CHESS

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Raymond Keene

Pursuing the theme of London's great chess tradition it is worth pointing out some of the remarkable events which have graced the capital over the years.

In 1834, La Bourdonnais and the Irish- man, Macdonnell, contested one of the first and greatest series of matches, one that foreshadowed and even surpassed the current stream of Kasparov-Karpov games in its concentration. In the course of that year the two played no fewer than 88 games, the eventual score being 44 wins to the Frenchman, 30 to Macdonnell with 14 draws. Their play was notable for energy and ferocity rather than finesse.

In 1851 came the first international tournament, organised by the innovative and indefatigable Howard Staunton. Lead- ers in this inaugural tournament were: Anderssen, Wyvill, Williams and Staun- ton. (In May Batsford will publish Staun- ton's book of the tournament M one of their deluxe Classic Reprints.) London continued to play host to re- markable events even after Staunton de- parted from the active scene. In 1862 there was another powerful tournament won,zbY6 Anderssen ahead of Paulsen, while in 16°., the two continental masters, Anderssen and Steinitz, fought out a prototyPe tmhoisdreersnurtorld championship matches, wit"

London, 1866 Total

Steinitz 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 :

Anderssen 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0

In 1872 Steinitz similarly disposed of Zukertort (in 1886 to be his rival in the first official world championship), scoring 7 Wins, 1 loss, 4 draws. The London tourna- ment of 1883 (Zukertort 22/26; Steinitz 19; Blackburne 161/2; Tchigorin 16) was, in fact, the trigger for the title contest in 1886 in that it established the supremacy of Zukertort and Steinitz. Sadly, that particu- lar battle was resolved in the US. The match lasted from 11 January to 29 March, and the final score was 121/2-71/2 in Steinitz's favour. In its length and format it provided the model for virtually all later cham- Pionships. London 1883 was an enormous under- taking — a 14-player double round tourna- ment where drawn games were initially discounted and then replayed until a deci- sive result had been achieved. This meant that the peaceably inclined Englisch and Rosenthal both had to play 45 games to reach their respective scores of 151/2 and 14 Points. Even the banquet of the 1883 tournament was on an heroic scale and would have defeated many a modern grandmaster! Judge from the menu:

Hors-d'oeuvres. Potages. Consommé aux Laitues Farcies. Creme d'Asperges.

Poissons.

Saumon, Sauces Genevoise et Hollandaise.

Cotelettes d'Homard, Sauce Riche.

Entrées. Ris de Veau a la Printanier. Noisettes de Mouton a la Chasseur. Pommes Nouvelles.

Releve Filet Piqué a la Portugaise.

Rad.

Poulet de Grains. Caneton. Pommes Paille. Salade Francaise Legume.

Asperges, Sauces au Beurre.

Entremets. Peches Farcies aux Macarons. Gel& aux Fraises. Petits Fours. Ice Pudding. Dessert. Coffee Over the next 50 years great tourna- ments continued to flourish: London 1899 (leading scores: Lasker 231/2/28; Janowski, Pillsbury, Maroczy 19); London 1922 (Capablanca, Alekhine, Vidmar, Rubin- stein, Bogolyubow); the Olympiad (world team championship) of 1927 and then the same year the strong individual tourna- ment won jointly by Tartakower and Nim- zowitsch. Five years later the mighty world champion, Alekhine, himself won first prize in what was to be the last of the great London events for many years (Alekhine, Flohr, Kashdan, Sultan Khan).

A final efflorescence came in the two- section tournament of 1946 (co-victors Steiner and Euwe) but then London had to wait until 1973 for its next grandmaster tournament, won by Jan Timman ahead of myself, then Hecht and Reshevsky.

In the 1980s the floodgates truly opened and we are now well on our way to the restoration of London's 19th-century sup- remacy. There have been the great GLC/ Phillips and Drew tournaments of 1980, 1982, 1984 and the GLC solo effort which finished at the end of March; the world semis of 1983 between Smyslov and Ribli and Kasparov and Korchnoi; the USSR- World match of 1984; the Commonwealth championship of 1985 and now we are looking forward to the world championship itself later this year.