Williams Wallops Wyvill

     In May 1851, London staged the Great Exhibition to showcase British technology and the metropolis' chess community felt obliged to do something similar and so Britain's leading player, Howard Staunton, took the lead in organizing the first international tournament. It was the first time the best players in Europe met in a single event. 

     There was also a "London Provincial Tournament" for British players who were not strong enough to be invited to play in the International Tournament. 

     In addition to the tournament, Staunton and other players wanted to meet to standardize rules, notation and set time limits. This last was a major problem because some players were notorious for just out-sitting their opponents. Staunton also suggested publishing an opening book with the moves in the form of a table. 

     Before the tournament a couple of columnists proposed that the winner should be regarded as the World Champion, but there was never any indication that crowning a world champion was an official objective. 

     The tournament was a knock-out event with sixteen of Europe's best players. Unfortunately many of the invitees were unable to play. Some of the better players absent were Pierre Saint-Amant, Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa, Alexander Petrov and Carl Jaenisch. 

     Saint-Amant was in far away California. He had been sent there by the French government as a diplomat following the state's independence from Mexico during the California Gold Rush. 

     Also missing was Thomas Buckle who was considered to be second only to Staunton among British players. A number of other British players were missing as a result of a dispute with the London Chess Club, most notably Daniel Harrwitz and George Walker. 

     Adolf Anderssen was reluctant to accept his invitation because of the travel expenses, but Staunton offered to pay Anderssen's travel expenses out of his own pocket if necessary, should Anderssen fail to win any prize money. Anderssen accepted Staunton's offer. 

     The first round pairings were made by lot and the eight losers in the first round, which consisted of a best-of-three games with draws not counting, were eliminated. Subsequent rounds were best-of-seven, and losers played consolation matches. 

     Immediately after the tournament Staunton challenged Anderssen to a twenty-one-game match for a 100 pound stake. Anderssen agreed to the match, but could not play right away as he had been away from his job as a school teacher for over two months. In addition Staunton was having physical problems. As a result, the match was never played. 

     His win resulted in Anderssen being recognized as Europe's best player and Staunton was bitter; he blamed his failure to win the strain of organizing the event and a weak heart. Staunton also condemned chess as a profession even though the bulk of his income was derived from chess. 

     It should be mentioned that the famous Anderssen vs Kieseritzky, the famous Immortal Game, was an offhand game played at the venue, but it was not played in the tournament. 

     In one of the lesser known games from the event Elijah Williams (1809-1854) defeats Marmaduke Wyvill (1815-1896) in a pretty game. At London, Williams defeated Lowenthal and Staunton before losing to Wyvill. Wyvill, a Member of Parliament, finished 2nd in the tournament. 

[Event "London"] [Site ""] [Date "1851.06.??"] [Round "3.1"] [White "Elijah Williams"] [Black "Marmaduke Wyvill"] [Result "*"] [ECO "B21"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "1851.??.??"] {Sicilian Defense} 1. e4 c5 2. f4 {Originally known as the McDonnell Attack which comes from the McDonnell vs. de La Bourdonnais match played in London in 1834, today it's known as the Grand Prix Attack. The usual way of reaching it today is to first play 2.Nc3.} e6 3. Nf3 g6 4. e5 (4. d4 Bg7 {Better was either 4...d5 or 4...cxd4} 5. Nc3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Ne7 7. Be3 Bxd4 8. Qxd4 O-O 9. O-O-O f5 10. e5 Nbc6 11. Qd2 Qa5 12. Kb1 a6 13. Bc4 b5 14. Bb3 Kh8 15. Qf2 Rb8 16. Rd6 Qc7 17. Rhd1 a5 18. a4 b4 19. Nb5 {Black resigned. Bisguier,A (2237) -Merlin,A Parsipanny 2009}) 4... Nh6 5. b3 Nc6 6. Bb5 Ne7 7. Nc3 a6 {A tactical oversight. Correct was 7...Bg7, but white's position is preferable thanks to his spatial advantage.} 8. Ne4 {White is better. There is no really satisfactory way for black to meet this move.} Bg7 9. Nd6+ Kf8 10. Be2 Nhf5 11. Ne4 {This is better than trading Ns. As it is, at some point black's N will have to vacate f5 with a loss of time and in the meantime, white's N remains well placed.} b6 {Black underestimates the strength of white's next move or else he would have played 11...h5 trying to maintain the N on f5.} (11... h5 12. Nxc5 {OK, so black givens up a P, but he gains some measure of freedom.} d6 13. Ne4 b5 {and black is getting developed and white can only claim to be slightly better.}) 12. d3 {Too passive...the position calls for aggressive play.} (12. g4 {drives the N away and after} Nd4 13. Nxd4 Bb7 14. Bf3 cxd4 15. Ba3 Kg8 16. h4 Nd5 17. Nd6 {white has a very nice position. There's no clear forced win, but black's carmped position would require careful defense.}) 12... d5 {[%mdl 32] Driving the N back and gaining control of the important square d6.} 13. Nf2 (13. exd6 Nd5 14. Ne5 Nfe3 {and it's now black's Ns that dominate. } 15. Bxe3 Nxe3 16. Qd2 Nxg2+ {and the N can safely get back by ...Nh4-f5}) 13... d4 {A sudden turn of events has left white cramped.} 14. g4 {Safer would have been 14.O-O then just trying to hang on, but instead Williams chooses to play aggressively and it pays off.} Nh6 {The N is misplaced here and white seizes the initiative.} (14... Ne3 {Wyvill may have avoided this thinking the P on e3 would he vulnerable.} 15. Bxe3 dxe3 16. Ne4 {However, after} Nd5 { white can't defend the f-Pawn.} 17. Qc1 Nxf4 18. Rg1 (18. Qxe3 Ng2+) 18... Nd5 {with a vastly superior position.}) 15. Ng5 Nd5 16. Nfe4 f6 {This only weakens his Ks position. The ugly retreat 16...Ng8 was best.} 17. exf6 Bxf6 18. O-O Kg7 19. Nxf6 Qxf6 20. Bf3 {In spite of everything, black's position, while inferior, is still defensible. However, his next move placing the B on an undefended square is illadvised. Moving the R from potential attack with 20... Ra7 would have been a wee bit better.} Bb7 21. Qe1 Rae8 22. Bd2 Rhf8 23. Qh4 Rh8 24. Rae1 Ng8 {It's hard to see how, but this move turns out to be the losing move.} (24... Nf7 {is tougher, but even then black has no way to equalize! One possibility is} 25. Qh3 Nxf4 {Winning the P does not help.} ( 25... Kg8 26. Qg3 Ba8 27. h4 h6 28. Ne4 {and black is facing insurmountable difficulties.}) 26. Bxf4 Qxf4 27. Nxf7 Qxf7 28. Bc6 Qe7 29. Bxe8 {with a decisive advantage.}) 25. Qg3 h6 26. Ne4 Qd8 27. f5 {Cracking open the Ks position.} exf5 28. gxf5 g5 29. Nxg5 {[%mdl 512]} hxg5 30. Bxg5 Rh3 {Well played! It hardly saves the game, but it was worth a shot.} 31. Bf6+ {[%mdl 512] A problem-like finish.} (31. Qxh3 Qxg5+ 32. Qg3 Qxg3+ 33. hxg3 Rf8 34. g4 {White ahs a R+2Ps vs 2Ns and should win with little difficulty, but at least black has some hope however forlorn it might be.}) 31... Kxf6 32. Qg6# *