England v Scotland
1951

Gubbed again...but not at football this time.

Source: 'Chess' October 1951, pp 5 and 21

What was, we believe, the first-ever match between England and Scotland took place in delightful surroundings at the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall, on September 15th. Scotland lost heavily, but can take heart from the display of the youngest member of their team, N.A. Macleod, who won a good rook ending from D.V. Hooper. Chief interest centred in the first appearance of R.F. Combe in an important game since that amazing time at Nottingham 1946 when, a rank outsider, he won the British Championship convincingly at his first and only attempt.

                            England 6-2 Scotland
               1. E. Klein          1-0 Thomson, A.A.
               2. C.H.O'D Alexander 1/2 Fairhurst, W. A.
               3. P.S.Milner-Barry  1-0 Combe, R.F.
               4. T.H.Tylor         1-0 Aitken, Dr J.M.
               5. W.R.Ritson-Morry  1/2 Anderson, P.B.
               6. L.W. Barden       1-0 Burnett, A.G.
               7. D.V.Hooper        0-1 Macleod, N.A.
               8. J.A.Fuller        1-0 Rose, Dr M.
                

NOTE: The 'Chess' article actually showed Scotland's board 8 as H.J. Rose. whereas the BCM for October 1951, page 271, gave Dr M. Rose.

H.J. Rose (1883-1961) had been an active player in his youth. He played on board 1 for the Oxford and Cambridge Universities Team against the American Universities in 1907. His opponent was none other than Capablanca. Rose should have won, but instead allowed Capa to excape with a draw. The editor of 'Chess' may have assumed it was this Rose as he was a regular correspondent to the periodical on chess matters.

Dr M. Rose is likely correct, as per the BCM report. He was originally Roizentzvit, under which name he had participated in the 1950 Scottish championship. Sometime thereafter he changed it to Rose, and it was under this name that he played in the 1951 Scottish championship in April.

Alexander - Fairhurst [B83]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be2 Nbd7 7.0-0 Nc5 8.f3 a6 9.Be3 Be7 10.b4 Ncd7 11.Nb3 b6 12.a3 Bb7 13.Na4 Bc6 14.Nb2 d5 15.exd5 Nxd5 16.Bd4 e5 17.c4 Nf4 18.Be3 Nxe2+ 19.Qxe2 0-0 20.Rfd1 Qc7 21.Rac1 Rfd8 22.c5 bxc5 23.Nxc5 Nxc5 24.Bxc5 Bb5 25.Bxe7 Qxe7 26.Qe3 f6 1/2-1/2


Combe - Milner-Barry
Against Milner-Barry Combe played in
the same steady positional style which served him so well at Nottingham 1946, won the exchange, and had a decisive advantage when in the position in the diagram he played 1.Qf2 The simplest
was 40. Be4. 1...Qg5 2.g3?? Nxd5 3.f4 If 3.Rxd5 Qc1#; Or 3.cxd5 Rc1+ 3...Qf6+ 4.Qd4 Nc3 and White struggled on for six more moves...

These things happen if you
don't play any serious chess for five years.
0-1

 

 

 

 

 

Tylor - Aitken [E15]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.g3 b6 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.d5 exd5 7.Nh4 Qc8 8.cxd5 d6 9.Nc3 Be7 10.0-0 0-0 11.e4 Re8 12.Nf5 Bf8 13.Re1 a6 14.Bf4 Qd8 15.Qf3 Bc8 16.Nxd6 Bxd6 17.e5 Bg4 18.Qd3 Nh5 19.exd6 Nxf4 20.gxf4 Nd7 21.Re7 Nf6 22.Ne4 Nxe4 23.Qxe4 Rf8 24.f5 Qxd6 25.Re1 Bh5 26.Qh4 g6 27.f6 Rad8 28.R1e5 Kh8 29.Qg5 Rb8 30.R5e6 fxe6 31.Qh6 Qxe7 32.fxe7 Rfe8 33.Qf4 exd5 34.Qe5+ Kg8 35.Bxd5# 1-0