Purdy's Chess World Magazine

     Cecil John Seddon Purdy (1906-1979) was born in Port Said, Egypt. The family moved to New Zealand in 1907, Tasmania in 1910 and finally to Sydney in 1913. While Purdy was serving with the Australian Imperial Force during World War I, his wife and children lived in Hobart, Tasmania. 
     After the war Purdy settled in Sydney and he began teaching himself chess in 1922, won the New Zealand championship in 1924-25 and finished third in the Australian championship in 1926. 
     In 1929 Purdy started the Australasian Chess Review which he published from 1929 to 1944. Then from 1944 to 1945 it was renamed Check and finally, from 1946 until 1967 it was named Chess World. 
     Never a money maker for Purdy, it was often late, but when it did appear it was filled with advertisement for books and other chess related accouterments, the sale of which provided some of Purdy's income. The meat of the magazine were instructional articles by Purdy and Lajos Steiner. The rest of his income came from newspaper columns, book royalties, prize money and coaching.
     Purdy played in 139 OTB tournaments, 43 telegraph matches and 14 other matches. Between 1923 and 1979 he played 1586 competitive OTB games over-the-board, winning 69 per cent of them. Not a great tactician, his skill was his grasp of the principles of strategy which made him a great teacher and postal player. 

     Being tucked away in Australia he was little known and so it was a surprise when he won the first World Correspondence Championship which ended in 1953. He also won four Australian Championships: 1934-35, 1936-37, 1948-49 and 1951. He was the champion of champion New Zealand twice, New South Wales seven times and runner-up 8 times. He played for Australia at the Olympiad in 1970 and captained the Australian team at the Olympiad in 1974.
     Purdy's international reputation rested mostly on the writings in his books and magazines which were mostly designed to be instructional. He authored several books: How Euwe Won (1936), The Return of Alekhine (1937), Among These Mates (1939, under the pseudonym, Chielamangus), Chess Made Easy (1942, with Gregory Koshnitsky), Guide to Good Chess (1950) and How Fischer Won (1972). 
     He was recognized as one of the world's top writers on chess and that included Bobby Fischer who praised his analytical ability. Writing in the preface of How Fischer Won Purdy stated, “At least a thousand million people have heard of the new World Chess Champion, Bobby Fischer.   Most of them, including almost all the non-players and moderate players, are inclined to dislike what they hear. The enthusiasts excuse what they don't like because chess looms large in their lives, and Fischer plays chess that is out of this world. In this book I have tried to show that there is really little to dislike, and therefore little to excuse.” Not sure what to think of that! 

     Purdy collapsed on November 6, 1979 while playing in a tournament at the Chess Centre of New South Wales and died that day in Sydney Hospital. His son John won the Australian championship twice. 
     Frank Hutchings, his son-in-law, co-authored How Purdy Won and John Hammond and Robert Jamieson edited C. J. S. Purdy, his Life, his Games and his Writings. Both books were based on magazine articles written by Purdy. They are available today thanks to Bob Long of Thinker's Press who reprinted them. 
     Chess World was notoriously late in its publication and it came to an end with the September-October 1967 issue. In 1948 the New South Wales Chess Association had began publishing an expensively printed magazine that contained local and overseas news with annotated games. The NSWCA did not have to be concerned with making a profit based strictly on magazine sales and they had begun printing excess copies and selling them to a distributor at a loss. That spelled the end of Purdy's magazine which he privately funded. After the magazine ceased publication Purdy continued for a brief while selling chess material, but he continued writing. Unfortunately, copies of Chess World are extremely rare, but thankfully reprints of some of his books are available. Anything Prudy wrote is worth buying.  
     In the recent post Knight Moves Galore by Keres I gave a game in which Keres moved the same Knight eight times in the first 15 moves. In the following instructive game Purdy also makes a whole bunch of Knight moves.  His N, which began its journey on g1, comprises a third of his total moves. 

Goldstein in 1925

     His opponent was English-born Maurice Goldstein (April 6, 1901 – October 12, 1966), New Zealand champion in 1932-33. Chessmetrics estimates his highest rating to be 2469 in 1929. He served as editor of the New South Wales magazine Chess Bulletin for many years.