Let’s go back to when chess exploded in Bedfordshire as it did across the rest of our beloved nation. Who were our top three players that decade? And just how good were they then?
In @ number 1 IM Sergio Mariotti (Vauxhall Luton)
According to Bedfordshire’s Paul Habershon, Sergio played in our Division 2 in the 1970-71 season. His brother Paolo also played in our league whilst he worked as an engineer in Dunstable. Sergio was a strong IM whilst he played in our league and became the first titled player to grace us with his presence. His tournament performances whilst in England can be found on Britbase here 1 showing he was rated ELO2520/240BCF that year. However, it should be pointed out that in the 1970/71 Grading List he is rated as 230, and ranked 3rd in the country.
In 1974 he went on to become Italy’s first GM, one year later in Milan he held world champion Karpov to a draw most impressively.2
I sent him an email some time back asking him what he remembered about his time in Bedfordshire. Sergio informed me that he was no longer able to remember anything about his life before his heart operation. None of his games in our league have survived.
In @ number 2 James Plaskett (B.M.S)
James Plaskett was a pupil at Bedford Modern School and showed very serious talent there. So much so that when he entered the British Championship in Ayr 78 he went and finished 2nd! He drew with the winner Jonathan Speelman and even beat former British champion Jonathan Mestel along the way 3. This is the first instance of a player based in Bedfordshire at the time defeating a former British champion. By the end of the 70s James was still untitled but winning tournaments often and ranked 14th in the country. Here 4 he is rated at ELO 2410 and retained a presence in Bedfordshire still, entering local tournaments and performing simuls according to Tom Sweby.
James left our county around the end of the decade and went onto bigger and better things. In 1981 he became an IM, then in 1985 a GM. James went on to become British Champion in 1990, becoming the only player ever to emerge from our county to do so. He played amongst the very best in the world throughout the 80s and informed me that he has plus scores against the following GMs: Plus 6 Vs Wells, Plus 2 Vs Short, Plus 2 Vs Anand, Plus 1 Vs Vaganian, Plus 1 Vs Larsen, Plus 1 Vs Kamsky, Plus 1 Vs Ivkov, Plus 1 vs Sax. A most impressive win against Anand can be found here 5
In @ number 3 Michael MacDonald-Ross (Bletchley/Milton Keynes)
I asked GM Plaskett who was the strongest player he came up against in the Beds league and he informed me it was Michael MacDonald-Ross, who for the most part played for Milton Keynes (as I remember). Obtaining information on Michael has been more difficult than I anticipated, however, he can be found participating in tournaments such as the Lloyds Bank Masters in the late 70s, which show him as rated ELO 2265 6. In his youth he encountered Luton’s hotshot from the 50’s Dennis Victor Mardle at the 1965 British Championship, the result being a draw 7. Some eleven years later Michael defeated Rising star Murray Chandler at the British 8. Formidable yes and agreed upon as one of the very strongest in our league that decade by many who faced him.
So there you have it, comparative strengths in the 70s discussed. I put quite a bit more into that than it may appear and had to consult several prominent figures within our county to get answers, so I think I got it spot on. Many thanks to Paul Habershon and GM James Plaskett for their assistance.
MJM
- https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/197012islington-viewer.html ↩︎
- https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1067879 ↩︎
- https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/197808bcf-viewer.html (please go to game 61) ↩︎
- https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/197910ramsgate-viewer.html ↩︎
- https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/198808bcf-viewer.html (please go to game 120) ↩︎
- https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/197908lloyds-viewer.html ↩︎
- https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2064348 ↩︎
- https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2280028 ↩︎
McCreadyandChess 