Hastings 50 Years Ago

     The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual congress which takes place in Hastings, England, at the end of the year. The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin tournament. In 2004/05 the tournament was played in the knock out format; in 2005/06 they began using the Swiss system. Along with the main event there was a challengers section with the winner earning an invitation in the following year's Premier.
     Every World Champion before Garry Kasparov except Bobby Fischer played at Hastings but the only champions to play while currently holding the title were Lasker in 1895 and Alekhine in 1933. Vera Menchik (Czechoslovakia), who was then the Women's World Champion, was the first woman to play in the Premier section and in 1963/4 Nona Gaprindashvili (USSR) won the Challengers section when she also was Women's World Champion, earning a spot in the next years Premier. In the 1964/5 Premier she scored 5/9 to place fifth, beating all of the British masters.
     The 39th Hastings Christmas Chess Festival was held at the end of 1963. Ten grandmasters and masters competed in a round robin format at the premier event. The notable participants of this edition were 5-time Hastings winner Svetozar Gligoric and former world champion Mikhail Tahl. Tahl took clear first, finishing undefeated. Gligoric was a close second.
     The final standings and crosstable:
1 Tal * = = = 1 1 1 1 = 1 7.0
2 Gligoric = * = = 1 1 1 = = 1 6.5
3 Lengyel = = * 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 6.0
4 Khasin = = 0 * = = 1 1 1 1 6.0
5 Littlewood, N 0 0 1 = * 1 0 1 1 1 5.5
6 Brinck-Claussen 0 0 1 = 0 * = = 1 1 4.5
7 Littlewood, J 0 0 0 0 1 = * 0 1 1 3.5
8 Hindle 0 = 0 0 0 = 1 * = 0 2.5
9 Bely = = 0 0 0 0 0 = * = 2
10 Franklin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 = * 1.5

Levente Lengyel (born June 13, 1933) is a Hungarian chess player, who gained the Grandmaster title in 1964
Abram Khasin (b. 1923) is a Soviet IM, Correspondence Grandmaster and Trainer.
Norman Littlewood (b. 1933-1989) was one of four chess-playing Sheffield-born brothers
Bjorn Brinck-Claussen (b. 1942) is a Danish IM.
John Littlewood (1931 –2009) was for many years a leading British player and won the English title of national senior champion in 2006. His brother was Norman and his son Paul, an International Master, won the British Chess Championship in 1981.
Owen Hindle (b. 1940) is an English FM and was considered to be a very dangerous attacking player.
Miklos Bely (1913 – 1970) was a Hungarian IM and medical doctor.
Michael J. Franklin (b. 1931) is an English FM.

Here is a short encounter between Khasin and Hindle. To be honest, it’s kind of hard to see how white can win so quickly from the position after 22…Kh8.