BRITISH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS - THE GAMES

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Hasn't Howell run his own king into a mating net? 30...Ba8 looks lethal. Oh, I see, 31.Rb6. I'm not looking at the positions properly.

[Peter Sharpe]

Can anyone in Sheffield advise if there is a fault with board 6 as it's unusual for Stephen to be (this) late.

Gordon came in at about 2.40 pm (Pert was on walkies somewhere), placed a water bottle on the table, played 1.d4 and then left the table and out of the sports hall. Pert then returns to the table and replies with d5 and sat on his chair waiting for Gordon. gordon finally returns with his tea or coffee about 3 or 4 minutes later. He shakes hands with Pert and they laugh together (probably at Gordon's excuse for being late). Had Gordon arrived after 2.45pm would he lose his game by default?

[David Haydon]

his performance is 2577 from 8 games...so yes i guess he needs to beat someone around 2400 level at least to get his 2nd Gm Norm.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Ack. There goes my accumulator on the GMs all winning on boards 2-6...

Actually, Rendle beat Williams on board 7, so that messed up my predictions as well.

[Paul Cooksey]

I am surprised that he went 1...Nf6 - at least in retrospect: Wells is a known trompovsky lover and clearly Yang-Fan was not at home in the position he got. Why not just play 1...g6, as most KI players can afford to do against Trompovky-essaying opponents? (Admittedly there is then a risk of 2 e4, but most KI players can handle a Modern if necessary - or, against Wells, play 2...b6 and hope to win on time).

Bh6 a bit of an odd approach in that position. How fast was he playing the opening?

(speaking as a Tromp player, I see e6 and g6 more than nf6 these days)

[Andrew Bak]

I was a bit surprised that Hawkins offered the draw against Gawain, I thought there might still be some play there for him.

As for adams vs palliser, palliser looks just plain lost I think. Adams has played well to snuff out the counterplay

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

An amusing end to Howell-Ansell (though probably not if you are Simon Ansell).

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Some lovely tactics in Howell-Ansell, starting with 30...Rh1 and following up with 32...Rb1. Has Ansell just walked into a mate?

EDIT: I think they were both playing very short of time. Did they miss anything? What about 32...Bxd3 instead of 32...Rb1? If White recaptures the bishop (33.cxd3), then 33...Rb1 wins, so White has to play 33.Rg2 - does that win as in the game? 32...Bxd3 33.Rg2 Rh8 34.cxd3. Eh, still looks hopeless for Black. I'm impressed if Howell saw all the lines here.

[Alex Holowczak]

An amusing end to Howell-Ansell (though probably not if you are Simon Ansell).

Playing through the moves, you can almost hear the moment when he whispered "Oops".

[William Metcalfe]

Ouch guess i am not the only player to miss 1 move mates then

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

An amusing end to Howell-Ansell (though probably not if you are Simon Ansell).

Playing through the moves, you can almost hear the moment when he whispered "Oops".

I expect Simon probably quickly realised he was busted anyway after 34. ... Ke8 and decided to let Howell have the mate. And of course if Howell accidentally dropped the rook en route to h8 Black had a mate in one himself!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

An amusing end to Howell-Ansell (though probably not if you are Simon Ansell).

Playing through the moves, you can almost hear the moment when he whispered "Oops".

I expect Simon probably quickly realised he was busted anyway after 34. ... Ke8 and decided to let Howell have the mate. And of course if Howell accidentally dropped the rook en route to h8 Black had a mate in one himself!

How is he busted after 34...Ke8? Do the pawns win it for White? Oh, White just captures the bishop? I was looking at the Rh8+ line, which doesn't work.

[William Metcalfe]

What the heck is going on in the Pert Gordon game

[Christopher Kreuzer]

What the heck is going on in the Pert Gordon game

Currently 3 connected passed pawns for a rook. Probably not enough.

[James Coleman]

If White had time to play Kd1, Rxg6 and Rg4, that would force a blockade of the pawns so Black needs to find something against that type of thing. Very hard to believe Black has enough for a rook.