1946 Australia-France Radio Match

Charles Watson

     With the boom in post-WWII chess activity the radio match played on June 15 and 16, 1942 between Australia and France went largely unnoticed. The match consisted of a team of five players from Sydney against five from Paris and five players from Melbourne against five from Marseilles. In Paris Eugene Znosko-Borosky served as arbitrator. 

     Today's game features one of Australia's top players, Charles G. M. Watson (October 22, 1879 - March 5, 1961, 81 years old). He was born in Buninyong which is not far from Melbourne in SE Australia. 

 

     Watson was Australian Champion in 1922 and 1930-31. His 1922 win ended the run of William S. Viner who had been champion since 1906. The Championship didn't return to Melbourne until 1931, when Watson again won. 

     His only international event seems to have been London 1922 (won by Capablanca ahead of Alekhine) where he tied places 14-15 out of 16. He scored a wins over Morrison (Canada), Davide (Italy), Marotti (Italy), Atkins (England) and, most significantly, Richard Reti (Hungary). Chessmetrics assigns him a high rating of 2456 on the June, 1926 list placing him at number 53 in the world. 

     He started playing chess at the age of 10 with his father and later joined the Melbourne Chess Club, winning the club championships in 1898, 1902, 1904, 1905, 1914, 1921, 1931 and 1936. 

     A tactician who eschewed strategy, Watson was known for his uncanny ability to win lost games. Watson also had a very brief football (i.e. soccer) career; he played 11 games for the Melbourne Demons in the inaugural season of the Victorian Football League Australian Football competition in 1897. Later in life became a big fan of bridge. He passed away in Melbourne in 1961. 

     His opponent in the following game was Barbato Rometti (June 23, 1896 - August 22, 1975) who was born in Italy, but became a naturalized French citizen on September 1, 1929. 

     At the beginning of his career, he played in Nice 1930, in the B tournament. In 1937, also in Nice, he finished 2nd behind Alekhine behind in a quadrangular tournament. 

     Rometti played in many French Championship. His best showing were in 1932 (shared 2nd), 1935 (shared 2nd) and 1945 (3rd). His last appearance was in 1965 where he finished 24th He played for France in 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad at Munich 1936 and in 8th Chess Olympiad at Buenos Aires and for Monaco at Tel Aviv 1964.

[Event "Australia vs France Radio Match"] [Site "?"] [Date "1946.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Charles Watson"] [Black "Barbato Rometti"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A15"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "1946.??.??"] {English Opening} 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 d5 4. b3 Nbd7 5. Bb2 Be7 6. Be2 { White has also played 6.Nc3, 6.d4 and 6.Qc2 here.} c6 7. O-O O-O 8. Qc2 Ne4 9. d3 Nd6 10. Nbd2 f6 {Black evidently intended to followup with ...e4, but Watson's next move puts the quietus on that idea. Better was 10...b6} 11. Nd4 { Rather awkward, but now 11...e5 is met by the for 12.Ne6} (11. d4 {was a better way if preventing the advance of the e-Pawn.} e5 {His best move was probably 11...f5} 12. dxe5 fxe5 13. cxd5 cxd5 14. Nxe5 Nxe5 15. Bxe5 Be6) 11... Ne5 12. c5 {After this black's pieces are all gummed up, but the closed nature of the position makes it difficult to assign white more than a slight advantage.} Ne8 13. f4 Nf7 14. N4f3 {He still wants to prevent ...e5} Qc7 15. d4 {Still hindering ...e5} f5 16. b4 b6 17. Nb3 Nf6 18. Bd3 Bd7 (18... g5 { aiming for counterplay was the correct strategy} 19. Ne5 gxf4 20. exf4 Ne4 { and the chances are even.}) 19. Qe2 b5 20. Bc3 Ne4 21. Be1 Kh8 22. Ne5 Nxe5 23. dxe5 g5 24. Rc1 Qd8 25. Nd4 Qe8 26. Rf3 (26. Bxe4 {was better. Then after} dxe4 27. Nb3 Qg6 28. Rd1 Be8 29. Rd6 {white has a promising position.} Bxd6 { This is wrong. Better would be 29...Rg8} 30. cxd6 Rg8 31. fxg5 Qxg5 32. Nc5 { with excellent compensation for the exchange.}) 26... Qh5 27. Rc2 (27. fxg5 { can get tricky.} Bxg5 28. Bxe4 fxe4 29. Rxf8+ Rxf8 30. Qxh5 Bxe3+ 31. Bf2 Rxf2 32. Kh1 Bxc1 {Black only has a R and B for his Q, but the position is not at all clear. In Shootouts white scored +3 -0 =2, but the games were quite long, a couple well over 100 moves.}) 27... Rg8 28. Rf1 Qf7 29. Qd1 gxf4 30. exf4 { [%mdl 32]} Bd8 {This passive move makes little sense. Better was 34...Rg6} ( 30... Rg6 31. Kh1 Rag8 32. Bxe4 fxe4 33. Bc3 {but even here white has the better game and scored 5-0 in Shootouts.}) 31. Bxe4 fxe4 32. Bc3 h6 33. f5 Qh7 {It's amazing that black's position has collapsed so quickly, but a somewhat better defense was offered by 36...Qe8} (33... Qe8 34. f6 Qf7 35. Rf4 Rg6 36. Rh4 Kh7 37. Ne2 {Heading for f4. Black's position is badly compromised.}) 34. fxe6 Be8 35. Nf5 {[%cal Oe6e7] Threatening to win with 36.e7} Be7 36. Nd6 Qg6 { This meets with a great refutation but there was nothing better.} 37. Rf6 { [%mdl 512] Of course the R can't be safely taken.} Qg5 (37... Bxf6 38. exf6 Kh7 39. f7 Bxf7 40. exf7 Rg7 41. Bxg7 Qxg7 42. Rf2 Rf8 43. Qd2 d4 44. Rf1 {White is clearly winning.}) 38. Nf7+ Bxf7 39. exf7 ({Less strong is} 39. Rxf7 Rg6 { and white's progress is almost at a standstill.}) 39... Rg6 {Black resigned without waiting for white to reply.} (39... Rg6 40. Rxg6 Qxg6 41. e6+ Kh7 42. Rf2 Rf8 43. Qd4 {Analysis shows that while there is no forced win for white and black can put up some semblance of resistance, in the end he will gradually be outplayed.}) 1-0