Baruch Harold Wood

Baruch Harold Wood MSc OBE (13 July 1909 – 4 April 1989), generally known as B. H. Wood, was an English chess player, editor and author. He was born in Sheffield, England.

Playing career

Between 1938 and 1957, Wood won the championship of Warwickshire eight times. In 1939 he represented England at the Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires.^[1][2] He won the tournaments at Baarn (1947), Paignton (1954), Whitby (1963), Tórshavn (1967) and Jersey (1975).^[3] He tied for 4th–6th, scoring 5 points out of 9 games, at the 1948–49 Hastings Christmas Chess Congress, 1.5 points behind winner Nicolas Rossolimo.^[4] In 1948, he tied for second place at the British Chess Championship held in London.^[3] He won the British correspondence chess championship in 1944–45.^[5]

Writings

In 1935, Wood founded the magazine CHESS, which became one of the two leading chess magazines in Great Britain.^[6] He edited it until 1988, when it was taken over by Pergamon Press. Wood was the chess correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and The Illustrated London News.^[3] From 1948 to February 1967, he was responsible for the chess column of the Birmingham Daily Post. He also wrote a popular and often reprinted book Easy Guide to Chess (Sutton Coldfield 1942),^[3] described by Grandmaster Nigel Davies as "one of the best beginners books on the market".^[7] His other books include World Championship Candidates Tournament 1953 (Sutton Coldfield 1954)^[3] and 100 Victorian Chess Problems (1972).

Administrative roles

From 1946 to 1951 he was a president of the ICCA, a forerunner organization of the International Correspondence Chess Federation. Wood was a FIDE Judge,^[3] an international chess arbiter, and the joint founder of the Sutton Coldfield Chess Club. Wood represented England when it joined FIDE, the world chess federation. He was longtime President of the British Schools Chess Association and also of the British Universities Chess Association.

Family

Wood's daughter Margaret (Peggy) Clarke won the British Girls' Championship in 1952, 1955, and 1956, and was the joint British Ladies' Champion in 1966.^[8] Her husband Peter Clarke was a full-time chess player and writer, who finished second in the British Chess Championship five times, represented England in the Chess Olympiads seven times, wrote five chess books, and was the Games Editor of the British Chess Magazine.^[9] Woods' sons Christopher, Frank and Philip are also strong chess players.

References