1937 Birmingham International, 8-20 January, Cobden Hotel, Smethwick, Birmingham • »1939

1973 Birmingham International		Nat'y	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total
1	Erich G Eliskases	Austria	&;	1	1	½	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	8½
2	Lodewijk Prins	Netherlands	0	&;	1	1	1	1	1	1d	½	1	1	8½
3	William Winter	England	0	0	&;	½	1	1	1	1	½	1	1	7
4	George Koltanowski	Belgium	½	0	½	&;	1	1	½	½	½	1	1	6½
5	William Ritson Morry	England	0	0	0	0	&;	½	1	1	1	½	1	5
6	Julius Silverman	England	1	0	0	0	½	&;	0	½	1	1	1	5
7	Ronald Blow	England	0	0	0	½	0	1	&;	0	1	1	1	4½
8	Arthur Reynolds	England	0	0d	0	½	0	½	1	&;	½	1	½	4
9	Eugene Znosko-Borovsky	France	0	½	½	½	0	0	0	½	&;	1	½	3½
10	Baruch H Wood	England	0	0	0	0	½	0	0	0	0	&;	1	1½
11	Ralph Lancelot Aldis	England	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	½	0	&;	1

Prizes £10, £8, £6, £4.

BIRMINGHAM 1937 —Left of Boards (standing) T.A. Podesta¹ (Warwicks Boy Champion), O.T. Bailey (President, Birmingham C.C.) R.H. Bridgwater (Sec. B’ham C.C.), Julius Silverman (M.P.) A.J. Mackenzie (former Scottish Champion and correspondent Birmingham Post). Seated, left side of boards: G. Koltanowski (nearest camera), E.A. Znosko-Borovsky, E. Eliskases. Right side of Boards: standing R.L. Aldis, W. Ritson Morry, sitting R. Blow, W. Winter, Lod. Prins (nearest camera).

¹ Terence Anthony Podesta (1921 – 9 June 2009). O.B.E. for services to hockey, 1978.

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BCM, February 1937, ppn 81-86

INTERNATIONAL CHESS IN BIRMINGHAM.

One of the activities of the Birmingham and District Chess League is the encouragement of chess in the secondary schools (King Edward Vi’s and the municipal institutions), and this work is entrusted to a sub-committee with H. L. Hobbs as chairman and W. Ritson Morry as hon. secretary, and some excellent work has been done. Such work is worth doing when it is remembered that two former British boy champions, and now prominent amateurs, hail from K.E.S., Birmingham. These are, of course, C. H. O’D. Alexander and J. M. Craddock (the former, a master at Winchester, is spreading the light by a text book on chess written especially for schools, shortly to be issued by Messrs. Pitman’s).

A year ago a tournament was run for the Warwickshire junior championship, and in this all Birmingham ranks, not as in the English counties championship, when Staffordshire and Worcestershire by local arrangement take a good share of Warwickshire’s strength. So that a fine entry of over 50 boys was received in the championship and open sections. The honour was won by T. A. Podesta (K.E.S.).

A second tourney was promoted during the recent school holidays and 17 boys competed in the championship, including the holder. The two preliminary contests brought out K. W. Lovel 8 (out of 8) and B. S. Walker 6 in section I, and T. A. Podesta and H. A. Woltmann 6 each (out of 7) in section II, to compete in a final section for the championship (Tucker Cup) and suitable prizes.

Masters Invited.

This year Mr. Morry added the attraction of a tourney for some of the foreign masters in England, viz., Messrs. Znosko-Borovsky, Eliskases, Koltanowski and Prins, together with W. Winter (London) British champion, and six Birmingham amateurs, Messrs. Blow, Reynolds, Silverman, Wood, Aldis and Mr. Morry himself, who also acted as director of this and the boys’ tournament. The tournament was played in the board room of the Cobden Hotel, which proved all too small for the purpose, as the meeting was well attended by players and spectators from all over the district covered by the League. At the opening ceremony Mr. Hobbs explained the genesis of the competition and introduced Mr. W. E. Evans, League president, who extended a hearty welcome to all the visitors, and hoped this would not be the last tournament of the kind.

The tourney began on Friday, January 8, and finished on Wednesday, January 20.

In Round 1 the results were :—Morry 0, Winter 1 (QP); Aldis 0, Blow 1 (Fr.); Prins 1, Silverman 0 (Zuk.); Reynolds 0, Eliskases 1 (Q P); Koltanowski ½, Znosko-Borovsky ½ (Q P); Wood, a bye.

Round 2:—Blow 0, Morry 1 (Q P); Silverman 1, Aldis 0; Wood 0, Koltanowski 1 (Q P); Eliskases 1, Prins 0 (Q P); Znosko-Borovsky ½, Reynolds ½ (QG); Winter, a bye. This was the first partial success against a master, but it was to be followed by others more striking.

Round 3:—Prins ½, Znosko-Borovsky ½ (Q P); Winter 1, Blow 0 (QGD); Morry ½, Silverman ½ (Fr.); Reynolds 1, Wood 0 (QP); Aldis 0, Eliskases 1 (Q P); Koltanowski, a bye.

Round 4:—Eliskases 1, Morry 0 (Sic.); Silverman 0, Winter 1 (Sic.); Znosko-Borovsky ½, Aldis ½ (QGD); Wood 0, Prins 1 (Q P); Koltanowski ½, Reynolds ½ (Q P Colle); Blow, a bye.

Round 5:—Reynolds 0, Morry 1 (QG); Koltanowski ½, Winter ½ (Q P); Wood 0, Blow 1 (QGD); Prins 1, Aldis 0 (KG); Znosko-Borovsky 0, Silverman 1 (Lopez); Eliskases, a bye. Silverman scored a crushing victory.

Round 6:—Wood ½, Morry ½ (QGD); Znosko-Borovsky ½, Winter ½ (Q P); Eliskases 1, Blow 0 (Fr.); Koltanowski 1, Aldis 0 (Q P); Reynolds (absent) 0, Prins 1; Silverman, a bye.

Round 7 :—Silverman 1, Eliskases 0 (B. Gambit); Morry 0, Koltanowski 1 (Q P); Winter 1, Wood 0 (Eng.); Blow 1, Znosko-Borovsky 0 (Q P); Aldis ½, Reynolds ½; Prins, a bye. Again Silverman (who is a local barrister, and a city councillor in the Labour interest) scored a remarkable victory. This put Eliskases and Winter level at the head, but Winter lost his chance next round. Blow’s game too was particularly good.

Round 8:—Morry 1, Znosko-Borovsky 0 (QGD); Winter 0, Eliskases 1 (Q P); Blow 1, Silverman 0 (QG); Aldis 0, Wood 1 (Sic.); Prins 1, Koltanowski 0 (Zuk.); Reynolds, a bye.

The leading scores at this stage were : Eliskases 6, Prins 5½, Winter 5, Koltanowski 4½.

Round 9:—Winter 1, Reynolds 0 (Q P); Morry 0, Prins 1 (Q P); Blow ½, Koltanowski ½ (Q P); Silverman 1, Wood 0 (Q P); Eliskases 1, Znosko-Borovsky 0 (Lopez); Aldis, a bye.

Round 10 :—Aldis 0, Morry 1 (Q P); Prins 1, Winter 0 (Q P); Reynolds 1, Blow 0 (Q P); Koltanowski 1, Silverman 0 (Q P); Wood 0, Eliskases 1 (Q P); Znosko-Borovsky, a bye.

Round 11 :—Blow 1, Prins 1 (Reti); Silverman ½, Reynolds ½ (Alek. Def.); Eliskases ½, Koltanowski ½ (Q P); Znosko-Borovsky 1, Wood 0 (Q P); Winter 1, Aldis 0 (Q P); Morry, a bye.

H. H. Tucker, Walsall, presented two special prizes to Morry and Silverman for making the best scores among the Birmingham amateurs. Blow and Reynolds failed to produce their best form—business during the day had its effect.

The final section of the Warwickshire boys’ championship was delayed through illness, and Walker had to retire. In the two games played Podesta was beaten by Lovel and Woltmann.

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File Updated

Date	Notes
29 January 2023	Initial upload. 16 games, 3 part-games.
29 January 2023	Three more games added: (1) L.Prins 1-0 J.Silverman (rd 1); (2) R.Blow 0-1 L.Prins (rd 11); (3) B.Wood 0-1 E.Eliskases (rd 10). Many thanks to Andy Ansel.
30 January 2023	Two more games added: (1) B.Wood 0-1 G.Koltanowski (rd 2); (2) W.R.Morry 0-1 G.Koltanowski. Both found at the Belgian Chess History website. My thanks to Gert Ligterink for drawing my attention to these.
30 January 2023	Four further games added: (1) R.Aldis 0-1 R.Blow (rd 1); (2) G.Koltanowski ½-½ A.Reynolds (rd 4); (3) B.H.Wood 0-1 L.Prins (rd 4); (4) E.Eliskases 1-0 R.Blow (rd 6). Also, there is an amendment to the score of Znosko-Borovsky-Silverman (rd 5) and I have edited some of the source references. Many thanks to Ulrich Tamm for the additional games. Running total now 25 games plus 3 part-games.
7 February 2023	Deleted one game: Wood 0-1 Prins was actually played in the 1939 Birmingham tournament (and already appears in that file). Apologies for the error.
7 February 2023	Having identified the Wood 0-1 Prins given here until today as the game played (same players and result) in 1939 and deleted it, I've now unearthed the true 1937 Wood 0-1 Prins game from a Dutch newspaper.