British championship eludes Chandler

Press, 19 December 1986, Page 27

British championship eludes Chandler

By

HUGH BARLOW

NZPA staff correspondent London The New Zealander, Murray Chandler, failed yesterday in his attempt to win the British chess championship. The grandmaster, formerly of Wainuiomata, was beaten, 1-0, in a best-of-two match with the Englishman, Jon Speelman. It was Speelman’s second championship win and the fourth time Chandler had finished second. Officially, the contest ended on Wednesday with the final round of a playoff between Chandler, Speelman and another Englishman, Jonathan Mestel. The three had tied when the championships were held in August.

Mestel, who was unlucky not to win outright in August, lost every game in the play-off and Chandler and Speelman tied for

first. They shared the prize-money of $4500 each and the international ranking points. Yesterday’s two onehour matches were held so the trophy could be awarded and also to find one player to meet the top American in a new United States-United Kingdom champion competition. Chandler and Speelman drew the first of the games and remained even throughout most of the second. In the end both were reduced to a king and four pawns and it was Speelman, with more time up his sleeve, who manoeuvred most skilfully and forced Chandler to resign.

Chandler, aged 26, said: “My position was lost. There was no doubt about the outcome.

“I’m starting to wonder what I have to do to win this tournament.

“I feel unlucky not to

have won. I had a winning position against Speelman (last week) but I made mistakes. If I had won that, I would have got the title.

“But I suppose I was lucky to be in a play-off at all, because Mestel looked certain to win the tournament in August.”

Chandler’s next tournament is an international grandmaster event in Hastings, England, to start at the end of the month.

In February he will contest the British zonal tournament, which is the first stage of qualifying for the world championships. He has a range of other tournaments planned, as well as his once-a-month visits to West Germany to play in club matches.

He said he hoped to return to New Zealand for a playing visit later in the year.