British Championships: Howell continues to lead

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.

Round seven was a black day for the top boards – not a white win to be seen anywhere. Howell maintained his half-point lead, but Williams, Ghasi and Arkell hauled themselves into equal second on 5.5. Defending champion, Gawain Jones, made progress with a win over Chapman to reach five points.

Top results of round seven

• Results of all 53 games of this round

Top rankings after round seven

This round leaves David Howell in a clear lead, a half point ahead of Hebden and Gordon followed by nine players on 4.5. By this stage the cream has risen to the top, with nine of the top ten players having GM titles or norms, and most of the chasing pack having titles. Outstanding in this respect is the exception: local player and current Devon Champion (his only title), Dominic Mackle, riding high among the GMs with a score of 4.5.

• Full results and rankings of all 106 players here

David Howell vs Mark Hebden was drawn in 57 moves

Stephen Gordon got mated by Simon Williams in 30 moves

The playing hall, with Rudd v Gormally and Meszaros v Flear in the foreground

Selection of games from round seven

Select games from the dropdown menu above the board

Game of the day by Andrew Martin

Rd 7 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. 7

1959 – York

Let’s not forget the ladies, although the printed media rarely give them any special mention, and actual game scores are as rare as hen’s teeth.

The most consistent competitor was Rowena Bruce, winning the first of her eleven titles (two shared) in 1936 at the age of 17, competing every year for half a century thereafter, her last title coming in 1969. It was a remarkable achievement considering women’s chess at this time was dominated by the quartet of Anne Sunnucks, Elaine Pritchard, Eileen Tranmer and herself.

Rowena played in the FIDE Inter-Zonal in Venice 1952, thus qualifying for the Moscow Candidates. Twenty years later, she was playing in the E. European Zonal when she collapsed with a major cerebral haemorrhage during her round two game. Eventually she regained most of her faculties and continued to enter the Ladies Championship, but was never the same again at the board. In any case, a new generation was coming along in the shape of Jana Hartston-Miles, who won the title eight times in the decade after Rowena’s last victory.

Anne Sunnucks was 32 at this time and a captain in the W.R.A.C. She didn’t come to the game till she was 21 when she joined the same club as Imre König who took her on as a pupil. She had some international experience but was not free to pick and choose.

This game is taken from the book of the York Congress 1959.

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