Generational Best Players Never To Win British Championship

[Matt Mackenzie]

A good start, but Vishy's final performance in that event was underwhelming. Did he ever have another go?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

[Event "BCF-ch"]<br> [Site "Blackpool ENG"]<br> [Date "1988.08.??"]<br> [Round "?"]<br> [White "Viswanathan Anand"]<br> [Black "Lawrence H Cooper"]<br> [Result "1-0"]<br> [ECO "C89"]<br> [PlyCount "55"]<br> [EventDate "1988.??.??"]<br> <br> 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3<br> d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. Re1 Bd6 13. d3 Qh4 14. g3 Qh3 15.<br> Re4 Nf6 16. Rh4 Qf5 17. Bf4 g5 18. Bxd6 gxh4 19. Bxf8 Kxf8 20. Qe2 Bb7 21. Nd2<br> c5 22. f3 hxg3 23. hxg3 Qg5 24. Qf2 Rd8 25. Bc2 Nh5 26. Nf1 Qd5 27. Re1 Qxf3<br> 28. Qxc5+ 1-0

Did he use about 4 minutes?

Am not finding it easy, even after four minutes, to work out for sure that White is winning that final position

Oh, I see it now! The White queen dances between g5 and d8, and then does another little dance to h6 and d6 and back to e8.

Is black forced to play something like 28...Rd6 to avoid mate in a few more moves?

[LawrenceCooper]

[Event "BCF-ch"]<br> [Site "Blackpool ENG"]<br> [Date "1988.08.??"]<br> [Round "?"]<br> [White "Viswanathan Anand"]<br> [Black "Lawrence H Cooper"]<br> [Result "1-0"]<br> [ECO "C89"]<br> [PlyCount "55"]<br> [EventDate "1988.??.??"]<br> <br> 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3<br> d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. Re1 Bd6 13. d3 Qh4 14. g3 Qh3 15.<br> Re4 Nf6 16. Rh4 Qf5 17. Bf4 g5 18. Bxd6 gxh4 19. Bxf8 Kxf8 20. Qe2 Bb7 21. Nd2<br> c5 22. f3 hxg3 23. hxg3 Qg5 24. Qf2 Rd8 25. Bc2 Nh5 26. Nf1 Qd5 27. Re1 Qxf3<br> 28. Qxc5+ 1-0

Did he use about 4 minutes?

Am not finding it easy, even after four minutes, to work out for sure that White is winning that final position

Oh, I see it now! The White queen dances between g5 and d8, and then does another little dance to h6 and d6 and back to e8.

Is black forced to play something like 28...Rd6 to avoid mate in a few more moves?

He took about 30 minutes to my 1 hour 30.

I had a complete hallucination and forgot that Qxd8 comes with check (where i thought my king could go I've no idea!). Qd5 was already dubious but Qxf3 is obviously the final mistake to end the game.

His comment after the game was a slightly bemused "What happened?" He was of the opinion that 24...Nh5-f4 would have led to a draw but I think it more likely that I may have equalised but he would have still outplayed me without too much effort on his part. As one might expect he was a real gent and it was great to play and analyse with him.

[Stewart Reuben]

Leonard got there first. Peter Clarke was clearly a prime candidate. He came second to Jonathan Penrose a substantial number of times.
Michael Basman
Krishnan Sasikiran
Pentala Harikrishna (I'm not sure when, or if, he played)
Ian Rogers
Dharshan Kumararan lost the playoff to Michael Hennigan
Daniel King
But Nick Pert must be current prime candidate after Luke.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Harikrishna played in 2002 and 2003.

[NickFaulks]

Harikrishna played in 2002 and 2003.

I can't believe that this thread was intended to include overseas players who had a couple of opportunistic goes - not that I'm criticising them in any way.

I wouldn't include Luke either. If adding a British Championship to his cv had been a crucial part of his life I'm sure he would have done it.

[JustinHorton]

Not sure I'm seeing any of Basman, King and Pert, either.

[Roger de Coverly]

Not sure I'm seeing any of Basman, King and Pert, either.

Basman was co-winner with Hartston in 1973, but lost a play off match a few months later.

[Graham Borrowdale]

I guess my vote from the modern era would be Mark Hebden, 'the Jimmy White of British chess': very popular with the crowds, very close many times, but ultimately not likely to be champion now.

[JustinHorton]

Not sure I'm seeing any of Basman, King and Pert, either.

Basman was co-winner with Hartston in 1973, but lost a play off match a few months later.

Yeah I know (I can still remember some of Hartston's annotations) but I don't reckon he satisfies the criteria of the opening post.

[Jon Tait]

I guess my vote from the modern era would be Mark Hebden, 'the Jimmy White of British chess': very popular with the crowds, very close many times, but ultimately not likely to be champion now.

Yes, I was going to suggest Hebden, who is at least as good as some of the people who've won over the many years he's competed; but it seems it's never quite clicked for him in any year's Championship.