1938/39 Hastings Congress, 28 December 1938 - 6 January 1939, White Rock Pavilion, Hastings

1938/39 Hastings Premier

1938/39 Hastings Premier		Nat'y	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
1	Laszlo Szabo	HUN	&;	½	½	1	1	1	½	1	1	1	7½
2	Max Euwe	NED	½	&;	0	½	1	1	1	1	1	½	6½
3	Salo Landau	NED	½	1	&;	0	1	½	½	1	½	1	6
4	Vasja Pirc	YUG	0	½	1	&;	0	1	1	½	1	1	6
5	Ernst Ludwig Klein	AUT	0	0	0	1	&;	½	½	1	½	1	4½
6	Philip Stuart Milner-Barry	ENG	0	0	½	0	½	&;	1	1	1	½	4½
7	Harry Golombek	ENG	½	0	½	0	½	0	&;	½	1	1	4
8	Sir George Alan Thomas	ENG	0	0	0	½	0	0	½	&;	1	½	2½
9	Theodore H Tylor	ENG	0	0	½	0	½	0	0	0	&;	1	2
10	Edward Guthlac Sergeant	ENG	0	½	0	0	0	½	0	½	0	&;	1½

1938/39 Hastings Premier Reserves A

1938/39 Hastings Premier Reserves A		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
1	Imre Koenig	Yugoslavia	&;	½	½	1	½	0	1	½	1	1	6
2	Markas Luckis	Lithuania	½	&;	0	1	½	½	½	1	1	½	5½
3	Jacques Mieses	Germany	½	1	&;	0	0	1	1	1	0	1	5½
4	Theo D Van Scheltinga	Netherlands	0	0	1	&;	½	½	1	0	1	1	5
5	Baldur Hoenlinger	Germany	½	½	1	½	&;	1	0	0	½	1	5
6	Lodewijk Prins	Netherlands	1	½	0	½	0	&;	1	½	1	0	4½
7	Dr Paul M List	London	0	½	0	0	1	0	&;	1	½	1	4
8	Friedrich Saemisch	Germany	½	0	0	1	1	½	0	&;	0	½	3½
9	Gerald Abrahams	Liverpool	0	0	1	0	½	0	½	1	&;	0	3
10	Count Antonio Sacconi	Italy	0	½	0	0	0	1	0	½	1	&;	3

1938/39 Hastings Premier Reserves B

1938/39 Hastings Premier Reserves B		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
1	Jacob Baruch Perlmutter	Belgium	&;	½	0	0	1	1	1	1	½	1	6
2	Andrew Rowland Benedick Thomas	Liverpool	½	&;	½	½	½	0	1	1	1	1	6
3	Geza Füster	Hungary	1	½	&;	½	0	0	½	1	1	1	5½
4	Frits van Seters	Belgium	1	½	½	&;	½	0	1	½	½	1	5½
5	(William) Arthur Winser	Hastings	0	½	1	½	&;	0	1	½	1	1	5½
6	Gerrit Roelof Diederik van Doesburgh	Netherlands	0	1	1	1	1	&;	½	0	0	0	4½
7	(William) Ritson Morry	Birmingham	0	0	½	0	0	½	&;	1	1	1	4
8	Edward Mackenzie Jackson	Bexhill	0	0	0	½	½	1	0	&;	0	1	3
9	Francis Ernest Appleyard Kitto	Cambridge	½	0	0	½	0	1	0	1	&;	0	3
10	E M Morrison	Netherlands	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	&;	2

1938/39 Hastings Premier Reserves C

1938/39 Hastings Premier Reserves C		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
1	Cecil Perfect Hammond	Bexhill	&;	½	1	1	1	½	0	1	1	1	7
2	Wilfred Hugh Miller Kirk	Hastings	½	&;	½	½	½	1	1	1	½	1	6½
3	John Edward Richardson	Stowe School	0	½	&;	½	½	1	1	1	1	1	6½
4	Leonard Illingworth	Royston	0	½	½	&;	1	½	1	½	1	1	6
5	(Arthur) John Peters	Bexhill	0	½	½	0	&;	½	½	½	1	1	4½
6	Edward Willingham Brocklesby	London	½	0	0	½	½	&;	1	0	1	½	4
7	A L Gordon	London	1	0	0	0	½	0	&;	1	½	½	3½
8	Maurice Ellinger	London	0	0	0	½	½	1	0	&;	0	1	3
9	Ronald Lee-Johnson	Hertford	0	½	0	0	0	0	½	1	&;	½	2½
10	Arthur Eva (see photo)	Cheshire	0	0	0	0	0	½	½	0	½	&;	1½

1938/39 Hastings Major A

1938/39 Hastings Major A		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
1	Raymond Hampden Blomfield	East Molesey	&;	1	1	1	1	1	½	1	1	½	8
2	H C Lewis	Blackburn	0	&;	1	½	1	½	1	½	1	1	6½
3	George Harold Govas	London	0	0	&;	1	1	1	½	1	1	0	5½
4	Alfred Dudley Barlow	Hastings	0	½	0	&;	0	1	½	1	1	1	5
5	Fenny Heemskerk	Netherlands	0	0	0	1	&;	1	½	1	0	1	4½
6	Capt. Edmund Arthur Beamish		0	½	0	0	0	&;	0	1	1	1	3½
7	Mme Catharina Roodzant	Netherlands	½	0	½	½	½	1	&;	0	½	0	3½
8	Miss Minnie Musgrave	Hastings	0	½	0	0	0	0	1	&;	½	1	3
9	Charles Henry Taylor		0	0	0	0	1	0	½	½	&;	1	3
10	Mrs. Anne Muriel S Shannon		½	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	&;	2½

Major B: (1) Ignas Zalys (Lithuania) 8/9; (2) Paul M Foster (Hastings) 6;(3-4) Charles William Roberts (Brighouse), Francis Avery Sisley (Chelmsford) 5½; (5-7) James Edmund Sandford Fawcett (Hastings), Hugh Windsor Fiesch Heneage (Hastings), Alfred Herman Reeve 4; (8-9) (Sydney) Hugh Brocklesby, Mrs Edith Mary Ann Michell 3; (10) George Arthur Peck 2.

First Class A: (1) Harry George W Vernon (Hastings) 6½/8; (2) Richard Coman 6; (3) Ronald Stephen Lockwood 5½; (4) Michael James Steuart Dewar 5; (5) F A Damen (Rotterdam) 4½; (6-7) Geoffrey George Homan, John Spedan Lewis 3; (8) Captain J Mackenzie (Hastings) 2½ (see photo); (9) Charles William Bullows 0.

First Class B: (1-2) Herbert Francis Gook, W S James 7/9; (3-6) W G Jackson, Frank Percival Pounce, C C J Matthews (British Guiana), G M Robertson 6; (7) Patrick M Foster (Hastings) 3; (8) Miss Emily Eliza Abraham 2½ (see photo); (9) J Francis 1½; (10) F Silk 0.

First Class Afternoon: (1) Hon. Arthur James Beresford Lowther 8½/9; (2-3) Leonard Gerardus Eggink (Netherlands), A D Field 6½; (4) D A W Hamilton (Hastings) 5; (5) Miss M Andrews (Hastings) 4½; (6) W H Jones 4; (7-8) Gerald Hugh Borlase Fox (East Grinstead), Herbert William Tidball 3; (9) Samuel Frederick Dalladay (Hastings) 2½; (10) Julian Mayne Ilott (Hastings) 1½.

Second Class Morning: (1) R K Guy 8½/9; (2) Thomas M Warburton 7½; (3) Peter Foster (Hastings) 5½; (4) Mrs Melita Ida Elizabeth Seyd (née Krohn) 5; (5) Captain J B Morgan (Hastings) 4½; (6) Frank Merlin Strawson 4; (7) Charles Gerald Verey (Hastings) 3½; (8) J Kidney (Hastings) 3; (9) A E B Hunter 2½; (10) H N Collins 1.

Second Class Afternoon: (1) Miss Kate Harris Passmore 7½/9; (2-4) W M Batten, W Longman, T Medley (Hastings) 6½; (5) Miss Katharine Tate Austin 6; (6) K Stewart (Hastings) 4½; (7) S Griffiths 3; (8) Arthur Trimnell 2½; (9) W E Rider 2; (10) Walter Howgrave (Hastings) 0.

Third Class Morning: (1) E M Thirian 8/9; (2) Thomas Eagle Lovell Chataway 6½; (3-4) Mrs W S James, V Rigby 5; (5-8) Miss Adelaide Mary Bishop, John E Coleman, W F Freeman (Hastings), Mrs D Vernon 4; (9) Miss Mabel Annie Lankey (Hastings) 2½; (10) Owen Fielder (Hastings) 2.

Third Class Afternoon: (1) E Benton 9/9; (2) Mrs Irene Mary McKeag¹ (Bath) 7½; (3) Marcus Levy 6; (4-5) Robert George Sang Mackechnie, W H Moore (Hastings) 5; (6) Miss Constance Maria Jannings (Hastings) 4; (7) Miss I M Shaw 3½; (8) W J Thornton 3; (9) Miss E[velyn] Ramsbotham (Hastings) 2; (10) J Wrigglesworth 0.
¹ Irene Mary McKeag (née Workman, 1901-1988) was listed as Mrs R H McKeag as she was married to Robert Humphreys McKeag (1900-54, a dental surgeon and chairman of the Bath Conservative Association) at the time of this tournament though she divorced him in 1941 (he remarried, became a professor of dental surgery in Colombo, Ceylon [Sri Lanka] and died there). She later became president of the Gloucestershire County Chess Association. She drew with Gligoric in a simul in 1966.

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[BCM, February 1939, p59]

HASTINGS CHRISTMAS CONGRESS

Hastings has a habit of making reputations and this year’s congress was no exception since the Premier was won by its youngest competitor, Laszlo Szabo of Hungary. The winner, a very pleasant youth of 21, played very interesting chess, and was the only player to go through the tournament without loss. He should improve still further during the next few years; at present his forte lies in combinational rather than positional lines.

Though Dr. Euwe won the second prize he did not seem quite in his best form. No doubt the Avro tournament had a tiring effect on him. He was very fortunate to win against Milner-Barry, and at one time looked in difficulties against Szabo. On the other hand, he played some very good games, notably against Golombek and Tylor.

Two other foreign competitors, S. Landau (Holland) and V. Pirc (Yugoslavia) shared 3rd and 4th prizes. The former indeed for a long time looked like winning the first prize but weakened towards the end of the tournament. Nevertheless his was a fine achievement, especially when one remarks that he was the only player to defeat Dr. Euwe.

Pirc was somewhat of a disappointment after his fine record in international chess during the last few years. He had two gift points presented to him by Milner-Barry and Golombek. The former threw away a Pawn in the opening and the latter actually put a piece en prise. In fact, the Yugoslav master only showed his true form in the very last round when he won in excellent style against Landau.

P. S. Milner-Barry and E. Klein came equal 5th and 6th with 4½ points. The former obtained the highest score of the English players, and showed fine attacking form in several games, especially against Golombek in the last round. Klein had a very creditable score in his first Premier tournament at Hastings. He defeated Pirc in very convincing style. Sir George Thomas commenced in good style, but tailed off as the tournament proceeded. T. H. Tylor was quite out of form and appeared to suffer from lack of practice. E. G. Sergeant frequently obtained good games but tired too soon.

In the B Section, A. R. B. Thomas played good chess, and thoroughly deserved to share first prize with J. Perlmutter of Belgium. W. Ritson Morry had the disappointing experience of scoring 3½ out of his first four games, and then not winning another game. F. E. Kitto was by no means in his Brighton form.

Section C was chiefly notable for the very promising performance of the boy player, J. E. Richardson. He played incisive chess, and was ever ready to take full advantage of his opponents’ errors as the following curiosity shows.

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Left to right: Captain J Mackenzie, Miss Emily Eliza Abraham and Mr Arthur Eva, playing at the Hastings Chess Congress.
Photo from Yorkshire Evening Post - Thursday 29 December 1938.
JS note: not the photos I would have chosen to publish! A good example of the UK media's relentless stereotyping of chess players as greybeards and weirdos.

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[The Times, 9 January 1939]

HASTINGS CONGRESS REVIEWED
SZABO’S ENTERPRISE
FROM OUR CHESS CORRESPONDENT

The play in the Premier Tournament at Hastings was rather disappointing this year, and there were few memorable games. The winner, L. Szabo, is only 21; he is a resourceful and enterprising player, but not yet a great one. He was in a bad way against Golombek, and very uncomfortable against Milner-Barry; the former conceded him a draw, and the latter went to pieces and lost to a beautiful mating combination.

Dr. Euwe, than whom no more welcome visitor ever attends an English congress, was also below his own standard. He had to work terribly hard for his points, and even then Thomas and Milner-Barry presented him with their games. He lost a game to Dr. Landau that he should have won, making, like lesser men, a series of bad moves when in severe time trouble. Dr. Landau and Klein, the former especially, both made a successful first appearance in the Premier; and Pirc, though he played one or two games poorly, produced some highly original strategic conceptions that gave one some idea of his real quality.

The English players were disappointing, not for lack of ideas as for incompetence in executing them, and for an inordinately large crop of blunders. Seldom can our eminent visitors have had so many points presented to them. Golombek played the best chess, but his old weakness of letting his opponents escape from his clutches was again apparent. Sergeant played much better than his score : he showed great courage and enterprise, and would have won some fine games but for missing his way at the critical moment.

AMONG THE RESERVES

From what I saw of it, the play in the Premier Reserves was lively and full of imagination. It produced a number of rare endings. Van Scheltinga struggled to defeat Prins with a queen against two knights, which is usually a “book” draw but a difficult one. Then Prins in turn drew an ending against Samisch with rook and pawn against queen and pawn. Sacconi, too, drew with rook and three pawns against queen and two, his king being safely tucked away in the corner, and the rook just guarding the critical squares.

In Section B was seen the refreshing spectacle of Kitto and Ritson Morry vigorously attacking each other with four queens on the board: one pair was exchanged, and the game assumed a more normal aspect. Finally the veteran Mieses, with lone rook and knight, had all he could do to prevent himself being mated by Samisch, his king being in peril from a phalanx of advancing pawns.

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[The Times, 28 December 1938]

"HASTINGS CHESS CONGRESS
ENTRIES FROM ABROAD
FROM OUR CHESS CORRESPONDENT
The annual Christmas congress of the Hastings Chess Club begins this afternoon at the White Rock Pavilion. The Premier Tournament, although not so strong as last year (when it included four out of five of the leading younger masters), is well up to standard. The foreign players are Dr. Euwe, the ex-champion; V. Pirc, of Yugoslavia. who has been for some years on the fringe of world-championship class; L. Szabo. of Hungary, a young player with an original and combinative style; E. Klein, of Austria; and S. Landau, of Holland. The last two have fully earned their promotion by long and consistent success in the Premier Reserves; Landau, of course, is no stranger to Continental tournaments of master strength.

The English contingent unfortunately does not include the British champion, C. H. O'D. Alexander, who achieved an outstanding performance in the same tournament last vear. In his unavoidable absence the next five players in order from the British championship at Brighton have been invited.

The Premier Reserves have been divided into three sections in order of merit. Section A is a galaxy of well-known names and constitutes a strong international tournament in itself. The lone Englishman, G. Abrahams, will have a hard row to hoe, but he is not the type of player to be intimidated by his company.

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Not relevant to Hastings but interesting...

[The Times, 4 January 1939, p8]

CHESS WORLD
SUGGESTED INTERNATIONAL CLUB
FROM OUR CHESS CORRESPONDENT

"As a result of the recent Avro Tournament, a movement has been set on foot to form a club for the organization of the “Grand Masters’’ of the chess world. One of the principal objects of this association will naturally be the regulation of the World Championship."

"Membership of the club will be restricted at first to the masters who took part in the Avro Tournament, with the exception that Dr. Emanuel Lasker, ex-champion, will be invitee; to become an honorary member. Later on it is intended to widen the scope of the organization by inviting other aspirants to the World Championship.

"The whole project is so far very much in the air, but Sir George Thomas has provisionally accepted an invitation to become chairman of the committee. The masters were unanimous in selecting him as the chairman, should he be found willing to accept the office Mr. P. S. Milner-Barry has also provisionally agreed to become a member of the committee, and the third member will probably also be an Englishman." (*rolls eyes* JS)

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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.
4 May 2022	Added three games from subsidiary sections: (1) A John Peters ½-½ M Ellinger (Premier Reserves c); (2) F Heemskerk 1-0 M Musgrave (Major A); (3) F Sisley 1-0 H Heneage (Major B). My thanks to Brian Denman for submitting the games. I've also transferred the game F van Seters 1-0 J Perlmutter (Premier Reserves B) to this file from the 1939/40 as it clearly belongs to the 1938/39 tournament.
3 July 2022	Added two games, from Dutch sources: (1) J.Mieses 0-1 T.van Scheltinga, Premier Reserves A; (2) F.Heemskerk 1-0 E.A.Beamish, Major A. The part-game L.Prins 1-0 G.Abrahams, Premier Reserves A, rd 9, has now been replaced with the complete score, found in the Birmingham Daily Post.