British Championship: Howell and Hebden closing in

by Albert Silver
7/28/2014 – After nine rounds, the venerable British Championship is once more heating up. Jonathan Hawkins started with a 1.5 point lead over everyone else, but three draws later, including those against reigning champion David Howell, and Nicholas Pert, that gap has been reduced to half a point. He still leads with 7.5/9, but breathing down his neck are Howell, and veteran Mark Hebden.
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The 101st British Chess Championships are taking place 19th to 30th July 2014 in Aberystwyth in West Wales. The event is open only to exempted or qualified players. There are a number of sections: Senior Championships; Major Open; Under 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16; Rapidplay Open, Weekenders, etc.

Rounds eight and nine

IM Jonathan Hawkins has led the British Championship from end to end thus far

David Howell had a terrible start as already known, but has since recovered with a 4.5/5 streak, taking him to 7.0/9. 56-year-old Mark Hebden has been enjoying a bit of a rebirth, and has also scored five points in the last six rounds, including back-to-back wins over GM Emms and GM Williams in rounds eight and nine. In round ten, he will get a stab at the leader as he has white against Hawkins, while Howell will have black against Nicholas Pert, who is sole fourth with 6.5/9.

IM Andrew Martin's Game of the Day

 

IM Yang-Fan Zhou faces IM Daniel Fernandez in a tense Sicilian Najdorf in round eight

Standings after nine rounds

Rank Name Score Rating TPR
1 IM Hawkins, Jonathan 7.5 2516 2665
2 GM Howell, David W L 7.0 2650 2589
3 GM Hebden, Mark L 7.0 2554 2580
4 GM Pert, Nicholas 6.5 2564 2547
5 IM Zhou, Yang-Fan 6.0 2475 2387
6 GM Emms, John M 6.0 2456 2459
7 GM Arkell, Keith C 6.0 2433 2388
8 IM Pert, Richard G 6.0 2430 2461
9 GM Ward, Chris G 6.0 2422 2457
10 IM Fernandez, Daniel Howard 6.0 2396 2523
11 GM Williams, Simon K 5.5 2462 2451
12 FM Tan, Justin 5.5 2375 2338
13 Haria, Ravi 5.5 2202 2208
14 McPhillips, Joseph 5.5 2200 2197
15 Batchelor, Peter J 5.5 2177 2331

Photos courtesy of the official tournament site

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.

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