Now how often is it that you read an Ian Rogers win being described as "[a] creditable effort"? And how often do you see this fellow finish near last?
The other day I managed to get my hands on the tournament book for the 1973 Australian Open Chess Championships. Edited by W. McLean plus game annotations by Jamieson, Woodhams and Winslade - the book contained the event's "100 best games". In 1973, Ian was just a 12-year old boy and finished the tournament with 3 points! First overall was Max Fuller with eight.
On page 39, the editor writes: "Trying to console Ken Henrick for his 6 losses, the DOP told him he had paired him with a twelve-year old, and that if he couldn't win this time he should give up chess!"
Here is the game which I also give in old school. Apologies for the poor formatting; unfortunately, the blogspot platform doesn't allow me to present a tabulated text.
I. ROGERS - K. HENRICK
1. P-K4 N-KB3
2. P-K5 N-Q4
3. P-Q4 P-Q3
4. PXP KPxP
5. P-QB4 N-N3
6. N-KB3 B-K2
7. B-Q3 O-O
8. O-O N-B3
9. P-QN3 P-KR3
10. B-N2 B-N5
11. P-KR3 B-R4
12. QN-Q2 B-B3
13. P-KN4 B-N3
14. N-K4 BxN
15. BxB P-Q4
16. B-Q3 PxP
17. PxP NxQP??
18. NxN BxN
19. BXb N-Q2 and White won
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3 comments:
The games of the event, including the one reproduced, can be downloaded in PGN with algebraic notation from Ozbase linked from the ACF website www.auschess.org.au. That database, ably maintained by Paul Dunn, contains a huge number of Australian chess games from the 19th century onwards.
DJ
who was white in the game? I imagined the joke was about the other guy "resigning" chess, but maybe it was only a embarassement from rogers past...
If Ken Henrick was the same Ken Henrick I knew as a player in Canberra, he was a reasonably good club player so it was little surprise that he was beaten by Ian despite his 12 years. That's no reflection on Ken as he and I were of about equal standard and I wouldn't have expected to do any better.
DJ
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