Marsh Towers: Archive: UNCUT! 51

The Sean Marsh
Chess Column
UNCUT!
*Column 51*

Dear Readers,

It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce that International Master William Hartston has agreed to come along and support a couple of our forthcoming events.

He will be performing a simultaneous display on Friday 29th September followed by an appearance at the Yarm Junior Team Tournament the following day.

Full details will follow as soon as they are finalised.
Meanwhile, let’s take a closer look at one of the legends of British Chess….

He was one of the best of Batsford’s early chess authors, with such books as ‘The Grunfeld Defence’ and ‘The Benoni’ remaining useful guides to this day. His famous humorous side was well to the fore in the classics ‘How to Cheat at Chess’ and ‘Soft Pawn’.

Readers will long memories will remember that he won the first two series of the classic BBC tournament ‘The Master Game’ before becoming the co-presenter with Jeremy James. He remained in the BBC chess presenter’s chair all the way up to the Karpov v Kasparov battles.
He won the British Championship in 1973 and 1975 (and lost play-offs for the title in 1974 and 1980) and represented England at the Olympiads of 1966, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976 and 1978.
As a top player for England, IM Hartston was constantly in the thick of the action and has draws with such super-GMs as Botvinnik, Karpov, Korchnoi, Spassky, Tal, Petrosian, Smyslov and Bronstein to his credit. He had some really thumping victories against other luminaries too…

Hartston - Gligoric
Hastings 1965