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.
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page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 45 |
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Game |
| Result | Moves |
Year | Event/Locale | Opening |
1. Alekhine vs Milner-Barry |
  | 1-0 | 52 | 1938 | Margate | A13 English |
2. E Book vs C H Alexander |
| 1-0 | 47 | 1938 | Margate | C86 Ruy Lopez, Worrall Attack |
3. E G Sergeant vs G 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 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 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 Book vs G 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 Book |
| ½-½ | 35 | 1938 | Margate | D47 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav |
19. G 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 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 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 |
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page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 45 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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. |
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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 |
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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. |
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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_... |
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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). |
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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> |
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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. |
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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. |
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