2013 British Chess Championships (Torquay)

[Graham Borrowdale]

Seems unlikely Pete W would have lost on time in that position - maybe a draw was agreed. Ledger-Wadsworth also seems to have frozen, at move 7, but the times look feasible - about 20 mins left each, so I presume they are still playing. No idea about Arkell-Shaw, I presume white can play for f3 and e4.

[John Cox]

Objectively, does Keith actually have any advantage at all? If I just play f7-f5, where is the winning plan?

Having said that, defending this against Keith is my idea of hell. Spread on the move he'll play f2-f3: 52-56?

Winning plan?! Good Lord, how you talk. Keith doesn't need a 'winning plan'.

Bit cheeky giving yourself a four-move spread at move 38 - still, I suppose there's probably about 60 still to go. Spread on total number of moves?! 85-90?

I guess one advantage of Keith's style in terms of popularising the game, which I hadn't really appreciated before, is the increased opportunities it offers for this sort of in-running betting.

[Joey Stewart]

Whatever the brilliancy was supposed to be in the gormally game, it has failed to materialize. Does somebody want to tell us what the computers thought was the correct plan?

[Simon Ansell]

I've just cheated and turned to silicon assistance. The whole concept was brilliant by Danny, that's all I'm saying!

Can you enlighten us? Looks lost to me.

It's lost now, yes, but I mean in general. Not many players are capable of playing such an idea...

Briefly:

15...c5 was a mistake, the anti-intuitive 15...Nb4 (who would think of moving a piece away from the king and opening the d-file in such a position?!) seems to refute the whole concept.

17...Re8 as played is the best move, but very hard to find imo (credit to Tony here). 17...f6 draws (but really, who would play ...f6 instead of ...f5?), everything else loses.

18. Nd6 was a blunder, losing to Bf8 as played - which is in fact the only move to win - deflecting the queen before taking on d6. The immediate 18...Bd6 allows 19. Be4. The point of Bf8 is that with the queen on h5 instead of h6, Bh7+ can be answered by Kg7.

Instead, 18. Nf6 is the move when 18...Bf6 19. Re4 is not clear (Black has to play ...Bg5 to block Rg4+ at some point and sac his queen), while 18...Nf6 forces White to take a draw with 19. Qg5 Kh8 20. Qh6 etc. (20...Nh7 is not possible due to 21. Be4).

[John Cox]

Blimey - assuming the boards are right then Glenn F won't be showing that one to his grandchildren, though Richard Weaving might be, I guess. First giant-killing so far?

Yes, hard to see 15...Nb4 figuring on one's list of candidates!

It's probably not hard to see that everything that isn't 17...Re8 loses, I guess? A hard defence to see in advance, though, that is for sure.

[Simon Ansell]

I guess one advantage of Keith's style in terms of popularising the game, which I hadn't really appreciated before, is the increased opportunities it offers for this sort of in-running betting.

Somewhat disappointingly, Keith's game has stopped updating on my machine. Perhaps the DGT board has gone on strike. It has a case, IMO.

[Roger de Coverly]

Still theory at move 13 (Jobava-Karjakin, Russian Championship 2007; 0-1 34 moves). Engine says equal.

Depends on your engine. My opponent and Rybka think that Black is better after 12. .. Be7 and I'm inclined to agree with them. Fischer wrote that a3 was necessary in such positions. Modern GMs have tried to prove him wrong, but 10 a3 may be necessary. I've played almost that position before. The possibility that an early .. b4 could work had escaped my attention.

[Ian Kingston]

Still theory at move 13 (Jobava-Karjakin, Russian Championship 2007; 0-1 34 moves). Engine says equal.

Depends on your engine. My opponent and Rybka think that Black is better after 12. .. Be7 and I'm inclined to agree with them. Fischer wrote that a3 was necessary in such positions. Modern GMs have tried to prove him wrong, but 10 a3 may be necessary. I've played almost that position before. The possibility that an early .. b4 could work had escaped my attention.

My engines were tilting towards Black, but not enough for a clear advantage. I should really have said that White has a fair amount of compensation, but as the game unfolded it's fairly clear that anything less than absolute precision from White is likely to end in disaster.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Objectively, does Keith actually have any advantage at all? If I just play f7-f5, where is the winning plan?

Having said that, defending this against Keith is my idea of hell. Spread on the move he'll play f2-f3: 52-56?

Winning plan?! Good Lord, how you talk. Keith doesn't need a 'winning plan'.

It's normally "keep playing until he wins" isn't it?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

What do the engines say about David Howell against Yang-Fan Zhou? 42...Bd4 has just been played.

[Simon Ansell]

What do the engines say about David Howell against Yang-Fan Zhou? 42...Bd4 has just been played.

No idea what the engines say but White is positionally winning. I thought Yang-Fan had a good position earlier, not sure what he did wrong.

Any update on Keith's game? I'm on tenterhooks.

[David Grobler]

What do the engines say about David Howell against Yang-Fan Zhou? 42...Bd4 has just been played.

No idea what the engines say but White is positionally winning. I thought Yang-Fan had a good position earlier, not sure what he did wrong.

Any update on Keith's game? I'm on tenterhooks.

me too

[Andrew Bak]

I assume that everyone else can't view Osborne-Wells and Longson-Jones or is it just me?

[David Grobler]

I assume that everyone else can't view Osborne-Wells and Longson-Jones or is it just me?

its all of us:-(

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I assume that everyone else can't view Osborne-Wells and Longson-Jones or is it just me?

its all of us:-(

They should have fixed it by now! (Well, I have some sympathy with whoever will object to me saying this).