1976 Birmingham International, 12-24 April
| 1976 Birmingham International |
Nat'y |
Elo |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
Total |
| 1 |
(Andrew) Jonathan Mestel |
ENG |
2390 |
|
½ |
0 |
1 |
1 |
½ |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
| 2 |
Mato Damjanovic |
YUG |
2425g |
½ |
|
1 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
7½ |
| 3 |
Michael F Stean |
ENG |
2420m |
1 |
0 |
|
1 |
0 |
½ |
½ |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
| 4 |
Jonathan S Speelman |
ENG |
2380 |
0 |
½ |
0 |
|
½ |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
| 5 |
Simon Webb |
ENG |
2415 |
0 |
½ |
1 |
½ |
|
1 |
1 |
½ |
1 |
½ |
0 |
6 |
| 6 |
Bernard Cafferty |
ENG |
2310 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
0 |
0 |
|
½ |
½ |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3½ |
| 7 |
Bozidar Gasic |
YUG |
2335 |
0 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
0 |
½ |
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3½ |
| 8 |
John J Carleton |
ENG |
2250 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
|
1 |
1 |
½ |
3½ |
| 9 |
Eugene B Meyer |
USA |
2360 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
½ |
1 |
3½ |
| 10 |
John DM Nunn |
ENG |
2435m |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
½ |
1 |
1 |
0 |
½ |
|
0 |
3 |
| 11 |
Martyn J Corden |
ENG |
2310 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
½ |
0 |
1 |
|
2½ |
[BCM, June 1976, p251-252] "BIRMINGHAM 1976 April 10th - 25th 1976 - by P. C. Griffiths - This year’s international tournament in Birmingham was originally intended to be a 16-player event on the same lines as last year's, but with only a few weeks to go before the scheduled start the realization that the funds were simply going to be inadequate for such a venture forced the organizers to reduce it to 12 players. We still hoped that the smaller event would be of a sufficiently high standard to provide an International Master norm, and indeed it would have been but for the last-minute withdrawal of IM Knezevic of Yugoslavia. Every attempt was made to secure a replacement, and the Committee were very grateful to Michael Stean and Raymond Keene for their efforts in this respect, but with only one day to go before the start nothing could be done and the tournament had to proceed with only 11 players.
While this was naturally a disappointment, especially, as it turned out, to Jonathan Mestel, whose high score would surely have gained him his l.M. title had there been one more foreign master present, nevertheless the tournament itself was an undoubted success and very entertaining from beginning to end. Out of 55 games only 15 were drawn and of these no more than three or four ended without a fight. In all the other games the players fought themselves to a standstill; in fact there almost seemed to be an understanding between them that this was the only correct thing to do — that was what they were there for!
All those concerned with the tournament are indebted to the two main sponsors, the Friends of Chess and the Slater Foundation, as well as to several other people who made generous donations. Apart from Nunn, Mestel, Stean and Speelman there were in fact a number of players in other sections, especially the junior events, who are aided by the Slater Foundation and they were all very successful; in addition to G Lambert, the winner of the Midland Open Championship, the winners of the U-16, U-14 and U-12 Championships are all involved with this organization!"
[BCM, July 1976, 305]
BIRMINGHAM EASTER CONGRESS
Midland Open Championship: (1) Glenn E J Lambert 10/11; (2) Stephen H Berry 9½; (3-4) Chris W Baker, Chris C W Shephard 7½; (5-6) Richard E Borcherds, Ronald J M Farley 7; (7-8) Alan D Lloyd, A F Woodland 6½; (9-15) Geoffrey M Boyce, Michael E Davis, Gerald Homer, Michael W Marlow, Colin Edgar Packwood, J Smith, Michael J Wildboar 6; (16-24) Patrick Wayne Cotter1, R E Evans, David Terence Fairbank, H(orst?) O(tto?) Heuer, Malcolm A Hunt, Nigel AP McSheehy, A Singh, M B Squires, A Steward 5½; (25-28) Dr Reinhard Cherubim, R C Drury, G Kaye, D Marsh 5; 29-30 D L Johnstone, Alan J Shaw 4½; (31-33) P F Cooper, Karl Malcolm Francis Maeer, V Ward 4; (34-37) Mark Stephen Ardin, S J Beesley, Anthony Plackowski, Tracey J E Shannon 3½; (38-40) J Friar, J A Gould, K Thomas 3; (41) P J Finney 2.
1 "Two leading members of the South Birmingham C.C.'s first team, Pat Cotter and Ted Weekes, died tragically in a car crash on 14 October [1979], returning to Birmingham from a match in Coventry." (CHESS, January 1980, p34). "Both of these players were at the height of their chess careers. Pat had reached a 190 grade and Ted reached 180. Ted was Birmingham League Grader at the time of his death. Both of these players gave a great deal of time to chess and are sadly missed." (South Birmingham CC website) - Patrick Wayne Cotter (1950-1979), Edward James Weekes (1949-1979)
U-18 West Midland and Warwickshire Champ: (1-2) Martin Owen Costley, A Vickers 5½/7; (3) R G Britton 5; (4-7) N G Anderson, Terence N Ardin, N Crockett, Bernard L Tedd 4½; (8-11) P F Cooper, L Gaffney, R Price, C R Webley 4; (12-16) Mark S Ardin, G Boswell, D Desmond, T J Haynes, Glenn F Windows 3½; (17-18) H Stewart, C J Tolley 3; (19-21) Christopher E Majer, G Towns, Nigel P Waldron 2½; (22-23) David J Aveline, M E Farmiloe 2; (24) Paul W French 1½; (25-26) R Doran, M Harrington 1.
U-16 West Midland and Warwickshire Champ: (1) Richard M Webb 7/9; (2) Keith C Arkell 6½; (3-6) M Follis, J Foster, P Harrison, Allan J Pleasants 6; (7-8) R Ormesher, L Rawson 5½; (9-11) M Doran, Clive E Oseman, M Shaw 5; (12-16) Rae J Arundel, J R Hicks, A Tipper, P West, S Wise 4½; (17-20) N M Jones, N Roberts, Barry W Shapiro, D J Stanley 4; (21-22) M Dallaway, P Wilkes 3½; (23) S P Bowen 2; (24-25) Miss S Goldberg, M O'Meara 1½; (26) D R Robb 1/3; (27) M R Knight 0/3.
U-14 West Midland and Warwickshire Champ: (1-2) C A Jones, Kevin A Yeomans 7½/9; (3-4) Nicholas D Arkell, C Barber 7; (5-7) K Blake, P Cooper, M J Spinks 6½; (8-11) D Evans, B Mullan, M Norris, P Poulton 6; (12-13) Peter Michael Doubleday, J J Lawrence 5½; (14-22) Roderick C Beards, R Bricknell, James H Borcherds, D Dunn, D Henshall, H Mullin, T Ireland, J P Ivens, R M Smith, W Tedd 5; (23-28) D A Cook, G B Dawson, P R Harrison, Michael Kerridge, Stephen J Lowe, Andrew A Millross 4½; (29-33) K Laland, D I Lowe, T Price, M Robinson, C Wilks 4; (34-36) Miss L Malin, A Marshall, N Whitehouse 3½; (37-43) N Eiriksson, B Gibbons, R Hunt, G Lawson, S Rogers, M J Stevens, S P Tarmey 3; (44) J Bedwood 2½; (45-47) S Chiles, J Chitnis, I S Tremaine 2; (48) R D Keatley 1½; (49-50) D Gilmore, R Gilmore 1; (51) T A Keatley 1/3; (52) B J Organ 0/3; (53) Miss S Gee 0/4.
U-12 West Midland and Warwickshire Champ: (1-2) D Connolly, B Sloan 8/9; (3) P S J Jones 7; (4-5) A Ireland, A Kelly 6½; (6-10) G Baker, Gareth W L Evans, P Nightingale, R Odedra, S Singh 6; (11-15) P Lynch, J D Peters, A Reid, N Salem, H Shriane 5½; (16-22) I Connolly, G Harrison, M Homans, J Houston, A P Jackson, K Jones, A Lawrence 5; (23-31) D J Challis, Craig R Dawson, H Johnson, C A Jones, B Moselle, Miss K Pointer, James R Poulton, A T Raybold, C Small 4½; (32) K Connolly 4/6; (33-38) P Harrison, D McCabe, D Meredith, A Miller, D Minto, M Piper 4; (39-42) D Chapman, G Martindale, T Mull, G Parkes 3½; (43-46) R A Jacobs, J S Jolliffe, S Jones, R J Washbourne 3; (47-49) J D Challis, D Jessop, S Parkes 2½; (50) B Turner 2½/6; (51) A Chitnis 2/5; (52) D R Oakes 1½; (53-55) A J Chitnis, P Copp, M Doyle 1/5; (56) P Bray 1.
Secrets of Grandmaster Chess by John Nunn (Batsford, 1997), p89: "April rolled around and again I tried my luck at Birmingham. At the time I was looking for opportunities to score a GM norm, but these were few and far between. There were as yet no international Swiss events, and I was still restricted to University vacations, so any chances had to be taken with both hands. Unfortunately, it was not unusual for tournament organisers to attract IMs by holding out the promise of a GM norm opportunity, only for it to mysteriously evaporate when it was too late to play somewhere else. Birmingham 1976 was one such. One curious episode occurred when Gasic adjourned his game against Mestel in a somewhat inferior position. Gasic struck up a conversation with me about his game. After a while he happened, as if by accident, to mention his sealed move. When the game was resumed, I was quite surprised to see that Gasic’s sealed move was not the one he had told me earlier. Evidently he had assumed that I would pass on his confidence to Mestel. As I had not in fact done so, Mestel had analysed the real sealed move and won convincingly - it must have been the Yugoslavian sense of humour."
File Updated
| Date |
Notes |
| 27 March 2019 |
First uploaded to BritBase with 19 complete games, 6 part-games and 30 stubs. It seems curious that such a strong tournament should not be better documented. Perhaps the problems with funding the tournament were responsible for there seemingly being no bulletin. If anyone knows different, please get in touch with me. |
