The 34th Hastings Chess Congress was held from Monday, December 29, 1958 through Wednesday, January 7, 1959. It has the distinction of being the last of the "lost" congresses, with only 13 of the 45 games available. Afterwards, much to the relief of collectors everywhere, all the games have been preserved.

With no Soviet players participating, the list of players probably looks stronger today than it did at the time:

Leonard Barden, Peter Hugh Clarke, Klaus Darga, Andreas Dueckstein, Geza Fuster, Erno Gereben, Lajos Portisch, Miroslav Radojcic, Wolfgang Uhlmann, Robert Wade

Portisch and Uhlmann went on to become Candidates-level grandmasters, and Darga also achieved the GM title in 1964. At the time, however, they were merely promising young masters in their early 20s, though this would be one result that would presage the future.

It was the veteran player IM Erno Gereben, at age 51, who took the early lead when Uhlmann and Portisch drew in the first round. He managed to stay on top with Uhlmann for a while, as Portisch took a couple of early draws and Darga couldn't build any momentum. However, in rounds 5 and 6 Gereben lost to both Portisch and Uhlmann, which took care of his chances.

Portisch was finally in a winning groove, but was stuck a point behind Uhlmann who stayed ahead in the simplest way possible--winning seven games in a row from rounds 2-8. There's not much else to say after a performance like that.

Since the game list is incomplete, here is a complete rundown of round-by-round results, with games in the database indicated by an asterisk (*). A nice game is Uhlmann vs K Darga, 1959 from round 7.

Round 1 (Monday, December 29, 1958): Barden 0 Gereben; Clarke 1/2 Dueckstein; Fuster 0 Darga; Portisch 1/2 Uhlmann; Radojcic 1/2 Wade

Round 2 (Tuesday, December 30, 1958): Barden 1/2 Fuster; Darga 0 Portisch*; Dueckstein 1 Radojcic*; Gereben 1/2 Wade; Uhlmann 1 Clarke*

Round 3 (Wednesday, December 31, 1958): Clarke 0 Darga*; Fuster 0 Gereben; Portisch 1/2 Barden; Radojcic 0 Uhlmann; Wade 0 Dueckstein*

Round 4 (Thursday, January 1, 1959): Barden 0 Clarke; Darga 1 Radojcic*; Fuster 1/2 Portisch; Gereben 1 Dueckstein*; Uhlmann 1 Wade*

Round 5 (Saturday, January 3, 1959): Clarke 1 Fuster; Dueckstein 0 Uhlmann; Portisch 1 Gereben; Radojcic 1 Barden; Wade 1 Darga

Round 6 (Sunday, January 4, 1959): Barden 0 Wade*; Darga 1 Dueckstein; Fuster 1 Radojcic; Gereben 0 Uhlmann*; Portisch 1 Clarke

Round 7 (Monday, January 5, 1959): Clarke 0 Gereben*; Dueckstein 1 Barden; Radojcic 0 Portisch; Uhlmann 1 Darga*; Wade 1/2 Fuster

Round 8 (Tuesday, January 6, 1959): Barden 0 Uhlmann*; Clarke 1 Radojcic; Fuster 0 Dueckstein; Gereben 1/2 Darga; Portisch 1 Wade;

Round 9 (Wednesday, January 7, 1959): Darga 1 Barden; Dueckstein 1/2 Portisch; Radojcic 0 Gereben; Uhlmann 1/2 Fuster; Wade 1/2 Clarke

              1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1  Uhlmann    * = 1 1 1 1 1 = 1 1 8.0
2  Portisch   = * 1 1 = 1 1 = 1 = 7.0
3  Gereben    0 0 * = 1 = 1 1 1 1 6.0
4  Darga      0 0 = * 1 0 1 1 1 1 5.5
5  Dueckstein 0 = 0 0 * 1 = 1 1 1 5.0
6  Wade       0 0 = 1 0 * = = = 1 4.0
7  Clarke     0 0 0 0 = = * 1 1 1 4.0
8  Fuster     = = 0 0 0 = 0 * 1 = 3.0
9  Radojcic   0 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 * 1 1.5
10 Barden     0 = 0 0 0 0 0 = 0 * 1.0

               1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  
1  Uhlmann    0.5 1.5 2.5 3.5 4.5 5.5 6.5 7.5 8.0
2  Portisch   0.5 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.5 4.5 5.5 6.5 7.0
3  Gereben    1.0 1.5 2.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 4.5 5.0 6.0
4  Darga      1.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 4.0 4.0 4.5 5.5
5  Dueckstein 0.5 1.2 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 3.5 4.5 5.0
6  Wade       0.5 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.5 3.5 4.0
7  Clarke     0.5 0.5 0.5 1.2 2.5 2.5 2.5 3.5 4.0
8  Fuster     0.0 0.5 0.5 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.5 2.5 3.0
9  Radojcic   0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
10 Barden     0.0 0.5 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0