The Mieses–Pomar Match

London, early 1946

The Occasion

Early in 1946 Arturo Pomar played in a tournament in London. The Hague paper De nieuwe Nederlander wrote of it in April that it had taken up far more space in the English press than Hastings, although the two tournaments were of about equal standing. In its judgement the difference lay solely in the presence of a prodigy at London. Pomar, born on 1 September 1931 in Palma de Mallorca, was fourteen. Prins wrote of him that his well-earned place among so many experienced masters was a sensation.

Mieses had himself played at Hastings in January 1946. He was the only surviving participant of the 1895 tournament with which the series had begun fifty years earlier.

When the two met at the Gambit Chess Rooms is not recorded. Two markers bracket the date. De nieuwe Nederlander places the two games after the London tournament, and the earliest known printing of the surviving game appeared on 16 March 1946 in De Groene Amsterdammer. Mieses, born on 27 February 1865, was therefore either eighty or eighty-one, depending on where in that window the match falls. The three columns that printed the game give his age as 81, 81 and 82.

The Nieuwsblad van het Noorden described the encounter as a meeting between the youngest and the oldest chess master in the world.

The Match

None of the sources records which game was played first. Only one of the two has been found, the loss by Mieses with White. That the other was drawn follows from the final score; no report of it survives.

This was not the last of Mieses’ matches. In July 1946 a match against Willem Schelfhout followed in Amsterdam, which ended 2–2.

The Surviving Game

Lodewijk Prins thought the outcome still open after 34.h4 or 34.Kg2. His explanation for the loss stands in the note to move 26:

"That Pomar nevertheless wins the game, and so quickly, must be put down to the fatigue of his very aged opponent."

A Textual Note

The three printings of the game disagree at move 29. De Groene Amsterdammer gives the black king move as Kf8–e8. The black king was in fact on g8, so neither the departure square nor the destination can be right. The Nieuwsblad van het Noorden and the Zutphensch dagblad both have Kg8–f8; of the two readings that have come down to us, only this one is legal. The PGN file follows it.

The complete score has been checked for legality with python-chess. It runs through without objection and ends in mate after 70 plies.

Open Questions

• The exact date of the match is unknown. All that is established is that it took place after the London tournament and before 16 March 1946.
• The order of the two games is not documented.
• The second game has not been found. Whether it was recorded at all is an open question.

Anyone able to add to any of these points, particularly from the British or Spanish chess press of 1946, is warmly invited to get in touch via the imprint.

Sources

• De Groene Amsterdammer, weekblad voor Nederland, vol. 70, no. 11, 16 March 1946, p. 7, column "schaken", signed L. Prins. The judgement translated above reads in the original: "Dat Pomar de partij toch, en zoo snel, wint moet aan vermoeidheid van zijn hoogbejaarden tegenstander worden toegeschreven."
• Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, 23 April 1946, chess column of the Noordelijke Schaakbond.
• De nieuwe Nederlander, The Hague, vol. 1, no. 288, 20 April 1946, p. 7, chess column "Het schaakwonderkind Arturito Pomar. Zijn loopbaan en prestaties".
• Zutphensch dagblad, 18 May 1946, column by A. van Steenis.
• D. J. Morgan, Quotes and Queries 3744, British Chess Magazine, September and October 1976.

All four Dutch papers are available through Delpher.

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