English Chess Forum

I've uploaded some more 1970s tournaments on Britbase. Check out the What's New page to see the list of recent entries, or click on the individual events below.

1971 Bayswater Open, won jointly by Leonard Barden and Les Blackstock: http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/197 ... iewer.html

1973 Ilford Open, won by Alan Phillips: http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/197 ... iewer.html

1976 Young England vs USSR Speed Tournament: http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/197 ... iewer.html - this was a rapidplay Scheveningen format tournament in which Michael Stean, David Goodman and Jonathan Mestel took on Viktor Korchnoi (then world no.2), David Bronstein and Mark Taimanov. It's the only one of the three tournaments that has already been digitised and published but I've tidied it up, putting in dates and round numbers, etc.

Some of the Bayswater and Ilford bulletin games had ambiguities (e.g. Rd1 or Nd7 where more than one rook/knight could reach that square) but I have done my best to resolve the problems. One game in particular had several rook move ambiguities but it was also a very nice game by a forum member, so that gives me the opportunity to feature it here...

[Event "Ilford op 24th"] [Site "Ilford"] [Date "1973.05.27"] [Round "5"] [White "Cadden, Gordon V"] [Black "Spurgeon, Ronald E"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B33"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "1973.05.25"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "6"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceDate "2015.10.05"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Nb3 Bb4 7. Bd3 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Bd2 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Bd6 11. Qh5 Be6 12. O-O Qc7 13. Rad1 O-O-O 14. c4 g6 15. Qh6 Rde8 16. Bc3 f6 17. f4 Bf8 18. Qh4 Bg7 19. Kh1 Ne7 20. Qf2 Kb8 21. Nc5 Nc8 22. Rb1 Nb6 23. a4 Bf8 24. Nxb7 Kxb7 25. a5 Bc5 26. axb6 axb6 27. Qf3+ Kc8 28. Ra1 Kd7 29. Rad1 Ke7 30. fxe5 f5 31. Qg3 Kf7 32. Bxf5 Kg7 33. Be4 Rhf8 34. Rf6 Kg8 35. Bxg6 hxg6 36. Rxg6+ Kh7 37. Qg5 1-0

Impressive king hunt. But if I have misinterpreted any of White's rook moves, perhaps Gordon could let me know.

A few inebriated girls kick over my rubbish bin, and so I get out of bed to upright my bin, and shout a few curses at the girls. Decided to switch on my computer, as you do in the early hours. Imagine my surprise to discover that I had made it to Britbase. Was I dreaming ? Just played over the game, and it is sound. Was more adventurous in my youth.

Thanks for putting more 1970s games on to BritBase, John. Would you happen to know if the J C Kuiken, who played in the Ilford Open of 1973 was the Leo C Kuiken, who later became an Eastbourne and Hastings player? One or two of his games are given in the collection of Bernard Cafferty's games. If he was the same player, it was an achievement on his part to draw with Anthony Stebbings.

Brian Denman wrote:Would you happen to know if the J C Kuiken, who played in the Ilford Open of 1973

There was a J C Kuiken of around the 160 to 180 standard who I played in the Whitby Northern Open of 1970. Stebbings would have been the higher graded player, but for them to draw would not be a complete shock.

Thanks for this, Roger. Perhaps the Kuikens were related. L C Kuiken was listed as coming from Lensbury, Middlesex, in the 1973 grading list, but I am going to assume that J C Kuiken is correct.

Brian Denman wrote:Thanks for this, Roger. Perhaps the Kuikens were related. L C Kuiken was listed as coming from Lensbury, Middlesex, in the 1973 grading list, but I am going to assume that J C Kuiken is correct.

The 1970 SCCU list has both JC and LC. JC is listed as Chipstead and Manchester Faculty of Technology, being 173 up from 166, whilst LC is listed as Lensbury, unchanged at 167.

Stebbings is listed as Southampton University and Waltham Forest at an unchanged 180.

From the 1970 SCCU Grading List...

1970 SCCU Grading List wrote:173 Kuiken, JC (Chipstead, Manchester Faculty of Technology)
167 Kuiken LC (Lensbury)

So, on the face of it, LC and JC Kuiken are two different people. That said, it could have been one of those rare mix-ups where there are multiple grading list entries for the same player. Their grades are worryingly similar. And the previous year they had been 166 and 167 respectively.

By the way, thank you, Brian for providing the forenames of Charles Herbert Stacey (b 1911, Edinburgh, d 1980, Hove), who played in the 1934 Major Open.

EDIT: Roger and I have crossed in the post.

Thanks for the information, John. I was clearly wrong in assuming that there was a notable difference in standard between Kuiken and Stebbings. Earlier this season Anthony was graded 219, but he was quite a bit lower than that in 1973.

That 1971 tournament must have been one of Leonard Barden's last major events as a player?

Matt Mackenzie wrote:That 1971 tournament must have been one of Leonard Barden's last major events as a player?

The last was Hammersmith, Easter 1972, where my final game was a draw with Jonathan Speelman. After that, Fischer v Spassky and the English Chess Explosion took over.

One minor point regarding the games for the 1973 Ilford Open. There is a typing mistake for the Szaszvari v Bulford game. The first round encounter must have been played on 25th May 1973 rather than 25th January of that year.

Not sure whether or not I've published this here before, but from Hammersmith 1971.

Leonard generously remarked after the game that I played much better than my grade.

[Event "Hammersmith"] [Date "10 April 1971"] [Round "3"] [White "Richard James"] [Black "Leonard W Barden"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A26"] [PlyCount "86"] 1. Nf3 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 d6 4. c4 e5 5. d3 Nc6 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. O-O O-O 8. Rb1 a5 9. a3 Nh5 10. b4 axb4 11. axb4 f5 12. Bd2 f4 13. b5 Ne7 14. Ne1 c6 15. bxc6 bxc6 16. Nc2 g5 17. Ra1 Rxa1 18. Qxa1 g4 19. Qd1 Rf5 20. e4 Rf7 21. Re1 Ng6 22. Qa1 Bh6 23. Rd1 fxg3 24. fxg3 Bxd2 25. Rxd2 Qb6+ 26. d4 Be6 27. Qa8+ Nf8 28. Qa2 Ra7 29. Qb1 Qxb1+ 30. Nxb1 Bxc4 31. dxe5 dxe5 32. Rd6 Rc7 33. Nba3 Be6 34. Kf2 Nf6 35. Nb4 c5 36. Nd3 N6d7 37. Ke3 Kf7 38. Nf2 Rb7 39. Rd3 Rb2 40. Bf1 Nb6 41. h3 c4 42. Rc3 Na4 43. Rc1 43. Nxc4 Rb3+ 0-1

Kuiken:

There's a birth for Johannes CJ Kuiken (mother's maiden name Heinsma) in Kingston, Surrey in Q2 1933.

There's a death record for Lammert Cornelis (or Cornelius) Kuiken in Eastbourne, born 23 Jan 1923 died Q4 2004. There's also a marriage record for Lammert C Kuiken and Muriel J Brown in March 2004, again in Eastbourne.

I guess they could be brothers who moved from the Netherlands sometime between 1923 and 1933. Perhaps JC Kuiken is still around.

192.com gives me two addresses for Johannes Cornelis Kuiken, in Derby and London SW1.

Richard James wrote: I guess they could be brothers who moved from the Netherlands sometime between 1923 and 1933. Perhaps JC Kuiken is still around.

The 1970 grading list is a clue, JC was at a Manchester College and vague memories from when I played him that year and later socialised are that he was in his early twenties.

I wouldn't totally rule out that JC and LC were the same person, a problem possibly being caused by going to University in the NCCU and living in the SCCU. The BCM report on 1970 Whitby lists all the players and it's JC. LC remains in the grading lists into the 1980s.

Brian Denman wrote:One minor point regarding the games for the 1973 Ilford Open. There is a typing mistake for the Szaszvari v Bulford game. The first round encounter must have been played on 25th May 1973 rather than 25th January of that year.

Thank you, Brian. I have corrected the typo.

Re Kuiken: I am persuaded by Richard's research to amend JC Kuiken to Johannes Cornelius Kuiken.