According to Purdy, Watson was one of those players whose tactics were far superior to their strategy. Watson studied chess books, but he never bothered with general principles and preferred to revel in sheer calculation. Purdy speculated that he probably whipped through a dozen variations almost every move and saw far more, and far more quickly, than most of his opponents. Purdy added that he still had a plus score over Watson in their individual encounters, mostly because Purdy, as he put it, "...had some faith in principles, and discarded quickly many of the lines Watson took the trouble to calculate out for many moves ahead."
Purdy concluded that because Watson despised general principles he suffered for it. According to Purdy, the moral is that even though seeing tactics is absolutely essential, studying strategy is beneficial and is of practical value in that it will often save a lot of time on the clock. Purdy suggested that he looked at fewer lines than Watson, but discovered sounder ones sooner than he did.
Charles Gilbert Marriott Watson (October 22, 1878 – March 5, 1961) was an Australian national chess champion. Born in Buninyong, he started playing chess with his father at the age of 10 and, also, at the local club. He later joined the Melbourne Chess Club, winning the Melbourne Chess Club championship for the first time in 1898, then in 1902, 1904, 1905, 1914, 1921, 1931 and 1936. He won the Australian Championship in 1922 and a second time in 1931.
Watson only played one international tournament, and was soon overshadowed by younger players like Purdy, Koshnitsky, Steiner and so he is unknown outside of Australia and even there, his career wallows in obscurity. Watson retired from chess many times, but always reappeared and was known for his uncanny ability to win lost games.
He competed in the championship of the province of Victoria 12 times, won it on his first attempt in 1898 and last won it in 1936.
When he won the Australian championship in 1922 the British Chess Federation had reserved a place for the winner of the Australian title in the International Masters tournament to be held later that year. The 1922 London International Congress, won by Capablanca ahead of Alekhine and Vidmar, was Watson's only international tournament. He finished 15th out of 16, scoring +4 -10 =11.. However, he did mange to defeat many time British Champion H.E Atkins and Richard Reti in a 92-move ending.
Watson also had a brief soccer career and 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.
The following game, plated in the 1945 Australian Championship (won by Lajos Steiner), has been described as worthy of Tal. I have to admit that when I saw 10...h4 it left me flummoxed! In the Dragon isn't white supposed to storm the K-side while black seeks counterplay on the Q-side? In this game we see black attacking on the K-side while white is reduced to passive defense. Tinkering around with Stockfish didn't yield any refutation to Watson's idea though and his play, if not perfect, was still admirable.
Watson’s opponent, Stefan “azare (1909-19991, 82 years old) was born Lazar Suchowolski in Bialystok, Poland and moved to France in 1927 where he studied Mathematics at Besancon University. He changed his name to Stefan Lazare when he arrived in Melbourne, Australia in June 1939.
[Event "Australian Champ, Sydney"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1945.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Stefan Lazare"]
[Black "Charles Watson"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B72"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "1945.09.03"]
{B72: Sicilian Dragon} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6.
Be2 {Lazare chooses the older Classical Variation.} Bg7 7. Be3 {In Starting
Out: The Sicilian Dragon, author Andrew Martin calls this the traditional way
of handling the variation.} Nc6 8. Nb3 {Although it’s not absolutely
essential, white generally avoids allowing black to exchange on d4.} Be6 9. f4
{My opening book shows black has played 9 different moves here, but 9...Qc8 is,
by far, the most populr.} h5 {This might be called caveman chess. It weakens
the K-side, but hinders the advance of white’s g-Pawn.} (9... Qc8 10. h3 a5
11. a4 Nb4 12. O-O O-O {us about equal. Vuckovic,A (2325)-Berndt,S (2438) BL
0405 SFR Neukölln - Stuttgart 2004}) 10. h3 {To play g4.} h4 {Played to stop
g4, but it’s still not possible for white to play it, so 10...h4 seems
unnecessary. But as subsequent play shows, the P on h4 presents white with
some problems. 10...a6 getting his Q-side counterplay going is more natural
looking, but Watson continues his operations on the K-side.} (10... a6 11. O-O
(11. g4 hxg4) 11... b5 12. Bf3 Qc7 13. Qd2 Rc8 {White;s position is the more
active. Pytlakowski,A-Gadalinski,J Warsaw 1947}) 11. O-O Qc8 12. Kh2 Nh5 {
This game is rather unusual for a Dragon because it’s black who is
conducting operations on the K-side, not white. White probably wisely chooses
to eliminate the pesky N, but he could also have tried 13.f5.} 13. Bxh5 Rxh5 {
It's not obvious nowm but this R is destined to play an important role in the
future.} 14. Rb1 {Very passive, but oddly there is no way for black to
establish dominance here.} (14. f5 {seems a natural move. Obviously ...gxf5
leaves the R hanging.} Bc4 15. Rf2 Bxc3 16. bxc3 Ne5 17. Nd4 {with a
complicated position in which the chances are equal.}) 14... Bc4 {[%mdl 2048]}
15. Rf2 f5 16. exf5 Qxf5 17. Nd4 {Lazare has managed to fend off black’s
attack and has even managed to keep the game even. Watson decides to keep
possession of his minor pieces rather than to trade them on d4 which would
leave him with nothing at all.} Qf7 18. b3 Bd5 {Preventing Ne4} 19. Nxd5 {
This is wrong on principle. It’s rarely a good idea to allow your opponent
to pin a piece. Plus, Watson now gets his R into play and his attention is now
on the d4 square. Cirrect was 19.Ncb5! giving black something to think about.}
(19. Ncb5 Kf8 20. c4 Be4 21. Rbb2 Rd8 22. Rbd2 {and now white stands a bit
better.}) 19... Rxd5 20. c3 Nxd4 21. cxd4 {An unreasonable reply. He should
have recaptured with the B.} Rc8 22. Rc1 Rxc1 23. Qxc1 {All the tactical stuff
of the last few moves is over and white is left defending his d-Pawn, plus his
B is bad.} Qe6 24. Qc3 Kf8 {The reason for this move is not clear. 24...Qe4
would have put more pressure on white/} 25. Rf3 Bf6 26. a4 b6 27. Bf2 Kg7 28.
Qc7 {Fortunately for white his active Q assures that he is still in the game
and is no longer in any danger.} g5 {Rather than calmly defend the a-Pawn with
28...Ra4 Watson continues attacking and Lazare soon goes wrong.} 29. fxg5 {
This is by no means bad, but 29. Qxa7 probably draws. White will eventually
get as outside passed Ps and he would have almost no losing chances.} Bxd4 30.
Bxh4 {[%mdl 8192] This loses. The temptation to have a gob of passed Ps on the
K-side is just too much, but exchanging on d4 was the best way to go.} (30.
Bxd4+ Rxd4 31. Rf1 Qe5+ 32. Kg1 Qe3+ 33. Kh1 Qe2 34. Rg1 Rd1 35. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 36.
Kh2 Qe1 37. Qxa7 Qg3+ {draws}) 30... Rc5 31. Qb7 (31. Qxa7 {makes no
difference.} Rc1 {White has no reasonable move.} 32. Bg3 Bg1+ {wins}) 31...
Be5+ {Wason finally makes a serious error n choosing the wrong move order.} (
31... Rc1 {leaves white with no defense/} 32. Bf2 Qe5+ 33. g3 Rc2 {wins}) 32.
Bg3 {Now the win is, or should have been, gone!} Rc1 33. Qa8 (33. Qxa7 {
loses to} Bxg3+ 34. Rxg3 Qe1 35. Rd3 Qe5+ 36. Rg3 Rc3) 33... Bxg3+ {This move
may be obvious, but it involves a trap into which Lazare falls.} 34. Rxg3 {
[%mdl 8192] The threat of Qf8+ is removed and white traps his own K. As
mentioned in the note to move 19, walking into a pin is often not good.} (34.
Kxg3 {This keeps things even, but also leads to some complicated play.} Qe1+ {
This looks scary for the white K, but it will actually be quite safe on its
journey} 35. Kg4 Qe6+ 36. Rf5 Rf1 {Another pin, but this time white can escape.
} 37. Qf8+ Kh7 38. Qh6+ {draws} Qxh6 39. gxh6 Rg1 40. Rf2 Kxh6 {It's likely
that the game would eventually be drawn.}) 34... Qe1 35. Rf3 {Renewing the
threat of Qf8+, but it's too late.} Qe5+ {Forcing another pin on the R, but
this time there is no way out.} 36. Rg3 Rc3 {White resigned} 0-1
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