The British representatives were the promising 1969 British Under 18 champion Martyn Corden, who had also come equal second in the 1969 British Championship.
John Littlewood had played three times in the Hastings Premier tournament and had represented England at the 1962 Varna Olympiad. He had also come second equal in the 1969 British Championship.
David Levy had represented Scotland at the 1968 Lugano Olympiad and had finished 5th at the 1969 Praia da Rocha Zonal Tournament.
Smyslov failed to repeat his previous tournament victory at Hastings, but he appeared to be nervous and his surprise loss to the young British player Corden was put down to trying to win too hard. "Having watched both players from a ringside seat, I am sure that Smyslov lost this game because he had the fixed idea that he had to win at all costs to keep in the running for the first prize" (Bernard Cafferty in Birmingham Mail).
Golombek commented that a fighting spirit pervaded and inspired the players from the top to the bottom. Of the 45 games, only 17 were drawn.
British Pathe news filmed the opening speech by Lieutenant-General Sir John Bagot Glubb and the players in round one, but there is no sound. Watch
Dolfi Drimer–John Littlewood1–0Hastings 1969/70Hastings ENG07.01.1970
Scotch Four Knights 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 f6 4.d4 This is the
Scotch Four Knights Game which leads to an open position. b4 Much
more common is 4. ..exd4. White normally replies 5.Nxd4 but but the
Belgrade Gambit (5.Nd5) is interesting. 5.xe5 xe4 6.g4 xc3
The only correct move. 7.xg7 Black's next move looks awkward, but
it is better than 7...Qf6 8.Qxf6 Ne4+ 9. c3 Nxf6 10.Nxc6 Bxc3+ where
white has the two Bs and better P-formation. f8 8.a3 Black has two
main moves here: 8...Nxd4 (most popular) and 8...Ba5 (best), h4
A Littlewood innovation, but a very bad one. He needed to remove one of
his minor pieces from danger. White had a quick refutation in 9. axb4
and 10.Bh8 and black will have to give up the exchange. 9.xc6 dxc6 10.axb4 Black's best chance was to force the exchange of Qs with 10...Qe7+
but his position would not have been very good. g4 After this he
faces a debacle. 11.e5+ Black can't interpose Qs because after 11...
Qe7 white trades Qs and takes the N on b3 leaving black a piece down. d7 12.g3 Even stronger was 12.Bg5. d8 13.f4 e8+ 14.e3
The consequences of black failing to remove one of his pieces from
attack on move 8 are still with his... he still has two pieces under
attack plus, nor the P on f7 is threatened. Black simply cannot meet all
three threats. e4 15.xf7+ Black can't wriggle out of the mess he's
in with 15...Re7 16.Qf4 Re4 17.Qh6! because his K is still exposed and
he is too many Ps down. d6 16.bxc3 It's taken a few moves, but the
consequence of black's 8th move have been made manifest. h8 17.g2 Equally crushing was 17.c4 f8 18.c4 Being a piece and two Ps down,
Littlewood gave up. 1–0
I played in the 9-round Open in this tournament. It was my first proper tournament. I was 14. Happy days.
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