Gerald Abrahams (15 April 1907 – 15 March 1980) was an English

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player, author, and

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Chess career

He is best known for the Abrahams Defence of the Semi-Slav, also known as the Abrahams– Noteboom Variation, or the Noteboom Variation:
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.e3 b5 6.a4 Bb4 7.Bd2 a5 8.axb5 Bxc3 9.Bxc3 cxb5 10.b3 Bb7 ( ECO D31). In 1933 he was third at

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

in the British Championship, after Mir Sultan Khan and Theodore Tylor. Abrahams was known as a strong

blindfold A blindfold (from Middle English ') is a garment, usually of cloth, tied to one's head to cover the eyes to disable the wearer's sight. While a properly fitted blindfold prevents sight even if the eyes are open, a poorly tied or trick blindfo ...

player. In 1934 he took on four strong Irish players, playing blindfold, at the ''Belgravia Hotel'' in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, winning two games and

drawing Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...

two. In th
Anglo-Soviet radio match
of 1946 he scored one win and one draw against

Viacheslav Ragozin Viacheslav Vasilyevich Ragozin (; 8 October 1908 – 11 March 1962) was a Soviet chess player, writer and editor. He was world champion in correspondence chess and held the title of Grandmaster in both over-the-board and correspondence chess. ...

on board 10.

Author

Abrahams was the author of several chess books, including ''Teach Yourself Chess'' (1948),''The Chess Mind'' (1951), ''Handbook of Chess'' (1960), ''Technique in Chess'' (1961), ''Test Your Chess'' (1963), ''The Pan Book of Chess'' (1966), ''Not Only Chess'' (1974), and ''Brilliancies in Chess'' (1977). ;Bridge *''Brains in Bridge'' (1962) ;Legal, Philosophical and Political *''Law Affecting Police and Public'' (1938) *''Law Relating to Hire Purchase'' (1939) *''Ugly Angel'' (1940) *''Retribution'' (1941) *''Day of Reckoning'' (1943) *''World Turns Left'' (1943) *''Conscience Makes Heroes'' (1945) *''Lunatics and Lawyers'' (1951) *''Law for Writers and Journalists'' (1958) *''According to the Evidence'' (1958) *''The Legal Mind'' (1954) *''Police Questioning: The Judges' Rules'' (1964) *''Trade Unions and the Law'' (1968) *''Morality and the Law'' (1971). ;Religion *''The Jewish Mind'' (1961) ;Geography/History *''Let's Look at Israel'' (1966)

Political views

Abrahams was a Liberal in a period of low success for that party in Britain, the period from 1920–1960, and stood in the Sheffield Hallam constituency garnering 7.7% of the vote in 1945, after four national elections in which no Liberal had stood for the seat.

External links

165 Games of Gerald Abrahams at ''ChessGames.com''Remembering Gerald Abrahams (15-iv-1907 15-iii-1980)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abrahams, Gerald 1907 births 1980 deaths 20th-century English Jews English chess players Jewish chess players 20th-century English writers 20th-century English male writers English chess writers Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Contract bridge writers 20th-century British chess players