British Championship: Four co-leaders

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
7/30/2024 – After three rounds, four players still have perfect scores at the British Championship in Hull. The leading group includes two of the big favourites to take the title, David Howell (pictured) and Gawain Jones, who are joined by 15-year-old Shreyas Royal and Matthew Wadsworth - the latter obtained an upset victory over Luke McShane on Monday. A 9-player chasing group stands a half point back. | Photo: Dennis Dicen / English Chess Fedearation
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Wadsworth stuns McShane

Two players seeded among the top-10 players at the British Championship have already conceded a full point each in the first three rounds of the event. While ninth seed Harry Grieve was defeated by FM Alex Golding in round 2, fourth seed Luke McShane lost to IM Matthew Wadsworth in round 3. Grieve and McShane now stand a full point behind the four players who still have a perfect score in Hull.

The four co-leaders are David Howell, Gawain Jones, Shreyas Royal and Wadsworth. Round 4 will see Howell playing white against Royal and Jones playing white against Wadsworth.

Standing a half point behind the leaders are nine players, including defending champion Michael Adams, who is set to face Dutch IM Yichen Han in round 4. The chasing pack also includes Stuart Conquest, the long-time tournament director of the Gibraltar Chess Festival, which was one of the biggest and most successful chess events between 2003 and 2020.

The race to clinch the title of British women's champion is led by Lan Yao, who won the two previous editions of the event.

Lutsko 0 - 1 Howell

Lutsko, Artem24140–1Howell, David W L2675
British Chess Championships 2024
Chess.com28.07.2024[CC]
1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 Howell plays his beloved Caro-Kann Defence. He had played this very line against Michael Adams back in 2018. 6.Bc4 Bd6 7.0-0 Quite popular is 7.Qe2+ Qe7 7...0-0 8.d4 Bg4 9.h3 Bh5 10.g4 Bg6 11.Nh4 Bc7 12.Nxg6 hxg6 All this had been played in the past. White has the bishop pair, but has weakened his king's position - on the other hand, Black's four pawns on the f and g-files provide an excellent shelter for his king. 13.Kg2 Qd6 14.Rh1 Nd7 15.c3
15...Rae8 Only this move is a novelty. 15...Nb6 16.Bb3 Nd5 17.Qf3 Rfe8 had been played in the past. 16.Qf3 Re7 17.a4 Nb6 18.b3 Qd7 Howell rejected 18...Nxc4 19.bxc4 Qd7 perhaps since after 20.Ba3 Bd6 21.Bxd6 Qxd6 the exchange of bishops vastly simplifies matters - and probably he wanted to keep looking for winning chances against his lower-rated opponent. 19.a5 A considerable mistake, which leaves Black with a favourable position. Playable is 19.Ba3 Bd6 20.Bxd6 Qxd6 simplifying the position (and countering what is speculated above regarding Howell's intentions). Stronger is 19.Bd3 Nd5 20.Bd2 19...Nxc4 20.bxc4 Rfe8 21.Ba3 A grave mistake. Given what happened in the game, it is clear in hindsight that White should play 21.Be3 and e.g. f5 22.Rhb1 Bb8 23.c5 Re4 21...Re2 22.Bc5 Making things worse. 22.Bc1 is necessary, and sad. 22...b6 23.axb6 axb6 24.Bb4 R8e3
Black's rooks infiltrate along the open file - visibly, a very nice manoeuvre! 25.Qxe3 Forced. Rxe3 26.fxe3 c5 Howell is ruthless in conversion - his queen and bishop tandem works marvellously in this setup. 27.Ba3 Not 27.dxc5 bxc5 28.Bxc5 due to Qc6+ 27...Qe6 28.Rhe1 Qxc4 The queen will attack along the light squares, while the bishop controls the other colour complex. 29.Kf3 f5 30.Bb2 Qd3 31.Re2 Bg3
Remarkable! 32.gxf5 gxf5 33.Rg1 f4 Black continues to find the strongest attacking continuations. 34.Bc1 f5 35.Rxg3 fxg3 36.Bd2 f4 37.h4 c4 38.Be1 Kf7 39.d5 Kf6 40.d6 Kf5 The king has joined the attack with decisive effect. 41.Rd2 Qf1+ Once Lutsko faltered, Howell showcased excellent understanding and precision to win the game in style. 0–1

Standings after round 3

Rk. Name  TB1 
1 Howell, David Wl 3
Jones, Gawain Cb 3
Royal, Shreyas 3
Wadsworth, Matthew J 3
5 Adams, Michael 2,5
Conquest, Stuart C 2,5
Ghasi, Ameet K 2,5
Bazakutsa, Svyatoslav 2,5
Gasanov, Eldar 2,5
Han, Yichen 2,5
Wells, Peter K 2,5
Derakhshani, Borna 2,5
Salmons, Calum 2,5
14 Mcshane, Luke J 2
Grieve, Harry 2
Williams, Simon K 2
Merry, Alan B 2
Willow, Jonah B 2
Pert, Richard G 2
Lutsko, Artem 2

...86 players

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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