Chess Archives and Sherlock Holmes by Adam Presswood

Some blog posts are lengthy and academic, laden with research and statistics. Others are lengthy, but emotional and argumentative rather than academic. Still others are brief and more social in nature than anything else. This post really doesn’t fit well into any of those three categories. It’s just a chance for me to share an enthusiasm, one that was teased at the most recent in-person meeting of the Parallel Case of St. Louis.

The story up for discussion that day was "The Retired Colourman." The villain in that tale, Mr. Josiah Amberly, possesses several despicable qualities, but it is one of his seemingly more innocuous qualities that Holmes latches onto as evidence of Amberly’s poor character – his love for chess, which Holmes apparently views as the mark of all deceitful people the world over. "The Retired Colourman" is, of course, not the only one of Doyle’s stories in which chess and villainy are linked. In fact, Dr. Grimesby Roylott, the controlling and murderous stepfather in "The Speckled Band," was also a chess player. The reference in "Colourman," however, is the first one that really gave me pause.

 

In the spirit of full confession, I must admit to being a chess player myself. I’m not one of the greats, to be sure, but certainly a respectable competitor. I have a standing chess game once per month in Creve Coeur, and I have a chess coach in the Central West End. In fact, I met that chess coach during my eighteen-month externship at the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF), the place where my love for all things Sherlock and for all things chess merged in a surprising way.

My chief responsibility at the WCHOF was to comb through old copies of Chess Life and Chess Review, as well as other similar magazines, and unearth curatorial material that could be used for exhibits. It was through this research that I discovered a live chess game played during the 1945 Pan-American Chess Congress in Los Angeles, an extravaganza which took place two years after the release of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce’s Sherlock Holmes Faces Death, a film that utilizes that same type of live chess game as a solution to the mystery. Rathbone and Bruce actually visited the gala event and posed for photos.

It was also through my work with the WCHOF that I learned, courtesy of the November 1992 issue of Chess Life, of Nigel Bruce’s skill as a chess player. While he might have played the kindly, blundering old fool in the Rathbone films, the reality could not have been more different. The old boy was an avid member of the Hollywood Chess Club and the Herman Steiner Chess Club. Furthermore, Bruce competed in a number of tournaments himself in his day. If Holmes was correct in his assertion that a love for and proficiency at chess are the markers of a devious mind and untrustworthy character, then Bruce’s legacy as the simple-minded old sidekick is certainly in contrast with his true nature😊

Not to be overlooked is Rathbone himself, who not only played chess, but designed his own sets! In the spirit of sharing, and to keep my promise that this post would not be text-heavy or academic, I have included some unique photos combining my twin loves of the Baker Street duo and the “Game of Kings." Enjoy!