1942 British Forces v Allied Forces Match, Leicester Town Hall, 7 November

Bd	British Forces	6-7	Allied Forces
1w	Lt. John Montgomerie	0-1	Lt. Georges Cartier1, F.F.F
2b	A/C2 (William) Arthur Winser	1-0	Dr. Zak, M.O., R.N.B.
3w	Dvr. Joseph Strachstein (»Stone)	0-1	Pte. Victor Farkas, Cz.A
4b	L A/C Martin Bloom (» Blaine)	½-½	Lt. Oldrych Balcar, Pol.A
5w	A/C1 Edgar George R Cordingley	1-0	Capt. Michovic (Yug)
6b	L/Cpl. John Henry Pollitt	0-1	Lt. Maxime Chauvet, F.F.F.
7w	Cpl. E S Taylor	1-0	Pte. Szymanski (Pol)
8b	Pte. Frederick Walter Allen	0-1	Pte. Otto Friedman (Czech.)
9w	Cpl. John Todhunter Keable	0-1	Pte. Altman (Czech.)
10b	L/C (Alexander) Aird Thomson	0-1	Capt. Julian Sternak (Pol)
11w	L/Cpl. William Ernest Hollingdale	1-0	Sergt. T G Bot (Neth.)
12b	Pte. Donald O Gould	½-½	Pte. C P Welter (Neth.)
13w	Pte. S Edgley	1-0	Lt. Plamenac (Yug.)
7 November 1942		6-7	at Leicester Town Hall

¹ nom de guerre of Saviely Tartakower whilst with the Free French Forces

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BCM, December 1942, ppn 268-270

CHESS IN H.M. FORCES

The return match between Allied and British Forces at Chess. Leicester Town Hall, November 7th, 1942.

This match was played according to schedule after a good deal of preliminary difficulties had been overcome. The British team were without Lieut. Col. Wheatcroft, Rfn. Frank Parr, F/L Noel Johnson and F/O F. Kitto, practically their best selected players, while the Allied team were not without their disappointments. They were without Lt. Dr. Fransman (Netherlands Brigade) and Lt. Sulik (Polish Army), the international master. Three of the missing British players cried off at literally the last minute, being called abroad. The War Office Welfare Directorate managed to obtain the release on Friday afternoon of two substitutes!

In the end, the British side had a well-balanced side strong throughout, but without "stars," and so it is to the credit of the allied team that they reversed last year's decision and won by 8 points to 6 [actually 7-6 - the table given in BCM mistakenly showed 6 to 8 but they had mistakenly scored the 13th board as 1-1 rather than 1-0].

The first game to finish was won by Capt. J. Sternak (Poland) who outwitted Pte. Aird Thomson in a lively attack which Thomson obviously underestimated. At the close of time, one game was unfinished, that between Lieut. Balcar (Poland) and L./AC M. Bloom, a very fine struggle on which the result depended. A win to A/C Bloom would have tied the match. But it was, quite rightly, adjudicated a draw by Mr. H. E. Atkins, the doyen of British Chess, and this ending to a very fine struggle gave the Allies the match.

At the top board Lt. G. Cartier of the Fighting French, better known in the chess world as Dr. Tartakower, the great international, beat Lt. Montgomerie by simple but convincing play, and as his colleague, Lt. Maxime Chauvet, won in excellent style from L/Cpl. Pollitt (Lancashire Champion), the Fighting French lived up to their name, scoring 100 per cent, a distinction shared by the three players from Czechoslovakia.

Before the match, the Lord Mayor of Leicester greeted the teams at a luncheon at the Leicester club. The Mayor extended a hearty welcome to the teams in well-chosen terms, in a speech of just the right length. The President of the Leicester Chess Club responded in equally adequate fashion. (He said that it had been suggested that chess clocks should be used for timing speeches—an excellent idea.) Lt. Cartier and Lt. Montgomerie responded for the teams. Lt. Cartier this time spoke in French, excellent but rapid. In the absence of Ald[erman]. Derbyshire and Mr. R. H. S. Stevenson, Mr. J. du Mont said a very few words for the British Chess Federation, saying that the great pleasure of meeting our allies in friendly rivalry was tinged with regret, as this would probably be the last match of this type. He hoped that next year they would all be back in their own countries—cleaning up.

The teams stayed overnight at the Grand Hotel the guests of the Leicester Chess Club and the British Chess Federation.

The report would be incomplete without a mention of Mr. E. P. [sic - Philip Edward] Collier, the club's efficient and progressive secretary.

[score of Montgomerie-Cartier]

A quiet positional game played by Black with skill and accuracy. The pawn formation adopted by Lt. Montgomerie left his white squares weak. His opponent fastened on that weakness and White's position gradually deteriorated. He lost one pawn after another without any compensation.

[score of Chauvet-Pollitt]

An enterprising opening for such an important occasion. The Lancashire champion should have played 6...bxa3 instead of allowing White to recover his gambit pawn without struggle. In the result, Lt. Chauvet was able to launch
a powerful attack in which this pawn played an important part. The advanced pawns became irresistible.

[score of Bloom-Balcar - colours given thus]

A tense struggle, both players being eager to attack without, however, incurring undue risk. Black would have had strong chances with 34...f6 and at the end the position was, if anything, slightly in favour of White. A game well worth studying.

[score of Strachstein-Farkas]

An interesting game. White's early attack was not sufficiently prepared, and skilful defence enabled Black to prepare a powerful counter offensive.

There are 304 entrants for the Army Chess Championship. Final arrangements are now being made and play should start in December. Among the entrants are a number of well-known experts.

The pairing in sections is quite a problem owing to the inequalities of entries. They were very good in the North and correspondingly bad in the South. Essex, Kent, Surrey and Middlesex (excluding London) put together have fewer entries than the Orkneys. Northern Ireland and Scotland were very good.

An R.A.F. Championship is under consideration and will probably be sanctioned in the near future. The difficulty here is that R.A.F. stations are seldom convenient of access.

Yet a third fixture is being discussed: a championship of the Allied Forces. We hope to give particulars in our next issue.

The foth [sic] Battalion R.A.O.C. has a flourishing chess club with approximately 30 members. They are keen to play other clubs in the Forces or teams from local chess clubs. Will the Secretaries of such clubs in Shropshire please communicate with the Editor. They are at present playing a match by correspondence with another R.A.O.C. unit.

Another recent addition to the list of Forces clubs is the Workshop Coy. of the 11th Tank Brigade with about 15 members of varying strength. Their best players are now playing in a tournament with eight entries.

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CHESS, December 1942

THE SECOND ALLIED v. BRITISH FORCES MATCH

The return Services match, another tribute to Mr du Mont's drive, took place at Leicester Town Hall on Saturday. November 7th, Nottingham, the originally suggested venue having proved inconvenient. The match aroused considerable interest in Leicester and the scene in the Town Hall, with the flags of all the Allied Nations on view, was most impressive. Alderman J. N Derbyshire, the President of the British Chess Federation, was absent through illness from which we sincerely hope he will soon recover.

Last-minute withdrawals by Messrs Kitto (the tentative report of whose death we are delighted to revoke), Parr, Wheatcroft and Noel-Johnson—four players as strong as any others in the team—weakened the British forces seriously, but the Allied Forces were not quite at full strength either, and it seems strange that no sufficiently strong player could be brought to light for the team from among the many U.S. fighters now among us.

The Allies drew first blood by a win at Board 10 for Captain Julian Sternak (Poland) but this was soon equalised by Pte. Edgley, who won a pretty Max Lange at Board 13. Then Britain went well ahead with wins to Taylor, Cordingley and Hollingdale, and victory looked certain. We had reckoned without Czechoslovakia, however! Lt. Cartier (Tartakover) reduced the arrears and their only other set-back was at Board 2, where W. A Winser, the strong Hastings player, accounted for Dr. Zak; Lt. Chauvec, Pte. Farkas and Pte. Friedman proceeding to level the score. Then Pte. Altman put the allies ahead and when time was called, only one game remained for adjudication, that between A/C Blum and Lt. Balcar. H. E. Atkins, with the collaboration of Lt. Cartier, adjudicated this a draw, and the Allies had won, neatly avenging their narrow loss in last year’s match. There was loud and generous applause.

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File Updated

Date	Notes
22 March 2026	First upload. Six games, of which five plus stubs were supplied by Steve Giddins, for which many thanks.