BRITISH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS - THE GAMES

[JustinHorton]

Who was it who said something to the effect that the best player in a tournament is the player who came second, the winner is the one who had the most luck?

Still, had Nosher taken his chance and beaten Mickey - and he was on top - he'd presumably be champion now.

[Roger de Coverly]

I note that Short has the higher TPR.

They scored the same number of points but Short played a higher average field. This was because, in round 4, the ending of acceleration gave Adams a pairing against a player rated in the 2100s. If you are a third quartile player and doing well, acceleration for three rounds is likely to protect you from on form top quartile opposition until the fourth round.

[JustinHorton]

I'm trying to imagine that to the tune of Tom Lehrer's "New Math".

[Jonathan Bryant]

I note that Short has the higher TPR.

They scored the same number of points but Short played a higher average field. This was because, in round 4, the ending of acceleration gave Adams a pairing against a player rated in the 2100s.

Not true - although that pairing did exaggerate the difference between Adams' and Short's opposition.

[Nevil Chan]

Rd8 wins?

Oh, not that difficult. 34.Rd8+ Rxd8+ 35.Qxd8+ Qb8 36.c7.

Christopher – think that was meant to be a rhetorical question!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Rd8 wins?

Oh, not that difficult. 34.Rd8+ Rxd8+ 35.Qxd8+ Qb8 36.c7.

Christopher – think that was meant to be a rhetorical question!

I was talking to myself there! I had thought it was some amazing combination, then realised it wasn't that difficult. I should have deleted the post at that point...

[andrew martin]

I'll be completing my work on the Championships with coverage of the Best Game : Hawkins-Short, later today.


Meanwhile, here is the decisive second game of the playoff : Adams v Short

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF_gUFmH ... ideo_title

[andrew martin]

As promised, the best game prize winner video : Jonathan Hawkins v Nigel Short from Rd 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9blCVkUko8o

[Nicky Chorley]

Does anyone know if the PGNs for round 11 will be up any time soon?

[Jonathan Bryant]

Be fair, that Jones-Pert game went on a bit. Alex is probably still typing it in.

[Nicky Chorley]

Fair enough, I guess. Wouldn't it have been played on a DGT board though?

[IM Jack Rudd]

Fair enough, I guess. Wouldn't it have been played on a DGT board though?

It was, but it cut out at move 49. I happen to know this, being the one who put the game in. The last game to go into the database was Summerscale-Williams, at a mere 131 moves.

The person to talk to about getting the games is Nathanael Lutton; he's the one with all the databases on his computer.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Well I was only joking, but hearing that the games have been entered does rather beg the question of why they haven't been uploaded yet. It's not as if the ecf has had much to keep it busy since the Saturday morning play off.

[Paul Littlewood]

I enjoyed watching the British Championship games on the live feed but I must say I felt slightly disappointed at the style adopted by a lot of the players. For example : Nigel, who is a much better player than Stephen Gordon, decides to play a line where he swaps off queens on about move 5 and this leaves him with virtually no winning chances. He has a chance to win the British Championship and goes in for such a dull line. I am sure we would not have seen Kasparov, Carlsen or Kramnik adopting such a strategy.
I also think that it is deeply significant that the best game of the tournament is deemed to be the queenless endgame where Short outplayed Hawkins. What has happened to all the exciting, sacrificial games we used to witness in the times of Mestel, Speelman, Nunn etc ?
Interestingly this does not just apply to the higher-rated players. I am at present judging the most brilliant game played by an U18 in the Championship...and frankly I am struggling ! I remember at that age looking to play sacrifices at every opportunity but the youngsters nowadays play it so safe. Is this a consequence of early teaching which stresses how important it is to avoid losing ?
Perhaps we need to see more enterprising chess from our top players so that the youngsters will be inspired !

[IM Jack Rudd]

My own nomination for the best game played by an U18 in the Championship would be de Coverly - Dines from round 4, but again this is an endgame grind.