John Littlewood (chess player) John Littlewood (chess player) John Eric Littlewood (25 May 1931 – 16 September 2009) was for many years a leading British chess player and took the title of national senior champion in 2006. Perhaps his most famous game was the one he lost against the world champion Mikhail Botvinnik at the Hastings International Chess Congress 1961/2. Littlewood launched a fearsome attack which Botvinnik was able to defend only by means of a tactical finesse. Botvinnik chose to include the game in his autobiographical "Best Games 1947–1970". John Littlewood was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire in 1931, the fourth of his eleven
White and Black in chess with an extra tempo. As late as the mid-to-late 19th century, the practice of White moving first had not yet become standard. George Walker in his popular treatise "The Art of Chess-Play: A New Treatise on the Game of Chess" (4th edition 1846), set forth the rules of London's St. George's Chess Club promulgated in June, 1841. "Law III" provided that the player who moved first had the choice of color; if the players played more games at the same sitting, the first move would alternate, but each player would continue to use the same colored pieces as he had