Hastings International Chess Congress

1.1 History

The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess tournament which takes place in Hastings,
England, around the turn of the year. The main event
is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin tournament. In
2004/05 the tournament was played in the knock out format; while in 2005/06 and 2006/07 it was played using
the Swiss system. Alongside the main event there is the
challengers section, which is open to all players. The winner of the challengers event earns an invitation in the following years Premier.

The rst Christmas Congress in 1920/1 was a four

player double round-robin of British Champions, won by
Frederick Yates 4/6 ahead of Roland Henry Vaughn Scott
3.5, Henry Ernest Atkins 3, and Richard Grith 1.5.[3]
In 1921/2, the second Congress, the eld was still almost
entirely British. The lone foreign entrant, Borislav Kosti
(Yugoslavia), won with a perfect 7/7 score.[3]

The third Congress in 1922/3, began the event as a truly

international competition with four foreign participants
in the eld of ten. Max Euwe (Netherlands) won with
7.5/9. Except for 1924/5 and during World War II, the
tournaments would continue as ten-player events with the
eld half British, half foreign. In 1968 the eld was increased to twelve, and in 1971 it was increased again to
[3]
Every World Champion before Garry Kasparov except sixteen.
Bobby Fischer played at Hastings: Wilhelm Steinitz The Congress was held in the Hastings Town Hall from
(1895), Emanuel Lasker (1895), Jos Ral Capa- 1921 to 1929. In 1930 it was held in the Waverly Hoblanca (1919, 1929/30, 1930/1 and 1934/5), Alexander tel; from 1931 to 1953 at the White Rock Pavilion; from
Alekhine (1922, 1925/6, 1933/4 and 1936/7), Max Euwe 1954 to 1965 at the Sun Lounge, St. Leonards-on-Sea;
(1923/4, 1930/1, 1931/2, 1934/5, 1945/6 and 1949/50), and in 1966 Falaise Hall, White Rock Gardens.[6] At
Mikhail Botvinnik (1934/5, 1961/2 and 1966/7), Vasily rst the tournament was funded by private donations and
Smyslov (1954/5, 1962/3 and 1968/9), Mikhail Tal a grant from the Hastings Corporation, but eventually
(1963/4), Tigran Petrosian (1977/8), Boris Spassky commercial sponsorship became necessary. The 1967 to
(1965/6), and Anatoly Karpov (1971/2). The only cham- 1969 tournaments were sponsored by The Times newspapions to play Hastings while currently holding the title per and the St Leonards and Hastings Corporations. This
were Lasker at Hastings 1895, Alekhine at the 1933/4 allowed an increase in the prize funds for both the PreChristmas Congress and Botvinnik in 1961/62.[1][2]
mier and Challengers sections, with the prizes for the
In addition to the annual international tournament at the
Christmas Congress, Hastings has also hosted international tournaments at irregular intervals in its Summer
Congress. The most celebrated of these is Hastings 1895,
which featured two world champions and nearly all of the
worlds best players.

Premier being 1st 250, 2nd 100, 3rd 50, 4th 25,
and 5 per won game for non-prize winners. Challengers
prizes were 1st 100, 2nd 50, 3rd 30, 4th 20, 5th
10, and a 20 prize for the best score by a British player.
Participants in the by-invitation Premier section had expenses paid. The entry fee for the Challengers section
was 4, with the 32-player eld selected from the entries
received.[7] Zetters International Pools was the sponsor in
1975, and Ladbrokes in 1976. Other sponsors included
J. D. Slater, W. R. Morry, and the Friends of Chess.[3]

Vera Menchik (Czechoslovakia), who was then the

Womens World Champion, was the rst woman to
play in the Premier section, participating in seven tournaments from 1929/30 through 1936/37. In 1963/4
Nona Gaprindashvili (USSR) won the Challengers section when she also was Womens World Champion, earning a spot in the next years Premier. In the 1964/5 Premier she scored 5/9 to place fth, beating all of the British
masters in the tournament.[3][4]
The Hastings Variation of the Queens Gambit Declined takes its name from the game Victor Berger (n
Buerger) George Alan Thomas, Hastings 1926/7, which
began 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bxf6 Qxf6
6.Nc3 c6 7.Qb3.[5]

The 1961/2 Congress featured World Champion Mikhail

Botvinnik, making his rst return to Hastings since
1934/5. The 1934/5 Congress was Botvinniks rst tournament outside the Soviet Union and he had nished
a disappointing fth behind Sir George Thomas, Max
Euwe, and Salo Flohr tied for 1st-3rd, and Capablanca at
4th. This time Botvinnik was undefeated, winning seven
and drawing two to nish rst with 7/9. Svetozar Gligori
was second with 6, Flohr third with 5.5, and Arthur Bis-

Premier (Christmas Congress)

1

guier and John Penrose tied for fourth-fth with 5.[8][9]

1.2

Winners

EXTERNAL LINKS

[3] Golombek, Harry, ed. (1977), Golombeks Encyclopedia

of Chess, Crown Publishing, pp. 137139, ISBN 0-51753146-1
[4] Sunnucks 1970, p. 162
[5] Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1992), The Oxford
Companion to Chess (2 ed.), Oxford University Press, p.
170, ISBN 0-19-280049-3

Summer Congress

[6] Sunnucks 1970, p. 161

[7] Sunnucks 1970, pp. 459460

Main article: Hastings 1895 chess tournament

[8] Horowitz, I. A. (February 1962), The World of Chess:

Botvinnik the Invincible, Chess Review, 30 (2), p. 35
[9] Sunnucks 1970, p. 199

Hastings 1895 is considered one of the greatest tournaments in the history of chess. It was one of the rst tournaments to include all the top players, including former
World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz and current champion Emanuel Lasker, Mikhail Chigorin, Siegbert Tarrasch, Karl Schlechter, Joseph Henry Blackburne, David
Janowski, and others. The result of the 22-game roundrobin was a surprise, as American Harry Nelson Pillsbury
won with 16.5 points despite playing in his rst international tournament.[3]
The Hastings 1919 Victory Tournament was the rst
international tournament held in an allied country after
World War I. The eld was chiey British, but the tournament was dominated by Cuban Jos Ral Capablanca
(soon to be World Champion) and Yugoslav grandmaster
Borislav Kosti. Capablanca won 10.5/11 without a loss,
drawing only his game to Kosti who placed second with
9.5. George Alan Thomas and Frederick Yates tied for
3rd-4th with 7 points.[3]
Hastings 1922 was a double round-robin with Alexander
Alekhine, Akiba Rubinstein, Em Bogoljubov, Siegbert
Tarrasch, George Alan Thomas, and Frederick Yates.
Capablanca and Lasker had been invited but were unable
to attend. The tournament featured a slower time control than had been usual in England17 moves per hour
instead of 20 moves per hour. The outcome wasn't decided until the nal round. Bogoljubov lost all his games
against tournament leaders Alekhine and Rubinstein. Rubinstein needed a nal round victory over Thomas to tie
for rst with Alekhine, but achieved only a draw to fall
a half point short. Alekhine won with 7.5, Rubinstein
was second with 7, and Bogoljubow and Thomas tied for
third-fourth with 4.[3]

References

[1] Sunnucks, Anne (1970), The Encyclopaedia of Chess, St.

Martins Press, pp. 161204, 459461, LCCN 78106371
(background and crosstables through 1968/9)
[2] Congress History at the ocial website of the Hastings
International Chess Congress

4 External links
Ocial website
Reports from ChessBase: 2003/04, 2005/06,
2006/07, 2009/10, 2010/11, 2014/15
Crowther, Mark (11 January 1999), TWIC 218:
Hastings 1998-9, The Week in Chess
Crowther, Mark (7 January 2008), TWIC 687: 83rd
Hastings International Congress, The Week in Chess

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