The BCF "Special Victory" Congress, held at Hastings from August 11-23, 1919, was not part of the the series of Hastings Christmas Congresses which began in 1920/21. However, it did provide the opportunity for some international action following the Great War with the usual British suspects being joined by several representatives from foreign lands:
Jose Raul Capablanca Harold Godfrey Cole Adrian Garcia Conde Borislav Kostic Max Marchand Reginald Pryce Michell Adolf Georg Olland Roland Scott George Alan Thomas Victor Wahltuch William Winter Fred Dewhirst Yates.
The big attraction was Capablanca in his first European tournament in five years. Any thoughts that the supposed lack of first-class practice might have left the Cuban rusty were emphatically destroyed, as he conceded a draw to Kostic while sweeping the rest of the tournament with consummate ease.
OK, it wasn't that easy; he had to keep winning since Kostic was nipping at his heels the whole way. And there was that incredible blip in round 4 against Thomas, who resigned in a drawn position after Capablanca missed a simple win (well, simple later!). See Capablanca vs G A Thomas, 1919 for the details.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
1 Capablanca * ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10.5
2 Kostic ½ * ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9.5
3 Thomas 0 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 7.0
4 Yates 0 0 ½ * ½ 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 7.0
5 Wahltuch 0 ½ ½ ½ * 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 5.5
6 Michell 0 0 ½ 0 0 * 0 1 1 1 1 1 5.5
7 Scott 0 0 0 0 0 1 * 1 1 1 0 ½ 4.5
8 Olland 0 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 * 0 1 1 1 4.5
9 Marchand 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 * 0 1 1 4.0
10 Conde 0 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 0 1 * 0 1 3.5
11 Winter 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 * 0 3.0
12 Cole 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 * 1.5
The following games were not available:Round 4, Game #24: Marchand 1 Winter
Round 6, Game #36: Cole 0 Olland
Round 8, Game #46: Thomas 1/2 Michell
Round 8, Game #48: Winter 1 Scott
Round 9, Game #53: Conde 1/2 Thomas
Round 9, Game #54: Scott 1/2 Cole
Round 10, Game #60: Winter 1 Conde
Round 11, Game #66: Conde 0 Scott
Original collection: Game Collection: Hastings 1919, by User: Phony Benoni.
Kibitzing
