Chess in prisons

This week I focus on the praiseworthy efforts of the National Director for Chess in Prisons, Carl Portman. In what follows, I will quote extensively from the Director’s own writings:

“In 2022 I volunteered to manage a team of chess players at HMP Hewell and enter them into the International World online prison chess championships as one of the England teams. My partner in this venture was Nigel Towers, the English Chess Federation Director of home chess. We only had a few weeks to select and coach a team.

We were informed that some of the prisoners interested in playing were difficult to manage, but it has always been the case that in the arena of chess, there are seldom any problems and prisoners of all backgrounds, ethnicity etc. just come together to play. They keep their personal issues or grievances to the wing.

In brief, this is how we went from (supposed) zeroes to heroes in a few weeks. We certainly had challenges – the main one being that some prisoners were only held for a short time and although they might be good players they would be released before the day of the competition.

Therefore we had to try to select people that would still be in custody at the time of the event and of course those who were good enough at chess to compete with some of the international teams, including the Philippines, India, Germany, the USA and more.

What we needed from the prisoners was a commitment. They had to realise that not everyone would be selected, that chess is a meritocracy but that we would do our best to prepare them for the finals. They needed to be self-disciplined, committed to the group and to me and Nigel. If they could do that, we were good to go. We were very open with them saying that anyone who could not do this could leave the group immediately – they were free to go.

None did.

How do you bring a group of prisoners together, some of whom do not know one another, some from different countries, speaking different languages? We had men from England, Albania, Somalia and Romania.

Well, that is where chess comes in. Since it is played worldwide and is a standardised game, it is therefore a universal language which anyone could understand.

Prisoners had textbooks (in English and Romanian!) homework sheets, and face to face sessions when Nigel and I visited. They were trusted to go online (supervised) and learn how to use the chess.com platform, where the finals would be played.

To a man, each player met every commitment. They attended every session, they did their homework, they worked together to improve. They worked with staff to make the best of their time, and it was a revelation.

The main team was selected and the others volunteered to support them. This noble commitment was rewarded when we learned that we were able to change players so that everyone in the squad would get at least one game. Everyone played and they even drew with Germany, which was wonderful. They all had tee-shirts with a specially designed logo along with  books and certificates.

A few weeks later Nigel and I returned to HMP Hewell with the BBC and you can see a short video about that and chess in prisons in general, here.

The players told us that they felt a great sense of self-worth and self-esteem, that they had developed a discipline in preparing for something, individually and working together and of course there was also the great sense of achievement, understanding that with hard work, results would come.

This, in my view, is what prisons should be doing. Yes, you can lock an inmate up for 23 hours a day and deprive them of education and mental stimulation (deliberately or otherwise) but don’t be surprised that, upon release, society has within its numbers bitter, angry and frustrated individuals.

The point of this simple exercise is that chess can give prisoners a hand up in life.
Why chess in prisons?
Let me recap…
1. Chess is for everyone
2. Regardless of age, gender, race, intellectual capacity, ability or background, anyone can play.
3. It is inclusive and it is a meritocracy. If you are 9 or 90, you can play!
4. Chess is a social game.
5. It helps people to make new friends and it builds relationships. Often, inmates who would
never spend time together will happily sit and play chess.
6. Chess reaches across the educational spectrum.
7. Chess incorporates aspects of English, mathematics, art, history, religion, geography and
sport.
8. Chess improves memory and concentration.
9. Chess helps people to assess a situation and to use logic for personal growth.
10. Chess demands responsibility for actions. There is no one else to blame. Once we have made our move on the chessboard (as in life) then we can’t  take it back. It means that we have to think before we act and that once we act, we alone are responsible and accountable for the consequences, good and bad. We must learn to be magnanimous in both victory and defeat.
11. Chess is an excellent (productive) use of time. Time is a prisoners’ toy. It is something they have in abundance. Maximising the use of that time in a positive way is a good thing to do and chess delivers positively in this area.
12. Chess can be played anywhere. Especially in a prison cell. Chess is inexpensive, and a simple set and board can accompany a prisoner anywhere. It is education in cell time.
13. Chess requires discipline. Chess is, after all, a war game and without planning and preparation the odds of failure are greatly increased. Strategy and tactics are fundamental to improvement. It requires
precision and concentration and is a test for us as individuals.”

Carl Portman is right. There are indeed many examples in history of those imprisoned turning to chess as a way of keeping their brains occupied, while they were out of circulation. A notable example of politically motivated incarceration was the former Prime Minister of Israel, Menachem Begin, who helped to keep his formidable mental powers in shape whilst jailed by the British Mandate authorities in Palestine.

There are also cases of strong chess players in their own right finding themselves behind bars. For example, the two US International Masters, Norman Whitaker and Raymond Weinstein, were jailed respectively for confidence trickery and murder.

The Yugoslav Grandmaster Milan Matulovic was sentenced to nine months for careless driving after a fatal car crash, while the two World Champions Wilhelm Steinitz and Bobby Fischer both found themselves under arrest for bizarre reasons. In 1891, Steinitz was arrested in New York and accused of spying, after the moves of a correspondence game with the Russian grandmaster Mikhail Tchigorin were intercepted. An employee in the telegraph company reported him to the police, suspecting that the moves were coded military secrets. The fact that the word “Zug” in German, means both a “chess move” and a “train”, did not help. Steinitz was, however, released within 24 hours.

By contrast, Bobby Fischer was arrested and incarcerated twice. The first time was in Pasadena, California, in May 1981, when he was falsely suspected of being a bank robber. On that occasion he was released after two days, but later published a pamphlet claiming to have been tortured. The second occasion was in Japan in 2004-5, when Fischer was detained for using a revoked US passport. A warrant had been issued by the American authorities for his arrest for breaching US sanctions against Serbia by playing against Boris Spassky in 1992. He was held in Japan for nine months and was only released on being granted Icelandic citizenship in March 2005.

Other incarcerated chess players — including Alexandre Deschapelles, James Mortimer, Ludek Pachman, Alex Wojtkiewicz, Vladimir Petrov and most illustrious of all, Garry Kasparov — were all jailed for political dissidence or on matters of principle.

Mortimer was, by profession, a dramatist and newspaper editor. He spent three months in prison in 1879. The crime for which he was imprisoned was to refuse to reveal the name of an author of an article, which was the subject of a libel suit. While inside, Mortimer taught his fellow inmates how to play chess.

A wonderful example of controlled aggression by the jailbird is this game by Mortimer against Emanuel Lasker, the great German-Jewish world  champion. Lasker himself would have been marked down for incarceration in a concentration camp had he not taken flight to the Netherlands from the clutches of the Gestapo in 1933. He spent the rest of his life in exile in Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States.

James Mortimer vs. Emanuel Lasker

Exhibition game, 1891

The following is the first of four games between our two protagonists, after which Mortimer enjoyed the frankly astonishing score of 2½-1½ (+2-1=1). Having said this, apparently Lasker played this game blindfolded, according to notes on chessgames.com. Lasker, who three years later would become World Champion, was to receive a lesson that was neither fluke nor accident. In some accounts, the game concludes after White’s 34th move.

1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 exd4 7. O-O dxc3 8. Qb3 Qf6

 9. e5

Slightly stronger is, 9. Bg5! Qg6 10. Nxc3 Bxc3 11. Qxc3 Nf6 12. e5 13. Qe3 O-O 14. Bd3.

9… Qg6 10. Nxc3 Nge7 11. Ba3 b5 12. Nxb5 Rb8?

This is an error. Correct was, 12… O-O 13. Rac1 (13. Bd3 Qh5 14. Rac1 Re8 transposes) 13… Re8 15. e6 fxe6 16. Rc4 Ng6 17. Rc5 Nce5 18. Nxe5 Nxe5 19. Nxc7 Bxc7 20. Rxc7 Nxd3 21. Qxd3 Rb8 22. Rfc1 Qd5 23. Qxd5 exd5, when Black preserves parity.

13.Bxe7 Kxe7 14. Qe3?!

Missing a promising opportunity: for example, 14. Qa3+ Kd8 15. Nxa7 Bb7 16. Bd5 Bb6 17. Nxc6+ Bxc6 18. Rad1 Ra8 19. Qb3 Kc8 20. Bxf7 Ba4 21. Bxg6 Bxb3 22. axb3 hxg6 23. g3 Rf8 24. Kg2 Ra2 25. Ra1 Rxa1 25. Rxa1 Kb7 27. Ra4, leaves White with a pleasant initiative.

14… Bb6 15. Qa3+?!

This slip costs some momentum. It is more progressive to play, 15. Qf4, and whether Black now prefers 15… Re8 or …f6, White is close to developing a winning position.

15… Kd8 16. Rad1 Re8 17. Bd5?

This misjudgement compounds White’s 14^th move misdemeanour. White’s best try here is, 17. Rfe1, and after 17… Re7, White should try: 18. Bd3 Qe6 19. Qa4 f6 20. Bxh7 Bb7 21. exf6 Qxf6 22. Be4 Ba8 23. Qb3 Qf7 24. Bd5 Rxe1+ 25. Rxe1, with a tiny edge.

17… Nxe5 18. Nxe5?

 As we shall see, this move permits Black a healthy initiative. Better is 18. Nxa7 when Black has nothing better than, 18… Bxa7 19. Qxa7 Rb5 20. Qd4 Qf6 21. Qa4 Rc5 22. Bb7 Nxf3+ 23. Bxf3 Ree5 24. h3, and White is very slightly worse.

18… Rxe5 19. Nxa7 Bxa7 20. Qxa7 Rb5 21. Qa3 Rbxd5

Stronger is 21… d6.

22.Rxd5 Bb7

But not, 22… Rxd5 23. Qf8 checkmate.

23.Qf8+ Re8 24. Rxd7+ Kxd7 25. Rd1+ Bd5 26. Rxd5+ Ke6 27. Qxe8+ Kxd5 28. Qd7+ Ke4?! This blocks the black queen’s access to the b1-square. Over the course of the last ten moves, White has presided over a deterioration from a nice position into one little more than equal. Had Black have continued, 28… Qd6, White had nothing more than, 29. Qxf7+, or even 29. Qb5+ when the position is equal.

29.Qxc7 Qe6 30. f3+?

It is a sign of the magnitude of White’s advantage that he could blunder, and yet still retain a slight edge. Both of the following are likely winning lines:-

30.a) 30. Qc2+ Kd4 31. g3 g6 32. a4 Qe8 33. h3 Kd5 34. Qb3+ Kc5 35. Kh2 f6 36. Qc3+ Kd5 37. Qf3+ Kc5;

30.b) 30. a4 Kd3 31. Qc1 Qa2 32. Qd1+ Kc4 33. h3 Qb2 34. Qg4+ Kb3 35. Qf4 Qc3 36. a5 Qxa5 37. Qxf7+ Kc2.

30… Kd3 31. Qd8+ Ke2?

 Both 31… Kc3 and …Kc2 were more resilient and offered more opposition to White. From this point, Black gradually collapses: worse, much worse and then defeat, in short measure..

32.Qd4 f5 33. Qb2+ Kd3 34. Qb3+ Qxb3 35. axb3 Kc3 36. Kf2 Kxb3 37. Ke3 Kc4 38. Kf4 g6 39. g4 fxg4 40. fxg4 Kd4 41. Kg5 Ke4 42. Kh6 Kf4 43. h3 Kg3 44. Kxh7 Kxh3 45. g5 Black resigns 1-0

Ray’s 206th book, “  Chess in the Year of the King  ”, written in collaboration with Adam Black, and his 207th, “  Napoleon and Goethe: The Touchstone of Genius  ” (which discusses their relationship with chess) are available from Amazon and Blackwells. 

A Message from TheArticle

We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We have an important contribution to make, one that’s needed now more than ever, and we need your help to continue publishing throughout these hard economic times. So please, make a donation.