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Philip Stuart Milner-Barry

Photograph © 1973 Bassano. National Portrait Gallery, London.

PHILIP STUART MILNER-BARRY (born Sep-20-1906, died Mar-25-1995, 88 years old) United Kingdom [what is this?] Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry was born in 1906. A true amateur, he worked in the British Civil Service and was never able to devote all his time to chess. Milner-Barry was part of the team who worked at Bletchley Park, alongside famed cryptanalyst and mathematician Alan Turing and British chess stalwarts Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander and Harry Golombek, cracking the German Enigma codes. He worked for the Treasury after the War and in 1954 he was promoted to Assistant Secretary, then to an under-secretary position. Milner-Barry placed second at Hastings 1953, played on four English Olympic squads from 1937 to 1956, and was chess correspondent for The Times. His name is also associated with a variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defence (1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 e6 3.♘c3 ♗b4 4.♕c2 ♘c6), the Milner-Barry Gambit in the Advance French (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4.c3 ♘c6 5. ♘f3 ♕b6 6.♗d3 cxd4 7.cxd4 ♗d7 8.0-0 ♘xd4 9.♘xd4 ♕xd4 10.♘c3) and the Milner-Barry variation in the Petroff Defence (1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘f6 3.♘xe5 d6 4.♘f3 ♘xe4 5.♕e2 ♕e7 6.d3 ♘f6 7. ♗g5 ♘bd7), all lines which remain topical to this day. Wikipedia article: Stuart Milner-Barry Last updated: 2025-02-06 22:43:54

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page 1 of 12; games 1-25 of 286  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Alekhine vs Milner-Barry 1-0 30 1923 Blindfold simul, 11b D63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense 2. G Abrahams vs Milner-Barry   0-1 27 1926 50th Oxford - Cambridge Varsity m D10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 3. K H Bancroft vs Milner-Barry   ½-½ 44 1927 51st Oxford - Cambridge Varsity m D37 Queen's Gambit Declined 4. Milner-Barry vs K H Bancroft   1-0 24 1928 52nd Oxford - Cambridge Varsity m B41 Sicilian, Kan 5. Milner-Barry vs Znosko-Borovsky 1-0 26 1928 BCF-ch 21st Major Open B13 Caro-Kann, Exchange 6. Milner-Barry vs Koltanowski 0-1 36 1928 BCF-ch 21st Major Open C28 Vienna Game 7. Milner-Barry vs G Abrahams 0-1 17 1929 53rd Oxford - Cambridge Varsity m C29 Vienna Gambit 8. Milner-Barry vs E G Sergeant   1-0 36 1931 British Championship C29 Vienna Gambit 9. S Khan vs Milner-Barry 1-0 27 1931 British Championship D04 Queen's Pawn Game 10. Milner-Barry vs E Spencer   0-1 34 1931 British Championship C28 Vienna Game 11. R Michell vs Milner-Barry   0-1 23 1931 British Championship E22 Nimzo-Indian, Spielmann Variation 12. Milner-Barry vs C H Alexander   ½-½ 39 1931 British Championship C29 Vienna Gambit 13. Kashdan vs Milner-Barry 1-0 65 1932 London C78 Ruy Lopez 14. Milner-Barry vs Tartakower 1-0 41 1932 London B10 Caro-Kann 15. Maroczy vs Milner-Barry ½-½ 41 1932 London C42 Petrov Defense 16. Milner-Barry vs Alekhine 0-1 29 1932 London C28 Vienna Game 17. Flohr vs Milner-Barry 1-0 25 1932 London E33 Nimzo-Indian, Classical 18. Milner-Barry vs G Thomas   ½-½ 60 1932 London B15 Caro-Kann 19. S Khan vs Milner-Barry 1-0 44 1932 London D04 Queen's Pawn Game 20. Milner-Barry vs Menchik ½-½ 57 1932 London C14 French, Classical 21. W Winter vs Milner-Barry   ½-½ 33 1932 London A18 English, Mikenas-Carls 22. Koltanowski vs Milner-Barry   1-0 26 1932 London E43 Nimzo-Indian, Fischer Variation 23. Milner-Barry vs V Buerger   ½-½ 44 1932 London D00 Queen's Pawn Game 24. S Khan vs Milner-Barry 1-0 56 1932 Cambridge Premier E33 Nimzo-Indian, Classical 25. Milner-Barry vs G Thomas   0-1 21 1932 Cambridge Premier C17 French, Winawer, Advance  page 1 of 12; games 1-25 of 286

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing> Dec-09-03    Bears092: Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry He got knighted! *nudge* Jun-21-04    ray keene: he was knighted for his work as a civil servant including being a codebreaker with turing during the war-sir stuart was the one chosen to go to churchill from bletchley and ask for more money and resources to help break the nazi codes. Aug-29-05    dac1990: The French line 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3 is a gambit named after him. I consider it to be dubious, but it has been played against me by people who seriously outclass me, so I have had not much success playing it as Black. Aug-29-05    mandar: <dac>Its a nice gambit black should find way to control whites attack or black is doomed! Mar-04-06    An Englishman: Good Evening: Just this week, one of the three remaining uncracked Enigma ciphered messages was finally solved by an amateur cryptologist who enlisted the help of people around the world to donate their computers to form a massive parallel processor (or whatever the correct computer term might be). It's quite a tribute to the ingeniousness of the Bletchley blokes and their American counterparts that they could crack Enigma and the Japanese machines without computers. Mar-05-06    Benzol: Wasn't "Colossus" a computer? Mar-07-06    An Englishman: Good Evening: Good question, <Benzol>! The answer is surprisingly tough and depends upon the definition of "computer." See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coloss... for the details. Nov-24-07    xeroxmachine: Da man is still alive!????? Or maybe he died 12 years ago :( Nov-24-07    Karpova: <xeroxmachine: Or maybe he died 12 years ago :(> Yes, he died on March 25 in 1995 Nov-24-07    xeroxmachine: *holds a quiet mintue fer da man* Nov-24-07    whiteshark: Some more details about him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip... Aug-07-08    whiteshark: Picture from the Contestants at <Nottingham 1946>: http://www.chessdevon.co.uk/HTML/Pi... Back row l - r: Gabriel Wood, Reginald Broadbent, <Philip Milner-Barry>, A.R.B.Thomas, Barry Wood. Front: Bob Wade, Frank Parr, William Winter, Robert Combe, Hugh Alexander, Harry Golombek, Gerald Abrahams. Source: http://www.chessdevon.co.uk/HTML/Pi... Sep-20-08    BIDMONFA: Philip Stuart Milner-Barry MILNER, Philip http://www.bidmonfa.com/milner_phil... _ Sep-20-08    weary willy: As well as his line in the Nimzo-Indian Defence, don't forget the Milner-Barry Gambit in the French Defence, and the Milner-Barry variation in the Petroff Defence. (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Qe2 Qe7 6. d3 Nf6 7. Bg5 Nbd7). Astonishing that an amateur could be known for lines in 3 major openings Sep-20-08    MarkThornton: In 1985, I had the privilege of playing against Sir Stuart, then aged 79, in a county match, Cambridgeshire v. Kent. At the time, I played nothing but the French Defence against 1. e4. Sir Stuart had White, so he played the Milner-Barry Gambit against me! I was 19, and thought I knew all the theory on this line. But at move 10 or 11, Sir Stuart played a move that was completely unknown to me! (He later told me that he had recently discovered it at home.) At the board, his TN totally bamboozled me, and I was soon in trouble. I managed to survive into an endgame, but his excellent technique gave me no chance whatsoever. A year or two later, Sir Stuart was the guest speaker at the Annual Dinner of Cambridge University Chess Club. He delighted the gathering with his memories of Capablanca, Alekhine and other famous players. He was a delightful old gentleman, with a lively mind and a gracious manner towards everyone. Sep-20-08    sisyphus: Here's to Milner-Barry, whose gambit line has enabled me to survive the French for many years. Sep-20-08    belgradegambit: Milner-Barry gambit a la Tal: Tal vs I Nei, 1958 Jul-15-10    GrahamClayton: An interesting piece from the Milner-Barry papers held in the Churchill Archives Centre: “He was one of the senior code-breakers at Bletchley Park, 1940-45. He was Gordon Welchman’s deputy at Bletchley Park and was primarily responsible for the vital “cribs” of Hut 6 and in 1943 he took over responsibility for Hut 6. On 21st October 1941, Milner-Barry along with Alan Turing, Gordon Welchman, Hugh Alexander wrote directly to Churchill to seek more staff for Bletchley Park. Milner-Barry delivered the letter personally to 10 Downing Street and Churchill gave them his support." Jul-15-11    kingscrusher: Code breaker at Bletchley park http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14164529 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o... Sep-20-11    brankat: A talented man, and a very strong chess player. Sep-20-11    Dionysius1: Milner-Barry was never the Under Secretary of the Treasury. There were many Under Secretaries in each Government Department. It was the name given to a senior manager in charge of a significant function, and HM Treasury would have had a dozen or more. THE Under Secretary is short for the Permanent Under Secretary of which there was only one at any one time, as permanent head of the Treasury officials (in informal language). I've submitted a correction slip. Sep-20-11    SimonWebbsTiger: Ray Keene wrote back in 2004: <he was knighted for his work as a civil servant including being a codebreaker with turing during the war-sir stuart was the one chosen to go to churchill from bletchley and ask for more money and resources to help break the nazi codes.> Just in case ppl forget to scroll back and read past comments! ;o) He was breaking codes with Golombek and some other notables. Fantastic disguise against 5th columnists, to have well known chess players saying they are off to play chess! Sep-20-11    scormus: <SWT well known chess players saying they are off to play chess!> Ja, klar! Sep-20-11    SimonWebbsTiger: @<scormus> Keine dirty tricks, jawolh? Sep-20-11    noctiferus: <An Englishman> I don't know if it is allowed in CG, but I'd to like to suggest a more smooth and shallow presentation of Bletchley Park's achievements (with a non technical reference to Colossus): Singh The Code book whose reference is missing in Wikipedia page. search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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