War Veteran Chess Story – Philippe Brunet

[Wayne Komer]

War Veteran Chess Story – Philippe Brunet

November 21, 2019

For Remembrance Day I posted in ChessTalk “Reminiscences of Chess in War Time”.

https://forum.chesstalk.com/forum/ch...ss-in-war-time

and I finished with this question:

I wonder if any Chess Talk readers have such stories from fathers or grandfathers of the war, or of just being taught chess by them. It would be a fine thing to set them down in this forum before they are lost forever.

Shortly after, I received a communication from Richard Bowes and his introduction by Fred McKim.

He submitted an article which is just the type of story I would like to preserve. It has photos and cross-tables. I hope they reproduce well!

__________

War Veteran Chess Story

Richard Bowes

The war veteran whose story I am relating is Mr. Philippe Brunet. Mr. Brunet died about 10 or so years ago. I first met him in the mid 70s when I was a university student and he was nearing retirement. We used to play off hand classical chess games, with a clock and keeping score, every Tuesday night at the Fredericton chess club on the UNB campus.

One night we were playing and as the game was nearing the first time control I still had several moves to make with little time to do so. I was winning but there was still some work to do. Spectators gathered around our board to watch the outcome of this tense situation. At one point I glanced at the clock and then looked back at the board. I was about to hurry with my move when Mr. Brunet made the comment "don't worry about the clock Richard, it's just a guide, take your time". He didn't want a good game spoiled due to time pressure, even though I was on top in the position. He'd rather I let the flag fall and we continue our game.

Later, in the late 80s and early to mid 90s, we played correspondence chess. When I lived in Moncton, and he in Fredericton, we were playing correspondence and in a letter I received one day he asked me to go to the Moncton library and look up a book called Bombers of the RAF. He told me to look for a picture of an RAF bomber taken from above during an RAF air raid on Germany, the picture showing a bomber with its tail fin missing on one side.

I found the book and the picture and the caption indicated that the tail fin had been sheared off on one side due to bombs falling from above during the raid but that the bomber had safely returned to base in England.



Mr. Brunet told me that the caption was wrong and that the plane went down. He was in the bomber when the picture was taken. He said 4 of the 7 crew members got out and as they were descending in their parachutes the Germans were shooting at them but when they landed three were taken prisoner and ended up in a POW camp. Mr. Brunet spent the rest of the war in a POW camp and his chess activities there are recorded in Fred Reinfeld's book The Treasury of Chess Lore :

Two pages from this book related to Mr. Brunet's chess activities while a POW and are given below.

I found the picture of the plane on line with a note by the son of one of Mr. Brunet's crew mates:

"My dad, George Gardiner was on his 23 mission on July 18th 1944 when his plane was hit from falling bombs from above. Aircraft Halifax LW127. went down, 3 killed, 3 POW's and 1 made it back to friendly lines. Phil Brunet was in the same camp and bunk house."

"The son posted some pictures, one being this war time
pic showing a young Mr. Brunet (3rd from Left): "

[Wayne Komer]

War Veteran Chess Story – Philippe Brunet

November 21, 2019

(continued)

Mr. Brunet competed in the preliminaries of the 48th Canadian Championship in 1946.
-

Preliminary 2		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1	Martin, Robert	*	1	½	1	1	½	½	1	½	1	1	1	1	1	11.0
2	Belson, John	0	*	½	½	½	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	10.5
3	Anderson, Frank	½	½	*	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	10.0
4	Glasberg, Norbert	0	½	1	*	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	9.5
5	Campa, Rene	0	½	0	1	*	0	½	1	1	½	1	1	1	1	8.5
6	Moser, Leo	½	0	0	1	1	*	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	8.5
7	Brunet, Philippe	½	0	0	0	½	1	*	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	8.0
8	Podlone, Charles	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	*	1	½	1	0	1	1	6.5
9	Davis, Ezra	½	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	*	1	1	1	½	1	5.0
10	Gould, S.	0	0	0	0	½	0	0	½	0	*	1	1	0	1	4.0
11	Schaeffer, Aaron	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	*	1	1	1	4.0
12	Lebel, Robert	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	*	1	1	3.0
13	Nadeau, Paul	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	1	0	0	*	1	2.5
14	Worth, A.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	*	0.0

He also competed in the 49th Canadian Championship:
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49th Canadian Championship
-

Quebec, 22 - 29 June 1947		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1	Yanofsky, Abe (MB)	*	½	1	½	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	12.0
2	Rauch, Joseph (PQ)	½	*	½	½	1	1	1	½	1	1	1	1	1	1	11.0
3	Hayes, Rea (ON)	0	½	*	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	10.5
4	Yerhoff, Frank (SK)	½	½	0	*	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	10.0
5	Bain, Osias (PQ)	0	0	0	0	*	½	1	1	1	½	1	1	1	½	7.5
6	Brunet, Philippe (PQ)	0	0	0	0	½	*	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	7.5
7	Therien, Jules (PQ)	0	0	1	0	0	1	*	½	1	½	0	1	1	1	7.0
8	Wade, Robert (NZ)	0	½	0	0	0	0	½	*	1	1	1	1	1	1	7.0
9	Drummond, Redpath (ON)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	*	½	1	1	1	1	4.5
10	Lebel, Robert (NB)	0	0	0	0	½	0	½	0	½	*	½	1	0	1	4.0
11	Nadeau, Gerard (PQ)	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	½	*	0	1	1	3.5
12	Wreschner, Siegfried (PQ)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	*	0	1	3.0
13	Webber, C. (M?) (NS)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	*	½	2.5
14	Doyle, George (NB)	0	0	0	0	½	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	*	1.0

and the 50th...
-

50th Canadian Championship
-

Arvida, 13 - 20 August 1949		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1	Fox, Maurice (PQ)	*	1	½	½	1	½	1	1	1	1	7.5
2	Bohatirchuk, Feodor (ON)	0	*	½	1	1	1	½	1	1	1	7.0
3	Anderson, Frank (ON)	½	½	*	½	1	0	½	1	1	1	6.0
4	Yanofsky, Abe (MB)	½	0	½	*	½	½	1	1	1	1	6.0
5	Vaitonis, Paul (ON)	0	0	0	½	*	1	1	1	1	1	5.5
6	Rauch, Joseph (PQ)	½	0	1	½	0	*	1	½	½	1	5.0
7	Brunet, Philippe (PQ)	0	½	½	0	0	0	*	1	1	0	3.0
8	Therien, Jules (PQ)	0	0	0	0	0	½	0	*	½	1	2.0
9	Drummond, Redpath (ON)	0	0	0	0	0	½	0	½	*	1	2.0
10	Hoehn, Eric (SK)	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	*	1.0

(to be continued)

[Wayne Komer]

War Veteran Chess Story – Philippe Brunet

November 21, 2019

(continued)

Mr. Brunet sent me a copy of one of his games that was published in the USCF magazine Chess Review in 1948, which I have also attached.

Mr. Brunet played in a simul given by Emanuel Lasker in the late 1930s. His game was the last to finish and near the end Lasker was getting very tired, him being an elderly man at this time. Lasker suggested to Mr. Brunet that his (Mr. Brunet's) position was losing and he explained how he would be able to win it. Mr. Brunet wasn't entirely convinced but out of respect for the aging ex-world champion Mr. Brunet resigned.

One of Lasker's contemporaries once said that Lasker could see further along the lines of a chess board than anyone. I read that at a tournament one time Tartakower and some other masters were analyzing a position, trying to figure out if there was a win for one of the sides. Lasker happened by and interrupted them, showing them how to win it by doing this and then that and finally this. One of the masters asked how he had managed to come up with this plan and Lasker replied "All you need is a good head on your shoulders", to which Tartakower responded "You mean all I need is your head on my shoulders".

From Chess Review, August 1948 p. 25

Montreal

Homeless

A major defect of the Meran Defense is the exposed state of Black’s King. No matter which way he turns, the hapless monarch is the victim of his environment.
Brunet, P. – Tennenbaum, W.
D49 QGD, Semi-Slav, Meran

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 a6 9.e4 c5 10.e5 cxd4 11.Nxb5 axb5 12.exf6 Qb6 13.fxg7 Bxg7 14.Bd2 Nc5 15.Bb4 Bb7 16.O-O O-O 17.Ng5 h6 18.Bxc5 Qxc5 19.Ne4 Qd5 20.f3 Rxa2 21.Qd2 Rfa8 22.Rxa2 Rxa2 23.Qb4 Ra4 24.Qe7 Qb3 *



White announced mate in seven moves. Do you see the continuation?

25.Qe8+ Bf8 26.Nf6+ Kg7 27.Nh5+ Kg8 28.Bh7+ Kxh7 29.Qxf7+ Kh8 30.Qxf8+ Kh7 31.Qg7# 1-0

Chess In An R.A.F. Prisoner Of War Camp

By F. A. O’Malley

(From The Treasury of Chess Lore by Fred Reinfeld, Arco Publishers, London, 1955 pp.65-67)

Readers of Stefan Zweig’s famous story The Royal Game will recall how a prisoner in the hands of the Gestapo occupied himself with chess to stave off madness. For many a wartime prisoner, chess, when it was available, must have been equally precious.

The greatest of the very few pleasures let in life to the P.O.W. was in the form of sport, and it was this very important item which decided the make or break of the newly-arrived prisoner. In the early days of P.O.W. life, sporting activity was not organized; on the contrary, it was a very casual way of defeating acute boredom and the consequent breaking of morale.

In R.A.F. P.O.W. camps this state of affairs did not last very long. First football, then rugby, theatricals, bridge, etc., became highly organized, as the master of each art arrived as a guest of the Third Reich.

Chess enjoyed the most sensational transition of all, as before the master of this art arrived, chess was merely a means of passing the weary hours in locked barracks until lights out. When he did arrive in Stalag Luft 1, I had the good fortune to come in immediate contact with him as he lived in the same barracks. He was by name Novotney, a Czech, and from the day of his arrival chess enjoyed a great boost in genuine popularity. The fascination for this game became one of Stalag’s miracles as the general theory and more exacting features of the game were expounded in novel, excitable English by the Czech. His first lecture on the game was to a small group of fans in the barracks, and by introducing the mysteries of recording a game, as his first subject, he enslaved us to the game there and then.

We were then encouraged to carry on playing chess in a casual way as before, but to record our games. This led to a systematic check on the amount or benefit we received from his lectures and on our progress as reasonable chessplayers. When our orders for Stalag-made chessmen were fulfilled by the camp craftsmen this system of chess education became widespread. A committee was eventually formed to control all chess matters such as tourney, barracks matches, individual challenge matches, and playing rules.

The blow to chess fell suddenly; Novotney was moved from the camp to Stalag Luft 3. Chess was now in danger of losing some of its previous vigor, but the keenness and hard work of a few chess enthusiasts did not allow this.

The arrival of one by name Brunet, a Canadain, pushed the standard of chess quite out of our reach – he was the master of them all. The pioneer of Novotney faded before the spectacular displays of this new prisoner. He became extremely popular in the chess world for his modesty and charming manner. Notwithstanding his shabby treatment at the hands of the Gestapo, he commenced to work hard in the interest of chess; this included patient tuition and week-end simultaneous displays (16 boards). He gave me the honor of organizing and introducing the Stalag correspondence chess between compounds. This was carried out by inter-compound communications via the camp ration party. He also introduced a ladder tourney which became very popular; this was followed by the introduction of Kriegspiel, but it did not have a chance to flourish, as the cessation of hostilities rudely interrupted all further play.

The high spot in the chess history was the important part if played in an escape bid.

It happened one day in the Stalag workshop. The German interpreter, who was a keen chessplayer, was challenged to a game by a P.O.W. The German accepted the challenge without any hesitation as, no doubt, he wished to defend the Fatherland somehow, against this arrogant Englander. The game had not been in progress very long, when the German guard became an interested spectator, as, no doubt, he wished to witness Sieg für Deutschland at last, if only over the chessboard. The result was expected, however, and quite fair – one British officer missing. So chess in a P.O.W. camp, whether played poorly or with skill, was in many ways a great benefit to the P.O.W.

British Chess Magazine, 1947

_________

I would like to thank Richard Bowes for this fascinating contribution.

[Wayne Komer]

The bomber

[Wayne Komer]

Completely disregard this message

[Wayne Komer]

The group photo from the text. I have made a real hash of posting the photos but don't know where I have gone wrong! WK