The First Commonwealth Tournament

Oxford 1951

Monday, October 29th to Saturday, November 3rd.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total
1. W.A. Fairhurst (Scotland)	■	½	1	½	1	1	4
2. D.A. Yanofsky (Canada)	½	■	½	½	1	½	3
3. R.G. Wade (New Zealand)	0	½	■	½	½	1	2½
4. L.W. Barden (England)	½	½	½	■	½	0	2
5. G. Berriman (Australia)	0	0	½	½	■	1	2
6. W. Heidenfeld (South Africa)	0	½	0	1	0	■	1½

The British Chess Federation insisted that this was an informal, unofficial event, on the basis that it was not sufficienly representative to be titled 'Commonwealth Championship'. The organisational difficulties and controversies are well-documented in the extracts below, which include a letter from Berriman to CJS Purdy, editor of Chess World in Australia, explaining his difficulties.

 

 

 

 

Sources:
CHESS, December 1951, pp 46-47;
BCM December 1951, pp 326-328;
Chess World (Australia) November 1951, pp 241-242.

Alan McGowan