Milner-Barry Wallops Ritson-Morry

 

     Britain declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. On December 9th Corporal Thomas Priday became the first soldier of the British Expeditionary Force killed when he triggered a French land mine. 

     Three days later, on December 12th, an escorting destroyer HMS Duchess, sunk after a collision with battleship HMS Barham in heavy fog with the loss of 124 men. 

     On December 13th the Battle of the River Plate took place between HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax, HMNZS Achilles and the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, forcing the latter to be scuttled a few days later. 

     On December 18th, the Battle of the Heligoland Bight took place when the Royal Air Force made a daylight mission to attack German ships in the Heligoland Bight, but they were repulsed by Luftwaffe fighters. 

     Despite the effects of war with its blackouts and rationing there was still considerable chess activity in England. The National Chess Centre was opened in London in December of 1939, albeit on a smaller scale than had originally been hoped for, but it had 360 members. The National Chess Centre's advertisement stated the club had a “Large and well-appointed Air Raid Shelter on the premises." 

     The Centre got off to a good start by staging an invitational tournament in Hampstead that had a good entry. Hampstead is an affluent residential community to the north of London that has meadows and woodlands and has long favored by academics, artists and media figures. 

 

     Not many games from this long forgotten tournament are available, but below is one of them. William Ritson-Morry (September 5, 1910 – January 8, 1994, 83 years old) was British Correspondence Champion in 1942 and was responsible for conceiving the idea of a World Junior Championship. The first such event was held in Birmingham, England in 1951. It was won by Borislav Ivkov of Yugoslavia. 

     Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry (September 20, 1906 – March 25, 1995, 88 years old) worked in the British Civil Service and was never able to devote all his time to chess. He was part of the team that worked at Bletchley Park, alongside famed cryptanalyst and mathematician Alan Turing and British players C.H.O’D. Alexander and Harry Golombek cracking the German Enigma codes. After the war he worked for the Treasury and in 1954 he was promoted to Assistant Secretary and then to an under-secretary. 

     The other player who tied for first, Imre Konig (1901-1992, 91 years old) was born in Gyula, then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. After the First World War he became a Yugoslav citizen. In 1938 he emigrated to England and became a naturalized citizen in 1949. However, in 1953 he moved to the San Francisco area in California. 

     What I like about the following game is the way Milner-Barry ruthlessly mopped up after Ritson-Morry mistakenly opened up the K-side and allowed black’s pieces to invade down the h-file and use the e5 square to penetrate into the guts of white’s position. 

[Event "Hampstead Invitational"] [Site "?"] [Date "1939.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "W. Ritson-Morry"] [Black "P.S. Milner-Barry"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "1939.??.??"] {Nimzo-Indian} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 O-O 6. Qc2 d6 7. e4 e5 (7... Nc6 8. Bd3 e5 9. Ne2 b6 10. O-O Nd7 11. f4 f6 {favors white. Hirneise,J (2277)-Escalona Landi,S (2218) chess.com INT 2023}) 8. Bd3 c5 9. d5 (9. Ne2 Nc6 10. d5 Ne7 11. f3 Nd7 12. h4 Nb6 13. g4 {with good arracking chances. Capablanca,J-Ragozin,V Moscow 1935}) 9... Re8 {This serves no real purpose and limits black's prospects.} (9... Nh5 {is more active.} 10. Ne2 Qf6 11. f3 Nf4 12. Bxf4 exf4 13. Qd2 Qh4+ {White is only slightly better.}) 10. Ne2 Nbd7 11. f3 Nh5 12. Be3 Qf6 13. Qd2 {This prevents ...Nf4} h6 14. Ng3 {After previously preventing it, white now wrongly allows black to play ...Nf4} (14. O-O g5 15. g3 {with equal chances.}) 14... Nf4 15. Bxf4 {This is wrong because the N gets a good outpost on e5 and black's K-side attacking chances gain momentum. Keep an eye on this e5 square! It's occupation will prove of great importance. White keeps the balance with 15.h4} exf4 16. Ne2 Ne5 17. O-O-O { The K heads for the safety of the Q-side...but is it really safe there?} (17. Nxf4 {is met by} Qxf4 18. Qxf4 Nxd3+) 17... g5 18. h4 Kg7 19. Rh2 Bd7 20. Rf1 ( 20. Rdh1 Rh8 21. Kb1 {Oddly, white cannot afford multiple exchanges by opening the h-file.} (21. hxg5 hxg5 22. Rxh8 Rxh8 23. Rxh8 Kxh8 24. Kc2 Qh6 25. Qe1 Ba4+ 26. Kb2 Nxd3+ {wins}) 21... Rag8 {After some cat and mouse maneuvering black will find making progress difficult. FOr example...} 22. Ka2 Kf8 23. Rb1 b6 24. Rbh1 Ng6 25. h5 Ne5) 20... Rh8 21. g3 {This opens up the position and leaves white lost. Shuffling his K with 21.Kb1 and awaiting developments was a reasonable alternative as it would force black to try and figure out a way to break through.} fxg3 22. hxg5 (22. Nxg3 {wasn't any better.} Nxd3+ 23. Qxd3 Qf4+ 24. Qd2 Qxg3 25. hxg5 Bh3 26. gxh6+ Rxh6 27. Rff2 Rg6 28. Kb2 Rh8 29. Kb3 Qg1 {Black is making inroads into white's position and the result will prove fatal.} 30. a4 Qb1+ 31. Qb2 (31. Ka3 Bf1) 31... Rg1 32. Qxb1 Rxb1+ 33. Kc2 Re1 34. Kd2 (34. a5 Ra1) 34... Ra1 {etc.}) 22... hxg5 23. Rxh8 Rxh8 {White is now totally lost. All that's left is for Milner-Barry to mop up which he does with great efficiency} 24. f4 g2 25. Rd1 Nf3 26. fxg5 Qe5 27. Qe3 g1=Q 28. Nxg1 Qxc3+ {The arrival of the Q will cause havoc to white's position.} 29. Kb1 Qb3+ 30. Kc1 Qxa3+ 31. Kb1 Qb3+ 32. Kc1 Rh2 33. Ne2 Ba4 34. Rf1 Ne5 {Black mates. Notice the role e5 has played for the N and the Q.} 35. Kd2 Qb2+ 36. Ke1 Qb4+ { White resigned.} (36... Qb4+ 37. Nc3 Qxc3+ 38. Qd2 Qxd2#) 0-1