1927 1st Chess Olympiad, Central Hall, Westminster, London, 18-29 July

1927 London Olympiad		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Total
1	Hungary	&;	1	2½	1½	3	3	3	1½	4	3	1½	3½	3	3½	2½	3½	40
2	Denmark	3	&;	2½	2	3½	2½	1½	2½	1	2	2½	3	3	2	3½	4	38½
3	Great Britain1	1½	1½	&;	3	1½	2½	1½	3	3½	2	3½	2½	2½	3	2	3	36½
4	Netherlands	2½	2	1	&;	3	2	2½	1½	2	3½	4	2	1	2	3½	2½	35
5	Czechoslovakia	1	½	2½	1	&;	2½	1½	2½	2½	2½	1	4	2½	3½	3	4	34½
6	Germany	1	1½	1½	2	1½	&;	2	3	2½	2½	3	2½	2½	2½	3	3	34
7	Austria	1	2½	2½	1½	2½	2	&;	1½	3	1½	2½	2½	3	1½	3½	3	34
8	Switzerland	2½	1½	1	2½	1½	1	2½	&;	2	1½	2½	1½	2	3½	3½	3	32
9	Yugoslavia	0	3	½	2	1½	1½	1	2	&;	2½	3	1½	3½	2	3	3	30
10	Italy	1	2	2	½	1½	1½	2½	2½	1½	&;	1	2½	2	3	3	2	28½
11	Sweden	2½	1½	½	0	3	1	1½	1½	1	3	&;	1½	4	1½	3	2½	28
12	Argentina	½	1	1½	2	0	1½	1½	2½	2½	1½	2½	&;	1½	3	2	3½	27
13	France	1	1	1½	3	1½	1½	1	2	½	2	0	2½	&;	3	1	3	24½
14	Belgium	½	2	1	2	½	1½	2½	½	2	1	2½	1	1	&;	1½	2	21½
15	Finland	1½	½	2	½	1	1	½	½	1	1	1	2	3	2½	&;	3½	21½
16	Spain	½	0	1	1½	0	1	1	1	1	2	1½	½	1	2	½	&;	14½

¹ The GB team was actually referred to in the contemporary press as 'British Empire' - all five players were English.

As in modern Olympiads, matches were over four boards, with squads made up of a maximum of five players. One significant difference with modern Olympiads is that there was no rule requiring board orders to remain fixed for the duration of the competition. Most teams made use of this freedom, with some players appearing on board 1 and board 4 for their teams.

Photo: The Sphere, 30 July 1927. It seems to have been taken at the same time (and of the same players) as the photo at
Edward Winter's Chess Notes website which shows Siegfried R Wolf (Austria) playing White against Johannes Terho (Finland) in round 1, 18 July 1927.

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BCM, August 1927, p321-330 (see also the 1927 BCF London Premier file)

B.C.F. INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT AND CONGRESS.

On Monday, July 18th [1927], at 12 noon, at the Central Hall, Westminster, Rev. A. Gordon Ross, M.A., the President of the British Chess Federation, welcomed the players in the International team tournament (who in a few cases were accompanied by their wives), the ladies taking part in the women's championship, officials and guests, including Lord Ullswater, Major Sir Richard Barnett, M.P., Sir Assheton Pownall, M.P., the Austrian Minister, the Uruguayan Minister, Hon. F G. Hamilton Russell, Dr. E. Graham Little, M.P., and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Maurice M. Kuhns. The announcers had a hard task, and many amusing errors were made—Vajda, Hromadka, Naegeli, Ljudevit Aztalos, Tschepurnoff, Josef Lokvenc, were some of the stumbling blocks. Soon quite a babel arose, for with sixteen nations represented, there was conversation in many tongues, which gave the few Britishers who were conversant with other languages opportunity to air their knowledge. At the luncheon which followed, some 140 people sat down.

Canon Gordon Ross paid a high tribute to the organising powers of L. P. Rees, the Secretary, and said that the conception of this epoch-making tournament was entirely his, and the success which he felt confident would attend it, was almost entirely due to him. It was largely due to the spadework of Mr. Rees that the F.I.D.E., whose delegates were meeting in London at the close of next week, was formed. He was sure that the tournament would do more to arouse general interest in the game than any that had yet been held, and it was a great pleasure to the British chessplayers to see not only many old chess friends from other nations, but to meet many new ones, whose names they knew well, but had not had the pleasure of meeting until now. He gave them all the heartiest possible welcome from the B.C.F.

Maurice J. Kuhns, the president of the Chess Federation of the United States of America, expressed his great sorrow that the foundation of their Federation had been so belated that they were ineligible to take part in this event, but they hoped by the end of the month to be affiliated to the F.I.D.E. and to take part in future contests. He was sure that this League of Nations was as necessary for chess, as the other for more serious matters. He thanked the B.C.F. for inviting him as the U.S. representative, and the U.S.A. could be proud to subscribe themselves as members of the F.I.D.E.

L. P. Rees then gave some information as to the carrying out of the programme, and wished all those taking part the success they deserved.

Precisely at 2-30 the first round was started and appropriately enough the first game to be finished was a win for the British champion, F. D. Yates, playing second board, v. Prof. O. Naegeli, of Switzerland. The game ran as follows:-[game score]

It is interesting to note that after playing from 2-30 to 6-30, and from 8 to 10, only two games were left unfinished. The rate of play is thirty moves in the first hour and a half, forty moves in two hours, sixty in three, and so on. A large number of spectators were present, and occasionally the players and stewards had to ask for silence, but the interest in the games was evident. The outstanding event on the first day was the splendid play of the Hungarian team v. Yugoslavia whose team had been sadly weakened by the fact that Dr. M. Vidmar had been unable to come over. Despite this, their players were well-known experts, and no one would have anticipated that they would all succumb in this way. The winning team in this tournament is the one scoring the greatest number of games irrespective of matches won. On board 2, B. Kostich through carelessness got a bad game, but extricated himself very cleverly at the expense of a Pawn. In the end-game the following position was reached: [see viewer/download]

On Board 1 Maroczy outplayed his opponent completely as follows: [Maroczy-Vukovic - see viewer/download]

In the match between Britain and Switzerland Atkins won a Pawn cleverly, but did not conduct the end-game with sufficient care, and Johner was able to win back the Pawn, a draw ensuing. Thomas, with Black, got a cramped game, but by careful play avoided many pitfalls, and secured the draw.

By the adjournment Michell had obtain an extra passed Pawn on the Queen's side and was expected to win. He did so finely in the following position. [Michell-Grob - veiwer/downoad]

Another fine end game was that by G. Renaud (France), as Black v. G. Kroone (Holland), which after some spirited play on both sides reached the following position: [Kroone-Renaud - viewer/download]

A. Muffang also brought off a pretty win in the end-game. [Muffang-Weenink - viewer/download]

Dr. S. Tarrasch, the veteran of the tournament (he was bom in 1862), played a highly scientific game vs. Marquis Rosselli del Turco (Italy), and his advantage in position was sufficient in any case to lead to a win, when his opponent made a blunder, which; spoiled the game from a publishing point of view. [Tarrasch-Rosselli - viewer/download] On the other hand M. Monticelli played a spirited attack against the other veteran, German player, J. Mieses, whose forte is attack, but the Italian got his in first and by a temporary sacrifice, wound up the game by the win of a piece. [viewer/download]

The Austrian team were without Hans Kmoch, detained, by the disturbances in Vienna, but they had brought a reserve in Dr. Gruber, whose game was one of the two unfinished, and he eventually won it after adjournment. Kmoch was expected to arrive in time for the second round.

The Argentine team started well despite the fact that Damian Reca could not accompany them. The player who has come .over in his place is Juan Rivarola. Hungary have brought a fifth player in K. H. Havasi; several other teams have availed themselves of the opportunity of a substitute.

Tuesday, July 19th.—This was a strenuous day for those taking part in the Team Tournament, for they had two matches to play, Round No. 2 was started at 9-30 a.m. and play went on for three hours. Then at 2-30 the third round was commenced, and play went on till 6-30. The games unfinished in the third round were continued from 8 to 10 p.m. The result of only three hours’ play was that half the games were adjourned and these were completed on Wednesday morning.

The first contretemps on Tuesday morning was the fact that the English representative, F. D. Yates, did not put in an appearance. At 12-30, H. E. Atkins, the British captain, thought there was no alternative but to put in our substitute, E. Spencer, of Liverpool, and he unfortunately had not studied the rules of play and thought he had to make twenty moves in ten minutes, instead of which it was thirty in forty minutes, the time limit being thirty moves in the first hour and a half. He consequently hurried his opening moves, made a mistake on the 19th move and lost a piece and had no chance afterwards.

F. D. Yates turned up an hour and a half late with apologies that he had overslept himself. Altogether an unfortunate affair for the British team.

To take the second round first, although it was not finished till Wednesday morning, the eventual totals were as follows:—

The Argentine team, despite the fact that one of their best players was unable to come, are making a very good start. Another team to suffer from the inability of two of their players to come was Finland, as Messrs. Lindross and Malmberg had originally been nominated, their places being taken by Messrs. Heilimo and Rasmusson, and the latter drew his game with Atkins. Mr. Heilimo, however, made a very bad blunder against Sir George Thomas and for a second time it was a member of the British team who scored the first victory. Michell had an advantage against Terho, but was unable to secure a win. Grünfeld, of Austria, secured a good win against Euwe, but this was balanced by a very fine victory by Weenink against H. Kmoch, who arrived on Monday night. We give this game. [Weenink-Kmoch - viewer/download]

The third round of the Team Tournament started at 2-30 on Tuesday. The following is the score :—

This brought the British Empire against Holland. Euwe won a fine game against Yates, as follows... but this was counter-balanced by wins on the other three boards, Michell’s being such a fine ending that the spectators burst into applause when his opponent resigned. The position was as under :— [Michell - Te Kolste - viewer/download]

Kostich played an opening which is seldom seen nowadays in first-class chess, viz., the Evans Gambit. [Kostic-Cheron - viewer/download]

As will be seen in the match between Spain and Belgium, no blood was spilt on either side! Hungary kept their lead and the Argentina, with the British Empire team, are at present a good second.

In the fourth round, played on Wednesday, July 20th, the results were as follows...

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BCM, September 1927, p353-377

THE B.C.F. INTERNATIONAL TEAM TOURNAMENT AND CONGRESS.

Last month we recorded the score up to the fourth round of the Team Tournament, but although we give the scores of the teams round by round, we are unable to give particulars of games, endings and positions from every round, but must content ourselves with a general survey, mentioning anything special which came to our notice.

[Round 5]

An amusing incident is recorded of Réti. A quarter of an hour before the adjournment he saw that his opponent had a line of play which forced the draw, and having an engagement with his tailor at six o’clock he was just about to propose a draw when his opponent resigned, not having seen the line of play in question.

Another untoward incident in connection with the British team occurred in this round. H. E. Atkins offered his opponent a draw, which was declined. Later time was called, and Kostich sealed his 38th move, although the instructions to competitors (in four languages) distinctly stated 40 moves must be made before adjournment, Atkins’ time was 1 hr. 57 min. The game had to be resumed at 8 p.m. Kostich immediately opened the sealed envelope, made the sealed move on the board, and started Atkins’ clock. Atkins making a mistake as to the time arrived seven minutes late to find he had exceeded the time limit, which of course would not have occurred had 40 moves been made. Unfortunately for the British team at the period of the adjournment Atkins had a won game. The Committee decided the game must be replayed, and a draw resulted. The other three representatives won well.

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[The score of the annulled Kostich-Atkins game was given in the Manchester Guardian, 25 July 1927, as follows...]

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The sixth round of the Team Tournament was started on Friday, July 22nd, but after three hours’ play quite half the games were adjourned, most of these were completed on Saturday morning.

Sir George Thomas tried an apparently new move in the French Defence against Renaud : i P—K 4, P—K 3 ; 2 P—Q 4, P—Q 4 1 3 Kt—Q B 3, B—Kt 5 ; 4 PxP, PxP; 5 B—Q 3, K Kt—K 2 ; 6 Q—R 5 (! ?), Q Kt—B 3 ; 7 Kt—B 3, P—K Kt 3 ; 8 Q—R6, Kt—B 4 ; 9 B X Kt—and he eventually won.

The seventh round of the Team Tournament was played on Friday afternoon, with the following result.

The Argentine team has been one of the surprises of the tournament and has earned its place among the leaders. The following game, played in the match against Holland is the shortest game in the Team Tournament so far. [Palau-Te Kolste - see viewer/download]

The surprise of this round was the defeat of Dr. Tarrasch. The opening was a Ruy Lopez, where Black took the KP, and developed with 9.., B—B 4. Position after Black’s 16th move, Kt—Kt 6. [see viewer/download]

The following is the game between the two famous masters Maroczy and Reti. It is probably one of the finest games played so far, and shows Maroczy in his best form. [see viewer/download]

H. E. Atkins took a rest in this round, and so Spencer, the reserve played; his opponent was S. R. Wolff.

[Wolff-Spencer] Unfortunately he played his 41st move without first looking round, and recaptured the Rook, whereas had he played P x B he probably had a won ending, as will be seen by the annexed diagram. Had Black played 41.., P x B there does not appear any saving move for White.

The eighth round was played on Saturday afternoon before a larger crowd of spectators then heretofore. Amongst whom was a father with an infant son, aged two in his arms. When asked whether he wanted him to become an infant chess prodigy, he replied he wanted him when he grew up to be able to say he shook hands with Dr. Tarrasch. Dr. Tarrasch willingly complied.

At 9-30 a.m., on Monday, July 25th, the ninth round was commenced, but most of the games were'adjourned at 12-30 until Tuesday morning.

The shortest game in the tournament occurred between Palau of Argentina, and Kalabar of Yugo Slavia. It opened as follows:— 1 P—Q4, Kt—KB3; 2 P—QB4 P—K3; 3 Kt—K B 3, B—Kt 5 ch ; 4 B—Q2, then Black intended to play Q—K2 but quite inadvertently played K—K 2. His opponent then played BxB ch, and Black replied with KxB! His opponent pointed out that this was a K and could not move thus. One of the players suggested that this move might stand and White mate in two with Q—Kt3! This was an annoying blunder, but was accepted with good grace by the Yugoslavian player.

Atkins, who came straight from correcting examination papers to the tournament, has not been in his usual fine form and played a very poor game against Count Sacconi, who, however, took full advantage of Atkins’ weak moves and soon secured a won position.

The tenth round was started at 2-30 on July 25th, and three games were still unfinished after the adjournment at 10 o’clock.

Yates was Black and defended a Ruy Lopez, which Krause developed with 5 Kt—B 3 and a position similar to the Four Knights was obtained. Yates had a difficult game throughout and eventually succumbed.

Norman Hansen played the Albin Counter Gambit. Michell obtained a Pawn and won another, but played the ending badly and eventually had to resign. Spencer, on the other hand, was rather lucky in that at one period he had the worse game, but his opponent did not play correctly and he was able to force a win in the end-game.

The young Dutch player, Max Euwe, outplayed Dr. Tarrasch in the following game.

Another good game in this round was that between Grunfeld of Austria against Pokorny of Czechoslovakia, which we give below [see viewer/download]

The score of the eleventh round (July 26th) was as follows: [scores]

The eleventh round started at 2-30 and the Hungarian team went still further ahead. Maroczy and Tarrasch agreed a draw after eighteen moves.

Sir George Thomas had a difficult game v. Reti, but a draw was agreed after twenty-four moves had been made, Sir George having missed the chance of winning a Pawn and perhaps the game.

The totals at the end of this round were as follows :—

Hungary, 32; Denmark, 30; Germany, 25½; Great Britain, 24½ (with 2 adjourned) ; Austria, 24½ (2) ; Holland, 24 (1) ; Czechoslovakia, 23½; Argentina, 22½ (1); Switzerland, 22½ (1) ; Italy, 20½; Yugoslavia, 20 (2) ; France, 19½ (1) ; Sweden, 17 (2) ; Finland, 15½; Spain, 12½.

Hungary have played all their nearest rivals, and therefore are almost certain to win the tournament, but the fight for second place is likely to be a keen one, and half points will become valuable.

The twelfth round was played in the afternoon and resulted as follows:—

Sir George Thomas won a fine game off Grau, as follows :—[see viewer/download] This is one of the best games Sir Geo. Thomas has played and his score up to the present is the finest of any competitor in the tournament.

Atkins had the better game but gave his opponent an opportunity of exchanges and a perpetual check, of which he immediately availed himself. Yates played well to win his game, but Michell went entirely wrong and eventually lost.

Reti won a good game off Romih as will be seen by the following score:— [see viewer/download]

Denmark have already shown that they are much stronger than was anticipated. They won a love set against Spain, as did Sweden against France.

The adjourned games from previous rounds in the International Team Tournament were set down for decision on Wednesday evening (27th), and as a result the position was much clarified. Michell was only able to draw his game with Betbeder in the French match, although a Pawn up; he had missed a win earlier.

The results at the end of this round were as follows : Hungary, 32; Denmark, 30; Austria, 28; Germany, 28; Great Britain, 27½; Holland, 27 (1); Czechoslovakia, 26; Switzerland, 25½; Argentina, 24½ (this is another team which has done better than was anticipated); Yugoslavia, 23; Sweden, 23; Italy, 22; France, 20; Belgium, 17½; Finland, 16 (1); Spain, 12½.

The thirteenth round of the Team Tournament was started on Thursday, July 28th, at 9-30, but at 12-20 only eleven of the games were finished. The first to be finished was that by F. D. Yates—a very fine game v. M. Censer, of Belgium.

R. P. Michell got a difficult game getting a Knight at K R 4, which had no escape, but he avoided the loss of this very cleverly and seemed to have got out of his troubles, winning the Exchange, but played weakly afterwards and Koltanowski, who is probably the strongest of the four Belgian players, making good use of his centre Pawns eventually secured a win.

Both Thomas and Atkins had long struggles before they could overcome their opponents.

The fourteenth round of the Team Tournament was started at 2-30 on the 28th, and seeing that Hungary had not succeeded in the morning in polishing off Finland, none of the games being finished, while Denmark had scored one game, and following this with a win against Argentina by 3 to 1, and while Hungary had scored 1½ in three games against Holland, they were temporarily level with the Hungarian team.

The British Empire team with 3½ against Sweden improved their position, and took the third place. Thomas played the wrong move in a Scotch game and should have got a lost position, but his opponent did not carry it on correctly and he secured a draw. Nyholm adopted an inferior defence to the Ruy Lopez and Spencer playing it correctly brought off a good win, as will be seen by the accompanying game.

In the Team Tournament at the end of the fourteenth round, after all the adjourned games were finished, the scores were : Hungary and Denmark, 36½; Britain, 34; Holland, 33; Germany and Austria, 32½; Czechoslovakia, 30½; Switzerland, 29½; Yugoslavia, 28; Italy, 27½; Argentina, 27 ; Sweden, 25 ; France, 23½; Belgium, 19½; Finland, 18½; Spain, 14. This, therefore, caused quite a little excitement.

Hungary soon showed superiority over Spain, whereas the Danish team were not having it all their own way against Belgium, and eventually it was seen that Hungary, who had led from the start until the fourteenth round, were going to secure the very handsome trophy, presented by the Hon. F. G. Hamilton-Russell, which they will retain until the next similar tournament. They also obtained gold medals for their team. Britain secured third place by defeating Germany 2½ to 1½.

We give a game from this round. [Weenink-Kostich - see viewer] This, as will be seen, was the same opening as that given on page 368, but Weenink did not play the opening as well as Spencer.

That the Team Tournament went off without a hitch is undoubtedly due to the splendid organising powers of G. R. Hardcastle, the genial hon. secretary of the London Chess League, and the Stewards who worked under him. The services of Mr. G. R. Hardcastle and four of the stewards, who had been there regularly throughout the fortnight, W. Durdin, F. W. Markwick, L. A. Mumford and A. H. Wykeham-George, were specially recognised at the meeting held on Saturday afternoon. In addition to these Messrs. A. D. Barlow, W. P. Plummer, E. A. Cave and E. J. Spendlove, gave valuable assistance during the time. The Congress was in charge of R. H. S. Stevenson, which is sufficient to say that everything went smoothly, and his services in this respect were suitably recognised by a presentation on the last afternoon. As also, amid acclamation, were those of L. P. Rees, without whose conception the Team Tournament would never have been held, and to the successful running of which he had so much contributed.

CLOSING CEREMONY

At the closing meeting of the Congress, held on Saturday afternoon (July 30th), Canon Gordon Ross, president of the British Chess Federation, presided. There was a large attendance, who cheered heartily when the Hungarian team came forward to receive the cup they had won, and it was renewed when the captain, G. Maroczy, held the cup aloft as he went to the platform to express the thanks of his team.

Canon Ross laid stress on the importance of the underlying idea of the Team Tournament, "The Brotherhood of Sport," which would help to a realisation of the Universal Fatherhood.

Major Sir Richard Barnett, M.P., the president of the London Chess League, then handed over the Insull trophy, which he had received from the Right Hon. The Lord Mayor at a luncheon in the Mansion House in July, to the custody of Mr. G. R. Hardcastle, as hon. secretary of the London Chess League. Sir Richard remarked that the Team Tournament and Congress had, in his opinion, been very successful, and a splendid spirit of amity and good fellowship had advanced the cause of chess considerably during the last fortnight. The game was now beginning to receive the recognition it deserved.

Mr. Maurice S. Kuhns, president of the American National Chess Federation, said that he, as the representative of one of the latest recruits to the F.I.D.E., would return to America impressed by English hospitality and would be inspired by what he had seen and learned. In concluding, he mentioned the International Tournament, which was being arranged to take place in London during October, and was happy to say he had received a telegram from New York reading: "We are sending Marshall to play in the October tournament; he agrees to go." (Cheers.)

Dr. A. Rueb (Holland), the president of the International Chess Federation, said that the cup presented by the Hon. Hamilton-Russell would be a great help in the development of the F.I.D.E. and said he hoped to see them all again at the meeting next year of the F.I.D.E. at the Hague.

The prizes were then presented by Lady Margaret Hamilton-Russell. Herr G. Maroczy, the leader of the winning team, spoke in English, and said the Hungarian players were very proud to take home that beautiful prize, and the tournament would always remain one of their very pleasant memories.

M. Nelky, Councillor of the Hungarian Legation, thanked the British Federation, on behalf of Hungary, for their hospitality.

The prizes for the best individual scores in the Team Tournament were then presented. These were the gifts of Hon. F. G. Hamilton-Russell and Major Sir Richard Barnett, M.P. The first and second being divided between Sir G. A. Thomas (Great Britain) and H. Norman-Hansen (Denmark). The third prize went to R. Réti (Czechoslovakia), fourth to G. Maroczy (Hungary), fifth to E. Grünfeld (Austria) and sixth to M. Euwe (Holland).

In addition to these there are two extra prizes, one for the most brilliant game and one for the best-played game in the Team Tournament—these will be decided by the adjudicators, Messrs. J. H. Blake, R. C. Griffith and L. P. Rees, later on.

One of the strangest figures seen at the Congress was that of an elderly gentleman armed with a pair of field glasses, with which he took long studies of the games in progress. He was probably some yachtsman stranded on the Westminster marshes!

The rule as to the recurrence of position was several times invoked by competitors in the Team Tournament and it was most amusing to hear a steward explaining the rule in French of "Stratford-at-Bowe"¹ to two players whose mother tongues were respectively Finnish and Spanish. ¹ An obscure Chaucerian reference meaning "badly spoken French"

Then there was the foreign lady who erected barricades all round herself before she started play; yards of white tape taking the place of barbed wire. It appears that at former congresses she had been annoyed by spectators dropping their cigar and cigarette dust on her hair and down her neck, and she was resolved that such should not be the case at Westminster.

It is reported that several alarum clocks from all parts of the country had been sent to one of the team tournament players who had overslept himself and arrived too late to play !

Certainly it seems that the B.C.F. ought to have appointed an organist. When permission was given to use the grand organ at the farewell meeting no one sufficiently skilful could be found to play the instrument. How effective it would have been had the appropriate National Anthem been played as he or she had marched up to get their prize!

In addition to the tournaments, on eight evenings Lightning Tournaments were played in sections of four, the winners of each section playing off for the first prize, the seconds for the second prize, and so on. The semi-finalists for the first prizes were as follow:

No. 1. Stoltz beat Perlmutter, Kostich beat Goldstein. The final was drawn and therefore Kostich and Stoltz divided the first prize.
No. 2. Steiner beat Christoffersen, Kostich beat Muffang. Kostich beat Steiner in the final.
No. 3. Kostich beat Louviau, Grau beat Nogues, Kostich winning the final round.
No. 4. Stahlberg beat Heastie, Kostich beat Reti. Stahlberg won the final.
No. 5. Kostich beat Nogues, Buerger beat Kagan, Buerger beating Kostich in the final.
No. 6. Gurnhill beat Morrison, Sterk beat Giersing, Sterk winning the final. (N.B.—Kostich was not playing owing to an adjourned game in the Team Tournament.)
No. 7. Kostich beat Sir G. A. Thomas and Lean beat Romih, Kostich winning the final.
No. 8, to which there were 84 entries, Kostich beat Buerger, Vajda beat Gus. Vajda beat Kostich in the final.

From this it is evident that Kostich is one of the finest lightning players, for he reached the final on all the occasions in which he took part!

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The Scotsman - Saturday 30 July 1927

THE WOMAN CHAMPION.

Miss Vera Menchik told a Press Association representative last night how she played her first game (in Moscow) when she was only nine. She has lived in Hastings for six years. Her mother is English, and her father is a Czecho-SIovakian, and she spent the earliest years of her life in Russia.

"Papa plays chess well, and taught me much, but he is not a champion," said Miss Menchik. "My first big chess I played at the open tournarnents at Hastings. In this tournament I was confident of doing well but I was not a little bit sure that I would be champion. I am very glad. I was in Russia at the time of the revolution and I was then very young, but I do not want to say much about it. Like many more, we had unpleasant times. Papa owned a mill there. He no longer has it. Once I played chess every day, but lately I have not been so constant to the game. I do not live and dream chess; that would be too fixed. It is nice to turn to tennis, and I spend a lot of time modelling with clay."

Although she knew the game before she came to England, it was on the South Coast that she developed her powers as a tournament player. At Hastings her instructor was Maroczy the Hungarian master. Miss Menchik is a short, homely girl and unbobbed. She has a winsome smile and speaks broken English.

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Link to OlimpBase, which features the complete results and statistics of the 1927 London Olympiad.

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File Updated

Date	Notes
7 July 2022	First upload, with 281 (including 10 part-games) of the 480 games played. So far I have not managed to add much to the enormous work the late Ken Whyld did in assembling the games of this competition, despite the advantages of 21st century technology. The first edition of his book The First Chess Olympiad was published in 1993 and he acknowledged the following as contributors: Arne Berggren, Eero Böök, Adriano Chicco, Jan Kalendovsky, Daniel de Mol, Arpád Foldéák, Tony Gillam, Poul Hage, Rolf Littorin, Pablo Morán, Holger Norman-Hansen, Tony Preziuso, Lothar Schmid, Rob Verhoeven, and Heinrich Wagner. The second edition appeared in 2001 as no.53 in The Chess Player's Rare and Unpublished Tournaments and Matches series, edited by Tony Gillam. It included 20 more games and Ken Whyld gave additional credit to Richard Forster, Tony Gillam, Andreas Pampa, Per Skjoldager. A vote of thanks is due to all of the above. The only differences you'll detect between the initial BritBase version and the games that appear on ChessBase's Big/Mega databases is that I have placed the games in a more logical order, exactly matching Ken Whyld's original, and I have included the attributions that appeared in the Whyld work. Some of these I have added to as I've conducted a sweep through various online archives and other available resources. A note on my use of the round/sub-round field, for example 6.43 - the first digit is the round number as usual; the second digit is the number of the match within the round (of which there were 8, given that there were 16 teams); and the final digit is the board number - thus round 6, match no.4, board no.3. By using this standard it becomes easy to use ChessBase functionality to sort the team competition games into a logical order. Note also that the viewer above excludes stub games (i.e. those with no moves) while the download includes them.
8 July 2022	I've found the annulled Kostich-Atkins game (rd 5) and added it to the download.
21 December 2023	One game deleted: what purported to the score of Havasi-Romi (Hungary-Italy, rd 5) has proved to be that of a different game (Romi-Jackson, St Brides Tournament, September 1927, primary source: in L'Italia Scacchistica, Vol.17 no.19, 1 October 1927, p5).