Bedfordshire chess history has greater depth than most, if not all, think. This is, primarily because its medium is oral history, and those who propagate that are usually uninterested in distinguishing factual content from mere gossip. Oral history, which pervades most counties in England is more entertaining than it is reliable, and of course, it will forever remain an anachronism. Our county has previous members who were prominent in their day. It’s not quite correct to say they have been forgotten about, its more so that no one has written about them. Well, that’s my job. One of those is a certain Colin Garwood. On a national level, he first established himself at the British Chess Championships in 74 as a junior. It would be approximately correct to describe as one of those who emerged out of the English Chess Explosion, which due to an uncritical attitude towards journalese, was mightily impressed and influenced by nut job Bobby Fischer. If we understand Colin in terms of the movement he was a part of, it should not be surprising to find that he is never written about, despite the fact that he was exceptionally strong. How strong was he? Leonard Barden arranged a simul in 1982 where the top 20 juniors in England got to play the then world champion Karpov, Garwood was one of them, rated approximately 200. Given the nature of chess culture in England, he was mostly overlooked and not considered exemplary in anyway. But for those of us from Bedfordshire, this game is significant because its the first encounter of one of our own against the reigning world champion in the modern era.
With regards to Dunstable based Colin Garwood he held his own but when only a few players were left, having to move much more quickly put him under pressure and as a result he made a mistake in the endgame. Well that’s my interpretation, here’s his:
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cd4 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6. 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7
8. O-O Be6 9. Be3 O-O 10. Qd2 Nbd7 11. a4 Qc7
12. Rfd1 Rac8 13. f3 Rfd8
14. a5! d5 15. ed5 Nd5 16. Nd5 Bd5
17. Qd5 Nf6 18. Qc4 Rd1 19. Rd1 Qc4 20. Bc4 Rc4 21. c3 Kf8 22. Kf1 Ke8 23. Ke2 Rc6 24. Bf2 Nh5 25. g3 Nf6 26. Nd2 Bd8 27 Ra1 Kd7 28. c4 Be7 29. Ra4 Rc7 30. b4 Kc7
31. Bb6 Kc6 32. Nb1 Nd7 33. Be3 Kd6 34. Nd2 Kd6 35. Kd3 f5 36 Kc3 Bf6 37. Kb3 Rd8 38. Kc2 Nf8
39. Bb6 Rd7 40. Ra3 Bg5 41. Be3 Ne6 42. Bg5 Ng5 43. Re3 Nf7 44. Kc3 Rd6 45. Re1 Rd7
46. Nb3 Rb7 47. f4 e4?
(47…g6!) 48 Nd4 Kc7 49 Nf5
Colin informed me that he one of the last few to finish, reportage of the simul can be found below.
McCreadyandChess 