Swedish International Master Bengt Hammar became the latest overseas chess celebrity to visit our shores, and the Power Pawns Chess Club of the Barbados Light & Power Company Ltd was able to host his simultaneous chess display against many of the Club’s leading

players as well as visitors to the club.  Born in Sweden in 1942, Bengt Hammar learnt chess at  the age of around 7 years. He played seriously from age 14. In 1960 he shared first place in the Swedish Junior chess tournament, winning the beauty prize (a chess clock) in that tournament. He was Captain in 1977 of the Swedish Chess League, and a coach to both men and women’s teams. He was the 1974 Swedish Blitz champion, and shared that Championship in 1975, while being the runner-up in 1976 and 1977.   Most unusually, he was not only the Champion of the fastest form of chess but also became the Swedish Correspondence Chess Champion (the slowest form of play) as well in 1976.  He went on to gain his International Master title and his highest FIDE rating was around 2460.  He also hosted a TV program (Chess with Bengt Hammar) which was aired in Sweden on the last Monday of every month in the 1980’s.   In all he has represented his country at three Olympiads and three Correspondence Olympiads.

One of his favourite memories is that at the Lucerne Olympiad (Switzerland) in 1982, the Swedish team was doing so well (it was known at the time as “The Dream Team”) that he was interviewed by the World number one Garry Kasparov.

Pawns were partying, Rooks were rocking, Bishops were boxing, and Knights were knifing in the clash of The Power Pawns Chess Club versus Swedish International Master (IM) Bengt Hammar on 25th February, 2005 at the Garrison's Chess Court.  When the smoke cleared, out of nine games played, highly commendable draws had been obtained by Mr. Sylester Niles, Mr. Wayne Gaskin, and Dr. Philip Corbin of the Power Pawns Chess Club, with those suffering defeats from the club being Corrie Harris, Victor Callendar, Stephen Daniel and Vernon Griffith.

Even more commendably, upset victories were registered by two visiting players, i.e. the Sagicor Open Junior Champion,  Lodge student Martyn Del Castilho and outgoing Barbados Chess Federation (BCF) President Dr. David Jordan.   The newly elected BCF President,

The following is a game which Hammar played at the age of 18 in the course of sharing first place in the Swedish Junior Chess Championship, which won the Beauty Prize in that tournament (B. Hammar - P. Berjstrom, 1960): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6

5.0-0 Ne4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.de Be6 9.Qe2 Na5 10.Nd2 c5 11.Ne4 de 12.Be6 ef3 13.Bf7+! Kf7 14.Qf3+ Ke8 15.Rd1 Qc8 16.e6 Qb7 17.Rd5!! Rd8 18.Rd8+ Kd8 19.Bg5+ Ke8 20.Rd1 Nc6 21.Qc6+!! Qc6 22.Rd8 mate.

The victory by Martyn Del Castilho was the best game of the simul; it ran: M. Del Castilho - B. Hammar:

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.a4 Qc7 8.Be2 e6 9.0-0 b6 10.f4 Bb7 11.Bf3 Rc8 12.Kh1 Be7 13.Qe1 0-0 14.Qg3 Kh8 15.Rae1 Rfe8 16.e5 Ng8? (better was Nd5)17.ed! Bd6 18.Ndb5!! ab 19.Nb5 Qb8 20.Bb7 Rc2 21.Be4! (threat Bc2 as well as Qd3) Rb2 22.Qc3! Rb5 (22..Ra2 loses to 23.Bb1! Ra4 24.Qc2!) 23.ab h6 24.Bh4 Bf4 25.Bc6! Rc8 26.Qd4 Ne5 27.Qf4 Nc6 28.bc Qf4 29.Rf4 g5 30.Rf7 gh 31.c7 Resigns.