chessgames.com
Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing

🏆 Margate (1939)

  PARTICIPANTS (sorted by highest achieved rating; click on name to see player's games)
Miguel Najdorf, Paul Keres, Jose Raul Capablanca, Salomon Flohr, Vera Menchik, Harry Golombek, Philip Stuart Milner-Barry, Edward Guthlac Sergeant, George Thomas, George Wheatcroft

Chessgames.com Chess Event Description
Margate (1939)

The last of five consecutive international events organized at the seaside resort of Margate, England was held in the spring of 1939. Former world champion Jose Capablanca made the last of three appearances at this round robin tournament. He was joined by Salomon Flohr, who had won this event in 1936, as well as Paul Keres, who had shared first in 1937. Miguel Najdorf, an up and coming master, journeyed from Poland. The remaining six seats went to masters from the United Kingdom, including Harry Golombek, women's world champion Vera Menchik, Philip Stuart Milner-Barry, Edward G Sergeant, George Alan Thomas, and George Wheatcroft. Capablanca's penultimate event in international chess play saw him play with his usual excellence, but unfortunately for the former champion of the world he had declined and was no longer capable of keeping up with the masters of the new generation. Keres scored wins against over half the participants and finished a full point ahead of Capablanca and Flohr. Najdorf, meanwhile making his English debut, performed less well, but he was on the rise and would soon attain regard as a potential challenger for the world crown. The outbreak of World War II would put an end to these events for many years, but the opportunity for young and old chess masters to mingle and play against one another as well as including local British masters was a boon to those involved, as well as to those of us who have their games to play over today.

Margate, England, 12-21 April 1939

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 Keres * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 7½ =2 Capablanca ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 6½ =2 Flohr ½ ½ * 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 6½ 4 Thomas 0 0 1 * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 5 5 Milner-Barry ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 4½ 6 Najdorf 0 ½ 0 0 1 * 0 1 ½ 1 4 7 Golombek 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 * ½ ½ 1 3½ 8 Sergeant 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ * 1 0 3 9 Menchik 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ 2½ 10 Wheatcroft 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ * 2

Margate (1938) was the preceding congress in this series.

Original collection: Game Collection: Margate 1939, by User: suenteus po 147.

 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 45  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. G Thomas vs Flohr 1-0681939MargateC78 Ruy Lopez
2. Golombek vs E G Sergeant  ½-½221939MargateD35 Queen's Gambit Declined
3. Milner-Barry vs Keres  ½-½351939MargateC23 Bishop's Opening
4. Capablanca vs G Wheatcroft 1-0201939MargateB20 Sicilian
5. Menchik vs Najdorf  ½-½241939MargateE67 King's Indian, Fianchetto
6. E G Sergeant vs Menchik  1-0451939MargateE61 King's Indian
7. Golombek vs Flohr 0-1451939MargateE60 King's Indian Defense
8. Najdorf vs Milner-Barry  1-0291939MargateD32 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch
9. G Wheatcroft vs G Thomas 0-1371939MargateB91 Sicilian, Najdorf, Zagreb (Fianchetto) Variation
10. Keres vs Capablanca ½-½251939MargateC88 Ruy Lopez
11. Capablanca vs Najdorf ½-½461939MargateE34 Nimzo-Indian, Classical, Noa Variation
12. G Thomas vs Keres 0-1431939MargateC91 Ruy Lopez, Closed
13. Milner-Barry vs E G Sergeant ½-½351939MargateC36 King's Gambit Accepted, Abbazia Defense
14. Menchik vs Golombek  ½-½411939MargateD14 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Exchange Variation
15. Flohr vs G Wheatcroft 1-0251939MargateE01 Catalan, Closed
16. Menchik vs Milner-Barry ½-½191939MargateD02 Queen's Pawn Game
17. E G Sergeant vs Capablanca ½-½301939MargateC77 Ruy Lopez
18. Keres vs Flohr  ½-½261939MargateD13 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Exchange Variation
19. Najdorf vs G Thomas  0-1541939MargateD37 Queen's Gambit Declined
20. G Wheatcroft vs Golombek  0-1351939MargateB50 Sicilian
21. Capablanca vs Menchik 1-0471939MargateD34 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch
22. Golombek vs Milner-Barry  0-1471939MargateE00 Queen's Pawn Game
23. G Wheatcroft vs Keres 0-1351939MargateC32 King's Gambit Declined, Falkbeer Counter Gambit
24. G Thomas vs E G Sergeant  ½-½261939MargateC14 French, Classical
25. Flohr vs Najdorf 1-0371939MargateD31 Queen's Gambit Declined
 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 45  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
Jul-01-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Between the wars, chess tournaments in Europe seemed to be located at central European spa towns or at English or Dutch coastal towns. Off-season, of course.

I visualize a ramshackle group of scruffy, wet chessmasters boarding a rickety train carriage in Noordwijk for a long slow journey over to Margate. They arrive silently and in pouring rain. The sea-front is deserted. They check into the same hotels that they used the previous year, then hang their coats up above the bath and lie down, staring at the same crack in the ceiling that was there last year while smoking a Strand cigarette.

And then, 10 days later, they all shake hands at the closing ceremony and then, outside, lashed by wind and rain, say to each other, "See you in a week at Ramsgate."

Jul-01-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  Retireborn: The weather probably wasn't that bad. Oh to be in England, now that April's here....
Jul-01-17  Big Pawn: I like that description, <offramp>.
Jul-01-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: Probably the catchiest song ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kz...
Jul-01-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  Retireborn: Is that Spike Milligan in the video? Surely not?
Jun-27-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  John Saunders: The dates of some of the 1939 Margate games need adjusting. There was one rest day, Sunday 16 April, so round 5 was on Monday 17 April, etc.
Jun-28-23  chesshistoryinterest: <John Saunders> Continuing on from my comment on the Golombek-Keres page:

In the Premier Reserves A for Margate 1939, you do not appear to have the game Ilmar Raud - A.R.B. Thomas (Round 4). I found this in the Estonian newspaper 'Postimees', 2 May 1939, page 10 https://dea.digar.ee/cgi-bin/dea?a=... The first 33 moves of the game are given, and it saying that White won on move 71. It gives the game as being Round 4. In the Reserves, there were two more rounds than in the main tournament, so there were two days on which two games were played. Thus, I am not quite sure which day Round 4 in the Reserves was played, but judging from other newspaper items, it must have been on the 14th of April or 15th of April.

Also, you give two different bits to the Round 8 game Raud - Koenig [Konig]. But it seems that they must contradict. I don't know if this can be resolved or not.

I don't know whether you have it or not, but I also found the draw for the Premier Reserves A in the Estonian newspaper 'Jarva Teataja', 17 April 1939, page 2 https://dea.digar.ee/cgi-bin/dea?a=... that is: 1. ARB Thomas, 2. S. Landau, 3. TD van Scheltinga, 4. TAE Kitto, 5. I. Raud, 6. BH Wood, 7. F. Parr, 8. B. Koblencs, 9. L. Prins, 10. Brierley, 11. C. Pogorielly, 12. P. König. This would give you the Round order of play.

From the Estonian newspapers, I get Raud's results to be: Round 1 Prins - Raud 0-1
2 Raud - Brierley 1-0
3 Pogoriely - Raud 0.5-0.5
4 Raud - A.R.B. Thomas 1-0
5 Landau - Raud 0.5-0.5
6 Raud - Van Scheltinga 0-1
7 Kitto - Raud 0-1
8 Raud - Konig 0-1
9 Raud - Wood 0.5-0.5
10 Parr - Raud 0.5-0.5
11 Raud - Koblencs 0.5-0.5

Also from the Estonian newspapers, I worked out the Round dates of the main event to be: Round 1 12 April 1939
2 13 April 1939
3 14 April 1939
4 15 April 1939
5 17 April 1939
6 18 April 1939
7 19 April 1939
8 20 April 1939
9 21 April 1939
These match yours.

Regards.

Jun-29-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  John Saunders: Thank you <chesshistoryinterest>, that's very helpful. I've now included the part-score of Raud-Thomas in the Margate 1939 file at BritBase (https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pg...) and added a note to clarify why there are two different versions of the Raud-Koenig game included in the download. I have suggested a possible reconciliation between the two as a variation in the score of one version.
Jun-30-23  chesshistoryinterest: <John Saunders>

In the Raud-Thomas game, Black seems to just blunder a pawn for nothing and the rest of what is given is White just hanging on to it; White seems to do nothing special to deserve his win, so you wonder why they thought it was worth publishing it. Yet remarkably, it was also (as I subsequently found) published in the weekly Latvian magazine 'Krustamikla. Sahs. Bridzs'! (13 May 1939, page 300) http://periodika.lv/periodika2-view...

The previous issue of this magazine (6 May 1939, page 285) publishes the game Kitto-Raud. You already have this, but may like having another source for it. http://periodika.lv/periodika2-view... Both issues also publish several games from the Premier.

Re the Raud-Koenig game, the possible reconciliation you give looks extremely plausible, and indeed the only possibility. The moves 47. Kf2 Nxg4+ in the first file look to be an error (and I doubt that Raud (who twice beat the teenage Keres) was so weak as to miss seeing Nxg4+ after 47. Kf2?). Therefore, I think it would be justified to reconstruct the whole game as one file, with an explanation.

Thank you for your acknowledgement of me in your 29 June 2023 update on Britbase of this event. In this, you have inadvertently given the Raud-Koenig game as being Round 4 instead of Round 8.

One other thing I noticed was that in the Premier Reserves B tournament, you have Paul List as being of Russia. But according to Hemy's excellent write-up of this player on this site, Paul List List left Russia about 1920, was in Berlin for a while, but as a Jew, left after Hitler came to power and turns up in Lithuania. According to Hemy, List had Lithuanian citizenship (and for example he played for Lithuania in the Lithuania-Latvia and Lithuania-Estonia matches in late 1937) and retained it after moving to England. Therefore, it would seem that you should have Paul List as being of Lithuania.

Also, in The Premier Reserves A tournament, my understanding is that Imre Koenig is of Yugoslavia at that time, not Hungary?

Also, in the Premier Reserves B tournament, has Fazekas become a naturalised British subject by this time, or does he still represent Czechoslovakia/Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia? I don't know the answer to this one.

The link you have under 'Draw No.' in the Premier Reserves A tournament is very interesting. Some time ago, I tried to work out a Berger Draw to help me reconstruct crosstables for a couple of Lithuanian tournaments in the 1930's, but it just wouldn't work out. I will now revisit these trying the alternative Draws you give. Thank you for giving this information.

NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.

Please observe our posting guidelines:

  1. No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
  2. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts.
  3. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members.
  4. Nothing in violation of United States law.
  5. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members.
  6. No trolling.
  7. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited.
  8. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers.

Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times.

Blow the Whistle

See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator.


NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific tournament only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.
All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.

Spot an error? Please suggest your correction and help us eliminate database mistakes!

Copyright 2001-2025, Chessgames Services LLC