Eugene Ernest Colman (11 October 1878 – 20 July 1964) was an English chess master.
[3] He subsequently entered service in the Malay States; when he retired, he stayed on in Malaysia and set up youth clubs throughout the peninsula.
[4] His name is attached to the Colman Variation of the Two Knights Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Qf3 Rb8) but the most remarkable thing about it were the circumstances under which it was first analysed.
During World War II Colman was interned in Changi Civilian Internees Camp in Singapore (1942–1945) and his opening analysis helped take his (and his fellow prisoners') mind off the horrors of the prison (about 850 POWs died in Changi Prison during the Japanese occupation).
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