Leon Rosselson (born 22 June 1934, Harrow, Middlesex)

Wikipedia

Random Chess Thoughts (2019): Leon Rosselson writes about chess on his blog.

Varsity Chess Match Biography.

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Summary of Leon Rosselson's Chess Career:

1949-1953: played for William Ellis School, Highgate, in the London Secondary Schools League, the Finchley Schools League and the National Club Championship. Member of Hampstead Chess Club, playing some league matches for them. Represented Middlesex in junior county chess and later senior county chess.

1949/50 London Boys Championship: (1-4) Alan Maurice Hiron (Latymer), Neill Honan (Cardinal Vaughan), T Lines (Whitgift), D V Lofts (Leyton CC) 8/10; (5) Peter Thomas Kirstein (Highgate) 7½; (6) Laurence Alan Edelstein (Hackney Downs) 7... Leon Rosselson 6. Full report in BCM.

1950/51 London Boys Championship: (1) Peter H Clarke 9/10; (2) A Mushens; (3) J F Risby; (4) B Ward all on 7½; (5-8) M Hamilton, Peter M Kraushar, R Mansfield, Gilbert Jessup 7; (9th=) L Rosselson 6½ (and others?)

1951 Defeated Edward Lasker in a simul, March, at William Ellis School, London.

1951 (16 June) Took part in the 500-board North of Thames vs South of Thames match held at Central Hall, Westminster, winning his game and being awarded the third prize for the best game played (score included in PGN download).

Scoresheet of Leon Rosselson's game from the
North of Thames vs South of Thames 500-board match, 16 June 1951

1951/52 London Boys Championship: (1) M Philip Allfrey (Westminster City School) 8½/10; (2) Thomas A Landry (William Ellis) 7½; (3) Ken Inwood 7½; (4-6) Leon Rosselson, Geoffrey J Martin, B Ward 7.

1952 - Cambridge University Championship Final, February

1952 Cambridge University Championship		College	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total
1	John Frederick Barrett	Pembroke	&;	1	1	1	1	1	5
2	Jeremy John Arthur Handley	Selwyn	0	&;	1	½	1	1	3½
3	David Edward Lloyd	Caius	0	0	&;	1	½	1	2½
4	Leon Rosselson	Fitzwilliam	0	½	0	&;	1	1	2½
5	Frank Alan Hart	Pembroke	0	0	½	0	&;	1	1½
6	Raymond Wallace Martin Baxter	St John's	0	0	0	0	0	&;	0

1952 - British Boys (Under-18) Championship, Hastings, 21-26 April: (1-3) Bernard Cafferty (Blackburn, Birmingham Univ), Peter Campbell Gibbs (Bradford Grammar School), Peter Darrell Sanderson (Ashby-de-la-Zouch Grammar School) 7½/10; (4) Michael Davis (Bexhill Grammar School) 7; (5-6) Derek Francis Kenneth Griffiths (King's Norton Grammar School, Birmingham), James B Phipps (King Edward's School, Birmingham) 6½; 7-13 M Philip Allfrey (Westminster City School), Robert Edmond Borland (Plympton Grammar School, Devon), Julian T Farrand (Haberdasher's Aske's School, Hampstead), Michael Frederick Grimstead (Hastings CC), Thomas Anselm Landry (William Ellis School, Highgate), David E Lloyd (King Edward's School, Birmingham), Leon Rosselson (William Ellis School, Highgate) 6, etc.

1953 - member of the William Ellis School team which defeated Haberdasher's Aske's School in the final of the London Secondary Schools League, 27 March, at the Gambit, Budge Row.

1953-56 - Played chess for Cambridge University, his college, Fitzwilliam House [College] and also Cambridgeshire. Took part in the British Championship Qualifying Competition.

1954 - won his game vs Malcolm Norris (Oxford) in the Varsity chess match, 27 March, earning his half-blue.

1955 - member of the Cambridge University team which won the British Universities Chess Championship, defeating Leeds University in the final (in which he drew his individual game)

1955 - played in his second Varsity chess match, 26 March, losing his individual game to one-time William Ellis School teammate, Tom Landry.

1955 - British Universities Individual Championship, 5-15 September: (1) Peter C Gibbs (Bradford, Birmingham Univ) 9½/11; (2-3) Geoffrey J Martin (Leicester, UC), Thomas A Landry (Oxford) 8; (4) Julian T Farrand (London) 7; (5-6) J R Rook (Manchester), Leon Rosselson (Cambridge) 6½; (7) P Dean 6; 8 J Correia (London) 4½; (9) Brian J Benjamin (London) 4; (10-11) Laurie A Edelstein (Oxford), L J Jackson 2½; (12) Ian G Bronks (Sheffield) 1. Played at University of London Union, Gower Street.

1956 - played in his third Varsity chess match, 24 March, drawing with Kenneth Gardner on board 2.

1957 - Finished 11th= in the Bognor Regis International (Stevenson Memorial) with 5½/10.

1958-72 - inactive barring a few games played in 1960.

1972 - Evening Standard Amateur Championship (6 round weekender, 15-17 December) - scored 4½/6 for a 194 BCF grade performance.

1973 - Charlton Open (5 rounds, 29 June-1 July): scored 2/5

1973 - Enfield Open (6 rounds, 31 August - 2 September): scored 3/6.

1975-1977 - played for Willesden & Brent CC in the Middlesex League and for Middlesex in county matches.

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Grades

1955 - 4b (185-192 » 2088-2140)
1956 - 4b (185-192 » 2088-2140)
1957 - 3b (201-208 » 2208-2260)
1958 (dropped off the list)
1973-1977 - possibly in the grading list but I don't have access to copies - can anyone help?

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BCM, February 1950, ppn 48-49 - report of the 1949/50 London Boys' Championship

The London Boys' Championship.—The venue this year again was the beautiful hall of the William Ellis School, and at the line-up on Thursday, December 29th [1949], a record entry of 79 was worthy of the location, and is in itself a measure of the Chess Education Society's missionary work. The age range ran from seven-year-old Peter Ford (Comrie House) to the hardened veterans of previous championships (minus the holder, J. Penrose). The control of this, the largest "Swiss" tournament ever held in this country, was in the expert hands of F. E. [Frank] Chetwynd (B.C.F. Secretary). F. W. Lockwood, Headmaster of the school, D. J. [David] Morgan and J. Adams gave valuable assistance. After the preliminary sorting out, the end of the seventh round saw Hiron (Latymer, Edmonton), Lines (Whitgift), and Lofts (Leyton C.C.) in the lead with 6; followed by Honan (Cardinal Vaughan), Jessup (William Ellis), 5½; and Beckman (St. Paul's), Clarke (W. Ham Gram.), Fellingham (Ealing County), Kirstein (Highgate), Mushens (Drayton Manor), Raeburn (St. Paul's), Petterson (St. Ignatius), and Risby (Haberdashers'), all 5. After the next round, the leaders were Lofts 7; Hiron, Honan and Lines, 6½. After the ninth, Honan joined Lofts with 7½; Hiron and Lines came next with 7 each. After the final round these four, who had played consistent chess throughout, finished equal with 8 points each. As scholastic and other calls have made prospects of a play-off impossible, the four become joint holders of the R. C. Griffith Cup for the year; 5th was Kirstein, and 6th Edelstein (Hackney Downs), who had been coming up with a rush. Other prizes were: Highest score, under 15, [Gilbert] Jessup and [Thomas Anselm] Landry (both William Ellis). Highest score under 14, [John] Ellis (City of London). Best score during the last week: Hunter (Christ's Coll., Finchley), Penn (St. Paul's), and Hunter (W. Ham Gram.). R. G. Wade, the N. Zealand master, presented the prizes. His great interest in the games in progress on more than one day is but further evidence of Mr. Wade's enthusiasm on behalf of junior chess.

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File updated

Date	Notes
15 August 2022	First upload, with 357 games. I am very grateful to Leon for sending me his games. The package he sent me consisted of two scorebooks plus many loose scoresheets. Many games were undated but I have done my best to track down accurate dates and, where this has not been possible, give an estimate as I like to present the games in at least a semblance of chronological order. Any help with refining these dates, player names and competition details will be much appreciated. The first half of the collection is of Leon's chess activity as a schoolboy and it provides an excellent record of the growth of secondary school chess in London in the post-war period. In his early 20s he reached a BCF grade of 3b, equivalent to an Elo of 2208-2260. After university, the real-life demands of work and family supplanted chess from his life but during the Fischer boom of the mid-1970s he returned to play a few weekenders and some league chess, performing at around the 2100 level. I hope BritBase readers enjoy playing through these games as much as I did inputting them.
11 September 2026	Added the game John Ellis 1-0 Leon Rosselson, 1949/50 London Boys' Championship, rd 9, with the round number of the game L Rosselson 1-0 L Edelstein being corrected to rd 8. Many thanks to John Ellis for submitting the score of his win against Leon. In his email John explained the fact that the score of the game had hitherto been missing: "I won, but to his great credit, Leon entered his score sheet into the competition for best played game of the round, and must have forgotten to keep a record for himself. He was basically doing that on my behalf—which was most sportsmanlike." Indeed so, and possibly unprecedented.