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20th May, 2003
UNLIKE last year's 5-0 drubbing of the MSPs at the Scottish Parliament,
the June 18th match up of Scottish Youth Squad vs. MPs, to be hosted in
the Chess Room at the House of Commons, will be no political landslide
as many MPs have proved to be gifted players.
Captaining the Parliamentarians is Oxford West and Abingdon MP Dr. Evan
Harris, a former junior champion, who along with Charlotte Atkins MP
spearheaded the 1999 'Chess as a Sport Campaign' in parliament. Evans
is
expected to announce his squad for the match by early June. Likely
candidates could include Labour MPs Angela and Maria Eagle, who were
both England Junior Internationalists in their youth; and even
rebel-rousing Father of the House Tam Daylell, who was one of Garry
Kasparov's 1989 simultaneous victims.
Already Evans has recruited a Scot to play top board in the match in
fellow Lib-Dem MP Alan Reid (Argyle and Bute), a former Scottish
Olympiad and British Championship player, who had a rating of over 2250
at his peak. Reid, who through the late 1970s and early 1980s was a
permanent fixture in the Scottish chess scene before being bitten by the
political bug, now has the distinction of being the second strongest
player ever in the House behind Marmaduke Wyvill, who was Member of
Parliament for the Yorkshire constituency of Richmond from 1847 to 1868.
Wyvill's claim to fame is that he took part in the first International
Chess Tournament ever in 1851, held in London to commemorate the Great
Exhibition of that year. Amongst a stellar line-up that included Adolf
Anderssen, Howard Staunton, Lionel Kieseritsky and Jozsef Szen, Wyvill
battled through to the knockout final, only to lose 4.5-2.5 to
Anderssen.
This victory earned Anderssen a place in the history books as the
unofficial world champion after Staunton. Wyvill, who according to chess
statistician Jeff Sonas in his Chessmetrics website
(www.chessmetrics.com) was world ranked #12 in 1851, is almost forgotten
today, perhaps because he competed in no more tournaments after 1851,
and instead opted to concentrate on his political career.
A Anderssen - M Wyvill
London 1851
Sicilian Defence
1 e4 c5 2 d4 cxd4 3 Nf3 Nc6 4 Nxd4 e6 5 Be3 Nf6 6 Bd3 Be7 7 0-0 0-0 8
Nd2 d5 9 Nxc6 bxc6 10 e5 Nd7 11 f4 f5 12 Rf3 c5 13 Rh3 Rf7 14 b3 g6 15
Nf3 Nb6 16 Bf2 d4 17 Bh4 Nd5 18 Qd2 a5 19 Bxe7 Rxe7 20 Ng5 Ne3 21 Qf2
Bb7 22 Bf1 Ng4 23 Qh4 Qd7 24 Rd1 Rc8 25 Be2 h5 26 Rg3 Qe8 27 Rd2 Rg7 28
c3 Ne3 29 cxd4 cxd4 30 Rxd4 Rc1+ 31 Kf2 Nd5 32 Rgd3 Qc6 33 Rd2 Qb6 34
Bc4 Rc2 35 Ke1 Rxd2 36 Rxd2 Qg1+ 37 Bf1 Rc7 38 Rd1 Rc2 39 Qg3 Ba6 40 Qf3
Bxf1 0-1
JOHN B HENDERSON
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