Best Game by an English Player (the vote)

[Geoff Chandler]

This list is from the games in Neil Hickman's book 'Memorable Games of British Chess' One vote each. A piece fun, not to be taken too seriously. Please do not quote this post as seeing the list over and over again clutters up the page. No need to make a comment just the number of the game and the players will do.

1 Bowdler-Conway London, about 1788
2 Evans-McDonnell London, 1825
3 La Bourdonnais-McDonnell London, 1834
4 Saint-Amant-Staunton Paris, 1843
5 Steinkuhler-Blackburne Manchester, 1863
6 MacDonnell-Boden, London 1865
7 Zukertort-Epoureano ?Berlin ?London, 1875
8 Bird-Mason New York, 1876
9 Mason-Winawer Vienna, 1882
10 Zukertort-Blackburne London, 1883
11 Blackburne-Lipschiitz New York, 1889
12 Showalter-Gossip New York, 1889
13 Weiss-Pollock New York, 1889
14 Bird-Lasker Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1892
15 Jackson-Lawrence London, 1897
16 Lasker-Blackburne London, 1899
17 Marshall-H E Atkins Cable Match, 1902
18 Lasker-Napier Cambridge Springs, 1904
19 Lasker-Murray London, 1908
20 MacDonald-Burn Liverpool, 1910
21 Tartakover-Burn Karlsbad, 1911
22 M G Atkins-Jacobs London, 1915
23 Tartakover-H E Atkins London, 1922
24 Alekhine-Yates Karlsbad, 1923
25 Viney-Gook GPO v HM Customs, 1926
26 Saunders-Tartakover Scarborough, 1929
27 Menchik-Becker Karlsbad, 1929
28 Tylor-Koltanowski Hastings, 1929
29 Abrahams-Thynne Liverpool, 1930
30 Sultan Khan-Capablanca Hastings, 1930
31 Menchik-Thomas London, 1932
32 Alexander-Cross Hastings, 1933
33 Capablanca-Thomas Hastings, 1934
34 Abrahams-Cukierman Nottingham, 1936
35 Silverman-Eliskases Birmingham, 1937
36 Fine-Reynolds Ostend, 1937
37 Parr-Wheatcroft London, 1939
38 Alexander-Botvinnik Radio Match, 1946
39 Crown-Kotov Great Britain v USSR, 1947
40 Charlesworth-Znosko-Borovsky Harrogate, 1947
41 Maczynski-Pratten Portsmouth, 1948
42 NN-Mason London League, 1948
43 Geller-Golombek Budapest, 1952
44 Smith-Morton Corres., 1953-1954.
45 Bronstein-Alexander Hastings, 1954
46 Penrose-Tal Leipzig, 1960
47 Messere-Zagarovsky Corres., 1965
48 Hartston-Gligoric Hastings, 1965
49 Corden-Smyslov Hastings, 1970
50 Markland-Hort Hastings, 1971
51 Adams-Butnaru Comes., 1972-3
52 Keene-Kovacevic Amsterdam, 1973
53 Stean-Mestel Llanelli, 1974
54 Stean-Browne Nice, 1974
55 Kochiev-Miles Manila,1974
56 van der Sterren-Mestel Tjenata, 1975
57 Keene-Mlles Hastings 1976
58 Korchnoi-Montgomery Luton, 1976
59 Rumens-Franklin London, 1976
60 Hollis-Baurabach Comes., 1976
61 Miles-Spassky Montilla Moriles, 1978
62 Miles-Nunn BBC Master Game, 1978
63 Taulbut-Mikhalchishin Mexico, 1978
64 Karpov-Miles Skara, 1980
65 Mestel-Renman Valletta Olympiad,
66 Ligterink-Miles Wijk aan Zee, 1984
67 Beliaysky-Nunn Wijk aan Zee, 1985
68 Plaskett-Miles Lugano, 1986
69 Short-Kasparov Brussels, 1986
70 Speelman-Short London, 1988
71 Gurevich-Short Manila, 1990
72 Short-Timman Tilburg, 1991
73 Neverov-Crouch Hastings, 1992
74 Norwood-Marsh Walsall, 1992
75 Danzanvilliers-Read Comes., 1992
76 Atalik-Miles Heraklion, 1993
77 Adams-Levitt Dublin, 1993
78 Sheldon-Nunn London, 1996
79 Conquest-Hodgson Bundesliga,
80 Rogozenko-Gallagher Bundesliga,
81 Wall-Ippolito Hampstead, 1998
82 Kazimzhdanov-Adams Tripoli, 2004
83 Adams-Topalov Cows Wijk aan Zee,
84 Wells-Shirov Gibraltar, 2006
85 Lopang-Gilbert Turin, 2006
86 Hunt-Muzychuk Stockholm, 2008
87 McShane-Carlsen London, 2010
88 Aronian-McShane Moscow, 2012
89 Gordon-Jones North Shields, 2012
90 Howell-Jumabayev Tallinn, 2016

If you need to familiarise yourself with a game Jon has linked where you can see them; viewtopic.php?f=2&p=305308#p305301

[Geoff Chandler]

No.72 Short - Timman 1991.

[John Moore]

No 24 Alekhine - Yates

[Jonathan Rogers]

An eclectic list (but how could it not be?). I have the impression that that the more recent games at least depend on their selection rather much on whether they were published in CHESS.

Kazimzhdanov v Adams, Tripoli 2004 looks like a misprint, Adams suffered in all his black games and did not win one, though he did have a one move only chance to win one game due to a blunder by K.

Surely Gordon v Jones is not the game where Gawain lost his queen for a piece, carried on because of the occasion and because of the quick time limit, and which Gawain actually won? Granted it was quite an occasion for doing it, but occasion should magnify a good game, not substitute for it being a good game.

[John Townsend]

I wanted to vote for the fifth game in the 1843 Paris match, St. Amant v. Staunton. Is that what No. 4 in the list is? (There were 21 games in the match, so I can't tell which is included in the index).

[John Moore]

Gordon v Jones is indeed the Q loss game which the author justifies by saying his book is "Memorable Games" and not Best Games. Kazimzhdanov v Adams is the draw from the 6th standard play game (the one move win game), again qualified by the author as Memorable.

[John Moore]

I wanted to vote for the fifth game in the 1843 Paris match, St. Amant v. Staunton. Is that what No. 4 in the list is? (There were 21 games in the match, so I can't tell which is included in the index).

John - I am afraid that your game is not in the book, The game given is the 21st game which is Staunton's 66 move win with Black where Staunton sacrifices the exchange on c4.

[John Moore]

I can see that I am going to be fairly busy until Geoff gets his copy of the book!

[Jonathan Rogers]

oh! Didn't realise it was "memorable" games. That certainly permits Gordon v Jones.

Actually that changes a lot of things, surely? We could have awesome one-sided games such as Illescas v Sadler (QGA, mid 90s), Sadler v Hawkins (2013, 4NCL), Sadler v Rowson at the London Classic (when Sadler wins, he wins big) Conquest v Hawkins (4NCL) and, for fun, about ten Simon Williams games.

[Paul Cooksey]

Memorable is the Short-Timman king march, but I'm going to need a couple of days before I can offer an opinion on best!

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

I've attempted to find all of the games on chessgames.com.
Here are games 1 to 48. I've probably made some mistakes so I'll edit the list if and when these are pointed out:

1) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1282695
2) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1227672
3) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1001153
4) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1001210
5) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1028832
6) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1336343 (typo in index to book - year was 1869)
7) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1368142
8 ) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1027995
9) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1001754
10) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1001854
11) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1002151
12) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1002083
13) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1002194
14) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1028156
15) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1075866
16) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1029418
17) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1094519
18) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1036787
19) I can't find this one, unless Murray is the NN in https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1380146
20) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1316491
21) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1000799
22) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1622777
23) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1093055
24) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1012179
25) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1826396
26) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1004189
27) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1066877
28) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1080555
29) Probably this one from 1929 - https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2425156
30) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1135510
31) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1224235
32) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1964901
33) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1224020
34) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1426334
35) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1483937
36) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1043838
37) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1284171
38) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032147
39) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1313970
40) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1152011
41) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1242961
42) https://www.bedfordchess.co.uk/bcm/#BCM_NNMA
43) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1048606
44) Uploaded here: https://lichess.org/vaex2slN#0 (thanks Gerard!)
45) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1156490
46) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1105990
47) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1267067
48) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1308540

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Games 49 to 90:

49) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1126240
50) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1057493
51) Can be found here - https://britishchessnews.com/2021/09/07 ... -vii-2013/
52) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1071336
53) Can be found here - https://www.bedfordchess.co.uk/bcm/#BCM_G024
54) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1035299
55) Can be found here - https://www.bedfordchess.co.uk/bcm/#BCM_AKAM
56) Can be found here - https://www.bedfordchess.co.uk/bcm/#BCM_VAME
57) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1071404
58) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1981299
59) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1385868
60) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1259510
61) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1097114
62) https://www.bedfordchess.co.uk/bcm/#BCM_G096
63) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2663576
64) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1068157
65) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1377689
66) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1097631
67) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1103322
68) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1097818
69) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1070187
70) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1124352
71) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1124451
72) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1124533
73) https://www.bedfordchess.co.uk/bcm/#BCM_VNCC
74) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1102717
75) See https://mikereadsim.weebly.com/annotations.html and download the PDF (!) for MR057. I've uploaded it Lichess: https://lichess.org/LYum5OSt
76) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1098358
77) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1014372
78) Geoff Chandler added this game to the notes here: https://www.chessgames.com/player/ruth_sheldon.html. I've uploaded it to Lichess: https://lichess.org/GrJKzCOy
79) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2406896
80) https://www.bedfordchess.co.uk/bcm/#BCM_G029
81) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1080290
82) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1293452
83) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1385770
84) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1388094
85) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1412926
86) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1500215
87) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1602060
88) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1669470
89) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1674801
90) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1813269

[Jonathan Rogers]

Thank you!

[John Clarke]

If we're taking literally the title of this thread, then nos 2 and 3 on Geoff's list are disqualified. William Evans (No 2) was Welsh by birth and upbringing, while McDonnell (No 3), as I've already remarked, was Irish.

[Geoff Chandler]

If we're taking literally the title of this thread, then nos 2 and 3 on Geoff's list are disqualified.

Just to make it clear this is not Geoff's list, It is taken from the book. (thought I'd get that in before I get the blame.)

Game 22 M. G. Atkins vs Jacobs London 1915. links to https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2020563 Michael Glover Atkins vs Herbert Jacobs which is a good game but (and remember I do not yet have the book.) is it not https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1622777 Henry Ernest Atkins vs Herbert Jacobs London 1915 which is a well known classic.

You are doing a good job there Jon, I thought about doing it instead of typing out the list, then Roger posted the link with the index.