British 2016 Round by Round

[Peter Shaw]

I had assumed our own Peter Farr had not in fact been thinking about his 50th move for 10 minutes but rather the game had been agreed drawn. Apparently not.

I’m all for the 'going around and around' technique as an attempt to win games that can’t/shouldn't really be won, but Black’s continuing here seems unduly optimistic.

I assume you mean White since I was the one trying to win. I don't see anything wrong with what I was doing, it not as if I played on until move 100. Since there is obviously no way I could lose if I keep the knight on e4 I didn't see any harm in playing on to see if something turned up. I played a few pointless moves to get to move 40, then tried the plan of a4-a5 to get the king in, (or get the pawn to a6 when I probably am winning). He prevented it, I had a think to see if there was anything else worth trying and there wasn't so agreed the draw.

I find it quite amusing that the chess24 computer thinks black is better!

[Jonathan Bryant]

I assume you mean White since I was the one trying to win.

Actually not. I’d assumed Black was pawn counting and was the one wanting to carry on. It hadn’t occurred to me that White might have been trying to win. Now that you mention it, it does make a lot more sense since - as you say - there’s no possible way that you can lose.

I don’t see anything wrong with what you did either, btw.

[Joey Stewart]

Nice win for David Coleman over Marcus Harvey. Again, it is not obvious where the IM norms will come from (Batchelor apart).

This new guy Justin Tan seems to be a pretty good contender to get a GM title someday soon.

[Mick Norris]

round 6 pairings

1 3 GM Jones Gawain Cb 2650 4 4½ GM Howell David Wl 2663 2
2 1 GM Adams Michael 2727 4 4 IM Tan Justin Hy 2438 11
3 13 IM Palliser Richard Jd 2422 4 4 GM Pert Nicholas 2570 4
4 8 GM Emms John M 2467 3½ 4 IM Eggleston David J 2376 16

4th GM for Eggleston, presumably a chance of a GM norm if he keeps going

[IM Jack Rudd]

Nice win for David Coleman over Marcus Harvey. Again, it is not obvious where the IM norms will come from (Batchelor apart).

This new guy Justin Tan seems to be a pretty good contender to get a GM title someday soon.

Indeed. He got a GM norm at the CCCCC in April, and hasn't been doing a lot wrong in his quest for one here either.

[Nick Grey]

Let's see Jack move up the leaderboard & if not let's see Koby playing higher up.
Not sure who the underdog in this pairing is?

Some excellent chess, surprise results, & complete blunders.

Enjoy and thanks for all the postings.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Koby won last time we played, at the CCCCC in April.

I count three non-IMs so far with 2400+ TPRs: Waddington, Payne and Asenov. Watch those three for IM norm chances!

[JustinHorton]

If Adams won and boards one and three were drawn, who would Howell play on Monday?

[LawrenceCooper]

If Adams won and boards one and three were drawn, who would Howell play on Monday?

That would leave Adams & Howell on 5/6 and due the opposite colour so Howell-Adams looks forced. An Eggleston win would also leave him on 5 but unless there's anything odd with floats then I would expect him to be the one to float down.

[JustinHorton]

Thanks. I thought so. If that happened I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a fairly swift draw in that one too and then a race over the last four rounds.

[LawrenceCooper]

Moreby-Smith looks rather brutal.

[JustinHorton]

Jones must have thought "I'm on my way here" when he put his bishop on h3. And sure enough, he was.

[John Moore]

You mean Starley-Jones on board 22, Justin - just to avoid any confusion with Gawain. Is it just me but there does seem to be some particularly horrible chess played in the lower reaches of the British this year.

[Leonard Barden]

Michael Adams has not lost a game at the British Championship for 29 years. See today's Guardian column
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/ ... ship-title
with the reader correction.

That's 50 games and counting, and 4/5 championship titles since 1987. There was a moment this afternoon when Justin Tan had an edge as Black, but the Australian missed the active 27...Qa6 with Nc4 and Rb2, went haywire, and is now losing.

[IM Jack Rudd]

In terms of actual games played, Bogdan Lalic may be on a longer unbeaten run in the event.