In 1972, after Slater had saved the Bobby Fischer versus Boris Spassky world championship match from collapse by doubling the prize fund, he offered £5,000 to the first English grandmaster (who wound up being Miles), and £2,000 to the next four players to qualify. Barden worked out the detailed terms, and wrote the speech at Hastings where Slater announced the awards. Encouraged by success, Barden and Slater then agreed on a wider programme to stimulate talent at much younger ages, aiming to produce a generation which could compete with the Soviet Union, the world's leading chess nation.