Friday, February 8, 2019

Bournemouth 1939

     I just noticed that for unknown reasons all the games posted in this blog from 2012 and earlier have disappeared! I don’t know what the problem could be...Blogger or Knight Vision. For some reason even on the website games posted using Knight Vision have begun appearing only in the mobile view without notes. Not that it matters because Knight Vision uses Adobe Flash which will quit working next year. See article. Thankfully, we have Caissa's Web! On to Bournemouth...
     1939 was a fateful year for Great Britain as the country began gearing up for war. In April, the Military Training Act introduced conscription men aged 20 and 21 had to undertake six months military training. Then in June there was the Tientsin Incident when the Imperial Japanese Army blockaded British trading settlements in the north China treaty port of Tientsin. The Women's Auxiliary Air Force was created and in July the Women's Land Army was re-formed to work in agriculture. 
     In late August, Army reservists were called up and Civil Defense workers placed on alert and the Royal Navy proceeded to war stations. Beginning in September Operation Pied Piper, a 4-day evacuation of children from London and other major U.K. cities began and blackouts were imposed all across Britain. And, finally, on September 3 Nazi Germany declared war on Great Britain. 

     
     In the midst of it all, in mid-August the British Chess Federation Congress at Bournemouth was held. But, with the war being so close the British Championship was not at stake. Also, at the same time Harry Golombek, C.H.O’D. Alexander, Sir George Thomas, P.S. Milner-Barry and B.H. Wood were all competing in the Buenos Aires Olympiad so the men’s championship was scrapped. 


1) Euwe 9.0-2.0 
2-3) Flohr and Klein 8.5-2.5 
4-5) Komig and Landau 6.5-4.5 
6) Conde 6.0-5.0 
7-8) Aitken and Wallis 5.0-6.0 
9) Thomas 4.5-6.5 
10) Mieses 3.5-7.5 
11) Kitto 2.0-9.0 
12 Abrahams 1.0-10.0 
William Winter withdrew in the last minute and was replaced by P.N. Wallis. The concurrent British Women's Championship was won by 13-year-old Elaine Saunders Pritchard, who had nine wins and two draws. 

     The unfortunate Gerald Abrahams won a single game, against Mieses. Abrahams was a rather wayward player who like unconventional openings and in the following game it cost him a point against Euwe. Gerald Abrahams was an author and barrister. He is best known for the Abrahams Defense of the Semi-Slav, also known as the Abrahams–Noteboom Variation, or the Noteboom Variation. He was also known for his prowess at playing blindfold. I did a post on Abrahams HERE

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