Amazing Leicester success ..Glenn Flear wins 1986 London Masters

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I think Plaskett went the whole Tournament without a draw, even managing to rouse Boris Spassky to beat him on the day I was spectating.

That's correct: not a half against his name and he was the only player to beat Flear.

That cross-table in that BCM issue looks to have at least one mistake in it.

The line for Plaskett is wrong. He lost to Flear and beat Chandler. It was Polugaevsky who beat Flear.

[Event "London (England)"] [Site "London (England)"] [Date "1986.??.??"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "20"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Lev Polugaevsky"] [Black "Glenn Flear"] [ECO "D44"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "61"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5 7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Nxg5 hxg5 10. Bxg5 Be7 11. exf6 Bxf6 12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. g3 Bb7 14. Bg2 Na6 15. a4 O-O-O 16. axb5 cxb5 17. Bxb7+ Kxb7 18. Nxb5 Qf5 19. Qa4 Qe4+ 20. Kd2 Qc6 21. b3 Qb6 22. bxc4 Rxd4+ 23. Ke2 Re4+ 24. Kf3 f5 25. Rhb1 Rf4+ 26. gxf4 Qc6+ 27. Ke2 Qe4+ 28. Kd1 Rd8+ 29. Nd6+ Kc7 30. Qa5+ Kxd6 31. Qxd8+ 1-0

Can't find the Plaskett-Flear game.

Brilliancy prize was won by Chandler:

[Event "It (cat.13)"] [Site "London (England)"] [Date "1986.??.??"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "?"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Murray Chandler"] [Black "Rafael Vaganian"] [ECO "C18"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "73"] 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Ba5 6.b4 cxd4 7.Nb5 Bc7 8.f4 Bd7 9.Nf3 Bxb5 10.Bxb5+ Nc6 11.O-O Ne7 12.Bd3 a6 13.Kh1 h6 14.Qe2 Qd7 15.Bb2 Bb6 16.Rae1 Rc8 17.g4 g6 18.Nh4 h5 19.f5 hxg4 20.fxg6 Rxh4 21.gxf7+ Kf8 22.Bc1 Nf5 23.Bxf5 d3 24.Bxd3 g3 25.Qg2 Rxh2+ 26.Qxh2 gxh2 27.Bh6+ Ke7 28.Bg5+ Kf8 29.Bh6+ Ke7 30.Bg6 Bc7 31.Bg5+ Kf8 32.Bh6+ Ke7 33.f8=Q+ Rxf8 34.Bxf8+ Kd8 35.Rf7 Qe8 36.Bg7 Nxe5 37.Bf6+ 1-0

[Jonathan Bryant]

Oh, Casablanca at San Sebastian must be worth a shout.

I'm sure Humphrey and Ingrid would have had something to say on the matter if the producers had switched the location.

Of all the typos in all the world, I had to make that one.

What is the furthest a rank outsider has got towards a shot at the world title?

Depends what you count as "a shot at the world title"? Ray has claimed in that he had competed for the World Championship in the past - on the grounds that he played in a zonal presumably. Technically true but pushing it a bit.

Nigel Short’s run to 1993 match with Kasparov was a genuine 'little guy' achievement I think. Using the term in relative terms of course. He got up to #3 in the rankings at the time.

Anand requalifying for a second match against Carlsen was a huge achievement in the circumstances.


I was thinking of the most shocking world championship match result. Not sure we have one. Kramnik taking down Gazza, perhaps the biggest one of modern times (by which I mean post WWII)

[Matt Mackenzie]

Have we really forgotten Gelfand in 2012 already?? I know the match itself left something to be desired, but.....

[Mick Norris]

Have we really forgotten Gelfand in 2012 already?? I know the match itself left something to be desired, but.....

Far from it - by the way, have you read his recent interview?
part 1 and part 2

[Jonathan Bryant]

Have we really forgotten Gelfand in 2012 already?? I know the match itself left something to be desired, but.....

Unfortunately the format of the candidates’ event left a lot to be desired as well. A great achievement in any circumstances, as you say, but personally I wouldn’t put Gelfand winning the candidates in quite the same league as Anand doing so.

[Mark Hannon]

Oh, Casablanca at San Sebastian must be worth a shout. The one he only got to play because Marshall insisted he be invited.

Capablanca's victory was not really a surprise to any objective viewer as he had already crushed Marshall in a long match so he was clearly a top rank player by then.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Oh, Casablanca at San Sebastian must be worth a shout. The one he only got to play because Marshall insisted he be invited.

Capablanca's victory was not really a surprise to any objective viewer as he had already crushed Marshall in a long match so he was clearly a top rank player by then.

That strikes me as benefit of hindsight thinking. It’s easy to see now, but weren’t there protests form some of the players that Capablanca was allowed to play at all because he wasn’t 'qualified to play at that level? If so that doesn’t really fit with 'hardly a surprise to any objective viewer' that he won.


That’s the story as I remember it at least. I'd be grateful if historians amongst us can let us know the detail/if that’s all apocryphal or whatnot.

[PeterFarr]

Oh, Casablanca at San Sebastian must be worth a shout.

I'm sure Humphrey and Ingrid would have had something to say on the matter if the producers had switched the location.

http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.c ... a.html?m=1

One day you'll regret it....., maybe not today...

[Matt Mackenzie]

Oh, Casablanca at San Sebastian must be worth a shout. The one he only got to play because Marshall insisted he be invited.

Capablanca's victory was not really a surprise to any objective viewer as he had already crushed Marshall in a long match so he was clearly a top rank player by then.

That strikes me as benefit of hindsight thinking. It’s easy to see now, but weren’t there protests form some of the players that Capablanca was allowed to play at all because he wasn’t 'qualified to play at that level? If so that doesn’t really fit with 'hardly a surprise to any objective viewer' that he won.


That’s the story as I remember it at least. I'd be grateful if historians amongst us can let us know the detail/if that’s all apocryphal or whatnot.

Story is that the participant who most objected to JRC's inclusion was Ossip Bernstein, who was of course duly crushed in a Capa brilliancy.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Story is that the participant who most objected to JRC's inclusion was Ossip Bernstein, who was of course duly crushed in a Capa brilliancy.

[Event "San Sebastian"] [Site "San Sebastian ESP"] [Date "1911.02.20"] [EventDate "1911.02.20"] [Round "1"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Jose Raul Capablanca"] [Black "Ossip Bernstein"] [ECO "C65"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "67"] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Be7 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bxc6+ bxc6 7.d4 exd4 8.Nxd4 Bd7 9.Bg5 O-O 10.Re1 h6 11.Bh4 Nh7 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Qd3 Rab8 14.b3 Ng5 15.Rad1 Qe5 16.Qe3 Ne6 17.Nce2 Qa5 18.Nf5 Nc5 19.Ned4 Kh7 20.g4 Rbe8 21.f3 Ne6 22.Ne2 Qxa2 23.Neg3 Qxc2 24.Rc1 Qb2 25.Nh5 Rh8 26.Re2 Qe5 27.f4 Qb5 28.Nfxg7 Nc5 29.Nxe8 Bxe8 30.Qc3 f6 31.Nxf6+ Kg6 32.Nh5 Rg8 33.f5+ Kg5 34.Qe3+ 1-0

[JustinHorton]

That’s the story as I remember it at least. I'd be grateful if historians amongst us can let us know the detail/if that’s all apocryphal or whatnot.

I'd be interested in informed opinions on the similar matter of Pillsbury winning at Hastings.

[Mark Hannon]

Capablanca's victory was not really a surprise to any objective viewer as he had already crushed Marshall in a long match so he was clearly a top rank player by then.

That strikes me as benefit of hindsight thinking. It’s easy to see now, but weren’t there protests form some of the players that Capablanca was allowed to play at all because he wasn’t 'qualified to play at that level? If so that doesn’t really fit with 'hardly a surprise to any objective viewer' that he won.


That’s the story as I remember it at least. I'd be grateful if historians amongst us can let us know the detail/if that’s all apocryphal or whatnot.

Story is that the participant who most objected to JRC's inclusion was Ossip Bernstein, who was of course duly crushed in a Capa brilliancy.

The qualifying conditions for San Sebastián 1911 required competitors ta have had a good result in a tournament something like a first 2 or twice in the first 4, Bernstein and maybe Nimzovich claimed Capa had not earned this qualification. Though that's what I meant , that these Two were non objective observers surely beating Marshall 8-1 made Capa's strength clear.

[Steven DuCharme]

I nominate http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1135510

[Steven DuCharme]

... is there any chance for chess to get a bit of the media action ....

I would think not.


On the subject of great chess upsets, off of the top of my head I can’t think of a better tournament upset than Glenn Flear’s London win. If we’re going to include individual games, then R Alan Barton’s win over Stuart Conquest a few years back (2011/2012 or thereabouts) must be up there. I’d played Mr B not long before at Paignton. People I can 1/2 - 1/2 against don’t normally go on to beat British Champions.

Please post the Barton v. Conqust game asap. Merci beaucoup

[Matt Mackenzie]

I nominate http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1135510

The chessgames.com site is not working for me at the moment, anybody else have the same problem?