1937/38 Hastings Congress, 28 December 1937 - 6 January 1938, White Rock Pavilion, Hastings

1937/38 Hastings Premier		Nat'y	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
1	Samuel Reshevsky	USA	&;	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	1	1	7
2	C Hugh O'D Alexander	ENG	½	&;	½	½	½	1	½	1	1	1	6½
3	Paul Keres	EST	½	½	&;	½	½	1	1	½	1	1	6½
4	Reuben Fine	USA	½	½	½	&;	½	1	½	½	1	1	6
5	Salo Flohr	CZE	½	½	½	½	&;	0	1	1	1	1	6
6	Vladas Mikenas	LTU	0	0	0	0	1	&;	1	1	1	1	5
7	Sir George Alan Thomas	ENG	0	½	0	½	0	0	&;	½	½	1	3
8	Theodore H Tylor	ENG	0	0	½	½	0	0	½	&;	1	½	3
9	William Albert Fairhurst	SCO	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	0	&;	½	1
10	Andrew Rowland Benedick Thomas	ENG	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	½	&;	1

1937/38 Hastings Premier Reserves (Section 1)

1937/38 Hastings Premier Reserves (Section 1)		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
1	Imre König	Yugoslavia	&;	½	½	½	1	1	½	1	1	1	7
2	Markas Luckis	Lithuania	½	&;	½	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	7
3	George Koltanowski	Belgium	½	½	&;	½	½	1	½	1	1	½	6
4	Edward Guthlac Sergeant	London	½	0	½	&;	½	1	1	1	½	1	6
5	Edward Mackenzie Jackson	Hastings	0	0	½	½	&;	1	½	1	½	1	5
6	Lodewijk Prins	Netherlands	0	1	0	0	0	&;	1	0	1	1	4
7	Leonard Illingworth	Foxton	½	0	½	0	½	0	&;	½	½	1	3½
8	George Marshall Norman	Hastings	0	0	0	0	0	1	½	&;	1	1	3½
9	Arthur Eva1	Manchester	0	0	0	½	½	0	½	0	&;	½	2
10	Cecil Perfect Hammond	Hastings	0	0	½	0	0	0	0	0	½	&;	1

¹ The Times, 20 December 1937, p18, confirms that it was Arthur Eva (b 26.11.1876, d 30.05.1942) and not his brother Alfred Eva (b 24.08.1882, d 21.02.1974)

1937/38 Hastings Premier Reserves (Section 2)

1937/38 Hastings Premier Reserves (Section 2)		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
1	Salo Landau	Netherlands	&;	1	½	1	1	½	½	1	1	1	7½
2	Dr Paul M List	Lithuania	0	&;	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	7
3	Gerrit R D Van Doesburgh	Netherlands	½	0	&;	1	0	1	1	1	½	1	6
4	Francis Ernest Appleyard Kitto	Cambridge	0	0	0	&;	1	1	1	0	1	1	5
5	(William) Arthur Winser	Hastings	0	0	1	0	&;	0	1	1	1	1	5
6	(William) Ritson Morry	Birmingham	½	1	0	0	1	&;	0	0	1	½	4
7	Willem Andreas Theo Schelfhout	Netherlands	½	0	0	0	0	1	&;	½	1	1	4
8	Henry Holwell Cole	London	0	0	0	1	0	1	½	&;	0	½	3
9	Reginald Pryce Michell	Kingston	0	0	½	0	0	0	0	1	&;	1	2½
10	(Arthur) John Peters	London	0	0	0	0	0	½	0	½	0	&;	1

Other Sections

Major A: (1) Isaac Berenblum 7½/9; (2) Leonard Charles Birch 6; (3-5) Edmund Arthur Beamish, Edward Willingham Brocklesby, Philip Charles Hoad 5½; (6-7) Mrs. Edith Martha Holloway, Frederick William Flear 4; (8) Theodore Magnus Wechsler 3½; (9) Alfred Herman Reeve 3; (10) Mrs. Anne Muriel Shannon Shannon ½.

Major B: (1) Ralph Carter Woodthorpe 6/9; (2) Harold John Francis Stevenson 5½; (3-4) Miss Minnie Musgrave, Ernest Montgomery Jellie 5.

Major C: (1) James Edmund Sandford Fawcett¹ 8/9; (2-3) D. M. Barnes, A. L. Gordon 5½.
¹ Sir James Fawcett (1913-1991), maternal grandfather of UK prime minister Boris Johnson.

First Class (Morning): (1) John Edward Richardson 7/9; (2) George Harold Govas 6; (3-4) R. P. Lockwood, George Arthur Peck 5½.

First Class (Afternoon): (1) Maurice Ellinger 7/9, (2-3) Hon. Arthur James Beresford Lowther, P. Foster 6½.

Second Class (Morning): (1-2) George William Bullows, Geoffrey Daukes 7½.

Second Class (Afternoon): (1) W. S. James 9/9; (2) A. Ormond 7.

Third Class (Morning): (1) F. P. Pounce 8½.

Third Class (Afternoon): (1) P. Foster 8½.

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[BCM, February 1938, p51]

"With four of the would-be challengers for the world championship, this congress promised to be one of the most interesting ever held. It was eventually won, and most deservedly, by Reshevsky who played fine, forcible chess, and always looked as though determined to win. He was only once in difficulties, against Fairhurst. The second prize was shared by Keres and Alexander. This was a glorious result from the English point of view. It would not be unduly partial to say that Alexander played the better of the two. He was definitely unlucky not to share the first prize. He quite outplayed Flohr and had one clear winning chance against Keres.He never looked like losing, except possibly to Reshevsky and to Keres later on in the game. His handling of the openings was that of a master, and he is a great deal better than hitherto when in clock trouble. He also had his somewhat highly strung and nervous temperament under much better control, though one could hardly describe him even yet as a placid player. His performance should do an enormous amount of good to British chessplayers, who suffer from an inferiority complex whenever they are up against foreign masters.

"Keres was actually rather disappointing and distinctly lucky in some of his games. He has played in an enormous amount of tournaments in the last year or two and a rest would probably do him a lot of good. He is a most popular visitor whenever he comes.

"Fine and Flohr were neither of them playing as well as they did two or three years ago, and it was rather difficult to envisage them as possible rivals to the champion. Flohr was very hard pressed in several of his games, and though he handled them with the utmost skill and calmness, one feels that Dr. Alekhine would not have let him escape. Fine seemed to find chess-playing very laborious and had to work terribly hard for his wins and for some of his draws. Mikenas is an extremely interesting and spirited player, always liable to beat anybody, as he showed against Flohr. He does not mind running risks and in fact some of his attacks were definitely unsound. Nevertheless, he is a refreshing player to watch in these times. Sir George Thomas was tired when the tournament began and Tylor became so as it proceeded.

"Fairhurst was terribly disappointing after the first week, in which he had no luck, and kept on missing wins after outplaying his opponents. In the second week he seemed to be becoming disheartened; but of course, his score is ridiculous for a player of his calibre. A. R. B. Thomas did not seem to have sufficient knowledge of the modern openings and was also very nervous at his first experience in a tournament of this strength. He got a bad game in the opening, after which, of course, you have little chance of escape against players of the front rank. We feel sure that he will do better next time."

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[BCM, February 1938, p50] "Dr. Alekhine stayed at Hastings during the congress and was an interested spectator. Afterwards he spent some days in London and appeared in the television programme on January 12th."

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File Updated

Date	Notes
(previously)	Previously part of the bulk Hastings file
10 March 2022	First upload as a separate file, with crosstables, games from subsidiary sections, etc.
11 March 2022	Correction applied to the score of Tylor 0-1 Flohr (Rd 5) - thanks to Andy Ansel for pointing this out.
4 May 2022	Added two games: (1) W.Winser 1-0 W.Schelfhout (rd 4, Premier Reserves, Section 2); (2) Pat Foster 0-1 W James (2nd Class pm). Many thanks to Brian Denman for submitting them.
4 May 2022	Ulrich Tamm has contributed nine games from subsidiary events. Four games from Premier Reserves Section 2: (1) instead of having S Landau 1-0 P List (rd 6) in two separate segments (opening and endgame) we now have the full 63-move game score: (2) AJ Peters 0-1 G van Doesburgh (rd 6); (3) W Schelfhout 1-0 W Ritson Morry (rd 3); (4) W Schelfhout ½-½ S Landau (rd 5). And from Premier Reserves Section 1: (5) A Eva 0-1 L Prins (rd 4), full score replacing a part-game; (6) E Jackson 0-1 I König (rd 8); (7) G Koltanowski ½-½ I König (rd 8); (8) M Luckis 0-1 L Prins (rd 8); (9) E Sergeant 0-1 M Luckis (rd 4). Many thanks to Ulrich.
10 February 2023	Added the game J.Richardson 1-0 NN (First Class Morning), contributed by Gerard Killoran, for which many thanks.