1950 Birmingham Junior (Under-20) International, 3-15 April

1950 Birmingham U20 International		Nationality	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total
1	Bjorn Karl Haggqvist	Sweden	1/14	½/6	♦ 0/3	1/16	1/7	1/8	◊ 1/4	½/2	◊ 1/5	½/12	1/10	8½
2	Edgar Klaeger	W Germany	½/9	½/7	♦ 1/5	1/12	◊ ½/4	1/3	1/6	½/1	0/8	1/11	◊ 1/16	8
3	John Alexander	Birmingham	1/16	1/5	◊ 1/1	♦ ½/4	½/6	0/2	♦ 1/11	½/9	½/7	1/8	1/12	8
4	Fridrik Olafsson	Iceland	♦ 1/13	◊ 1/18	♦ ½/10	◊ ½/3	♦ ½/2	◊ 1/6	♦ 0/1	♦ ½/5	◊ 1/9	♦ ½/7	◊ 1/14	7½
5	Peter A Harris	West Bromwich	1/15	0/3	◊ 0/2	1/11	1/18	1/10	½/9	◊ ½/4	♦ 0/1	◊ 1/6	1/17	7
6	Jozef Martin Boey	Belgium	♦ 1/11	½/1	◊ 1/12	1/8	½/3	♦ 0/4	0/2	1/10	1/15	♦ 0/5	½/13	6½
7	Theophilus Richard D Grove	Dudley	½/8	½/2	1/11	½/10	0/1	0/9	1/12	1/16	½/3	◊ ½/4	1/19	6½
8	Robert L Sweeney	Solihull	½/7	1/20	1/17	0/6	½/10	0/1	½/16	1/13	1/2	0/3	½/15	6
9	John A Way	Worcester	½/2	0/17	0/14	1/13	1/19	1/7	½/5	½/3	♦ 0/4	½/20	½/18	5½
10	Walter Charles Marshall	Wales, Birm. Univ	½/12	1/19	◊ ½/4	½/7	½/8	0/5	1/14	0/6	½/11	1/18	0/1	5½
11	Sylvain Burstein	France	◊ 0/6	1/16	0/7	0/5	1/12	1/15	◊ 0/3	1/17	½/10	0/2	1/20	5½
12	Malcolm Neil Barker	Birmingham	½/10	1/13	♦ 0/6	0/2	0/11	1/18	0/7	1/20	1/19	½/1	0/3	5
13	Yngvar Barda	Norway	◊ 0/4	0/12	½/20	0/9	½/14	1/19	◊ 1/17	0/8	½/18	1/15	½/6	5
14	H Oosterhuis	Netherlands	0/1	♦ ½/15	1/9	0/19	½/13	1/20	0/10	½/18	½/16	½/17	♦ 0/4	4½
15	Willy De Waele	Belgium	0/5	◊ ½/14	0/16	1/20	½/17	0/11	1/18	1/19	0/6	0/13	½/8	4½
16	John M Hancock	Stoke-on-Trent	0/3	0/11	1/15	0/1	1/20	1/17	½/8	0/7	½/14	½/19	♦ 0/2	4½
17	Gaston van Bastelaere	Belgium	½/19	1/9	0/8	½/18	½/15	0/16	♦ 0/13	0/11	½/20	½/14	0/5	3½
18	Barrymore Arthur Pritchard	Smethwick	½/20	♦ 0/4	1/19	½/17	0/5	0/12	0/15	½/14	½/13	0/10	½/9	3½
19	I Sieben	Belgium	½/17	0/10	0/18	1/14	0/9	0/13	1/20	0/15	0/12	½/16	0/7	3
20	R Oosterveld	Netherlands	½/18	0/8	½/13	0/15	0/16	0/14	0/19	0/12	½/17	½/9	0/11	2

Played alongside the 1950 Birmingham Easter Congress. Crosstable from BCM, in Sonneborn-Berger order.

BCM, June 1950, ppn 182-185

THE BIRMINGHAM EASTER JUBILEE CONGRESS

This year, to celebrate the Jubilee of both the Warwickshire Chess Association and the Erdington C.C., it was decided to hold an international tournament for boys under the age of twenty years as well as the usual Congress events. The experiment—for never before has a Junior International been held—was a complete success. Twenty boys—representing, besides England and Wales, seven overseas countries—took part in an 11-round Swiss as follows (ties are given in their Sonneborn-Berger order).

A dinner was held on the first day of the congress in order to welcome the competitors. Several notables were present including Alderman and Mrs. Bradbeer who represented the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Birmingham, Sir George Thomas, Mr. and Miss Tylor, and the Secretary of the B.C.F., Mr. Chetwynd.

As might be expected, the first round produced a number of draws However Alexander and Harris both won convincingly and showed form that promised some good games in the rounds to come.

Rather unfortunately, in the second round P Harris had to play J Alexander but the game was disappointing. Harris did not show his usual high standard of play and after castling into an open file soon paid the usual penalty.

The third round was very interesting. Haggqvist, playing the French Defence against Alexander, saw a chance to win two pawns. However, he soon had to return one of them and then Alexander developed a strong King-side attack and won quickly when the Swedish boy made a mistake in a critical situation. Harris played carelessly and Klaeger won a pawn early in the game to give Harris no chance. Boey beat Barker with the following fine game subsequently awarded one of the two best-game prizes which were adjudicated by Sir George Thomas.

The fourth and fifth rounds were chiefly remarkable for two fine defensive displays by J Alexander. Against Olafsson he wasted several tempi and soon had what appeared to be a lost game; however, he fought back determinedly and forced a draw. Boey managed to win two pieces for a Rook after a blunder by Alexander, but so well did the latter use his two Rooks that Boey was finally compelled to offer him a draw.

In the sixth round Alexander played very badly to lose to Klaeger in 21 moves. This put Haggqvist, Olafsson and Klaeger in the lead with 4½ points each. Then Haggqvist, who was now playing fine chess, beat Olafsson and Klaeger scored a win over Boey. Alexander regained his confidence with a quick victory over Burstein. Haggqvist and Klaeger were then left tying for first place with Alexander half a point behind. P Harris, after scoring only 1 point from his first three games, had made a remarkable recovery and was now challenging the leaders with 4½ points.

The eighth round game between Klaeger and Haggqvist resulted in an early draw. Harris and Olafsson also drew and, as Alexander was unable to force a win against J Way, the positions of the leaders were left unchanged.

'n the ninth round Haggqvist played what was probably his best game to beat P Harris though it is difficult to judge for all his games were of a high standard.

Klaeger surprisingly lost his unbeaten record to Sweeney, who played a fine game to defeat him , while Grove drew with Alexander by perpetual check. Thus Haggqvist was left leading the fleld by a clear point.

This lead was reduced when Haggqvist could only draw with Barker in the tenth round. Harris, to make up for his loss in the previous round, played very well to beat Boey with a game which was subsequently awarded the second best-game prize.

Klaeger and Alexander both won comfortably while Olafsson had a “grandmaster” draw with Grove.

In the last round Haggqvist, by beating W Marshall, became a worthy winner of first prize. Alexander and Klaeger both won and tied for second place, half a point behind the leader. M. [sic] Olafsson also won without much trouble and took fourth prize. So ended what we hope will be the first of many international boys’ tournaments.

The congress may, I think, be regarded as a personal triumph for Mr. W Ritson-Morry. It was he who first suggested that this International Contest should be held, and it was he who was responsible for almost all the organizing which an event of this kind is bound to entail. And all this was done in addition to the work of arranging the usual events of the Birmingham Easter Congress, which, in themselves, number nine. No one can deny that his initiative has been justly rewarded by the certain knowledge that this congress has done for Junior Chess what the Staunton, 1851, Congress did for Senior Chess. Our thanks are due to him both for his enterprise and for the hard work which he performed to make this congress the success it was.

Mention too must be made of Mr. W E Phipps, who as tournament director was ever at hand, Mr. J Park, upon whom, as Treasurer of the Birmingham Junior Chess League, fell most of the financial work, and Mr. and Mrs. France who fulfilled a great deal of the secretarial duties involved. Thanks are due also to Mr. Wheeler, Mr. W E Lewis, Mr. J V Ovens, Mr. T H McLaughlin, and Mr. W B Jones who generously gave free hospitality to our foreign visitors for the whole duration of the congress.

At the prize-giving ceremony on the last night of the congress Mr. Morry expressed the hope that next year he will be able to hold a Junior World Championship Contest. The Lord Mayor of Birmingham then presented the prizes to the winners.

OTHER SECTIONS

Midland Senior Championship. The prize-winners were: (1) R W Bonham with the fine score of 7 out of 8, (2) B H Wood with 6½, and (3) A Phillips 5½ points. In the fifth round occurred this amusing brevity. [see viewer/download] On the first day F Burton “swindled” B H Wood out of a win with this neat little stalemate trap. [see viewer/download]

1950 Midland Senior Championship		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Total
1	Reginald Walter Bonham	Worcester	&;	1	½	1	1	1	1	½							1		7
2	Baruch H Wood	Sutton Coldfield	0	&;	1	1	½	1	1		1					1			6½
3	Alan Phillips	Buxton	½	0	&;	½	½	1	1				1						5½
4	H Peter F Swinnerton-Dyer	Cambridge University	0	0	½	&;				1	1	1	½						5
5	F Burton	Acocks Green, Birm.	0	½	½		&;		½			0		1				1	4½
6	Alfred Joseph G Butcher	Wolverhampton	0	0	0			&;	½		½	1		1					4
7	Geoffrey F Harris	Stourbridge	0	0	0		½	½	&;		1				1				4
8	Robert Douglas Wormald	Worcester	½			0				&;	0	1	½						4
9	John Edwin Jones	Lichfield		0		0		½	0	1	&;			½					3½
10	J Harry Baines	Wednesbury				0	1	0		0		&;		½	0				3½
11	David John Youston	Oxford University			0	½				½			&;	1				½	3½
12	Ian McRobbie	Erdington					0	0			½	½	0	&;			1		3½
13	Herbert Francis Joynson	Tettenhall							0			1			&;		1		3
14	Richard Henry Tayler1	Solihull		0												&;		1	3
15	Daniel Thomas Henry Wragg	Edgbaston	0											0	0		&;		2
16	W E Lewis	Edgbaston					0						½			0		&;	1½

n.b. the above crosstable for this eight-round Swiss system tournament is incomplete. It comes from the one published in CHESS, May 1950, Vol.15/176, p154, which did not include results of players who scored fewer than 3½ points. The total points scored for all players are correct, though some of the results against the bottom four are not shown.

¹ Richard Henry Tayler (1899-1963) of Solihull was the father of the better-known chess player and astronomer Roger John Tayler (1929-1997).

Midland Junior Championship (10-round Swiss—20 competitors): (1) Alan John Willson (Henry VIII School, Coventry) 8½/10; (2) Kenneth Leslie Gardner (Solihull) 8; (3) David Edward Lloyd (King Edward's School, Birmingham) 7½; (4) Gerald Homer (West Bromwich Grammar School) 6; (5-8) W Pfeil (Derbyshire), G B Harper (Nottinghamshire), Graham K Barker (Warwickshire), Peart (Lincolnshire) 5½.

Warwickshire Boys’ Championship: (1) Graham K Barker 8; (2) Kenneth Leslie Gardner 7½; (3) David Edward Lloyd 6; 4-5 Kenneth William Lloyd, James B Phipps 5.

Staffordshire Boys’ Championship: (1) W Powell 7½; (2) H Vickers 6½.

Warwickshire Under 14 Championship: (1) John B Huskins (King Edward's School, Birmingham) 9½; (2) R H Goodall 8½; (3) M C Jones 7½; (4) B A Handy 6½.

Birmingham Junior Championship: (1) Kenneth William Lloyd 7½; (2-3) James B Phipps, A R Gillies 7; (4) D Gallon 6.

Senior Open Tournament: (1) Rev. Arthur Percival Lacy-Hulbert 6½; (2) W L Kent 6; (3) R W Heppenstal 5; (4) R F Bateson 4. Best junior score: J D Potter 4.

Junior Open Tournament: (1) P F Griffiths 8½; (2) R H Allen 6½; (3) B A Turner 6; (4) K G Durnell 5½.

Birmingham Open Lightning Championship: (1) Bjorn Karl Haggqvist 7½; (2) Alfred Joseph G Butcher 7; (3-4) Fridrik Olafsson, Peter Harris 6½.

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CHESS, May 1950, p155

THE JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Malcolm Barker, to the annoyance of the organisers, made no secret of the fact that he regarded the Birmingham Junior International as only a "warming-up" contest for the British Boys’ Championship which immediately followed at Hastings. Sure enough, he made no mistake over retaining his title, leading the field throughout and making sure of first place, on his sixteenth birthday, with a final score of 7½ out of nine. In a tie for the next place were R Hill, Bolton; H Morton, Liverpool and I A Bradley, Doncaster. Barker studies at King Edwards School, Birmingham, which produced C H Alexander.

The holder of the Girls’ Championship, Miss Jean Craker, also retained her title.

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File updated

Date	Notes
28 February 2020	Initial upload. Games taken from the tournament booklet "First International Junior 1950 / First World Junior Championship, Birmingham 1951" edited by Tony Gillam and first published in 2014. My thanks to Tony Gillam for sending me the booklet.
20 June 2022	Improved the crosstable, added four games from the Midland Easter Tournament, included results of tournaments that ran alonside; reports from BCM and CHESS.
16 January 2024	Added a (partial) crosstable for the Midland Senior Championship, and made some other minor amendments.