English Chess Forum

Does anyone know if its possible to view a complete list of results, including them smaller events, from the 1980 British Chess Champs held at Brighton in 1980?

No but I played in the U14 and know who won that...

John Saunders excellent BritBase is usually first port of call. It has the Championship here http://www.btinternet.com/~john.saunder ... g80bcf.zip

Sean Hewitt wrote:John Saunders excellent BritBase is usually first port of call. It has the Championship here http://www.btinternet.com/~john.saunder ... g80bcf.zip

Hi Sean,

Thanks very much for that, but I'm really looking for the results of the major open and the competitions below that. Any thoughts??

J. Moore wrote:Does anyone know if its possible to view a complete list of results, including them smaller events, from the 1980 British Chess Champs held at Brighton in 1980?

BCM October 1980

There was a JRM Moore who won the "Second Class" Tournament with 8/11. There was even a "Third Class" Tournament.

Roger de Coverly wrote:

J. Moore wrote:Does anyone know if its possible to view a complete list of results, including them smaller events, from the 1980 British Chess Champs held at Brighton in 1980?

BCM October 1980

There was a JRM Moore who won the "Second Class" Tournament with 8/11. There was even a "Third Class" Tournament.

thanks Roger, that was me, but I couldn't remember how many points I won with..I was hopeful I could find a complete set of results, but at least my memory was not playing tricks!

John,

This is from an Old chess magazine

British
W.R. Hartston & J.D.M. Nunn 8/11
D. Rumens & J.S. Speelman 7.5/11
M.J. Basman, R. Bellin, M. Chandler & S.M. Taulbut 7/11
M.J. Franklin, M.L. Fuller, G.D. Lee, C.A. McNab 6.5/11
J.W. Branford, D.H. Cummings, G.C. Flear, J.M. Hodgson & V.W. Knox 6/11
B.J. Denman, M. Hebden, S.J.B. Knott, P.G. Large & C.W. Pritchett 5.5/11
B. Cafferty, P.H. Clarke, J. Cooper, E. Davis, G. Kenworthy, D.J. King, M. Pein & I.R. Watson 5/11
R. Britton & J. Burnett 4.5/11
J.C. Henshaw, G. Lane, M. McCarthy & K.P. Neat 4/11
P. Adams & C.W. Baker 3.5/11
T.L Milligan 3/11
D.A. Houston 2.5/11

Womens
Sheila Jackson 9.5/11
Peggy Clarke 8/11
J. Garwell 7.5/11
Dinah Wright & Wanda Pritchard 6.5/11
M. Eagle 6/11
S.J. Wood, A. Rakshit & J.P. Rogers 5.5/11
Anne Sunnucks, C.J. Nicholson, Rowena Bruce, Nancy Elder & M.E. Leask 4.5/11
A. Eagle 4/11
H. Scott 1/3 (withdrew)

U-21 : A.P. Lewis 10/11
U-18 : P.K. Wells 9/11
U-16 : A.C.L. Dixon 9/11
U-14 : E.S. Lee 9/11
U-11 : J.T. Hockaday, P.J. Rossiter, J.P. Sharp, M.A. Wheeler & D.A. Wood 5.5/7

Major Open : J. Hall 8.5/11, O. Jackson & R. McMichael 8/11

Girls U-18 : C.E. Whitehead 6/11
Girls U-16 : K.A. Cartmel & L.A.M. Pereira 5/11
Girls U-14 : M.A.S. Hepworth 5/11

Alan

This was also I believe the final chess appearance of my old mate Mike Haygarth (British Champion 1964), who despite being 2375 at the time failed to qualify for the Championship. So he played the Major Open as top seed, scored about 6/11, as was never seen or heard from again. Anyone with any more info?

I played JRM Moore at Chester 1979. Lost.

Nobody knows what happened to Haygarth, but nobody. I made up the joke - Eley laughed - that he was the Yorkshire Ripper. Brian Eley is still at large, of course ..

Even around Yorkshire, Mike Haygarth was an enigmatic character. I recall regretting that he didn't feel inclined to enter the Yorkshire Championships in the years I won it, for obvious reasons, but there was always a general sense of aloofness about him. I don't think he was on his best form around that time. I recall hearing that he'd shuffled himself off into postal play but I couldn't know for sure.

Yes, I can imagine Eley chuckling at that comment.

That list of names brings back a lot of nostalgia. G. Kenworthy and I travelled down there together and shared a flat in Hove for the duration. Sadly, I don't recall any of the tournament results.

Haygarth continued to appear in the local grading list until the mid-80s, I think.

Anthony Taglione wrote:Even around Yorkshire, Mike Haygarth was an enigmatic character. I recall regretting that he didn't feel inclined to enter the Yorkshire Championships in the years I won it, for obvious reasons, but there was always a general sense of aloofness about him.

I met Michael Haygarth at tournaments from Cheltenham 1953, his national debut, to Aberystwyth 1961. We were teammates in 1960 at Biel (Clare Benedict Cup) and Leipzig (Olympiad), and once stayed in the same hotel during the British. I wouldn't call him aloof, he joined enthusiastically in the team preparations and adjournment analysis, and could be quite bubbly in analysing games. In his best years he was a fine strategist, he was the team's top scorer in Biel. He was partly responsible for my deciding to stop playing in the British after 1961. We met in the last round when a win would probably have made me second to Penrose, but I messed up the opening, Black in a Richter Sicilian, and emerged two pawns down in an ending which allowed a prolonged resistance. When I finally resigned, around 11.45 pm after 80-odd moves, I found that the landlady had locked the front door and gone to bed, so I had to find an open window and climb in, bruising my knees en route. This made me think there might be better ways of spending a fortnight in August.
A friend who was Yorkshire junior champion in the mid-1960s recalls how Haygarth came up, congratulated him, and spent the best part of an hour going through his game and giving some tips. On the occasion we stayed in the same hotel I recall he was interested in and knowledgeable about the racing pages. I believe he was an accountant so guess that when he found his results declining in the 1980 congress mentioned above he decided to concentrate on his profession.
Haygarth was not the only high-class Yorkshire player to drop out completely. I remember James Howell from when he gave Portisch a hard game in a simul aged 7 and had a full page of the Yorkshire Post entitled 'The Wizard of Harrogate' devoted to him. I would rate him behind only Luke McShane and Dharshan Kumaran as the all-time best English 7-year-old. Years later Howell made rather heavy weather of progressing from IM to GM, and when he finally acquired the GM title he dropped out quickly. I believe he too became an accountant. Does anybody have news of him?

Alan Walton wrote:1
U-16 : A.C.L. Dixon 9/11
Alan

That's Andrew Dyson, not Dixon, another lost Yorkshire talent...I think he went over to bridge.

Yes, Mike Haygarth was an accountant. Many thanks for those visions of him years before I even encountered him.

I was also playing in Lajos Portisch's simultaneous exhibition and one of the few to secure a draw against him. You bring back fond memories.

Leonard Barden wrote:

I remember James Howell from when he gave Portisch a hard game in a simul aged 7 and had a full page of the Yorkshire Post entitled 'The Wizard of Harrogate' devoted to him. I would rate him behind only Luke McShane and Darshan Kumaran as the all-time best English 7-year-old. Years later Howell made rather heavy weather of progressing from IM to GM, and when he finally acquired the GM title he dropped out quickly. I believe he too became an accountant. Does anybody have news of him?

I chatted to him at a wedding 3 or 4 years ago. I think you're right about the accountant thing and I think he's doing the family/kids stuff.

Talking of lost chess players do you know what became of Eddie Lee? I played him many times, once at the 1980 British U14 where I lost from a totally won position (stopping me from probably winning the tournament I think) and for the last time when we were about 19. I didn't see him after that. Me and John Emms have often mused over his fate.....