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| Chess by Malcolm Pein of the Daily Telegraph   Malcolm Pein writes for the Daily Telegraph (telegraph.co.uk)
you can read his chess columns along with those of Nigel Short and David
Norwood at their new
Chess
Club (to read the columns you need to register which is free).
Round 4 31st December 2003 Vladimir Epishin joined Vasilios Kotronias at the head of the Hastings Premier after another entertaining day's play at the Horntye Sports Centre. Kotronias was frustrated by the fourteen year old Ukrainian prodigy Katerina Lahno who scored her second draw while Epishin did not do much but did it very well and let Stuart Conquest self destruct in time trouble. Lahno's second draw came through more careful defence in the endgame with white in the Sicilian Defence and the youngster again avoided any errors in a simplified position making sure her only pawn weakness was well defended. Scottish number one Jonathan Rowson gave a fine illustration of the strategy of the Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation in which white gives up bishop for knight on move four to damage the black pawn structure. The usual outcome is a 4-3 pawn majority for white on the kingside while Black's pawn majority on the other side is stymied because of doubled 'c' pawns. Rowson coolly exchanged all the pieces to reach a bishop and pawn endgame in which he could make a passed pawn while Gormally could not. With accurate technique this advantage proved decisive and the Scot won on move 52. Mark Hebden seemed close to victory against Alexander Cherniaev whose king looked precariously placed on the queenside but in his opponent's time trouble Hebden went wrong and a draw was agreed. Visitors to the congress can compete in events for all strengths and there is daily commentary on the Premier games from GM Chris Ward. The tournament continues until January 5th Round four results: Epishin 1-0 Conquest King's Indian Classical, 36 moves; Hebden draw Cherniaev, Dutch Defence 2.Bg5, 31; Rowson 1-0 Gormally, Ruy Lopez Exchange, 52; Nielsen 0-1 Kunte, Catalan, 60; Lahno draw Kotronias, Sicilian Richter Rauzer 46; Scores: 1-2 Kotronias (Cyprus) Epishin (Russia) 3/4; 3-4 Rowson (Scotland) Hebden (England) 2.5; 5-7 Kunte (India), Nielsen (Denmark), Cherniaev (Russia) 2; 8-10 Conquest (England), Lahno (Ukraine), Gormally (England) 1; A Stewart Reuben mentions in his excellent daily commentary, Bent Larsen once said that for chess to be a spectator sport no player should resign until the reason is apparent. Doubtless some readers will wonder why Gormally gave up on move 52 below. The position is lost; the Kg6 cannot move because it has to defend h5, the h5 pawn cannot take on g4 because this would allow the h4 pawn to advance and the bishop on e1 is tied to that square because it is preventing the white king from heading to the queenside via g3. With the black king forced to remain on guard against the 'h' pawn a king march from White will pick up more pawns, see line b} below. Rowson,J (2541) - Gormally,D (2471) [C69] Premier Hastings ENG (4), 31.12.2003 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0 f6 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 c5 8.Ne2 Qxd1 9.Rxd1 Bd7 10.Nbc3 0-0-0 11.Be3 b6 12.a4 a5 13.Rd2 Bd6 14.Rad1 Bc6 15.Bf4 Be7 16.Nd5 Bxd5 17.Rxd5 Rxd5 18.Rxd5 Bd8 19.Nc3 Ne7 20.Rd2 Ng6 21.Bg3 h5 22.h4 Rf8 23.Rd5 f5 24.Rxf5 Rxf5 25.exf5 Ne7 26.f6 gxf6 27.Ne2 Ng6  28.Nf4 Nxf4 29.Bxf4 Kd7 30.f3 Ke6 [ 30...c4 31.Kf2 Ke6 32.Ke3 Kd5 ( 32...f5 33.Bg5) 33.g4 wins.] 31.c4 f5 32.g3 c6 33.Kg2 b5 34.b3 bxc4 35.bxc4 Bf6 36.Bd2 Bd8 37.Bc3 Bc7 38.Kh3 Kf7 39.Bd2 Kg6 40.Be3 Bd6 41.Bg5 Be5 42.Be7 Bd4 43.Bd8 Bc3 44.Bb6 Bb4 45.g4 Bc3 46.Bxc5 Be1 47.Bd6 Bc3 48.Bc7 fxg4+ 49.fxg4 Be1 50.Bd8 Kh6 51.Be7 Kg6 52.Bg5  [ 52.Bg5 Bc3 53.Kg3 Be1+ 54.Kf3 Bc3 55.Bd8 Be1 56.gxh5+ Kxh5 57.Ke4 Bc3 58.Kf5 and Ke6 wins] 1-0 Epishin,V (2658) - Conquest,S (2545) [E91] Premier Hastings ENG (4), 31.12.2003 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 Bg4 7.Be3 Nfd7 8.0-0 Nc6 9.g3 Nb6 10.b3 e6 11.Rc1 d5 12.cxd5 exd5 13.exd5 Ne7 14.Bg5 f6 15.Bd2 Nbxd5 16.Nxd5 Nxd5 17.Ne1 Bxe2 18.Qxe2 Qd6 19.Qc4 Kh8 20.Nd3 Rad8 21.Rfe1 c6 22.Nc5 Nb6 23.Qe2 Rf7 24.Bf4 Qd5 25.a4 g5 26.Bd2 Qf5 27.Ne6 Rg8 28.a5 Nd5 29.a6 Bh6 30.axb7 Rxb7 31.Rxc6 Nf4 32.Nxf4 gxf4 33.Qe6 Qxe6 34.Rcxe6 Rxb3 35.Rxf6 Bg5 36.Rf5  In the final position lack is losing the f4 pawn. 1-0 |
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