David Walker in 1977, with his Oudemeester trophy for player of the year |
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David Walker in 1977, with his Oudemeester trophy for player of the year |
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Although David Walker only won the Durban championship on three
occasions, from 1972 to 1974, he was widely considered as the best
player Durban had produced since the days of Jack Archer, who dominated
Durban chess in the 1930's. David's big year was 1977, when he became
only the second Durban born player to become South African Champion.
David joined the Durban Chess Club as a schoolboy in 1967, and
quickly made his mark. The following year he won the Natal Schools
championship and went on to finish 6th in the SA Schools championship.
After completing his schooling at Glenwood High School, where he was
the 1971 Dux, David commenced studying for his Bachelor of Science
degree at Natal University.
In 1972 David won the Durban championship with a picket fence 11 points
from 11 games! However, in 1973 he could only tie first with 7½ out of 10,
but subsequently defeated Gerald Boulle by 3-1 in a play-off match. David
went on to win the 1974 event comfortably, before being upstaged in 1975
by a resurgent Gerald Boulle.
In 1974 he also won the SA Junior championships, ahead of Andrew Murray, the 13-year
old chess genius Roger Schackis, Edmund Pfister (SA Schools champion), Orlando Santos
(Natal Schools champion) and B.Kaplan. His prize was the right to represent
South Africa in the World Junior championship, to be held in Hong Kong in 1975.
However, at the Nice Olympiad in July 1974, FIDE took the decision to suspend
South Africa and Rhodesia as members of FIDE, so the trip was off.
David moved to Cape Town in 1976 to work for Old Mutual, and subsequently
moved to the UK in 1995. Unfortunately he gave up competitive chess in
the early 90's before leaving South Africa. He is currently (2007) working
for a specialist IT company, providing managed Internet services.
David almost won the Natal Open and Closed titles as a schoolboy. At the
1971 event, he was the sole leader going into the last round and only
needed to draw with the White pieces against Grivainis in round 7.
Unfortunately his sharp opening backfired on him and he lost.
David won the Natal Closed title for the first and only time in 1972,
when he won the Natal Open outright. Since David became Cape domiciled
in 1976, he was not eligible for any further Closed titles. However,
he shared first place in the 1980 and 1983 Natal Opens, and won the
1982 event outright.
In 1972 David was a member of the South African students team that
competed in the World Student Team championship, held that year in
Graz, Austria. The South African team included Charles de Villiers,
Nigel Bloch, Albert Ponelis and Peter Sarnak, all very strong players.
Had it not been for politics, I am quite sure that both Walker and de
Villiers would have been awarded the International Master title.
David took part in the South African Closed championship on several
occasions, and wrote some instructive and entertaining reports for
the Club Bulletin about his experiences in 1973 and in 1975.
On his debut in 1971 David scored 5/13 (11th), followed by 4½/11 (17th)
in 1973. David made a big step up in 1975 when he came 4th with 10/15.
His best year was 1977, when he had a point lead going into the final
round. Knowing he had secured the SA Closed title David possibly relaxed
and lost to third placed man Ponelis in the last round. His final score
was 10½ (+7-1=7) so David shared the title jointly with many-times RSA
champion Charles de Villiers. The box score is at the top of this page.
The following game from 1971, against many-times Natal champion Moss
Kolnik, shows off David's early tactical talent:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Nxe5 dxe4 7.Nxc6 Qd5
8.c4 Qd6 9.Nxa7+ Bd7 10.Bxd7+ Qxd7 11.Nb5 Nf6 12.0-0 Bc5!?
(12...c6 is also played here, for example 13.Nc3 Bc5 14.d4 exd3
15.Re1+ Kf7 16.Be3 was seen in Spassky-Kholmov, USSR chp 1961.)
13.Nc3? (This move is probably wrong; White is 2 pawns ahead
and must choose the right time to return a pawn to develop his Q-side.
After 13.d4! exd3 14.Re1+ Kf7 15.Be3 White looks slightly better.)
13...0-0 14.Qe2 Rae8 15.Nd1
(Planning 16.Ne3 to cover the g2 and g4 squares. 15.h3!? stops the
immediate attack with ...Ng4 but weakens the K-side eg. 15...Qf5 16.b3 Nh5
(threat ...Ng3) 17.Qg4 Bxf2+ wins for Black. However, 15.h3 Qf5 16.b4! Bxb4
17.Rb1 gives chances to get his pieces out.)
15...Ng4 16.Ne3 Ne5 17.Rb1
(17.b4! Bxb4 18.Rb1 was a better defence, although 18...Nf3+ 19.Kh1 Bd6
surely favours Black.)
17...Nf3+! (With a winning attack. It is instructive how Walker
first targets h2, forcing a fatal light square weakness.)
18.Kh1 (18.gxf3? exf3 19.Qd1 Qh3 20.Kh1 Bd6 mates)
18...Qd6 19.g3
(19.gxf3 exf3 20.Qd1 Re4 21.Rg1 Rh4 22.Nf1 Bxf2 wins)
Kolnik,Moss - Walker,David
Natal Open Durban (6), 06.09.1971
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nd5 Bc5 5.Nxe5 Qh4! 6.Nxc7+ Kd8 (6...Kf8? 7.Nd3+-) 7.Nxc6+ dxc6 8.d4 Qxe4+ 9.Be3 Bg4! 10.Be2 Bb4+ (not 10...Qxg2? 11.dxc5+) 11.c3 Qxg2 12.Kd2 Nf6? (getting too clever; after 12...Bxe2 13.Qxe2 Kxc7 14.cxb4 Nf6 it is equal) 13.Bxg4 Ne4+ 14.Kc2 Kxc7 15.Rg1! Qxh2 16.Qf3! Bd6 17.Qxe4 Rae8 18.Qf3 (18.Qg2+- was simpler) 18...f5! 19.Bh3 f4 20.Rh1? (Churton slips in the complications, attempting to trap the Black Queen; better was 20.Rxg7+ Kb8 21.Bd2+-)
1.g3 e5 2.Bg2 d5 3.d3 g6 4.c4 dxc4 5.Qa4+ c6 6.Qxc4 Bg7 7.Nf3 Ne7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nbd2 Be6 10.Qc2 h6 11.Nc4 Qc7 12.Bd2 Nd7 13.Rac1 Rac8 14.b4 f5 15.a4 g5 16.Ne1?! (This looks very strange, but the problem with 16.b5? is that 16...cxb5 17.axb5 e4 undermines the Nc4. Perhaps 16.Na3!? then 17.b5 was better.) 16...f4 17.b5 c5 (17...cxb5 18.axb5 Nb6 19.Ba5 gets nothing.) 18.a5 b6 19.Ra1 (Tempting Black's central pawns forward, in order to attack them later, is quite risky. Connecting the Rooks with 19.Nf3 was safer.) 19...e4(The critical position, where Macfarlane goes astray.)
