Eight teams with three players each were expected to meet from April 4th to April 10th, but when the start date arrived there was only a British team and a Finnish team present. There was also one player each from Belgium, Denmark and India. There was supposed to be some players from Russia, too, but none of them showed up.
As a result, the three individual players that were in Liverpool were grouped into an "International" team and a short team tournament was held in which Finland defeated both Britain and the International team 2-1. Britain then defeated the International team 3-0 and so tied Finland.
It's not clear why, but when the Russians did arrive there were only two of them. In any case, a tournament was hastily arranged with the fast time limit of 40 moves in two hours because they had to play two games a day.
The two Russians were David Bronstein and Mark Taimanov plus an "interpreter" who could not speak a word of English.
It was no surprise that the Russians won all their games, although Nyren had a drawn position against Bronstein, but he was outplayed in the ending.
The Russians drew against each other, but it wasn't a peaceful one; it was a bitterly contested game. Bronstein avoided a draw by repetition on the fifteenth move and obtained a superior position, but as the time limit approached he found himself in time trouble and Taimanov sacrificed a piece for an attack which gained him a draw by perpetual check, Bronstein having missed a winning line.
How did David Bronstein and Mark Taimanov, who were hardly students, end up playing in what was essentially an amateur students' competition? According to Taimanov's memoirs, Stalin had an interest in chess and the opportunity to bring glory to Russia could not be passed up, so chess authorities chose Grandmaster Bronstein, who had never attended college, and Taimanov who at the at the time was an IM and had already graduated from the Conservatory of Music to play in the tournament and they were ordered to win it.
The following see-saw game from the tournament was a thriller. Little is known of either player. Erkki Rutanen (July 12, 1932 - January 2, 20123, 82 years old) of Helsinki was a psychologist and psychotherapist who was one of the influential figures in Finnish clinical psychology. Nothing is known of his opponent, but according to British player/writer
Gerald Abrahams, the Indian player, Katragadda, "knew as much about
chess as Sultan Khan didn't." That seems a but harsh.
[Event "Liverpool Students Int'l"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1952.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Erkki Rutanen"]
[Black "G. Katragadda"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C36"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[SourceVersionDate "2023.03.31"]
{King's Gambit Accepted} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d5 4. exd5 Bg4 5. Bb5+ (5.
Be2 Bxf3 6. Bxf3 Qh4+ {This shoulkd not lead anywhere.} 7. Kf1 Bd6 8. d4 Nd7 9.
c4 b6 10. Nc3 Ne7 11. Qc2 O-O 12. Ne4 {White has managed to fritter away his
advantage.} Nf5 13. Nxd6 {This is disastrous} Ng3+ 14. Kg1 Nxh1 15. Nf5 {
A final blunder; it's mate after 15...Qe1 so white resigned. Sever,T (1764)
-Guler,E (1532) Antalya 2008}) 5... Nd7 (5... Bd7 6. Qe2+ Qe7 7. Ne5 f6 8. Nxd7
Qxe2+ 9. Bxe2 Nxd7 10. d4 O-O-O {White is better. Lanzani,M (2419)-Manzoni,A
(2115) Bratto 2000}) 6. O-O a6 7. Ba4 (7. Qe1+ Be7 8. Bxd7+ Bxd7 9. c4 Bf5 10.
Qe5 {White is better. Eliassen,E (1507)-Soreng,E (1351) Lysaker 2002}) 7... Bd6
8. c4 Ngf6 9. Re1+ Be7 10. d4 O-O 11. Bxf4 Bd6 (11... b5 {is more active and
would have allowed black to keep the position equal.} 12. cxb5 Nxd5 13. Bg3 Bb4
{with an active position.}) 12. Bg5 {Giving black a weak P with 12.Bxd6 would
have given him a slight advantage.} h6 {He still should have played 12...b4!}
13. Bh4 g5 14. Bf2 Kg7 {After this black finds himself subjected to a vigorous
attack.} (14... b5 {was still the move!} 15. Bc2 bxc4 16. h3 Bh5 17. g4 {
Now black's best practical try is} Nxg4 18. hxg4 Bxg4 19. Nbd2 Qf6 {and hope
for the best.}) 15. Qd3 (15. c5 {packs a wallop!} Bf4 16. Nc3 b5 17. Bb3 b4 18.
Ne2 Bxf3 19. gxf3 Nh5 20. Ng3 {White's advantage should prove decisive. He
will play Qd3 and Bc2.}) 15... Bxf3 {Have I mentioned that black needs to play
...b5?} 16. gxf3 {This is the wrong way to recapture; taking with the Q was
correct.} c6 {[%mdl 8192] At the risk of repeating myself, 16...b5 would have
kept black in the game.} (16... b5 {and Black is okay.} 17. Bc2 (17. cxb5 Nb6
18. Bc2 axb5 19. Nc3 Qd7 20. Qxb5 Qh3 {and black has equalized.}) 17... bxc4
18. Qf5 Nb6 19. Nc3 Qd7 {and it's actually black that stands slightly better.})
17. c5 {With this white gains a decisive advantage.} Bf4 18. d6 Nd5 19. Qf5
N7f6 20. Qh3 {This passive move loses much of his advantage. Completing
development with 20.Nc3 was better.} Qd7 {This offer to exchange Qs should
lose quickly.} (20... Qa5 21. Bb3 Be3 22. Nc3 Bxf2+ 23. Kxf2 Rae8 {keeps black
in the game.}) 21. Qg2 {White can't afford another passive move. Now the
position is back to complete equality!} (21. Qxd7 Nxd7 22. Nc3 N7f6 23. Nxd5
Nxd5 24. Bb3 Nf6 25. Re7 {and white is in complete control.}) 21... Kh8 {
Black plans on opening up the g-file for an attack, but his prospects of
successfully getting at white's K are pretty slim.} 22. Na3 {Wrong square. 22.
Nc3 is the right one.} g4 23. Bh4 {[%mdl 8192] This should have lost the game.
Getting the K off the file with the Q with 23.Kh1 would have left him in good
shape.} (23. Kh1 Rg8 24. Nc4 Qf5 25. Ne5 Qh5 26. fxg4 Nxg4 27. Bd1 Nxf2+ (27...
Bxe5 28. Rxe5) 28. Qxf2 {and the game is essentially over.}) 23... gxf3 {
[%mdl 8192] Missing his chance, but it's hard to criticize his move. Play
after the correct 23...Rg8 would be impossible to calculate OTB!} (23... Rg8 {
and now the threat of ...gxf3 forces...} 24. Kh1 Nh5 (24... gxf3 25. Qxf3 {
and white is out of danger.}) 25. Nc4 (25. Rg1 g3 26. hxg3 Rxg3 27. Bxg3 Nxg3+
28. Kh2 Ne4+ 29. Kh1 Nf2+ {wins}) 25... g3 26. h3 b5 {THAT move again!} 27. Nb6
Nxb6 28. Re7 bxa4 {Brilliant!! Black get more than enough compensation for the
Q.} 29. Rxd7 Nxd7 30. Rg1 (30. Re1 Rae8 31. Re4 Rxe4 32. fxe4 Be3 33. d5 Nf4
34. Qf3 g2+ 35. Kh2 g1=Q#) 30... Nf8 31. Be7 Ng6 32. Re1 Rae8 33. Re4 Nxe7 34.
dxe7 Rg7 {White has no constructive moves.} 35. Kg1 f5 36. Re2 Rgxe7 37. Rxe7
Rxe7 38. Kf1 Nf6 39. h4 Nd5 40. Qg1 Rg7 41. Ke2 g2 42. b3 axb3 43. axb3 Be3 44.
Qa1 g1=Q) 24. Qxf3 Rg8+ 25. Kh1 {This is the right square!} (25. Kf1 {would
lose!} Ng4 26. Re2 Nge3+ 27. Ke1 Rg1+ {and black wins.}) 25... Rg4 (25... Qg4 {
was somewhat better.} 26. Qxg4 Rxg4 27. Bxf6+ Nxf6 28. Re2 Rh4 29. Rae1 {
White is better, but black can fight on.}) 26. Re7 {[%mdl 8192] This rates two
question marks.} (26. Bxf6+ {keeps a significant advantage. For example...}
Nxf6 27. Nc4 Rh4 28. Re2 Rg8 29. Ne5 {Black can do no damage on the K-side and
white is in full control.}) 26... Rxh4 {And wins...you would think. Black gets
way more than enough for the Q.} 27. Rxd7 (27. Re2 Ng4 {All white can di is
delay mate (in 11 moves), not avoid it.} 28. Bxc6 bxc6 29. Qg2 Nxh2 30. Kg1
Be3+ 31. Rxe3 Nxe3 32. Qg3 Rg8 33. Qxg8+ Kxg8 34. Kf2 Qf5+ 35. Kxe3 Qf3+ 36.
Kd2 Rxd4+ 37. Kc2 Qd3+ 38. Kc1 Qd1#) 27... Rxh2+ {Black has a mate in 11 moves.
} 28. Kg1 Rg8+ 29. Kf1 Be3 {This move misses the mate and throws away almost
all of black's advantage.} (29... Ne3+ {mates} 30. Qxe3 Bxe3 31. Rd8 Rxd8 32.
d7 Nh5 33. Ke1 Nf4 34. Bb5 cxb5 35. Kd1 Rd2+ 36. Ke1 Nd3+ 37. Kf1 Rg8 38. d8=Q
Rf2#) 30. Rd8 Ne8 {[%mdl 8192] This move simply cannot be explained except
that black was probably thinking of playing ...Rg8#, but he has apparently
suffered an hallucination.} (30... Rxd8 31. Nc2 Bg5 32. Re1 Rh4 33. Ke2 Rf4 34.
Qg2 Rg8 {and black stands very well. He has more than enough compensation for
the Q.}) 31. Rxe8 Rxe8 32. Re1 Rg8 33. Rxe3 {Perhaps in his calculations black
missed the fact that the B is missing and he can't play ...Rg8} Nxe3+ 34. Qxe3
Rh1+ 35. Ke2 {Black resigned.} 1-0
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