Michael Adams wins British title with a round to spare

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British Championships 2010 (10)

Michael Adams wins British title with a round to spare

IM Malcolm Pein - Saturday 7th August 2010

Malcolm Pein reports on Michael Adams' easy win in Round 10 of the British to win the title with a round to go.

Adams made short work of Simon Williams in Round 10. Photo © Dave Clayton.

Adams made short work of Simon Williams in Round 10. Photo © Dave Clayton. | http://www.britishchess2010.com/

England number one Michael Adams secured the British Chess Championship title with a round to spare, with his eighth victory at Canterbury. Adams first victory was in 1989 when he was just 17.

Adams reached 9/10 by defeating Simon Williams with relative ease. Williams was black and weakened his position early on. Adams has been nicknamed 'The Spider' and he weaved his web to such effect, the game only lasted 27 moves, when a black rook was snared on the edge of the board.

Adams is two points clear of the field with one to play and so the battle is on for second place. In reality the battle for second has been going on since the tournament began.

The Pert twins, IM Richard and GM Nick both won to join GM Stephen Gordon and IM Adam Hunt on seven points.

Adams has been in a different class, which is not wholly surprising but the favourites do not always dominate like this. Adams' last outing was 8.5/9 at the Turkish League Championship and he has been gaining so many rating points he is up to seventeen in the world rankings.

Leading scores: 1 Adams 8/9

2-5 Hunt, Gordon, N Pert, R Pert 7

6-13 Houska, Hawkins, Griffiths, Slavin, S Williams, Wells, Conquest 6

M Adams - S Williams

Sicilian Defence

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 g6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bg7 9.f3 0-0 10.Be3

(10.0-0 Rc8 11.b3 d5!=)

10...Rc8

11.b3 e6 12.Rc1 d5?!

(Mistimed)

13.e5 Ne8 14.cxd5 exd5

(14...Bxe5 15.dxe6 fxe6 and e6 is very weak)

15.f4 Nc6 16.0-0

(Black has two passive minor pieces and a weak d5 pawn)

16...Nc7 17.Nxc6 bxc6 18.Ne4! Ne8 19.Nc5 Qe7 20.Nd3 Qe6 21.Qf3 a5 22.Nc5 Qe7 23.Bf2 Rab8 24.Qh3! f5

(24...Nc7 25.Nd7 Rb7 26.Nf6+ Bxf6 27.Qxc8+)

25.Qc3 Ra8 26.Na4

(White dominates the queenside to such an extent he wins material)

26...Ra6 27.Qd3 1-0

Simon Williams

Michael Adams

Position after 27.Qd3

27... Raa8 28.Nb6 and 27.Qd3 Nc7 28.Nb6 Rb8 29.Rxc6 are both lost for Black.

A more active plan for Black is 10...Nc6 11.0-0 Rac8 12.b3 e6 13.Rc1 Rfd8 14.Qd2 d5 15.exd5 exd5 16.c5? Nxd4! 17.Bxd4 Ne4! 18.Qe3 Nxc5 19.Rcd1 Bxd4 20.Rxd4 Qc6 21.Ne2 Ne6 22.Rd2 d4 23.Nxd4 Qb6 24.Rfd1 Rd5 0-1 Ivanchuk- Shirov Sofia 2009

R Pert - T Rendle

French Tarrasch

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Be7 4.Bd3 c5 5.dxc5 Nf6 6.Qe2 Nc6 7.Ngf3 Nb4 8.0-0 Nxd3 9.cxd3 Bxc5 10.Nb3 Be7 11.Bg5 Qb6

(Black should play 11...h6 then 12.Bh4 Qb6 13.e5 Ng8 14.Bxe7 Nxe7)

12.e5 Ng8 13.Be3! Qb4 14.Nfd4 Nh6 15.Rac1 Nf5

(Black lacks squares for this knight so allows his position to be weakened)

16.Nxf5 exf5 17.Rc7 Bd8 18.Rc3 b6 19.Nd4 0-0 20.a3 Qa4 21.Qf3 Qd7 22.Rfc1 Re8 23.Qg3 Bb7

Thomas Rendle