May 29th 1976, Assault and battery
MY FIRST tournament on arrival in London was the five-round open event at Borehamwood, where I finished fourth equal. The first prize of £150 was taken easily by the very strong English player Dave Rumens, who won all his games.
Rumens plays quietly at first, then suddenly complicates things, often with a vicious king-side assault. In the following game he springs a TN (theoretical novelty) on his opponent, who becomes flustered and has to resign just 10 moves later. What is even more surprising is the opening with which he does it - the much analysed Wilkes-Barre variation!
Le Blancy - Rumens, D
Borehamwood 1976
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ Ke7 6.Bb3 d5!? TN 7.h3 h6 8.exd5 hxg5 9.dxc6 Bg4 10.f3 Bf5 11.d4 exd4 12.Bxg5 bxc6 13.Nd2 Qd6
Moves are clickable
14.O-O d3+ 15.Kh1 Bxh3 0-1
The second place-getter was G. Leyton. His opponent in this position has omitted to castle and is duly punished.
Leyton, G - Thethi, P
Borehamwood 1976
Moves are clickable
1.Bd5! Qd7 2.Bxb7 Qxb7 3.Bd6 Qc6? 4.Rxf7 Kxf7! 5.Rf1+ Ke8 6.Qxg6+ Kd7 7.Qg7+ Kxd6 8.Rd1+ Black's queen is lost, as the only way to stop the check is to interpose on d5. 1-0
One of the highest graded players in the tournament was the imaginative K. Wicker. He usually produces exciting chess. Here he sacrifices a piece unsoundly against the tactician T. Hemingway.
Hemingway, T - Wicker, K
Borehamwood 1976
1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.Nh3?! Bf5! 6.c4 d4 7.d3 Qd7 8.Ng5 h6 9.Nf3 Bb4+ 10.Nfd2 e4! 11.a3 exd3? 12.axb4 Nxb4 13.O-O O-O
Moves are clickable
Wicker had originally thought of 0-0-0 here, not noticing 14. Rxa7. Another try, though, is 13... dxe2!? 14.e4! dxe3 15.fxe3 Rfe8 16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.Qf3 Bg4 18.Qxf6 Rxe3 19.Nc3 Rae8 20.Bd5 Be6 21.Be4 Nc2 22.Qxh6 f5 23.Nd5 Rf8 24.Qg6+ Kh8 25.Rf4 Qh7 26.Qxe6 Nxa1 27.Nxe3 Not flawless, but still interesting 1-0
And now an easy but pretty problem win from round two.
Black is to play and win. Having already sacrificed a piece for a crushing attack he now executes an elegant combination.
Parkes, T - Cooper, M. P.
Borehamwood 1976
Moves are clickable
Solution: Black played 1...Bxg2 2.Rxg2 Rh1+ 3.Kf2 Qxg2+ 4.Kxg2 R8h2+ 5.Kg3 Bh4+ 6.Kg4 f5# 0-1