Horne Gores Olafsson

    At the time the 1953/54 Hastings tournament was one of the most exciting and interesting of all the Hastings events. 

    Not only was the quality of the play considered higher than in many of the previous Hastings events, it had, for that time, the unusual, but most welcome, participation of Russian Grandmasters and it was a success for the British as C. H. O’D. Alexander tied for first with the redoubtable David Bronstein. Alexander was the only British player ever to have won the first prize outright in a Hastings which he dis in 1946-47. 

    An unusual situation in this tournament was the custom of having five British players and five foreigners, which had previously been the norm, was abandoned.The reason was that only a few of the leading British masters were available to participate. 

 

 

    The two other British players were Robert Wade, winner of the British Championship in 1952, and Dennis Horne, who had done very well at the 1952 International Team Tournament at Helsinki where playing on first reserve board he had won a silver medal with a 5.5-3.5 score. Hector Rossetto of Argentina took the gold on that board with an 8-2 score. 

    The last place finish of, by now forgotten, Dennis Horne (October 19, 1920 0 May 3, 2015, 94 years old) was disappointing. 

    In his college days he was a strong player at Oxford University which he entered immediately after World War II in which he served in the Army. Prior to Helsinki and Hastings Horne tied for second behind Golombek in the 1949 British championship.

    I could not locate a photo of him, but he was described as having a “military style mustache”, smoked a pipe and enjoyed solving the Times crossword puzzles. The King's Regulations state that, "If a mustache is worn, it is to be trimmed and not below the line of the lower lip." In my military days were were once told that we could grow beards and mustaches, but they had to be kept shaved as close to the skin as possible. 

    Outside of chess Horne was a prep school master and due due a growing interest in bridge he devoted less time to chess and this Hastings tournament was his last top flight event. The last event I was able to locate that he played in was the 1987 Guernsey Open, but a crosstable was not available. Chess metrics estimates Horne’s best ever rating to have been 2494 in 1952. 

    In the following game from Hastings, Horne managed to break his run of defeats when he scored against a young 18 year old Fridrik Olafsson. The game was equal until Horne erred on his 27th move, but Olafsson failed to take advantage of it and instead made a blunder that lost the game.

 

[Event "Hastings 1953/54"] [Site "Hastings ENG"] [Date "1954.01.02"] [Round "4"] [White "Dennis M. Horne"] [Black "Fridrik Olafsson"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C35"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "1953.12.30"] {C35: King's Gambit Accepted} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 {A favorite of Horne.} exf4 3. Nf3 Be7 {Does black intend to play ...Bh4+?} 4. Bc4 {This is by far the most common move here.} Nf6 {[%mdl 32]} (4... Bh4+ {is usual and it leads to some interesting play after} 5. Kf1 (5. g3 {is not quite so good because after} fxg3 6. O-O gxh2+ 7. Kh1 (7. Nxh2 d5 8. Bxd5 Nf6 {is best met by} 9. Bxf7+ Kxf7 10. Qh5+ {with a wild position.}) 7... d5 {black has a promising position.}) 5... d5 6. Bxd5 Nf6 7. Bb3 {This is a relatively unexplored position. Black has tried 7...Bg4 and 7...Ng4, but 7...Nh5 looks interesting.} Bg4) 5. e5 Ng4 6. d4 d5 {Black could still play 6...Bh4+ if he wanted to.} 7. exd6 {Best} Qxd6 { Threatening ...Qb4+.} 8. Nc3 {Not at all bad, but white usually plays 8.O-O} Be6 9. Bd3 Ne3 10. Qe2 Nc6 11. Ne4 Qd7 12. Bxe3 fxe3 13. c3 O-O-O 14. Qxe3 f5 15. Nf2 {It would have been more precise to transfer the N to the Q-side with 15.Ned2 intending to go to b3.} Bf6 16. O-O h6 17. Rfe1 Rhe8 18. Ne5 {This results in white getting a slightly inferior position. Better was 18.Bc2 which clears the square d3 for the NB on f2.} Bxe5 $17 19. dxe5 Bd5 20. Qf4 $15 Rf8 21. Rad1 g5 22. Qa4 {White is hoping to play e6 at teh appropriate time.} Qe7 23. Bb5 Qc5 24. b4 {Black gets a distinct advantahe after this.} (24. c4 { is correct.} Be4 25. e6 Rxd1 26. Qxd1 (26. Rxd1 a6 27. Bxc6 Bxc6 {Black is better thanks to the weak e-Pawn.}) 26... Rd8 27. Qc1 Re8 28. b4 Qd4 29. Bxc6 Bxc6 30. Rd1 Qb6 {with slightly the better game.}) 24... Qxc3 25. Bxc6 Qxc6 ( 25... Bxc6 {secures a significant advantage...} 26. Qxa7 Rxd1 27. Rxd1 b6 28. Qa6+ Kb8 29. Qe2 Qxb4 {and white;s weak Ps addure black of decisive advantage.} ) 26. Qxa7 b6 27. e6 {This is not advisable at this point.} (27. Rc1 {keeps things even after} Qb7 28. Qa4 Bxg2 29. e6 Rfe8 30. Qc2 Re7 31. a4 f4 32. a5 Bd5 33. Re5 bxa5 34. bxa5 Qa7 35. a6 g4 36. Qc5 Qxc5 37. Rxc5 {The complications are great, but the chances are equal. Five Shootouts d\from this position ended in draws.}) 27... Bxe6 {[%mdl 8192] A logical looking move, but it's a game losing blunder.} (27... Rfe8 {ua a winner.} 28. a4 Rxe6 29. Qa6+ Kb8 30. Rxe6 Qxe6 31. a5 Re8 32. axb6 Qe1+ 33. Qf1 Qxf1+ 34. Rxf1 cxb6 { with a won ending.}) 28. Rc1 {...and wins!} Qd6 {This loses outright but trhere was nothing that comes close to saving the game.} 29. Rxe6 {[%mdl 512] A nifty conclusion.} Qf4 {The q has to guard c7} 30. Rec6 Rf7 31. Qa8+ Kd7 32. Rd1+ {Black resigned} 1-0