I am sure we are all supporting to the large England squad in the European Individual Championships on at the moment.
The relevant links are
Official Site - http://www.dresden2008.de/front_content.php
Peter Sowray's reports on the ECF website - http://www.englishchess.org.uk/national ... _jan07.htm
English Results summary - http://www.chess-results.com/results592 ... =ENG&lan=1
Regards
Neville Belinfante
European Individual Chess Championships 2007, Dresden
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NevilleB
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Peter Sowray
- Posts: 155
- Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:29 am
European Championships, Dresden – Final round report
Ultimately it was a case of “what might have been†for Team England as results in the final round meant that our leading players missed out on qualification for the next stage of the World Championship cycle in both the men’s and women’s events. Still, many members of our young team can be truly proud of their performances and will have gained rating points and valuable experience for future challenges.
Going into the final round, Gawain Jones knew that a win would see him into at least a playoff for a world championship place, but he was Black against the solid Georgian GM Mchedlishvili. Knowing that only a win would do, Gawain made a speculative pawn sacrifice in the opening, much in the style of the Blumenfeld gambit. In truth, he probably never had quite enough for his pawn and his opponent managed to consolidate the position and gain the win.
Stephen Gordon was also enjoying an excellent tournament, going into the last round on ‘+2’, but he couldn’t avoid defeat against the Armenian GM Tigran L. Petrosian. The game was a typically tense Closed Sicilian battle, with Stephen enjoying the supremacy on the queenside but his opponent having nebulous tactical chances against his king. As play neared the move 40 time control, the Armenian sacrificed a piece for three pawns and fatally exposed Stephen’s king.
Elsewhere there was an excellent win from Peter Wells against Russian GM Khismatullin. Peter set up a solid defence as Black in the Nimzo-Indian 4.Qc2 variation and picked an excellent moment to seize the initiative with a pawn sacrifice. White’s king got caught in a deadly attack along the long white-squared diagonal and he was forced to give up his queen, after which Peter coolly converted. Nick Pert rounded off an excellent tournament with a solid draw against Dutch GM Friso Nijboer, whose cause wasn’t helped by his spending 5 hours this morning studying the intricacies of the Sicilian Dragon variation (Friso mistakenly thought he was playing Nick’s twin brother Richard – Nick always plays the French Defence).
Richard Pert finished with a tough pairing against veteran GM Rafael Vaganian, who gave a masterclass in how to play the White side of the King’s Indian Attack. But there were good wins for Simon Williams and David Howell, who both played the Hippopotamus defence as Black. David looked like his king was running into trouble at one stage but coolly rebuffed his opponent’s onslaught. And finally Adam Hunt scored another win for Team England with yet another game as White in the Sicilian Defence, the fourth time he met 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 this tournament.
In the women’s event, Jovanka Houska won her final game to complete an excellent performance, but she just misses out on World Championship qualification. Heather Richards was Black in a game of fluctuating fortunes but eventually her queen couldn’t resist her opponent’s collection of minor pieces.
So the final scores were:
Men: Gawain, Peter – 6.5; David, Nick, Simon, Stephen – 6; Adam, Richard – 5
Women: Jovanka – 7; Heather – 4
Finally, a quick thank you for the various messages of support for Team England. Much appreciated!
Ultimately it was a case of “what might have been†for Team England as results in the final round meant that our leading players missed out on qualification for the next stage of the World Championship cycle in both the men’s and women’s events. Still, many members of our young team can be truly proud of their performances and will have gained rating points and valuable experience for future challenges.
Going into the final round, Gawain Jones knew that a win would see him into at least a playoff for a world championship place, but he was Black against the solid Georgian GM Mchedlishvili. Knowing that only a win would do, Gawain made a speculative pawn sacrifice in the opening, much in the style of the Blumenfeld gambit. In truth, he probably never had quite enough for his pawn and his opponent managed to consolidate the position and gain the win.
Stephen Gordon was also enjoying an excellent tournament, going into the last round on ‘+2’, but he couldn’t avoid defeat against the Armenian GM Tigran L. Petrosian. The game was a typically tense Closed Sicilian battle, with Stephen enjoying the supremacy on the queenside but his opponent having nebulous tactical chances against his king. As play neared the move 40 time control, the Armenian sacrificed a piece for three pawns and fatally exposed Stephen’s king.
Elsewhere there was an excellent win from Peter Wells against Russian GM Khismatullin. Peter set up a solid defence as Black in the Nimzo-Indian 4.Qc2 variation and picked an excellent moment to seize the initiative with a pawn sacrifice. White’s king got caught in a deadly attack along the long white-squared diagonal and he was forced to give up his queen, after which Peter coolly converted. Nick Pert rounded off an excellent tournament with a solid draw against Dutch GM Friso Nijboer, whose cause wasn’t helped by his spending 5 hours this morning studying the intricacies of the Sicilian Dragon variation (Friso mistakenly thought he was playing Nick’s twin brother Richard – Nick always plays the French Defence).
Richard Pert finished with a tough pairing against veteran GM Rafael Vaganian, who gave a masterclass in how to play the White side of the King’s Indian Attack. But there were good wins for Simon Williams and David Howell, who both played the Hippopotamus defence as Black. David looked like his king was running into trouble at one stage but coolly rebuffed his opponent’s onslaught. And finally Adam Hunt scored another win for Team England with yet another game as White in the Sicilian Defence, the fourth time he met 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 this tournament.
In the women’s event, Jovanka Houska won her final game to complete an excellent performance, but she just misses out on World Championship qualification. Heather Richards was Black in a game of fluctuating fortunes but eventually her queen couldn’t resist her opponent’s collection of minor pieces.
So the final scores were:
Men: Gawain, Peter – 6.5; David, Nick, Simon, Stephen – 6; Adam, Richard – 5
Women: Jovanka – 7; Heather – 4
Finally, a quick thank you for the various messages of support for Team England. Much appreciated!