In January 1946, less than one week after Hastings (1945/46), the newspaper Sunday Chronicle sponsored a Victory Tournament in Farringdon-street Memorial Hall, London, with Walter Hatton-Ward as director. The idea was to celebrate the end of the war, with attendance of masters from all over the world. Things had been lined up for the biggest of events, but eventually it became clear that the Russians (incl. Mikhail Botvinnik) would not turn up. Moreover, the participation of the World Champion Alexander Alekhine was protested against by Max Euwe and the Dutch Chess Federation, and by Arnold Denker and the USCF, because of alleged Nazi sympathies. In November 1945, Hatton-Ward wrote to Alekhine and cancelled the invitation.
The players were divided into two supposedly equally strong groups, A and B. The A-group consisted of Steiner - California champion (1945) and US Open winner (1942), Bernstein - who had "quit" chess in 1907, Tartakower - nearly 60 years old and recent Hastings winner, Opocensky - the Czechoslovak champion, Prins - winner of Dutch tournaments before the war, List - UK immigrant from Russia and also almost 60, Pomar - child prodigy from Spain and a pupil of Alekhine, Fairhurst - British (1937) and Scottish champion, Broadbent - the UK Northern Counties champion, Golombek - soon to become British champion, and Stone of Britain and Friedmann of Czechoslovakia. On Saturday 26th, Steiner won the A Group, and garnered one of the two silver cups given by (James) Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsely. (1) The second cup went to London B (1946) winner Max Euwe.
The participation of 14-year-old Pomar attracted public attention, especially when he was pitted against older players. The following picture, which is from London 1946 (but not this tournament), shows him playing against Bernstein: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...
London, England, 14-26 January 1946
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
1 Steiner * 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 9
2 Bernstein 1 * 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 8
3 Tartakower 0 0 * 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 7½
4 Opocensky ½ ½ 0 * 1 ½ 1 1 1 0 ½ 1 7
5 Golombek 0 ½ ½ 0 * 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 6
=6 Prins 0 0 0 ½ 1 * 0 1 1 1 1 0 5½
=6 Pomar 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 * 1 1 1 1 0 5½
=8 List ½ ½ 0 0 1 0 0 * 0 ½ 1 1 4½
=8 Broadbent 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 * ½ 1 1 4½
10 Fairhurst 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 ½ ½ * 1 1 4
11 Stone 0 0 1 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 * 1 2½
12 Friedmann 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 * 2
According to The Sunday Post, January 27, 1946, the game between Broadbent and Fairhurst had been completed on Friday 25th and a draw had been agreed upon. Fairhurst, while travelling to Glasgow overnight, re-studied the position with his pocket set and saw he could force a win. He telephoned Broadbent from Scotland on Saturday and Broadbent agreed the game was a win. This was accepted by the organizers.Tournament book: Book of the "Sunday Chronicle" Chess Tournament, by Walter Hatton-Ward. Chess SC, Sutton Coldfield 1946. 106 pp.
(1) Wikipedia article: Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley
Original collection: Game Collection: London A 1946 by User: Tabanus.
Kibitzing
