21st World Senior Championship

[David G Congalton]

Wonder what's happened on board 5, Rajkovic v Rashkovsky. Is it a computer glitch or a case of ill health?

Craig's position looks okay, with black to play on move 15.

[George Murphy]

Something odd happened on Craig's board, too. Suddenly, the message flashed up that he had lost! Now, the moves have been wound back and a draw is indicated. Hmm...

[David G Congalton]

Thinking that Craig and his opponent maybe agreed a draw and then played a few analysis moves which may have confused the live boards.

I know Andy Howie always "requests" =) players leave the position as it is when the game ends and do any analysis away from the live boards.

[George Murphy]

Congratulations to our two representatives, who put in really first class performances. Craig finished 9th= (18th on tie break,up 12 places from his starting rank). Philip finished 20th= (40th on tie break, up two places).

Craig's victory in the 1st Blitz tournament was the icing on the cake - a stellar achievement.

Very well done to both. As Alan said, you have done us proud.

[Craig Pritchett]

Thanks for interest in thread above. I'm afraid my 2699 Blitz performance wasn't quite reflected in the main event ... I scored a half-point more than in last year's event but against rather lower-rated average opposition ... on the whole, I battled well and played well in parts but made a few too many unforced errors to get a higher placing this year ... I won 191 euros and gained a few ELO points.

Philip also finished well, of course!

And Rashkovsky lost abruptly ... because his mobile went off.

I don't know whether anyone recalls Derek Thomson, Scotland's top junior around 1960. He famously defeated Alexander Kuindzhi in the A-final of the 1961 world junior championship. He's the same Kuindzhi who played against me (see earlier in the thread). He defeated both Parma and Gheorghiu (1st and 2nd at the 1961 world junior) and winning against Thomson (with White) would have tied him with Parma for 1st place - he finished 3rd. Scotland's rep held on to win against K's ferocious King's Gambit.

If Derek still follows chess (he gave up playing, I think, around 1970 or so), he may be interested in this much later "Russia" v Scotland battle. If anyone is still in touch with him, give him my regards ... and he can be sure Kuindzhi still recalls his 1961 demise against him ...

[Craig Pritchett]

Sadly, I hear that Derek Thomson died at the very early age of 48 in 1991, as a result of motor neurone disease. Douglas Bryson reports that Alan McGowan's excellent history section elsewhere on the CS website has recently added a brief biography of this very talented chess player under "biographies". He certainly put Scottish junior chess on the map around 1960 and would no doubt still be playing at a very high level had it not been for his tragically debilitating illness.

[Douglas Bryson]

[Event "Wch U20 fin-A"]
[Site "The Hague"]
[Date "1961"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kuindzhi, Alexander"]
[Black "Thomson, Derek R"]
[Result "0-1"]
[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e5 Nh5 5. Qe2 g5 6. g4 Ng7 7. h4 Be7 8. d4 d6
9. hxg5 Bxg4 10. Qe4 Bf5 11. Qxf4 Bxc2 12. Nc3 d5 13. Bh3 Nc6 14. O-O Ne6 15.
Qh2 Bg6 16. Bxe6 fxe6 17. Nh4 Bf7 18. Qf4 O-O 19. Qg4 Kh8 20. g6 Bxg6 21. Nxg6+
hxg6 22. Bh6 Rf5 23. Kg2 Qg8 24. Ne2 Rh5 25. Rh1 Qh7 26. Nf4 Rg8 27. Nxe6 Qxh6
28. Nf4 Nxd4 29. Rad1 c5 30. Nxd5 Rh4 31. Qg3 Ne2 32. Qf3 Qg5+ 33. Kf2 Rf8 34.
Nf6 Bxf6 35. Kxe2 Qxe5+ 36. Kf1 Kg7 37. Rd7+ Be7 38. Qxf8+ Kxf8 39. Rxh4 Bxh4
0-1[/pgn]

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