Tournament Books and Imperfect Games

     Years ago when I had nothing better to spend money on I bought chess books. Most of them are gone now. Decades ago I donated two garbage bags full of chess books to a chess club and 15 or so years ago I gave away a garbage bag full of old sets and books to a fellow employee. And, when our house flooded a few years ago I lost a lot chess books. I don't buy books anymore because there's just too much material available on the internet.
     Among my favorites were tournament books which you don't see much anymore; a check of the USCF book sales listed only a few. I liked tournament books because they showed chess how it was really played by both the greats and the not so great. I especially enjoyed the games played by the tail-enders and the journeyman masters...that's what Chess Life columnist Jerry Hanken called low rated masters that play in a lot tournaments, but rarely win anything... "journeyman masters."  Their games can be quite instructive because their mistakes are closer to those the rest of make than the ones guys like Carlsen make. 
     While browsing an old issue of Chess Life, in the crosstable from the Hastings 1954 tournament (Keres and Smyslov tied for first), I noticed the Premier Reserves Major Section was won by Istvan Bilek and the 4th place finisher was A.Y. Green of England who finished with 6-3. Who was A.Y. Green?
     Arnold Y. Green was born in 1904 in what is now a part Sheffield, England. His father was a baker and flour confectioner; he baked cakes and other sweet goodies. By profession Green was an accountant. He appears to have started playing chess around 1922 and soon became on of the stronger players in Sheffield. 
     He won the Sheffield Championship for the first time in 1932 then again in 1934-35, 1936-37 and 1938-39. At that stage the competition ceased due to Word War Two. In 1938 he secured a draw against Alekhine in a simul. Moving to London after the war, he participated in the British Championship a number of times from 1952 to 1959. He played in the Hastings Premier Reserves in 1956 and in the top section at Hastings in 1960-61. He died in London in 1963 at the age of 59. 
     I enjoyed the following game he played against Bernard Cafferty at Hastings 1960-61. After four rounds Gligoric, Bondarevsky and Szabo were tied for first with 3 points while Sliwa was just behind with 2.5. 
     In round 5 there were two major upsets: Bondarevsky drew with Cafferty and Szabo was defeated by Peter Clarke. Gligoric started a little three-game winning streak by defeating Sliwa and maintained the lead to the end. 

1) Gligoric 7.0-2.0 
2) Bondarevsky 6.0-3.0 
3-4) Szabo and Lloyd 5.0-4.0 
5-7) Clarke, John Littlewood and Barden 4.5-4.5 
8) Sliwa 4.0-5.0 
9) Green 2.5-6.5 
10) Cafferty 2.0-7.0 

     I could find very little on Kenneth W. Lloyd other than he played in the 1959, 1960 and 1961 World Student Team Championships. In one old forum post in 2012, a player told of an incident where he was playing Lloyd in a league match. He (the poster) had a winning position when he exceeded the time limit, but Lloyd magnanimously offered him a draw. 
     Green's opponent in this game was Bernard Cafferty (June 27, 1934), an English master, columnist, writer, magazine editor and translator who was one of the leading English players of the late 1950s and 1960s. 
     Cafferty has an excellent knowledge of Russian and has translated several books into English. He served as Anthony Miles' second when Miles won the 1974 World Junior Championship in Manila, Philippines. He was British Boys' Champion in 1952 (jointly) and British Junior Champion in 1954 and the British Correspondence Champion in 1959-60. He won the British Lightning Championship in 1964 (jointly), 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969. 
     Cafferty played in every British Chess Championship between 1957 and 1971. His best finish was in 1964 when he finished second equal with three other players behind Michael Haygarth. He reached a peak Elo rating of 2440 in July 1971. 

Cafferty in 1974

     Originally from Blackburn, he went to Birmingham University in 1951 and became a school master, teaching Geography. In 1981 he moved to Hastings and became general editor of British Chess Magazine, a position which he held until 1991. He was chess columnist for the Sunday Times between 1983 and 1997 and for the Birmingham Evening Mail from 1967 to around 2002. He was president of the Hasting Chess Club from 1999 to 2009 and won the club championship in 1994 and 2001 and was joint winner in 1995 and 1996. 
     The following game is hardly spectacular, but there's a lesson in it. In a rather boring position Cafferty made a small mistake and by simply building up the pressure, Green easily converted his advantage.