Wallis Whips Thomas

  

Wallis in 1958

 The Southsea 1949, tournament (the Stevenson Memorial and SCCU Championship) took place from April 13 to 23, 1949, at the Milton Training College in Southsea, England, with Savielly Tartakower winning the premier event. 

    Today’s game was playe don that event. The winner was Philip Norman Wallis (1910-1973), who appears to have been an accountant by profession and published a few books on economic management. During his lifetime he lived all over England ans was a frequent competitor in local events. 

    He is credited as being the first to develop the English Defense (1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6) which was played by several strong English players in the 1970s, including Tony Miles, and even Viktor Korchnoi gave it a try. 

 

 

 

 

[Event "Southsea"] [Site ""] [Date "1949.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "P.N. Wallis"] [Black "Sir George Thomas"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2440"] [BlackElo "2470"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2026.08.14"] {D02: QP Opening} 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Nbd7 4. d4 Ne4 (4... b5 {An ih.nteresting approach.} 5. O-O e6 6. b3 Bb7 7. Nbd2 b4 8. Bb2 c5 {with equality. Aguero Jimenez,L (2420)-Luther,T (2525) Havana CUB 2010}) 5. O-O e6 6. Nbd2 (6. c4 dxc4 7. Qc2 Nd6 8. Ne5 Nb6 9. Nd2 Be7 {White is a bit better, Lutz,A (2153)-Pohle,D (2206) Meran 2009}) 6... Nxd2 7. Nxd2 f5 {Thomas is going to set up a Stonewall formation. In spite of its sollid looking appearance when played either as white or black it never seems to wotk out well because its just to limiting.} 8. c4 {White is better.} c6 9. cxd5 exd5 {Capturing with the other P was no better.} 10. e4 $6 {A volatile move; instead of playing ir safe with 10.Nf3 Wallis attacks black's center in an attempt to tale advantage of his K in the center.} dxe4 11. f3 $1 {Black shpuld now stymie white's idea with 11...e3 and 12...f4} Nf6 (11... exf3 {is a bit too risky.} 12. Nxf3 Be7 13. Qb3 {Black can't castle and he has development problems. Even so, white's attacking chances are minimal.}) 12. fxe4 {[%mdl 32]} Qxd4+ 13. Kh1 Ng4 $2 {[%mdl 8192] Instead of this premature attack black needed to get castled with ...Be7 and ...O-O.} 14. exf5 $1 Nf2+ {Clearly white must now sacrifice the exchange, but how does he follow it up?} 15. Rxf2 $1 Qxf2 16. Qh5+ {Evidently Thomas underestimated the strength of this riposte which leaves him totally at white's mercy.} g6 (16... Kd8 {isn't a bit better.} 17. Nf3 Bd7 18. Bf4 Qc2 (18... Qxb2 19. Rd1 {is clearly fatal for black.}) 19. Qg5+ Kc8 20. f6 Qf5 (20... gxf6 21. Qxf6 Rg8 22. Qe5 {and wins}) 21. fxg7 {wins}) 17. fxg6 Bg7 18. gxh7+ Qf7 {Thomas may have been counting on this, but white has a strong continuation.} 19. Qe2+ $1 Be6 20. Ne4 {[%mdl 32] The N joins the attack.} ({Not} 20. Bh3 {and black weasels oyt of the pin!} Kd7 21. Qd3+ Kc7 {The K has reached safety and the material is equal and so the chances are abput equal/}) 20... O-O-O 21. Ng5 Qf5 22. Nxe6 Rhe8 {White has a number of good moves available!} 23. Bf4 (23. Qf1 Qxf1+ 24. Bxf1 Rxe6 25. Bh3 Kd7 26. Bg5 Rde8 27. Rd1+) (23. Bh6 Bxh6 24. Nxd8 Rxe2 25. h8=Q) 23... Rxe6 24. Qf1 {While technically not nearly as good as 24...Qxh7 this sets a trap into which Wallis falls and it costs him almost all of his advantage!} Bxb2 (24... Qxh7 {Makes things much more difficult for white and therefore was by far the best practical chance.} 25. h4 Bxb2 26. Bh3 Qe4+ 27. Qg2 Qxg2+ 28. Kxg2 Bxa1 29. Bxe6+ Rd7 30. Be3 (30. Bxd7+ Kxd7 {and white cannot win.}) 30... b6 31. Kf3 {In order to win white must activate his K.} c5 32. Ke4 Kd8 33. Bxd7 Kxd7 34. g4 {with his K centralized white can now win the ending.}) 25. Rb1 $2 (25. Bh3 {keeps a winning advantage.} Qd5+ 26. Qg2 Bxa1 27. Qxd5 Rxd5 28. Bxe6+ Rd7 29. h4 Kd8 30. Bxd7 Kxd7 31. g4 {with a won ending.}) 25... Qc2 {[%mdl 8192] Evidently Thomas was not aware that his last move was a trap!} (25... Bf6 26. h4 Qxh7 27. Bh3 Qe4+ 28. Kh2 Rd7 29. Bxe6 Qxe6 {Material is equal and with careful play blackl should be able to stop the advance of white's Ps. here is a sample line...} 30. Qf2 Rd5 31. Re1 Qd7 32. a4 b5 33. axb5 Rxb5 34. Re2 Kb7 35. Qe3 a5 {with a likely draw.}) 26. Re1 Bc3 27. Bh3 {Black resigned.} (27. Bh3 Rd7 (27... Bxe1 28. Bxe6+ Rd7 29. h8=Q#) 28. Rxe6 Kd8 29. Qe1 {mates shortly/}) 1-0