2007, 349 Seiten, gebunden, englischA fantastic biography of Ernest Eugene Colman (1878-1964), chess expert, civil servant and doyen of Singapore’s chess community.Today Colman’s name is associated with a variation of the Two Knights’ named after him; the Colman Variation (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Qf3 Rb8).
While Colman never reached the top in world chess, his contribution to the development of chess in Singapore and Malaya was remarkable. In the pre-war years, Colman was Singapore’s top chess player. He reorganised the Singapore Chess Club and was its President for decades. More importantly, he saw chess and football as a way to bridge the gap between the various races in Singapore. During the Japanese Occupation (1942-45), Colman was interned at Changi Jail as a civilian internee. He taught chess to his fellow inmates as a way to keep their minds off their hardships, wrote a secret chess manual and invented the variation which bears his name.This book is in two parts. The first chronicles the life and times of Colman while the second contains all important and recoverable games Colman played.
