I have borrowed some of Roger Paige’s chess books from James Pratt and the “My Games of Chess” include a number of tournaments. I previously published the 1971 Portsmouth Invitation, but there was also one in 1962 which featured the prominent Portsmouth Junior players against the 54 year old Wilf Pratten. An excellent idea to test improving players against one of the strongest players in Hampshire. After contacting Roger he kindly sent a pdf of the Hampshire Chess Games 1950 – 1970, and I have copied the games from this for this article.
Portsmouth Chess Invitational 1962
Roger Paige provided the following summary of the tournament in his book.
Portsmouth Invitation 1962
Between May and August a small tournament was organised pitting WHP against the leading juniors of the city. Play took place on Sunday afternoons at the Southsea Community Centre, although rounds 6 and 14 (the final round) were played at WHP’s home in Fareham. The original six payers were augmented with two other local players, Terry Hollington (Cosham) and John Jones (Gosport).
The tournament was a double-round affair which was slightly spoiled by the withdrawal of Michael March after his eighth round loss to Hollington. March had beaten Pratten beautifully in the first round so this withdrawal was a great shame since he would have had a good chance of beating Pratten again. Jones also had to default his final three games. I kept a round by round record of the play and also copied down some of the games of the other players. Either Pratten or I held or shared the lead for all bar the fifth round. when Brameld briefly led.
After round 7 it came down to a straight fight between Pratten and I. I took the lead in the 12th round when I won my first ever game against Pratten. But in the very next round I slipped up against Terry Hollington who grimly hung on to the pawn I’d gifted him and ground out a fine win.
Both Pratten and I won our last round encounters and so I was edged out by half a point. As a result of the success of this tournament it was proposed that another be played, this time to include Dr Pointon, the strongest player in Portsmouth itself. However, this tournament never materialised and instead Pratten and I embarked on our series of matches, which continued until I left the area in 1966 to go to King’s College at London University.
Roger L Paige – My Games of Chess
The article and games show a very competitive tournament, and reading between the lines there was obviously a rivalry between several of the junior players, trying to prove who was the top prospect in Portsmouth. One of the surprising facts is that of all these juniors only Mike Dymond would go on to win the Hampshire Individual Championship (1966), but then not all players would play in this tournament.
In addition only Peter Collins (1962/63) and Mike March (1967/68) would win the Portsmouth Individual Championship (except for Wilf Pratten who won 5 times).
All of the junior players (who were already strong) would go on to improve with gradings around the 200 (2200) level, with Hollington and March maybe a bit lower. I could not find grades for all of the players, but the ones I have found have been added. With annual changes it can be assumed that these grades for the juniors were far lower than their actual strength at that time.
Update 11 Oct 2024: Roger has provided some additional information, which I have added through the article which I give below. I have moved games from Other Games to the relevant round where this information has been supplied.
Portsmouth Invitation 1962
I wrote (by hand) a booklet about the tournament as we played it and I’ve checked it for some details which you might add.
The first round was played on 6th May 1962 and the game Brameld v Collins was a 46 move draw. (The games March v Hollington and Jones v Pratten were played on 16th May as Hollington and Jones were welcome late entries to the tournament.)
The game March v Paige (a 52 move draw) was played in Round 4.
The game Dymond v Hollington was played in Round 5 (3/6/1962) and was won by Dymond.
The final Round 14 was played at Pratten’s home (9 Alexander Grove, Fareham, where round 6 had also been played) and featured only 2 games: Pratten 1-0 Brameld (17 moves) and Paige 1-0 Collins (41 moves). Both Hollington and Dymond had byes in this round, necessitated by the early withdrawals of March and then Jones (who was starting teacher training at St. Luke’s College, I believe).
Roger L Paige – Oct 2024.
Final Table
| Name | Rating | WP | RP | ARB | PC | MD | TH | JJ | MM | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WH Pratten | 4b | XX | 1 0 | 0 1 | ½ 1 | 1 1 | 1 1 | 1 1 | 0 1 | 10.5 |
| RL Paige | 6b | 0 1 | XX | 1 0 | ½ 1 | 1 1 | 1 0 | 1 1 | ½ 1 | 10.0 |
| AF Brameld | 7a | 1 0 | 0 1 | XX | ½ 0 | ½ ½ | 1 1 | 1 ½ | 1 1 | 9.0 |
| PM Collins | 7a | ½ 0 | ½ 0 | ½ 1 | XX | 0 ½ | ½ 1 | 1 1 | 1 1 | 8.5 |
| MJ Dymond | 5b (1962) | 0 0 | 0 0 | ½ ½ | 1 ½ | XX | 1 1 | 1 1 | 1 1 | 8.5 |
| TE Hollington | 0 0 | 0 1 | 0 0 | ½ 0 | 0 0 | XX | 0 1 | 1 1 | 4.5 | |
| JH Jones | 8a | 0 0 | 0 0 | 0 ½ | 0 0 | 0 0 | 1 0 | XX | ½ 1 | 3.0 |
| M March | 1 0 | ½ 0 | 0 0 | 0 0 | 0 0 | 0 0 | = 0 | XX | 2.0 |
Grade Conversion
.
| Rating | 3 digit equivalent | Rating | 3 digit equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9b | 105-112 | 6b | 154-160 |
| 9a | 113-120 | 6a | 161-168 |
| 8b | 121-128 | 5b | 169-176 |
| 7b | 137-144 | 5a | 177-184 |
| 6b | 153-160 | 4b | 185-192 |
Games
A number of games were included in Roger Paige’s Hampshire Chess Games 1950 – 1970, and I give these below with the majority of Roger’s original comments and some of my own (with Stockfish’s assistance). Other games were in the Wilf Pratten collection. I have added in round order, but not all games had a round and these have been added last.
The games can be played through, downloaded, or just click on any move to update on the board. All games can be downloaded as a pgn file from the link at the bottom of the article (these are unannotated).
Round 1
In the first round the big upset was Mike March defeating Wilf Pratten. The game started with Black inviting White to enter the Winawer Defence, but White decided to play a delayed French Exchange. Although the French Exchange has a reputation of dullness, this was not the case in this game, with fireworks from both sides.
Now confirmed as being played in round 1, Arthur Brameld and Peter M Collins drew their game.
Round 2
The game from round two was another French Defence, this time with Wilf Pratten (again) White against Peter M Collins who played the Classical System with an early Qg4. I have added some of my comments to the original ones from Roger.
Wilf Pratten was lucky to not lose this game, but managed a perpetual check at the end. In both of these games from the first two rounds Wilf Pratten showed his aggressive style, although not always playing sound moves!
Roger’s Hampshire Chess Games book included information on some of the players.
Peter M Collins
Played for Portsmouth. Champion of Portsmouth CC 1961/62. Portsmouth Individual champion in 1961/62. In 1962 graded 2080. Graded 6a(c1936) in 1963. Still active c2000 though not in the county.
Roger L Paige – Hampshire Chess Games 1950 – 1970
Peter was still playing up to the end of 2023 and played in the British Over 65 championship in 2023.
Round 3
It was John Jones who took on Wilf Pratten in round 3. This game was from the Wilf Pratten collection, which was unannotated. I have added some comments. Again, Wilf allows his opponent to obtain a superior position, but when John Jones missteps Wilf converts easily.
John H Jones
Played for Gosport. Long time “Chess Notes” columnist for the “Portsmouth Evening News” in the sixties and seventies. Devoted more time to Bridge in his later years. In 1966 graded 2045. Still active for Gosport in 2004.
Roger L Paige – Hampshire Chess Games 1950 – 1970
John passed away in 2024 and his last game was in 2004. In 1969/70 he was graded 203 (2223). A number of his games are on the website.
Round 4
The 4th round game supplied was Mike Dymond (who would win the Hampshire Individual title in 1966) against Wilf Pratten. You can see from the games of Wilf Pratten that he played a number of different openings, and in this game a Zukertort opening was on the board.
Mike March and Roger Paige drew their 4th round game (if 52 moves, missing a few from the game).
Michael J Dymond
Played for Cosham, Portsmouth and Gosport. Portsmouth CC champion in 1960 (joint). Hampshire champion in 1966. graded 5b (c2008) in 1963. In 1965 graded 2120. In 1978 graded 2200.
Roger L Paige – Hampshire Chess Games 1950 – 1970
Mike passed away in 2022.
Round 5
Now confirmed as played in round 5 this game was a Scotch Gambit, specifically the double pawn sacrifice variation. Not for the those with nervous disposition. I mentioned earlier that Mike Dymond was a solid player, this can probably be re-visited after seeing this game. It is very interesting that Stockfish’s evaluation when 2 pawns down is pretty much an even position. An opening like the Sicilian Morra Gambit is less liked by Stockfish, giving Black a small comfortable edge. With this in mind this could be worth trying!
Round 6
There were two games supplied from round 6, with a 28 move win by Wilf Pratten against Terry Hollington and a mighty tussle between Roger Paige and Arthur Brameld. This has been excellently annotated by Roger and I think this is an example of the “friendly” rivalry between the juniors.
Terry Hollington was well known in the Portsmouth area for his work with juniors and for the Portsmouth Congress which ran for 25 years, firstly by Terry and later by Pat McEvoy. This often had in excess of 200 entrants.
Terry Hollington
d 22/10/2002 – Played for Cosham and Waterlooville. Founder of the Portsmouth Chess Congress in 1977. In the 1980’s with Pat McEvoy, put out one of the county’s strongest junior chess teams, winning all the major national championships.
Had been with the RAF and played chess in Singapore before settling in Portsmouth. Devoted his later life to “Scrabble”. In 1963 he has graded 1880. In 1965 his grading was 1885.
Roger L Paige – Hampshire Chess Games 1950 – 1970
This game was key for the top places in the tournament, as although only in round 6 if Arthur Brameld won he would have been on 5 points from 6 games. But despite Arthur thinking he had swindled Roger, a very pretty queen sacrifice proved that this was not the case.
Arthur Brameld
Played for Gosport, RNPL & Fareham. In 1962 graded 2135. In 1963 graded 5b (c2008). Graded 188 (c2104) in 1975/76 season and 197 (c2176) in 1979/80. Still active (2004) for Gosport.
Roger L Paige – Hampshire Chess Games 1950 – 1970
Arthur was graded 207 in 1985/86 and beat a young Magnus Carlsen!
Round 7
Arthur bounced back from his round 6 loss by defeating Wilf Pratten in round 7.
Round 8
Two games from round 8. Wilf Pratten defeats John Jones for the 2nd time in the tournament. The opening starts with Nf3, but transposes into a Philidor Defence.
Roger annotated his win against Mike Dymond. Luckily he went on to win, despite announcing a check mate, which was an illusion!
Round 9
The round 9 game was another Wilf Pratten one, defeating Peter Collins with Black, playing a Grunfeld Defence. A common theme, seems to be Wilf coming out of the opening worse, but then outplaying his opponent in what looks to be time trouble. These sort of games where you are winning, but end up losing are the most painful. Especially as this was against such a strong opponent.
Round 11
Wilf Pratten completes the double against Mike Dymond, beating him on the White side of a Pirc defence.
Round 12
The game from the 12th round was Roger Paige’s excellent win against Wilf Pratten, which was annotated in his book. This was his first win against Wilf and Roger is rightly proud of his win. As he comments, the last few moves were played in time trouble, which is sometimes not mentioned when including games. More errors are made closer to the time control than at any other stage.
Round 13
In the 13th round game Terry Hollington won a pawn against Roger Paige on move 13. This turned into an exchange after Roger either missed that winning the pawn back allowed a trick, or decided this was the best move. This proved enough to bring the point home and was key to Roger not sharing or winning the tournament.
Round 14
The Pratten games has his game against Terry Hollington as round 13, but as Hollington beat Roger Paige in round 13, I am presuming this is actually a postponed game from maybe round 10? I have most of the other rounds detailed for Wilf Pratten. Either way a very nice game by Pratten against Hollington, calculating that the Knight was not escaping, when it takes the Rook on move 28.
Wilf’s actual game from round 14 was against Arthur Brameld and one bad move by Arthur proved critical! A great miniature to finish the tournament.
Games to Download
All the games can be downloaded below.
Summary
This was an ambitious tournament, playing 14 rounds in three to four months and it is understandable that some players withdrew during the tournament. That said, every player won and lost games and the top 5 places were close. But Wilf Pratten proved that he was still a match for the top juniors by winning by half a point. Roger Paige cemented himself as the top Portsmouth junior prospect, certainly in 1962, finishing one point ahead of Arthur Brameld.
The majority of the games include Wilf Pratten, but if any of the other players still have their games from the tournament I would be happy to add. In addition, any other memories of the tournament would be appreciated.
Acknowledgements and Sources
- Roger Paige
- James Pratt
- Britbase