Worcester City Club History - Early 20th Century
Adapted from "A History of Worcester City Chess Club" Ray Collett & Tom Widdows (1987)

Worcester City Club had several strong players in the 1930s and you can see a picture of the senior members here. The Club was a founder member of Worcester and District Chess League in 1932. Between 1930 and 1960 the club was dominated by Reginald Bonham. Although he was blind, his disability did not limit his activities. He was a master at the RNIB New College at Worcester and a governor of Worcester Training College (now University of Worcester). He was World Correspondence Chess Champion and World Blind Chess Champion, being made a grandmaster in 1958. Over-the-board, he won the club championship on each occasion he competed: he was the Worcestershire Individual Champion over twenty times, and the Midland Champion several times. As an organiser Bonham founded the International Braille Chess Association in 1958. Another strong player of these years was Douglas Wormald who captained Worcester teams for over twenty years. His theoretical knowledge of the Sicilian Defence and the English Opening was much feared. With Bonham he wrote Chess Questions Answered 1945) and More Chess Questions Answered (1948). His greatest achievements were in the field of coaching junior players.

Worcester hosted the 1931 British Championship tournament. It was won by F D Yates with 8 out of 12 followed by William Winter and Mir Sultan Khan each on 7½.

Pictured playing left at Worcester, c.1931, are Mir Sultan Khan (1905-1966) (on the left, playing black) and Theodore H. Tylor (1900-1968) (right, playing white). Spectators include Sir George Thomas (1881-1972) (far left) and Arthur J Mackenzie (1871-1949) (far right).

The Club's centenary year was celebrated in 1937 by a large chess congress in the Public Hall of the Cornmarket, now sadly demolished. The winner of the Premier Tournament was the talented university player, later President of Devon County Chess Association, A.R.B. Thomas who led the field which included visiting masters from Germany (A. Seitz) and Argentina (Guimard). F.E.A. Kitto won the Premier Reserves B, and Mrs Mary Bain (later USA Women's Champion and world Women's Champion contender) won the First Class Section.

During the Second World War (1937-45) many players were short term residents in Worcesterand notable among them were Leonard Delfin who won every game he played on top board for the club. In 1945, Worcester entertained a team from the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army and members regularly visited wounded servicemen at Ronkswood Hospital. In the post-war years, Harold Breakwell, Tesside Champion, joined the club. Another strong player was Maurice Smith who during one spell played without a single loss for three years and was the only player to score a draw when Max Euwe, the World Champion, took on the 30 Worcester City and Worcester Royal Grammar School's strongest players in 1946.

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