English Chess Forum

Richard James has reviewed Hein Donner : The Biography for British Chess News

Here is that review : https://britishchessnews.com/2020/08/07 ... biography/

Richard James's review states:

"Looking at his games in MegaBase it’s also notable how well he scored against English opponents."

...which makes me wonder how my 2.5-2.5 lifetime total stands up.

Donner beat me in the first round of the England universities v Netherlands universities match of December 1950. He used some kind of Samisch Nimzo-Indian, rolled up the centre and crushed my king. Afterwards I asked him what was my error and he replied "You are a typically passive Englishman".

The return game next day was a McCutcheon French, for which I was ready as he had played it a few months before against Smyslov in Venice. He TNd with Qa5-a4 as an improvement, but I was ready for it, swapped queens and followed up confidently. Actually my analysis was poor and JHD could have equalised but perhaps he was too impressed as I got a big bind and won.

Our next game was in the final round of Hastings 1951-52 and probably the only one of the five to make the databases. I quote from what I wrote in the Guardian:

At the Hastings Premier where play began at a spartan 9am.... I was due to meet the late Dutch grandmaster Hein Donner, who arrived, clearly just out of his slumbers, at 10.30. It was 40 moves in two hours and the one-hour forfeit rule had not yet been introduced.
Donner spent the next half-hour looking zonked, playing a terrible opening and downing a series of black coffees. At 11 his eyes and his play suddenly focused, he found a brilliant fortress defence to stop my attack on his king, and I was glad to settle for a draw".

it shouldn't have worked as I missed a simple win at move 21, spotted many years later.

We also met at Cheltenham 1953, where Donner won, and at Bognor 1954, where I won.

I've found the following Barden v Donner games on my database...

The two university match games...

[Event "NED-GBR Universities"] [Site "Utrecht"] [Date "1950.12.14"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Donner, Jan Hein"] [Black "Barden, Leonard William"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E26"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "1950.12.14"] [EventType "team-match"] [EventRounds "2"] [EventCountry "NED"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 c5 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bd3 d6 8. Ne2 e5 9. O-O Nh5 10. Ng3 Nxg3 11. fxg3 Qg5 12. Be4 O-O 13. Rb1 Qe7 14. dxc5 dxc5 15. Qh5 g6 16. Qe2 Be6 17. Bd5 Na5 18. e4 Bxd5 19. cxd5 b6 20. Bh6 Rfd8 21. Rf2 Nb7 22. Rbf1 Nd6 23. Qg4 Re8 24. Bg5 Qf8 25. Qh4 a5 26. Bf6 Ra7 27. a4 Rb7 28. c4 Ra7 29. Rf3 Rd7 30. Re1 Nxc4 31. g4 h5 32. g5 Rd6 33. g4 Nd2 34. Rf2 Nxe4 35. Rxe4 Rxd5 36. gxh5 1-0

[Event "NED-GBR Universities"] [Site "Utrecht"] [Date "1950.12.15"] [Round "2.1"] [White "Barden, Leonard William"] [Black "Donner, Jan Hein"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C12"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "1950.12.14"] [EventType "team-match"] [EventRounds "2"] [EventCountry "NED"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Ne4 8. Qg4 g6 9. Bc1 Nxc3 10. Bd3 c5 11. dxc5 Nc6 12. Nf3 Qa5 13. O-O Qa4 14. Qxa4 Nxa4 15. Be3 Bd7 16. Rab1 O-O-O 17. Rb3 Na5 18. Ra3 Nc4 19. Bxc4 dxc4 20. Nd2 Kc7 21. Nxc4 Bc6 22. Nd6 Rd7 23. Rb1 a5 24. h3 Rxd6 25. cxd6+ Kd7 26. c4 g5 27. Rxa4 Bxa4 28. Rxb7+ Kc8 29. Rxf7 Rd8 30. Ra7 Rd7 31. Rxa5 Bc6 32. Ra6 1-0

[Event "Hastings 51/52"] [Site "Hastings"] [Date "1952.01.05"] [Round "9"] [White "Barden, Leonard William"] [Black "Donner, Jan Hein"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C25"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "1951.12.27"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "ENG"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Qg4 g6 5. Qg3 Nf6 6. Nge2 O-O 7. d3 Kg7 8. Bg5 Be7 9. h4 h6 10. Bd2 d6 11. O-O-O Nd4 12. f4 Nxe2+ 13. Nxe2 Bg4 14. fxe5 dxe5 15. Rde1 Bd6 16. Nc3 c6 17. h5 g5 18. Ref1 Qd7 19. Nd1 Nh7 20. Ne3 Be6 21. Nf5+ Bxf5 22. Rxf5 a5 23. Qg4 Qe7 24. Rhf1 f6 25. R5f3 Rfe8 26. Qf5 Kh8 27. Qg6 Qg7 28. Bf7 Rf8 29. Qxg7+ Kxg7 30. Bg6 Be7 31. Bc3 g4 32. Rg3 Ng5 33. Rxg4 Bb4 34. Bd2 Bxd2+ 35. Kxd2 Rfd8 36. Bf5 c5 1/2-1/2

There was a sixth game that you may have forgotten about, Leonard - a draw in round 6 of the Paignton Premier 1951. However, I've not yet traced the score of that one.

This looks like an interesting read and gets me thinking: is the 'bohemian' chessplayer a thing of the past? Nowadays, there can't even be a pretence that elite performance can be combined with a rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

One imagines Donner combining what study he did with 'Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands' playing in the background.

For all his strengths, of course, he can't be considered an elite performer. Strange that we have a biography of him and not of Korchnoi, say, or have I missed something?

Arguably a memoir not a biography, but Evil-Doer: Half a Century with Viktor Korchnoi by Genna Sosonko is excellent.

Thanks Paul. And is there a biography of Karpov? Or is his stamp collecting considered less interesting than the bohemian lifestyle?

Nick Ivell wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 15, 2020 9:48 am

Strange that we have a biography of him and not of Korchnoi, say, or have I missed something?

Yes !

See https://britishchessnews.com/2020/05/15 ... -korchnoi/

John Upham wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 15, 2020 1:05 pm

Nick Ivell wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 15, 2020 9:48 am

Strange that we have a biography of him and not of Korchnoi, say, or have I missed something?

Yes !

See https://britishchessnews.com/2020/05/15 ... -korchnoi/

Paul Cooksey wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 15, 2020 9:58 am

Arguably a memoir not a biography, but Evil-Doer: Half a Century with Viktor Korchnoi by Genna Sosonko is excellent.

Nick Ivell:
Thanks Paul. And is there a biography of Karpov? Or is his stamp collecting considered less interesting than the bohemian lifestyle?

Karpov wrote "Karpov on Karpov"
( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/186 ... _on_Karpov ). Not the most exciting read. A highlight: he wrote that his mother was worried that he was playing too much and then noticed he was sitting quietly staring into space. She realized he was analyzing blindfold.

He always seems very controlled and has one eye on what the Soviet/Russian state will think of what he writes. He seems a more successful politician than Kasparov, also probably because he supports the status quo.

There was also 'Chess is my life' which I haven't read, copying Korchnoi's title.

Not really thought about the difference between a memoir and an autobiography in any of these works as Paul suggested.

Roland Kensdale wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 16, 2020 11:16 pm

Karpov wrote "Karpov on Karpov"

I bet he didn't. Not unless we're employing an extremely liberal interpretation of 'wrote', anyway.

I would 100% back the suggestion of Evil Doer. It's a great read. I'll get hold of the companion books on Tal and Bronstein too at some point.