CHESS by Philidor
• No.319.
A. M. SPARKS (Good Companions,
1916)
WHITE to play and mate in two moves; solution next week. Solution to No. 318 (Rice) : B - R 7, no threat. x . . . Q - Q 6; 2 Kt - Q 4. I- . . B - Q 3 ; 2 Q— K 3. 1• • • R-Q3;2Q-K2 are the thematic variations. I leave readers to find the others for them- selves. BLACK (13 men) WHITE (8 men)
HASTINGS IN MINI-TROUSERS
Le. with six of the ten competitors aged twenty or under (Mecking, the Brazilian champion, is fourteen) the Premier would have been in mini-skirts had it been female instead of—alas—all male. Such an infants' school is unprecedented, and it is gratifying that three of the six were British, the others being Mecking, Balashov (USSR) and Kurajica, the Yugo- slav junior world champion.
Hastings is always worth a post-mortem, since in a steadily growing chess calendar the British Champion- ship and the Hastings Congress remain unquestionably the two outstanding events. This year was a mixture of good and bad, with the former predominating and, on the whole, it was an encouraging one for British chess.
The former world champion, fifty-five-year-old ex- world champion Mikhail Botwinnik won, with 6i/9— predictably, but in far from predictable style ; I have never known him so uncertain. He lost by a gross blunder to Keane, was lucky to scrape a draw with Basman and still luckier to win a quite lost game with Penrose—scoring 2/4 against the four British players ; this score might easily have been I am afraid that part of the blame at least must fall on the fact that there was a good deal too much noise in the tourna- ment room—this is always hardest on the older players, whose problem in maintaining concentration is greater, and it is a great pity to have the best tourna- ment in the country marred in this way. Wolfgang Uhlmann, although second with 5i/9, also did worse than expected and played in erratic style for such a great player.
Kurajica, Balashov and Michael Basman shared third place with 5. This was perhaps a shade below par for Kurajica, good for Balashov and a splendid result by Basman who, after a wretched start (i
This leaves Raymond Keene (3i) and William Hartston (3) ; respectable scores for young British players in the Premier, but I cannot avoid some criticism. Both played very hard and well when under pressure, e.g. against Botwinnik, but both were far too ready for a quick draw ; they drew their own game in half an hour, and Keene's game with Kurajica was also almost a formality. Keene and Hartston are two of the best of a very promising generation; it is a pity to spoil their play in this way. But, on balance, a fine Hastings and a promising one for our chess future.
Previous page
