Mike Clarke left a comment to our post Korchnoi and the car about William Collins, and more specifically sought information about Viktor Korchnoi’s simultaneous exhibition at Newtownards in early February 1981.
From 1982 to 1993 Collins authored a highly-regarded chess column in the Saturday edition of the Belfast Telegraph. Originally I thought that this ruled out him having reported on Korchnoi’s display at Newtownards Town Hall. However I then remembered that before his Telegraph column he had contributed semi-regular articles in the Telegraph’s sister publication, Ireland’s Saturday Night.
So, Mike and our other readers, here is Collins’s report in the ISN for the 7th February 1981 on that Korchnoi simul.
KORCHNOI – he lost only one game!
THIS HAS been an historic week for Ulster chess. Nobody in their dreams could have envisaged the massive coverage devoted to the game over the last few days.
Clearly we backed a winner by bringing Victor Korchnoi here.
Korchnoi’s short tour was a resounding success. He gave two simultaneous displays against a total of 72 players, and in the process lost only one game. Here are the details:
Armagh played 40, won 35, lost 1 (F. Coll), drew 4 (T. Clarke, D. Blair, S. McCrea, W. Hegarty).
Newtownards played 32, won 29, lost 0, drew 3 (R. Devenney, D. Murray, J. Strawbridge).
Spectators and contestants alike were impressed, not only with Korchnoi’s play, which was of the highest standard, but also his manner. He couldn’t have been more courteous or friendly. Korchnoi is also a wonderful raconteur. Those who met him after the display were enthralled with stories about his encounters with Spassky and Karpov. He talked far into the night about his preparation the next World title match against Karpov, and explained why be preferred Europe as a venue. He was prepared to discuss other leading players, and his opinions were liberally interspersed with anecdotes.
On Fischer: “My first impression – good. Second impression – he is crazy. Two years later – he is wise.” His favourite player: Paul Keres. ‘I could never obtain a better position against him, let alone beat him.” Michael Stean (his second): “A gentleman, but his health is not good. Tony Miles: “Not a gentleman but I beat him every time.” The new Soviet star Kasparov: “There is already tension between Karpov and Kasparov. I like Kasparov’s annotated games.”
The visit will be remembered for a long time. Yet even before Korchnoi had left, tour organiser John Flynn was considering ideas for his next big venture. This could involve bring two or three Grandmasters to the Province.
Finding this report re-opens the issue of the precise results of the Korchnoi Newtownards simul. At our Simuls page we had reported them in the same terms as Collins in the ISN article. However, in six consecutive comments at that Simuls page starting here and also in Mike Clarke’s comment referred to above, various pieces of recollection differ.
The possible differences amount to Korchnoi losing at least three games in Newtownards (two of these being against Damien Artt and Desmond Forson) and conceding draws to Sam Livingston and to Collins.
I do not wish to take issue in any way with the genuine belief in the various recollections but could there be a way of resolving this puzzling situation.
Perhaps the answer might involve Michael Stean, Korchnoi’s second in two world championship matches with Anatoly Karpov.
In GM Michael Stean on the BBC we posted about Stean giving a simul at Newtownards Town Hall in June 1979 with the GM winning 32 games, drawing 2 and losing 6. As Collins and Livingston were both members of the Newtownards Chess Club, I suspect their draws may have been against Stean, but the Korchnoi connection has somehow created conflation or confusion in people’s memories.
Moving on to possible Korchnoi losses, a similar effect may exist – in my subsequent comment to the Stean post I had added the results of a Stean simul at CIYMS Chess Club in January 1982. Among the five winners against the GM on that occasion were Artt and Forson.