Glasgow League v Liverpool League

Telephone Match - 1970

Played on the weekend of Saturday, 18 April 1970. The Glasgow League team was based in the Scotland - USSR Friendship Society offices, Belmont Crescent, Glasgow.

Glasgow League
Liverpool League
1
D.N.L. Levy
0-1
J.E. Littlewood
2
R.M. McKay
½-½
T.J. Beach
3
C.W. Pritchett
1-0
P.C. Hoad
4
G. Bonner
½-½
J.J. Carleton
5
P. Jamieson
½-½
T. Bimpson
6
K.B. McAlpine
½-½
F. Boyd
7
D.B.A. Hunter
1-0
G.H.T Parsonage
8
M. Rosenberg
0-1
F. Barker
9
W.P. Watson
1-0
G.A. M. Boswell
10
N.J. Young
1-0
C. Doran
 
6-4
 

From: Gerald Bonner's chess column in The Evening Citizen, April 1970.

'Tournament chess is as much a psychological struggle as it is of planning over the board. Most players have their own specialities in opening play and seek to steer the game into lines which suit them.

In some case the particular variations used are labelled "inferior" or "slightly inferior" by theorists, but this need not and, indeed, should not deter anyone from using them if one knows the positions that arise, and is quite happy to play them; many an "inferior" opening is devastating in the hands of its devotees.

The game below from the telephone match between the Glasgow League and the Liverpool League, shows Bryan Hunter, a former West of Scotland champion, choosing an infrequently used variation of the Ruy Lopez, in which he is an expert.'

G.H.T. Parsonage - D.B.A. Hunter [C61]
Glasgow League v Liverpool League, Telephone Match, 1970.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4 4.Nxd4 exd4 5.0-0 c6 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.Re1 d6 8.e5 dxe5 9.Rxe5+ Be7 10.Qe1 Or 10.Qe2 b5 11.Bb3 a5 12.a4 Ra7 13.axb5 0-0 14.b6 Qxb6 15.Rxe7 d3 16.Qe3 Rxe7 17.Qxe7 dxc2 and Black wins. 18.Bxc2 (18.Nc3 Qxb3) 18...Re8.

10...b5 11.Bb3 a5 This manoeuvre frees Black's QR2 for his rook, enabling him to defend the king's bishop and then castle. He is quite happy to sacrifice some pawns in the process.

12.a4 Ra7 13.axb5 cxb5 14.Na3 Ba6 15.Nxb5 Bxb5 16.Rxb5 d3 An important part of Black's plan. White's queen's bishop is shut in.

17.Qe3 Rd7 18.Rbxa5 0-0 19.Ra7 Re8 Black now has all his pieces developed.

20.Rxd7 Nxd7 Not 20...Qxd7 21.Ba4.

21.Qxd3 Bc5 22.g3 Qf6 23.Qf1 Ne5 24.Bd5 Ng4 Now the White king's bishop pawn must fall.

25.Ra8 Rxa8 26.Bxa8 Nxf2 27.Kg2 Qf5 28.b4 Missing his last chance: 28.d4 Bxd4 29.Qc4 Qh3+ 30.Kf3 Qf5+ 31.Kg2 with a draw by repetition.

28...Qh3+ 29.Kg1 [29.Kf3 Qxf1]

29...Ng4+ White resigned. 0-1

Sources:
The Evening Citizen, April 21 & 28, 1970
Bryan [D.B.A.] Hunter.

Alan McGowan