"Just how good is Doug Hamilton at chess? As the loser in the match, I must praise his tremendous flair for tactics. He is a sort of youthful Labourdonnais. But too praise him too highly would be an all too common kind of egotism. I do not quite know how he might fare against a worthy opponent who would keep the game stodgy. He told me that Bill Geus is particularly effective against him. Geus told me that he did it by steering clear of 'tricky' positions and heading much as possible for endgames.

I fancy, however, that Hamilton has recently improved his skill in endgames and that his weakness would show up rather when he was forced to play positionally in the middle game.

He is particularly good at forcing the game into wild channels. Even when he thus obtains a losing position thereby, he says it is amazing how often he is able to bring off some 'swindle' or other - but agrees that on a higher level it just would not pay. For example, in the sixth game of his match with me, [Purdy and Hamilton had a playoff after coming =1st at the 1964/65 Australian Championship in Hobart, which Hamilton won 6.5 to 1.5] he played what was really 'losing chess' against my Sicilian, and only a beginner's move on my part avoided victory. This would have reduced his lead to one point and left the result fairly open. With more experience behind him, Hamilton would have played solidly to hold the draw. At present his zest for attacking chess is so great that solidity is anathema to him."

Hamilton and Geus met in the 1969 Australian Championship.

[Event "Australian Championship"]
[Site "Melbourne"]
[Date "1969.01.04"]
[Round "7.3"]
[White "Hamilton, Douglas Gibson"]
[Black "Geus, Willem Johannes"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C19"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "1968.12.27"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "AUS"]
[SourceDate "2007.10.17"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Nf3 Nbc6 8. a4 Bd7 9. Be2 Qa5 10. Qd2 cxd4 11. cxd4 Qxd2+ 12. Bxd2 Rc8 13. O-O Nf5 14. c3 h5 15. a5 f6 16. Rfb1 Nd8 17. Bd3 Kf7 18. Rb3 Ne7 19. Rab1 Nec6 20. exf6 gxf6 21. Rxb7 Nxb7 22. Rxb7 Rhd8 23. a6 Rb8 24. Rc7 Ke7 25. h3 Rdc8 26. Rb7 Rxb7 27. axb7 Rb8 28. Ba6 Rg8 29. Ne1 Nb8 30. Be2 Bc6 31. Bxh5 Bxb7 32. Be2 Nd7 33. h4 a5 34. h5 Kf7 35. g4 a4 36. Nc2 Nb6 37. f3 Nc4 38. Bc1 Ra8 39. f4 a3 40. g5 f5 41. Bxc4 a2 42. Bxa2 Rxa2 43. Nb4 Ra1 44. Nd3 Ba6 45. Ne5+ Kg8 46. h6 Rxc1+ 47. Kh2 Kh7 48. Nd7 Bc8 49. Nf6+ Kg6 50. h7 Kg7 51. g6 Rc2+ 52. Kg3 Rxc3+ 53. Kh4 Rc1 54. Nh5+ Kh8 55. Kg5 Rg1+ 56. Kh6 e5 57. fxe5 f4 58. Nxf4 Rh1+ 59. Nh5 Rxh5+ 60. Kxh5 Bf5 61. Kg5 Bxg6 62. Kf6 Kxh7 63. e6 Bh5 64. Ke5 Kg7 65. Kxd5 Kf8 66. Ke5 Bf3 1/2-1/2

click for larger view

It seems that Geus applied that thinking in this instance.

After six rounds, both Hamilton and Geus were on 4 points, and they were each obviously trying for a win in this game, but both of them may have been satisfied with the eventual draw.

Hamilton went on to finish equal second on 11/15 [+09/=04/-02] while Geus could only manage equal 7th with 8/15 [+05/=06/-04]