Leonard Barden, now 96, has achieved a Guinness World Record for the longest-running continuous chess column, surpassing Jim Walsh of the Irish Times. Barden started writing for the Manchester Guardian on 8 September 1955, with his first article on Russian teenager Boris Spassky. Over 70 years, 15 prime ministers, and nearly 4,000 articles, he has never missed a week.
Barden, who turned 96 recently, also holds the record as the longest-serving daily newspaper columnist for his 63-year stint with the Evening Standard, which ended in 2020. His career includes being British chess champion in 1954, playing for England in four chess Olympiads, and playing a key role in the British chess boom of the 1970s and 1980s that produced players like Nigel Short.
Remarkably, Barden once beat Bobby Fischer at blitz chess, though Fischer won the informal match 12.5-1.5. He faced two other world champions: Mikhail Botvinnik and Max Euwe. Barden recalled that Fischer visited his home in 1960 and was amiable at that time, but later became paranoid.
Barden learned chess at grammar school and honed his skills in air raid shelters during World War II. His father was a dustman. He established himself as one of Britain’s strongest players in the early 1950s before being called to write for the Guardian after the previous correspondent suffered a stroke. An early mistake in a chess problem almost ended his column, but he survived the backlash.
Grandmaster Raymond Keene said, “Everywhere you looked in British chess, the giant handprint of Len Barden was to be found.” Barden considers his 2016 obituary of Russian grandmaster Mark Taimanov as his finest piece for the Guardian.
