Gerald Abrahams and Sheffield Hallam

Looking at historic election results in Sheffield Hallam for a post the other evening, I noted that the Liberal candidate in 1945 was called Gerald Abrahams.

Could it be? It was.

Gerald Abrahams was one of the better English chess players in the 1930s and 1940s, and you could still buy his books when I got keen on the game in the seventies. He was always an amateur, having a distinguished career in the law as a day job.

Two of his saying on chess (which may have wider application) are worth repeating:

• "Good positions don’t win games, good moves do."
• "The tactician knows what to do when there is something to do; whereas the strategian knows what to do when there is nothing to do."