Jones and Mirzoeva come from behind, win English Championships

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
6/23/2024 – The English Championships came to an end on Sunday in Kenilworth. Both the open and the women’s sections were decided in rapid tiebreakers, with Gawain Jones beating Michael Adams in the open and Elmira Mirzoeva beating Katarzyna Toma in the women’s. Coincidentally, both champions entered the final round of the event standing a half point behind the players they would later beat in the playoffs. | Photo: London Chess Classic

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

Jones beats Adams in rapid playoff

The two clear rating favourites in the open section of the English Championship reached the final round in first and second place. Michael Adams had 5½ points to Gawain Jones’ 5. Jones was tied for second place with Peter Wells, whom he was paired up against (with black) in the seventh round. Adams had white against Ameet Ghasi.

Adams decided to call it a day early on, as he signed a 21-move draw against Ghasi. Jones, on his part, fought hard until getting a 59-move victory from what was a tablebase draw in a rook endgame (see game analysis below). The top seeds thus finished the event with 6/7 scores, which meant a rapid tiebreaker would decide the Championship winner.

Two 20+10 games followed, with Jones first prevailing in a queen endgame while playing black, and then drawing with white to win the Championship.

Wells 0 - 1 Jones

Analysis by Klaus Besenthal

Final standings

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Adams, Michael 6 0,5
2 Jones, Gawain Cb 6 0,5
3 Wells, Peter K 5 0
4 Ghasi, Ameet K 5 0
5 Gormally, Daniel W 5 0
6 Roberson, Peter T 5 0
7 Wadsworth, Matthew J 5 0
8 Fernandez, Daniel H 5 0
9 Willow, Jonah B 5 0
10 Bowcott-Terry, Finlay 5 0
11 Bates, Richard A 5 0
12 Badacsonyi, Stanley 5 0
13 Hobson, Kenneth 5 0
14 Savidge, Daniel 5 0
15 Jackson, James P 4,5 0

...80 players

All available games - Classical

Tiebreaks

Mirzoeva also wins on demand before prevailing in playoffs

Curiously, both the open and the women’s sections saw the player who came from behind winning the Championship. In the women’s section, defending champion Katarzyna Toma — Adams was also the defending champion coincdentally — entered the final round with a ½-point lead. She also drew her game, allowing Elmira Mirzoeva to catch her in the standings thanks to a victory over Kamila Hryshchenko.

Mirzoeva, like Jones, had to work hard to win her round-7 encounter. In the ensuing rapid playoff, Mirzoeva also started with a win, but unlike in the open, Toma managed to even the score by winning the second encounter. Two more games were played to break the tie, with Mirzoeva scoring the deciding victory with the black pieces before signing a draw to become the new English Champion.

Born in Moscow, the 42-year-old Mirzoeva transferred to the English Chess Federation only two months ago.

Final standings

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Toma, Katarzyna 6 1
2 Mirzoeva, Elmira 6 0
3 Hryshchenko, Kamila 4,5 1
4 Rida, Ruqayyah 4,5 0
5 Dicen, Elis Denele 4 0
6 Varney, Zoe 4 0
7 Maton, Emily 4 0
8 Subramanian, Anusha 3,5 0
9 Hariharan, Shambavi 3,5 0
10 Latypova, Olga L 3,5 0
11 Longson, Sarah N 3,5 0
12 Hardwick, Alexandra 3,5 0
13 Hunt, Harriet V 3 0
14 Catabay, Mae C 3 0
15 Fernando, Manel 3 0

...22 players

All available games - Classical

Tiebreaks

Links

<< Tan Zhongyi wins Cairns Cup, Anna Muzychuk grabs second place
Superbet Classic: Caruana, Nepo and Abdusattorov favourites in Romania >>
Topics: Elmira Mirzoeva, English Championship 2024, Gawain Jones
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.
Discussion and Feedback Submit your feedback to the editors

See also

English Championships: Five co-leaders in the open

6/22/2024 – The English Championships are taking place on June 20-23 at the Holiday Inn Kenilworth-Warwick in Kenilworth. Each event is a 7-round Swiss open. After 4 rounds, the open section has 5 players sharing the lead, including top seeds Michael Adams (pictured) and Gawain Jones. In the women’s tournament, defending champion Katarzyna Toma is the sole leader with a perfect 4/4 score. | Photo: English Chess Federation
More...
 4

See also

FIDE decides: New format for chess

4/1/2024 – Apart from a few minor modifications, the game has remained unchanged for over a thousand years. However, with the advent of comprehensive, systematic preparation it has become less interesting. FIDE has decided that some radical measures need to be taken to save chess. Here’s what they have decided.
More...
 36

Video

60m van Wely Anti Sicilian

Tired of spending hours and hours on the boring theory of your favourite opening? Then here is your solution, play an Anti-Sicilian with 3.Bb5 against 2...d6 or 2...Nc6, and 3.d3 against 2...e6. In 60 minutes you will get a crash course in how to avoid mainstream theory and in understanding the ideas of this Anti-Sicilian setup. After these 60 minutes you should be able to survive the Sicilian for a long time, without being bothered by new developments found by engine x supported by an x-core machine. Now that it finally comes down to understanding, let's play chess!