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Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Hiong Liong Tan

     Shortly before the Hastings Christmas Tournament of 1962/63 began the US and Cuba reached an agreement to release the Bay of Pigs captives that were held in Cuba after President John F. Kennedy's bungled backing of the invasion. 
     In Ohio, the state ended its lawsuit against the Cincinnati Reds baseball team when they agreed to stay in Cincinnati for 10 years. They're still in town. 
     The team was the target of an interesting lawsuit back in 2017. They were sued by a woman and her husband after she took a foul ball to the face two years previously and it resulted in a concussion, dental injuries causing loss of teeth and resulting in surgery, headaches, right hip sprain, severe pain and suffering, incurred medical expenses, lost wages and "sustained a loss of the enjoyment of life.” 
     She claimed that the team knew or should have known of the risk of injury to fans caused by foul balls. The suit was voluntarily dismissed. With good reason...ticket holders assume all risks incidental to the game, including, but not limited to, the risk of objects leaving the field of play, including bats and bat fragments and thrown or batted balls. 
      Before the Hastings tournament ended on January 5th there were three college football games in the US: in the Rose Bowl, Southern California beat Wisconsin, 42-37; in the Sugar Bowl, Mississippi beats Arkansas, 17-13; and in the Orange Bowl, Alabama beat Oklahoma, 17-0. No game was played in the Toilet Bowl in Flushing, New York
     The Christmas of 1962 was the last one I would spend at my parents home until 1967 due to military service as a Navy Corpsman serving with the Marines. 
     The 38th Hastings Christmas Congress was held from December 27, 1962 to January 5, 1963. Two foreign competitors were untitled but promising young players, Hiong Liong Tan (aka Tan Hoan Liong or H.L. Tan) from Indonesia and Drazen Marovic from Yugoslavia. 
 
     The tournament began inauspiciously when icy roads prevented some players from arriving on time and a couple of games had to be postponed. Marovic had a promising start and was in contention for first, but he finished with with three draws against players in the bottom half (Tan, Hollis, and Van Seters) and ended up in fourth place. 
     Hiong Liong Tan (1938-2009) was an Indonesian-Dutch master who was the first Indonesian and one of the first Asian chess players to hold the IM title. 
     Tan moved from Indonesia to Amsterdam in 1956 to finish high school, after which he went to study Insurance Mathematics. His first foray in chess was a 31 move loss in one of Botvinnik's simultaneous games in 1958. 
     He played for Indonesia (4th board) in the 1960 Leipzig Olympiad and won an individual gold medal (+14 –1 =5). He won the Dutch Championship in 1961 by defeating GM Jan Hein Donner in the process. Then in 1962, he was co-winner (with Moshe Czerniak) of the IBM international tournament at Amsterdam. He was awarded the IM title in 1963 after scoring 7.5-9.5 at Hoogovens. Tan also had a dan rank (ranks for advanced amateur players) in Go. 
     The 1962/63 Hastings tournament was Tan's last because not long after he was hospitalized for schizophrenia and alcohol addiction. His parents came and escorted him back to Indonesia where he initially lived in a clinic. After his parents' death, he returned to his birthplace of Bogor, where his family had built him a house. 
     His opponent in the Following game was the British player A.S. Hollis (1940-2013). Hollis was a distinguished classical scholar and during his academic career his research focused mainly on Hellenistic and Roman poetry In chess he was an English correspondence GM (title awarded in 1976). He was British Correspondence Chess Champion in 1966 (jointly), 1967, and 1971. In 1982-87 he won the Ninth Correspondence Chess Olympiad, and in 1998 the World Postal Championship as a member of the British team.

H.L. Tan - Adrian S. Hollis

Result: 1-0

Site: Hastings

Date: 1962/63

Gruenfeld Defense

[...] 1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 g6 3.♘c3 d5 4.♗f4 For players who do not wish to take on the complexities of the Exchange Variation, this move, which was popular in the 1930s is considered a safe continuation. White hopes to gain the initiative on the Q-side. In my database it scores almost identical to the Exchange Variation (4.cxd5). If white is looking for something more enterprising he might try 4.Qb3 or even 4.Qa4 4...♗g7 5.e3 O-O 6.♕b3 Not often played, but this move scores better than the more popular 6.Rc1 or 6.Nf3 6...c6 7.♘f3 ♕a5 8.♘d2 ♘a6
8...♘bd7 is normal. 9.cxd5 ♘xd5 10.♗g3 ♘xc3 11.bxc3 b6 12.♗c4 ♗a6 13.O-O c5 with equal chances. Beliavsky,A (2652) -Eljanov,P (2561)/Bled 2002
9.♗e2
9.♗e5 was somewhat better. 9...♗e6 Very bad! Correct was 9...Rd8 10.♕xb7 ♕b4 11.♕xb4 ♘xb4 12.O-O-O ♘g4 13.♗g3 White is much better, but he managed to lose the game. Giorgadze,T (2530) -Romanishin,O (2595)/Yerevan 1981
9...♕b4 10.♗e5 dxc4 11.♕c2 b5 12.a4 Threatening 13.axb5 attacking the N 12...♕a5 13.O-O ♘b4 14.♕d1 ♕b6 15.b3 Instead of this methof of attacking black's Ps it would have been better to play 15.Bf3 15...cxb3 16.♕xb3 a5 17.axb5 cxb5 18.♗xb5 ♗e6 19.♗c4 Is black's a-Pawn strong or weak? In Shootouts white scored +0 -1 =4. In any case, in this complicated position Hollis now errs by not playing 19...Nd7! 19...♖fc8 20.♘a4 ♕c6 21.♗xe6 fxe6 (21...♕xe6 22.♕xe6 fxe6 23.♘b6) 22.♘c5
22.♖ac1 also would have given white a very strong position. 22...♕d5 23.♖c4 ♖xc4 24.♘xc4 ♕c6 25.♘c5 ♘bd5 26.e4
22...♘fd5 This causes further problems for black.
22...♘d7 was better as after 23.♘xe6 ♘xe5 24.♘c7+ ♘f7 25.♘xa8 ♖xa8 black is still able to put up a fight.
23.♗xg7 ♔xg7 24.♘f3 ♘c7 25.e4 ♘ba6 26.♖xa5 ♘xc5 27.♖xc5 ♕xe4 In spite of the equal material black's game is untenable. 28.♘g5 ♕f4 29.g3 (29.♘xe6+ ♘xe6 30.♕xe6 ♖e8 leaves white with a more difficult task.) 29...♕d6 30.♖fc1 h6 31.♘f3 Black has no satisfactory defense against white playing his N to e5 threatening mate beginning with Qxg6+ 31...♖cb8 32.♕c2 ♘a6 33.♘e5 Black resigned. A forceful finish by Tan. (33.♘e5 ♘xc5 34.♕xg6+ mates next move.)
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