Best Game by an English Player (the vote)

[Matt Mackenzie]

Edward Winter was pretty brutal about Wenman's offerings, I recall.

[Andrew Smith]

My vote from the book : Sultan Kahn

[Neil_Hickman]

[/quote]

The foul stench of silicon is missing, some modern books totally reek of it.

(My thread, my rules. Neil you can have two votes.)

Geoff, you do say the nicest things (though actually this patzer did avail himself of a fair bit of silicon assistance in attempting to understand GM tactics).
If I can have another vote besides Parr-Wheatcroft, it's got to be Alekhine-Yates, the game in which Yates out-combined one of the greatest combinative players of all time.

[Matt Mackenzie]

And about which certain writers invented fables featuring Alekhine "smashing every piece of furniture in his hotel room" afterwards.

[Nick Ivell]

I'm struggling to see the list now.

Was there anything by Mestel? If not, there should be!

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

It looks like Geoff's images were taken directly from the Amazon preview of the book and they have expired. I took a snapshot of them from Amazon, did some OCR and combined them with my links. I'll post this in my next message.
(Three Mestel games: 53, 56 and 65!)

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

1 Bowdler-Conway London, about 1788 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1282695
2 Evans-McDonnell London, 1825 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1227672
3 La Bourdonnais-McDonnell London, 1834 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1001153
4 Saint-Amant-Staunton Paris, 1843 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1001210
5 Steinkuhler-Blackburne Manchester, 1863 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1028832
6 MacDonnell-Boden, London 1865 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1336343 (typo in index to book - year was 1869)
7 Zukertort-Epoureano ?Berlin ?London, 1875 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1368142
8 Bird-Mason New York, 1876 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1027995
9 Mason-Winawer Vienna, 1882 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1001754
10 Zukertort-Blackburne London, 1883 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1001854
11 Blackburne-Lipschiitz New York, 1889 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1002151
12 Showalter-Gossip New York, 1889 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1002083
13 Weiss-Pollock New York, 1889 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1002194
14 Bird-Lasker Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1892 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1028156
15 Jackson-Lawrence London, 1897 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1075866
16 Lasker-Blackburne London, 1899 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1029418
17 Marshall-H E Atkins Cable Match, 1902 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1094519
18 Lasker-Napier Cambridge Springs, 1904 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1036787
19 Lasker-Murray London, 1908 I can't find this one, unless Murray is the NN in https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1380146
20 MacDonald-Burn Liverpool, 1910 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1316491
21 Tartakover-Burn Karlsbad, 1911 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1000799
22 M G Atkins-Jacobs London, 1915 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1622777
23 Tartakover-H E Atkins London, 1922 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1093055
24 Alekhine-Yates Karlsbad, 1923 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1012179
25 Viney-Gook GPO v HM Customs, 1926 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1826396
26 Saunders-Tartakover Scarborough, 1929 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1004189
27 Menchik-Becker Karlsbad, 1929 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1066877
28 Tylor-Koltanowski Hastings, 1929 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1080555
29 Abrahams-Thynne Liverpool, 1930 Probably this one from 1929 - https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2425156
30 Sultan Khan-Capablanca Hastings, 1930 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1135510
31 Menchik-Thomas London, 1932 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1224235
32 Alexander-Cross Hastings, 1933 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1964901
33 Capablanca-Thomas Hastings, 1934 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1224020
34 Abrahams-Cukierman Nottingham, 1936 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1426334
35 Silverman-Eliskases Birmingham, 1937 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1483937
36 Fine-Reynolds Ostend, 1937 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1043838
37 Parr-Wheatcroft London, 1939 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1284171
38 Alexander-Botvinnik Radio Match, 1946 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032147
39 Crown-Kotov Great Britain v USSR, 1947 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1313970
40 Charlesworth-Znosko-Borovsky Harrogate, 1947 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1152011
41 Maczynski-Pratten Portsmouth, 1948 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1242961
42 NN-Mason London League, 1948 https://www.bedfordchess.co.uk/bcm/#BCM_NNMA
43 Geller-Golombek Budapest, 1952 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1048606
44 Smith-Morton Corres., 1953-1954. Uploaded here: https://lichess.org/vaex2slN#0 (thanks Gerard!)
45 Bronstein-Alexander Hastings, 1954 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1156490
46 Penrose-Tal Leipzig, 1960 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1105990
47 Messere-Zagarovsky Corres., 1965 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1267067
48 Hartston-Gligoric Hastings, 1965 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1308540
49 Corden-Smyslov Hastings, 1970 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1126240
50 Markland-Hort Hastings, 1971 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1057493
51 Adams-Butnaru Comes., 1972-3 Can be found here - https://britishchessnews.com/2021/09/07 ... -vii-2013/
52 Keene-Kovacevic Amsterdam, 1973 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1071336
53 Stean-Mestel Llanelli, 1974 Can be found here - https://www.bedfordchess.co.uk/bcm/#BCM_G024
54 Stean-Browne Nice, 1974 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1035299
55 Kochiev-Miles Manila,1974 Can be found here - https://www.bedfordchess.co.uk/bcm/#BCM_AKAM
56 van der Sterren-Mestel Tjenata, 1975 Can be found here - https://www.bedfordchess.co.uk/bcm/#BCM_VAME
57 Keene-Mlles Hastings 1976 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1071404
58 Korchnoi-Montgomery Luton, 1976 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1981299
59 Rumens-Franklin London, 1976 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1385868
60 Hollis-Baurabach Comes., 1976 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1259510
61 Miles-Spassky Montilla Moriles, 1978 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1097114
62 Miles-Nunn BBC Master Game, 1978 https://www.bedfordchess.co.uk/bcm/#BCM_G096
63 Taulbut-Mikhalchishin Mexico, 1978 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2663576
64 Karpov-Miles Skara, 1980 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1068157
65 Mestel-Renman Valletta Olympiad, 1980 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1377689
66 Ligterink-Miles Wijk aan Zee, 1984 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1097631
67 Beliaysky-Nunn Wijk aan Zee, 1985 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1103322
68 Plaskett-Miles Lugano, 1986 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1097818
69 Short-Kasparov Brussels, 1986 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1070187
70 Speelman-Short London, 1988 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1124352
71 Gurevich-Short Manila, 1990 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1124451
72 Short-Timman Tilburg, 1991 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1124533
73 Neverov-Crouch Hastings, 1992 https://www.bedfordchess.co.uk/bcm/#BCM_VNCC
74 Norwood-Marsh Walsall, 1992 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1102717
75 Danzanvilliers-Read Comes., 1992 See https://mikereadsim.weebly.com/annotations.html and download the PDF (!) for MR057. I've uploaded it Lichess: https://lichess.org/LYum5OSt
76 Atalik-Miles Heraklion, 1993 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1098358
77 Adams-Levitt Dublin, 1993 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1014372
78 Sheldon-Nunn London, 1996 Geoff Chandler added this game to the notes here: https://www.chessgames.com/player/ruth_sheldon.html. I've uploaded it to Lichess: https://lichess.org/GrJKzCOy
79 Conquest-Hodgson Bundesliga, 1996 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2406896
80 Rogozenko-Gallagher Bundesliga, 1998 https://www.bedfordchess.co.uk/bcm/#BCM_G029
81 Wall-Ippolito Hampstead, 1998 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1080290
82 Kazimzhdanov-Adams Tripoli, 2004 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1293452
83 Adams-Topalov Cows Wijk aan Zee, 2006 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1385770
84 Wells-Shirov Gibraltar, 2006 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1388094
85 Lopang-Gilbert Turin, 2006 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1412926
86 Hunt-Muzychuk Stockholm, 2008 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1500215
87 McShane-Carlsen London, 2010 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1602060
88 Aronian-McShane Moscow, 2012 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1669470
89 Gordon-Jones North Shields, 2012 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1674801
90 Howell-Jumabayev Tallinn, 2016 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1813269

[Neil_Hickman]

And about which certain writers invented fables featuring Alekhine "smashing every piece of furniture in his hotel room" afterwards.

Indeed. As so often Edward Winter puts us on to safer ground, showing that if Alekhine smashed the furniture, it will probably have been after his loss to Spielmann which nearly cost him a share of first prize. Page 75 of the book

[Neil_Hickman]

Was there anything by Mestel? If not, there should be!

Stean-Mestel, Llanelli 1974, where the two of them punched each other to a standstill (Game 53);
van der Sterren-Mestel, World Junior Championship 1975, where he briefly revived the Philidor Counter-Gambit to good effect;
Mestel-Renman Valletta 1980 (Game 65).

[Matt Mackenzie]

Mestel-Renman Valletta 1980 (Game 65).

The final effort in Speelman's still excellent collection of the best games of 1970-80.

[Geoff Chandler]

(though actually this patzer did avail himself of a fair bit of silicon assistance in attempting to understand GM tactics).

Hi Neil,

That is fine, you are using the computer as a tool (and not the other way round.) it pops up when it is relevant as in Game 7 Zukertort - Count de Kostaki Epoureano 1868. where you point out Fritz finds a win missed by Reinfeld and Wellmuth.
Most of the time, from what I have seen so far, is you are using notes and analysis from players long before computers. A nice blend. I liked warts an all notes from the old days. You played through them looking for your Mr.Thomas moment.

[Geoff Chandler]

I see the copied index links from my first post have gone. I copied, minus the game links from Jon's gratefully accepted work from there to the my first post.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Was there anything by Mestel? If not, there should be!

Stean-Mestel, Llanelli 1974, where the two of them punched each other to a standstill (Game 53);
van der Sterren-Mestel, World Junior Championship 1975, where he briefly revived the Philidor Counter-Gambit to good effect;
Mestel-Renman Valletta 1980 (Game 65).

Mestel v Hodgson, British 1983 was surely memorable, especially given the stakes. (Yes, even though we on this forum had perhaps forgotten it!).

[Nick Ivell]

In fact it was the Hodgson game (which I witnessed) I was mainly thinking of.

[Matt Mackenzie]

They don't do openings like that anymore, do they.

Its a genuine mixed bag overall, but that is definitely one way in which our silicon overlords have changed the game for the worse.