AAdditional Games
- Chessgames
- Game, Robert Graham Wade vs. George Panton, Simultaneous Exhibition, October 1947.
- Game, Robert G. Wade vs. Samuel Reshevsky, 1959.
- Game, Robert Graham Wade vs. Cenek Kottnauer, Ilford Congress, 1959.
(BCN) From the 1952 Ilford Congress (May 30-June 2, 1952) and originally published in BCM, July 1952, page 187. (Left to right): Harold Israel, Alan Philips, Bob Wade, Otto Friedman, Abe Yanofsky, Alfred William Bowen and Harold Meek.
Robert Graham Wade.
Pawns Away 02 Apr 1947, Wed The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) Newspapers.com
PAWNS AWAY: First five of the 40 players who pitted their pawns against the relentless attacks of Canadian Chess Champion Daniel A. Yanofsky and New Zealand expert Robert G. Wade here last night are shown just prior to the opening moves. Head down, Yanofsky ponders M. W. Williams' bishop and knight, while Wade (extreme right) plans his attack on T. L. O'Neill's board. Other three players, left to right, are: P. G. Haley, Samuel Melamed, and Severin E. Jankow. The experts won. (Gazette Photos by Davidson.)
New Zealander Defeated By Three Local Players 07 Apr 1947, Mon The Ottawa Citizen (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) Newspapers.com
NEW ZEALANDER DEFEATED BY THREE LOCAL PLAYERS—Playing 27 chess games simultaneously with Ottawa players, Robert G. Wade, New Zealand chess champion, lost to three local players Thursday night and drew with seven more. Among the winners was 16-year-old A. H. Arnoni. Photo by Newton
New Zealand Champion To Visit Coast Clubs 20 Sep 1947, Sat The Province (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) Newspapers.com
Chess News: New Zealand Champion To Visit Coast Clubs
Supplied to The Vancouver Daily Province by the BRITISH COLUMBIA CHESS FEDERATION
Robert Wade, chess champion of New Zealand, will be in Vancouver and Victoria from October 9 to 12. Arrangements have been made for him to give an exhibition of simultaneous play in Victoria on Saturday, October 11, and consideration is being given to a similar event for Vancouver. Mr. Wade will be a welcome visitor to chess clubs of the two cities.
Top Chess Ace To Play in City 03 Oct 1947, Fri Calgary Herald (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) Newspapers.com
Top Chess Ace To Play in City
The Calgary Chess Club is planning another unusual evening on Oct. 7 when Robert G. Wade, internationally known chess master comes to Calgary for an exhibition match during which he will play at one time any opponents who care to oppose him. He will follow the exhibition with a lecture on chess and the different systems of play.
Champion Will Give Exhibition Next Week 04 Oct 1947, Sat The Province (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) Newspapers.com
CHESS NEWS: Champion Will Give Exhibition Next Week
Supplied to The Vancouver Daily Province by the BRITISH COLUMBIA CHESS FEDERATION
Robert Wade, New Zealand chess champion, will open his exhibition of simultaneous play to be given in the lower dining room of Chris' Grill at 7:30 p.m. next Thursday evening, with a lecture.
Mr. Wade is returning to New Zealand following tournaments and simultaneous exhibitions in the United States, Holland, Switzerland, Spain, England, Greenland and in Canada.
Wins 19 Matches 11 Oct 1947, Sat Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) Newspapers.com
WINS 19 MATCHES
Vancouver, Oct. 11 (CP)— Robert Wade, New Zealand chess champion, stepped tired and unshaven off a bus Friday and in an exhibition of simultaneous with 30 opponents showed the style which he has demonstrated in a 12-country, 36,000 mile tour during the past 16 months.
The 26-year-old champ registered 19 wins, five draws and six losses.
Speed of N.Z. Master Amazes Chess Experts 11 Oct 1947, Sat The Province (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) Newspapers.com
Speed of N.Z. Master Amazes Chess Experts
Supplied to The Vancouver Daily Province by the British Columbia Chess Federation
Robert Wade, 26, globe trotting chess master of New Zealand, acquitted himself in fine style against 30 of British Columbia's better players during an exhibition of simultaneous play in Vancouver.
After four hours of grueling competition, the visitor had scored 19 decisive wins, held five of his opponents to drawn positions, and was defeated by six of Vancouver's leading exponents.
Successful against the champion were George Panton and C. F. Millar, City Chess Club; D. Creemer, Vancouver Jewish Chess Club; A. Hammond and O. Hawes, Vancouver Chess Club, and Oscar Bock. Draws were scored by A. Helman, B.C. Champion; A. Stevenson, B. Weston, G. Gulbert and C. G. Carroll.
Mr. Wade astonished his opponents by the incredible speed with which he opened his performance, making well over 200 moves in the first half-hour of play. At the conclusion of play no one doubted his abilities and all realized that in individual games Mr. Wade would easily have swept the entire field. His opening lecture on tactics, opening, middle and end game objectives was of great instructive value to local enthusiasts.
Vancouver Chess Club has elected officers for the current season. President is S. A. Cooper; vice-president, O. A. Hawes; secretary, A, Hammond; treasurer, H. H. Burrill; auditor, J. Edmundson. The club is holding major and minor ladder tournaments. Every night is chess night at 1173 W. Broadway, with visitors welcome.
On October 6 Chilliwack Chess Club inaugurated its 1947-48 season with a round-robin tournament involving 21 players. Officers elected for the year are: James Wilson, president; Harrison Louther, vice-president; Robert Boyd, secretary; Allan Baker, treasurer. The club meets Mondays from 7 to 12 p.m. in the Women's Institute Hall. Residents of Chilliwack interested in chess are invited to join the club.
The game score below is that of the first loss suffered by Mr. Wade at Vancouver and is a Caro Kahn defence. George Panton's play was direct, accurate and decisive. It reflects credit upon Vancouver chess standards notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Wade was occupied with 29 other contestants.
Robert Graham Wade (white) vs. George Panton (black)
Caro-Kann Defense: Bronstein-Larsen Variation
Visiting Chess Expert Will Take on 20 19 Oct 1947, Sun The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com
Visiting Chess Expert Will Take on 20
Robert G. Wade, chess champion of New Zealand from 1943 through 1946, will face a score of opponents simultaneously in an exhibition at 7:30 p.m. today in the rooms of the Hollywood Chess Group, 108 N. Formosa Ave.
The 26-year-old New Zealander has been playing chess “seriously” since he was 17. During the past year he has been playing in tournaments on a European tour and a month ago he won the Southwest open tournament in Texas.
Referee for the exhibition will be Herman Steiner, chess master and The Times chess editor.
Robert Wade 04 Dec 2008, Thu The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) Newspapers.com
Robert Wade: Chess Master Who Helped Bobby Fischer
LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH
London - Robert Wade, who died in London on Saturday at age 87, was one of the most influential figures in chess; in a career that lasted seven decades he was not only a professional player but also a prolific writer, editor and researcher as well an administrator, arbiter and coach.
Wade dispelled the notion that chess was an essentially amateur game that was the preserve of a small elite. For many years he was Britain's only chess professional and he won the British Championship at Chester in 1952 and at Coventry in 1970.
Robert Graham Wade was born on April 10, 1921 at Dunedin, New Zealand. He learned the moves at the age of 8 from his father, a farmer, but did not take the game remotely seriously until high school, when academic success led to his being awarded membership to the Athenaeum Institute, Dunedin, where chess was played and chess books available.
After leaving school, he entered the civil service. At the same time he rapidly climbed the chess ranks until he captured the New Zealand Championship in 1944. His second victory the following year led to an invitation, as champion of a Commonwealth country, to the British Championship of 1946.
At the time of the event Wade had a leg in plaster owing to an inflammation on the knee, and he played poorly but after recovering he took the opportunity to travel to a tournament of master strength in Barcelona, where he garnered few points but much valuable experience.
He toured the United States and Canada, playing in a number of tournaments as he traveled the length and breadth of North America by bus. When he arrived back in New Zealand, having sailed from San Francisco, he found that his old job in the civil service had been taken during his extended sabbatical. He lingered long enough to win his third New Zealand championship (in 1947) before leaving for Europe.
He settled in England, and soon became the country's most active player. In 1950 he was awarded the title of International Master. He became an important presence in FIDE (Federation International d'Echecs) and was a member of the committee that drew up the first official laws of the game in 1949.
Although he crossed swords with the Soviets over his support for players who had fallen out of favour with the Communist authorities, Wade was still invited to officiate in Moscow at the world title match in 1951 between Mikhail Botvinnik and David Bronstein.
He represented England in six Chess Olympiads between 1954 and 1972 - as a selector in 1970 he dropped himself in favour of younger players and represented his native New Zealand instead.
The requirements for the grandmaster title were far more stringent in Wade's active playing days than they are today, but when FIDE offered him the title of honorary grandmaster, Wade - always a modest and unassuming man - refused to accept it.
He took some notable scalps during his playing career, including the world title contender Viktor Korchnoi, Pal Benko, Lajos Portisch and the East German champion Wolfgang Uhlmann. Uhlmann was the world's leading expert in the French Defence, but did not last long in his favourite opening when he met Wade at Skopje in 1968.
Wade also famously drew with Bobby Fischer at the Havana tournament in 1965 in a game played by Telex. In the pre-computer age, games were adjourned overnight after about 40 moves. On this occasion Wade analyzed the position and went to sleep.
He awoke the next morning to find his “chess obituary” in the newspapers with all the pundits declaring his position desperate. His steadfast defence, however, earned the draw.
Wade accumulated a vast chess library and his advice was sought by aspiring players as well as by the very best. Because he possessed the most comprehensive collection of Soviet chess literature in the West he secretly helped to prepare Fischer for the Match of the Century against Boris Spassky in 1972.
He also assisted Fischer in his rematch against Spassky 20 years later.
One of Wade's finest achievements was to set new standards in chess publishing, particularly in the field of opening theory during his-editorship of the Batsford series of chess books in the 1970s and 1980s.
Wade also wrote numerous classic tournament books and opening manuals and through these effectively raised the level of play of a generation of British players.
His books included The Games of Bobby Fischer (with Kevin O'Connell); Soviet Chess; The World Chess Championship (with Svetozar Gligoric); and World Championship Interzonals: Leningrad and Petropolis, 1973 (with Les Blackstock and Alexander Kotov).
Wade gave his name to some offbeat opening variations that he championed in tournament play. There was hardly an openings book in that era that did not draw on his experience and on his material, much of which he compiled himself from newspaper cuttings and tournament bulletins.
For players who were going to compete abroad or represent England, a visit to Wade's house in Blackheath, London, was almost de rigueur. Such was the flow of players and authors to his home that it was necessary to make an appointment well in advance.
There was always tea and sympathy if one had played badly, and he gave his assistance with enthusiasm and free of charge. The only stipulation was that the visitor had to tolerate Wade's cats.
Wade will be remembered particularly for his role as a coach and chess organizer. He was greatly influenced by the success of Soviet training methods, some of which he introduced to Britain. He gave countless lectures and simultaneous games, and played many training matches. Among the thousands of people who learned to play through his efforts was the-snooker champion Steve Davis.
It is a measure of Wade's undiminished energy that he was due to attend a junior tournament on the day after his death. He remained an active player in his late 80s and returned to his native country for the Queenstown Open in 2006, at which he drew with the winner, grandmaster Murray Chandler.
Robert Wade 12 Dec 2008, Fri The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Robert Wade
Chess champion who helped Bobby Fischer beat Boris Spassky
Of all the men who dominated British chess in the two decades after the Second World War, Robert Wade was the only true professional. For British chess, this was, after all, the generation of the gifted amateur. The game was dominated by men such as the brilliant Hugh Alexander, who had a distinguished career at GCHQ in Cheltenham, Harry Golombek, whose playing quickly took second place to his chess writings, and Jonathan Penrose who never let chess distract from his career as a psychologist. But Bob Wade, who settled in England in the late 1940s after twice winning the championship of his native New Zealand, was a chess player pure and simple, motivated by a real passion for the game that lasted until the end of his life.
In the less rarefied climate of British chess, Wade was a highly valued member of the national team for almost 20 years, and won the British championship in 1952 and 1970. His influence on British chess, however, was enormous and came through his eagerness to spread his knowledge of the game to young players. In that respect, he was perhaps more influential than any other person in instilling a proper professional attitude towards the study of chess into the generation from which Britain's first grandmasters sprang in the late 1970s. He was also instrumental in founding the series of Batsford books that led the field in chess publishing.
This was the age before computer databases of chess games, and almost every young English player would, at some time or other, have made the trek out to Wade's home, first in Ilford, then in south London, to be introduced to his vast library of chess books, including magazines and tournament hooks stretching back for decades. There we would all learn how to collect and collate material, and organise it in a manner that would enable us to compete against the world's best. His time and expertise were given freely; solely for the reward of sharing his chess passion.
When Bobby Fischer needed to prepare for his world championship match against Boris Spassky in 1972, it was Wade to whom he turned - once again, for no payment, other than the vicarious joy of being associated with the most famous chess match of all time, Wade donated his time and energies to preparing Fischer with as complete a dossier of Spassky's games as could have been imagined. And when Fischer complained that he wanted the moves of the games written in columns, not along lines, Wade uncomplainingly wrote them all out again.
He was awarded the International Master title in 1950, and served on numerous committees of the International Chess Federation for more than 40 years. He also continued playing club, county and tournament games at a high standard until well into his eighties.
William Hartston
Robert Graham Wade, chess player: born Dunedin, New Zealand 10 April 1921; died London 29 November 2008.
