Adams, Short and Howell to play in British Championship

Home » IM Malcolm Pein » Adams, Short and Howell to play in British Championship

British Championships 2011 (Entries)

Adams, Short and Howell to play in British Championship

IM Malcolm Pein - Monday 27th June 2011

Sponsorship from Darwin Strategic has encouraged three of the top British players to return to the championships which take place in Sheffield.

The British Chess Championships will be one of the strongest domestic events for a decade thanks to support from Darwin Strategic. ECF President CJ de Mooi promised the tournament would be upgraded last year and he has succeeded in his aim.

Entrants include England number one Michael Adams and former world title challenger Nigel Short. England internationals David Howell, Nick Pert and Stuart Conquest have also declared. In total, eleven Grandmasters and six International Masters have already entered.

The two-week long competition will be staged at Ponds Forge Sports Centre in Sheffield and there are competitions for all ages from the under eight to the veterans tournament. For those who prefer not to exert themselves over the board, I can highly recommend Andrew Martin's daily commentary. The leading players often come to the commentary room afterwards and there is no charge for what is always an entertaining and instructive afternoon.

For more information contact the ECF on 01424 775222 or see www.englishchess.org.uk

The Ukrainian Championship, recently completed, was also the strongest for many years and had all the country's leading players except Vassily Ivanchuk. Eight of the twelve players were rated in the world's top 100. The tournament was a triumph for Ruslan Ponomariov who defeated his main rival Alexander Moiseenko with black in a last round game of huge complexity. Today's first puzzle is from the event.

E Miroshnichenko - S Vysochin

English Opening Botvinnik System

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 h6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.e4 Bxc3 6.bxc3 0-0 7.Ne2 Re8 8.0-0 c6 9.a4 b6

(9...d5!?)

10.f4!

(Sacrificing a pawn to open lines of attack before Black has developed)

10...exf4 11.Nxf4 Nxe4 12.d3 Nf6 13.Nh5! Nxh5 14.Qxh5 Qe7 15.Bf4 Na6

(15...Qc5+ 16.Qxc5 bxc5 17.Rae1 Rd8 18.Bc7 Rf8 19.Bd6 Rd8 20.Re7 with an overwhelming position)

16.Bd6 Qe3+ 17.Kh1 g6 18.Qh4 Bb7 19.Bf4 g5

S Vysochin

E Miroshnichenko

Position after 19...g5. White to play

Answer: 20.Qxh6!!

gave White a winning attack

20...gxf4 21.Rxf4 Qe6 22.Qh5! Kf8

(Black's pieces are too far away 22...Nc5 23.Raf1 Re7 24.Rg4+ Kf8 25.Qh8#

23.Raf1 Ke7 24.Re4 Rf8 25.Rxe6+ fxe6 26.Qh4+ Kd6 27.Qd4+ Kc7 28.Qe5+ d6 29.Qg7+ 1-0

England's greatest expert on this opening system is Tony Kosten. This game has certain similarities to the one from Ukraine. Perhaps plans with d7-d6 make it hard to generate counterplay

A Kosten - L D'Costa

4NCL 2008

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 h6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.e4 Bxc3 6.bxc3 0-0 7.Ne2 d6 8.0-0 Nc6 9.h3 Nh7 10.d3 Rb8 11.f4 exf4 12.Nxf4 Ne7 13.Rb1 Bd7 14.Rb2! a6 15.Rbf2 b5 16.c5! Bc6

(16...dxc5 17.Be3 c4 18.dxc4 bxc4? 19.Rd2)

17.cxd6 cxd6 18.Qb3 Qd7 19.Be3 a5 20.a3 Ng5 21.h4 Ne6 22.Nh5

(Threat Bxh6 gxh6 Nf6+)

22...Qb7 23.Bh3 Bd7 24.Qd1 Ng6 25.Bf5 Nc5 26.Bxh6!

(Also 26.Nxg7 Kxg7 27.Qh5 Rh8 28.Bxg6 fxg6 29.Rf7+ Kg8 30.Qxg6#)

26...gxh6 27.Qd2 Bxf5 28.Rxf5 Kh7

Loren D'Costa