The Unknown Derek Oldbury

COLUMN NUMBER 45

Problem Number 45: By Thomas Biggs

White to move and win; a neat composition by a great player

Solution To Problem Number 44: ... 15-19; 24-28 12-8; 3-12 20-16; 22-17 13-9; 5-14 19-24; 12-19 24-13. White wins.

Game Number 45. 'Kelso' Opening

Digging into the archives, I recently came across the following game, which was contested long before either player had made the headlines.

Black: E. C. Whiting (Rotherham); White: D. Oldbury (Bournemouth). By correspondence. Move: 10-15 24-20; 6-10 28-24; 1-6 23-19 (nowadays 23-18 is usual, but was unknown to us at that time); 15-18 22-15; 11-18 32-28 (for 26-22 see Game Number 25); 10-14 25-22; 18-25 29-22; 8-11 27-23 (textbooks gave this move to be a dead loss; to me it looked okay); 4-8 22-18; 14-17 (said to kill White�s game, which no doubt my opponent was happy to do) 21-14; 6-10 30-25 (a short while previous to this game being played, a youngster named Walter Hellman � now an ex-world champion � had tried out 31-27, ending in a Black win); 10-17 25-21; 2-6 21-14; 6-10 (it looked bad for me at this stage) 31-27; 10-17 18-14; 9-18 23-14 Forms Diagram: Black to move

Continue: 17-21 26-22 (it�s a mirage!); 21-25 19-16; 12-19 24-15; 11-18 22-15. Drawn.