The Other Ramsgate 1929

Vintage Ramsgate postcard

     The best known tournament held at Ramsgate, England is, no doubt, the Scheveningen system tournament played in March-April, 1929 that consisted of seven foreign masters who played against each of seven British players. 

     It's often reported that this was Vera Menchik's greatest tournament and that she tied for second with Rubinstein, half a point behind Capablanca and ahead of her mentor Geza Maroczy. However, in a Scheveningen system, which is a team event, players only meet opponents on the other team. Thus, Menchik played only the British players and she did go undefeated, winning from Thomas, Michell and Price and drawing with Yates, Tyler, Winter and E.G. Sergeant...quite an accomplishment, but she did not play Capablanca, Rubinstein, Maroczy, Koltanowski, Soultanbeieff and Znosko-Borovsky. In this match the British team lost badly, 31.5-17.5. 

     Also held at Ramsgate the same year was the British Championship that was won by Sultan Khan who finished a point ahead of Reginald Mitchell and Hubert Price. 

     The women's championship went to Mary Gilchrist who edged Agnes Stevenson and Edith Mitchell by a half point. The First Class Section A winner was P.A. Ursell and the Section B winner was Sir Richard Barnett. The Second Class Section A was won by V.T.A. Russ and Section B by J. Keeble. The Third Class Section A was won by S.H. Crockett and Section B by B.C. Gould. The Boy's Under 15 tournament was not considered as a British Junior Championship, but consisted mainly of local schoolchildren and it was won by J.S. Wilson. 

     Today's game is an instructive one and it's taken from the Major Open event that was won by the Hungarian master Arpad Vajda (1896-1967) and the German (later Argentine) master and journalist Jakob Seitz (1898-1970).

     The winner of this game was the Dutch player Daniel Noteboom (February 26, 1910 - January 12, 1932) who first gained international notice at the 1930 Chess Olympiad at Hamburg when he scored 11.5-3.5 which included a win over Salo Flohr. 

     He learned to play chess at the age of 12, won a local tournament in Noordwijk at age 14. At the age of 15 he was admitted to the Leiden Chess Society, following a special request from the secretary of the club; at the time chess clubs were reserved for adult men with social standing. 

     In the next few years he won the championship of the club three times. After playing at Hastings 1931/2, he died of pneumonia in London at age 21. His opponent was British master Sydney Howell-Smith (1883-1976, 92 years old).

     Their game is short, but instructive. The Pawns in front of the King are tasked with defending it and when one of them has moved they risk being exchanged creating a serious breach in the King's position. 

     In this game black castled and then played ...h6. Having done so he then had to, as is always the case, reckon on a possible g2-g4-g5 by white. In this game white accomplished the advance easily and the result was immediate disaster.

Daniel Noteboom - Sydney Howell-Smith

Result: 1-0

Site: Ramsgate, Major Open

Date: 1929

Queen's Gambit Declined: Classical: Main Line

[...] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.♘c3 ♘f6 4.♗g5 ♘bd7 5.e3 ♗e7 6.♘f3 O-O 7.♖c1 This is the main line in the classical QGD...at the time it was almost automatic. 7...c6 White has two main choices: 8. Bd3 and 8.Qc2. After 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 black has surrendered the center and stands somewhat cramped, but has succeeded in causing white lose a tempo by moving his B twice. White will try to use his advantage in space to attack, while black will try to counterattack in the center. 8.♗d3

8.♕c2 This move is also quite good. Black has tried a number of moves here and at one time the freeing move ...N34 which leads to exchanges was quite popular. 8...♘e4 9.♗xe7 ♕xe7 10.♗d3 ♘xc3 11.♕xc3 dxc4 12.♗xc4 but even after the exchanges black must be careful as white as a good chances.

8...h6 9.♗h4 dxc4 10.♗xc4 ♘d5 11.♗g3 ♘xc3 12.bxc3 c5 13.O-O a6

13...♘f6 14.♘e5 ♗d7 15.♖b1 ♗c6 16.♘xc6 bxc6 favors white. Sokolov,I (2650)-Hansen,E (2581)/Ottawa 2013

13...♖e8 14.d5 ♘b6 15.♗b5 ♗d7 16.dxe6 fxe6 17.♗d3 ♗a4 18.♕e2 ♗f6 and white is better. Narciso Dublan,M (2468)-Fernandez Fuentes,F (2113)/ Torredembarra 2018

14.♗d3

14.e4 b5 15.♗d3 ♘b6 16.♗b1 f5 17.♗e5 ♘c4 18.♕e2 ♖a7 19.♖fd1 ♖d7 20.a4 ♗b7 21.♗a2 fxe4 22.♗xc4 And a draw was agreed in Lehmann,H (2335)-Schlaugat,M (2250)/German Chp 1981

14.a4 ♘b6 15.♗b3 a5 16.♘e5 ♗d7 17.♕f3 ♕c8 18.♖b1 White has a good game. Romero Pino,C (2299) -Haman,M (1950)/Sao Paulo 2009

14...♖e8

14...b5 was somewhat better. After 15.c4 bxc4 16.♗xc4 white is slightly better.

15.♗b1 cxd4 Black is oblivious to the lurking danger and instead of playing for Q-side counterplay he is playing for the advance of his e-Pawn, but in doing so he opens up the position for his opponent. He still should have played 15...b5 16.cxd4 ♘f8 This guards against a possible Qd3 attacking h7. It also prepares his next move, which is also a mistake.

16...♘f6 was correct. 17.♕d3 ♗d7 18.♗c7 ♗b5 19.♗xd8 ♗xd3 20.♗xe7 ♗xb1 21.♖xb1 ♖xe7 with approximate equality.

17.♘e5

17.♗c7 was also possible. 17...♕d5 18.♘e5 ♘d7 19.e4

19.♘xf7 isn't quite good enough as after 19...♔xf7 20.e4 ♕g5 21.e5 h5 22.d5 ♔g8 23.d6 with only a slight advantage

19...♕b5 20.♘c4 b6 21.♗d3 ♕g5 22.f4 black is facing a very dangerous attack.

17...♗d6

17...f6 dislodging the N was his best try. 18.♘g6 ♗a3 19.♖c3 ♗b4 20.♖c7 ♘xg6 21.♗xg6 ♖e7 22.♕c2 ♖xc7 23.♗xc7 ♕e7 24.♗e4 and white is better.

18.♕h5

18.♘xf7 was even better, but the continuation is not obvious. 18...♔xf7 19.♕h5+ g6 20.♕xh6 ♖e7 21.♕h8 b5 22.♖c6 ♗a3 23.♗xg6+ ♔xg6 24.f4 ♔f7 25.f5 with a winning attack.

18...♗xe5 19.♗xe5 ♘d7 20.f4 No matter what he does black is helpless to stop the advance of the g-Pawn. 20...♘f6

20...f5 21.g4 ♖f8 22.♕g6 ♕e7 23.♖fd1 ♕f7 24.gxf5 exf5 25.♗xf5 ♕xg6+ 26.♗xg6 is hopeless for black.

21.♗xf6 ♕xf6 22.g4 White could also win by tripling heavy pieces on the c-file with Rc7, Rfc1 and Qc5 22...♕e7 23.g5 f5 This loses instantly, but there was no way to save the game.

23...♗d7 24.gxh6 g6 25.♕g5 ♕xg5+ 26.fxg5 ♖ac8 27.♗e4 b5 28.♗b7 with a won ending.

24.gxf6 Black resigned.

24.gxf6 ♕d7 25.♖f3 This decides the game. For example: 25...♕f7 26.♗h7+ ♔f8 27.♕c5+ ♖e7 28.fxe7+ ♕xe7 29.♕e5 ♗d7 30.♖c7 ♖c8 31.f5 ♖xc7 32.fxe6+ ♔e8 33.♕xc7 etc.

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