Chess Moves 2012 January-February.pdf

(4451 KB) Pobierz
Hastings International
Chess Congress
Hastings Masters winner Wang Yue, with Amber Rudd MP (left) and Cllr. Maureen Charlesworth
Wang Yue (CHN) 2697 is the first Chinese player to have taken part in Hastings
for some years. He is also the highest rated player ever to have participated in the
Masters. In Britain we don’t believe in absurd first round clashes with a difference
of over 400 rating points. But with such a high rated player as Wang Yue it is
impossible to avoid very nearly such a difference in rating. There are other reasons
for using Accelerated Pairings: it is more likely players will be able to achieve a GM
norm; the disconcerting and unfair bouncing effect for players just below the top
(Continued on Page 3)
Chess Moves presents - in chronological order - a series of reports from Stewart Reuben on the
Hastings International Chess Congress. It all begins with ... Round 1. Where games are referenced
in Stewart’s text, many of them may be found at the Hastings Congress website -
www.hastingschess.com
ECF Awards 2012
President’s Awards for Services to Chess
Nominations are invited for the ECF President’s
Awards. The awards are made annually for services to
the game of chess. Previous winners include B H
Wood, The BBC, the late IM Bob Wade and a host of
players and organisers. The recipient of the award
will receive a plaque.
Nominations, with a short citation, should be sent (by
20 April 2012) to:
John Wickham, 55 Shakespeare Way, Taverham,
Norwich, NR8 6SL or email
j.r.wickham@btinternet.com
Winners of the award will be announced on the ECF
website and at the ECF AGM in October
Club of the Year and Small Club of the Year 2012
The ECF is looking for submissions from chess clubs
for these two awards. We are seeking details of clubs
that stand out from the rest and clubs to which their
members feel proud to belong. It’s time to get recog-
nition of your club by becoming recipients of the
award from the ECF.
The submissions should detail the club’s participation
in local leagues and competitions, but also cover such
items as how the club encourages membership
among groups under-represented in the general chess
population, the contribution made to chess locally
and nationally, the activities organised for juniors and
comment on how the club interacts with schools and
the local community.
The club(s) selected for the awards will receive a
scroll, an engraved plaque and digital clock.
Send your submissions by 31st May 2012 to:
John Wickham, 55 Shakespeare Way, Taverham,
Norwich, NR8 6SL or email j.r.wickham@btinter-
net.com
Chess Publication of the Year 2012
Nominations are invited for the ECF Chess
Publication of the Year award. We are looking for
nominations from either readers or editors of Chess
ECF News
Publications that are produced by volunteers.
We have expanded this award category so that it
encompasses everything that the modern age has to
offer in respect of publications and media (e.g. maga-
zine (printed or on line), newspaper, website, blog
etc.)
The editor of the publication selected will receive a
scroll and a copy of the ECF Chess Book of the
Year (any alternative to this is at the discretion of the
Awards committee).
Send your nominations by 16 April 2012 to:
John Wickham, 55 Shakespeare Way, Taverham,
Norwich, NR8 6SL or email, j.r.wickham@btinter-
net.com
Website of the Year 2012
ECF are seeking nominations for the ECF Chess
Website of the Year award. We are looking for nomi-
nations from either users or the webmasters of chess
websites that are run by volunteers.
The webmaster of the site selected will receive a
scroll and a copy of the ECF Book of the Year (any
alternative to this is at the discretion of the awards
committee).
Nominations with the website address should be sent
by 30 April 2012 to:
John Wickham at j.r.wickham@btinternet.com
ECF Congress of the Year 2012 Award
Open to Congresses/Events that are affiliated to the
ECF, either individually or through another body, and
held in the period 1st July 2011 to 30th June 2012.
The Judges will assess the Congress/Event over a
range of factors to include accessibility to all groups,
quality of the venue and facilities offered, type and
range of events offered, the skill/ability of the organ-
isers, the entry form and the publicising of the event,
value for money etc. In addition the judges may seek
the views of the players who entered the
Congress/Event.
The winners will receive a certificate and will be able
to offer a free entry to the 2013 British
Championships to those entering their
Congress/Event, as well as the title of “ECF
Congress of the Year 2012”. The Awards committee
will contact the winners after the judging is complet-
ed and then will announce the winner on the ECF
website as well as at the ECF AGM in October 2012.
Eligible congresses/events are asked to submit a cita-
tion, with copies of the entry forms, to John
Wickham, 55 Shakespeare Way, Taverham, Norwich,
NR8 6SL or email j.r.wickham@btinternet.com by 6
July 2012
2
CONTENTS
Hastings - FC, 3
ECF News - 2
Batsford - 8
London Chess Classic - 9
Junior - 12
International - 16
Results Round-Up - 17
Grand Prix - 24
ChEx Bookshelf - 25
Book Reviews - 28
Calendar - 30
British Chess Educational Trust
With funds provided by the generosity of the late Sir
George Thomas (now administered by the British
Chess Educational Trust) the English Chess
Federation annually awards shields to schools which
have shown outstanding achievements or enthusiasm
in chess. Commencing 1982 inscribed chess boards
have been substituted for shields.
Recommendations for awards should be forwarded
(via the appropriate Union if in England, or via the
national organisations for Scotland or Wales) to:
John Wickham, 55 Shakespeare Way, Taverham,
Norwich, NR8 6SL Email:
j.r.wickham@btinternet.com by 31st March
is a matter of taste. Round 2 will see GM Arkell against
GM Edouard. There are 22 players left with 1/1 from the
top fraction and 19 due to be chopped down by the accel-
eration.
Round 2
Wang Yue v Pavel Simacek – surely 22…e4 allowing Nxd4
made things too comfortable for the Chinese player. The
resignation by the Czech – here with two of his pupils the
sisters Olsarova – just a few moves later was perhaps a lit-
tle premature.
Adrien Demuth v David Howell – on the other hand, the
resignation by the young Frenchman against our own
David Howell was well justified.
Andrei Istratescu v Jovanka Houska – Jovanka got really
short of time and went down in flames against Istratescu
who now flies under the French flag. She blundered on
move 29 in a truly awful position. If you are going to lose,
you might as well lose on time trying to get out of a dread-
ful mess.
Keith Arkell v Romain Edouard – another young
Frenchman was featured on board 4. His bishop on b7
became a monster. Once Keith’s passed pawns became sep-
arated it was very difficult for the experienced Englishman,
but he put up a struggle which went on until move 50.
Since the French spent some time analysing the 3 pawns v
pawn and knight endgame, it seems Keith’s resignation was
premature. On the other hand Fritz 10 decided Black had a
6 point advantage and that’s pretty convincing.
The whole matter of when you should resign became a
major talking point of Chris Ward’s excellent commentary
this afternoon. The late Bent Larsen once said, ‘You should
never resign until all the spectators understand why you are
doing so.’ Does this mean each player thinking of resigning
should consult the audience in the hall, that in the com-
mentary room and the viewers online? As an arbiter I might
regard that as seeking advice?
Deep Sengupta and Arghyadip Das also won, thus keeping
their challenge for first place for the second year in a row
going. Babu Lalith and Sahiti Lakshmi from the team of
young Indians sent here by the All Indian Chess Federation
joined the leaders, as did Mark Hebden. Sahiti is the only
person from the second fraction to make it to 2/2. Her
reward is a pairing with white against the Ukrainian Yuri
Vovk. He has only �½, but is being used as a chopper in the
Accelerated Pairing System.
Hopefully more games will be seen live on the internet
tomorrow. The problem has been beyond our control. The
whole area around the Horntye Sports Centre is, in a sense,
shrouded in darkness …
Round 3
By round 3 we can expect clashes between leading players
of the second half is reduced. It is quite likely that mis-
matches will occur later in the event. But by then, the lower
rated players will have earned their right to a place in the
sun, and their higher rated opponents won’t be doing so well
and will welcome the chance to recharge their batteries.
That the congress starts as soon after Christmas as possible
enables many people to take part using their holiday time
efficiently. Ambitious players, who travel from a long dis-
tance, should arrive at least two days in advance. But travel-
ling in England on 26 December is a nightmare. Thus many
arrive on the 27th. You can expect an unusual number of
upsets in the first round.
Hastings ... continued
The playing hall at Horntye
That was written before the first round and thus without the
benefit of hindsight. The real upset was only on board 5
where Michael Massoni beat the older Vovk brother Yuri.
Both Wang Yue and Andrei Istratescu put in very smooth
performances with the Black pieces, David Haydon played
well to gain an advantage against GM Nicholas Pert, but
then copped out and agreed a draw against Nick while he
still stood better in a murky position. Later in the evening
Nick told me about a very special ambitious rapidplay/train-
ing weekend he is running on a weekend in 2012. Only 10
of the GMs won their first round games. Two drew and of
course one lost. Would you have preferred to see more
blood spilt in the first round or more competitive chess? It
3
Keeping abreast of the results
started well enough and 23 Bh6 looked like a star move, but
23…b3, 24…Rf6 and 27…Rxe5 were very calm. Ultimately
White ran out of counter-play.
I objected in the Commentary Room that the players should
have slowed down as Chris Ward could not keep up. But it
was pointed out that the rate of play is pretty ferocious.
Eventually both David Howell and Andrei Istratescu joined
us in the Commentary Room. Chris Howell (no relation)
had gone home with his family having failed to be awarded
another Ukrainian chocolate for his suggestions. His young
son Oliver had delighted the commentary room with his
win utilising his king to mate his opponent.
Finally the biggest upset of the day had to be 17 year old
Samuel Franklin (2179) beating GM Glenn Flear (2472)
with the black pieces to reach 2.5/3. We now have 10 digi-
tal boards working, but that was not enough to get us to
board 12, so I will have to wait until New Year’s Eve to see
the game.
and we were not to be disappointed. The top 4 boards all
featured strong players on 2/2 and Sahiti Lakshmi was the
only player from the second fraction to come through to
100%.
Deep Sengupta v Wang Yue was, we must admit, somewhat
boring. But even then there was a brief flurry in the early
middlegame that looked as if it might lead to something.
David Howell v Mark Hebden had a very interesting inno-
vation in 12 0-0-0. Most of us would not have thought of
castling into a position where the king was so short of
cover. But David had analysed this line when coaching Felix
Ynojosa, a youngster who has now returned to Venezuela.
The most testing response would have been 13…Rb8, but
13…c5 didn’t seem to be at all adequate. To again play
16…c5 lost and Black could have resigned shortly after-
wards. We should try not to repeat our mistakes and to play
pawn c5 twice in 4 moves not tempting but embracing fate.
Babu Lalith v Andrei Istratescu – do you really want
Siamese twins after only 8 moves? See the game to under-
stand what I mean by this. 18 b3 resulted in White’s position
being riddled with holes. 26 Bf1 was essential, but white
would only have been clinging on. A master class by the
older Romanian-Frenchman against an Indian junior.
Romain Edouard v Das Arghyadip was the type of game to
stir your blood and possibly cause a heart-attack. 14 Nc3
might have tempted Black to play Nxd4, but White would
have regained the pawn and had a strong attack. 18 Qf5 was
a star move and 18…Nd4 a star response. 28 Bc3 was prob-
ably best, e.g. Rxa3 29 Nb8. Romain ran absurdly short of
time, but he had assumed it wouldn’t matter. He would win
long before move 40. Both players were eventually down to
30 seconds a move. Suddenly it was Black who had the
upper hand with two queenside passed pawns. Surely
47…a4 would have won? Instead the dancing stopped and
it petered out into a draw. Well, at some stage each player
deserved to win and at another to lose. There is a Best
Game Prize donated by Horntye Park each year, but I have
never heard of one for the most exciting.
Sahiti Lakshmi v Yuri Vovk was an accelerated pairing with
the young Indian woman having White against the
Ukrainian Vovk brother who lost in the first round. White
Pairs at the Pig - another win for ‘Thank Devon for Little
Girls’ - Jack Rudd and Amy Hoare, with Con Power
Round 4
As you can imagine, reports written on New Year’s Eve, in
all honesty three hours into 2012, can be a bit disjointed.
Anyway, here goes.
I asked Glenn Flear after his fourth round win about his
loss to 17-year-old Samuel Franklin in round 3. He said he
got swindled in rather a nice way.
Andrei Istratescu (3) v David Howell (3) was a very neat and
tidy game. David said perhaps 19…h5 and h4 would have
been more ambitious.
Wang Yue (2�½) v Nikil Shyam (2�½) was an elegant, clinical
win for the Chinese GM.
Maxence Godard (2�½) v Romain Edouard (2�½) had a
rather odd opening. White seems to be given too free a
range in the centre. But it does seem fine. Romain tried very
hard to wriggle his way to victory, but it was a fair draw.
According to his friend Andrei Istratescu, Romain isn’t
playing very well and is thus making a lot of moves.
Arghyadip Das (2�½) v Deep Sengupta – it seemed unlikely
this would end in anything other than a draw. They travelled
4
together and are roommates.
Samuel Franklin (2�½) v Simon Williams (2�½) – the
Commentary Room audience voted to concentrate on this
game and they were absolutely correct. The opening was
very normal development. The game exploded later. I sug-
gested 29 Ra7 but it would be a brave man, or a computer,
who would claim that would have been a better continua-
tion. After move 31 White’s pawns looked like space
invaders. The audience was on tenterhooks as to whether
Simon would see the wonderful 36…Nc3ch. Oh thou of lit-
tle faith. I discussed with Chris Ward, what percentage of
games were ‘good’. We agreed it is about 25% and this com-
pares favourably with many artistic, literary or sporting
activities. Samuel lost the game, but he has good reason to
be proud of his part in this artistic endeavour.
Paul Talsma (2) v Nick Pert (2) – White had a very reason-
able game, but 27 Bxc6 looks to be an easier and more sen-
sible way for White to continue. After Rxc6, in the resulting
game, black’s two rooks dominated the white queen.
Amy Hoare (1) v Jack Rudd (1) – Jack often comes into the
Commentary Room and then goes over his game. Both
players played Space Invaders on opposite wings. Jack had a
nice, fluent win. Are pawns, rushing down one wing, or in
the centre, becoming a theme of this event?
Pairs at the Pig II - Keith Arkell with Con Power
to discuss this with chessplayers. If they felt the same way
here you would expect them to shut up shop and have a
high percentage of draws. The very reverse was true; there
were just 10 draws from 55 games.
David Howell (3�½) v Wang Yue (3�½) – the rare opening
variation they played had been seen just twice before, 8 Be3
being played on both occasions. Then 8…dxe3? runs into
Bxf7ch winning the queen. Instead David innovated with 8
Kf1, an unnatural position for his king. Whether he should
have drawn is unclear; he put up rearguard defence for
many moves before succumbing in the endgame a pawn
down. The final position where David resigned is a text
book instructive example of counting moves and knowing
basic queen v pawn technique.
Simon Williams (3�½) v Andrei Istratescu (3�½) travelled an
early new highway and byway. I was puzzled by Andrei’s
game plan as I thought he was an extremely rational player.
But Simon has this effect on opponents, which is why his
games are so popular. He achieved an extra pawn and we
felt he had a winning endgame had he played 41 Rd4 b3 42
Rb4. In the final position 44…b2 would draw. Simon
popped into the commentary room, but Chris Ward didn’t
notice as he was engrossed in another game. A pity, it was a
lost opportunity to explore another exciting game by one of
England’s most entertaining players.
Romain Edouard (3) v Padmini Rout (3) 15 f4 was a novel-
ty and seems rather odd. The natural reaction would have
been 15…exf4 16 Bxf4 Ne5. Padmini perhaps showed her
inexperience not playing this line. I first came across this
idea in 1957 of allowing an isolated backward d pawn in
exchange for a strong outpost for the knight. Chris found
15…f5 very ugly and after this Romain wrapped things up
pretty quickly.
Jovanka Houska (3) v Yuri Vovk (3) – 8 Bxf6 gxf6 (not
Qxf6 9 axb5 axb5?? 10 Qe4) looks better. 8e4 looks a little
like an anti-Meran, but inferior. 13 e5 looks like a blunder.
Jovanka struggled on for many moves, but the result was
never in doubt. Thus Yuri has won 4 games in a row after
his first round loss. Therein lies the pride and sorrow of a
Swiss. A player can recover from a poor start, but is it fair
that a player can stage such a come-back?
Thomas Rendle (2�½) v Alfredo Luaces Rubio (2�½) – one of
the joys of this event is that players often come into the
Commentary Room and provide pearls of wisdom about
their games. Black, a long-term resident of England, wast-
ed too much time in the opening and paid the price. 20 Bf6!
Ouch.
BT seems finally to have got their act together and we
should have 18 boards live tomorrow. Perhaps they should
ask us to take over Hastings’ telephone system? It has
placed a considerable burden on our staff. Lara Barnes has
not only been an arbiter, but she has also coordinated the
efforts of many people in inputting the games. Tomorrow
Mark Hebden (2) v Robert Eames (2) – I would have need-
ed the input of Chris Ward and/or a chess computer to be
able to make intelligent comments on this game. But one
matter is clear, it was of high quality.
Round 5
As you would expect, many poker players are extremely
superstitious. Thus they hate to lose their first pot of the
year, or have a losing session. I have never before thought
5

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin