English Chess Forum

Hello!

I was recently sent an email from the archivist at my old school (Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne) with a photo purporting to be me playing against Kasparov in a simultaneous display. See below.



Now, I know that Kasparov did play in a simul against a British junior squad in 1986, and I was in junior squads at about that time, but I have no memory of the event (and you would think that I might...). Moreover, the photo might be me, but then again it might not.

So, I'm asking for help. If you can identify the person in the photo and/or supply a list of participants in the aforementioned simul, then I would be delighted to hear from you.

Cheers,

Martin

ps For anyone that remembers me from British chess in the 80s and early 90s, my disappearance from the chess scene was in part due to a move to Australia (and later New Zealand). I haven't played in years, but may start again now that my younger son is showing some interest in the game.

A blast from the past. Paul Bilby used to teach there until a yar ago and is still very active.
Paul Dargan lives in Dubai and I see at both chess and poker events.
Your school was at your time very strong.

[email protected], [email protected],

Not as much info as you wanted but a different picture from the same simul with Kasparov playing Stuart Conquest is on the front cover of a book I have called Kasparov Teaches Chess. The person in your photo above can also be seen on the book from a different angle.

Mickey Adams also mentions it briefly in his book, Development of a Grandmaster, saying "Kasparov went on to win by 14 points to 6, with Philip Rossiter, David Watts and Philip Morris our only winners"

It's very nice to hear from you again, Martin. I certainly remember you at the RGS, and, indeed, also a game about that period in which you, as a teenager beat me in one of the county championships at your parents home in Durham. However I only started teaching at RGS in about 1993 - hitherto they had been regarded as an almost insurmountable hurdle for the chess team at my own school, Hylton Red House, in Sunderland. Ray Sayers, also a regular contributor to this forum, was playing for Red House about that time, and might be able to help.

I can't help you with the photograph. It could well have been you, but I have no recollection of the event.

BCM of July 1986 has a report.

The simul was on 27th May at Uppingham Community College. Stuart Conquest declined his invite to play according to the report. Neil McDonald, who drew, won the best game prize awarded by Kasparov. The only other players mentioned, apart from the three winners were Neil Carr and local blind solicitor Alec Crombie. The organiser was Peter Barton and the sponsors Goldmark Books.

Not much help but [url]http://mark_weeks.tripod.com/chw00j15/kasparov.htm[/url] has the pgn for three of the games - Aaron Summerscale, Neil McDonald, Michael Adams

Wasn't '86 the one where Kasparov played g3 against Ward's Dragon and got a truly awful position that Chris threw away the win near the end. In one of Chris's books he mentions the game and that Phil fluffed his lines on the evening TV coverage so that made him feel slightly better as it could have been him ...

fwiw Martin I don't recall you mentioning playing in it at the time - and likewise I would kind of expect to.

All the best,

Paul

Excellent barnet though, whoever it is!

Martin, would you have played the position as black on the board?

I wonder who are the two shadowy figures on the far side of the photo (one reaching out from the bushes and the other in an all black uniform) between Kasparov and his opponent, who seem to be aiding the two boys at the board whilst Kasparov's back is turned ?

Had the KGB sent across a couple of agents to try and discredit the Champion ?

@ Warren -from what I remember of Martin's repertoire there is zero chance of him being on the Black side of that position.

Paul Dargan wrote:@ Warren -from what I remember of Martin's repertoire there is zero chance of him being on the Black side of that position.

All eleven of Martin's games from the 1986 British are available. This shows him replying to 1. d4 with the Chigorin ( 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6).

I'm wondering more what Black's invisible moves are:

White has clearly played 8 moves: d4, c4, b3, g3, Qc2, Nf3, Bg2 and O-O, and is considering his 9th (both because of Kasparov's expression, and because it's a simul).
Black has equally clearly played 6 moves : d5, e6, c6, Nf6, Be7 and O-O, and appears to still have his queen's knight on b8. I don't imagine his queen's bishop is on d7, and equally the king's bishop has not been out to b4 and back again, otherwise there would be a White piece on d2 or c3, so most likely the two remaining moves are: ...b6 and ...Bb7.

If we take that as the position, it could have arisen from a number of openings, but most likely from a Closed Catalan, I suspect.

Nice to hear from you again, Martin!

It looks like you, but if you don't definitely recognise yourself, I am not going to argue!

Are you back in the UK? To see some 'blasts from the past' check out the North East team in the 4NCL.

I haven't played very much for a few years (at least not seriously) but my daughter taking up the game may tempt me to play again a bit.

It's stuff like this that I really enjoy on this forum, I think we all owe Carl a massive thanks for putting up with us. Even though he gets called names by people without the cojones to join the forum.