Reginald P. Michell, British Master

`The big event yesterday was the total solar eclipse and my city was right on the centerline of the zone of totality. It lasted from about 2:00pm until 4:30 pm, but the total time the sun was 100 percent covered was only about 3.5 to 4 minutes. That was the most stunning part of the whole experience.

    It did not get totally dark, like 2:00am dark, but was rather like sunset when the sun is below the horizon, but you still see a little glow in the sky. Also, the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. All in all it was a somewhat eerie (and awesome) experience seeing it get dark in the afternoon! 

    Reginald P. Michell (April 9, 1873 – May 19, 1938, 65 years old) was born in Cornwall in SW England. His wife Edith Mary Ann Michell was a three-time British Women's champion. 

    Michell was British Amateur Champion in 1902 and between 1901 and 1911 he played in eight Anglo-American Cable Matches. He was on the English Olympiad team at Folkestone in1933. In 1914 he received a brilliancy prize for his game in the match against Holland in 1914 which is today’s featured game. 

    I was unable to locate any information on the match other than Britain was represented on the top 5 boards by H.E. Atkins, F.D. Yates, T.F. Lawrence, G.A. Thomas and J.H. Blackburne. 

    In the Hastings Congresses Michell scored wins over Sultan Khan and Vera Menchik and in British Championships he defeated Henry Atkins on several occasions. In Margate 1923, he tied for second place with Alekhine, Bogolyubov and Muffang where he scored 2.5-1.5 against Alekhine, Bogolyubow, Reti and Gruenfeld. 

    Chess metrics estimates his highest ever rating to gave been 2565 in 1904 which ranked him number 22 in the world. 

    Michell was a civil servant by profession and strictly an amateur player who was very modest about his chess accomplishments. Consequently, he rarely ever played outside of England and played in the British Championships on his vacations. His play was sound with few mistakes and with no fireworks. 

    His opponent in the following game was Klaas Geus (1878-1959, dates uncertain) who is virtually unknown today. He finished eighth in the 1929 Dutch championship. He also is supposed to have composed some chess problems under the name “J. de Jutter”

[Event "Anglo-Dutch Match, The Hague"] [Site "The Hague NED"] [Date "1914.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Klaas Geus (Holland)"] [Black "Reginald Michell (England)"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C77"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "66"] [EventDate "1914.04.11"] [Source "John Saunders"] {C86: Ruy Lopez: Worrall Attack} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {[%mdl 32]} a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 {This is the Worrall Attack. White replaces 6.Re1 with 6.Qe2. The idea is that the Q will support the e-Pawn, leaving the R free to support the advance of the d-Pawn although there is not always time to do so. In my database statistically it performs considerably worse than the standard 5.O-O followed by Re1.} d6 6. c3 Be7 7. d4 Bd7 8. O-O O-O 9. Bb3 Bg4 10. Qd3 { It's probably best to play 10.d5 here.} (10. Rd1 Nd7 11. h3 Bh5 12. g4 Bg6 13. Nbd2 exd4 14. Nxd4 {equals as in Yates,F-Bogoljubow,E Bad Kissingen 1928}) 10... Bxf3 $15 11. gxf3 (11. Qxf3 exd4 {wins a P/} 12. Qd3 dxc3 13. Nxc3 { and black is slightly better.}) 11... Nh5 12. Kh1 {White obviously hopes to use the g-file, but his best move was 12.f4} (12. f4 Nxf4 13. Bxf4 exf4 14. Bc2 g6 15. Qf3 Bg5 16. Nd2 Qd7 17. h4 Bxh4 18. Qxf4 {with equal chances.}) 12... Bg5 13. Be3 (13. Bxg5 {is a serious mistake because after} Qxg5 14. Rg1 Qf6 { black will occupy f4 with his N leaving him with a significant positional advantage.}) 13... Nf4 14. Qd2 Qf6 15. Rg1 {White's occupation of the g-file doesn't amount to anything because it's black's pieces that control the K-side. s} Ne7 {[%mdl 32] This N begins its journey to the K-side.} 16. dxe5 {Opening up the d-file only serves to give black more open lines. Something like Na3-c4 was worth considering.} dxe5 17. Qd7 Ne6 18. Qd1 Rad8 {Little by little black's positional advantahge begins to grow.} 19. Nd2 Bf4 20. Qe2 Ng6 21. Nf1 Ng5 22. Bc5 Rfe8 23. Rd1 Nh4 {In the last 5 moves black's advantage has grown to be decisive.} 24. Rg4 Nhxf3 25. h4 Qh6 26. Rxd8 Rxd8 27. Be7 Qh5 {[%mdl 512] The fatal blow.} 28. Rxf4 (28. Rg2 Rd2 29. Nxd2 Qxh4+ 30. Rh2 Qxh2#) (28. Nh2 { is met by} Nxh2 29. Bxg5 Rd2 {and wins}) 28... exf4 29. Bxg5 {At this point black has only one move that secures the win,.} Qg4 {[%mdl 512] Threatening mate on g1 and also ...Qh3+ with mate next move.} 30. Bxf7+ Kxf7 {[%mdl 32] He could also decline the sacrifice and mate two moves sooner.} (30... Kh8 31. Qxf3 Qxf3+ 32. Kg1 Qg4+ 33. Ng3 Rd1+ 34. Kh2 Rd2 35. Nh1 f3 36. Ng3 Rxf2+ 37. Kg1 Qxg3+) 31. Qc4+ Kg6 32. h5+ Kxg5 33. Qc5+ Kh6 {White resigned. A solid performance by Muchell.} 0-1