are the Leicester Mercury for the 7th and 9th of September, i.e.pre-dating the 15th, so it's evidently just a balls-up. Here's the submitted game header:
<[Event "Simul, 40b"]
[Site "Leicester ENG"]
[Date "1936.09.05"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Alexander Alekhine"]
[Black "Alfred Lenton"]
[Result "0-1"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[Source "Leicester Mercury, 1936.09.09, p.4"]> Suck it up, Winter, you schmuck. |
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Jan-25-21
 | | Honza Cervenka: <Apparently he defeated Czech IM Tibor in matches between the Midland Chess Club and Czechoslovakia...> His opponent was rather Jaromir Florian in those games from 1947 match between MCCU and Czechoslovakia. IM Tibor Florian was a Hungarian. |
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Oct-13-23
 | | Sally Simpson: British Chess News did a double feature on this lad. It is packed with all kinds of information, games and pictures. Part One: https://britishchessnews.com/2023/0... Part Two: https://britishchessnews.com/2023/1... In Part Two we are told how Alfred foiled a train robbery. "The would be robber is described as white, 5ft 8 inches tall, of medium build with rosy cheeks and a hook nose. " Leicester Mercury, 6th of December 1988. |
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| Oct-13-23 | | Nosnibor: In his very early days he was no match for the Leicestershire Champion Victor Lovell. In a League match played 11th April 1931 he lost in 27 moves to Lovell whilst playing against the Two Knights Defence. On 30th May 1931 he lost with Black in 29 moves whilst playing the Queen`s Gambit Declined in a League match. |
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Oct-14-23
| | Sally Simpson: Hi Nosnibor,
Sound like a Carlsen - Nakamura indian sign. I had an amazing 8-0 v an opponent, in all cases with both colours he never got past 30 moves. The inevitable happened and I was about to lose a piece. I offered a draw - he shook my hand off. Next time we met he won. My worse record was 0-6 v this guy Ian C Robertson I had a few good positions but kept trying too hard to win. Also he was not too bad a player. All this was years ago, late 70's, early 80's. He played at the Dunfermline chess club and I travelled there on one of their clubs nights to see if I could beat him at blitz (I had then recently won a very strong blitz competition. I must have chance. ) I waited but he never turned up on that club night! |
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| Oct-15-23 | | Nosnibor: Hi Sally Simpson. I recall going to Alfred Lenton`s shop just before Christmas in 1958 to purchase a chess book. I perused the various shelves but found little of interest. However Alf gave me a free gift of the International Chess Tournament , London 1851. This was the first chess book I owned. Around that time his wife ran a stall on Leicester Market selling various oddments. Their son Philip shortly after this time joined his father to run the shop which still runs to this day. |
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Oct-16-23
| | Sally Simpson: Hi Nosnibor,
My first book was a chess for children book. My dad also had a copy of 'Chess Traps and Stratagems.' by the Rev. Cunnington which I devoured. I think one's style may be defined by their first chess book. If only my dad had a book on endings...I could have been a contender! My first freebie was from B.H.Wood. I helped him carry in a load of books and equipment into the hall at one of chess festivals in 1973. I made two or three trips. He gave me a pocket set which I still have and use. It is battered and bruised but I'd never part with it. In fact yesterday I was at the Hibs v a Man Utd celebrity XI David Gray testimonial (Hibs 1-0) and had that set with me! ---
Hopefully one of the bio masters here can lift some of British News items to add to Alfred's bio. He sounds like he was quite a character. |
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| Oct-16-23 | | Nosnibor: Herewith a game in which I secured the second prize in the annual local championship. I finished on 8.5/11, with Lenton sharing third prize on7/11. <Event: Leicestershire Championship 1972/73>< Round 11: 7/5/1973 > < Opening: Modern Benoni A75 > < White: J.K.Robinson > <Black> A. Lenton > 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.f4 Bg7 8.Bb5+ Nfd7 9.Bd3 0-0 10.Nf3 Re8 11.0-0 Na6 12.Re1 Nc7 13.Nd2 Rb8 14.a4 b6 15.Nc4 Nf8 16.Qf3 a6 17.e5 dxe5 18.fxe5 Qd7 19.Bf4 Rd8 20.Rad1 b5 21.axb5 axb5 22.Nd6 c4 23.Be4 Ne8 24.e6 fxe6 25.Nxe8 e5 26.Nxg7 exf4 27.Ne6 Nxe6 28.dxe6 Qa7+ 29.Kh1 Rxd1 30.Rxd1 Bxe6 31.Bd5 1-0 |
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Oct-17-23
| | Sally Simpson: Submit is Nosnibor.
I use to play Nbd7 v Bb5+ it is good fun OTB. won some lost some. But tbh I did not like to see f4 v my Benoni or Pirc. Too much theory you needed to know. That is why I liked to see 1.Nf3. 'Good no f4's to worry about.' |
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Oct-17-23
 | | perfidious: <JKR>, From the above, it is unclear whether the game was sent on, so I took care of it. <Geoff>, the f4 line was my speciality for 25 years; when I took up the cudgels on the Black side of the Modern Benoni for a time, it was only after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 or 3.Nf3, so as to slyly circumvent my old favourite. |
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Oct-17-23
| | Sally Simpson: Well done Perfidious. I hope you gave as a source. 'From a conversation between Sally Simpson and Nosnibor on the Alfred Lenton thread.' |
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Oct-17-23
| | perfidious: <Geoff>, for some reason, it only allows 64 characters--I simply said the report was apocryphal. (laughs) Side note for you and <JKR>: good to see Mr Lenton playing with such vigour, using an opening which is aggressive and very demanding of one's nerves. |
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| Apr-09-24 | | Nosnibor: Herewith a game that Alfred played whilst still a teenager against the mighty Victor Lovell in a match between the "Old Wyggestonians" and the "Old Newtonions".11/4/1931. <White: Alfred Lenton> <Black: Victor Lovell > Opening: Two Knights Defence C58 > 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc5 8.Be2 h6 9.Nf3 e4 10.Ne5 Bd6 11.Nc4 Nxc4 12.Bxc4 0-0 13.h3 Nd5 14.Nc3 Qg5 15.g4 Re8 16.Ne2 Qh4 17.Bxd5 cxd5 18.Nd4 Bc5 19.c3 Ba6 20.Rh2 Bxd4 21.cxd4 Qf6 22.g5 hxg5 23.Qg4 Qxd4 24.Qg3 Qc4 25.Kd1 Qe2+ 26.Kc2 Rec8+ 27. Kb3 Qb5+ 28.0-1 |
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Kibitzing
