Leonard Barden - Playing Career

Playing Career

In 1946, Barden won the British Junior Correspondence Chess Championship, and tied for first place in the London Boys' Championship. The following year he tied for first with Jonathan Penrose in the British Boys' Championship, but lost the playoff.

Barden finished fourth at Hastings in 1951-52. In 1952, he won the Paignton tournament ahead of the Canadian grandmaster Daniel Yanofsky. He captained the Oxfordshire team which won the counties championship in 1951 and 1952, and in the latter year captained the Oxford University team which won the National Club Championship. In 1953, he won the individual British Lightning Championship (ten seconds a move). The following year, he tied for first with the Belgian grandmaster Albéric O'Kelly de Galway at Bognor Regis, was joint British champion, with Alan Phillips, and won the Southern Counties Championship. He finished fourth at Hastings 1957-58. In the 1958 British Chess Championship, Barden again tied for first, but lost the playoff match to Penrose 1½-3½. He represented England in the Chess Olympiads of 1952 (playing fourth board, scoring 2 wins, 5 draws, and 4 losses), 1954 (playing first reserve, scoring 1 win, 2 draws, and 4 losses), 1960 (first reserve; 4 wins, 4 draws, 2 losses) and 1962 (first reserve; 7 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses).

Barden has a Morphy Number of 3, having drawn with Jacques Mieses in the Premier Reserves at Hastings 1948-49. Mieses drew with Henry Bird in the last round of Hastings 1895, and Bird played a number of games with Paul Morphy in 1858 and 1859.