1st World Junior (Under-20) Chess Championship, Birmingham/Coventry¹, 11-22 June 1951

1951 World Junior Championship Birmingham/Coventry		Fed	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total
1	Borislav Ivkov	Yugoslavia	w8+	b11+	w2+	b12+	b7=	w10+	b6+	w5+	b3=	b9+	b4=	9½
2	Malcolm Neil Barker	England	w17+	b9+	b1-	w6+	w4+	b7=	w12+	b3=	b5+	w8=	b11=	8
3	Raul Ceferino Cruz	Argentina	b5+	w7-	b14=	w16=	b6=	w13+	b4+	w2=	w1=	b11+	b8=	7
4	Bo Emil Nyren	Finland	b6+	w10=	b7=	w5+	b2-	b12=	w3-	w14+	b15=	b16+	w1=	6½
5	Peter A Harris	England	w3-	b14+	w11+	b4-	w12=	b9+	w7+	b1-	w2-	b17+	b18+	6½
6	Bent Larsen	Denmark	w4-	b17+	w9+	b2-	w3=	b15+	w1-	b11-	w13+	b18+	w14+	6½
7	Sylvain Burstein	France	w12=	b3+	w4=	b8+	w1=	w2=	b5-	b9=	w11=	b10=	w15=	6
8	Edwin Bhend	Switzerland	b1-	w13+	b16=	w7-	b10-	w18+	w15+	b12+	w9=	b2=	w3=	6
9	Edgar Selzer	Austria	b16+	w2-	b6-	w18+	b11+	w5-	b14+	w7=	b8=	w1-	b17+	6
10	Willy Rosen	W Germany	w15+	b4=	w12-	b13=	w8+	b1-	w11=	b17-	w18+	w7=	b16+	6
11	Fridrik Olafsson	Iceland	b13+	w1-	b5-	w14+	w9-	b16+	b10=	w6+	b7=	w3-	w2=	5½
12	Grant Berriman	Australia	b7=	w18+	b10+	w1-	b5=	w4=	b2-	w8-	w17=	b15+	b13=	5½
13	Lionel Berry Joyner	Canada	w11-	b8-	w17+	w10=	b16+	b3-	w18+	b15=	b6-	b14=	w12=	5
14	Arnold Eikrem	Norway	b18=	w5-	w3=	b11-	b15=	w17+	w9-	b4-	b16=	w13=	b6-	3½
15	James J Walsh	Ireland	b10-	w16-	b18=	b17+	w14=	w6-	b8-	w13=	w4=	w12-	b7=	3½
16	John Alexander Jackson	Scotland	w9-	b15+	w8=	b3=	w13-	w11-	b17=	b18-	w14=	w4-	w10-	3
17	Sven Asker	Sweden	b2-	w6-	b13-	w15-	b18=	b14-	w16=	w10+	b12=	w5-	w9-	2½
18	Billy Coosemans	Belgium	w14=	b12-	w15=	b9-	w17=	b8-	b13-	w16+	b10-	w6-	w5-	2½

¹ Rounds 1-2 played in Coventry, rounds 3-11 in Birmingham

Eagle-eyed readers will spot that the Scottish representative John Jackson finished with three consecutive whites (not that it did him much good). And that the winner had 4 whites and 7 blacks. This is not a mistake, Tony Gillam assures us in the booklet. He adds, "apparently Larsen believed that the pairings were made in a way that favoured the British contestants. It seems that he objected to the pairings on several occasions and succeeded in getting some changed. These were relatively early days for the Swiss System and the rules on pairings had not evolved to anywhere near the levels they are today."

Gillam's booklet, which contains many annotations and much background material, is highly recommended.

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1951 English Selection Tournament for the World Junior Championship, Birmingham, over Easter [ended 30 March]

1951 BCF Selection Tournament		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
1	Malcolm Neil Barker	Birmingham	&;	½	1	1	½	1	½	½	1	1	7
2	Peter Hugh Clarke	London	½	&;	½	½	½	1	½	½	1	1	6
3	Neill Thomas Honan	London	0	½	&;	½	1	½	½	½	1	1	5½
4	Peter A Harris	West Bromwich	0	½	½	&;	1	0	1	0	1	1	5
5	Cyril Pollitt	Bolton	½	½	0	0	&;	1	½	½	½	1	4½
6	Gordon B Lowe	Coventry	0	0	½	1	0	&;	1	½	½	1	4½
7	(Alastair) Brian Walden	West Bromwich	½	½	½	0	½	0	&;	1	1	½	4½
8	Norman Littlewood	Sheffield	½	½	½	1	½	½	0	&;	1	0	4½
9	Walter Charles Marshall	Cardiff	0	0	0	0	½	½	0	0	&;	1	2
10	L G Green	Birmingham	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	1	0	&;	1½

Played during the 1951 Birmingham Easter Congress.

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File updated

Date	Notes
28 February 2020	Initial upload. Games taken from the tournament booklet "First International Junior 1950 / First World Junior Championship, Birmingham 1951" edited by Tony Gillam and first published in 2014. My thanks to Tony Gillam for sending me the booklet. There is one missing game (Berriman-Asker, Rd 9), one clearly incomplete/inaccurate score (Rosen-Bhend, Rd 5), and one or two other scores with possible problems. The booklet says the game scores were collected by three of the participants, Larsen, Eikrem and Bhend. Some of Gillam's scores do not tally with those published by ChessBase, and I have made a note of occasions where this happens.
20 June 2022	Added four games from the Selection Tournament held by the BCF in Birmingham to decide the English qualifier for the World Junior Championship, plus a crosstable.