On the “glorious twelfth” of August we celebrate the birthday of one of England’s most popular chess players and writers, IM Bill Hartston.

William Roland Hartston was born in Willesden, Middlesex on Tuesday, August 12th, 1947. His father was William Hartston, a significant member of the Royal College of Physicians who was married to Mary Roland. Bill has a sister.

He studied at the City of London School and then studied mathematics at Jesus College, Cambridge and graduated with a BA in 1968 and an MA in 1972, but did not complete his PhD on number theory.

While studying for his PhD at Cambridge, Hartston developed an intricate system for balancing an entire chess set on top of a single rook. Here is an article with an explanation letter from Bill.

Bill married Dr. Jana Malypetrova in January, 1970 in Cambridge. In 1978 Bill married Elizabeth Bannerman, also in Cambridge and from that marriage he had two sons, James and Nicholas.

Bill became an International Master in 1972 and his highest FIDE rating was 2485 in January 1979.

With the white pieces Bill almost exclusively played 1.e4 and the Ruy Lopez.

With the black pieces Bill played the Sicilian Taimanov and the Czech Benoni.

Bill is a self-proclaimed follower of Prof. AJ Ayer (See the Acknowledgements in “Soft Pawn”) Clint Eastwood and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

Bill was the chess correspondent of The Independent and The Mail on Sunday. He was also a regular presenter and commentator for television. He worked with Jeremy James on the BBC’s Master Game. and has appeared on ITVs Play Chess

 

In modern times Bill has made regular appearances with World Cluedo champion, Josef Kollar on Channel Four’s Gogglebox with a pair of painted breasts as background.

Bill revived the Beachcomber column in the Daily Express.

 

Bill is an industrial psychologist.

Curiously the 1984 edition of the usually reliable The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper and Whyld does not have an entry for the twice British Champion : was this simply an oversight ? Jana is also not mentioned.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1DYzR7wc8w[/embedyt]

Bill wrote about himself in British Chess (Pergamon, 1983) :

“To summarise more than 20 years of playing competitive chess in a few hundred words is an impossible task. My attitude to the game has changed a great deal, especially in recent times, but I have always enjoyed and felt at home in the tense and lively atmosphere of chess tournaments, whether as a competitor, spectator or journalist.

I consider myself lucky to have been a ‘promising junior’ just at the time when chess was beginning to be taken seriously as a sport in England. The English team consisted mainly of amateurs and there were clear opportunities for anyone willing to work at the game.

As a result of the changing attitudes to the game in this country, the development between 1965, when I first played for the national team, and 1975 was far greater than in any other decade.

One statistic which I have always found personally amusing is that I progressed from youngest player in 1967 for the Clare Benedict tournament to become the oldest in the 1971 team. From promising junior to veteran in four years = is this a record ?

Since my second British Championship win in 1975, I have been writing more and playing less. I always realised that I was not going to become a sufficiently strong player to be happy just wandering round the tournament circuit, but giving up chess entirely is, of course, unthinkable.

I believe now that the time is ripe for chess to be presented to far wider audiences and I like to think that some of what I do will help in that aim. If the Master Game television series and “Soft Pawn” cannot sell chess to the masses then nothing will.”

[pgn]
[Event “Olympiad-21 Final A”]
[Site “Nice”]
[Date “1974.06.25”]
[Round “10”]
[White “Hartston, William R”]
[Black “Portisch, Lajos”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C19”]
[Annotator “William R Hartston”]
[PlyCount “57”]
[EventDate “1974.06.15”]
[EventType “team-tourn”]
[EventRounds “15”]
[EventCountry “FRA”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2000”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.11.16”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.11.16”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
[WhiteTeam “England”]
[BlackTeam “Hungary”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]
[BlackTeamCountry “HUN”]

{[%evp 0,57,19,38,30,51,38,32,32,44,31,32,25,31,25,15,30,3,25,25,26,10,17,10,
15,30,13,-5,0,25,20,-11,-11,-18,32,-11,-4,-17,-9,-51,-57,1,4,-3,20,49,36,102,
594,624,29991,29992,29993,29994,29995,29996,29997,29998,29999,-30000]} {
Bill described this game as one of four nice Nice games in the British Chess
Magazine Games Department of Volume XCIV (94), Number 9 (September), 1974.
Additional comments were from Bill’s entry in “British Chess”, by Botterill,
Levy, Rice and Richardson, Pergamon Press, 1983.} 1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 {This is
just a joke really, but usually worth between 20 seconds and five minutes on
the clock.} d5 ({White invites Black to change his mind and play a Sicilian
with} 2… c5) 3. d4 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 $1 {One of the most horrible things
about playing Portisch is that it is almost impossible to avoid his detailed
opening preparation without playing something dubious., with which he is also
well equipped to deal. Hartston goes straight into the critical line. The
exclamation mark is for bravery.} Bxc3+ ({The unusual} 5… Ba5 {is much
better than its reputation. The Swiss master, Werner Hug, always obtains good
positions against me with that move.}) 6. bxc3 Ne7 (6… Qc7 {is a good move
order for those} {fear} 7. Qg4 {when} f6 $1 8. Nf3 c4 $1 {takes the sting out
of the attack. But, what are you playing the Winawer for if you ever
considered Qg4 to be a threat !}) 7. Nf3 ({The complications arising from} 7.
Qg4 {have never been fully solved, but nowadays (1974) most players prefer the
positional continuation chosen} Qc7 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 cxd4 10. Ne2 Nbc6 11.
f4 Bd7 12. Qd3 dxc3 13. Nxc3 a6 14. Rb1 Na5 15. h4 Nf5 16. Rh3 O-O-O 17. h5 Nc4
18. h6 Rg6 19. h7 Rh8 20. Rb4 {is the way to go in 2020.}) (7. a4 {is another
decent option.}) 7… Bd7 {[%cal Gd7a4]} (7… Qc7 8. a4 b6 9. Bb5+ Bd7 10. Bd3
Nbc6 11. O-O {is the move usual order referred to after Whites 11.Bd3!? below.
}) ({In 2020} 7… Nbc6 8. a4 Qa5 9. Bd2 Bd7 10. Bb5 c4 11. O-O {is the way to
go in 2020.}) 8. a4 {Already necessary before Black stifles the queen’s win
with Ba4} Nbc6 ({More usual is} 8… Qa5 {when} 9. Bd2 {is the fashionable
response} ({though I still believe in} 9. Qd2)) 9. Be2 ({After} 9. Bd3 Qc7 10.
O-O {Black may elect for the plan of castling long} {with} c4 11. Be2 O-O-O ({
or attacking the centre with} 11… f6 {I usually prefer to discourage this by
leaving the bishop on e2 but it may be that 9.Bd3 is the better move.})) 9…
Qc7 10. O-O b6 11. Bd3 $5 {I played this move because it transposed into a
position I had analysed and played a great deal about three years ago.
Unfortunately,as the game demonstrates, I had forgotten almost all of this
analysis!. The more usual move order is referenced above after 7…Qc7} (11.
Re1 Na5 12. Bd3 h6) 11… h6 {having played b6, Black is less ready to castle
long since his King’s position would be more vulnerable; the text move
prepares 0-0} ({if} 11… O-O $2 {immediately} {then} 12. Bxh7+ Kxh7 {and} 13.
Ng5+ {with the standard mating attack.} Kg6 14. h4 $18 (14. Qg4 $5 f6 15. exf6
Kxf6 16. Qh5 $16) (14. Qd3+ Nf5 15. g4 f6 $16) 14… Qc8 15. Qg4 $18) 12. Ba3
$5 {This whole variation was thoroughly tested at Hastings 1971-2 when Peter
Markland lost a lot of games with the black pieces from this position.
Possibly Byrne’s continuation is the strongest; white has good chances of
sacrificing the bishop on h6 for a mating attack in the middlegame.} ({Robert
Byrne played} 12. Re1 Na5 13. Be3 (13. Qd2 {Mecking and Karpov} Rc8 (13… O-O
14. Qf4 f5))) 12… Na5 13. Re1 $6 {An “innovation” – because I could not
remember what I had played in the earlier game. The point of 12.Ba3 I soon
remembered is to continue 13.Nd2! 00 14.dc bc 15.Nb3 with some advantage to
White as in Hartston – Markland, Hastings 1971-2 and Williams-Keene , British
Championship, 1973.} O-O 14. dxc5 bxc5 15. Nd2 {[%cal Gd1g4,Gd1h5] An
important move to allow White’s queen to enter the attack.} Ng6 $1 {And
meeting with the correct reply.} ({The obvious} 15… f6 {would have
completely justified the White move order} {when} 16. exf6 Rxf6 17. c4 $16) (
15… Bxa4 {fails to} 16. Qg4 $1 Bd7 17. Nf3 Kh8 18. Bc1 $1 {with a dangerous
attack.}) 16. Qh5 {Apparently aggressive but really the only way to defend the
King’s pawn.} Be8 {The move played threatens f5 embarrasing the white queen.
She hastens to get out of the way.} (16… Nf4 17. Qg4 Nxd3 18. cxd3 {is a
little better for White since his bishop is more effective. With the text move
Black threatens …f6 or …f5 with a veiled attack on the queen. According
to “Excellent notes” from Krogius this position is fantastic for White who has
at a stroke created the opportunity for direct attack with Re3 – g3 or h3
depending on circumstances.}) (16… Bxa4 {was more double-edged but, here too
in all lines White keeps the initiative viz :} 17. Bxg6 fxg6 18. Qxg6 Bd7 (
18… Qc6 19. Bc1) (18… Rae8 19. Bc1 Bd7 20. Nf3) ({and probably Black’s
best try should be} 18… Qe7 19. Nf3 (19. Bc1 Be8 20. Qg3 Nc6 21. Nb3 {
with the idea of Ba3}) 19… Be8 20. Qg3 Nc4 21. Bc1 Kh7) 19. Nf3 Nc4 20. Bc1)
17. Qe2 {The third consecutive queen move along the same diagonal It’s lucky I
won this game or my play would have been open to terrible criticism.} {After
an hour’s thought Portisch played} Bxa4 $2 {which I had not even considered.
Perhaps I was so used to losing the a pawn in this line that I did not see
that it was en prise.} ({More prudent was} 17… f6 {giving White no chance to
develop an attack.}) ({Black should have been consistent and maintained his
vigil with} 17… f5 18. exf6 Rxf6 {when he has good chances. Hartston now
launches a dangerous attack.}) 18. Qg4 $1 Bd7 19. Nf3 $1 ({All methods of
winning the pawn back such as} 19. Bxg6 fxg6 20. Qxg6 {leave Black with some
advantage owing to the weaknesses remaining in the white camp. In this
position the initiative is of far more importance; after all Blacks a pawn
will not be serious threat for some time.}) 19… Nc4 {Perhaps Black’s
position is already untenable. The threat of Bc1 and an eventual sacrifice on
h6 is difficult to prevent.} (19… Bc8 20. Bc1 Nc6 21. Bxg6 fxg6 22. Qxg6 Qf7
23. Qg3 $16) 20. Bc1 Bc8 $2 {The decisive mistake} (20… Ncxe5 21. Nxe5 Nxe5
22. Qg3 f6 23. Bxh6 Rf7 24. Bf4 {looks just as bad}) ({The only chance for
defence was pointed oout by Krogius.} 20… Ngxe5 21. Nxe5 Nxe5 22. Qg3 f6 23.
Bxh6 Be8 24. Bf4 c4 25. Bf1 a5 {and Black can create enough detours to keep
White at bay. Now he is flattened.}) 21. Qh5 {Suddenly it is all over; there
is really no defence to 22. Bxh6!} Rd8 22. Bxh6 $1 gxh6 23. Qxh6 Nb2 {Keene
wrote that even at this stage Portisch was still moving rapidly and looking
confident. One can imagine his feelings when the knight appeared on h7!} 24.
Ng5 Nxd3 25. Nh7 $1 {Black resigns. I was specially pleased by this game
because I had lost the previous day to Hort also in 25 moves. A fighting game
by Bill Hartston} {26.Nf6 mate can only be prevented by} f5 {when} 26. Nf6+ Kf7
27. Qh7+ Kf8 28. Qg8+ $1 Ke7 29. Qg7# {is even stronger than winning a queen.}
1-0
[/pgn]

Harry Golombek wrote the following in a 1980 Dataday chess diary :

“Hartston played hardly at all during the period from my last entry of him in the 1977 diary and that little, though respectable, was hardly the performance of an active master. His equal 3rd to 5th at the big Aaronson’s Masters Tournament (a swiss system event with 72 players) did not really affect his rating and indeed he finished up without changing his Elo rating at all.

Nevertheless, this glimpse of his true powers was impressive as can be seen in the following game which was played in the 6th round of the Aaronson tournament.”

[pgn]
[Event “London Aaronson Open”]
[Site “London”]
[Date “1978.??.??”]
[Round “6”]
[White “Wicker, Kevin J”]
[Black “Hartston, William R”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “E61”]
[WhiteElo “2305”]
[BlackElo “2475”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “72”]
[EventDate “1978.03.23”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “10”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “MCD”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,72,19,-31,22,6,7,7,3,5,17,10,23,15,4,0,33,0,33,15,57,37,47,27,24,1,-5,
-42,-10,-14,-16,-23,-16,-21,-6,-86,-59,-67,-72,-66,-50,-51,-38,-43,-9,0,-13,-7,
1,-3,14,-43,-46,-92,-104,-112,-108,-111,-57,-142,-135,-143,-146,-156,-154,-168,
-164,-269,-296,-323,-299,-333,-244,-572,-355]} 1. b3 b6 2. Bb2 Bb7 3. e3 Nf6 4.
c4 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Nc3 d6 9. d4 a6 10. Qc2 Nbd7 11. d5 b5
12. a4 $6 $146 (12. e4) 12… b4 13. Na2 e5 14. Nd2 Qe7 15. Bd3 Rae8 16. e4 h5
17. f3 $6 (17. Nc1) 17… Bh6 18. Rfe1 h4 19. Nf1 Nh5 20. Nc1 Kg7 21. Ne2 Bc8
22. Bc1 Bxc1 23. Qxc1 Ndf6 24. Ra2 Nh7 25. Bb1 Ng5 26. f4 $6 (26. Nd2) 26…
exf4 27. Nxf4 Nxf4 28. Qxf4 h3 29. g3 f5 $17 30. e5 dxe5 31. Rae2 Qf6 32. Qf2
e4 33. Rd1 $2 f4 $1 34. gxf4 Bg4 35. Ng3 Qxf4 36. Rf1 $4 (36. Qxf4 Rxf4 37. Rf1
Nf3+ 38. Kh1 e3 $19) 36… Qe5 $1 0-1
[/pgn]

From The Encyclopedia of Chess(Robert Hale, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks :

“International Master (1972) and British Champion (1973) William Hartston was born in London on the 12th August 1947. He was taught to play chess by his father when he was seven and five years later joined Enfield Chess Club. His results in junior events included 1st in the London Boys’ Under 16 Championship and 2nd in the British Boys’ Under 15 Championship in 1962 and =2nd in the British Boys Under 18 Championship in 1963.

In 1965, Hartston made his first appearance in the British Championship and came =5th. In the same year he won the Ilford and Paignton Premier tournaments. Playing on board 3 for England in the 1966 Olympiad. Hartston scored the best result of any British player, 66.7%.

In the Olympiad of 1970, he had the best overall score on board 3, 12.5 out of 16 and in the Olympiad of 1972 he won the prize for the 3rd best score on board 2, 12.5 out of 18. In 1972 he narrowly failed to qualify for the Interzonal tournament, when he came 3rd in the Zonal tournament at Vranjacka Banja.”

From The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsford, 1977) by Harry Golombek :

“British International Master and twice British Champion. Hartston was born in London and his early chess was played there., where he became London Boy (Under-16 Champion in 1962.

He was educated at the City of London School and Jesus College, Cambridge, where he took a degree in mathematics.

It soon became clear that he was one of the leading young players in England and a rivalry developed between him and Raymond Keene in which first one and then the other obtained the upper hand.

After a number of near misses he won the British Championship at Eastbourne in 1973 and again at Morecambe in 1975.

Internationally he has already had a distinguished career and has been especially good and consistent in his representation of England at the Olympiads. At Havana in 1966 he scored 66.7% on board 3 but did not play at Lugano in 1968. Again on board 3 at Siegen in 1970 he obtained the best score on board 3 with 78.1%.

At Skopje 1972 he fulfilled the second norm of the international master title with 12.5 points out of 18 on second board. Playing on first board at Nice 1974 he attained 52.7% and had a most meritorious and well fought draw with the World Champion, Karpov.

He achieved a breakthrough in the field of international tournament chess when he came third in a strong Premier tournament at Hastings 1972/3

and in 1973 he scored a first at Alicante.

[pgn]
[Event “Alicante”]
[Site “Alicante”]
[Date “1973.11.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Hartston, William R”]
[Black “Westerinen, Heikki”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C24”]
[Annotator “William R Hartston”]
[PlyCount “53”]
[EventDate “1973.??.??”]
[SourceTitle “chessgame.com”]

{[%evp 0,53,30,18,18,17,17,25,39,20,4,26,70,47,39,58,134,140,152,131,190,180,
185,116,121,122,163,285,285,187,187,190,263,250,333,54,58,38,-3,-36,73,184,184,
138,138,138,161,210,224,379,375,387,29991,29992,29995,29994]} 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4
Nf6 3. d3 Be7 4. Nc3 O-O 5. f4 exf4 6. Bxf4 c6 {the threat of 7…d5 is
awkward since White’s king is liable to be trapped in the centre.} 7. e5 d5 $6
(7… Nd5 8. Bxd5 cxd5 9. Nxd5 Qa5+ 10. Nc3 f6 11. exf6 Bxf6) 8. exf6 Bb4 {
Black wins his piece back and hopes that his active pieces will also give him
a strong attack, but he has not calculated with sufficient precision.} 9. Bb3
d4 10. Nge2 dxc3 11. O-O ({There is no time for} 11. bxc3 {when would follow}
Re8 12. cxb4 $2 (12. O-O $1 Bc5+ (12… Bd6 13. fxg7 $18 Be6) 13. d4) {
threatening} 12… Bg4 $1) 11… cxb2 12. fxg7 Qb6+ (12… Kxg7 13. Be5+ {
must win for white with Black’s king having nowhere to hide.}) (12… Re8 13.
Bxf7+ Kxf7 14. Bg5+ {also wins quite easily}) 13. Kh1 Re8 14. Bxf7+ Kxf7 15.
Be3+ {is probably a mistake} ({I remember looking at} 15. Ng3 $3 {during the
the game but feeling that is it just looked too fantastic !} bxa1=Q 16. Qh5+
Ke7 17. Bg5+ Kd6 (17… Kd7 18. Qxe8+ Kxe8 19. g8=Q+ Kd7 20. Qf7+ Kd6 21. Ne4+
Ke5 22. Bf6#) 18. Qxe8 {gives White a winning attack as pointed out by Dr. JM
Aitken whose analysis confirmed the suspicion of the players after the game.})
({Analysis in 2020 reveals that} 15. Nd4 $3 {is crushing} bxa1=Q 16. Qh5+ Ke7
17. Qxe8+ Kxe8 18. g8=Q+ Bf8 19. Rxa1 Qc5 20. Bg5 Kd7 21. Rf1 Kc7 22. Rxf8 Kb6
23. Rxc8 {etc}) 15… Kg8 16. Bxb6 Bg4 ({After a long think my opponent saw
that} 16… bxa1=Q 17. Qxa1 axb6 18. Qf6 Be6 19. Nd4 Nd7 20. Qf4 Bxa2 21. c4
Re7 22. Nf5 {wins for White. I had seen most of this combined with a little
faith was enough to allow me to play 14.Bxf7+. 16…Bg4 I had not seen at all!}
) 17. c3 bxa1=Q 18. Qxa1 Bxe2 19. Qb2 $1 {There is neither the necessity nor
the time to save the rook; Black’s king must be driven out before his
queenside pieces can come to help.} (19. Qb1 $144) 19… Bxf1 20. Qb3+ Kxg7 21.
Bd4+ Kg6 22. Qxb4 {Black has vast reservoirs of pieces but they are all asleep.
There is no defence to the combined attack of queen and bishop.} c5 23. Qxc5
Nc6 24. Qd6+ Kh5 25. Bg7 Bxd3 ({If Black tries} 25… Rad8 {then} 26. Qh6+ Kg4
27. Bf6 {wins; the text allows a more elegant finish.}) 26. h3 Bg6 27. Qf4 {
and Black resigned as it is mate in three.} 1-0
[/pgn]

His best tournament result came three years later when he won 1st prize at Sarajevo 1976.

His style of play is sound and competent in all the spheres of the game. That he can be brilliant when necessary he demonstrated his beautiful brilliancy game against the Finnish grandmaster Westerinen at Allicante in 1973. He has a fine, broad knowledge of the openings and has written a number of articles and books on that theme.

[pgn]
[Event “British CF-61 Championship”]
[Site “Clacton on Sea/ Essex”]
[Date “1974.08.14”]
[Round “9”]
[White “Webb, Simon”]
[Black “Hartston, William R”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “A31”]
[Annotator “Simon Webb and Bill Hartston”]
[PlyCount “74”]
[EventDate “1974.08.05”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “GBR”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2000”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.11.16”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.11.16”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,74,19,29,18,21,56,-11,-17,-25,25,16,18,-3,56,33,50,36,37,36,38,34,59,
54,58,44,43,48,44,23,44,31,47,31,43,36,24,22,8,17,17,-16,-27,-79,-109,-66,-59,
-94,-86,-61,-65,-168,-179,-171,-224,-224,-199,-199,-202,-202,-56,-161,-80,-90,
-162,-338,-326,-489,-539,-548,-311,-401,-465,-389,-337,-616,-671]} 1. Nf3 Nf6
2. d4 c5 3. c4 (3. d5) 3… cxd4 4. Nxd4 b6 $1 {An unusual move allowing White
full control of the centre and with no particular intrinsic merit. Its get an
exclamation mark however, because the player of the white pieces is S. Webb!
I always like to fianchetto my king’s bishop in such positions and this is the
one move which prevents me from doing so. Had it occurred to me that Hartston
might play this move I would have played 3.g3 or 2.c4 and then 3.g3.} 5. Nc3
Bb7 6. f3 d6 7. e4 e6 8. Be2 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Be3 Nbd7 {Putting Whte very
much on the spot to find a plan, despite his spatial advantage for four ranks
to three. Again quotes from the two players : “Now the position bears a
strong resemblance to a Sicilian. I felt quite happy now since I seem to have
spent half my life playing positions of this type, while my opponent, not
normally an e4 player, had to be less familiar with the problems” : Hartston.
“Objectively speaking, I knew that this position was good for White but from
this point I had to decide on some sort of strategy. Should I go for f4 and
then f5? Or g4 and then g5? Or try to and get play against the backward d-pawn
by doubling rooks on the d-file? None of these plans looked particularly
convincing so I settled for putting my rooks in the centre and waiting to see
what happened ! Its no good having a good position if you don’t know what to
do with it!”} 11. Qd2 a6 12. Rfd1 Qc7 13. Rac1 $14 Rac8 14. Bf1 Qb8 15. Qf2
Rfe8 {“White has made a series of natural moves and maintains a spatial
advantage; nevertheless I believe that Black already has the better prospects.
The Black pieces, are at first sight a little cramped, are beautifully placed
to leap into action after the thematic d5 breakout, possibly with a pawn
sacrifice” : Hartston Indeed it seems that the best White can hope for is to
try and prevent b5 or d5 by perhaps 16.Nc2 followed by Rd2 and Rcd1 although
even in that case his c-pawn is weak.} 16. Kh1 $2 {Weirdly enough this is the
most popular move here.} (16. g4 {(is the 2020 engine’s choice)}) 16… Bf8 17.
Nc2 Ne5 18. Bxb6 {An ugly sort of move. The loss of the b-pawn is
inconsequential compared with the disappearance of White’s valuable c-pawn
which is restraining Black’s advances.} ({The alternative} 18. b3 $2 b5 $1 {
was even worse.}) (18. Na3 $2 d5 $1) 18… Nxc4 19. Bxc4 (19. Ba7 Qa8 20. b3
Nb2 21. Rd2 Rxc3 22. Bd4 Na4 23. bxa4 Rc6) 19… Rxc4 20. Ne3 Rc6 21. Ba5 {
The bonfire is lit and now the fireworks begin. Hartston immediately activates
his entire force giving Webb no time to reorganise his disjointed position} d5
$1 22. exd5 exd5 23. Nf5 {[#] taking the pawn with either night loses
immediately so Webb tries to put up some sort of blockade on d If he could
indeed achieve this, then he would have defensive chances} ({e.g.} 23. Nexd5
Nxd5 24. Rxd5 Rxc3 $19) ({and e.g.} 23. Ncxd5 Nxd5 24. Rxc6 Nxe3 $19) {By the
following sacrifice Hartston rips open the position} 23… d4 $1 24. Nxd4 (24.
Rxd4 $2 Bc5) (24. Qxd4 Rc5 $1 {[%cal Gc5a5,Gc5f5]} (24… Re5 $1 {[%cal Ge5f5,
Ge5a5]})) 24… Rc5 {[%cal Gc5a5,Gc5h5]} 25. Bb6 Rh5 26. h3 Ng4 $3 {
highlighting the fantastic coordination in the Black camp. Although this move
doesn’t lead to immediate mate White has no way of reorganising his defence to
meet the threats.} 27. fxg4 {This is one offer that cannot be refused.} ({if}
27. Qg1 {then} Qg3 $1) 27… Rxh3+ 28. Kg1 Qh2+ 29. Kf1 Rg3 30. Rc2 Rxg4 $1 (
30… Bxg2+ 31. Qxg2 Rxg2 32. Rxg2 Qf4+ 33. Kg1 Qd6 34. Ba5 Qc5 35. Kf1 Qxa5
$19) (30… Rxg2 31. Qxg2 Bxg2+ 32. Rxg2 Qf4+) 31. Qg1 Qh6 32. Nf5 $2 {A wild
attempt at playing actively which only succeeds in losing back the piece
without blunting Black’s attack. But it is difficult to see how White could
defend.} ({If} 32. Ba5 {the reply} Bc5 {leaves White hopelessly tied up}) ({
while} 32. Nb3 {allows} a5 {[%cal Gb7a6] with the powerful threat of Ba6+}) ({
Possibly} 32. Ba7 {would have been the best chance} {planning to meet} Rh4 ({
After} 32… Re5 {it is difficult to find a move which doesn’t lose something
(Webb)}) {with} 33. Nf5) 32… Qf6 33. Rf2 Qxb6 34. Qh2 a5 35. Qh3 Rg6 36. Nd5
$2 {there was no defence to Ba6+ but this loses a straight piece.} Qb5+ 37. Kg1
Bxd5 {and White resigned} 0-1

[/pgn]

A lucid and entertaining writer, he has also appeared with success in BBC Television chess programmes.

Among his chief works are :

The Benoni, London, 1969
The Grunfeld Defence, London, 1971
The Best Games of CHO’D Alexander (with H. Golombek), Oxford, 1976.”

Here is an interesting interview published in the Streatham & Brixton Chess Club blog concerning the alleged “turning down the Hastings draw offer” story.

Here is his Wikipedia article

See his entry from the Jewish Lives Project