The Craigside Tournament of 1900/01

    The following game is proof that even bad play can have redeeming qualities. It was played in the Craigside Cup Section of the 1900/01 Craigside Llandudno tournament. One newspaper report of the day commented that they felt obliged to label the play “cheap”, but noted that the finish was “attractive”. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. 

    Of the event one contemporary newspaper reported “one of the most enjoyable meetings in the year is that held annually in the first week of January at the Craigside Hydro, Llandudno”. That’s a hotel in a coastal town in northern Wales.

    One reason for this event being enjoyable was that the weather conditions at the seaside resort at that time of the year offered a nice change from the gloom weather that prevailed in most parts of the country. 

    Previous tournaments had been divided into two classes, but for this event a new format consisting of three classes was used. The Cup tournament was for previous winners of the Craigside Cup or of an open event. The First Class event was for for recognized first-class amateurs and the Second Class event was for players ineligible for the first two classes. 

 

    

    The First Class event was won by Anthony Dod ahead of 2) Charles Sherrard. Newman Clissild, Henry Cran, Arthur Mackenzie and Bernard Wilmot all tied for places 3-6. 

    This section used a rather curious scoring system known as the Lasker System. Drawn games were scored as ¼ point for each player and a second game had to be played. The winner got ½ point and if the second game was drawn bothe players got another ¼ point. Fortunately, or oddly, there were no drawn games in this section! 

    The Second Class section was won by Thomas Billington (7-1) ahead of Mrs. Lousia Fagan (6-2). There was also a Handicap event and Burn, Atkins and Gunston taking the three prizes. 

 

[Event "Craigside Cup Tourney"] [Site "Llandudno"] [Date "1901.01.01"] [Round "2"] [White "William Gunston"] [Black "George Bellingham"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C14"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "1900.12.31"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "6"] [EventCountry "WLS"] [SourceTitle "BritBase"] [Source "John Saunders"] [SourceDate "2023.05.21"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2023.05.21"] [SourceQuality "1"] {C14: French Defense} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Nb5 Qd8 8. c3 a6 9. Na3 c5 10. Nf3 Nc6 (10... cxd4 11. cxd4 Nc6 12. Be2 Qa5+ 13. Qd2 Qxd2+ 14. Kxd2 b6 15. Rhc1 Bb7 {Draw agreed. Petrov,S (2129)-Dimitrovski,J (2208) Struga MKD 2014}) 11. Nc2 c4 {So far the opening had bee known book moves, but this move is not especially good because it's too slow. Black should counter in the cente.} (11... O-O $11 12. Bd3 f6 13. exf6 Qxf6 14. O-O b6 15. Qd2 Bb7 16. Qg5 Rae8 {equals. Molina,J-Gershman,J Argentina 1938 0-1}) (11... Qb6 12. b3 cxd4 13. cxd4 f6 14. exf6 Nxf6 {Equals. Wielecki,Z (2350)-Raszka,J (2215) Bielsko Biala 1991}) (11... cxd4 12. cxd4 f6 13. exf6 Nxf6 14. Bd3 O-O {Equals. Pilnik,H-Gershman,J Argentina 1938}) 12. g3 O-O 13. Bh3 Qe7 14. Nh4 {Somewhat better was 14.O-O as the B is out of place here because it no lonfer defends e5. Black's next move takes immediate advantage of that fact.} f6 {Completely equalizing.} 15. f4 {A tactical mistake...his B on h3 is undefended.} (15. exf6 Nxf6 16. Bg2 e5 17. O-O { keeps the chances equal.}) 15... fxe5 16. dxe5 {Black could now have obtained a decisive advantage.} Ndxe5 {[%mdl 512] Good, but 16...Rxf4 was much better.} (16... Rxf4 17. Nf3 (17. gxf4 Qxh4+ 18. Ke2 Qxh3) 17... Re4+ 18. Kf1 Nc5 { Black has a winning advantage.}) 17. fxe5 Nxe5 18. Rf1 Nd3+ 19. Ke2 {Even though he is a piece down black is clearly better here, but his next move lets white offf the hook because it's not aggressive enough.} Bd7 (19... e5 { is harder for white to meet. After} 20. Nf5 Qc7 21. Qd2 Kh8 22. Qg5 g6 23. Nce3 Be6 {Black is slightly better.} (23... gxf5 {is also acceptable.} 24. Bxf5 Bxf5 25. Rxf5 Qg7 26. Qxg7+ Kxg7 27. b3 {But here white has equalized.})) 20. Qd2 e5 21. Bxd7 {The undefended B has disappeared...a plus for white.} Qxd7 22. Ne3 { [%mdl 8192] This prevents ...Qg4+, but the cure is worse than the disease!} ( 22. Qg5 {keeps black's advantage to a minimum after} d4 23. cxd4 exd4 24. Nf5) 22... Qh3 {Black now has what should be a decisive advantage, but he is going to let it slip.} 23. Nhf5 {[%mdl 32]} Rad8 {Well played!} (23... Qxh2+ { looks inviting, but after} 24. Kd1 Nxb2+ 25. Kc2 Qxd2+ 26. Kxd2 Rf7 27. Kc2 Nd3 28. Nxd5 Raf8 29. g4 {with complications that, theoretically at least should favor white.}) 24. Kd1 d4 {To quote one commentator of the day...White is being smashed off the board and deservedly so. But he now gets lucky.} 25. Qg2 {Now black tries to win in a flasjy fashion by making what he thought was a temporary Q sacrifice.} dxe3 {A gross blunder.} (25... Qxg2 {leads to a mundane win.} 26. Nxg2 g6 27. Ne7+ Kg7 28. Kd2 Rfe8 29. Nf5+ gxf5 30. Rxf5 Rf8 {with a decisive advantage.}) 26. Ne7+ {The refutation of black's last move.} ( 26. Qxh3 {This is probably what black expected, but even so, his advantage would be minimal after} Nf4+ 27. Ke1 Nxh3 28. Nxe3 Rxf1+ 29. Nxf1 {Prevents ... Rd2. Black is only slightly better here.}) 26... Kh8 27. Ng6+ {[%mdl 512] Very nice!} Kg8 (27... hxg6 28. Qxh3+) 28. Qd5+ {[%mdl 512] This is even nicer than his last move and black resigned. To quote a contemporary commentator... White's triple whammy is very attractive, but I feel we have to label it a cheapo because of the poor play that preceded it.} (28. Qd5+ Qe6 (28... Rxd5 29. Rxf8#) 29. Qxe6+ Rf7 30. Qxf7#) 1-0