A White Pawn in Europe (part 2) by Murray Chandler

A personal account of his games at the World Junior Chess Championship in Yugoslavia and some English tournaments. August to November 1975

Acknowledgements

Front cover (see original PDF): N. Cook, W. Kerr.
Forewords: B. R. Foster
Diagrams (see original PDF): W. Ramsay.
Annotations for some English games: N. Cook.

Foreword to part two – England

On arrival in Britain Phillip Clark and Murray spent a few days as guests of Jonathan Mestel before plunging into the tournament circuit at the week long event in Paignton. This was followed by weekend tourneys at Hull and Kettering.

Both players played at the Guernsey international tournament early in October and after Phillip returned home later in the month, Murray played in further 'Weekenders' at Woolacombe, Southampton, and the big LARA congress in London.

In recent years several New Zealanders have played on the English 'circuit' to a greater or lesser extent and with varying degrees of success. By gaining a place in all the tourneys he entered, Murray appears to have achieved an outstanding result. More important, perhaps, than prizes won was the experience he gained in over fifty tournament games against many of the UK's top players. This experience will considerably assist him when he returns to the UK to begin a career as a professional chess player.

The following are some impressions Murray gained of the British chess scene during his brief stay in 1975, as well as a number of games and positions. (Brian Foster).

Jonathan Mestel

Phillip and I upon arriving in England spent the first few days at the home of the English participant in the World Junior, J Mestel. He showed us some beautiful problems and chess positions.

He caused a stir in the World Junior when he beat the very strong Canadian player, Peter Nurmi, in the last round after Nurmi had 'rubbished' the opening. Watch this 14 move vicotry on the Black side of a Philidor's defence.

Nurmi, Peter - Mestel, A Jonathan

Wch U20 1975

Entry Fees

The reason that the UK can support a surprisingly large number of chess professionals is the relatively high prize money offered at tournaments, with most of the prize fund coming from entry fees.

New Zealand, I feel, must improve the prize fund for at least the top grades in tournaments. This will encourage the strongest players from all over the country to compete. For a weekend tournament in say Wellington, I feel at least $10 should be charged on entry to the highest grade.

In England the average entry fee is about 14 pounds and there is no shortage of participants. In many of the tournaments I played a field of 150 to 200 was not unusual. Allowing for a higher chess playing population I did not find an entry fee of 10 pounds or more was any deterrent to entries.

Late Entries

Although I spent only 3 months in England I formed a definite impression on how their tournament directors handled the problem of late entries.

Previously I was a firm believer in 'get your entry lodged by the pre- announced deadline or miss out' but now I feel late entries should be accepted.

The English Tournament Controller usually wants as many people as possible to play, and although a penalty fee is often charged, he will accept as many late entries as he can. I remember that in one tournament someone turned up 10 minutes before the start of round one and asked to play – and he got in!

For important tournaments, eg the NZ Championship field, late entries obviously cannot be accepted, but I feel unless there is an excess of people, all weekend tournaments should accept them (with the exceptions of last minute entries who cause an odd number of players.). Unfortunately in NZ, a small number of officials in setting rigid entry restrictions, discourage or hinder players from participating, contrary to the attitude overseas. The tournaments are for every chess player, not just the organisers.

In the last round of a tournament in Hull I played the highly rated V. Knox, with both of us playing to win.

Chandler, Murray G - Knox, Victor W

Hull op 1975

Top Player Participation

One striking difference to New Zealand chess that I noticed and benefitted from, was that top players were very active. Hardly a tournament went by without a number of 'big names' attending. For example, at the Kettering tournament in September, I played Tony Miles the 1974 World Junior Champion and possibly the best player in the UK today. At my first tournament in Paignton I also played Robert Bellin, another strong English player.

When was the last time we had any number of the top Auckland players at a weekend tournament in Wellington?

Two ways of attracting top players from other areas would be to issue special invitations and offer sufficient prize money to make it attractive for these players to participate.

Tournament organisers should also make it clear they want these players to play, and every assistance should be given to them. This system would raise the standard of NZ chess, as the top players being active as often as possible would help both themselves and also up and coming players trying to improve.

GM Visits

In England I noticed the close connection between the top players of the world and those in the UK. The major British Tournament at Hastings, annually attracts some of the world's best players. In addition Grand Masters seem to be touring and playing surprisingly often. A GM who came to New Zealand would be an event of great importance, but while in England the local club that I played for in matches, had 3 Grand Masters and 2 International Masters visit and play in a '15 minute' tournament with some club players. They were some of the world's most famous players – D Bronstein, E Geller, J Timman with local IMs Wade and Keene. I was unluckily away when this visit took place but Phillip Clark was there and tended David Bronstein's demonstration board. I was told Phillip was quite a sight as Bronstein, a time-trouble expert if ever there was one, could really move and Phillip had to struggle to keep up! Afterwards, he had the chance of a lifetime to meet the GMs as he went out for a meal with the players.

Lombardy, the American GM only watched the tournament but dined afterwards and according to Phillip was quite a character. One of his best stories was of Fischer in New York – he grew a beard so as not to be recognised and as soon as he ordered a cab the taxi driver said 'I know who you are – Bobby Fischer!'

Junior Chess

England has a large and highly successful Junior training scheme, largely backed by finacier Jim Slater. This scheme aims at sponsorship of promising juniors, and assists them to attend and get into tournaments both national and international. Leonard Barden, the well known chess correspondent, compiles charts and world ratings aimed at encouraging juniors to higher efforts. Many other hard working people are involved in junior chess, among them Bob Wade who organises a number of junior tournaments and obtains tremendous response in attendance and interest.

In 1971 six juniors were selected for extra special attention and since then all have made substantial progress. Among them were Tony Miles, the 1974 World Junior Champion and widely tipped to be England's first GM, Jonathan Mestel, World under 18 champion 1973 and equal British champion 1974 and John Nunn World Under 18 champion 1975 and IM.

Such is the strength of the present group of young English players that probably no other country except possibly Russia can match their wealth of talent and potential for the future.

Against a strong English Junior, Julian Hodgson, ranked by Barden as number two 12 year old in the world, I reached the following position -

Chandler, Murray G - Hodgson, Julian M

Southampton op 4th 1975

English Grading

(omitted – see the original PDF)

I reached the diagrammed position in one of my English games. White's position is winning and with my next move I set a cunning trap, winning a piece for a pawn. The alternatives for my opponent are not promising - almost all lose material.

Chandler, Murray G - Kaye, G.

Kettering op 1975

Prize Money

In England, prizes even for quite small tournaments were usually a minimum of 100 pounds for the 'A' Grade first prize. The bigger tournaments were as much as 500 pounds 1st prize and the huge 'Evening Standard' London Chess Congress held over the weekend of 12-14 December had a prize fund of over 5000 pounds with the first alone being worth 1400 pounds.

Naturally, NZ has not the chess playing population to sustain a large number of tournaments on the scale of the English events, but surely we could organise more weekend tourneys, say six round Swiss events, with a first round on Friday, three rounds on Saturday and two on Sunday. By charging a $10 entry fee for the 'A' grade and with a 30 player plus participation, prize money in the vicinity of $150 first, $75 second and $50 third could be offered together with a number of grade prizes of say $20. It is essential to offer a substantial first prize to encourage the top players to enter, enabling them to recover their travelling costs and return a small profit if they win.

Another last round - again after the full point.

Chandler, Murray G - Farley, Ronald JM

Woolacombe op 5th 1975

Bob Wade

London is the centre of English chess and the base for a strong chess community. One of the most influential chess personalities there is New Zealander, Robert Wade, formerly of Wellington.

Phillip Clark and I first met Bob in Yugoslavia where he was the second for the English competitor Jonathan Mestel. When we arrived in England Bob arranged our accommodation with a family of chess players, who made us very welcome for the several weeks of our stay.

I spent quite a bit of time at Bob Wade's place as I am interested in becoming a professional player and he is the only New Zealander ever to have achieved professional status. This he has earned by sheer hard work and dedication to the game. He has an incredible chess library which must be one of the most, if not the most, comprehensive in the world. He very kindly allowed me to browse through whatever volumes I liked. Such is the extent of this enormous wealth of chess literature that at first I did not know where to start.

Bob has been absent from NZ for a number of years now,, and to many of the younger New Zealanders he is little more than a name. However, in the UK, through his numerous books and TV show, he is a very well known and respected chess personality. He is moreover, still very interested in NZ and our chess scene; At times he seemed to know more about it than me!

I feel that NZ would benefit by having more people like Bob Wade, who would show the NZ flag at overseas tournaments. Also, I think, New Zealand chess players should be encouraged to travel, finance permitting, to strengthen their play and broaden their outlook,

English Results

Overall I felt I scored quite well in England and my final tally was 40 wins, 5 draws and 8 losses. In the 8 tournaments I entered I gained a prize in every event and won the only Junior tournament I entered (The Kent under 18).

I was disappointed not to have won any open tournaments outright, although I came close to doing so at Hull. I did gain several 2nd and 3rd placings, however. On the whole a very successful and rewarding 'tour' of England and possibly the most consistent and best sustained chess playing of my life.

Chandler, Clifford R - Chandler, Murray G

Southampton op 4th 1975