1967 Havering Women's International, Romford, 25 August - 1 September

1967 Havering Women's International		Fed	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
1	Nona Gaprindashvili	USSR	&;	½	½	1	1	1	1	1	6
2	Elisabeta Polihroniade	ROU	½	&;	1	½	½	1	1	½	5
3	Katarina Jovanovic	YUG	½	0	&;	½	1	½	1	1	4½
4	Elaine Pritchard	ENG	0	½	½	&;	1	1	1	½	4½
5	Eva Karakas	HUN	0	½	0	0	&;	1	0	1	2½
6	Corry Vreeken	NED	0	0	½	0	0	&;	1	½	2
7	Elfriede Rinder	FRG	0	0	0	0	1	0	&;	1	2
8	Rowena M Bruce	ENG	0	½	0	½	0	½	0	&;	1½

BCM, October 1967, ppn 295-296

The Ladies International Tournament at Havering

Bv H. GOLOMBEK

This historic event, the first Ladies International Tournament ever to be held in this country, took place at St. Edward's Church of England School in the London Road, Romford, from August 25th to September 1st. Sponsored by the Havering Arts Council which provided generous financial support in the shape of £1,000, the event was part of the Havering Arts Festival which extended from September 1st to September 25th and included all the arts—music, poetry, ballet, painting, etc.

The organizers were fortunate in securing the participation of the Woman World Champion, Nona Gaprindashvili, who had indeed shown her powers earlier in the year by winning a much longer tournament above all the world's best lady players. The other piayers from abroad were Miss Katrina Jovanovic from Yugoslavia, Mrs. Eva Karakas (Hungary), Mrs. E. Polihroniade (Roumania), Mrs. Friedl Rinder (West Germany), and Mrs. M. C. Vreeken (Holland).

Two things were apparent from the start: one that Nona was far and away the best of the competitors and the other, alas, that of the two ladies competing from home, Mrs. Bruce and Mrs. Pritchard, the former was woefully out of form. Mrs. Bruce had, indeed, tied for the British Ladies Championship with Miss Dobson, only a week earlier at Oxford and it may well be that the resulting reaction from the strain of a two-week tournament had left her tired for the present event.

As some compensation for this Mrs. Pritchard was playing well, though still not, I think, quite as well as her known powers would warrant us to expect.

In any case it was the Woman World Champion who rightly held the attention of the spectators. Never in difficulties, always incisive and overflowing with combinational ideas, the extent to which she dominated the tournament can be seen from the table—Mrs. Polihroniade played steadily but she was not in the same class as the World Champion and I believe both Mrs. Pritchard and Miss Jovanovic are on their day the better players. After the top four there was a distinct drop in the score which in fact justly reflected the disparity in play.

The venue was an excellent one, well worthy of an international tournament and the tournament controller, Laurie Glyde, operated with a calm and tranquil efficiency that was ideal for the purpose.

Now that, as it were, the ice has been broken, can we hope that the Arts Council will continue the policy of supporting international chess tournaments in this country and enable us to restore England to the position she held in the nineteenth century as a centre of world chess? In this connection the Arts Council should realize that the returns it may receive in the shape of international cultural prestige—yes, and goodwill—will be commensurate to the financial aid they are prepared to grant.

This having been said, let me come back to the pure chess point of view and consider what most interests me in the Havering event, namely, the play of the World Champion. Still young, she obviously has great potentialities and should continue to improve. Her style already has become more solid than it was a couple of years ago, whilst it still bristles, as it did then, with sharp combinational points. Two examples from the Havering event will show what I mean. The first is a forceful combinational game from Round 3— [Gaprindashvili - Rinder]

The second, from Round 5, is a mature, positional victory culminating in a most devastating blow— [Gaprindashvili - Pritchard]

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File Updated

Date	Notes
2 May 2006	Original upload of 28 games as a zipped PGN
21 September 2025	Added a crosstable and magazine report.