THE UNIVERSITIES CHESS ANNUAL CONTENTS: Page The Dutch Tour By D. V. Mardle ... ... 2 Swansea Successes By L. W . Barden ... ... 4 Universities Team Championship By D. J. Youston ... ... 6 The Oxford Congress By D. J. Youston . .. ... 9 Annotated Games ... ... 15 The University Chess Clubs ... 17 SECOND ISSUE NOVEMBER, 1951 PRICE I /9 THE BRITISH UNIVERSITIES CHESS ASSOCIATION OFFICERS, 1951— 52. President: B. H. WOOD, M.Sc. Vice-Presidents: Miss Elaine Saunders, Mr. C. H. O’D Alexander, Alderman J. N. Derbyshire, Sir L. S. Dyer Bart., Professor L. S. Penrose, Sir R. Robinson, Dr. H. C. Schenk, Sir G. A. Thomas Bart, Mr. T. H. Tylor. Chairman: R. J. TAYLER. Hon. Secretary: D. V. MARDLE, Christ’s College, Cambridge. Hon. Treasurer: D. J. YOUSTON, Hertford College, Oxford. Match Captain: P. j. OAKLEY. Regional Representatives: North— R. L. Williamson; South— J. M. Hancock; Wales— S. Usher. THE CHAMPIONS Universities Team Champions, 1951 - - OXFORD. Universities Individual Champion, 1951 - D. V. MARDLE. Universities Correspondence Champion, 1951 - P. J. OAKLEY. CHESS . SUTTON COLDFIELD Each month, more copies of CHESS are bought than all other British chess periodicals, duplicated or printed, fortnightly, monthly or what you will, put together. Why not take advantage of our sample offer: 25 back numbers for 5s., postage 10d. Our postal chess organisation (“ Postal chess from 5s. per year ”) has more members than all similar organisations within 500 miles put together. For fifteen years we have answered an average of 150 letters a day. Whatever your needs, if they are connected with chess, your enquiry will have our careful attention. CHESS . SUTTON COLDFIELD THE UNIVERSITIES C H ESS ANNUAL An official publication of the British Universities Chess Association, Joint Hon. Editors: R. J. TAYLER and D. J. YOUSTON Second Issue NOVEMBER, 1951 PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE. " I have been amazed at the enterprise and efficiency exhibited in the administration of B.U.C.A. and account it an honour to have been elected your President once again. Please count on me for any help I can give throughout the year .to come. All strength to your gambit arm!” B. H. WOOD. B.U.C.A. NEWS. The past season has again been very successful, the number of affiliated clubs being easily a record, and the prospects for next year are even better. This success is not restricted merely to the number of clubs, for individual clubs are reporting record memberships and playing strength continues to improve. The arrangements for the Team Championship had to be extended to cover teams as far apart as Aberdeen and Southampton. A system of seven regions has been established which should give good service for several years to come. Our international contacts were renewed in December when the B.U.C.A. team had a most enjoyable tour of Holland. It is hoped that more international matches will be arranged in the future and correspond­ ence matches have been proposed against the Swiss and Finnish Students. The success of the 1950 Cambridge Congress was repeated at Oxford in June, where the Individual Championship again attracted a large entry. Application is being made to the B.C.F. that, in future years, the champion should automatically gain a place in the British Championship. As it happened, Denis Mardle was already qualified for Swansea, and he tied for ninth place in the very strong field of 30. As a result of his fine play in the same event, Leonard Barden (Oxford) was chosen for the B.C.F. team against Yugoslavia and acquitted himself well with two draws against the Junior World Champion, Ivkov. In the match against Scotland he won with ease. Many other University players have gained notable successes in local and national tournaments during the year and play an important part in Club and County Chess throughout the country. We confidently expect the 1951– 2 season to give further signs of our increasing influence. 1 . THE DUTCH TOUR. The visit of a Dutch Universities’ team in 1946 was highly success­ ful, so the invitation for a reciprocal tour of Holland in December ¡1950 was eagerly accepted. A strong team of nine players from Oxford, Cam­ bridge, Manchester, Birmingham, and Sheffield, left Harwich on 8th December, bound for the Hook of Holland. The first two days were spent sight-seeing in Amsterdam, culminating on the Saturday evening with a visit to the Stock Exchange to /watch the final round of the Amsterdam International Tournament. It was sad to see the only British representative with a somewhat low (in fact the lowest) score, but it was certainly an eye-opener to observe this magnificently organised event. At one end of the vast hall were the players in a roped- off arena, under powerful arc-lights and hundreds of spectators sat watch­ ing the games or crowded attentively round the demonstration boards (one per game). This gave us an inkling of the tremendous interest in chess throughout Holland. On the following day we played a team representing the V.A.S. Club, Amsterdam, the score of 5½—3½ to the B.U.C.A. being a most satisfactory start to the tour. Next day, the party went on to Beverwijk, where we beat a local team 6½— 2½, after a very pleasant afternoon looking over the steel works at Velsen Hoogovens. The Tuesday morning was spent in further sight-seeing at a fertiliser works, then off to Utrecht for the main match of the tour, a double round affair against a strong Dutch Universities team. Although the B.U.C.A. were defeated 10½-7 ½ , we were by no means disgraced, and with a little luck could easily have won, for Penrose threw away a clearly won game in the first round, and Scott should have won in the second round. The full score was:— DUTCH UNIVERSITIES. B.U.C.A. 1 J. H. Donner ... 1 0 L. W . Barden (Oxford) ... 0 1 2 H. J. van Donk ... 1 1 O. Penrose (Cambridge) 0 0 3 J. J<. van O. Bruyn ... 0 ½ A. F. Truscott (Oxford) ... 1 ½ 4 J. Visser ... 0 1 D. V. Mardle (Cambridge) 1 0 5 C. W . van Vloten ... 1 1 P. J. Oakley (Birmingham) 0 0 6 W . H. Sandifort ... ½ 0 J. F. Barrett (Cambridge) ½ 1 7 C. H. Prahl ... ... 1 0 J. E. Littlewood (Sheffield) 0 1 8 H. Croenenboom ... ½ 1 D. J. Youston (Oxford) ... ½ 0 9 C. Feiters ... ½ ½ J. E. Scott (Manchester) ... ½ ½ 5½ 5 3½ 4 These were two fine games on the top board:— White— Donner, Black— Barden. 1 P—Q4, Kt—KB3; 2 P—QB4, P— K3; 3 Kt—QB3, B—Kt5; 4 P—QR3, BXKtch; 5 PXB, P— B4; 6 P— K3, Kt B3; 7 B—Q3, P—Q3; 8 Kt— K2, P— K4; 9 0— 0, Kt— KR4; 10 Kt— Kt3, KtXKt; 11 BPXKt, Q— Kt4; 12 B— K4, 0— 0; 13 R— Ktl, Q— K2; 14 PXP, PXP; 15 Q— R5, P— KKt3; 16 Q— K2, B—K3; 17 B—Q5; Kt—R4; 18 P—K4, BXB; 19 BPXB, P— Kt3; 20 B— R6, KR— Q1 ; 21 R— B2, Kt— Kt2; 22 QR— KB1, Kt—Q3; 23 Q— Kt4, R— K1 ; 24 B— Kt5, Q— B1 ; 25 Q— R4, P—QR4; 26 B— B6, R— R2; 27 P—QR4, R— Kt2; 28 P— B4, R— R2; 29 R— B3, R—Q2; 30 R— K1, KtXBP; 31 P— Kt4, P— R4; 32 P— Kt5, R— Q3; 33 P— Kt4, Kt—Q7;' 34 R— B2, KtXP; 35 RXKt, RXP; 36 PXP, Resigns. 2 White— Barden, Black— Donner. 1 p—K4, P—K3; 2 P—Q4, P—Q4; 3 Kt—QB3, Kt—KB3; 4 B— Kt5, B— Kt5; 5 P— K5, P— KR3; 6 B—Q2, BXKt; 7 PXB, Kt— K5; 8 Q— Kt4, P— KKt3; 9 B— Bl, KtXQBP; 10 B—Q3, P—QB4; 11 PXP, Kt— B3; 12 Kt— B3, Q— R4; 13 0—0, Q— R5; 14 QXQ, KtXQ; 15 B— K3, B—Q2; 16 QR— Ktl, 0—0— 0; 1,7 R— Kt3, Kt— R4; 18! R— R3, Kt— B5; 19 BXKt, PXB; 20 Kt— Q2, K— B2; 21 KtXP, B— B3; 22 Kt— Q6, R—Q2; 23 R— Ktl, P—QR4; 24 P— KR3, RXKt; 25 BPXR ch, K— Q2; 26 P—QB4, P— KKt4; 27 RXKt, BXR; 28 RXP ch, K— Bl; 29 RXBP, R— Q1 ; 30 R— QR7, R— Q2; 31 RXP, B— B3; 32 R— R6, Resigns. A visit to Doorn Castle and a celebration dinner rounded off our short, but most enjoyable, stay in Utrecht and on the Thursday we went on to Leiden where we were again wonderfully entertained. A match against Leiden University resulted in a 9— 0 victory for the B.U.C.A. Most of the games were over quickly, leaving plenty of time for the eating and drinking that followed. And so back to England by the night boat on Friday after a memor­ able week. Throughout the tour we received wonderful hospitality from the Dutch students and their families, and I am sure all the other members of the team will join with me in thanking our hosts; also G. D. Parbrook, R J. Tayler and J. J. van O. Bruyn who made all the arrangements. May there be many more such Anglo-Dutch student matches in future. SWANSEA SUCCESSES. All the five University competitors in the Swansea Congress finished in the top half of their tournaments, and two of them won prizes. In the British Championship, Leonard Barden (Oxford) started badly but won four games in a row in the middle of the tournament, including the only defeat of the new champion Ernst Klein.