1972 Birmingham International, 31 March - 9 April

1972 Birmingham International		Fed	Elo	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
1	René Borngaesser	GER	2350	&;	00	1½	1½	1½	½1	11	½1	9½
2	Michael J Basman	ENG	2410	11	&;	10	½½	0½	1½	11	10	9
3	John J Carleton	ENG	2200	0½	01	&;	1½	½1	11	0½	11	9
4	Anthony J Miles	ENG	2240	0½	½½	0½	&;	½½	½1	1½	½1	7½
5	Peter H Clarke	ENG	2380	0½	1½	½0	½½	&;	0½	½½	1½	6½
6	Martyn J Corden	ENG	2360	½0	0½	00	½0	1½	&;	11	0½	5½
7	Peter C Griffiths	ENG	2200	00	00	1½	0½	½½	00	&;	11	5
8	Arthur Dunkelblum	BEL	2250m	½0	01	00	½0	0½	1½	00	&;	4

Average Elo: 2298 Cat: 2 - Prizes: £100, £75, £50, £30, £20, £15, £10, £5.

Link to a PDF of the tournament bulletin at the Mike Basman Legacy site

From the tournament bulletin:

The 29th Birmingham Easter Congress gained in importance this year by reason of the Committee's decision to add a new Premier Tournament with the idea of qualifying strong local players for the titles of International Master and Grandmaster,- There were, incidentally, the subsidiary possibilities of helping the players towards the national titles of British Master and Candidate¹ Master.

Originally a full scale tournament of 16 players was contemplated, but, as the organisers experienced unexpected financial and organisational difficulties, together with the failure of some overseas players to confirm verbal acceptances, a reduction in numbers became inevitable. Fortunately, by this time it had been made clear that an 8-player double-round event was almost as good as a 16-player section provided that one could secure at least three international masters and an overall Elo rating average of 2550 to bring the tournament into FIDE's Category 5.

Although these conditions were not fulfilled this time the players will undoubtedly achieve substantial benefits in the British grading system; and,in view of the announcement that British players with domestic ratings of 207 [Elo 2256] or better will be given provisional ratings according to their Elo equivalents for these qualifying contests, the. Committee will be able, in future years, to aim for a full Category 5 event.

The tournament actually constituted contained International Master A Dunkelblum (Elo 2250+), R Borngaesser (2340+), British master P. H. Clarke (2380), Candidate¹ Masters M. Basman (2410) and M. J. Corden (2360) and the three British players J. J. Carleton, A. J. Miles and P. C. Griffiths who have to be counted for Elo purposes as 2200 but whose 1972 British ratings will entitle them to a much higher Elo equivalent. Moreover, Borngaesser, who tied with Sax for the European Championship will soon have a full Elo rating much higher than his present provisional one.

The rating figure of 2292 thus underestimates the value of the tournament and the Committee thus has every prospect of being able to reach the Category 5 rating at its next attempt.

The final table shows a very good result for John Carleton and a good one for A. J. Miles, both very talented players. Carleton may well have fulfilled the norm for Candidate¹ Master.

¹ the title of Candidate Master referred to in this context has nothing to do with the FIDE title of Candidate Master which came into being some decades later. The BCF (British Chess Federation) title of Candidate Master (and the higher rank of British Master) were awarded by the BCF based on performance in graded UK and international chess. They have long since become defunct.

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1972 Midland Open Championship

(1) Robert S McFarland (Coventry) 8½/11; (2) N Andrews 8; (3-5) Ronald J M Farley, Gerald P Hildred, Michael J Pitt 7½; (6) Keith R Ingram 7; (7-9) Timothy D Harding, [illegible¹], William Ritson Morry 6½; (10-15) Robert Colston, R I Kirkwood, I M Mutton, Colin Edgar Packwood, W Paul Taylor, Roy Woodcock 6; (16-20) M Cassells, M Edwards, A G Fox, Nicholas H Skinner, Anthony F Woodland 5½; (21-22) R J Burton, Graham J Willetts 5; (23-24) D Brown, David Terence Fairbank 4½; (25-26) P L Mellor, S Zimnowodski 4; (27-28) J Gould, K Thomas 3½; (29) Mrs Christine Corden (née State) 2½; (30) Z Kerescenyi 2½; (31-32) R Brown, C C Napier 0. ¹ BCM, May 1972, p166, has the prizewinners down to the 6½ score group but has the name R I Kirkwood where the illegibity occurs in the tournament bulletin, thus scoring 6½ points. I don't know which publication is in error. JS.

32 players also competed for the Midland Open Championship title and the winner earned the right to play in the 1973 Premier. M Pitt also won the Warwickshire and West Midland Under 21 Championships, which were included in the event.

West Midland & Warwickshire Boys' (Under 18) and Birmingham Junior League Championships: (1-2) K Laidler, Michael W Marlow 6½; (3) M Pitt 6; (4) Alan D Lloyd 5.

West Midland & Warwickshire (Under 16) Championships: (1) Chris W Baker 7; (2) M J Coward 6½; (3-6) P W Alldridge, P Bryant, P D Klemperer, D Wildboar 6.

West Midland & Warwickshire (Under 14) Championships: (1) Chris W Baker 7; (2) M J Coward 6½; (3-6) P Bellis, R Doran, A Hunt, B L Tedd 5½.

(N.B. The Under 16 and Under 14 events were run as one combined 9-round Swiss Tournament).

West Midland & Warwickshire (Under 12) Championships: (1-3) D Challenor, R Norton, K Yeomans 9/11. A double-round-play-off was won by R Norton.

Birmingham Open & Midland Boys' Speed Championships (combined Swiss): (1) Anthony J Miles (both titles) 9; (2) Arthur Dunkelblum 8½; (3) Bernard Cafferty 7; (4-6) Peter C Gibbs, Timothy D Harding, Michael W Marlow 6½.

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File Updated

4 July 1998	First uploaded to BritBase as a zipped PGN file
12 November 2025	Added crosstable and results.