BRITISH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS - THE GAMES

[John Moore]

Thx Jonathan - anyone competent.

[Jonathan Bryant]

"Anyone more competent than me", I should have said!

[Carl Hibbard]

Ban accepted. Can I come back tomorrow and comment on the games, though.

If it's a rook ending then please ignore me though

[John Moore]

Carl, we shall rely on your miiddlegame skills.

[Andrew Camp]

Love Andrew Camp's blog - keep it up Andrew.

http://andrewrcamp.blogspot.com/2011/07 ... l?spref=fb

Thank you.

[Andrew Camp]

Just finished praising Susan in my blog for Round One and now she goes and does it again!

Bravo!!!!!

[Paul McKeown]

Hi Paul I would suggest a big bungle.

I would venture to suggest 39. a4 as an improvement, then 39. ba 40. ba. The passed pawn will be a distractor - White will push it hard. Either the Black rook or the Black king will have to intercept. If the rook, then White runs his king to f5 via h2-h3-g4. If the king then eventually the White rook chases over to f7 and White then activates his king by Kf2-e2-d3, Black will hardly want to capture the a-pawn as he could be cut off on the a-file and White will push the c and d pawns. Something like that, wouldn't like to have to win it against an IM, though, and I may be talking arrant balls anyway, but there you have my punt.

[Paul Cooksey]

Hi Paul I would suggest a big bungle.

I would venture to suggest 39. a4 as an improvement, then 39. ba 40. ba. The passed pawn will be a distractor - White will push it hard. Either the Black rook or the Black king will have to intercept. If the rook, then White runs his king to f5 via h2-h3-g4. If the king then eventually the White rook chases over to f7 and White then activates his king by Kf2-e2-d3, Black will hardly want to capture the a-pawn as he could be cut off on the a-file and White will push the c and d pawns. Something like that, wouldn't like to have to win it against an IM, though, and I may be talking arrant balls anyway, but there you have my punt.

My first impression was Short was winning too, but maybe that is an illusion based on how smooth the game was up to the ending. I think white does have really big technical problems converting, because his king is so poorly placed.

a4 is another try certainly, but difficult to stop black's rook getting active on either b or e file. Black rook on the 2nd rank and king still passive looks very likely drawn. Might even get Rh1 mate in, if white tries to escape that way.

I'll give the standard disclaimer about R+P endings being too hard for me. But after an hour with Fritz, I still haven't got close to a real winning try.

[LozCooper]

Round 3 pairings now up: http://www.britishchess2011.com/events_ ... p_2011.htm

[David Gilbert]

More titanic battles tomorrow. Stuart Conquest v Gawain Jones on board two could be a stonker, and there's no easy games for Michael Adams who's drawn against an in-form Danny Gormally on board four. Another day to look forward to.

[Andrew Camp]

Nigel Short demoted from the main boards and sits on Board 7!!!

[Jonathan Bryant]

I'll give the standard disclaimer about R+P endings being too hard for me. But after an hour with Fritz, I still haven't got close to a real winning try.

One of the reasons I like watching them is that there doesn't seem to be much point running a computer in the background. The trouble is they (well my old Fritz 7, running on this netbook anyway) think the Philidor position is a win for the pawn so I'm not sure I'd necessarily trust what they've got to say up to that point.


edit: although I should also admit it makes it incredibly frustrating because I'm left without a clue as to what actually is going on.

[Paul Cooksey]

I'll give the standard disclaimer about R+P endings being too hard for me. But after an hour with Fritz, I still haven't got close to a real winning try.

One of the reasons I like watching them is that there doesn't seem to be much point running a computer in the background. The trouble is they (well my old Fritz 7, running on this netbook anyway) think the Philidor position is a win for the pawn so I'm not sure I'd necessarily trust what they've got to say up to that point.


edit: although I should also admit it makes it incredibly frustrating because I'm left without a clue as to what actually is going on.

When I say Fritz, I mean Deep Rybka 4. But somehow I have Fritz stuck as a generic term. (mytonym?). I still hear Malcolm Pein making sarcastic comments in my head.

I'd like to think I am contributing something to the analysis, but between the tablebases and it calculating about a billion ply, I suspect not.

[Paul McKeown]

Excellent result by Clement Sreeves to beat Nick Pert. I assume 21... Kb8 is a mistake, allowing White's queen to penetrate? Does anyone know anything about this, apparently excellent, young player?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I'd like to think I am contributing something to the analysis, but between the tablebases and it calculating about a billion ply, I suspect not.

Me too (about not contributing much), but I did think, after White captured the Black pawn on f4, that the White rook should have stayed on that file (to cut the Black king off), dropped back to defend the a-pawn, and brought the White king up the board along the g and h-files (to threaten the Black g pawn). Possibly the Black d-pawn becomes too dangerous, though.