1971 England v West Germany, 3-4 April, Cheltenham

	England	Elo	Rd 1	Rd 2	West Germany	Elo
1	Jonathan Penrose	2460m	0-1	0-1	Robert Hübner	2590g
2	Raymond D Keene	2480	1-0	½-½	Klaus Darga	2550g
3	William R Hartston	2390	0-1	½-½	Helmut Pfleger	2510m
4	Robert G Wade	2310m	½-½	1-0	Hans Joachim Hecht	2470m
5	Peter R Markland		½-½	½-½	Rudolf Teschner	2470m
6	George S Botterill		0-1	½-½	Klaus Klundt	2390
7	Peter N Lee	2390	½-½	½-½	Hans Günther Kestler	2400
8	Michael J Franklin		½-½	0-1	Jürgen Dueball	2420
Junior	Robert Bellin		½-½	½-½	Constanz Kiffmeyer	2340
Women	Jana Hartston [Bellin]		1-0	1-0	Anni Laakmann
3-4 April			4½-5½	5-5	Cheltenham
			9½-10½

BCM, May 1971, ppn 161-164

ENGLAND-WEST GERMANY MATCH by W.R.Hartston

The first ten board match between these two countries was played at Cheltenham on April 3rd and 4th under the sponsorship of Dowty's of Cheltenham, one of this country's leading engineering firms. The Germans paid us the compliment of sending a strong team, missing only Unzicker and Schmid, and it was a surprise to many what a hard fight they had to win the match by a single point. Indeed, with a little more good fortune our 10½ - 9½ defeat could easily have been reversed.

Round 1

It looked for some time as though we might win this round. Lee and Kestler had a steady draw in 25 moves, while Kiffmeyer and Bellin only lasted one more after Kiffmeyer's aggressive gestures only led to a series of exchanges and an opposite coloured bishop ending. Franklin and Wade both stood a little better from the opening but neither could avoid simplification and the resulting draw.

Botterill's game was where we had really hoped for more, since the English player had played very well to develop his opening advantage into a winning position. However, he first missed the win and then blundered to lose, having to resign at the end of the session. My loss, on the other hand, gave little cause for complaint. I never quite equalised from the opening, and Pfleger's pressure won him a pawn in the middle-game. These two losses were balanced by our victory on the ladies board, where our champion had little trouble, and a good win on second board. Darga's whole strategy after the opening was faulty, and his piece sacrifice was a rather desperate attempt to obtain some play.

At the adjournment there remained two unfinished games; Penrose had defended well for most of the game, but had made some mistakes towards the end of the session and analysis showed that Hubner could force an immediate win. On resumption he demonstrated that he had not overlooked it. Markland's game should have been a difficult draw, but Teschner's analysis had not revealed the right plan and he made the task simpler for our player.

Round 2

All the games in this round were king's pawn openings, with the possible exception of Hecht - Wade which commenced 1 Nf3 d6 2 e4. Perhaps this is sufficient to call it king's pawn after all, but the subsequent development gives some cause for doubt.

Teschner and Markland had a very quick draw in eleven moves after Markland's choice of a very dull opening line. In the final position he even stood a little worse. The other drawn games were far more eventful. Keene played one of Larsen's opening ideas, the first few moves being 1 e4 g6 2 d4 Bg7 3 c3 b6!? 4 f4 Bb7 5 Bd3 f5!?. Darga never really looked like winning though. I achieved a large plus against Pfleger's passive opening play, but I felt that my positional advantage was balanced by horrible time pressure, and I allowed a draw by repetition. Lee gave up a pawn for the attack and eventually forced a draw by means of a rook sacrifice. Botterill's game was almost a replica of the previous day; he again went wrong when standing much better, but did salvage a half-point.

Both our losses were by overstepping the time limit. Franklin was delivering perpetual check when his flag fell, while Penrose was in a winning position; his was a sad end to a very well-played game. He had incomprehensibly spent most of his last remaining minutes calculating unnecessary combinations after winning material.

The Ladies' board again provided us with a full point, though not before Frau Laakmann's attack had given us some anxious moments.

The final game to finish was the junior board, where we needed to win to square the match. Bellin somewhat nervously went into a rook and pawn ending, when the middle game looked very good for him. The resulting play was full of mistakes by both players, and each was probably winning at various stages. After many complications it became clear that a draw was the only possible result.

On the whole the results were quite encouraging for the English team. Most of our players are young and improving and to lose by a single point to such opponents is no disgrace. It was perhaps fitting that our two national champions scored three of our wins between them. There was a clear difference in class on the ladies board as the following game from the first round demonstrates.

Finally, no report could be complete without a word of thanks to Sir George Dowty without whose generosity this event could not have taken place. The splendid organisation of the match made it a most pleasant and friendly encounter, and we all look forward to the proposed return in West Germany in two years' time.

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File Updated

Date	Notes
19 July 1998	Original upload of 20 games as a zipped file.
19 June 2025	Uploaded with team names, score table, etc.