Input from a scan of the Glasgow Herald column (14 February 1958, page 4, columnist Dugald McBrayne McIsaac). The game was not published in CHESS or BCM, nor it would appear in any other British newspaper.

The relevant text from the same Glasgow Herald column: "A curious problem has arisen in the London Boys' Championship. In the game given below Rumens, who finished equal first in the final round, checkmated his opponent and he apparently did so within the legal time-limit of the tournament of two hours for each player in which to make his first 36 moves. It happened, however, that within the moment of time it took him to stop his clock after having made his move the flag of the clock fell, which meant that more than two hours were registered for the 36 moves made. To make sure what the correct decision should be in the unusual circumstances an appeal has been made to the British and International Federations for a ruling, but the official "Laws of Chess" already state clearly that when the prescribed number of moves has been made in the given time the last move is not considered as made until after the player has stopped his clock. An additional curious point is that the game was awarded the prize for the best game of the competition, but whether now to Rumens (who lost on the time-limit?) or to Mobbs [sic - typo for Mabbs] (who was checkmated?) remains to be seen."

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[CHESS, Vol.22, No.307-8, 20 Jan 1958] LONDON BOYS’ CHAMPIONSHIPS - The London Boys’ congress, which drew the record number of 320 entries, was marked by an amazing occurrence, which leaves the whole result in doubt and has been referred to the International Chess Federation for a ruling. D. E. Rumens and D. J. Mabbs, in their tenth-round game, both got into extreme time-trouble. Rumens gave mate on his 36th move but an instant later, before he could press his clock-button, his flag fell. The time chedule was 36 moves per two hours and the laws of chess now state explicitly that the last move completing a time-schedule is not regarded as completed until the clock-flag has been pressed as well. With that 36th move, however, Rumens gave mate!! Does that affect the situation? On the F. I. D. E. decision depends the allocation of the first six prizes and who, as London Boy Champion, gets free accommodation at the B. C. F.’s Leamington congress. Rumens and Mabbs, incidentally, are the closest of friends and sparring partners, live almost next door to each other and belong to the same club, Harrow.

[Under-18] Leaders: David E Rumens and David Sherman 9; Adrian S Hollis 8, Michael Robert Brierley Clarke and David J Mabbs 7½, David F Prentis 6, Paul Berks, A D Cooke, Charles A Cowlrick, Richard J Fries, S Golding, A T (Alastair?) Macdonald, J. D. Pryce, John W Rankin, L S Sutherland and S J Wallace all 6½; K Benjamin, J E Bradley, Michael M Broido, M Carpenter, J D Finnie, C Harding, D M Mache, A J Markin and A McNeill all 6. Irrespective of the time decision, the senior “best game” prize has been awarded to Rumens for this very game, by H. Golombek.

Preliminary under-12 championship: Nicholas J Patterson (age 10) “Best game” prize in this event: S E Hayward.

Junior under-14 championship: Christopher R Carew, age 13. Best game prize: Ronald A Harris.

Under-sixteen Championship: (1) Clive H Pemberton Woodford Green; (2) John A Lawrence Birmingham; (3) Keith Michael Oliff Laindon; “Best game prize” in this section: J Abramsky, etc.

G. Weller Cambridge, prevented from entering, donated two special prizes for non-prizewinners of the ordinary Best Game prizes, one for tactics, the other for positional play, he himself making the award. At the prizegiving on January 11th, P. H. Clarke gave a simultaneous display against the nineteen best London boy players and Miss Yvonne Guthrie, winner of the Young Women’s under- twenty-one tournament. David J Mabbs, A D Cooke, Charles A Cowlrick, John W Rankin and Clive H Pemberton beat him; ten of his opponents drew, only five lost!

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[BCM, February 1958, p42] London Boys’ Championships.—The 1958 “Open” Championships for boys under eighteen attracted a record entry of 319. Of these sixty-two took part in the senior under-eighteen section, 102 in the under-sixteen, and 155 in the under-fourteen. As last year the congress was held at University College, W.C.1, during the Christmas vacation.

The prizegiving was held on January 11th at the Church Institute, Stratford. Dr. L. S. Penrose took the Chair, and was supported by Mr. V. J. Soanes, Chairman of the B.C.F. Executive, and Mr. D. A. Riches. Sir G. A. Thomas presented the prizes and the ceremony ended with a simultaneous display by P. H. Clarke, who made a score of +5, —5, =10 against the nineteen leading London boys and Miss Yvonne Guthrie, under-twenty-one Lady Champion.

The prize-winners were—

Senior Under-eighteen Championship.—(1-2) David E Rumens, David Sherman 9; (3) Adrian S Hollis 8; (4-5) Michael Robert Brierley Clarke and David J Mabbs 7½, (6) David F Prentis 6. These results are provisional as they are subject to the awaited decision from the B.C.F. and F.I.D.E. on the Rumens-Mabbs game. In consequence it may be September next before the final results are known and the players receive their prizes.

Intermediate Under-sixteen Championship.—(1) Clive H Pemberton 9½; (2) John A Lawrence 9; (3) Keith Michael Oliff 8½; (4-7) J Kumar, P O'Brien, R Phillips, and Peter G Wann 8.

Junior Under-fourteen Championship.—(1) Christopher R Carew 9½; (2) J Hall 9; (3) Ronald A Harris 8½; (4-7) W G Allen, R A Fry, David Parr, Peter T A Riddy 8.

Preliminary Under-twelve Championship.—(1) Nicholas J Patterson 9½; (2-4) K P Allan, P Broome, and Geoffrey G Silver 9; (5-7) R Fabray, M Gostwick, and John M Payn 7½.

The great success of the congress was due not only to the organizer and chief controller, Mr. A. E. Hopkins, ably assisted by Miss L[ucy] Anness and Messrs. R. M. Sinclair, K. B. Stanley, and D. A. Riches, but also to the help from a number of boys, who a year or two ago were competitors themselves. It is a good omen for future events when boys over the age limit volunteer to give a week of their holidays—Mr. Hopkins’ crusading spirit must be contagious!

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[BCM, November 1957, inside back cover as part of Late News - page unnumbered] "London Boys’ Championship.—Entries are invited for the 1958 London Boys’ “Open” Championship to be held at University College, Gower Street, W.C.1, from Monday, December 30th, 1957, to Saturday, January 4th, 1958. Three eleven-round Swiss tourneys will be staged: Senior, for boys under eighteen on September 1st, 1957 (entrance fee 5s.); Intermediate (under sixteen, fee 4s.); Junior (under fourteen, fee 3s.). Entries (dead-line November 30th) should be forwarded to the General Controller: A. E. Hopkins, 46 Somerset Road, North Harrow, Middlesex."

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[BCM, October 1958, p261] The F.I.D.E. Congress at Dubrovnik By H. GOLOMBEK

"The 29th Congress of F.I.D.E. was held at the beautiful and ancient city of Dubrovnik, on the South Dalmatian coast of Yugoslavia, in August. No important new decisions were taken but the congress occupied itself for the most part with the normal routine work necessary for the continuance of a healthy international chess life.

"This being the year when elections were due to be held the congress unanimously elected Folke Rogard to act as President of F.I.D.E. for yet another term of three years and most of the other officers were re-elected with him.

"The title of International Grandmaster was awarded to Fridrik Olafsson, of Iceland, and three players were made International Masters: Bilek and Portisch, of Hungary, and Vasiukov, of the U.S.S.R. Eleven new international chess judges were recognized, amongst them R. G. Wade.

"There was a further increase in the number of countries admitted to F.I.D.E.; for, whilst Salvador was excluded for non-payment of dues, New Zealand was re-admitted, and three new countries were affiliated—Monaco, Pakistan (maybe we shall see Sultan Khan again!), and Tunisia.

"During the congress a letter was received from the players in the Interzonal Tournament at Portoroz asking for the rules governing the number of qualifiers for the Candidates’ to be amended so as to allow either eight or nine players to proceed from the Interzonal Tournament to the Candidates’. However, this could not be taken up at such a late stage and instead the President decided to exercise his right of nominating six players, instead of five, from the Interzonal, a compromise that had the happy effect of allowing both Fischer and Olafsson to qualify.

"Next year’s F.I.D.E. Congress will be held at Luxembourg towards the end of September, and the congress of the following year will be held at Leipzig just before the International Team Tournament, which is due to start at Leipzig on October 16th, 1960.

"The situation as regards next year’s Candidates’ Tournament is not yet clear. It is possible that it may be held in Bled by the Yugoslav Chess Federation, but no definite decision has yet been made.

"The Junior World Championship will be held at Munchenstein, near Basle, in Switzerland, from July 17th to August 8th, 1959, and the Students’ World Championship Team Tournament will take place in that year in the U.S.S.R., either at Riga or Leningrad, from August 25th to September 10th.

The Standing Committee for the Laws of Chess had to deal with a very large number of questions of interpretation or suggested alterations of the laws. Perhaps the most interesting case was that put forward by the B.C.F. as regards an incident in the last London Boys’ Championship, when Rumens checkmated Mabbs but was unable to press his clock lever before his flag fell. It was decided that Rumens had won the game, since he had in fact given mate before his flag fell."

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File Updated

Date	Notes
27 March 2019	Uploaded for the first time. An image of the 14 Feb 1958 Glasgow Herald column was kindly supplied by Stewart Reuben1 and input by me (JS), with accompanying text transcribed by me. I have included some text from BCM which fills in details of dates, venue, eligibility, other prize winners, FIDE decision, etc. Many thanks to Stewart. 1 His email didn't make it clear who had sent him the image but it was Alan McGowan of Chess Scotland - many thanks to him.
9 April 2019	Added the text reporting the event from the January 1958 CHESS magazine.