British Championship Congress 2019

[Jonathan Rogers]

It seems to be a recent trend that people are targeting forcing lines against him, Pert-style. Admittedly not the biggest handicap imaginable, no. But certainly relevant in the British - anyone under 2600 playing 1 d4 against him would frankly seem somewhat foolish, unless they have avoided 1 e4 for their whole career.

[John Moore]

Hegarty-Stoyanov very sad for the player of the White pieces. I was going to criticise her opponent for playing far too quickly as Black in a difficult position but what do I know.

[Carl Hibbard]

Howell-Smith. Black has now produced the remarkable idea of 19 ..Qh8 and 20 ..Kg8. May not be all that good but it's certainly a novel way of activating the Queen.

Michael - I am sure that no apology is necessary. Your bear is well worth preserving.

An interesting one to watch as Andrew Smith just said Rxe5 was a mistake due to Rb6 but unfortunately it was missed.

[Carl Hibbard]

I was impressed with the Tan game.

[Carl Hibbard]

Matthew Carr blazer questionable otherwise little else to report to be honest.

[John Moore]

I haven't seen the blazer in question - got a pic, Carl.

[Carl Hibbard]

I haven't seen the blazer in question - got a pic, Carl.

Not yet.

[Ian Thompson]

Howell-Smith. Black has now produced the remarkable idea of 19 ..Qh8 and 20 ..Kg8. May not be all that good but it's certainly a novel way of activating the Queen.

An interesting one to watch as Andrew Smith just said Rxe5 was a mistake due to Rb6 but unfortunately it was missed.

The computer says it's equal after ... Rb6 because White loses the d5 pawn.

[Carl Hibbard]

Howell-Smith. Black has now produced the remarkable idea of 19 ..Qh8 and 20 ..Kg8. May not be all that good but it's certainly a novel way of activating the Queen.

An interesting one to watch as Andrew Smith just said Rxe5 was a mistake due to Rb6 but unfortunately it was missed.

The computer says it's equal after ... Rb6 because White loses the d5 pawn.

Thanks at that point equal was fine.

[Mick Norris]

Probably, one can hardly miss it. Not sure I have seen him play anything else, not even his 1980s/early 1990s Caro-Kann, this century!

It may or may not be a good idea at the elite level. Wins as well as losses after all, and it wasn't all that long ago that he beat Caruana with the Berlin. And wins v both Howell and Jones in recent British Chs; understandably they try to play "proper" main lines against him too.

But against the sub 2600s, there is a very obvious risk that White players, very happy to draw, will play some lines which give Black little scope for safely playing for a win. Perhaps the best try has been 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 c3 Nf6 5 d4 exf4 6 cxd4 Bb4+ 7 Bd2, as played successfully for safe draw by Nick Pert a few years ago, and was also played by Jack in the first round this year - and here, after Adams tried to mix things, Jack had a great chance according to SF, before going on to lose. So today's game follows a pattern; and if Adams were to say what he likes least about playing the British, it would probably precisely be playing Black against lower rated players who have worked out what to do against him.

Mickey has white tomorrow, but as it is against Richard Palliser, we can only wish him good health

[Mark Howitt]

I'm still following chess... interesting to see if Adams can win this one.

Still get a lot of traffic from this site to www.markhowit.blogspot.com - over 112,000 views now.

[Mark Howitt]

I do wonder about Adams' choice of openings sometimes... and it's not nice to see him slide in rating. Still I reckon he does have a chance of winning it, I think it will be him or Howell.

[Martin Benjamin]

In Lane - Brewer, why did Gary Lane offer a draw? Looks overwhelmingly good for White to my eyes after the simple to find 35 Ng6+ Kf8 36 Ne5. Mark you, it looked awful for White a few moves earlier, so maybe he was so relieved to have escaped that he offered a draw without taking a fresh look at the position.

[Martin Crichton]

sorry can anyone explain what happened with Arkell v Pallister 0-1 with no moves played..was Keith ill?

[Angus French]

sorry can anyone explain what happened with Arkell v Pallister 0-1 with no moves played..was Keith ill?

Upthread.