Junior squad/Kasparov simul in 1986

[Jonathan Rogers]

Hi Martin

I actually don't think he looks much like you, which combined with the fact that you don't remember the occasion, tends to make me think he isn't you. Normally Leonard Barden would know these things but as said above this one was organised by others. I think that Laurie Walker was helping with it, because he managed to get his son a place at the last minute when someone else pulled out (and I think that Mark actually made a draw). I think that the original invitees were all over 200, which (forgive me!) may be a further reason to suspect that you were not one of them unless you too were a last minute replacement?

[Maxim Devereaux]

I think that the original invitees were all over 200...

Really? Were there that many members of the British junior squad in 1986 who were over 200?

Chesstempo only has Kasparov's game against Mickey from the simul, here: http://chesstempo.com/gamedb/game/286136 and Mickey was 2295 at the time, but then again he was only 15, and there may have been a number of 16/17 year olds.

[Leonard Barden]

Hi Martin

I actually don't think he looks much like you, which combined with the fact that you don't remember the occasion, tends to make me think he isn't you. Normally Leonard Barden would know these things but as said above this one was organised by others. I think that Laurie Walker was helping with it, because he managed to get his son a place at the last minute when someone else pulled out (and I think that Mark actually made a draw). I think that the original invitees were all over 200, which (forgive me!) may be a further reason to suspect that you were not one of them unless you too were a last minute replacement?

Peter Barton (who when in Sussex had organised the two Karpov simuls which had stronger teams than played Kasparov) taught at Uppingham and organised the match,though I selected the team.
Kasparov was then a recently crowned world champion and we persuaded his manager that he should play for a nominal fee as this would encourage others to hire him for simuls. Unfortunately the date was in May, just before exams, which took away some of our best juniors.
Kasparov asked for a team list and half an hour to prepare before the start. He was pleased with his result and particularly his win over James Howell on board 1 ("that's strong international master!"). As I said on another thread, I agonised over the team selection and finally omitted Matthew Sadler, then 11,which I've always regretted.
Martin Hazelton wrote to me before he posted here but I couldn't help much. I remembered that he had been at RGS but didn't recall what he looked like. Nor could I identify the player in the photo as anyone else. Martin was around a 190 player then and the board number in the pic is 11, which is two or three boards below where I recall Morris and Watts playing. So I don't exclude that he is the player in the photo. Neil McDonald got the best game prize for his brilliant stalemate trap which has been quoted in later tactics books.
Alan Burke's 'shadowy figures' were the wallboard operators. Maxim Devereaux: maybe under half of that team was 200+,it would have been well above half but for the exam absentees.

[Neill Cooper]

It's stuff like this that I really enjoy on this forum, I think we all owe Carl a massive thanks for putting up with us.

Agreed, just what I was thinking.

[Martin Hazelton]

I'm impressed by the number of responses - I was expecting to wait a week to get one or two! Great to hear from you all.

fwiw Martin I don't recall you mentioning playing in it at the time - and likewise I would kind of expect to.

I think the replies have settled the issue. The photo might be me (though the clothes look suspiciously trendy for me at the time); I might have made the squad (I was 193 or 198 in 1986, but that might well be too low for board 11); I might have played the position as black (I was in transition from the Modern Benoni to the QG Chigorin at the time, and occasionally ended up in positions the I never intended when white delayed c4 for a while); and I might have subsequently suffered rather specific amnesia about the event. However, there is no way that I wouldn't have bragged insufferably about the event to Paul [Dargan] at school...

Of course, this does beg the questions, who is the figure in the photo, and what was it doing in the Royal Grammar School archives? Could it be Andrew Dunn? He was the right strength, and was at the RGS for his sixth form education. However, he left in 1985 (a year before me), and would have been 19 at the time of the simul. Did the junior squad go to that age?

Cheers,

Martin

ps

Are you back in the UK? To see some 'blasts from the past' check out the North East team in the 4NCL.

No - still doing my bit in the colonies . But a return to the UK is quite possible if the right job comes up.

[Tom Middleton]

It's good to see Messrs Bielby, Hazelton and Dargan posting here. It brings back happy memories of my years playing chess as a junior in the North East. So much so that it has jolted me into action and got me to register on this Forum. Martin, I seem to remember you were an exponent of the Modern Benoni at one stage but memory can be a strange thing. On which theme, it really doesn't feel like as many as 26 years since the Southampton British. Also, my good wishes to any ex-NLTSR chess players out there.

[Nick Thomas]

I've wondered about this simul as well and also can't remember if I played in it. I was around 200 grade then and I have a signed copy of "The Test of Time" dated 1985 or 1986 (can't lay my hands on it at the moment) and do remember playing in a few simul's as a junior.

Can't see who the player in the photo is though. Initially thought Gary Lane but he was a bit too old probably?

Note - I was 19 in 1986 but then again so was David Watts who certainly played in it so it was not an U18 event. I don't think the photo looks like Andrew Dunn.

[Ola Winfridsson]

Amazing that people struggle to remember whether they've actually played Kasparov in a simul or not

[PeterTurland]

Amazing that people struggle to remember whether they've actually played Kasparov in a simul or not

It's also amazing that everyone is not like you and remembers everything.

[Martin Hazelton]

Can't see who the player in the photo is though. Initially thought Gary Lane but he was a bit too old probably?

Note - I was 19 in 1986 but then again so was David Watts who certainly played in it so it was not an U18 event. I don't think the photo looks like Andrew Dunn.

Gary Lane might have slipped in if the age range went to 21, but he surely wouldn't have been on board 11?

I share your feeling, Nick, that it's probably not Andrew Dunn. But if that's the case, why is it in the Royal Grammar School archives? It can't have been anyone else from the school: Paul Dargan and Mark Thornton were the only other players at the RGS in the mid-1980s who were 175+, and it's certainly not either of them. Puzzling.

[Paul McKeown]

What does the name plate to the right, say? I assume it gives the name of one of the players. Looks like "Goodmark, B" or something like that? I'm probably being a bit naive, but perhaps?

[Paul Dupré]

sponsors Goldmark Books.

[Paul McKeown]

That would be it, then. Thought it was naive, but worth suggesting anyway for sanity checking.

Assuming the original (chemical process) photograph is available, someone might try scan it in at high resolution, fiddle around with the exposure/contrast/etc. and zoom in on the score sheet? (Assuming that it is the score sheet lying flat on the table behind the board.)

[Ola Winfridsson]

Amazing that people struggle to remember whether they've actually played Kasparov in a simul or not

It's also amazing that everyone is not like you and remembers everything.

Oops, my most humble apologies for thinking that a simul against the current world champion would make a mark in a junior's mind. Clearly an everyday occurrence. My bad, will crawl back under the stone whence I came double quick.

[Nick Thomas]

Amazing that people struggle to remember whether they've actually played Kasparov in a simul or not

It's also amazing that everyone is not like you and remembers everything.

Oops, my most humble apologies for thinking that a simul against the current world champion would make a mark in a junior's mind. Clearly an everyday occurrence. My bad, will crawl back under the stone whence I came double quick.

I suppose the most likely explanation for our poor memories is that neither of us played in the simul. If one or either of us did then our dopiness could be explained by the passage of time, teenage killer hormones and the fact that chess was not a particular priority for me then and one simul was much the same as another. Don't forget Kasparov was not quite the icon then he later became.