The 1982 event was won by Anatoly Karpov and Ulf Andersson and the 18984 event was also won by Karpov ahead of Murray Chandler and Lev Polugaevsky.
There was a final event held in 1986, but it was not sponsored by Phillips and Drew, only the Greater London Council. That event was won by Glen Flear ahead of Chandler and Nigel Short. Lest one think this tournament was weaker that the others, other participants included John Nunn, Zoltan Ribli, Lev Polugaevsky, Lajos Portisch, Boris Spassky, Raphael Vaganian and Bent Larsen. Flear, an IM, was a last-minute replacement for Karpov and was not expected to score well in such a high class field.
Looking at the final standings in the 1980 Phillips and Drew Kings tournament today might cause one to ask what happened to Nigel Short? At the time Short, who was just 15 and only rated 2360, got off to a rocky start when he drew a won adjourned game against Anthony Miles mostly because he spent his time playing Space Invaders instead of giving attention to the adjourned game.
This tournament was the strongest in London for many years. It came about because a member of the Greater London Council persuaded them to put money towards a chess tournament and lottery money was set aside for the event. At that point the British Chess Federation persuaded Phillips and Drew to put up the bulk of the money that was required.
A tournament official visited the tournament in Tilburg in 1979 and Anatoly Karpov agreed to play, but in December the Soviet Chess Federation said they were unable to accept the invitation on behalf of any of their players. Robert Huebner (number 11 in the world) was unavailable and Vlastimil Hort (number15 in the world) withdrew. Even so, the lineup was quite formidable. Viktor Korchnoi was only invited after the Soviets refused to participate. He arrived almost straightway from his match with Petrosian in the 1980 Candidates Quarterfinal.
Miles' first placed based on his Sonneborn-Berger score was one of his best results to date and Speelman attained his first GM norm.
Today's game features a contest between two of England's top players at the time. GM Jonathan Speelman (born October 2, 1956) is a mathematician and chess writer. He qualified for two Candidates Tournaments and won the British Championship in 1978, 1985 and 1986.
Probably few are aware of it, but in 1989 the world's top rated players were: 1-Gary Kasparov (2775), 2-Anatoly Karpov (2770), 3-Nigel Short (2650) and along with Alexander Beliavsky, Speelman was ranked 4th with a rating of 2640.
GM Michael Stean (born September 4, 1953) retired from chess at the age of 29 in 1982 to become a tax accountant.
Stean learned to play chess before the age of five, developing a promising talent, winning the London under-14 and British under-16 titles.
By 1973, he finished first in a tournament in Canterbury ahead of Andras Adorjan, a top ranked Hungarian GM, and speculation began to grow that Speelman was in the race to become England's first GM. The other contenders were Raymond Keene and Anthiny Miles. Stean was joint winner of the British Championship in 1974, but lost the play-off to George Botterill.
Stean was on Viktor Korchnoi's team of seconds for world championship campaigns in 1977-78 and 1980-81 and at one time served as Nigel Short's second.
In the following game Speelman quickly drifted into a bad position, but then, in time trouble no less (!), bluffed his his way through a violent attack that lead to mate.
Jonathan Speelman - Michael Stean
Result: 1-0
Site: Phillips & Drew Kings, London
Date: 1980.04.11
Queen's Indian Defense
[...] 1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 e6 3.♘f3 White sidesteps the Nimzo-Indian Defense. 3...b6 The rock solid Q-Indian increases black's control over the central squares e4 and d5. As in the other Indian defenses, black attempts to control the center with pieces instead of occupying it with Ps. 4.♘c3 The long popular 4. g3 is the main line because it contests the long diagonal. 4...♗b7 5.♗g5 h6 6.♗h4 g5 7.♗g3 ♘h5 8.e3 ♘xg3 9.fxg3 This is somewhat questionable. While it opens the f-file it also ruins white's P-structure. 9...♗g7 10.♗d3.10...♘c6 This is an improvement over the 1979 Riga Interzonal game Oleg Romanishin vs. Zoltan Ribli in which black black played 10...d6 11.O-O ♕e7 At this point Speelman spent 27 minutes trying to decide what to do now that he ruined his P-structure with 9.fxg3. 12.♖c1
17...♗xe3+ 18.♔h1 ♔xb7 This is by far the best move. In the book of his best games, Speelman noted that Stean spent only one minute on this move.
26.♕xa7+ ♔c6 27.♕xc7+ ♔xb5 28.♕xb6+ ♔c4 29.♕a6+ ♔xb4 30.♖b1+ ♔xc5 (30...♕b3 31.♖xb3+ ♔xc5 32.♕b5+ ♔d6 33.♖f6+ ♔c7 34.♕b7#) (30...♕b3 31.♖xb3+ ♔xc5 32.♕b5+ ♔d6 33.♖f6+ ♔c7 34.♕b7#) 31.♕b6+ ♔c4 32.♕b3+ ♔c5 33.♕b4+ ♔c6 34.♕b6#
12.a3 was tried in Korchnoi,V (2632) -Polgar,J (2715)/Budapest 2003 which continued 12...O-O-O 13.♖c1 h5 14.c5 g4 15.cxb6 gxf3 16.bxc7 ♔xc7 17.d5 ♕g5 18.dxc6 ♕xe3+ 19.♔h1 fxg2+ 20.♔xg2 ♗xc6+ 21.♗e4 and Polgar won.
12...O-O-O 13.♕a4 ♔b8
13...♕b4 was later suggested by Stean, but after 14.♕c2 ♕e7 This retreat is safest, but it introduces complications favorable for white.
14...f5 Black soon finds himself in difficulties after this. 15.c5 bxc5 16.a3 ♕a5 17.♘a4 g4 (17...cxd4 18.b4 ♕d5 19.b5 wins) 18.♘h4 cxd4 19.♘g6 with the advantage.
15.c5 g4 16.♘h4 ♘b4 17.♕d2 bxc5 18.dxc5 d6 Complicated!! 19.c6 (19.cxd6 would lose after 19...♖xd6 20.♕e2 ♘xd3) 19...♘xc6 20.♘b5 ♔b8 21.♖xc6 ♗xc6 22.♕a5 is winning for white. 13...g4 is an interesting move that should give black a nice game after 14.♘d2 (14.♘h4 ♗f6) 14...h5 15.c5 h4
14.c5 g4 15.♘h4 ♗f6 16.♗a6 By this point Speelman had only 37 minutes for the next 24 moves and the position is getting more complicated with each move.
16.d5 is a good move, but it makes things even more complicated. 16...♗xh4 White can now choose between either 17.gxh4 or 17. cxb6 both of which would reach the same complicated position. 17.cxb6 axb6 18.gxh4 exd5 19.♘xd5 ♕d6 20.♗e4 ♖he8 21.♖cd1
16...♗g5 Forcing white to defend the e-Pawn with one of the Rs, but but not wanting to go on the defensive Speelman decides to try a swindle. 17.♗xb7
17.♖fe1 ♗a8 Preserving this B offers more chances than allowing it to be exchanged. (17...♗xh4 18.gxh4 ♕xh4 19.♗xb7 ♔xb7 20.b4) 18.cxb6 axb6 19.d5 exd5 20.♘xd5 ♕e5 21.♕b3 Is Nxb6 a real threat? 21...♘a5 No because of this attack on both the Q and the N on d5.
21...♖h7 A pass to demonstrate white's threat. 22.♘xb6 cxb6 23.♕xb6+ mates next move.
22.♕c3 ♕xc3 23.♘xc3 ♖he8 and black is better. 18...♗xc1 results in a messy situation with unbalanced material. 19.♗xc6 dxc6 20.♖xc1 ♕f6 21.♘e2 e5 22.dxe5 ♕xe5 23.♘g1 ♖d4 24.♕xc6 ♖hd8 25.♕xh6 bxc5
19.♖cd1 Black is faced with a wide choice of seemingly reasonable moves: 19... bxc5, 19...d5, 19...Rhe8 and 19...Bxd4 19...♗g5
19...bxc5 This is foolhardy as after 20.♕b3+ ♔c8 21.d5 ♘d4 22.♕a3 ♔b7 23.d6 cxd6 24.♘e4 he has to surrender the B because if 24...♗g5 25.♖xf7 wins because of the fork on d6
19...d5 This leads to black having to surrender his Q, but he seems to get enough compensation after 20.cxd6 ♕xd6 21.♖xf7 ♖hf8 22.♘b5 ♖xf7 23.♘xd6+ ♖xd6 with equal chances.
19...♖he8 The point of this will be clear shortly. 20.cxb6 axb6 21.d5 exd5 22.♘xd5 ♕e5 23.♘f5 ♗d4 24.♘xc7 ♕xc7 25.♘xd4 ♖e4 with equal chances.
20.d5 exd5 21.b4 d4 This is questionable as now white equalizes.
21...♖he8 22.♘f5 ♕e5 23.♘xd5 This is probably why black rejected this line because white wins the d-Pawn. 23...♕e4 and black is judged to be slightly better.
22.♘f5 ♕e6 Speelman wrote that 22....Qe5 was a better idea, but the text is also good.
22...♕e5 This resulted in black having to surrender the Q, but in Shootouts with Stockfish and Komodo white scored +1 -0 =15 23.♖de1 ♗e3 24.♘b5 ♖he8 25.♘bxd4 ♘xd4 26.♖xe3 ♕xf5 27.♖xf5 ♖xe3 28.♖f1 d5 29.♕d1 ♘e2 30.♕a4 ♘d4 31.h3 gxh3 32.♖f4 ♖d3 33.♖xf7 ♖xg3 34.♖xc7+ ♔xc7 35.♕xa7+ ♔c8 36.♕a8+ ♔d7 37.♕xd5+ ♔c8 38.♕a8+ ♔d7 39.♕d5+ ♔c8 draw.
23.♘b5 Attacking d4 23...♗e3
23...a6 was better as after 24.♘bxd4 ♘xd4 25.♘xd4 ♕c4 26.cxb6 cxb6 the chances are equal.
24.♖de1 ♕d5 After just four minutes' thought Steen plays this blunder and allowed Speelman to land a haymaker.
24...♖hf8 results in equality after 25.cxb6 axb6 26.♘fxd4 ♗xd4 27.♖xe6 fxe6 28.♖xf8 ♖xf8 29.♕d1 ♗e3 30.h3 ♘xb4 31.♕xd7 ♖f1+ 32.♔h2 ♗g1+ 33.♔h1 ♗c5+ 34.♔h2 ♘d5 with equal chances.
24...a6 also results in equal play after 25.♘bxd4 ♘xd4 26.♘xe3 ♕c6 27.♕d1 bxc5 28.bxc5 ♕xc5
25.♘e7 ♘xe7 Black is lost, but this allow a mate in 9. He would still have been lost after the better 25...Qe6 but then white would have been forced to find the only correct way to win.
25...♕e6 also loses, but only if white finds the correct move 26.♘xc6 The only move that wins.
26.♘f5 leads nowhere. 26...♖hf8 27.cxb6 axb6 28.♘fxd4 ♗xd4 29.♖xe6 fxe6 30.♖xf8 ♖xf8 and the result is open to question after 31.♕d1
26...a6 27.♘bxd4 ♕c4 28.♕b3 ♕xb3 29.♘xd8+ ♖xd8 30.♘xb3 and wins. Powered by Aquarium
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