British Championship 2018

[Tim Harding]

Clearly [Shreyas Royal] is a very impressive talent then.

[Ian Thompson]

"Kevin undoubtedly preparing his secret weapon - talking to Roger before the game about the merits of the ECF Membership Scheme, and hoping to win on time before Roger finishes his counter-arguments. "

Alex's idea is brilliant, but now you've published it, I doubt it will work.

You could try starting a discussion on the pros and cons of digital clocks adding on time when the requisite number of moves have been played, or when the first time control time runs out. That could put him off for the entire game if the clocks haven't been set in the way he prefers.

[Richard Bates]

I expect the ECF to assert their copyright over the game and prevent all discussion about it on this forum.

[Carl Hibbard]

I expect the ECF to assert their copyright over the game and prevent all discussion about it on this forum.

Happy to publish the masterpiece and ignore the ECF.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Would a draw in Jones-Adams suit both players or only one of them (and which one)? It is looking more likely that the winning score will be around 6.5/9. Which of the players on 4.5 are best placed to mount a challenge (in terms of who has played who)? One of my tips is still in there (Eggleston). Emms and Adair have faded somewhat. Lower down, Daniel Young has a winnable pairing, and it would be good in principle to see a sub-2050 do well (though Ilya Iyengar is also doing well). Further up, Matthew Payne has been flying under the radar a bit and heavily out-performing his rating (TPR of 2445 vs rating of 2113).

EDIT: Is anyone on course for a norm of any sort?

[IM Jack Rudd]

Eggleston and Kalaiyalahan are currently performing above the TPRs for GM and WIM norms respectively, not that Akshaya is at all interested in the latter. There are several others who are performing close to norm targets.

[Chris Rice]

For sheer entertainment, you get real value for money watching a Daniel Fernandez game.

GM Fernandez, Daniel Howard (ENG) (2477) - IM Bradbury, Neil H (ENG) (2348)
British Chess Championship 2018 round 06
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4 b6 4. h3 Ba6 5. Nbd2 d5 6. c4 Bd6 7. Bxd6 Qxd6 8. Qa4+ c6 9. e3 Bb7 10. Rc1 O-O 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Ne5 c5 13. Ndf3 cxd4 14. exd4 Ne4 15. Be2 f6 16. Nd3 Nc6 17. O-O Rfe8 18. Rc2 Na5 19. Rfc1 Re7 20. b3 Rae8 21. Bf1 Re6 22. Nc5 Bc6 23. Bb5 bxc5 24. Qxa5 Bxb5 25. Qxb5 cxd4 26. Nxd4 Nc3 27. Qf1 Re4 28. Nf5 Qe5 29. Nxg7 Rc8 30. Nh5 Ne2+ 31. Rxe2 Rxc1 32. Qxc1 Rxe2 33. Qc8+ Kf7 34. Qd7+ Qe7 35. Qxd5+ Qe6 36. Qb7+ Qe7 37. Qd5+ Qe6 38. Qb7+ Qe7 39. Qa6 Re1+ 40. Kh2 Qe5+ 41. Ng3 Qc5 42. Qb7+ Kg6 43. Qf3 Qe5 44. Qg4+ Kf7 45. Qd7+ Qe7 46. Qf5 Kg8 47. b4 Qe6 48. Qf3 a6 49. Qa8+ Kf7 50. Qb7+ Kg6 51. Qf3 Re5 52. Qd3+ f5 53. f4 Rd5 54. Qf3 Kg7 55. a4 h6 56. Qb3 Qd7 57. Qc3+ Kg6 58. Qh8 Qe6 59. h4 Kf7 60. Qh7+ Ke8 61. Qb7 Rd7 62. Qc8+ Kf7 63. b5 axb5 64. axb5 Rd3 65. Qc7+ Rd7 66. Qc2 Rd5 67. Qb3 Rd6 68. Qb1 Rd4 69. Qc2 Rc4 70. Qd2 Rc5 71. Qd3 Qd5 72. Qe2 Rxb5 73. Qh5+ Kg7 74. Qe8 Rb7 75. Nh5+ 1-0

[Nick Grey]

Just in from work & hopefully get away from the office at 12 tomorrow & a dash for a cup of tea with my parents before getting home for the Main Event. The clash between two Chess Legends as Senior is not the right term for Kevin or Roger.

Koby with another GM is going well. He gets better every season as far as I'm concerned. Some excellent players low down.

I still have a chance of McShane outright 1st. It is getting tighter at the top & what a pairing on board 1.

[David Robertson]

While many eyes will soon be on de Coverley - Thurlow, two veterans doing themselves proud in the full Championship, I'll be keeping an eye out for the result of James - Bimpson in the >65 Seniors.

My 4NCL colleague and longtime friend, Tom Bimpson, took sole lead yesterday (4.5) after beating David Friedgood. Tom's win in rd.3 against Jim Burnett was hugely impressive, and worth playing through. So he's in stellar form. But he'll have it all to do this afternoon with black against Geoff James. Incidentally, Tom Bimpson is 73 but playing as well as he has played in fifty years. Not to be outdone, Geoff James is 75. Kudos to both!

[Paul Cooksey]

Roger is as ever disregarding my advice to pay the 1 Nf3 move order if you want to play the KIA.

I'd rather have white, since I don't really like de4 and e6-e5. But Kevin played into it quickly so I suppose he knows what he i doing.

[David Robertson]

Poor Jack

[IM Jack Rudd]

It's a good job for my sanity that game was essentially meaningless. Ah well.

[Paul Cooksey]

Adams making progress, I'm not sure if Jonathan pays out early to those who backed MIckey if he wins today

[David Robertson]

Adams making progress

Winning now. But I'm baffled by Gawain's 31 Bc7 & 32 Bb6 choice - it simply loses a pawn, whereas Be5 (say) leaves things flat

[David Robertson]

Tom Bimpson (is) in stellar form. But he'll have it all to do this afternoon with black against Geoff James. Incidentally, Tom Bimpson is 73 but playing as well as he has played in fifty years. Not to be outdone, Geoff James is 75. Kudos to both!

Geoff James takes it to go 5/6. Well done to him

Meanwhile, the Match of the Day has ended all-square after some cagey play. So the Forum Championship - hereafter known as the ForCup - is shared