Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing

Margate (1938) The 1938 Premier Tournament of the traditional Margate Easter Congress featured a respectable international presence, most notably that of world champion Alexander Alekhine. He faced off against fellow invaders Rudolf Spielmann, Vladimir Petrov, and the perennial Finnish Champion Eero Einar Böök. The local English contingent was led by Philip Stuart Milner-Barry, who managed shared 4th, followed by Harry Golombek, Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander, Edward G Sergeant, and women's world champion Vera Menchik, who scored two victories to finish above tail-ender George Alan Thomas. The British Chess Magazine lauded the Champion, reporting that "Dr. Alekhine won the tournament fairly comfortably, though he lost one game (to Petrov). Yet on the whole his play was of a very high standard, notably so against Böök where he played a game worthy to be classed amongst the best examples of Alekhine's genius. In short, he is now playing as well as he ever did." Alekhine also co-wrote the tournament book with Milcíades A. Lachaga. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 Alekhine * ½ 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 7 2 Spielmann ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 6 3 Petrov 1 0 * 0 1 1 0 1 ½ 1 5½ =4 Böök 0 ½ 1 * ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 5 =4 Milner-Barry 0 ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 1 1 5 6 Golombek 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ * 1 ½ 1 ½ 4½ 7 Alexander ½ 0 1 0 ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 4 8 Sergeant 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ * 1 ½ 3½ 9 Menchik 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ 0 * 1 3 10 Thomas 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 * 1½ Margate (1937) and Margate (1939) were the previous and subsequent congresses in this series, respectively. Source: Alexander Alekhine's Chess Games, 1902-1946, by Leonard Skinner and Robert Verhoeven. McFarland 1998, p. 262. Original collection: Game Collection: Margate 1938, by User: sneaky pete.  page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 45  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Alekhine vs Milner-Barry 1-0 52 1938 Margate A13 English 2. E E Book vs C H Alexander   1-0 47 1938 Margate C86 Ruy Lopez, Worrall Attack 3. E G Sergeant vs G A Thomas   ½-½ 53 1938 Margate B54 Sicilian 4. Spielmann vs Menchik 1-0 20 1938 Margate C11 French 5. Petrov vs Golombek 1-0 42 1938 Margate C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed 6. Petrov vs Menchik   ½-½ 56 1938 Margate A15 English 7. G A Thomas vs Alekhine 0-1 50 1938 Margate C86 Ruy Lopez, Worrall Attack 8. Golombek vs E G Sergeant   ½-½ 35 1938 Margate D63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense 9. Milner-Barry vs E E Book   ½-½ 66 1938 Margate C16 French, Winawer 10. C H Alexander vs Spielmann 0-1 52 1938 Margate C11 French 11. Spielmann vs Milner-Barry   ½-½ 24 1938 Margate C36 King's Gambit Accepted, Abbazia Defense 12. E G Sergeant vs Petrov   0-1 29 1938 Margate B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen 13. Menchik vs C H Alexander   ½-½ 41 1938 Margate D32 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch 14. E E Book vs G A Thomas   1-0 34 1938 Margate A22 English 15. Alekhine vs Golombek 1-0 31 1938 Margate E20 Nimzo-Indian 16. Milner-Barry vs Menchik 1-0 33 1938 Margate C13 French 17. C H Alexander vs Petrov   1-0 60 1938 Margate B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen 18. Golombek vs E E Book   ½-½ 35 1938 Margate D47 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 19. G A Thomas vs Spielmann   ½-½ 43 1938 Margate C14 French, Classical 20. E G Sergeant vs Alekhine 0-1 28 1938 Margate C72 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense, 5.O-O 21. Spielmann vs Golombek   ½-½ 47 1938 Margate B50 Sicilian 22. Menchik vs G A Thomas   1-0 42 1938 Margate D74 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.cd Nxd5, 7.O-O 23. C H Alexander vs Milner-Barry   ½-½ 35 1938 Margate C42 Petrov Defense 24. E E Book vs E G Sergeant   ½-½ 34 1938 Margate D50 Queen's Gambit Declined 25. Petrov vs Alekhine 1-0 34 1938 Margate E02 Catalan, Open, 5.Qa4  page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 45    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Feb-26-16    hemy: 1938 Margate chess Congress included 4 tournaments of 10 players in each one: Premier Tournament, Reserves A, B and C. Reserves A Ernest Ludwig Klein (Austria) 7 Moishe Mendel Najdorf (Poland) 6.5 Gerald Abrahams (England) 6 Nicolas Rossolimo (France) 6 Paul List (Lithuania) 4.5 Andrew Rowland Benedick Thomas (England) 4 Adrian Garcia Conde (England) 3.5 Frits van Seters (Holland) 3.5 Baruch Harold Wood (England) 2.5 Henry Holwell Cole 1.5 Reserves B S. Landau 7.5 G. Koltanovski 7 L. Prins 6.5 K. Opočenský 6 J. König 5 V. A. Vinser 4 F. G. T. Collins 3.5 L. C. G. Dewing 2.5 A. Eva 1.5 L. Illingworth 1.5 Reserves C G. Meyer 6.5 G van Doesburgh 6.5 V. A. T. Schelfhout 5.5 Sonja Graf 5 C. B. Heath 5 B. Reilly 5 Z. Solmanis 4.5 V. Skillicorn 3 F. N. Jatneson 2.5 H. J. Snowden 1.5 Information about the Reserves tournament was collected by me from the newspapers in Estonian and German languages: Postimees / 25 Apr 1938, Page 6 Postimees / 08 May 1938, Page 6 Päewaleht / 04 May 1938, Page 5 Hamburger Nachrichten / 22 Apr 1938, Page 4 Hamburger Nachrichten / 23 Apr 1938, Page 3 Mar-05-16    jessicafischerqueen: A notable game from this tournament in which <Vladimirs Petrovs> hands world champion <Alexander Alekhine> his only defeat in the event: V Petrov vs Alekhine, 1938 Mar-05-16    KlingonBorgTatar: I'm an Alekhine fan and like to collect books written or co- authored by him. Is there a reprint of the tournament book co-authored by the winner? If there's none an e- copy might do. Thanks in advance. Mar-07-16    jessicafischerqueen: <KlingonBorgTatar> I've never seen a copy of the tournament book anywhere, but if someone on earth has the power to get it, it's <Tony Peterson>. He has secured several rare chess books for me in the past. He's very friendly and returns emails promptly. Twice he didn't have the book I wanted, but each time he was able to find a copy for me. He has close contact with other excellent European booksellers, such as <Dr. Fiala>, another great resource for rare chess books. You can contact <Mr. Peterson> from his website here: http://www.chessbooks.co.uk/ His email: tony@chessbooks.co.uk Jan-22-18    offramp: Sponsored by the British aircraft manufacturer founded by Alliott Verdon Roe called Avro, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro, and sometimes known as Avro 1938. Jul-26-18    jessicafischerqueen: <offramp> known to whom? If you think <AVRO 1938>, at least nowadays, you think of this tournament here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVRO_... Jul-26-18    zanzibar: I think it a bit of a misnomer to cite Alekhine as co-author of the tournament book: http://www.chesslund.com/detail.asp... LSAK attributes only Lachaga, though some of the games were annotated by Alekhine (and others by other participants). Jul-26-18    zanzibar: ~ Keres was originally slated to participate, but withdrew to engage in a match with Stahlberg instead. Spielmann and Schmidt (who didn't play) were reported as new additions. <Chess Review (1938) p78> Aug-19-21    offramp: Najdorf did well in the Reserves A but it seems that only one of his games survives: A R B Thomas vs Najdorf, 1938. Dec-23-22    GrahamClayton: Despite being an active international player for nearly 4 decades, this was the first and only time that Rudolf Spielmann played in a tournament in England. NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion. Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers. Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times. See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator. NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific tournament only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café. Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors. All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration. Spot an error? Please suggest your correction and help us eliminate database mistakes! Home | About | Login | Logout | F.A.Q. | Profile | Preferences | Premium Membership | Kibitzer's Café | Biographer's Bistro | New Kibitzing | Chessforums | Tournament Index | Player Directory | Notable Games | World Chess Championships | Opening Explorer | Guess the Move | Game Collections | ChessBookie Game | Chessgames Challenge | Store | Privacy Notice | Contact Us Copyright 2001-2023, Chessgames Services LLC