Sir George Alan Thomas, 7th Baronet (14 June 1881 – 23 July 1972) was a British badminton, tennis and chess player. He was twice

British chess champion The British Chess Championships are organised by the English Chess Federation. The main tournament incorporates the British Championship, the English Chess Championships and the British Women's Chess Championship so it is possible, although it has ...

and a 21-time All-England badminton champion. He also reached the quarterfinals of the singles and the semifinals of the men's

tennis doubles Traditionally, tennis is played between two people in a singles match, or two pairs in a doubles match. Tennis can also be played on different courts, including grass courts, clay courts, hard courts, and artificial grass courts. Standard types ...

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

in 1911. Badminton's world men's team championships cup, equivalent to tennis'

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

, is named Thomas Cup after him. Thomas lived most of his life in London and

Godalming Godalming is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settleme ...

. He never married, so the hereditary Thomas baronetcy ended on his death.

Badminton

Counting both singles and doubles titles, Thomas is the most successful player ever in the All England Open Badminton Championships, considered the unofficial World Badminton Championships, with 21 titles from 1903 to 1928. Four of those titles were in men's singles (consecutive titles from 1920 to 1923), nine in men's doubles and eight in mixed doubles. He won his titles both before and after a hiatus in the competition from 1915 to 1919 due to World War I. He was part of the English team that toured Canada in 1925 to promote the sport on behalf of the Canadian Badminton Association which had recently been formed in 1921. He captained the team again when a second tour was organised during 1930. A match was held at the Granite Club in Toronto which England won 7–2. In 1934 he was co-founder of the International Badminton Federation (now

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine member ...

), of which he was president from 1934 to 1955. Inspired by tennis' Davis Cup, first held in 1900, and football's World Cup, first held in 1930, Thomas had the idea of organizing an international competition for country teams in badminton. In 1939 his idea was well received at the general meeting of the International Badminton Federation. In the same year, Sir George presented the Thomas Cup, officially known as ''The International Badminton Championship Challenge Cup'', produced by ''Atkin Bros of London'' at a cost of £1700. The Cup stands 28 inches in height and 16 inches across at its widest, and consists of three parts: a plinth (pedestal), a bowl, and a lid with a player figure. The first tournament was originally planned for 1941–42, but due to World War II was not realized until 1948–49, when ten national teams participated in the first Thomas Cup competition. Despite its British origins, England's best finish in the Thomas Cup has been a third place in 1984. Thomas was inducted into the

World Badminton Hall of Fame The Badminton Hall of Fame honors players who have shown exceptional skill at badminton, all-time great coaches and referees, and other major contributors to the game. There is also a USA Badminton Hall of Fame and a Badminton Canada's Hall of Fame ...

as an Inaugural Member in 1996.

Chess

Thomas was

British Chess Champion The British Chess Championships are organised by the English Chess Federation. The main tournament incorporates the British Championship, the English Chess Championships and the British Women's Chess Championship so it is possible, although it has ...

in 1923 and 1934. He shared first prize at the 1934/5 Hastings International Chess Congress with the next world chess champion Max Euwe and leading Czechoslovak player Salo Flohr, ahead of past and future world champions José Raúl Capablanca and

Mikhail Botvinnik Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, ( – May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer scientist and was a pioneer in computer chess. Botvinnik ...

, whom he defeated in their individual games. For Capablanca, this had been the first loss in tournament play for four years, and the first playing the white pieces for more than six years. Also in Hastings, eleven years later, Euwe would become the third world chess champion to be defeated by Thomas in a game. His 'lifetime' scores against the world's elite were however less flattering: he had minuses against Emanuel Lasker (−1, not counting a win in a Lasker simultaneous exhibition in 1896), José Raúl Capablanca (+1−5=3), Alexander Alekhine (−7=6), Efim Bogoljubov (−5=3), Euwe (+1−9=2), Flohr (+2−9=4) and

Savielly Tartakower Savielly Tartakower (also known as ''Xavier'' or ''Ksawery'' ''Tartakower'', less often ''Tartacover'' or ''Tartakover''; 21 February 1887 – 4 February 1956) was a Polish and French chess player. He was awarded the title of International Grand ...

(+3−9=10). He also fared badly against

Edgard Colle Edgard Colle (18 May 1897 – 19 April 1932) was a Belgian chess master. He scored excellent results in major international tournaments, including first at Amsterdam 1926, ahead of Savielly Tartakower and future world champion Max Euwe; fir ...

(+1−9=8). Thomas made even scores with Botvinnik (+1−1),

Richard Réti Richard Selig Réti (28 May 1889 – 6 June 1929) was an Austro-Hungarian, later Czechoslovakian, chess player, chess author, and composer of endgame studies. He was one of the principal proponents of hypermodernism in chess. With the exc ...

(+3−3=1) and Siegbert Tarrasch (+1−1=3). Against Géza Maróczy, the balance was in Thomas' favour (+3−1=5). Domestically, he held a plus score against his great rival Frederick Yates (+13−11=13), but was less successful against

Women's World Chess Champion The Women's World Chess Championship (WWCC) is played to determine the world champion in women's chess. Like the World Chess Championship, it is administered by FIDE. Unlike with most sports recognized by the International Olympic Committee, wh ...

Vera Menchik (+7−8=7), In 1950 he was awarded the

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

title by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

and in 1952, became an International Arbiter. He gave up competitive chess at the age of 69.

References

External links

*.
445 chess games of Sir George Thomas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, George, 7th Baronet 1881 births 1972 deaths British chess players Chess arbiters Chess Olympiad competitors English male badminton players English male tennis players Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain British male tennis players Sportspeople from Istanbul Badminton executives and administrators