English victories against reigning World Champions

[Leonard Barden]

Yes, that's what I thought, certainly against the current world champion but I am not sure if a Brit beat Capablanca after he lost his title.

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1224020
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1135510

[MJMcCready]

Aha, thank you.

[Matt Mackenzie]

What was the first instance of an Englishman beating a world champion?

Blackburne beat Lasker after he became WC did he not?

[MJMcCready]

He certainly did here.

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1029418

[John Clarke]

Blackburne beat Lasker after he became WC did he not?

"Twice." (Graham Moore)

[MJMcCready]

And correct me if I am wrong but its only Adams and McShane who have beaten Carslen? Although I did see that James Plaskett came extremely close in an on line game once.

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1820780

[Nick Burrows]

And correct me if I am wrong but its only Adams and McShane who have beaten Carslen?

And Grandmaster Keith Arkell! Plus Nigel Short, twice in 2004. Simon Williams in 2005

[MJMcCready]

Really?

[Nick Burrows]

No, I made the Nigel Short ones up - he beat him in blitz only.

Here is Keiths Game:

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"] [Site "Gausdal NOR"] [Date "2002.04.14"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "4"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Keith Arkell"] [Black "Magnus Carlsen"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "55"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.b4 O-O 9.e3 c6 10.h3 Be6 11.Bd3 Nd7 12.O-O b5 13.a4 a6 14.a5 c5 15.bxc5 Nxc5 16.Bc2 Rc8 17.dxc5 Rxc5 18.Qd3 g6 19.Nd4 Bf5 20.Nxf5 Rxc3 21.Nxh6+ Kh7 22.Nxf7 Rxd3 23.Nxd8 Rd2 24.Ne6 Rc8 25.Bb3 Bxa1 26.Rxa1 Rc3 27.Rb1 Rc4 28.Nd4 1-0

and Simon's:

[Event "Gausdal Classics"] [Site "Gausdal NOR"] [Date "2005.04.16"] [EventDate "2005.04.13"] [Round "4"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Simon Kim Williams"] [Black "Magnus Carlsen"] [ECO "E12"] [WhiteElo "2466"] [BlackElo "2548"] [PlyCount "79"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. a3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd2 Nd7 8. Nxd5 exd5 9. b4 Bd6 10. Bg5 f6 11. Bh4 a5 12. Bg3 Qe7 13. Bxd6 Qxd6 14. b5 c5 15. bxc6 Bxc6 16. e3 b5 17. Bd3 g6 18. Qc2 Kf7 19. h4 Nb6 20. h5 Nc4 21. hxg6+ hxg6 22. Bxg6+ Ke7 23. Nh4 Kd7 24. Qb3 b4 25. a4 Kc7 26. Ke2 f5 27. Bxf5 Qf6 28. g3 Raf8 29. Qd3 Rxh4 30. gxh4 Qxf5 31. Qxf5 Rxf5 32. h5 b3 33. h6 Rf8 34. h7 b2 35. Rag1 Rh8 36. Rg8 b1=Q 37. Rg7+ Bd7 38. Rxb1 Kd6 39. Rh1 Bf5 40. Rh6+ 1-0

[MJMcCready]

Interesting stuff. I am only a club player, and thus not well positioned to comment but it looks to me like Magnus's construction of a defence against Williams is not only unlike him but extremely unsound. It gave Williams a ready made attack and allowed his entire kingside to be wiped out.

[Neil Blackburn]

Yes, that's what I thought, certainly against the current world champion but I am not sure if a Brit beat Capablanca after he lost his title.

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1224020
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1135510

George Thomas (and, perhaps you can include Sultan Khan as 'British Empire !?) Winter should have beaten him, but blundered into a loss.Yates should have beaten him when he was champion but missed a couple of chances.

[MJMcCready]

Okay but with regard to the world champions before and after both the aforementioned Lasker and Capablanca in this thread, Steinitz, Alekhine and Euwe were not beaten by an Englishman?

[IM Jack Rudd]

Well, when it comes to Euwe's competitive losses, the exact domain of your term "Englishman" becomes important. Should I translate the "man" in that phrase as homo or vir?

[MJMcCready]

I'm not quite sure what you are getting at there. So let's say was Euwe beaten by an someone English irrespective of their actual age.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Age wasn't what I was getting at, no.

https://chessgospinny.blogspot.com/2021 ... nchik.html