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No player has managed to take the sole lead at any point during the first six rounds of the British Championship in Hull. Round 6 saw Matthew Wadsworth beating 15-year-old prodigy Shreyas Royal to join Gawain Jones and Ameet Ghasi in the lead. Jones and Ghasi agreed to a 27-move draw on the top board.
A crucial encounter was played on board 3, where top seed David Howell escaped with a draw against defending champion Michael Adams. Adams failed to find a tactical shot in the middlegame while having a 35-minute advantage on the clock. Howell, a time-trouble addict, showed his ability to deal with high-pressure situations, as he survived by finding one precise move after the other while "living on increments".
Middlegame Secrets Vol.5 - The Inner Strength of Kings
In this video course, kings will play a role of strong and active pieces. We will explore how Kings can be helpful in defence and prophylaxis, or even in attack!
Howell and Adams are two of eight players standing a half point behind the co-leaders. In Friday's round 7, Ghasi will play white against Wadswaorth while Adams will play white against Jones.
In the race among the women participants, Lan Yao continues to lead, with 3½/6 points to her name. Elmira Mirzoeva, Trisha Kanyamarala and 9-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan have collected 3 points each.
The playing hall during round 3 | Photo: Melinda Wilde
The encounter between Wadsworth and Royal featured a tense early middlegame fight before reaching an equal - yet slightly asymmetrical - position with two rooks and a bishop per side. Royal faltered decisively by playing a natural-looking move.
Here 29...Bxc5, among other moves, keeps the balance. After thinking for almost 5 minutes, though, Royal went for 29...Red8, failing to sense the danger in the double-rook endgame that emerges after the following (forced) sequence: 30.Bxb6 axb6 31.a5
White gives up a pawn to create a quick passer on the b-file. Wadsworth went on to show the correct technique to make the most of his advantage in the technical endgame.
In fact, Black gets a queen before his opponent, but the doubled rooks on the seventh rank combined with the threat of promoting the b-file end up giving White a memorable win.
There followed 44.Kg2 Qa2 45.Rc7 Qd5+ 46.f3 Qa2+ 47.Kh3 Qe6+ 48.Kh4
The king has escaped the checks, and Black cannot defend against the simultaneous threats of checkmate and a potential promotion - resignation came after 48...Kd8 49.Rc8+.
It should be noted that after 49...Rxc8 the only winning move is 50.Rh8+, simplifying into a winning pawn endgame.
Master advanced Tactics and Calculations like a super Grandmaster
The Indian chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi with an ELO of over 2700 (June 2023) is one of the best 20 players in the world. For the first time, the sympathetic top player presents himself in a video course. Let a world-class player show you tactical moti
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | TB1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Jones, Gawain Cb | 2640 | 5 | |
| IM | Ghasi, Ameet K | 2495 | 5 | ||
| IM | Wadsworth, Matthew J | 2456 | 5 | ||
| 4 | GM | Howell, David Wl | 2675 | 4,5 | |
| GM | Adams, Michael | 2672 | 4,5 | ||
| GM | Mcshane, Luke J | 2617 | 4,5 | ||
| IM | Bazakutsa, Svyatoslav | 2490 | 4,5 | ||
| IM | Royal, Shreyas | 2487 | 4,5 | ||
| GM | Gasanov, Eldar | 2469 | 4,5 | ||
| IM | Palliser, Richard Jd | 2369 | 4,5 | ||
| FM | Balaji, Aaravamudhan | 2316 | 4,5 | ||
| 12 | GM | Conquest, Stuart C | 2510 | 4 | |
| IM | Grieve, Harry | 2477 | 4 | ||
| IM | Merry, Alan B | 2423 | 4 | ||
| IM | Lutsko, Artem | 2414 | 4 | ||
| FM | Derakhshani, Borna | 2351 | 4 | ||
| IM | Kanyamarala, Tarun | 2337 | 4 | ||
| IM | Ledger, Andrew J | 2334 | 4 | ||
| 19 | IM | Trent, Lawrence | 2416 | 3,5 | |
| IM | Pert, Richard G | 2415 | 3,5 |
