Edward Winter
Hastings, 1895
Clockwise from the top left: I. Gunsberg, C. Schlechter, N.W. van Lennep, G, Marco, H.E. Bird, W. Steinitz.
The above detail comes from a photograph discussed in a number of C.N. items. See, in particular, C.N. 5836.
C.N. 4663 mentioned that the group included ‘the ill-fated Norman Willem van Lennep (1872-97), who was in Hastings as a reserve player’.
One of three games given by us in Kingpin, 1997, under the heading ‘Forever young’ (see Chess Jottings):
Henry Holwell Cole – Norman Willem van Lennep
Occasion? (Match game, probably London, 1896)
Falkbeer Counter-Gambit
1 e4 e5 2 f4 d5 3 exd5 e4 4 Nc3 Nf6 5 Bc4 Nbd7 6 Qe2 Bd6 7 d3 O-O 8 dxe4 Bb4 9 Kf1 Bxc3 10 bxc3 Re8 11 e5 Nb6 12 Bb5 c6 13 dxc6 bxc6 14 Bxc6 Ng4 15 Nf3 Be6 16 Nd2 Nc4 17 Bxe8 Nce3+ 18 Kg1
18...Nd1 19 Nf3 Nxc3 20 Qd2 Qb6+ 21 Nd4 Ne2+ 22 Kf1 Nxd4 23 h3 Bc4+ 24 Ke1 Ne3 25 Ba4 Nef5 26 c3 Ne6 27 Bc2 Ng3 28 Rb1 Qc5 29 Qe3 Nxh1 30 f5 Qe7 31 f6 Qc5 32 g4 Rd8 33 fxg7 Nf4 34 Be4 Qxe5 35 Bd2 Re8 36 Bxh1 Qxe3+ 37 Bxe3 Rxe3+ 38 White resigns.
Source: BCM, May 1896, pages 209-210.
Another victory, played seven months before he committed suicide at the age of 25:
Norman Willem van Lennep – F.F. Gover
Surrey v Kent match, London, 20 February 1897
Vienna Game
1 e4 e5 2 Nc3 Nf6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 d3 h6 5 f4 d6 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 Na4 Bb4+ 8 c3 Ba5 9 b4 Bb6 10 Nxb6 axb6 11 O-O exf4 12 Bxf4 Be6 13 Bxe6 fxe6 14 Qb3 e5 15 Bg3 Qe7 16 h3 Qf7 17 c4 O-O 18 Rf2 Qg6 19 Bh2 Nd4 20 Nxd4 exd4 21 c5+ Kh7 22 cxd6 cxd6 23 Bxd6 Rfc8 24 e5 Ne8 25 Rf8 Qg5 26 Qg8+ Kg6
27 h4 Qe3+ 28 Kh1 Nxd6 29 Rf6+ Kh5 30 Qxg7 Rg8 31 Rxh6+ Qxh6 32 g4+ Kxh4 33 Qxh6+ Kg3 34 Rg1+ Kf3 35 Qh3+ Kf4 36 Qh2+ Kg5 37 Qh5+ Kf4 38 Rf1+ Ke3 39 Qh3+ Kd2
40 Qg2+ Kc3 41 Rc1+ Kxb4 42 Qb2+ Ka5 43 Qa3+ Kb5 44 Rb1+ Kc6 45 Qxd6 mate.
The game was included in a feature article about van Lennep on pages 161-166 of the May 1897 BCM. A brief extract follows:
‘Mr van Lennep’s fame had preceded him when he came to England, in August 1895, as the selected reserve of the chess masters who had entered for the International Tournament, at Hastings. At this Congress, this beardless youth could be seen holding animated discussions with Lasker, Tarrasch, Janowsky, Marco and others, respecting their endgames; often demonstrating valuable lines of play missed at crucial stages.’
Further information about van Lennep is available in Hastings 1895 Een verslag van N.W. van Lennep (Amsterdam, 1978). A 63-page booklet, it mainly comprises van Lennep’s writings, but pages 3-9 have a biographical article by Wim F. Andriessen, including six games.
Van Lennep was also the subject of an article by Hans Ree on pages 161-165 of his book The Human Comedy of Chess (Milford, 1999).
(4664)
We now recall that there was an article about van Lennep, by Olimpiu G. Urcan, on pages 131-148 of the autumn 2004 Quarterly for Chess History.
(4681)
Joost van Winsen (Silvolde, the Netherlands) mentions that an article entitled ‘Van honderd naar zeshonderd’ by Jan Timman which was largely devoted to N.W. van Lennep was published on pages 8-11 of Schaakmagazine, May 1998. Our correspondent also refers to Hans Ree’s article ‘Norman Willem van Lennep de eerste hoofdredacteur’ on pages 23-26 of Schakend Nederland, June 1993. It was anthologized in Ree’s book Schitterend schaak (Amsterdam/Antwerp, 1997) and, as mentioned in C.N. 4664, has also appeared in an English version.
That C.N. item referred to a feature about van Lennep on pages 161-166 of the May 1897 BCM, and below we reproduce, from page 221 of the June 1897 issue, a brief letter of correction from van Lennep, written four months before he killed himself:
(4697)
Thanks to modern technology and particularly the digitization of newspapers, the discovery of ‘unknown’ game-scores is far less of an exploit than it used to be. As an experiment, we invite readers to send us their findings concerning Norman Willem van Lennep (1872-97), further to the material already available in the C.N. items listed in the Factfinder. The choice of van Lennep puts every chance on the researcher’s side: his name was distinctive, and much of the culmination of his short chess career was in a country (Great Britain) which had many rich journalistic outlets that are now available online. Moreover, van Lennep often played in relatively minor club matches of the type more likely to be covered by newspapers than by magazines.
Firstly, readers may appreciate a reminder of his life, as related on pages 161-164 of the May 1897 BCM:
Page 431 of the November 1897 BCM had a curt notice of his demise:
‘We regret to record the premature death of the noted amateur Mr N.W. van Lennep. The sad event occurred late in the month of September, during a voyage to Holland.’
With regard to his games, a win against A.E. Tietjen was published in Isidor Gunsberg’s column in the Penny Illustrated Paper, 7 March 1896, page 149:
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 Nf6 4 Nc3 Nbd7 5 Be2 Be7 6 h3 c6 7 O-O O-O 8 Be3 Qc7 9 Bd3 Re8 10 Nd2 Nf8
11 f4 exf4 12 Bxf4 Ng6 13 Bg3 Be6 14 Nf3 Rad8 15 Bh2 Qc8 16 Ne2 d5 17 e5 Nd7 18 Nf4 Nxf4 19 Bxf4 Nf8 20 Ng5 f6 21 Nxe6 Qxe6 22 Qd2 fxe5 23 Bxe5 c5 24 Rae1 Qc6 25 Qf4 Resigns.
A loss by van Lennep as White against Percy Howell in the Ludgate Circus Championship in London was on page 8 of the Daily News, 12 January 1897:
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 d6 4 d4 exd4 5 Nxd4 Bd7 6 Nc3 Nf6 7 Nde2 Be7 8 Ng3 O-O 9 O-O Re8 10 b3 Bf8 11 Bb2 Ng4 12 h3 Nh6 13 Re1 a6 14 Bxc6 Bxc6 15 Qd3 Qd7 16 Rad1 Re6 17 Nce2 Rae8 18 Nd4 R6e7 19 Bc1 f5 20 Bxh6 fxe4 21 Qe3 gxh6 22 Ngf5 Re5 23 Nxh6+ Bxh6 24 Qxh6 R8e7 25 Re3 Rg7 26 c4 Qf7 27 Rde1 Bd7 28 Rxe4 Rh5 29 Qf4 Qg6 30 g3 Rxh3 31 Ne6 Rf7 32 Qe3 Bc6 33 Ng5
33...Re7 34 Nxh3 Rxe4 35 Qd2 Rh4 36 Re6 Qb1+ 37 Re1 Rxh3 38 Qg5+ Qg6 39 Qd8+ Kg7 40 Re7+ Kh6 41 Qf8+ Kh5 42 White resigns.
The score with notes by Gunsberg was on page 20 of the 7 February 1897 edition of the New Orleans Times-Democrat. The annotations were ascribed to the Glasgow Weekly Citizen; since Gunsberg was not that publication’s columnist, we should like to know where they first appeared. The Van Lennep v Howell game was also given, briefly annotated, on pages 95-96 of Deutsches Wochenschach, 21 March 1897.
Page 9 of the Daily News, 19 January 1897 had van Lennep’s loss to H. Wagner in a 40-board match between the Athenaeum and the City of London Chess Club in London on 16 January:
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Qb6 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 Bd3 cxd4 7 cxd4 Bd7 8 Nc3 Nxd4 9 Nxd4 Qxd4 10 O-O a6 11 Qe2 Ne7 12 Kh1 Nc6 13 f4 Nb4 14 Bb1 Qb6 15 a3 Nc6 16 f5 Qd4 17 fxe6 Bxe6 18 Bf4 Rd8 19 Ba2 Ne7 20 Rad1 Qc5 21 Qd2 g6
22 Ne4 Resigns.
What other games can be found, and do Dutch websites, such as Delpher, have relevant material?
We hope too that it will be possible to tie up loose ends, such as van Lennep’s victory over H.W. Trenchard in a match between the City of London and North London clubs on 9 February 1897. The report on pages 104-105 of the March 1897 BCM described it as ‘a beautiful game’, but the score was not given. However, on page 214 of the May 1898 BCM James Mason annotated a game between van Lennep and Trenchard which fits the bill but had no occasion specified:
1 d4 d5 2 e3 e6 3 Bd3 Bd6 4 Nd2 Nd7 5 Ngf3 f5 6 c4 c6 7 b3 Nh6 8 Bb2 O-O 9 Ne5 Bxe5 10 dxe5 Ng4 11 Nf3 Nc5 12 O-O Nxd3 13 Qxd3 Qe7 14 Rac1 Rd8 15 Rfd1 Bd7 16 Qc3 dxc4 17 Qxc4 Be8 18 Qf4 Nh6 19 Rd6 Nf7
20 Rcd1 g5 21 Qd4 g4 22 Ne1 b6 23 Nd3 c5 24 Qc3 Bb5 25 Nf4 Ng5 26 Qc2 Rxd6 27 exd6 Qe8 28 Qc3 e5 29 Nd5 Ne4
30 Ne7+ Qxe7 31 dxe7 Nxc3 32 Rd8+ Kf7 33 Bxc3 Bc6 34 e8(Q)+ Resigns.
(10100)
Addition on 7 August 2025:
We are grateful to the Cleveland Public Library for this high-resolution scan of the photograph (see above) on page 162 of the May 1897 BCM:
Norman Willem van Lennep
A game which N.W. van Lennep drew against an eminent opponent who was discussed in C.N. 3361 (see pages 217-218 of Chess Facts and Fables):
Source: Illustrated London News, 20 February 1897, page 260.
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 c3 Nf6 4 d4 d6 5 dxe5 Nxe4 6 Qd5 Nc5 7 Bb5 Be7 8 Bxc6+ bxc6 9 Qxc6+ Bd7 10 Qd5 Be6 11 Qd4 dxe5 12 Qxd8+ Rxd8 13 Nxe5 Rd5 14 Nf3
14...Nd3+ 15 Ke2 Bg4 16 Rd1 Nxc1+ 17 Rxc1 O-O 18 h3 Bg5 19 Re1 Re8+ 20 Kf1 Rxe1+ 21 Nxe1 Bc1 22 Na3 Bxb2 23 Rb1 Bxa3 24 hxg4 Rd2 25 Rb7 Rxa2 26 Rxc7 a5 27 Nd3 f6 28 c4 a4 29 c5 Rd2 30 Nf4 Bb4 Drawn.
(10106)
Gerard Killoran (Ilkley, England) has submitted a number of columns with games by Norman Willem van Lennep, including one against J.T. Heppell on page 22 of the Illustrated London News, 2 January 1897:
The score becomes impossible at move 27, but the full game makes sense if White’s 20th move is taken to be Rae1 and not Rab1 (‘QR to Ksq’ and not ‘QR to Ktsq’):
1 d4 d5 2 e3 e6 3 Bd3 Nf6 4 Nd2 c5 5 c3 Nc6 6 f4 cxd4 7 exd4 Bd6 8 Nh3 Qc7 9 O-O Bd7 10 Qe2 h6 11 Nf3 O-O-O 12 Ne5 Rdf8 13 Bd2 Be8 14 b4 Nd7 15 a4 f6 16 Nxc6 bxc6 17 Qxe6 Bf7 18 Qg4 g5 19 Bf5 Be8
20 Rae1 (‘QR to Ktsq’) 20...h5 21 Qe2 Kb7 22 fxg5 Bxh2+ 23 Kh1 fxg5 24 Nxg5 Rfg8 25 Ne6 Qd6 26 Nc5+ Nxc5 27 bxc5 Qc7 28 c4 dxc4 29 Qxc4 Rg4 30 Rxe8 Rh4.
White mates in four moves: 31 Rb1+ Qb6
32 Qa6+ Kxa6 33 Bc8+ Qb7 34 Bxb7.
(10115)
Gerard Killoran submits a victory against F. v. Rosendael from page 6 of the Standard, 2 July 1895 (which described it as ‘a brilliant little game won at Amsterdam by N.W. v. Lennep, the talented Dutch amateur’):
1 e4 e5 2 f4 d5 3 exd5 e4 4 Bb5+ c6 5 dxc6 Nxc6 6 Bxc6+ bxc6 7 d3 Qa5+ 8 Nc3 Bb4 9 Ne2 Bg4 10 O-O Nf6 11 Qe1 O-O 12 Qg3 exd3 13 cxd3 Rfe8 14 Be3 Rad8 15 Bd4 Bc5 16 Qf2
16...Rxd4 17 Nxd4 Qd8 18 Qg3 Qxd4+ 19 Kh1 Re3 20 Qf2 Qxd3 21 Rad1 Bxd1 22 Rxd1
22...Ne4 23 Qh4 Qxd1+ 24 Nxd1 Rd3 25 White resigns.
Our correspondent has also forwarded the chess column on page 24 of the Westminster Budget, 17 December 1897:
In the above (familiar) game, Black was Tresling, not Fresling.
(10149)
Page 7 of the Norwood News and Crystal Palace Chronicle, 19 February 1898 had this game:
1 e4 e5 2 f4 d5 3 Nc3 d4 4 Nce2 Nc6 5 d3 Bg4 6 Qd2 Bb4 7 c3 Ba5 8 a3 dxc3 9 Nxc3 Nd4 10 Rb1 Qh4+ 11 g3 Qh5 12 Bg2 Ne7 13 b4 Bb6 14 Nce2 Nec6 15 Nxd4 Nxd4 16 Bb2
16...exf4 17 Bxd4 Bxd4 18 Qxf4 O-O 19 h3 Be6 20 Nf3 Bc3+ 21 Ke2 Qb5 22 Rbc1 Bb2 23 Rc5 Qa4 24 Qd2 Bxa3 25 Rb1 b6 26 Rxc7 Rac8 27 Rxc8 Rxc8 28 Nd4 a5 29 Kf3 Bxb4 30 Qf4 Qd7 31 Qe3 Bc5 32 White resigns.
(10888)
Via Google Books an increasing number of old chess magazines are becoming accessible. For instance:
Note on spelling: We follow the practice of capitalizing Van only when it begins a sentence or a game-score expression.
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Copyright Edward Winter. All rights reserved.