Enschede 1963

Dr Aitken's third and final Zonal appearance, this one organised by the Royal Dutch Chess Federation.

Dr Aitken at the Zonal.

As can be seen from the table, this was a hard tournament. Nevertheless, he had some interesting games, particularly those against Grandmasters Filip and Pomar.

M. Filip - Dr J.M. Aitken
Enschede 1963, Zonal (2)

P.H. Clarke, in the British Chess Magazine:
After five hours' play the game was adjourned in the position shown in the diagram. White could not boast of much advantage and in trying to press for the full point he almost over-reached himself. The continuation was 41... a6 42.Be2 Red7 43.g4 Kf6 44.gxf5 gxf5 45.f3 Ng3 46.Kf2 Nxe2 47.Rxe2 Rd5 48.Rc4 Re5 49.g4 fxg4 50.Rxg4 Rh5 51.Kg3 Rd1 52.Rf4+ Ke6 53.e4 Rg1+ 54.Kf2 Ra1 55.Kg3 (Filip was now satisfied with a draw) Rxa4 56.Rf8 Ra1 57.Re8+ Kf7 58.Rc8 Rg1+ 59.Kf4 Rh4+ 60.Ke3 At the point Dr Aitken sealed 60...Rc1, and after overnight analysis had convinced both players that the connected passed pawns balanced the scattered ones (for instance, 61. Rd2 Rc3+ 62. Rd3 Rxd3+ 64. Kxd3 Rh5 64. f4 Rh3+ 65. Kd2 Rh4 66. Ke3 Rh3= 67. Kd2), a draw was agreed. ½-½

Dr J.M. Aitken - A. Pomar Salamanca [B74]
Enschede 1963, Zonal (8)

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Be2 Nc6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nb3 Be6 10.f4 Qc8 11.h3 Rd8 12.Bf3 d5 13.e5 Ne4 14.Bxe4 dxe4 15.Qe1 f6 16.exf6 exf6 17.Nxe4 Bf5 18.Nf2 Bxc2 19.Qc3 Bf5 20.Nd4 Bd7 21.Qb3+ Kh8 22.Rac1 f5 23.Rfd1 Re8 24.Nf3 Be6 25.Qa3 Qc7 26.Ne5 Rad8 27.Nfd3 Qe7 28.Qxe7 Nxe7 29.Nc5 Rxd1+ 30.Rxd1 Bxa2 31.Ra1 Bd5 32.Rxa7 Nc6 33.Nxc6 bxc6 34.Bf2 Bxb2 35.Nd3 Bg7 36.Nb4 Be4 37.Rc7 Bh6 38.g3 Rd8 39.Bc5 Kg8 40.Nxc6 Rd1+ 41.Kf2 ½-½

Sources:
British Chess Magazine 1963, pp 322-3, and p 356.

Alan McGowan
Historian, Chess Scotland