British Championships 2010 (Preview)
British Championship start today
IM Malcolm Pein - Monday 26th July 2010
Malcolm Pein on the 2010 British Championships that start today.
The British Championships begin this afternoon at the University of Kent in Canterbury. England number one Michael Adams is the clear favourite, as the list of leading players below shows. ECF President CJ De Mooi is to be congratulated for securing Adams' participation and I understand he may be improving next year's field even more. Readers are invited to attend, either to play, or to spectate and I can heartily recommend the daily commentary which takes place each afternoon until Friday 6th August, except for Sunday August 1st which is a rest day.
GM Michael Adams 2706
GM Stephen Gordon, 2534
GM Stuart Conquest, 2523
GM Simon Williams, 2511
GM Peter Wells, 2488
GM Keith Arkell, 2465
IM Richard Pert, 2460
IM Andrew Greet, 2451
IM Jovanka Houska, 2433
GM Aaron Summerscale, 2428
Jonathan Hawkins, 2423
Alexei Slavin, 2417 (Russia)
IM Adam Hunt, 2408
IM Thomas Rendle, 2391
IM Richard Bates, 2382
IM Paul Littlewood, 2361
IM Christopher Baker, 2307
Sadly neither of these players will be at Canterbury. Howell will not defend. This was one of the best games from last year.
D Howell - R Palliser
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.Bxf6 gxf6 4.e3 c5 5.dxc5 e6 6.Nd2 Bxc5 7.g3 Nc6 8.Ne2 d4!? 9.exd4 Qd5
10.dxc5! Qxh1 11.Nc3
(White intends Nce4-d6+ and Qd1-h5 followed by 0-0-0)
11...Qxh2 12.Nde4 0-0
(12...Qh6 13.Qd6 f5 14.Nd5 f6 15.Be2 exd5 16.Bh5+ Qxh5 17.Nxf6+ wins but 15...Kf7! Defends)
13.Qd2 Rd8 14.Nxf6+ Kh8 15.Qg5!
(Threat Rd1 undermining g8)
15...h6
16.Qg4 Qh1 17.Rd1 Rxd1+ 18.Nxd1 Bd7!! 19.Ne3
(19.Nxd7 Rd8 20.Nf6 Ne5 21.Qe4 Nf3+ 22.Ke2 Ng1+= is the clever point of Black's 16th)
19...Ne5 20.Qf4 Nf3+ 21.Ke2 Rd8
(21...Bc6 22.Bg2 Qe1+ 23.Kd3 Rd8+ wins so 21...Bc6 22.Nfg4 Rf8 23.Qf6+ Kh7 24.Qe7 Kg7 25.Qf6+ =)
22.Bg2 Ng1+
(22...e5!! 23.Bxh1 exf4 24.Bxf3 fxe3 25.Bxb7 exf2 26.Kxf2 White is better)
23.Kf1! Qh2 24.Nfg4 1-0
