Eight teams with three players each were expected to meet from April 4th to April 10th, but when the start date arrived there was only a British team and a Finnish team present. There was also one player each from Belgium, Denmark and India. There was supposed to be some players from Russia, too, but none of them showed up.
As a result, the three individual players that were in Liverpool were grouped into an "International" team and a short team tournament was held in which Finland defeated both Britain and the International team 2-1. Britain then defeated the International team 3-0 and so tied Finland.
It's not clear why, but when the Russians did arrive there were only two of them. In any case, a tournament was hastily arranged with the fast time limit of 40 moves in two hours because they had to play two games a day.
The two Russians were David Bronstein and Mark Taimanov plus an "interpreter" who could not speak a word of English.
It was no surprise that the Russians won all their games, although Nyren had a drawn position against Bronstein, but he was outplayed in the ending.
The Russians drew against each other, but it wasn't a peaceful one; it was a bitterly contested game. Bronstein avoided a draw by repetition on the fifteenth move and obtained a superior position, but as the time limit approached he found himself in time trouble and Taimanov sacrificed a piece for an attack which gained him a draw by perpetual check, Bronstein having missed a winning line.
How did David Bronstein and Mark Taimanov, who were hardly students, end up playing in what was essentially an amateur students' competition? According to Taimanov's memoirs, Stalin had an interest in chess and the opportunity to bring glory to Russia could not be passed up, so chess authorities chose Grandmaster Bronstein, who had never attended college, and Taimanov who at the at the time was an IM and had already graduated from the Conservatory of Music to play in the tournament and they were ordered to win it.
The following see-saw game from the tournament was a thriller. Little is known of either player. Erkki Rutanen (July 12, 1932 - January 2, 20123, 82 years old) of Helsinki was a psychologist and psychotherapist who was one of the influential figures in Finnish clinical psychology. Nothing is known of his opponent, but according to British player/writer
Gerald Abrahams, the Indian player, Katragadda, "knew as much about
chess as Sultan Khan didn't." That seems a but harsh.
Erkki Rutanen–G. Katragadda1–0C36Liverpool Students Int'l1952Stockfish 15.1
King's Gambit Accepted 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.f3 d5 4.exd5 g4 5.b5+ 5.e2 xf3 6.xf3 h4+ This shoulkd not lead anywhere. 7.f1 d6 8.d4 d7 9.c4 b6 10.c3 e7 11.c2 0-0 12.e4 White has managed to fritter away his
advantage. f5 13.xd6 This is disastrous g3+ 14.g1 xh1 15.f5
A final blunder; it's mate after 15...Qe1 so white resigned. Sever,T (1764)
-Guler,E (1532) Antalya 2008 5...d7 5...d7 6.e2+ e7 7.e5 f6 8.xd7 xe2+ 9.xe2 xd7 10.d4 0-0-0 White is better. Lanzani,M (2419)-Manzoni,A
(2115) Bratto 2000 6.0-0 a6 7.a4 7.e1+ e7 8.xd7+ xd7 9.c4 f5 10.e5 White is better. Eliassen,E (1507)-Soreng,E (1351) Lysaker 2002 7...d6 8.c4 gf6 9.e1+ e7 10.d4 0-0 11.xf4 d6 11...b5 is more active and
would have allowed black to keep the position equal. 12.cxb5 xd5 13.g3 b4 with an active position. 12.g5 Giving black a weak P with 12.Bxd6 would
have given him a slight advantage. h6 He still should have played 12...b4! 13.h4 g5 14.f2 g7 After this black finds himself subjected to a vigorous
attack. 14...b5 was still the move! 15.c2 bxc4 16.h3 h5 17.g4
Now black's best practical try is xg4 18.hxg4 xg4 19.bd2 f6 and hope
for the best. 15.d3 15.c5 packs a wallop! f4 16.c3 b5 17.b3 b4 18.e2 xf3 19.gxf3 h5 20.g3 White's advantage should prove decisive. He
will play Qd3 and Bc2. 15...xf3 Have I mentioned that black needs to play
...b5? 16.gxf3 This is the wrong way to recapture; taking with the Q was
correct. c6 At the risk of repeating myself, 16...b5 would have
kept black in the game. 16...b5 and Black is okay. 17.c2 17.cxb5 b6 18.c2 axb5 19.c3 d7 20.xb5 h3 and black has equalized. 17...bxc4 18.f5 b6 19.c3 d7 and it's actually black that stands slightly better. 17.c5 With this white gains a decisive advantage. f4 18.d6 d5 19.f5 7f6 20.h3 This passive move loses much of his advantage. Completing
development with 20.Nc3 was better. d7 This offer to exchange Qs should
lose quickly. 20...a5 21.b3 e3 22.c3 xf2+ 23.xf2 ae8 keeps black
in the game. 21.g2 White can't afford another passive move. Now the
position is back to complete equality! 21.xd7 xd7 22.c3 7f6 23.xd5 xd5 24.b3 f6 25.e7 and white is in complete control. 21...h8
Black plans on opening up the g-file for an attack, but his prospects of
successfully getting at white's K are pretty slim. 22.a3 Wrong square. 22.
Nc3 is the right one. g4 23.h4 This should have lost the game.
Getting the K off the file with the Q with 23.Kh1 would have left him in good
shape. 23.h1 g8 24.c4 f5 25.e5 h5 26.fxg4 xg4 27.d1 xf2+ 27...xe5 28.xe5 28.xf2 and the game is essentially over. 23...gxf3
Missing his chance, but it's hard to criticize his move. Play
after the correct 23...Rg8 would be impossible to calculate OTB! 23...g8
and now the threat of ...gxf3 forces... 24.h1 h5 24...gxf3 25.xf3
and white is out of danger. 25.c4 25.g1 g3 26.hxg3 xg3 27.xg3 xg3+ 28.h2 e4+ 29.h1 f2+ wins 25...g3 26.h3 b5 THAT move again! 27.b6 xb6 28.e7 bxa4 Brilliant!! Black get more than enough compensation for the
Q. 29.xd7 xd7 30.g1 30.e1 ae8 31.e4 xe4 32.fxe4 e3 33.d5 f4 34.f3 g2+ 35.h2 g1# 30...f8 31.e7 g6 32.e1 ae8 33.e4 xe7 34.dxe7 g7 White has no constructive moves. 35.g1 f5 36.e2 gxe7 37.xe7 xe7 38.f1 f6 39.h4 d5 40.g1 g7 41.e2 g2 42.b3 axb3 43.axb3 e3 44.a1 g1 24.xf3 g8+ 25.h1 This is the right square! 25.f1 would
lose! g4 26.e2 ge3+ 27.e1 g1+ and black wins. 25...g4 25...g4
was somewhat better. 26.xg4 xg4 27.xf6+ xf6 28.e2 h4 29.ae1
White is better, but black can fight on. 26.e7 This rates two
question marks. 26.xf6+ keeps a significant advantage. For example... xf6 27.c4 h4 28.e2 g8 29.e5 Black can do no damage on the K-side and
white is in full control. 26...xh4 And wins...you would think. Black gets
way more than enough for the Q. 27.xd7 27.e2 g4 All white can di is
delay mate (in 11 moves), not avoid it. 28.xc6 bxc6 29.g2 xh2 30.g1 e3+ 31.xe3 xe3 32.g3 g8 33.xg8+ xg8 34.f2 f5+ 35.xe3 f3+ 36.d2 xd4+ 37.c2 d3+ 38.c1 d1# 27...xh2+ Black has a mate in 11 moves.
28.g1 g8+ 29.f1 e3 This move misses the mate and throws away almost
all of black's advantage. 29...e3+ mates 30.xe3 xe3 31.d8 xd8 32.d7 h5 33.e1 f4 34.b5 cxb5 35.d1 d2+ 36.e1 d3+ 37.f1 g8 38.d8 f2# 30.d8 e8 This move simply cannot be explained except
that black was probably thinking of playing ...Rg8#, but he has apparently
suffered an hallucination. 30...xd8 31.c2 g5 32.e1 h4 33.e2 f4 34.g2 g8 and black stands very well. He has more than enough compensation for
the Q. 31.xe8 xe8 32.e1 g8 33.xe3 Perhaps in his calculations black
missed the fact that the B is missing and he can't play ...Rg8 xe3+ 34.xe3 h1+ 35.e2 Black resigned. 1–0
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