Alan Turing wrote the algorithm for Turochamp, but wasn’t a particularly prolific player in his own right. One of his colleagues–C.H.O’D. Alexander–was. He is a particularly undervalued player today–although some claim he had Grandmaster potential, his peak years overlapped with World War Two, when he was needed for codebreaking and the opportunities for international play were limited. His best tournament was Hastings 1953/54, where he tied David Bronstein for first, beating Bronstein and Tulosh (a Soviet grandmaster). Also in 1954(Albeit not in the same tournament), he produced this entertaining miniature against Milev (the 1952 champion of Bulgaria.)
Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander–Zdravko Milev 1954
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 {All standard so far.} 6.Bd3 e5 7.Nde2 {This is a bit awkward for White, but Black’s development is lagging.} d5 {This can’t be good, given Black’s lack of development…} 8.exd5 {Black is already somewhat in the soup, but he must play 8…Bb4 to pin the knight.} Nxd5 {Black is now lost.} 9.Bc4 Nf6 10.Bxf7+ {If 10…Kxf7, then 11. Qxd8. Milev resigned, a pawn down and, after the forced 10…Ke7, with his position in knots.} 1-0
Another blunder came against our hero earlier: in Hilversum zt 1947, where Alexander tied for fifth with Szabo, earning a respectable 7.5/13. His opponent, O’Sullivan, was not a bad player, but Irish chess players rarely played in international tournaments back then, and O’Sullivan was out of his league. He scored 0.5/13, with several blunders such as this. According to Harry Golombek, “his play was worse than his score.” Ouch.
Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander–Bartholomew O’Sullivan 1947
1.e4 c5 {Also a Sicilian.} 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.g3 Bb4 7.Bg2
Qa5 8.O-O Nxd4 9.Qxd4 {White has a pleasant position, but nothing extraordinary.} Bxc3 {This is tough for undeveloped Black to play now.} 10.bxc3 O-O 11.e5 Nd5 12.Bd2 {Lining up the bishop and queen, and preparing 13. c4.} Ne7 13.c4 Nc6 {Oops.} 14.Bxc6 1-0
Another O’Sullivan blunder from the same tournament follows.
Bartholomew O’Sullivan–Nicholas Rossolimo
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 b6 3.g3 Bb7 4.Bg2 e6 5.O-O Be7 6.c4 O-O {So far, everything is standard.} 7.Nc3
Ne4 8.Qc2 Nxc3 {White should continue with the prosaic 9. Qxc3.} 9.Ng5 {This is bad. If White weren’t castled, it wold be best, but here it just loses.} Nxe2+ 10.Qxe2 Bxg2 {White resigned, as he loses a piece and pawn in all lines.} 0-1
That's all the time I have right now; Sorry it's short.
More next time.
moonbus