BRITISH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS - THE GAMES

[Geoff Chandler]

"Had Mestel, Speelman and Nunn (all now over 50 years old) played in the 2011 BCC."

On the other hand if you take this current lot and drop them back
to when Mestel, Speelman and Nunn (and Tony Miles) were at their peak.....

I guarantee you 100% the 'Best Game' would not be that uninspring game
such is Hawkins - Short where Andrew Martin shows some simple draws for White
and Short is playing with 'a draw in his back pocket' chess.

If that is the best there is then it is totaly pointless me looking at the rest of the games.

I did see this. Walton (2172) - Yap (2029) White to play.



White took the Knight on f1. 20.Rxf1? and the game plodded on.
What about the simple 20 Qd4! and resigns.

No wondering you are struggling to find a good game Paul.
Give the money to charity.

I enjoyed your game Paul. Here is one of mine in return.
Again a Latvian (for once I'm White in this in one!)
and like yours it involves a specualtive Knight sac.
However unlike yours I know mine is 100% unsound.

here.



I played 10.Nc4??! just to stop him castling and the fun began.

I think my best move was here, White to play.
Black played Qxg2 to stop me 0-0-0 (Bg4).



I castled anyway and then tossed my Queen on e7.

And here....



I did not play the mate in one. (I too have my Walton moments)
I played 18.Rhe1+ simple expecting resigns. ("it's mate next move anyway.")
and after 18.Rhe1+ Be6 19.Rx6+ Kf7.



I suffered a minute of utter panic thinking I had blown it.
Finally I gathered myself and pulled out a mate in 3. (lucky, it was either a mate or suicide.).

G. Chandler - D.Kelly Grangemouth Allegro, 1993/94

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.Nxe5 Qf6 4.Nc4 fxe4 5.Nc3 c6 6.d3 d5 7.Ne3 exd3 8.Bxd3 Bd6 9.Qe2 Ne7 10.Nc4 dxc4 11.Ne4 Qg6 12.Nxd6+ Qxd6 13.Bxc4 Qg6 14.Bd2 Qxg2 15.0-0-0 Bg4 16.Qxe7+ Kxe7 17.Bg5+ Ke8 18.Rhe1+ Be6 19.Rxe6+ Kf7 20.Rf6+ Ke8 21.Rf8+ Rxf8 22.Rd8 mate.

[LozCooper]

Maybe we need a "most entertaining game" prize to satisfy the desire for an exciting but not necessarily sound game. I really enjoyed the games and especially the fact that there were hardly any quick draws which may have explained why several of the players looked exhausted by the end of the tournament.

[Geoff Chandler]

At Tournaments in Scotland looking for typical Corner Fodder I often put up
a £10 prive for the best cheapo/swindle and that unearthed some truly amazing
games that otherwise might never have seen the light of day.

A.Ackers - J.Tuner
Winning Cheapo Pize Edinburrgh 2008


(there is no mistake in the diagram, Black has two Queens.)

Black to play seeing no way to stop the mate resigned.
(Oh Dear, 1001 sleepness nights ahead for Black I'm thinking.)

And not just that postion, the whole game is a total feast
of tricks,traps,good ideas, mistakes - you must have mistakes.
A wonderful example of what happens OTB when unshackled minds meet.

Drop it into one these programs (that they should have on here!!!)
That replays the game instantly and watch the fun.
(it will remind some of you why you fell in love chess in the first place.)

1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Bd3 c5 4. c3 c4 5. Bc2 e6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Nbd2 b5 8.
O-O Be7 9. Re1 Qc7 10. e4 dxe4 11. Nxe4 O-O 12. Bg5 Nd5 13. Bxe7 Ncxe7 14.
Ng3 Nf6 15. Re5 Ned5 16. Nh5 Nxh5 17. Bxh7+ Kxh7 18. Ng5+ Kg8 19. Qxh5 Nf6
20. Qh4 Rd8 21. Rae1 Rd5 22. R1e3 Bb7 23. Rxd5 Bxd5 24. Re5 a5 25. f3 b4
26. Qe1 bxc3 27. bxc3 Qb6 28. Qd2 Rb8 29. Re2 a4 30. Ne4 Bxe4 31. fxe4 a3
32. Qe3 Qb1+ 33. Re1 Qxa2 34. e5 Nd5 35. Qf2 Rb2 36. Qf1 Nxc3 37. h4 Qb3
38. Kh2 a2 39. Qf3 Rb1 40. Qa8+ Kh7 41. Re3 a1=Q 42. Qf3 Qaa3 43. Qxf7 Qaa4
44. Rg3 Rh1+ 45. Kxh1


Afraid to say the BC 2011 'Best Game' would never grace my pages.

Sorry to gripe on about it so much but I so looking forward to what Andrew would choose.
What was that all about, a compensation prize for Nigel?

I had not seen the game and was waiting for a Rook sac with the a-pawn running
home, underpromoting to a Knight with check and mate.

Instead Andrew Martin ruined my Christmas.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I suffered a minute of utter panic thinking I had blown it.
Finally I gathered myself and pulled out a mate in 3. (lucky, it was either a mate or suicide.).

Nice finish, though pedantically you did a mate in four, not three. If you'd been inclined to continue to miss mates, you could have gone for 20.Rxc6+ Qd4 21.Bxd4+ Ke8 23.Rc8+ Kd7 24.Bxb7+ Ke6 and then either taken the rook on h8 or tried to find another mate.

[Paul Cooksey]

Nice finish, though pedantically you did a mate in four, not three.

Christopher - you're not meeting rf6 double check with qd5 are you?

[Geoff Chandler]

It's three or am I still misplaying this game?

It was awful.
My mind had just stopped. They game was over.
I should by now have been outside in the sunshine self draining
and composing myself for the next game.

(not only that but this was a team event, if they see this then I walk home.)

I thought "OH NO not another one."
I have a few brillo's I've chucked by missing a check mid combo.

My g5 Bishop goes with a check.

It took a while to get my head back on. luckily I had time on the clock.

Edit: Cheers Paul. It is still in 3. Rf6++ to clear the c4 Bishop diagonal.
Rf8+ to clear the g5 Bishop's diagonal and Rd8 the Morphy mate.

[Simon Ansell]

I recommend Ansell - Ledger from round 10 if you want entertainment. Definitely not correct (I missed a clear win but Andy was definitely clearly better at some stage, if not most of the game), I was on the increment from about move 26 with Andy short of time also! One of the most fun games I've ever played

[Michael Jones]

A.Ackers - J.Tuner
Winning Cheapo Pize Edinburrgh 2008


(there is no mistake in the diagram, Black has two Queens.)

Black to play seeing no way to stop the mate resigned.
(Oh Dear, 1001 sleepness nights ahead for Black I'm thinking.)

How much time did black have? I can understand thinking that was resignable if he was in time trouble - it took me a couple of minutes looking at the position to spot 45... Qa1 + 46. Kh2 Qg1+ 47. Kxg1 Ne2+.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Simon.

Yup, now that is a proper game. Had no idea what was going on at one stage.

Back here in the opening. White to play.



The Queens came off with 11.Ng5.
Did you consider castling? I'm getting the buzz if Black takes the Knight.

11.0-0 fxe4 12.Be4



Where does the Queen go? no matter where White gets more developing on her.

White has Qh5+ possble sacs on c6 , lovely e1 & d1 for Rooks.
Black is lagging in the big D and has a draughty King.

I'd take that OTB the positions is teeming with ideas.

Hi Michael,

If I recall time was not a serios issue.
Anyway TT is not an excuse for missing something, it's a reason for missing something,
but that is totally the players fault. TT is a lame excuse.
The clock is your 17th piece. Leaving time hanging is just as bad as leaving
a piece hanging.

[Simon Ansell]

Did you consider castling?

I would have considered it, but I'm sure White doesn't have enough for a whole piece there. I did spend a long time trying to make the piece sac with 15. Rhe1!? work, in the game position and also after 15. Bh4 g5 16. Rhe1!?, one of which was probably playable but decided to trust my positional compensation for the pawn instead.

The nicest tactic is after 27. Nf5, when the 'obvious' 27...Nc3?? 28. bc3 Nc5 loses to 29. Rh1! Nb3 30. Rd7!, but there's so much else going on in the game too.

I actually prepared the line in the morning, but had done so with a black knight on f6 instead of d7, when the computer quite likes white's position (the compensation is long term and not obvious, I think, so I may try the line again). But the Nd7 makes a big difference because black is immediately threatening ...Ne5.

The simple win I missed was 33. Rd5! which I spent about 40 of my remaining 60 seconds looking at, but decided it didn't work. Andy had also come to the same conclusion. it's weird we both thought that, because it's pretty obvious. After the game continuation, 34...Rg6 should be very good for Black I think.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Nice finish, though pedantically you did a mate in four, not three.

Christopher - you're not meeting rf6 double check with qd5 are you?

No, I just miscounted the moves.

I thought the Black king could go to e7 (instead of e8) after the double check with Rf6+, and then you have the rook check on f7 and the rook check on f8 and the mate on e8. What I missed was that the mate on e8 happens a move sooner in this line, so it is still mate in three.