legends · 4 min read ·
Correspondence Game, Move List
A postal chess game outlasts both players, and the last move arrives forty-eight years late.
**Northern Correspondence Chess Federation · Game Record #2208**
**White:** Arthur Pell (Leeds) · **Black:** W. Arkwright (Harrogate) · **Opening:** Queen's Gambit Declined
**Event:** Postal championship, 1977–1978 · **Result:** *(in progress)*
· · ·
**Cover letter (Arkwright to Pell, dated 14 Mar 1977)**
Dear Arthur,
Here is my first move. I apologise for the delay in the post. I have been unwell and the doctors say I should not exert myself. Chess is the one thing that keeps me upright, so I shall play slowly and carefully.
*1. ... d5*
Yours, W.A.
· · ·
**Cover letter (Pell to Arkwright, 19 Mar 1977)**
Dear William,
*1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5* — I hope the board is holding up, and that the doctors are being reasonable. Your d-pawn is a sound choice. I shall press the centre.
Yours, A.P.
· · ·
**Game record, moves 1–12 (annotated by Federation archivist, 1978)**
1. c4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 Be7 4. e3 O-O 5. Rc1 c6 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 Nbd7 8. O-O b6 9. Qe2 Bb7 10. Rfd1 Re8 11. Ne5 Nxe5 12. dxe5
*Archivist's note: Black's twelfth move, Nxe5, was recorded as received on 30 April 1978. It is the last move Arkwright is known to have sent. The move was posted from an address in Harrogate that had been closed since 1974.*
· · ·
**Cover letter (Arkwright to Pell, dated 2 May 1978)**
Dear Arthur,
I am writing from the house, which is quieter now that the doctors have stopped visiting. You will have noticed the postmark. I am not in Harrogate. I am sitting at the end of the table in the front room, which is where I've always played, with the board turned so that the light from the window falls across your side.
I'm ready to move. But I have a confession. I don't remember the position. I can see the pieces, and I can see the knight you took, but the board in my head has gone quite dark. Could you describe it to me?
*12. ... Bxe5*
Yours, W.
· · ·
**Cover letter (Pell to Arkwright, 9 May 1978)**
Dear William,
I'm sorry I took so long to answer. I didn't want to. I've been sitting at my board for a week with the pieces in the position you sent, and I've been trying to find a move, and every time I pick up a piece the board seems to move under my hand, the way it does when someone at the other end of the table is leaning forward.
*13. Qb3 ...?*
Yours, A.
· · ·
**Federation note (Archivist, 11 May 1978)**
Game #2208 is marked *awaiting move* by both parties. Black's last move was received on 2 May, postmarked from a town where no address for W. Arkwright exists. White's last move was dispatched on 9 May and returned to sender, marked *not known at this address*. The return was postmarked from the same town.
· · ·
**Cover letter (Arkwright to Pell, dated 21 Oct 2026)**
*[Received at the Federation office, forty-eight years after the last letter.]*
Dear Arthur,
I've been in the front room all this time, hoping you'd answer. I haven't been unwell since 1978. I've just been finished.
Your move, my friend. I have moved already. Look at the board. Look at the piece on e5. It's been standing there for longer than either of us has been alive, and I think you'll find it's not a knight any more.
*13. ... Qxb3*
· · ·
**Federation ruling (Game #2208, 28 Oct 2026)**
The game is declared *decided by correspondence*.
White is recorded as having resigned on 9 May 1978, by failing to reply. Black's position was shown on the federation board at the time of its last recorded move. Black has since played a further move, received by post, that places White's king on the same square as the piece on e5.
Result: 0–1.
*Archivist's note, appended: the Federation's postal box for Game #2208 has been checked. It contains a chess piece, a knight, carved from boxwood, and one folded letter. The letter is in Arthur Pell's handwriting, dated 9 May 1978, and it reads only: "I can see the board now. It's very dark, and there's a window at my back, and William is sitting in my chair, looking at me across the table, and I'm the one who has to ask him for the next move."*