Everybody has heard of Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander, but few appreciate how good he was. Outside of chess, he received two awards from the British government. The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, a British order of chivalry founded in 1818. The Order was originally awarded to those holding commands or high position in the Mediterranean territories acquired in the Napoleonic Wars, and was subsequently extended to holders of similar office or position in other territories of the British Empire. It is also awarded to those who hold high office or who render extraordinary or important non-military service in a foreign country and can also be conferred for important or loyal service in relation to foreign and Commonwealth affairs.
He also received the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire which is awarded for chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organizations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established in 1917 and comprises five classes across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or dame if female.
Alexander (April 19, 1909 – February 15, 1974) is known for his work on the German Enigma machine at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, and was later the head of the cryptanalysis division at GCHQ for 25 years.
Alexander was born in Cork, Ireland, the eldest child of an engineering professor at University College, Cork. His father died in 1920 during the Irish War of Independence and the family moved to Birmingham, England, where he attended King Edward's School. He won a scholarship to study mathematics at King's College, Cambridge, in 1928, graduating in 1931.
From 1932, Alexander taught mathematics at Winchester, and married Enid Constance Crichton Neate (1900–1982) on December 22, 1934. Their eldest son was Sir Michael O'Donel Bjarne Alexander (1936–2002), a diplomat. Their other son was Patrick Macgillicuddy Alexander (March 20, 1940 - September 21, 2005), a poet who settled in Australia in 1960.
In 1938, Alexander left teaching and became head of research at the John Lewis Partnership. In February 1940, Alexander arrived at Bletchley Park, the British codebreaking center during the World War 2.
He joined the section tasked with breaking German Army and Air Force Enigma messages. In 1941, Alexander transferred to the hut working on Naval Enigma where he became deputy head of the hut under Alan Turing. Alexander was more involved with the day-to-day operations of the hut than Turing and while Turing was visiting the United States, Alexander formally became the head of the hut around November 1942. In October 1944, Alexander was transferred to work on the Japanese code.
In mid-1946, Alexander joined the post-war successor organization to the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. By 1949, he had been promoted to the head of Section H (cryptanalysis), a post he retained until his retirement in 1971.
Alexander won the British championship in 1938 and 1956 and represented England in the Olympiad six times: 1933, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1954 and 1958.
At the 1939 Olympiad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Alexander had to leave part-way through the event, along with the rest of the English team, because of the declaration of World War II, since he was required at home for code breaking duties. Alexander was awarded the IM title in 1950 and the correspondence IM title in 1970.
He won Hastings 1946/47 a point ahead of Savielly Tartakower. His best tournament result was equal first with David Bronstein at Hastings 1953/54, where he went undefeated and beat Bronstein (in 120 moves) and Soviet GM Alexander Tolush. He also authored several chess books, mostly for beginners.
His opportunities to appear abroad were limited as he was not allowed to play chess in the Soviet bloc because of his secret work in cryptography, but he was probably of GM strength. Alexander made important theoretical contributions to the Dutch Defense and Petrov Defense.
When the England met the USSR team in a radio match in 1946 they hoped to avoid an “American Tragedy” where the Soviet team had defeated the Americans by a score of 15.5-4.5. For their part, the British players had a good knowledge of the strength of the Soviet team and they were well prepared, but a defeat could not be avoided: 14 to 6 on the men's boards and 4 to 0 on the women's boards. It must be said that even though the men's team lost they performed better than the American team had managed to do.
1) Alaexander-Botvinnink 1-1
2) Klein-Keres 0.5-1.5
3) Konig-Smyslov 0-2
4) Golombek-Boleslavsky 1-1
5) Fairhurst-Flohr 0.5-1.5
6) List-Kotov 0-2
7) Winter-Bronstein 1-1
8) Aiken-Bondarevsky 0-2
9) B.H. Wood-Lilienthal 0.5-1.5
10) Abrahams-Ragozin 1.5-0.5
11) Tramner-Borisenko 0.0-2.0
12) Bruce-Rudenko 0.0-2.0
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