Best Game by an English Player (the vote)

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Chris.

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1070673

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi MJM

You can only pick games from the index here viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13929&p=305204#p305204

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Hi Chris.

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1070673

Thanks, Geoff. I hope Nigel will not mind too much me pointing out that loss... It is one of his more famous games, IMO.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Chris,

Yes. If the match had digital clocks Nigel would have seen exactly how long he had left.

[Ian Thompson]

Yes. If the match had digital clocks Nigel would have seen exactly how long he had left.

Not necessarily - https://www.facebook.com/chessbaseindia ... 314014120/

"But on move 58, disaster struck. Nigel played the move ...Ra2+ and forgot to press the clock. Nigel's time ran out and Gukesh won the game."

[Gerard Killoran]

Game 44 must be:

Game.png

White was T. J. Smith of Wiltshire and
Black was Joseph Eric Morton of Sheffield.

So could anyone with access to BCM 1954 or perhaps Tim Harding's database, provide us with the moves?

[Gerard Killoran]

Got it
[Event "English Counties and District Championship"] [Site "Correspondence"] [Date "1954"] [Round "?"] [White "Smith, T. J."] [Black "Morton, Joseph Eric"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C56"] [Opening "Two knights defence"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nc3 Qa5 9. Nxe4 Be6 10. Neg5 O-O-O 11. Nxe6 fxe6 12. Rxe6 Bd6 13. Qe2 Qh5 14. Bd2 d3 15. Qe3 Nd4 16. Rxd6 Nxf3+ 17. Qxf3 Qxf3 18. Rxd8+ Rxd8 19. gxf3 dxc2 20. Bc1 Rd1+ 21. Kg2 b5 22. b4 a5 23. a3 c5 24. f4 cxb4 {Chess Review, October 1965} 0-1

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Thanks Gerard. I uploaded it to Lichess and edited the list of links to the games.

[Geoff Chandler]

Yes. If the match had digital clocks Nigel would have seen exactly how long he had left.

Not necessarily - (facebook link) "But on move 58, disaster struck. Nigel played the move ...Ra2+ and forgot to press the clock. Nigel's time ran out and Gukesh won the game."

Hi Ian,

A bit of a difference in not being able to see exactly how long you have left and forgetting to press your clock. I see that game v Gukesh has been mentioned at reddit.

"I obtained (the following) clearly winning position against Gukesh in Thailand 2018. Unfortunately, because I am old and senile, I failed to press the clock. He pretended to think for a few minutes and then claimed the win, the instant my flag fell." - Nigel Short

https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments ... ?rdt=60092

[Jonathan Rogers]

Are we allowed near-misses? The game Short nearly won against Kasparov in the 1993 match, and then lost on time (I think?), that was exciting. If he had found the right finish, would that have been one for the ages? Can anyone post that (or a link to it)?

The loss on time was in game one but there was no forced win, if I rightly recall, and had he won it would have been about Kasparov over-reaching - and as it turned out, that was how Short did win the one game that he did, after having offered an early draw (16). But Short was very close to genuinely brilliant wins in games 8 and 10. As Kasparov magnaminously said a couple of years later, one should not rely as Black upon one variation of the Sicilian for a whole world championship match. "I was tortured, even by Nigel" he said.

[Neil_Hickman]

Game 22 is attributed to H.E.Atkins by Tartakower and du Mont, but I believe that attribution to be wrong. My explanation (with which you may of course not agree - I know Leonard Barden thought differently) is in the book. The game itself is decidedly a "Memorable" rather than a "Greatest".
If I'm allowed to vote for something from my own book, while I'm a fan of Alekhine-Yates I vote for No 37, Parr-Wheatcroft.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Neil,

Of course you can vote for a game. And you are in good company with that choice see the comments at chessgames.com https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1284171 although it does appear they originally had the wrong score of the game.

A difficult choice for everyone, one vote, but this thread came from an idea in the main topic and is just a piece of fun. Book not arrived yet but I am working my way through Gufeld's Mona Lisa (again) so I'm OK for reading matter.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Are we allowed near-misses? The game Short nearly won against Kasparov in the 1993 match, and then lost on time (I think?), that was exciting. If he had found the right finish, would that have been one for the ages? Can anyone post that (or a link to it)?

The loss on time was in game one but there was no forced win, if I rightly recall, and had he won it would have been about Kasparov over-reaching - and as it turned out, that was how Short did win the one game that he did, after having offered an early draw (16). But Short was very close to genuinely brilliant wins in games 8 and 10. As Kasparov magnaminously said a couple of years later, one should not rely as Black upon one variation of the Sicilian for a whole world championship match. "I was tortured, even by Nigel" he said.

He did not make the same mistake against Anand a couple of years later.

[Paul Habershon]

If I'm allowed to vote for something from my own book, while I'm a fan of Alekhine-Yates I vote for No 37, Parr-Wheatcroft.

I first saw this game as a young boy in another 100-game book, which my father had bought: 'One Hundred Chess Gems' by P Wenman. The author describes it as 'One of the most beautiful games of the post-war period', by which he meant post-WW1 as the book was published in 1939.

The games in the book did not have to feature an English player. I always remember the accolade after an undated Rosanes-Kieseritzky game: 'A gem of the first water'. I have had the book for nearly seventy years and have only just noticed that the index lists the game as Mieses-Kieseritzky. The lives of those two players did not overlap. The error had survived several editions.

[Geoff Chandler]

If I'm allowed to vote for something from my own book...

Hi Neil,

Book arrived. Just a quick glance through it and I can see Gufeld will be shelved. Although I have gone over I'd say 90% of the games in the past I have never had a problem going over games again and again. The layout reminds me of the games printed in old Bells books. The foul stench of silicon is missing, some modern books totally reek of it.

So I have a compilation of hit's CD in my hands. I'll hear again the sweet sweet music in these games with what appears to be cheerful, entertaining and instructive prose. I'll do two - three a day, It's great being retired.

(My thread, my rules. Neil you can have two votes.)