1979 Lloyds Bank Masters, London, 22–30 August • link to earlier/later Lloyds Bank Masters 1978 «» 1980

1979 Lloyds Bank Masters		Nat'y	Elo/Title	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total
1	Murray G Chandler §	NZL	2380m	+53	+20	+41	=3	=4	=38	+21	=5	+13	7
2	Aldo Haik	FRA	2435m	=27	+48	–11	+25	=54	+29	+22	+14	+5	7
3	Heikki Westerinen	FIN	2465g	+12	=46	+80	=1	+35	=5	+6	+20	=4	7
4	Borje Jansson	SWE	2410	+25	=5	+52	+54	=1	=6	=13	+10	=3	6½
5	George S Botterill	WLS	2390m	+18	=4	+42	+21	+13	=3	=10	=1	–2	6
6	Colin S Crouch	ENG	2300	+70	=21	+19	=41	+7	=4	–3	+66	=12	6
7	David Friedgood	ENG	2310	+77	=38	=57	+39	–6	+34	=12	+35	=9	6
8	Daniel J King	ENG	2265	+78	–12	=17	=82	+68	=27	+77	+26	=18	6
9	Simon J B Knott	ENG	2210	=34	+82	=10	+47	–41	+40	=54	+24	=7	6
10	Andrew P Law	ENG	2375	+23	=32	=9	+46	=20	+35	=5	–4	+15	6
11	Paul E Littlewood	ENG	2405	=42	+43	+2	–13	+27	–14	+58	=21	+20	6
12	Steven M Odendahl	USA	2370	–3	+8	=40	+81	=26	+69	=7	+38	=6	6
13	Margeir Petursson	ISL	2420m	=40	+81	+50	+11	–5	+30	=4	+25	–1	6
14	Vaidyanathan Ravikumar	IND	2305m	–50	+72	+36	+71	=28	+11	=20	–2	+21	6
15	Bram Van Dijk	NED		=67	–74	+76	+55	+66	=58	=24	+41	–10	5½
16	John C Hawksworth	ENG		=73	+53	–20	–31	+55	=37	+61	=22	+45	5½
17	Jonathan Kinlay	ENG	2310	–60	=64	=8	–84	+85	+68	+34	=36	+50	5½
18	Yair Kraidman	ISR	2445g	–5	–35	+61	=37	=47	+52	+29	+54	=8	5½
19	John L Watson	USA	2375m	+92	–26	–6	–36	+56	+57	+44	=50	+54	5½
20	John Van Baarle	NED	2325	+33	–1	+16	+32	=10	+41	=14	–3	–11	5
21	Michael J Basman	ENG	2405	+90	=6	+27	–5	+40	+28	–1	=11	–14	5
22	Richard Britton	ENG	2300	–46	+89	–28	+52	+67	+60	–2	=16	=49	5
23	Carlos Cuartas Bedoya	COL	2425m	–10	=77	+85	=34	+31	–54	=30	+51	=35	5
24	Nigel R Davies	ENG	2220	=74	–57	=31	+87	+49	+53	=15	–9	=32	5
25	Michael J Franklin	ENG	2345	–4	=39	+44	–2	+82	+74	+46	–13	=30	5
26	Maxwell L Fuller	AUS	2380	+75	+19	=54	–35	=12	+50	=38	–8	=28	5
27	Mark Ginsburg	USA	2340	=2	+47	–21	+74	–11	=8	=33	=40	+41	5
28	David S C Goodman	ENG	2340	=38	=85	+22	+57	=14	–21	=39	=46	=26	5
29	Stephen O N Hawes	ENG		–87	=78	+73	+65	+63	–2	–18	+74	=37	5
30	Julian M Hodgson	ENG	2285	=66	=67	=74	+63	+42	–13	=23	=39	=25	5
31	Byron A Jacobs	ENG		–63	+94	=24	+16	–23	=33	–40	+62	+66	5
32	Leslie M Leow	SGP	2280	+69	=10	=58	–20	=74	–44	+81	+47	=24	5
33	John G Nicholson	ENG	2310	–20	=69	+68	=42	=53	=31	=27	+58	=43	5
34	Alan J Norris	SCO		=9	=56	+90	=23	+88	–7	–17	+84	=44	5
35	Malcolm Pein	ENG	2200	+83	+18	=38	+26	–3	–10	+60	–7	=23	5
36	Leon Pliester	NED		=82	+45	–14	+19	=46	+77	–41	=17	=38	5
37	John M Quinn	ENG		=49	–44	+83	=18	=61	=16	+70	=45	=29	5
38	Mehrshad Sharif	IRN	2445m	=28	=7	=35	+48	+51	=1	=26	–12	=36	5
39	Wim Westerveld	NED	2250	+61	=25	+60	–7	–50	+71	=28	=30	=40	5
40	Yochanan Afek	ISR	2340	=13	=62	=12	+80	–21	–9	+31	=27	=39	4½
41	Rosendo Balinas	PHL	2365g	+44	+51	–1	=6	+9	–20	+36	–15	–27	4½
42	Paul Boersma	NED	2350	=11	+59	–5	=33	–30	+75	–51	+67	=53	4½
43	David H Cummings	ENG	2265	+65	–11	–48	=56	–44	+80	=52	+79	=33	4½
44	Mark L Hebden	ENG	2230	–41	+37	–25	=79	+43	+32	–19	=60	=34	4½
45	Clive Hill	ENG		=81	–36	–65	+78	+64	=61	+79	=37	–16	4½
46	Gert Iskov	DEN	2370m	+22	=3	=67	–10	=36	+51	–25	=28	=52	4½
47	Andrew P Lewis	ENG		+55	–27	+59	–9	=18	–66	+82	–32	+57	4½
48	Andrew D Martin	ENG	2330	=62	–2	+43	–38	=81	–84	+71	+65	=51	4½
49	Michael Ashley Pagden	ENG	2265	=37	+90	–51	=75	–24	=81	+63	=53	=22	4½
50	H James Plaskett	ENG	2410	+14	=80	–13	=66	+39	–26	+69	=19	–17	4½
51	Nigel E Povah	ENG	2325	+91	–41	+49	+58	–38	–46	+42	–23	=48	4½
52	Peter J Sowray	ENG	2210	+94	=66	–4	–22	+80	–18	=43	+69	=46	4½
53	David J Strauss	USA	2345	–1	–16	+64	+92	=33	–24	+84	=49	=42	4½
54	Piet van der Weide	NED	2290	+88	+60	=26	–4	=2	+23	=9	–18	–19	4½
55	Peter K Wells	ENG		–47	=83	+78	–15	–16	+87	=72	=70	+74	4½
56	Keith Allen	IRL		=57	=34	–77	=43	–19	=82	+80	=72	=58	4
57	Terry B Bennett	ENG	2290	=56	+24	=7	–28	–60	–19	+76	+61	–47	4
58	Gary M Clark	ENG	2300	+76	=91	=32	–51	+75	=15	–11	–33	=56	4
59	John Delaney	IRL	2205	+93	–42	–47	–68	+89	=72	–74	+85	=64	4
60	John Donaldson	USA	2310	+17	–54	–39	+62	+57	–22	–35	=44	=70	4
61	Ronald F A Harman	ENG		–39	+70	–18	+89	=37	=45	–16	–57	+81	4
62	Sheila Jackson	ENG	2095	=48	=40	–71	–60	+90	+67	–66	–31	+82	4
63	Michael Macdonald–Ross	SCO	2265	+31	–88	=91	–30	–29	+64	–49	+73	=68	4
64	Daniel Eric Mayers	USA		=72	=17	–53	=70	–45	–63	+89	+71	=59	4
65	Andrew J Muir	SCO		–43	=76	+45	–29	–79	=83	+78	–48	+84	4
66	Nicholas J Patterson	IRL	2350	=30	=52	=88	=50	–15	+47	+62	–6	–31	4
67	John C Pigott	ENG	2370	=15	=30	=46	=77	–22	–62	+85	–42	+72	4
68	Anthony J Stebbings	ENG		–80	+93	–33	+59	–8	–17	+75	=81	=63	4
69	Shaun M Taulbut	ENG	2395m	–32	=33	+84	=88	+71	–12	–50	–52	+79	4
70	Federico Zullo	ITA		–6	–61	+72	=64	+76	=79	–37	=55	=60	4
71	Stewart Byrne	AUS		=85	+92	+62	–14	–69	–39	–48	–64	+87	3½
72	Richard F Holmes	ENG		=64	–14	–70	=73	+87	=59	=55	=56	–67	3½
73	Stephen G R Kerr	AUS		=16	–84	–29	=72	–78	=89	+83	–63	+90	3½
74	Alan Reid	SCO		=24	+15	=30	–27	=32	–25	+59	–29	–55	3½
75	Marco Silva Morales	COL	2295	–26	+87	=82	=49	–58	–42	–68	=83	+86	3½
76	(Sinclair) Thomas Banks	ENG		–58	=67	–15	+83	–70	=78	–57	=87	=80	3
77	Graham D Hillyard	ENG	2325	–7	=23	+56	=67	+84	–36	–8			3
78	Wolfgang Fiedler	FRG		–8	=29	–55	–45	+73	=76	–65	–82	+93	3
79	Colin P Garwood	ENG				+93	=44	+65	=70	–45	–43	–69	3
80	Leifur Josteinsson	ISL	2325	+68	=50	–3	–40	–52	–43	–56	+93	=76	3
81	Leo J Kerkhoff	NED	2300	=45	–13	+87	–12	=48	=49	–32	=68	–61	3
82	Michael W Marlow	ENG	2360	=36	–9	=75	=8	–25	=56	–47	+78	–62	3
83	Andrew Rolfe	ENG		–35	=55	–37	–76	+93	=65	–73	=75	=85	3
84	William N Watson	ENG	2265	–89	+73	–69	+17	–77	+48	–53	–34	–65	3
85	Ian D Wells	ENG		=71	=28	–23	=91	–17	+90	–67	–59	=83	3
86	Andrew J King	ENG							+93	+90	=	–75	2½
87	Michael J Yeo	ENG	2200	+29	–75	–81	–24	–72	–55	+93	=76	–71	2½
88	Karl Burger	USA	2365	–54	+63	=66	=69	–34					2
89	Ignacy Branicki	NED		+84	–22	–92	–61	–59	=73	–64	–90	=	2
90	Geza Fuster	CAN	2300m	–21	–49	–34	+93	–62	–85	–86	+89	–73	2
91	Robert Gruchacz	USA	2355	–51	=58	=63	=85						1½
92	Kevin J Wicker	ENG	2315	–19	–71	+89	–53						1
93	Peter Heaven	WLS		–59	–68	–79	–90	–83	–86	–87	–80	–78	0
94	David I Lister	ENG		–51	–31								0

§ placed first on tie–break

Murray Chandler (New Zealand, left) and Heikki Westerinen (Finland) with the Lloyds Bank Trophy

Murray Chandler defeated Margeir Petursson (Iceland, right) in the final round to take the trophy on tie-break

Aldo Haik (France, right) defeated George Botterill in the last round to share the first prize with Chandler and Westerinen

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BCM, November 1979, pps 525-532 - report by George Botterill

The third in the series of international chess tournaments sponsored by Lloyds Bank was held in the Ivanhoe Hotel, a conveniently central site not a mummy’s wrappings from the British Museum. There were 94 players foregathered from 22 different countries for the 9-round Swiss tournament.

Problems of the usual sort were encountered with last-minute withdrawals. It must have come as something of a shock to the congress director, London’s chess impresario Stewart Reuben, when five IMs and one woman master backed out in the last two days. However, he took it phlegmatically, telling me that he wasn’t too bothered because he was saving money that would otherwise have been shelled out on appearance fees.

A rather more serious deficiency was the absence of a 2600+ Elo-rated grandmaster, whose participation had been bruited in the advance publicity. Hort was the world-class player that the organizers had in mind, and he is always a very welcome visitor to this country. But unfortunately Vlastimil couldn’t or wouldn’t – well, at any rate, just didn’t come. The line-up was still pretty strong, with 3 GMs and 11 IMs in the field. Yet the absence of a fourth GM was quite critical as far as chances of GM-norms were concerned. Under the new dispensation, in order to register a GM-norm you have to:

1) put in a minimum rating performance of 2600;
2) play in a tournament of at least category 7 — i.e., of minimum average rating 2401 (and remember you must -not altogether logically - include your own rating in arriving at the tournament average);
3) play at least 3 GMs in a 9-round tournament.

In accordance with the last requirement anyone striving for the GM-norm would have to play all of the grandmasters in the tournament – namely, Balinas, Kraidman and Westerinen. And that, as events were to prove, might not be possible without fiddling the pairings.

To spare unendurable suspense, I shall give the results first and then proceed to play, personalities, etc. [results - see crosstable above]

Those were the main prizewinners. In addition there were various other ‘mystery’ prizes. I mean that some of them were a mystery to me. For example, Jonathan Kinlay, with 5½/9, was awarded a cine-camera on the rather flimsy grounds that he was the highest-placed untitled London player! (This may end my chances of even a bit-part in his home-movies.)

Everyone loves a winner, but sponsors go for a sole winner. So a tie-break by sum of opponents’ scores was applied, which made 19-year-old IM Murray Chandler the Lloyds Bank Master for 1979. This system of tie-breaking is a pernicious practice that should be incessantly pilloried and ridiculed until its discontinuation is ensured. There is no ‘perfectly fair’ tie-breaking system, but ‘SOS’ seems to me to be of a peculiarly impudent arbitrariness. Is it your fault if you get fed a fish in round one? Nonetheless, I ought to add that in fact, if only by fortune, the tie was resolved (as in the British Championship at Chester) in favour of the player who most consistently played the best and most convincing chess.

The story of the battle for the lead can be briefly told. Chandler, Botterill and Westerinen swopped around first place between themselves throughout most of the tournament with never more than half a point in it. The Finnish GM had rather less to worry about than his two IM rivals, since they were also engaged in the pursuit of GM-norms. In the end both Murray and I found it impossible to sustain all the technical qualifications required. Murray’s ‘average tournament’ slipped irredeemably beneath a rating of 2400 when we met in the penultimate round. In the meantime I could not manage to play my third GM, since Balinas, out of form and not in the best of health, never managed to notch up enough points for me to be decently paired against him.

Come the last round, Westerinen is half a point ahead. He is playing against the Swedish policeman Borje Jansson. Jansson had told me that he was ‘only over here for a holiday’. But he has been playing with massive solidity and it is no surprise when their game is a short draw. This allows Chandler to catch up with Westerinen by winning in good style against Petursson. I am paired against Haïk, the French number one, who has emerged from the pursuing pack. The Frenchman gets a cramped and prospectless position. But then some imp of temptation lures me into an attack that is crude and anti-positional. Hence the final placings.

Of course lots of other interesting things are going on. Basman amazes and entertains by opening 1 g4 with White and either 1...g5 or 1...b5 with Black. Of course, it’s mad, quite mad. Still, nobody actually manages to refute it, and when you look at his games you find that he sometimes gets quite reasonable positions ... But no! It’s wrong, insane, demented. You mustn’t start to think that way or your mind may start to go basmanic too. You will now be subjected to this prime example of Basmania from round 6 (but dear me! - the conclusion does not conform to the best traditions of abreactive therapy):

[annotation of Basman-Goodman]

A magnificent game of chess. It makes you wonder what Basman would be capable of if he played a real opening. Such a talented player, the gods are making him go through hard labour for his IM title. He needed a win in the last round to get a norm here, but went down to the Asian Junior Champion, IM Ravikumar.

I mentioned that the tournament was played at the ‘Icelandic Modern’ rate, so dubbed because it was first introduced at Reykjavik. This involves two time-controls in the first session, here 30 moves in the first 100 minutes and then 18 more moves in the next hour. My impression was that this was helpful to time-trouble addicts since it forced them to stick to a schedule. But probably the veteran Canadian (and ex-Hungarian) IM Geza Fuster would not agree with me, as he lost 6 of his games on time. After a couple of rounds Stewart Reuben held a vote on whether the time control should be changed in response to various complaints. There was a narrow majority in favour of ditching the ‘Icelandic Modern’ rate, but it was too slender (40-35 or thereabouts) to justify a switch. I suspect that by the end of the tournament more people would be sympathetic to this new time control.

A delightful feature of the event was that in each round one of the more interesting games was demonstrated by a noted player in an analysis room. The audience were usually eager to join in with their own suggestions. It would be nice if such a service were more generally provided for spectators at British tournaments. Shaun Taulbut did the commentary on this game, so I am indebted for the notes both to him and his audience:

[annotation of van Baarle-Balinas]

It is obvious that this tournament is so popular largely because of the chances it offers for title-norms. Four players achieved the IM norm - Borje Jansson, Colin Crouch, Paul Littlewood and Steve Odendahl. For both Littlewood and Odendahl this was the final performance needed in order to secure the title. No less than 16 players made FIDE Master norms: David Friedgood (6), Daniel King (6), Simon Knott (6), Andrew Law (6), Michael Basman (5), John van Baarle (5), Mark Ginsburg (5), Max Fuller (5), David Goodman (5), Julian Hodgson (5), Malcolm Pein (5), Leon Pliester (5), Jim Plaskett (4½), Nigel Povah (4½) and Peter van der Weide (4½). I would suggest that the main desideratum for next year is a few more GMs, preferably with 2500+ ratings, so that we can also see some GM-norms registered.

The Lloyds Bank Masters was more than just a tourney. It was a feast of chess, with blitz tournaments every evening, a memorable showing of the Russian silent movie ‘Chess Fever’, starring Capablanca, a Brain Trust about all subjects chessical, and so on. The Lloyds Bank Junior Invitation Tournament was played in the mornings. An excellent idea this, as the juniors – if they were not already hacking IMs and GMs to pieces – were able to play in the morning, spectate in the afternoon, and blitz in the evening. The winner of the Junior Invitation was 16 year-old L.J. Pinto with 6½ out of 7.

There is no doubt that the British chess calendar would be much the poorer without this event. We should do all we can to thank Lloyds Bank, Stewart Reuben and Leonard Barden (and all their helpers), and encourage them to do their good work again in the summer of 1980.

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Lloyds Bank press release (10 September 1979)

19-YEAR-OLD WINS LLOYDS BANK MASTERS

The annual Lloyds Bank Masters is Britain's strongest regular chess international next to Hastings. The 1979 tournament at the Ivanhoe Hotel, near London's British Museum, attracted 94 players from 22 countries and 5 continents. Of these 66 had FIDE world rankings, 11 were international masters and 3 were grandmasters.

Murray Chandler won the Lloyds Bank Trophy on tie-break and with it New Zealand's finest international success. 19-year-old Murray, whose ambition is to become a grandmaster, has already been helped in his chess career by the Lloyds Bank Group. The National Bank of New Zealand, a subsidiary of Lloyds, financed his travel to the Asian Junior Championship at Baguio City which he won to qualify as an international master. Last year Chandler was Reuter correspondent for the Karpov-Korchnoi match. Currently he lives in England and plays for the London League Champions, Charlton.

Paul Littlewood's third and final norm for the International Master title followed his victories at last year's Lloyds Bank Masters and at the Aaronson Masters. He is the first IM from Merseyside. Steve Odondahl of Washington, DC, also qualified as an IM, while Borje Jansson of Sweden and Colin Crouch of Cambridge University and Harrow made IM norms.

As part of its £12,000 sponsorship to support British chess, Lloyds Bank provided scholarships for leading juniors from the BCF squad in the Masters with encouraging results.

Seven juniors qualified for FIDE Master norm: Daniel King and Julian Hodgson (both aged 16), David Goodman, Simon Knott, Malcolm Pein, Jim Plaskett and Mark Ginsburg of the USA.

Other FM norms were by D Friedgood, M Basman, J H van Baarle, L Pliester and P van der Weide (all Netherlands), M Fuller (Australia), M J Franklin and N E Povah. The FM norm is equivalent to a 220 British grade.

The Lloyds Bank Junior was a 7-round event for 50 invited boys and girls held alongside the Masters:

1 and Lloyds Bank Trophy: Laurence Pinto (Edmonton) 6½

2-5 N Bradbury (Borehamwood), C P Garwood (Luton), J A Giltrow (Wood Green) and A Rizvi (Pinner and Pakistan) 5½

The Lloyds Bank Masters is the major event in the Bank's £12,000 support of British chess, which includes the Oxford v Cambridge match, the annual BCF junior squad championships, national tournaments for ladies and girls, and the first British Chets Problem Solving Championship.

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File Updated

Date	Notes
18 May 2021	First upload to BritBase. I am grateful to Catherine Glynn for supplying me with a scan of the crosstable from the tournament bulletin. The games have been available for some years via Big/Mega Database. I have reviewed and corrected names and added dates played and some rating info. I've also sourced a few photos from the last round and prizegiving.
19 May 2021	Thanks to Mike Yeo for pointing out an error: in round 6 he played Peter Wells (not Ian Wells). Also, note that neither Wells had a rating at that time (I have removed the Elo 2200 previously shown against Ian Wells' other games).
19 May 2021	A further thank-you to Mike Yeo for submitting six more games to complete his set of nine played in the tournament. A warning from Mike - "they are awful!" - but that only makes us want to look at them some more, doesn't it? The total number of games is now 189.
20 April 2024	Added the games J.Nicholson 1-0 A.Stebbings (rd 3) and G.Clark 0-1 J.Nicholson (rd 8), submitted by John Nicholson, for which many thanks.
17 August 2024	Score of Basman-P.Littlewood (rd8) corrected.