BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//British Chess News - ECPv6.18.3//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://britishchessnews.com X-WR-CALDESC:Events for British Chess News REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:UTC BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:UTC DTSTART:20190101T000000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200926 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200927 DTSTAMP:20210925T140242Z CREATED:20190823T001025Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210925T140242Z UID:1122-1601078400-1601164799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of WIM Eileen Tranmer (05-v-1910 26-ix-1983) DESCRIPTION:We remember WIM Eileen Betsy Tranmer who passed away on September 26th\, 1983. \nEileen Tranmer\nShe was the first English woman to be awarded by FIDE the Woman’s International Master title in 1950. \n“From The Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess Match by Klein and Winter : \nMiss E. Tranmer was born in Scarborough\, North Yorkshire in 1910\, and learned chess at the age of six. She did not take it up seriously\, however\, until 1936. Under the tuition of W. Winter she has made notable progress\, and her performances include a second prize in the British Correspondence Championship 1944\, as well as first prize in one of the subsidiary tournaments at Hastings\, 1945. \nBy profession Miss Tranmer is a musician and has played principal clarinet in the Scottish and Sadler’s Wells Orchestras.” \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CIII (103\, 1983)\, Number 11 (November)\, page 482-83 (presumably written by Bernard Cafferty) : \n“Eileen Tranmer died in hospital at Ticehurst on September 26th after a long illness. Born in Scarborough\, May 5th 1910\, she was a professional clarinet player and played in a number of prominent British orchestras till forced to retire by deafness. \nMandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (3880870a)Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Chess Champion Pictured Here Playing A Clarinet In The Orchestra While Appearing At The Theatre Royal Glasgow.\nOne of the leading British players in the two decades after the war\, Eileen won the British Ladies Championship in 1947\, 1949 (with a 100% score)\, 1953 and 1961\, and played in the British Championship at Buxton\, 1950. Her international record was sparse\, as was the case with nearly all English players of that period. Nevertheless\, she made her mark in the 1949-50 first post-war Women’s World Championship where she finished 5-7th in a field of 16\, beating Bykova\, again\, and finished 7th in the field of 16. \n37th Hastings International Chess Congress\, 1962. USA Ladies champion Lisa Lane (L) playing against British Champion Eileen Tranmer\nWe are grateful to WCM Dinah Norman for sending us these memories : \n“Eileen Tranmer was one of the best English chess lady players of her generation. \nI only played her once at Oxford in an International Ladies Tournament held between 24 July and 1 August 1971. Eileen totally outplayed me and I lost the game. \nEileen was a member of Acton Chess Club where there were three active lady players at that time. They were Jean Rogers\, Olive Chataway and Eileen. Eileen lived in Acton then. \nMandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (3880957a)Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Chess Champion.Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Chess Champion.\nEileen was a professional musician and had to stop playing when she became deaf which was dreadful for her. \nIn 1969 Eileen\, Rowena Bruce and I were selected to play in the Ladies Chess Olympiad Team in Lublin\, Poland. Sadly Eileen was taken ill just before the event so Rowena and I had to play all 13 rounds without a break. I was on Board 1 and at the end Rowena and I were exhausted and I had to withdraw from a tournament in the Czech Republic without playing a game. The food in Poland was awful so we said never again! \n  \nMandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (3880958a)Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Champion Chess Player Pictured Playing Some Of The Glasgow Ladies Chess Club At The Green’s Playhouse Cafe Glasgow.Miss Eileen Tranmer The British Women’s Champion Chess Player Pictured Playing Some Of The Glasgow Ladies Chess Club At The Green’s Playhouse Cafe Glasgow.\nEileen was very friendly with Harry Golombek. The expectation among the lady chess players was that they would get married but she never did. Harry did not drive and Eileen was very kind driving Harry and his elderly mother around. \nVery sadly Eileen’s brother was killed in a car crash and after that Eileen suffered mental problems. Eileen lived near John and Jean Rogers and John said Eileen would turn up at their home in the middle of the night wanting to play chess. \nAt Hastings 1959-1960 : Yugoslavia’s red-haired Milanka Lazarevic and Britain’s Eileen Tranmer ran away with the Premier Reserves (afternoon event).\nThe last time I saw Eileen was at Paignton. Her friend Olive Chataway brought her to Paignton and Eileen played in the bottom tournament and did badly. Eileen did not recognise myself or Rowena which was very sad. \n  \nMandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock (4745287a)Miss Eileen Tranmer 43-year-old British Women’s Chess Champion. Box 556.Miss Eileen Tranmer 43-year-old British Women’s Chess Champion. Box 556.\nEileen later left Acton and moved to Tring. Eileen was a pleasant and modest person and was well liked. She had a good sense of humour.” \nFrom the obituary in The Times of London we learn that her last few years were over-shadowed by an illness that preyed on her mind. \nWe take the following game from the August 1944 issue of BCM. The game was played in the BCCA Championship\, and curiously enough there was an enquiry about that event to the BCF only a short while ago – a Georgian journalist wishes to quote that wartime performance as an early example of success by a woman in male chess company! ” \n[pgn]\n[Event “BCCA Correspondence”]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “1944.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Tranmer\, Eileen”]\n[Black “Wood\, Gabriel”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C00”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “79”]\n[EventDate “1944.??.??”]\n[EventType “corr”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM Game # 21093”] \n{[%evp 0\,8\,19\,38\,40\,31\,7\,-4\,8\,-10\,-2]} 1. e4 c5 2. f4 $1 {A very early Grand\nPrix Attack.} e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e5 Nc6 5. c3 d4 6. d3 Nge7 7. Nbd2 Nf5 8. Ne4 Be7\n9. g3 (9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O b6 11. Qe1) 9… b6 10. Bg2 Bb7 11. Qe2 Qd7 12. Bd2\ndxc3 13. Bxc3 Rd8 14. Rd1 Ba6 15. Bf1 $6 O-O $17 16. Rd2 Qd5 17. Kf2 Qxa2 {\ngiven a ? in 1944 but in 2020 this is engine’s top move.} (17… f6) 18. Qd1\nNfd4 19. Nfg5 f6 (19… Bxg5 20. Bxd4 Bxf4 21. gxf4 Nxd4 $19) 20. exf6 Bxf6 21.\nh4 Rd7 $6 (21… h6 22. Nxf6+ Rxf6 23. Ne4) 22. Bh3 $11 Qd5 23. Bg2 Bxg5 24.\nhxg5 Qf5 {[#]} 25. Nf6+ gxf6 26. Be4 $1 fxg5 $1 27. Bxf5 Rxf5 28. Rh5 Rg7 29.\nKe1 gxf4 30. Rxf5 exf5 31. Qh5 $16 Re7+ 32. Kf2 f3 {[#]} 33. b4 $1 cxb4 34.\nBxd4 Nxd4 35. Qh4 Rd7 36. g4 f4 37. Qg5+ Kf7 38. Qxf4+ Ke7 39. g5 Kd8 40. Ra2\n$18 {and Black resigned.} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nGerald Abrahams in Not only Chess\, wrote about Eileen (Chapter 18 : What Achilles Saw Among Women) as follows : \n“To revert to the British Ladies\, they were joined in the late 1930s by a very able pupil of Miss Menchik\, the Yorkshire Clarinettist Eileen Tranmer; a woman whose chess I have seen to express some admirable qualities of mind and character. I had the privilege of watching her is Moscow in 1949-50\, when\, handicapped by influenza of a particularly virulent kind – what the Russians call “grippe” – she won some five or six consecutive games\, to finish in the prize list of the new official Women’s World Championship. There had been two championships before\, which Vera has won easily. Since Vera had unhappily perished in the Blitz\, they looked at Moscow for her successor.” \nHere is her Wikipedia entry \n[pgn]\n[Event “World Women-ch”]\n[Site “Moscow”]\n[Date “1949.12.26”]\n[Round “3”]\n[White “Heemskerk\, Fenny”]\n[Black “Tranmer\, Eileen”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “C02”]\n[Annotator “ChessBase”]\n[PlyCount “74”]\n[EventDate “1949.12.20”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “15”]\n[EventCountry “URS”]\n[SourceTitle “MCD”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,74\,19\,38\,30\,51\,51\,40\,6\,8\,7\,-11\,-13\,-29\,10\,-18\,4\,6\,-2\,-8\,-14\,5\,-17\,-41\,\n-34\,-34\,9\,-31\,-36\,-52\,-33\,-70\,-52\,-68\,-20\,-20\,-17\,-24\,-23\,-105\,-72\,-170\,-135\,\n-206\,-236\,-238\,-248\,-256\,-256\,-263\,-244\,-244\,-242\,-231\,-232\,-242\,-243\,-323\,\n-354\,-340\,-323\,-360\,-248\,-292\,-304\,-307\,-307\,-335\,-301\,-298\,-346\,-375\,-361\,\n-593\,-592\,-592\,-600]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Qb3\nQxb3 7. axb3 cxd4 8. cxd4 Bd7 9. Be2 Nge7 10. O-O Nf5 11. Be3 Bb4 12. Bd3 g6\n13. g4 Nxe3 14. fxe3 Be7 15. Na3 a6 16. Nb5 Rc8 17. Nd6+ Bxd6 18. exd6 Nb4 19.\nBb1 f6 20. Nh4 Rf8 21. Nxg6 hxg6 22. Bxg6+ Kd8 23. h4 Bb5 24. Rfc1 Kd7 25. Rc7+\nRxc7 26. dxc7 Kxc7 27. Rc1+ Kd6 28. h5 Be2 29. Kg2 Bxg4 30. Kg3 Bf5 31. Bxf5\nexf5 32. Rh1 Rh8 33. h6 Ke6 34. h7 Nc6 35. Rh6 Kf7 36. Kh4 Kg7 37. Kh5 Ne7 0-1 \n[/pgn] \nWIM Eileen Betsy Tranmer & WIM Rowena Mary Bruce at the 1946 Anglo-Soviet Radio Match URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-eileen-betsy-tranmer/ CATEGORIES:British Championships,Death Anniversary,History,Player,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/IMG-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200929 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200930 DTSTAMP:20200924T143717Z CREATED:20190928T215700Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200924T143717Z UID:1414-1601337600-1601423999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Tom Rendle (29-ix-1986) DESCRIPTION:Best wishes to IM Tom Rendle on his birthday. \nThomas Edward Rendle was born on Monday\, September 29th 1986. “Stuck with You” by Huey Lewis and the News was the UK’s number one single. \nTom was born in Hastings\, East Sussex and his mother’s maiden name is Jefferies. Tom resides in Hastings. \nTom attended Bede’s School\, Sussex and then St. Leonard’s College. \nTom Rendle aged 11 by David Crump\nTom studied physics at The University of Warwick and has two brothers\, Tim and James and a sister Theresa. \nTom became a FIDE Master in 2004. In 2006 Tom became an International Master and achieved a peak rating (according to Felice) in July 2007 of 2416 at the age of 21. Tom has one Grandmaster norm. \nTom has played for 4NCL Grantham Sharks\, Hammersmith (in the London League)\, Drunken Knights (in the London League)\, West London and Sandhurst (in the Surrey Border and Berkshire Leagues). \nHis first ECF grade to appear on the grading web site was 82A in July 1994 at the age of 7 : \nECF Grading Progress of Tom Rendle\nTom played in the World U12 Championship won by Teimour Radjabov and his first major success was scoring 7.5/10 in the 2001 Smith and Williamson Young Masters. He became Hampshire Champion in 2001 with 5/6 and won the 2004 Rosny Sous Bois tournament with 7/9 and a TPR of 2568. He was runner-up in the Paignton Open of 2005 followed by runner-up in the Coulsdon Christmas tournament of 2005. \n[pgn]\n[Event “EU-ch U14”]\n[Site “Chalkidiki”]\n[Date “2000.10.08”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Rendle\, Thomas E”]\n[Black “Zinchenko\, Yaroslav”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “B50”]\n[WhiteElo “2131”]\n[BlackElo “2271”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “63”]\n[EventDate “2000.10.02”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “GRE”]\n[SourceTitle “CBM 078 Extra”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2000.11.10”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2000.11.10”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,63\,27\,13\,58\,56\,90\,37\,27\,10\,0\,-1\,-13\,-9\,-10\,-18\,-27\,-8\,33\,41\,20\,27\,14\,\n20\,33\,22\,97\,-17\,67\,19\,-4\,-13\,8\,8\,157\,157\,416\,257\,257\,255\,327\,292\,292\,406\,406\,\n773\,727\,1103\,29983\,29984\,29985\,29986\,29987\,29988\,29989\,29990\,29991\,29992\,29993\,\n29994\,29995\,29996\,29997\,29998\,29999\,-30000]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4.\nBe2 Nc6 (4… Nxe4 $4 5. Qa4+) 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 Nxe4 7. d5 Qa5+ 8. Nc3 Nb8 9.\nO-O Nxc3 10. bxc3 g6 (10… Nd7) 11. Qd4 {[%cal Gd4h8]} Rg8 (11… f6 12. Rb1\nBg7 13. Bb5+ Kf7) 12. Rb1 Bg7 $146 {A novelty not since repeated.} (12… a6\n13. c4) 13. Qc4 (13. Qh4) 13… Qc5 14. Qa4+ Nd7 15. Ba3 Qxd5 $6 {This pawn\ngrab enables White to seize the initiative.} ({Safer was} 15… Qc7) 16. Bc4\nQf5 (16… Qc6 {was required} 17. Qb3) 17. Rb5 Qf4 18. Ng5 ({Better was} 18.\nBc1 $18) 18… d5 19. Rxd5 e6 20. g3 (20. Re1) 20… Qc7 21. Rc5 $1 Qd8 {\n[#] Black’s position is painful !} 22. Nxf7 $1 (22. Nxe6 fxe6 23. Bxe6 Rf8 24.\nRd1) 22… Kxf7 23. Bxe6+ $1 Kxe6 (23… Ke8) 24. Qc4+ Kf6 25. Qf4+ Ke6 26.\nRe1+ Ne5 27. Rexe5+ Bxe5 28. Rxe5+ Kd7 29. Qd4+ Kc7 30. Rc5+ Kb6 31. Qb4+ Ka6\n32. Qb5# 1-0\n[/pgn] \nTom’s GM norm was earnt at Gibraltar 2007. \nTom Rendle in 2011\nTom has his own popular YouTube Channel \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VojrVAgioU[/embedyt] \nWith the white pieces Tom is almost exclusively an e4 player but he has flirted with Bird’s Opening many times. Having shared accommodation with Gawain Jones there are signs of influence in the choice of the Grand Prix Attack. \nAs the second player Tom plays both the Winawer and the Classical French and is a noted expert on the Classical Dutch and Dutch in general. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Chekhov”]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “2000.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Kremenietsky\, Anatoly M”]\n[Black “Rendle\, Thomas E”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “A89”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “56”]\n[EventDate “2000.??.??”]\n[SourceTitle “chessgames.com”] \n{[%evp 0\,56\,32\,32\,77\,49\,38\,38\,58\,43\,67\,60\,82\,58\,66\,47\,29\,0\,64\,64\,53\,48\,43\,25\,\n66\,57\,201\,180\,278\,279\,286\,211\,-270\,-530\,-680\,-840\,-1016\,-1016\,-1016\,-1016\,\n-1085\,-1073\,-926\,-927\,-959\,-1129\,-952\,-950\,-1022\,-1185\,-1123\,-1438\,-1574\,-1574\,\n-1620\,-1686\,-1935\,-29993\,-2397]} 1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d6 4. Nf3 g6 5. g3\nBg7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne5 9. Nxe5 dxe5 10. e4 f4 {[#]} 11. b4 (11.\ngxf4 exf4 12. e5 Ng4 13. e6 Ne5 14. Re1 Nxc4 15. Re4 Nd6 16. Rxf4 c6) 11… g5\n(11… e6) 12. Bb2 Qe8 $5 13. Nb5 $16 Ng4 $2 14. h3 $18 Qh5 {[#]} 15. hxg4 $2 (\n15. gxf4 $18) 15… Bxg4 $19 16. f3 $2 fxg3 $1 17. Rf2 Qh2+ 18. Kf1 gxf2 19.\nfxg4 Qg1+ 20. Ke2 Qxg2 21. Qf1 Qxg4+ 22. Ke3 Qf4+ 23. Kd3 Qf3+ 24. Kd2 g4 25.\nNc3 Bh6+ 26. Kc2 g3 27. Nd1 Qxe4+ 28. Kc3 Qe1+ 0-1\n[/pgn] \nIM Tom Rendle at the King’s Place Rapidplay\, 2013\, Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nFrom Wikipedia : \n“Thomas Edward Rendle (born 29 September 1986) is a British FIDE International Master chess player and coach. Rendle became an International Master in June 2006 and is part way towards becoming a Grandmaster\, with one GM Norm. \nHe gained an interest in chess at an early age\, and soon entered chess tournaments\, gaining success in his age categories (such as becoming Mini Squad Under 7s Champion\, England Under 11 Champion).[citation needed] He was put on top board for the England under 11 team and won the Sussex Under 18 Championships\, whilst still under 12.” \nIn 1998 Rendle played Garry Kasparov in the BT Wireplay Challenge 1998. In 2005 he was a coach for England’s team at the 1st FIDE World Schools Championship in Halkidiki\, Greece and in 2006 he coached with the England Team at the European Youth Chess Championships in Montenegro. \nRendle currently works as a chess coach\, both online and face-to-face. He is a regular coach of England Juniors.” \nIM Tom Rendle\, Courtesy of John Upham Photography URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-thomas-edward-rendle/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Coach,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/JUA3769.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201002 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201003 DTSTAMP:20211002T102326Z CREATED:20190824T104835Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211002T102326Z UID:1163-1601596800-1601683199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of GM Jonathan Speelman (02-xi-1956) DESCRIPTION:We wish GM Jonathan Speelman all the best on his birthday. \nJonathan Simon Speelman was born on Tuesday\, October 2nd\, 1956 in Marylebone\, London. His mother’s maiden name was Freeman. In March 2002 Jon and Lindsey Thomas were married in Camden\, Greater London. They have a non-chess playing son\, Lawrence who studied Ancient Languages at The University of Chicago. \nJonathan attended St. Paul’s School\, London and then Worcester College\, Oxford and read mathematics. \nHe became an International Master in 1978 (England’s tenth) and a Grandmaster in 1980 (England’s fifth) and achieved a peak FIDE rating of 2645 at the age of 32 in July 1988. \nJon is a Life Member of King’s Head Chess Club and has helped them organise a number of tournaments including the NatWest Young Masters where he has adjudicated the winner of the Best Game Prize. \nCurrently\, Jon plays for Wood Green in Four Nations Chess League and in the London League and maintains an ECF grade of 245. \nJon is the chess correspondent for The Observer and The Independent. \nWith the white pieces Jon prefers 1.Nf3 and against 1…Nf6 to follow with c4 and d4. Interestingly\, if black plays 1…d5 then Jon plays an early king-side fianchetto. \nAs the second player Jon prefers the Smyslov Caro-Kann\, the Nimzo-Indian and Queen’s Indian defences. \nHis record against contemporary players is impressive : \nNigel Short : +5\nMurray Chandler : +4\nJonathan Mestel : +4\nJohn Nunn : +3\nJames Plaskett : +4\nMark Hebden : +7\nTony Miles : +1\nTony Kosten : +3\nDaniel King : +2 \nJon Speelman and Nigel Short at the start of their 1989 Candidates match. Jon won 3.5 – 1.5\nFrom British Chess (Pergamon Press\, 1983) by Botterill\, Levy\, Rice and Richardson : \n“Having been asked to contribute an article on myself to this book I have decided to concentrate almost exclusively on my ‘relationship with chess’\, but first quickly summarize my life. \nJS\nBorn on 2nd October 1956 I went to a ‘Nursery School’ whose name I forget. Then to Arnold House School followed by St. Paul’s School. I had a ‘Year off’ from January to October\, 1976\, when I went up to Worcester College\, Oxford\, where I studied mathematics. In 1977 I left Oxford with a 2nd degree. Since then I have been a professional chess player. \nI was taught chess at the age of 6 by my cousin on Boxing Day\, 1962. Then as now\, I was an inquisitive person and the idea of a ‘complicated and difficult game’ interested me. Sadly my first game of chess ended in checkmate in four moves; but I persevered and soon became more competent. \nJS at the London based Philips & Drew Kings tournament\nI have always seen life to some in terms of barriers. There are things which one can do easily and which one finds difficult or almost impossible. For any given task the transition from one state to the other is not as smooth. One builds up energy and finally is able to succeed for the first time. After that the task becomes successively easier: Partly because one is aware that one can succeed. \nJonathan Speelman without glasses\nln order to illustrate my chess career to date\, I shall therefore pick out examples of barriers which I managed to break through. \nJonathan was an early follower of fashion\nUntil a few Years ago there were few titled players in Great Britain. But recently\, thanks largely to a change of emphasis in organisation\, several players have broken through to obtain international titles. This is not only because British players have become stronger – which they undoubtedly have – but also because they have received opportunities which were previously denied them. \nJS at the London Robert Silk Fellowship invitational tournament\nI first started seriously to contemplate becoming an international master in 1977. Previously\, I had of course aspired to this but without really investigating the mechanics of obtaining norms. In August\, 1977 England sent a team to the World Student Team Championships in Mexico City. We came third: a year later we were to win the event (though on that occasion it was a World Under 26 Team Championship). On our return there was an invitation tournament in London: the ‘Lloyds Bank Silver Jubilee’. Although I was rather tired after Mexico I decided to play and to my surprise\, I obtained an IM norm with a round to spare. It all seemed rather easy. I drew with six strong players including GM Torre and four IM’s and beat three weaker ones. \nGrandmaster Uses PressTel Chessbox to Play Long Distance Chess. Jonathan Speelman the UK Grandmaster is pictured here deciding his next move in a computer chess game against five simultaneous opponents. Players exchanged moves online via the ChessBox club on PressTel\, BTs videotex service.\nIn December\, 1977 I played for the first time in the Annual Grandmaster Tournament at Hastings. I was very pleased to ‘shut up shop’\, abandoning any pretensions to an exciting style to score one win\, one loss and – wait for it – twelve draws; but 7/14 was sufficient for another international master norm. \nThese two events left me with twenty three games of norm\, one less than the required minimum. Early in 1978 I played in a tournament in London but failed to get my final leg. It was in April that year that I had my next chance at the famous Lone Pine Tournament in California. I have already stressed the importance of barriers. It was in round one of the Lone Pine tournament that I broke through another important one – that of beating a grandmaster. \nJS was a frequent giver of simultaneous displays\nNowadays (and here I hear myself sounding like an old man!) the strongest young players (under twenty-six) beat international masters quite regularly and indeed grandmasters from time to time. ‘In my day’ this was not so much the case. Titled foreign players could still come over to pillage weekend tournaments; and succeed much of the time! When one of them lost to homegrown talent it was news. \nIM Jonathan Speelman vs IM Simon Webb at the 1978 British Championships in Ayr\, Courtesy of John Upham\nI first started to play regularly against grandmasters in my first Hastings tournament\, which I mentioned previously. Of course\, I had played grandmasters before\, but at Hastings seven of the fourteen games were against them. I scored there six draws and a loss to the tournament winner\, Dzindzihashvili. \nJulian Hodgson and Jonathan Speelman prepare to play each other at their own home via CEEEFAX. This was organised by Peter Andrews of BBC Chess Club and was the first match of its kind.\nIn round one of Lone pine I was White against Bent Larsen of Denmark. Given that one is going to beat a strong grandmaster (l hadn’t even beaten a weak one) then White against Larsen is quite a good chance. Although he is an extremely strong player\, Larsen loses quite a lot of games to much weaker opponents and wins an enormous number against them as well\, with not many draws. I was fortunate in obtaining a nice position from the opening and won a good game. That is one of the games I have chosen. \nJS receives one of many awards\nAfter beating Larsen the rest of the tournament was rather an anti-climax for me. I drew some games\, then lost in successive rounds to Browne and Biyiasas. Needing a win to reach fifty per cent the chance of my final norm\, I clawed my way to victory in a dreadful game against a young American P. Whitehead. Two short draws in the final two rounds brought me the title. \nAt the Praxis British Zonal in February 1987 here at the roman baths. Murray Chandler\, Jonathan Speelman\, and Jonathan Mestel\nSome years ago the British Championship really was the Championship of Britain. But in the early seventies there was a decline as several of the strongest players did not enter. In the last two years the decline has been halted and then reversed by the sponsorship of stockbrokers Grievson Grant. In 1979 two of our four Grandmasters\, Miles and Nunn\, competed in the British Championship at Chester and there were no fewer than six International Masters; indeed Nigel Short succeeded in obtaining his first IM norm there. \nJS plays Alexander Khalifman during the SWIFT World Cup in Reykjavik\, 1991. The game was drawn\nI first competed in the British Championship at Brighton in 1972. After a good start\, beating Michael Basman in the first round and drawing with Craig Pritchett in the second\, I lost to Haygarth in round three. Thereafter\, I found it incredibly difficult to win games. My old British Chess Magazine reminds me that I succeeded in winning in round nine\, but that was the only one after round one. I finished with 4.5/11. \nJS\, Jana Bellin and Nigel Short in a publicity shoot outside Simpsons in the Strand\nA year later at Eastbourne I was still finding it hard to win games. Again I finished with 4.5/11. By Clacton\, 1974 I had improved. A loss in the last round to the eventual winner Botterill left me a point behind the seven (!) who had to play off for the title. \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWgtaqLhA34[/embedyt] \nI competed at Morecambe\, 1975 and Portsmouth\, 1976\, missing only Brighton\, 1977 when the students team was in Mexico. By Ayr\, 1978 I was probably one of the favourites along with Jonathan Mestel\, who ran away with the tournament in Portsmouth\,\n1976\, George Botterill\, the defending champion\, and some others. \nJonathan shows off his all seeing four eyes\nIn fact I won at Ayr. I played quite well throughout. ln the last round half a point ahead of Mestel I played a quick draw with Webb but was lucky when Mestel could only draw with Clarke. Of course winning the British was a big breakthrough for me. But I feel that the most important psychological change came in 1974 when I started to discover that it is possible to win games in the British Championship. \nJonathan Simon Speelman (02-x-1956) as imagined by Roger Morgan\, 1982\nSince late 1978 I have made no dramatic breakthrough but have\, I believe\, almost imperceptibly made the change from a ‘medium’ to a ‘strong’ international master. \nJonathan Speelman telephones good news\nI’ve selected three games to go with this article. The one with Larsen I’ve already mentioned. Mihaljcisin-Speelman I like as a game in which I played very actively as Black. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Frunze”]\n[Site “Frunze”]\n[Date “1979.??.??”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Mikhalchishin\, Adrian”]\n[Black “Speelman\, Jonathan Simon”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B16”]\n[WhiteElo “2480”]\n[BlackElo “2470”]\n[Annotator “Jonathan Speelman and Murray Chandler”]\n[PlyCount “84”]\n[EventDate “1979.??.??”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “15”]\n[EventCountry “URS”]\n[EventCategory “9”]\n[SourceTitle “British Chess & TECE”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2001.11.25”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2001.11.25”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,84\,15\,10\,81\,81\,81\,41\,41\,33\,28\,44\,44\,19\,67\,21\,52\,8\,17\,0\,11\,-5\,-5\,4\,-2\,\n-65\,-68\,-120\,-122\,-141\,-134\,-147\,-149\,-183\,-180\,-185\,-179\,-185\,-136\,-206\,-199\,\n-189\,-178\,-154\,-179\,-169\,-169\,-162\,-118\,-118\,-99\,-108\,-101\,-107\,-104\,-134\,-124\,\n-120\,-130\,-179\,-184\,-184\,-112\,-131\,-112\,-98\,-46\,-84\,-119\,-207\,-218\,-210\,-218\,\n-225\,-225\,-244\,-250\,-250\,-250\,-278\,-279\,-365\,-374\,-374\,-374\,-1014\,-1014]} 1. e4\n{JS : Mr. Mihaljcisin of Yugoslavia had a very bad tournament at Frunze :\nafter an early win against the Mongolian Miagmasuren he failed to win another\ngame and lost many! When I played him \, having not yet discovered that the GM\nnorm was 13/17 (I thought it was about 12) I was very anxious to win. At the\nbeginning of the tournament I played Sicilian against 1.e4 but without\nreaching very good positions though I drew them all. As Black against\nMiagmasuren I played a French Defence; he played 2.Nf3 and I very quickly\nreached a won position ! In this game I decided to avoid 2.c3 against the\nSicilian which is what we would have had otherwise and to try for the first\ntime in my tournament career a Caro-Kann Defence – I am often lucky in my\nfirst adoption of an opening variation !} c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6\n5. Nxf6+ gxf6 6. Ne2 {My opponent played this move almost instantly. This\nrather disconcerted me since I had expected that he would have a reasonably\nlong think.} (6. c3 Bf5 7. Nf3 e6) {So….} 6… h5 $5 ({JS : If now} 6… Bf5\n7. Ng3 Bg6 8. h4 h5 9. Be2 {and White can prepare for Bxh5 with c3 : this is\nperfectly playable for Black but why follow your opponent’s theory especially\nwhen you don’t know it properly?}) 7. h4 $6 {JS : This seems very dubious to\nme.} ({JS : Surely} 7. Qd3 {is better.}) 7… Bg4 8. Qd3 ({JS :\nYanofsky-Larsen\, Dallas\, 1957 went} 8. c3 Nd7 9. Qb3 Nb6 10. Bf4 Qd7 11. O-O-O\nBe6 12. Qc2 a5 13. Ng3 Qd5 14. a3 Qa2 15. Qb1 Qxb1+ 16. Kxb1 Nd5 {given as =+\nby Larsen in ECO.}) 8… e5 9. Be3 ({Perhaps White should play} 9. c3 {I\nintended} Nd7 ({but perhaps Black should play} 9… Na6) 10. Ng3 exd4 {at the\ntime}) 9… Na6 10. a3 ({White would like to play} 10. O-O-O {but this seems\nto fail tactically \, viz} Nb4 11. Qb3 Be6 $1 12. c4 (12. d5 $2 cxd5 {gives\nWhite nothing}) 12… Bf5 13. Rd2 a5 $1 {\, when White should play} 14. Nc3 ({\nIf instead} 14. dxe5 {but} a4 $1 {which wins. I’m afraid that I hadn’t noticed\nthat 14…Nd3+ is bad and 14…a4! superb\, but my position was\, I think\,\nalready good enough for one to expect that there would be in a reasonable line\na tactical mêlée.} ({not} 14… Nd3+ {when} 15. Kd1 {is very strong})) 14…\na4 $1 15. Nxa4 Qa5 $17 {which is excellent for Black}) ({White should have\nplayed} 10. c3 {when} Nc5 {is conceivable} ({After} 10… Qa5 {Black is\nalready better.})) 10… Qa5+ $1 11. Bd2 Qb6 {Black has got a clear advantage.}\n{So\, White feels obliged to try} 12. dxe5 ({If now} 12. O-O-O O-O-O {the white\nd-pawn is dreadfully weak}) 12… Nc5 13. Qe3 O-O-O 14. b4 {This is a\ndesperate move to force the queens off.} ({If} 14. O-O-O Bh6 15. f4 fxe5 {\nand White’s position collapses.}) {but…} 14… Bh6 $1 15. f4 {[#]} Rxd2 $1\n16. Qxd2 ({if} 16. bxc5 Qb2) ({If} 16. Kxd2 Rd8+ 17. Ke1 Nd3+ $1) 16… Ne4 17.\nQd4 Qxd4 18. Nxd4 Bxf4 19. Nf3 ({If} 19. Be2 Bd2+ 20. Kd1 Bc3 {and White loses\na vast amount of material.}) (19. Bd3 {is best} {but after} Bd2+ 20. Kf1 Ng3+\n21. Kf2 Nxh1+ 22. Rxh1 Bc3 {Black is\, of course\, winning.}) 19… Ng3 {the\nsimplest} 20. Rh3 $1 ({If} 20. Rg1 Be3 {and White cannot prevent …Bxf3 and ..\n.Bxg1 winning a whole rook to come out a piece up.}) 20… Bxh3 {Maybe I could\nhave found something better here but this is perfectly effective so I didn’t\nlook further.} 21. gxh3 Nxf1 22. Kxf1 fxe5 {Black is effectively two pawns up.}\n23. Ng5 {[#]} Rg8 $4 {Here I had a complete hallucination.} (23… Kd7 $1 {\nwould have won easily} {for if} 24. Nxf7 Rf8 25. Rd1+ Kc7 $1 26. Nd6 Rd8 {\nand Black wins a piece.}) 24. Nxf7 e4 25. Ng5 {This is move I had missed.} Bxg5\n26. hxg5 Rxg5 $17 {It is now touch and go whether the position is won (for\nBlack) any more.} 27. Re1 ({White could also try} 27. Kf2 {with the idea} Rf5+\n({Black could also try} 27… h4 28. Re1 Rf5+ 29. Kg2 Rf3 30. Rxe4 Rg3+ 31. Kh2\nRxa3 {which must be winning I imagine\,} {though after} 32. c4 $19 {must be\nworse it would be pretty close.} (32. Rxh4 Rc3)) 28. Ke3 Rf3+ 29. Kxe4 Rxh3 (\n29… Rc3 $1) 30. Kd4 {and 31.c3 which is not too bad for White.}) 27… Rg3\n28. Rxe4 Rxh3 29. Ke2 Rxa3 30. Rh4 {[#]} Ra4 $4 {This is stupid. My opponent\nwas now in time-trouble.} ({I had intended} 30… a5 {but now panicked about}\n31. Rxh5 ({White might try} 31. b5 cxb5 32. Rxh5 b4 {is easily winning for\nBlack.}) 31… axb4 32. Rh4 {Of course} Rc3 33. Kd2 c5 {would win easily for\nBlack.}) 31. Kd3 b6 ({if} 31… a5 $2 32. Rxh5 axb4 ({BCN : but} 32… Ra3+ 33.\nKd2 axb4 {is winning}) 33. Kc4 {and White can draw}) 32. c3 a5 33. Kc4 {\nIn time trouble Mihaljcisin fails to find the defence – I also did not see it\nuntil nearly a month later !} ({After} 33. Rxh5 $1 axb4 34. Rh4 {Black cannot\nplay} c5 ({So} 34… Kb7 35. cxb4 ({not} 35. Rxb4 Rxb4 36. cxb4 Kc7 $19 {\nwinning}) 35… Ka6 36. Rd4 $1 ({also} 36. Rh6 Kb5 37. Kc3 $1 $11) 36… Kb5\n37. Kc3 $11 {seems to be a draw.}) {since} 35. cxb4 cxb4 (35… Rxb4 36. Rxb4\ncxb4 37. Kc4 {is a drawn pawn ending.})) 33… axb4 34. Kb3 ({Or} 34. cxb4 c5\n$19) 34… Ra5 $1 ({not} 34… b5 {(BCN : actually\, this is winning for Black!)\n} 35. cxb4 c5 36. Rxh5 Rxb4+ 37. Ka3 Rc4 38. Rh7 $19) 35. Kxb4 (35. cxb4 {\nalso loses of course}) 35… Rg5 36. c4 Kb7 37. Rf4 Rg4 38. Rf7+ Ka6 39. Kb3 ({\nor} 39. Rf6 c5+ 40. Kb3 Ka5 $1 {etc} ({but not} 40… Rg3+ 41. Ka4 Rc3 $4 (\n41… Rg4 42. Kb3 h4) (41… Rg1 $1) 42. Rxb6+ $1 $11)) 39… Rg3+ 40. Kb4 $2 (\n40. Ka4 c5 41. Rf6 Rg4 42. Kb3 Ka5 {etc}) 40… c5+ 41. Ka4 Rc3 42. Rf4 Rxc4+\n$1 {and white resigns.} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nThe game against Biyiasis is a good ‘rough and tumble’ not free from errors of course – but wouldn’t that be boring? \n[pgn] \n[Event “Christmas Congress 1978/79-54 Premier”]\n[Site “Hastings”]\n[Date “1979.01.04”]\n[Round “7”]\n[White “Speelman\, Jonathan Simon”]\n[Black “Biyiasas\, Peter”]\n[Result “1/2-1/2”]\n[ECO “E97”]\n[WhiteElo “2470”]\n[BlackElo “2485”]\n[Annotator “Jon Speelman”]\n[PlyCount “81”]\n[EventDate “1978.12.28”]\n[EventType “tourn”]\n[EventRounds “15”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[EventCategory “9”]\n[SourceTitle “MCD”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,81\,19\,-12\,51\,17\,33\,22\,32\,56\,38\,50\,39\,35\,41\,29\,62\,58\,58\,40\,36\,36\,33\,43\,\n23\,20\,75\,64\,57\,57\,53\,39\,48\,49\,19\,5\,6\,95\,76\,76\,76\,110\,104\,0\,119\,66\,138\,74\,73\,84\,\n90\,90\,128\,68\,116\,140\,157\,146\,140\,169\,156\,103\,103\,101\,79\,93\,88\,89\,75\,100\,113\,97\,\n218\,271\,256\,160\,180\,32\,34\,35\,35\,0\,0\,0]} 1. c4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. d4 d6 4. Nc3 Nf6\n5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 $5 {This move has been revived\nover the last couple of years with the idea} Nh5 10. c5 (10. g3 {was the old\nmove.}) 10… Nf4 11. Bxf4 exf4 12. Rc1 {White has given-up the bishop pair\nand opened upa beautiful diagonal for Black’s bishop in order to gain lead in\ndevelopment.} Bg4 $5 {[#] This may be a theoretical novelty: Black returns\nsome of his positional advantage in order to decongest his position.} ({\nRelevant:} 12… a5 13. cxd6 cxd6 14. Qd2 axb4 15. Nb5 Bg4 16. Rc7 Nc8 17. Nfd4\nBxe2 18. Nxe2 {1/2-1/2 (18) Grigorian\,K-Geller\,E Leningrad 1971}) ({The usual\nmove is} 12… h6 {preparing g5.}) 13. Nd2 $146 {This is the natural move; but\nWhite must carefully consider the consequences of Black’s kingside expansion.:\nit cost me a rather excessive 23 minutes.} ({Predecessor:} 13. Nd4 Bd7 14. Bb5\na5 15. cxd6 cxd6 16. Bxd7 Qxd7 17. b5 Rac8 18. Nce2 f3 19. Nxf3 Rxc1 20. Qxc1\nQxb5 21. Nfd4 Qb6 22. Qe3 Rc8 23. Nf5 Qxe3 24. Nxe7+ Kf8 25. fxe3 Kxe7 26. Rb1\nBe5 27. Rxb7+ Kf6 28. Kf2 Rc2 29. Kf3 Rxa2 30. Nd4 g5 31. h3 h5 32. Nf5 a4 33.\nRb6 a3 34. Ra6 Ra1 35. Nxd6 Bxd6 36. Rxd6+ Ke5 37. Ra6 a2 38. Kf2 Kxe4 39. d6\nRd1 40. Ra4+ Ke5 41. Rxa2 Rxd6 42. Ra4 Rd2+ {Grigoriou\,M-Trikaliotis\,G (2245)\nKallithea 1978 1/2-1/2}) 13… Bxe2 14. Qxe2 g5 {This move weakens f5\, of\ncourse. But the paramount cosideration for Black is to get complete control of\ne5.} 15. Qh5 Ng6 16. Nf3 h6 17. Nb5 a5 18. Nbd4 axb4 19. cxd6 cxd6 20. Nf5 Qf6\n21. Rc7 Rfc8 22. Rd7 b3 23. Rxd6 Qxd6 24. Nxd6 bxa2 25. Nxc8 a1=Q 26. Nd6 Qb2\n27. h4 Ra1 28. Rxa1 Qxa1+ 29. Kh2 Qf6 30. Ne8 Qe7 31. Nxg7 Kxg7 32. hxg5 hxg5\n33. Nxg5 b5 34. Nf3 Qxe4 35. d6 Qb7 36. Qf5 Kf8 37. Qf6 Ke8 38. Ne5 Nxe5 39.\nQxe5+ Kd7 40. Qe7+ Kc6 41. Qe4+ 1/2-1/2\n[/pgn] \nTo find out more about JSs chess career we suggest you read his autobiography : \nSpeelman\, Jon (1997). Jon Speelman’s Best Games. B.T. Batsford (London\, England). 240 pages. ISBN 978-0-7134-6477-1.\nwhich contains many heavily annotated games. \n[pgn]\n[Event “Lone Pine op Louis D. Statham Masters”]\n[Site “Lone Pine”]\n[Date “1978.04.02”]\n[Round “1”]\n[White “Speelman\, Jonathan Simon”]\n[Black “Larsen\, Bent”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “A53”]\n[WhiteElo “2410”]\n[BlackElo “2620”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “71”]\n[EventDate “1978.04.02”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “9”]\n[EventCountry “USA”]\n[SourceTitle “MCL”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]\n[SourceQuality “1”] \n{[%evp 0\,71\,39\,37\,77\,29\,41\,43\,51\,47\,59\,35\,48\,50\,43\,36\,36\,34\,41\,20\,29\,36\,31\,9\,\n26\,24\,38\,27\,62\,51\,64\,51\,56\,51\,53\,67\,54\,50\,67\,74\,79\,71\,109\,97\,159\,167\,162\,179\,\n192\,196\,226\,291\,299\,232\,239\,239\,307\,292\,304\,195\,254\,254\,412\,285\,303\,313\,329\,\n377\,395\,365\,541\,541\,462\,619]} 1. e4 c6 2. c4 e5 3. Nf3 d6 (3… Nf6 4. Nc3 Bb4\n$13 (4… Qa5 $6)) 4. d4 Bg4 5. Be2 (5. dxe5 $6 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 dxe5 {>