Jones and Mirzoeva come from behind, win English Championships

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.

Weapons against the Caro Kann Vol. 1 & Vol. 2

Vol. 1: Panov and Two Knights

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

Wells, Peter K2354

0–1

Jones, Gawain C B2633

English Championship 2024 Kenilworth23.06.2024[Besenthal,Klaus-Guenther]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 Bd7 7.d4 g6 8.Bxc6 Bxc6 9.dxe5 Nxe4 10.Nbd2 Nc5 11.Re1 Be7 12.exd6 cxd6 13.Nb3 0-0 14.Nxc5 dxc5 15.Qxd8 Bxd8 16.Bh6 Re8 17.Ne5 Ba4 18.b3 f6 19.Nxg6 Rxe1+ 20.Rxe1 Bxb3 21.axb3 hxg6 22.c4 g5 23.h4 Kf7 24.hxg5 fxg5 25.f4 g4 26.Bg5 Bxg5 27.fxg5 Rd8 28.Re5 Rd3 29.Rxc5 Rxb3 30.Kf2 Kg6 31.Rd5 Kh5 32.c5 a5 33.c6 bxc6 34.Rxa5 Rb5 35.Ra8 Kxg5

Tablebases evaluate this position as drawn. 36.Rg8+ Kf4 37.g3+ Kf5 38.Rf8+ Ke6 39.Rg8 Rb4 40.Ke3 Kd6 41.Rg5 Ra4 42.Rg8 Kc5 43.Rg5+ Kb6 44.Ke2 c5 45.Ke3 Kb5 46.Ke2 Rd4 47.Ke3 Kc4 48.Ke2 Re4+ 49.Kd2 Kb4 50.Rg8 Kb3

And up to this point, Wells had done his job perfectly. 51.Rb8+? But now came this mistake. Correct was 51.Rc8! The pawn cannot advance: c4 Or 51...Re5 52.Kd3 Rf5 53.Rb8+ Ka2 54.Kc4= 52.Rb8+ Ka4 53.Kc3= 51...Rb4 52.Rc8 c4 53.Rc5 Rb8 54.Rg5 54.Rc7 Rd8+ 55.Kc1 Rd3 56.Rb7+ Kc3 57.Ra7 Re3 58.Kd1 Kd3 59.Rd7+ Ke4 60.Kc2 Kf3-+ 54...c3+ 55.Kc1 Rf8 56.Rb5+ Kc4 57.Rg5 Rf1+ 58.Kc2 Rf2+ 59.Kc1 Rg2 59...Rg2 60.Rxg4+ Kb3 61.Rd4 Rg1+ 62.Rd1 Rxd1+ 63.Kxd1 Kb2 etc. 0–1

Final standings

...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.

Master Class Vol.16 - Judit Polgar

In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.

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

Final standings

...22 players

All available games - Classical

Tiebreaks

Links

• English Chess Federation website
• All technical information on Chess-Results
• Michael Adams and Katarzyna Toma win English Championships (2023)