January was the start of the nocturnal Luftwaffe bombing offensive chiefly targeted at the Greater London area which lasted until May. Later, in September, the first V-2 rocket attack on London was launched from The Hague. And, on June 6th, D-Day for the Normandy landings was launched. It involved 155,000 Allied troops.
In other British news, in February a pay as you earn system of tax collection introduced and in May the prohibition on married women working as teachers was lifted. Instituted in primary schools in 1923, the practice, known as the Marriage barm was a way of tying women to the home after marriage, It was a common practice in teaching and the civil service in the UK at the time.
The last English championship had been held in Brighton in 1938 and it was won by C.H.O’D. Alexander and Minnie Musgrave was the women’s champion. Elaine Saunders (later Pritchard) won the 1939 women’s championship that was held in Bournemouth.
No further championships for either men or women were held until Nottingham 1946 when Robert F. Combe and Elaine Saunders won.
One of the few exceptions was a small event held in Blackpool on England’s west coast in July of 1944. It consisted of a Premier tournament, a Major tournament and a First Class tournament. The Premier and Major sections consisted of six players while the First Class was divided into six sections. The Major section was won by Leslie Dewing.
David Hooper’s success on the Premier was notable and fully deserved. Victor Wahltuch demonstrated his uncompromising and attacking style (he was the only player with no draws) with had been bringing him much local success for decades.
The triple tie for third place was a fierce struggle. The failure of the 79-year old Jacques Mieses showed that his advanced age was just too great a handicap and that he no longer had the stamina for even a short tournament.
`The game between Wahltuch and Gurnhill was an exciting one. It started out with a slow Colle System in which Gurnhill with black equalized early.
Wahltuch’s aggressive play was not quite sound and his opponent got the advantage. However, Gurnhill didn’t play aggressively enough and his advantage vanished. Then, even worse, he underestimated Wahltuch’s resources and made what turned out to be the losing move at move 28.
The winner, Victor Wahltuch (1875-1953) was the son of the prominent Manchester physician Adolphe Wahltuch (1827-1907), an Russian-born English physician and chess writer. He was known as a successful practitioner and as a prolific writer of medical works. An avid chess player, he edited the chess column in the Manchester Weekly Times and founded several chess clubs in the city. .
Victor shared first at Blackpool 1907, won at Blackpool 1908 and tied for 3rd-4th at Blackpool 1910. In the 1912 British Championship he tied for 9-10th.
After World War I, he played in several international tournaments held in England with modest success. He also played for England in the Olympiad at Prague on 1931.
His opponent, Charles Gurnhill (1891-1972) was a Sheffield player who, in his day, was one of Sheffield's strongest players.
[Event "Blackpool Premier"]
[Site "Blackpool"]
[Date "1944.07.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Victor Wahltuch"]
[Black "Charles Gurnhill"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D04"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "1944.07.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
{D04: Colle System} 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 {A major theme of the Colle is
the to play a well-timed e3-e4. White can also opt for the Zukertort system by
fiachettoing his c1B. Used mostly by amateurs, the Colle is no longer the
dreaded weapon it was back in the old days when Edgar Colle and George
Koltanowksi and others used it with great success. In modern time English GM
John Nunn called it innocuous. I think the more aggressive Torre Attack (3.Bg5)
is more likely to produce good play for white.} Bf5 {More popular are 3...e6
and 3...c5. The text is an obvious attempt to neutralize the B on d3 which
eyes h7. In my database 3...Bf5 enjoys a much better success rate than either
of these two move. Hiwever, the defense with the highest success rate is 3...
g6.} 4. Bd3 e6 (4... Bxd3 5. cxd3 e6 6. Nc3 c5 {offers little to either side/})
5. Bxf5 exf5 {White's intention of playing e4 has now been ruled out.} 6. Qd3
Qc8 (6... g6 {This careless move is met by} 7. Qb5+ {picking up the b-Pawn.
Black can harass the Q, but it will not gain him any advantage.}) 7. Nbd2 (7.
O-O c6 8. c4 dxc4 9. Qxc4 Bd6 10. Nc3 O-O 11. a4 {as played in Breyer,
G-Rubinstein,A Gothenburg 1920 only lead to a long, boring draw.}) (7. c4 dxc4
8. Qxc4 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. b3 Nbd7 11. Ba3 {as played in Landau,S-Euwe,M
Amsterdam 1931 had the same result.}) 7... Be7 8. Nf1 O-O 9. Bd2 Ne4 10. c4 c6
11. cxd5 cxd5 12. Rc1 Nc6 13. a3 Qd7 14. Bc3 Rac8 15. N3d2 a6 {So far this has
been the kind of game Jiohn Nunn was thinking about when he called the Colle
innocuous. White could have kept it that way with 16.Ng3} 16. Nxe4 {This is
not good because black now has a space advantage and some attacking
possibilities.} fxe4 $17 17. Qe2 f5 18. f4 {Further weakening his position.
Either 18.Ng3 ot even 18.g3 were called for.} Bh4+ (18... exf3 {was mucj more
advantageous.} 19. gxf3 f4 {and black's advantage borferd on decisive!} 20. Rd1
Rce8 21. Rd3 b5 {black is attacking on all fronts!}) 19. g3 Bf6 20. Rd1 Qf7 {
Black is better here, but if white plays 21.Nd2 making progress will prove
very difficult.} 21. g4 {Technically this is not a good plan; it opens up the
position where black is bvetter placed. Practically speaking though it might
be good idea...black goes astray defending himself so things worked out for
white after all.} Bh4+ 22. Kd2 h6 {...and just like that black's advantage has
disappeared!} (22... Qc7 {With nothing to be done on the K-side at the moment
this move, switching to the Q-side and intending ...Na5-c4 cause white some
consternation.} 23. Ng3 (23. b4 Nxd4) 23... Na5 24. Ke1 {He can run, but he
can't hide...statement attributed to boxer Joe Louis of his challenger Billy
Conn in 1946.} (24. Bxa5 Qxa5+ 25. b4 Qa4 26. Rc1 Qxa3 {and black is winning.})
24... Nc4 25. Rc1 Rf6 26. g5 Rc6 27. Kf2 h6 {White has no usefull moves.}) 23.
Ng3 g6 24. gxf5 gxf5 25. Qg2 Kh7 {So as to be able to challenge white on the
g-file.} 26. Qh3 Be7 27. Rhg1 {[%mdl 32]} b5 28. Rg2 a5 {[%mdl 8192] This is a
gross blunder. Gurnhill has completely underestimated the possibilities in
white's position.} (28... Qf6 {This save the game. Now after...} 29. Rdg1 (29.
Nxf5 {just loses a piece.} Qxf5) 29... Qh4 {and black has avoided all danger.})
29. Rdg1 {Threatening mate with Nxf5!} Qe6 (29... b4 30. Nxf5 $1 {[%mdl 512]}
bxc3+ 31. Ke1 Qf6 32. Rg7+ Kh8 33. R7g6 Qxg6 34. Rxg6 Bh4+ 35. Qxh4 Rf7 36.
Rxh6+ Rh7 37. Rxh7+ Kg8 38. Rg7+ Kf8 39. Qh8#) (29... Rg8 {fails to} 30. Nxf5
Rxg2+ 31. Rxg2 Bf8 32. Nxh6 Bxh6 33. Qxc8 {with a won position.}) 30. Nxf5 {
[%mdl 512] White wants to mate with Rg7+.} Rf6 (30... Rf7 31. Rg6 Qxg6 32. Rxg6
Kxg6 33. Nh4+ Bxh4 (33... Kf6 34. Qxc8) 34. Qxc8 {White is winning.}) (30...
Qxf5 31. Rg7+ Kh8 32. Qxh6+ Qh7 33. Qxh7#) 31. Rg7+ {White mates.} Kh8 32. Qg3
Rxf5 33. Rh7+ {[%mdl 512] Black resigned.} 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment