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David Bronstein
East Kilbride Open 1992
Ideally, John Dykes, the organiser of the event and Bronstein's host, would have supplied personal comments for this article, but at the time of writing (June 2012) John is ill and not able to do so. We invite him to contribute when he is feeling better.
It is not often that a former World Champion candidate turns up at a weekend tournament in Scotland 'out of the blue', but that is in effect what happened when the great David Bronstein (1924-2006) played in the East Kilbride Open in May 1992.
Bronstein had many successes in his long career, including a drawn World Championship match with Botvinnik in 1951. [For further information see, for example, his Wikipedia entry.]
David Bronstein (left) with Frank Banaghan of the then Scottish Chess Association.
Photo courtesy of Tom Tait.
As John Henderson pointed out in his column in The Scotsman of 14 December 2006, Bronstein ' would invariably pay homage to where he was by playing an opening either named after the locale or a famous player associated with the area.' One of the most celebrated examples of this was when he faced C.H.O'D. Alexander at Hastings 1953/54. The game opened with 1. d2-d4 f7-f5 and Bronstein continued with the Staunton Gambit 2. e2-e4 in a game that resulted in a win for Alexander after 120 moves, and massive publicity for chess.
Bronstein played in a similar vein in the opening round at East Kilbride (or East Tilbridge, as the tournament was listed in 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice', by Bronstein and Fürstenberg, Cadogan Chess, 1995) when he opted for the Scotch Game.
Bronstein,D - Hulme,W [C47]
East Kilbride Open Ballerup Hall, East Kilbride (1), 08.05.19921.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.0-0 0-0 9.exd5 cxd5 10.Bg5 Be6 11.Ne2 Bd6 12.Nd4 c5 13.Nf5 Bxh2+ 14.Kxh2 c4 15.Kg1 cxd3 16.Qxd3 Qd7 17.Nh6+ gxh6 18.Bxf6 Bf5 19.Qd2 Qa4 20.b4 1-0
Shaw,J - Bronstein,D [B07]
East Kilbride Open Ballerup Hall, East Kilbride (2), 09.05.19921.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nge2 Bg7 5.g3 Nc6 6.h3 e5 7.Be3 0-0 8.Bg2 b6 9.0-0 Ba6 10.Re1 Re8 11.Qd2 Qc8 12.Rad1 h5 13.Kh2 Nh7 14.f4 Ne7 15.fxe5 dxe5 16.d5 Qd7 17.b3 Rad8 18.Na4 Nc8 19.c4 Bxc4 20.Nc5 bxc5 21.bxc4 Bf8 22.Nc1 Nb6 23.Qc2 Qa4 24.Qxa4 Nxa4 25.Nd3 Rb8 26.Rb1 Nf6 27.Rxb8 Rxb8 28.Nxe5 Rb2 29.Nd3 Rc2 30.e5 Ne8 31.e6 Bd6 32.Nf4 Nb6 33.Rf1 Nxc4 34.exf7+ Kxf7 35.Ne6+ Ke7 36.Bxc5 Bxc5 37.Nxc5 Ne3 38.Re1 Rxg2+ 39.Kh1 Rxg3 40.Kh2 h4 0-1
Bronstein,D - Wall,T [C47]
East Kilbride Open Ballerup Hall, East Kilbride (3), 09.05.19921.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Be2 exd5 9.cxd5 Bg4 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 a6 13.Be3 Ne8 14.Qc2 Nb6 15.Qd3 Nc7 16.Rfd1 Nb5 17.Nxb5 c4 18.Qd2 axb5 19.Bd4 Nd7 20.b3 Bh6 21.Be3 Re8 22.Rac1 Nf6 23.e5 dxe5 24.bxc4 exf4 25.Bf2 bxc4 26.Rxc4 Nd7 27.d6 Ne5 28.Rc7 Nxf3+ 29.gxf3 Re5 30.Qc2 Qg5+ 31.Kh2 Re3 32.d7 Rxf3 33.Rc8+ Bf8 34.Rd3 Rxa2 35.Rxf8+ Kg7 36.Qc3+ Kh6 37.Rxf3 1-0
McNab,C - Bronstein,D [B07]
East Kilbride Open Ballerup Hall, East Kilbride (4), 10.05.19921.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.g3 d5 4.b3 Bg4 5.Bg2 e6 6.0-0 Nbd7 7.Bb2 a5 8.d3 Be7 9.Nbd2 0-0 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 a4 12.a3 axb3 13.Nxb3 Nb6 14.Qc2 Na4 15.Bc1 Nd7 16.Bd2 dxc4 17.dxc4 Qb6 18.Rab1 Qa6 19.Na5 Nac5 20.Bb4 Rfe8 21.Rfd1 Nb6 22.Rdc1 Nba4 23.Kg2 Rad8 24.Rd1 Rxd1 25.Rxd1 Qa8 26.Rb1 Qa6 27.h4 Bf8 28.Nb3 Rd8 29.Nxc5 Nxc5 30.Bxc5 Bxc5 31.Qb3 Rd7 ½-½
Bronstein,D - Neil,K [A40]
East Kilbride Open Ballerup Hall, East Kilbride (5), 10.05.19921.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.Nf3 Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Qc2 Nxc3 10.Qxc3 dxc4 11.Bxc4 b6 12.b4 Bb7 13.Be2 Rc8 14.0-0 Nd7 15.a4 c5 16.dxc5 a5 17.Qb2 axb4 18.Qxb4 Qxc5 19.Rfb1 Ba6 20.Bd1 Bd3 21.Rb2 Ra5 22.Qd2 Qc3 23.Qxc3 Rxc3 24.Nd4 e5 25.Nb3 Rd5 ½-½
Thanks to Paul Denham and Jim Johnston for answering questions, and clarifying information about the photograph. Also, thanks to Alistair Maxwell for efficiently preserving copies of Bronstein's games.
