British Championships: David Howell wins title
8/9/2013 – David Howell, playing with the black pieces, defeated IM Ameet Ghasi, to finish the round at 9.0/10 points (and a 2807 performance). That is one and a half more than his nearest rivals Gawain Jones and Mark Hebden. With one round to go they cannot catch him. In today's historical review we look at Stuart Conquest's 2008 win in a playoff between two 40-something GMs.
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A record-breaking number of over 1000 players are taking part in the 2013 British Championships, attracted by a combination of the beautiful venue and the fact that it’s the 100th in a series stretching right back to 1904. This year it is taking place in the Riviera International Centre in Torquay. There are 23 different sections at the 2013 British Championships, catering for all ages and abilities, but the main focus of interest is on the Championship itself. There are 106 players taking part, of whom 33 are titled players, including thirteen grandmasters. The Championship runs from 29th July to 10th August 2013.
Top results of round ten
Top rankings after round ten
| Rank | Name |
Score
|
Rating
|
TPR
|
W-We
|
| 1 | GM Howell, David W L |
9.0
|
2639
|
2807
|
+1.56
|
| 2 | GM Jones, Gawain C B |
7.5
|
2643
|
2502
|
-1.20
|
| 3 | GM Hebden, Mark L |
7.5
|
2555
|
2605
|
+0.81
|
| 4 | GM Gordon, Stephen J |
7.0
|
2521
|
2562
|
+0.70
|
| 5 | GM Gormally, Daniel W |
7.0
|
2496
|
2461
|
-0.15
|
| 6 | GM Lalic, Bogdan |
7.0
|
2489
|
2442
|
-0.36
|
| 7 | GM Wells, Peter K |
7.0
|
2479
|
2478
|
+0.22
|
| 8 | IM Zhou, Yang-Fan |
7.0
|
2469
|
2475
|
+0.28
|
| 9 | GM Flear, Glenn C |
7.0
|
2456
|
2367
|
-0.74
|
| 10 | GM Arkell, Keith C |
7.0
|
2444
|
2468
|
+0.53
|
| 11 | IM Meszaros, Gyula |
7.0
|
2255
|
2407
|
+2.07
|
| 12 | IM Ghasi, Ameet K |
6.5
|
2459
|
2514
|
+0.89
|
| 13 | IM Palliser, Richard J D |
6.5
|
2453
|
2450
|
+0.20
|
| 14 | Longson, Alexander |
6.5
|
2279
|
2383
|
+1.32
|
Selection of games from round ten
Select games from the dropdown menu above the board
IM Ameet Ghasi faces GM David Howell, 180 points
higher on the rating scale.
The result: 0-1 in 54 moves, securing David the British Championship title.
IM Richard Palliser was also unable to overcome
the difference of
190 points to GM Gawain Jones, who won his game in 34 moves
Crowds watching the end of the key games Ghasi-Howell and Hebden-Zhou
Game of the day by Andrew Martin
Rd 10 Game of the Day GB Ch 2013
Photos provided by Brendan O'Gorman and Keverel Chess
To really appreciate how far the event has come in its 100 years, one needs to take the opportunity to look back at some of the milestones on the way – the great characters, the champions and their games. To do this, IM Andrew Martin is using his computer skills to pick out some key games from the past and run his expert eye over them. Similarly, Bob Jones, local chess history writer, is compiling a set of ten pages, each on a past champion and one of his/her games. These will appear, one at a time, in the daily championship bulletins.
British Champions & Their Games - No. 10
2008 – Liverpool
The Championship moved to the wonderful neo-classical structure, St. George’s Hall, Liverpool, where they were celebrating being European City of Culture. There was bound to be a new name on the trophy as not a single former champion took part. In round four Stuart Conquest beat Keith Arkell in this game, who in turn caught up by beating Gawain Jones, leaving the two (Conquest and Arkell) sharing the English Championship but needing a two-game play-off, which Conquest won.
[Event "GBR-ch 95th"] [Site "Liverpool"] [Date "2008.07.31"] [Round "4"] [White "Conquest, Stuart"] [Black "Arkell, Keith C"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B37"] [WhiteElo "2536"] [BlackElo "2506"] [Annotator "Jones,Bob"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2008.07.28"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2008.09.01"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 g6 6. Nc2 d6 7. e4 {With this, the opening transposes into the Accelerated Dragon, except that White's pawn has gone to c4.} Bg7 8. Be2 Nd7 9. Bd2 O-O 10. O-O Nc5 11. b4 Bxc3 {The obvious drawback to capturing on c3 and then e4 is that it leaves the black squares on the kingside vulnerable to White's dark-squared bishop.} 12. Bxc3 Nxe4 13. Bb2 f5 (13... Be6 {is the most frequently tried, though not with any great success.}) 14. Kh1 a5 ({Black might try to impede the range of the b2 bishop with} 14... e5 {but} 15. f3 Nf6 16. b5 Na5 17. Ba3 {transfers the pressure to the a3-f8 diogonal and the weak pawn on d6, so White has compenasation for the pawn.}) 15. b5 Ne5 16. Qd4 Nf6 17. f4 Nf7 18. Rad1 Qc7 19. Qf2 e5 20. Qh4 Ne4 21. Ne3 {Diagram [#]} g5 $6 {It is perhaps surprising that Black didn't think to preface this advance with} (21... Be6 {when White can continue with} 22. Bd3 {and the position looks to offer chances to both players.}) 22. fxg5 Nfxg5 23. Nd5 Qd8 (23... Qg7 {looks more solid.}) 24. Bd3 Re8 (24... Nc5 {again runs into} 25. Nb6 $1 {and all the tactics work out in White's favour.}) 25. c5 $1 Nxc5 26. Bxf5 Bxf5 27. Rxf5 Nge4 28. Qg4+ Kh8 29. Rdf1 Re6 30. Qh3 Qg8 {Diagram [#] In desperation, Black decides that an exchange sacrifice might be worth trying, to eliminate White's strong knight.} 31. Nc7 Rae8 32. Nxe8 Rxe8 33. Qh4 Qg6 34. Rf8+ Rxf8 35. Rxf8+ Kg7 36. Qe7+ Kh6 37. Qh4+ Kg7 38. Qe7+ Kh6 39. Bc1+ Kh5 40. Rf3 Ng5 41. g4+ {1-0} {If} Kxg4 42. Rg3+ Kh4 43. Qxg5+ 1-0
The BCM reflected, “The success of the two 40-somethings is to be applauded, though it does rather highlight the fact that the next generation of English players is not quite coming through”.
The champions with Jovanka Houska
LinksThe 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. |
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