The best game prize

Offering best game prizes is now a thing of the past. It is both a victim of the increased computerisation of chess ('Engine says no!'), and the modesty of most chess players. This wasn't always so.
During the recent Australian Championship I was tasked with a bit of detective work. Steven Hemsley asked me if I could find a game of hist from the early 1990's. It was played in a Correspondence Chess event, and it won a best game prize for Category 4 players. I did a bit of digging in my random boxes of old chess magazines, and discovered it in 1995 edition of Australian Correspondence Chess Quarterly. Also of interest was that it was one of half a dozen games that had been submitted in that category, and that 36 games were submitted across all sections. Unfortunately numbers in subsequent years fell from this level, until the CCLA decided to stop giving Best game prizes a few years ago.


Hemsley,Steven - Sutton,J [B09]
QT C CCLA, 1993

1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. f4 Nf6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Bd3 Na6 7. O-O c5 8. d5 Rb8 9. Kh1 Nb4 10. Bc4 e6 11. a3 Na6 12. dxe6 Bxe6 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14. e5 dxe5 15. Qe2 Nc7 16. fxe5 Nd7 17. Bg5 Qe8 18. Rad1 h6 19. Bh4 b5 20. Ne4 g5 21. Bg3 Nd5 22. Nf6+ Bxf6 23. exf6 Rd8 24. f7+ Rxf7 25. Rfe1 Nf8 26. Ne5 Rf5 27. Ng4 Kh7 28. Qd3 Qc6 29. Ne5 Qb7 30. Qe4 Qg7 31. c4 bxc4 32. Qc2 Kg8 33. Nxc4 Qf7 34. h3 Qh7 35. Qb3 Qe7 36. Ne5 Qe8 37. Qb7 a5 38. Qa7 Qb5 39. Ng4 Rd7 40. Qa8 Kh7 41. Qe8 Qb3 42. Rxd5 Qxd5 43. Qh5 Rdf7 44. Qxh6+ Kg8 45. Be5 Nh7 46. Kh2 Rxe5 47. Rxe5 Qd6 48. Qxe6 Qxe6 49. Rxe6 Rb7 50. Rc6 Rb5 51. a4 1-0