Two Golden Games from the Wild West

As a small commemoration of WECU's 50 years existence, the Editor has retrieved two significant Wild West games from what records are to hand. The first game is from the first West of England Championship to be played under the auspices of the new Union exactly 50 years ago, and the second is from the 25th Championship.

  This first game is taken from a tiny booklet which contains all 28 games played by the eight players involved in the 1947 Championship. All the games were annotated by Capt. P. D. Bolland the then Somerset Champion. The competition does not appear to have been part of a larger congress, as it is these days, nor does the booklet make mention of the actual venue. Can any reader with a long memory elaborate on these bare facts?

  The Championship that year was won in a canter by Andrew Thomas of Tiverton with two Exeter players, Kitto and Mallison, among the three tying for 2nd and Ron Bruce of Plymouth a point behind.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 A. R. Thomas x 1 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1 1 5 1/2
2 F. E. Kitto 0 x 1/2 1 0 1 1/2 1 4
3 H. Mallison 1/2 1/2 x 1/2 1 0 1/2 1 4
4 H. Trevenen 0 0 1/2 x 1 1 1 1/2 4
5 R. M. Bruce 1/2 1 0 0 x 1 0 1/2 3
6 C. Sullivan 1/2 0 1 0 0 x 1/2 1 3
7 R. A. Slade 0 1/2 1/2 0 1 1/2 x 0 2 1/2
8 D. V. Hooper 0 0 0 1/2 1/2 0 1 x 2
Thomas had been picked to play for England around this time, but his Headmaster at Blundell's School would not permit him the time off, a fact that caused him much regret for the rest of his life. Thomas had a weakness for unconventional openings as exemplified here by his choice of the Evans Gambit in a competition like this where there are no easy opponents.

 

White: A. R. B. Thomas (Tiverton)
Black: F. E. A. Kitto (Exeter)
WECU Championship 1947
Evans Gambit
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 d6 7. Qb3 Qd7 8. dxe5 Bb6 9. Bb5 a6 10. Ba4 Nge7 11. Ba3 0-0 12. exd6 Ng6 13. 0-0

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  Asking for trouble and getting it. Nbd2 is the move.

13. ....Qg4 14. Bxc6 Nf4 15. Ne1 Nh3+ 16. Kh1 Qe2 17. Nd2 Qxd2

  ...bxc6 is correct, leaving White with the awklard threats of Qxd2 and Nxf2+ to meet as best he can. Now the game goes in White's favour.

18. Bd5 Nxf2+ 19. Rxf2 Qxf2 20. Nd3 Qe3 21. dxc7 Bh3 22. Qc2 Bxc7 23. Re1 Bxg2+ 24. Kxg2 Qg5+ 25. Kh1 Rfd8 26. Qg2 Qh5 27. Rf1 Rxd5 28. exd5 Bxh2 29. Qf3 Qxf3+ 30. Rxf3 Bc7 31. d6 Ba5 32. c4 f6 33. Re3 Bd8 34. Re8+ Kf7 35. d7 resigns

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  A thrilling game worthy of both players.

  The second game comes from the West of England Championship of 1970. This time the Championship was played as a Swiss and in the last round Peter Clarke met David Le Moir and needed to win in order to guarantee at least a share of first place. A win for Le Moir would give him a chance of shared 1st place hence his choice of an uncompromising opening. Notes by Dr. J. M. Aitken, former Scottish Champion, who finished joint 2nd in this competition.

 

 

White: David Le Moir
Black: Peter Clarke

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. c3

  The Goring Gambit. Le Moir might have played this in any case, as it is currently quite popular - Levy played it several times, not without some success, at Hastings - but his choice may also have been largely dictated by the score. Before the last round when this game was played scores were:- Clarke, Ellis and myself 3 1/2; Hutchings, Le Moir & G. W. Wheeler 3. The other leading pairings were Aitken-Ellis; Wheeler-Hutchings. It was clear only a win was of any use to Le Moir and he might as well lose as draw. For Clarke, too, a win was almost as essential as only this result would secure for certain at least a tie for 1st place. These considerations may help to explain the play on both sides. 4. .....dxc3 5. Bc4 Bc5 A more active than 4....P-Q3 played by Thomas v Merrett last year (1969 Rd 2)

 

6. Bxf7+ Kxf7 7. Qd5+ Kf8 8. Qxc5+ Qe7 9. Qxc3

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  9.QxQ+ followed by 10. Nxc3 may well be objectively better - but who would win such a position, particularly v Clarke? The practical chances of a gamble are more attractive.

 

9. .....Qxe4+ 10. Be3 d6 11. Nbd2 Qb4 12. Qd3

  Finally burning his boats, but 12. Qc2 Kge2 13. 0-0 Bf4 drives the queen to a defensive position. White must attack at all costs - but the attack is not quite strong enough.

 

12. ....Nge7 13. a3 Qxb2 14. 0-0 Bf5 15. Qc4 h6 16. Rfe1 Qf6 17. Nd4 Qf7 18. Qb5 Rb8 19. N2f3 Kg8 20. Nh4 Bd7 21. Rac1 g5 22. Nhf3 Nxd4

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  A combination that simplifies out to Black's advantage.

23. Qxd7 Nxf3+ 24. gxf3 Nc6 25. Qxf7+ Forced. 25. Q-N4 N-K4 wins. White is now reduced to a last desparate throw.

25. ....Kxf7 26. Bxa7 Nxa7 27. Rxc7+ Kf6 28. Ree7 Nc6 29. Rh7 Ne5 30. Rxh8 Rxh8 31. Rxb7 Nxf3+ 32. Kg2 Ne5 33. Resigns

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final position.

  This game secured Clarke's victory in the Championship - though he had to wait for some hours, until my game with Ellis ended in a draw, before the tie was finally ruled out.

  ppNppNppnppNppNpp

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Dr. Dave