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1947 Netherlands v Great Britain, 5-6 April, Amsterdam

Bd	Netherlands	Rd 1	Rd 2	Great Britain
1	Lodewijk Prins	0-1	½-½	C Hugh O'D Alexander
2	Theo D van Scheltinga	1-0	0-1	Harry Golombek
3	Haije Kramer	0-1	0-1	Sir George Thomas
4	Nicolaas Cortlever	1-0	1-0	Gerald Abrahams
5	George Schelto Fontein	0-1	½-½	Gabriel Jacquin Wood
6	Johannes H O van den Bosch	1-0	0-1	P Stuart Milner-Barry
7	Willem Jan Mühring	0-1	½-½	Reginald Joseph Broadbent
8	Pieter Hendrik Pruijt	0-1	0-1	William Ritson Morry
9	Leonard Johan Tummers	½-½	0-1	Gordon Thomas Crown
10	Carel Benjamin van den Berg	1-0	½-½	Baruch H Wood
	Amsterdam	4½-5½	3-7	Round scores
	5-6 April 1947	7½-12½		Total scores

BCM, May 1947, ppn 153-155

THE ANGLO-DUTCH MATCH [author unknown - possibly BCM editor Julius du Mont?]

The result of the fourth annual 10-a-side match between England and Holland was a victory for England by 12½-7½ and they now lead in the series by 2-1 with 1 drawn. England had White on the odd boards in the first round and the detailed results were [as above].

Time limit: 45 moves in the first hours and 18 moves an hour thereafter. The early stages of the match gave no indication of what the final result was to be. The first game finished was Cortlever-Abrahams on Board 4; in the Rubinstein variation of the 4 Knights Abrahams gave an injudicious check resulting in a serious loss of time from which he was never allowed to recover, Cortlever winning in fine attacking style.

B. H. Wood unwisely won a pawn at the expense of development on Board 10 and was summarily demolished: van den Bosch on Board 6 won an excellent game against Milner-Barry in an unusual variation of the Morphy Defence to the Lopez.

To set against these defeats we had only a victory by Broadbent (making his score 7 out of 7 in these encounters) on Board 7: it must be a matter of great astonishment to the Dutch that we do not play Broadbent No. 1. (These four games all appear in this month's Games Section.)

Crown on No. 9 drew a well-played game with Tummers—the youngest member of the Dutch team—a curious finish in. which, with most of the pieces on the board, neither side could find anything better than a repetition of moves. These 5 games were all that were finished at the adjournment (after 5 hours' play) and Holland led 3½-1½).

Immediately on resumption Golombek resigned, making the score 1½-4½. Playing the Indian Defence he had equalized the position and succeeded in playing ...f5: he had the opportunity of advancing this Pawn further to f4 with a good game, but unwisely exchanged on e4—after this he got an unfavourable ending through having his KB shut in behind a chain of pawns on the same colour, and van Scheltinga broke through on the Q side and forced the win.

England, however, had the advantage in all the remaining games and the score steadily improved. First Ritson-Morry won an ending against Pruyt which had looked a dead draw earlier on—an excellent performance (see Games Section). Shortly afterwards, Thomas and Alexander won their games. Thomas had worked up considerable middle-game pressure against the slow form of the Morphy Defence and Kramer had been forced to simplify into a rather unfavourable Rook ending: Sir George gradually increased his advantage and won a very good game. Prins against Alexander had played an inferior form of the Hungarian Defence and early got a very cramped position; Alexander missed a clear win but retained command of the position and Prins, under severe pressure, made a slip, losing a pawn, after which the resulting minor-piece ending was fairly straightforward.

This made the score 4½-4½ and G. Wood's game against Fontein after 8 hours' play was left for adjudication. Wood had built up a fine attacking position in the early middle game and Fontein had sacrificed the exchange to ward off the worst. After this he defended stubbornly and Wood had to return the exchange for a pawn to make any headway (compare Milner-Barry v. Schenk, April "British Chess Magazine"). The position was, however, clearly lost for Fontein and so England won the round, 5½-4½.

Round 2

The first game finished in the second round was again that of the luckless Abrahams, who was obviously out of form. He failed to make anything of the Wing gambit attack, but had no need to lose the resulting ending if he had realized in time that he ought to be trying to draw it.

This made the score 5½-5½ all, but it was Holland's last success, and England now went steadily ahead. On Board 3 Thomas won another fine game against Kramer (see Games Section), Milner-Barry took an ample revenge against van den Bosch, getting all the better of the middle-game complications and coming out a piece ahead, and Ritson-Morry, operating entirely from the back two ranks, undermined Pruyt's centre and emerged suddenly from his entrenchments with devastating effect.

Tummers played weakly against Crown's K. Indian and after liquidation of the centre following P—KB4 by both sides, Crown was left commanding the board with his major pieces and a direct attack against the exposed White King speedily settled matters. G. Wood drew a dull game with Fontein and this made the score 10-6 with the games on Boards 1,2, 7 and 10 unfinished at the adjournment. B. H. Wood's game was a dead draw—B v. Kt with a completely blocked pawn position—and this was agreed, so the match was won and the remaining results merely affected the margin of victory. Broadbent had rather the better of his ending with Mühring but it was not possible to win it, so his long sequences of victories was at last broken.

This left only the top two games, in which Golombek was clearly winning on Board 2 and Prins was pressing Alexander very hard on Board 1. Golombek had played a Reti against van Scheltinga: the latter advanced in the centre and on the King's side, thus creating weaknesses in his pawn structure which Golombek exploited in typical style, ultimately winning a pawn. As so often happens, his KB on Kt2 dominated the game—he retained it right through the Rook and minor-piece ending and when adjudication was reached the game was quite lost for van Scheltinga—a very good win.

Prins, by chance or malice aforethought, had played the Catalan against Alexander—the opening above all others which Alexander hates defending—and after six moves had him in the gravest difficulties. Alexander defended tenaciously and after a very anxious period equalized the game: he then somewhat over-rated his chances and attempted to win, whereupon he at once found himself again struggling for the draw. An interesting ending ensued in which Prins had R and 3 P's against R and Kt but was just unable to win, and on adjudication the game was a clear draw. (Game will appear in June "British Chess Magazine.")

This was an excellent match, played in the friendliest spirit and in most agreeable surroundings, and productive of some very good chess. No game was decided by a blunder and I think it would be true to say that in every case the result was a fair reflection of the play. Sir George Thomas probably played the best chess of the match, Ritson-Morry did very well to win his two games and Crown made a most promising start in international chess; on the Dutch side Cortlever took full advantage of Abraham's lapses, van den Bosch played one very good game against Milner-Barry and Prins was perhaps rather unlucky only to get half a point against Alexander. Undoubtedly Holland were handicapped by the absence of Dr. Euwe, but my impression is that we would probably just have won the match even if he had been able to play. Many thanks to our Dutch hosts for their—as always—lavish kindness and hospitality and we will do our best to stop them revenging themselves next year.

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CHESS, May 1947, Vol.12/140, p227

BRITISH TRIUMPH

Three England-Holland matches were played before the war [plus two before WW1 - JS]; there was never more than a point in it and the teams finished dead level on aggregate games. By winning 12½-7½, after once being three points behind, our players confirmed the new strength of British Chess already established in the U.S.S.R. radio match and at Hastings. Dr. Euwe was absent from the Dutch team but so were three Champions—Combe, Winter and Fairhurst—from the British.

Memorable features were—

The wonderful hospitality received from the Royal Dutch Chess Federation and the spirit of sportsmanship which pervaded the match throughout, three games being adjudicated in harmony.

The glorious end to Broadbent's record in these events—he scored his seventh successive win in the first round but could only draw in the second.

Young Crown's fine point-and-a-half and the sangfroid with which he accepted a draw by repetition of moves in the first round.

Morry's finding a forced win in an ending universally regarded as a draw, to give us our slender first-round lead.

Record of GB v Netherlands matches

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File Updated

Date	Notes
24 September 2025	First BritBase upload. 19 complete games plus 1 stub (Wood ½-½ vd Berg, rd 2.10).