Michael Adams wins British Online Championship

by André Schulz
1/6/2021 – Over the turn of the year, the British Chess Federations organised their annual championship as an online tournament. Michael Adams, with a rating of 2716 currently Britain's number 1, was clear favourite. Adams indeed won the title, but only after a close play-off against IM Ameet Ghasi. | Photo: ECF

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British Online Championship 2020

Usually the British Championships are big chess festivals with many tournaments that cover all ages and rating groups. However, in 2020 such a festival was not possible. Therefore, the chess federations of England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Ulster, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man decided to go online and the various British Championships were played virtually from December 18, 2020 to January 3, 2021.

The championship tournament was a 9 round Swiss open, in which the field, however, was not particularly strong. 37 players took part, six of them grandmasters. With a rating of 2716 Michael Adams was the number one seed and clear favourite to win tournament and title as he was more than 200 Elo-points ahead of second seed Matthew Turner, who started with a rating of 2509.

Adams lived up to his role as favourite and started with 5.0/5.

 

In round six Adams played his first draw, against Bogdan Lalic. Then Adams also drew the three remaining games, which allowed  IM Ameet Ghasi to catch up to Adams. Now, the two had to play a two-game tiebreak match for the title. In the first game Adams was in trouble, but he managed to turn the tables and won the game. With a draw in the second game he then secured the title and became first British Online Champion.

 

Final standings after nine rounds

No. Name Rtg
1 Adams Michael 2716
2 Turner Matthew J 2509
3 Ghasi Ameet K 2485
4 Gormally Daniel W 2479
5 Fernandez Daniel H 2466
6 Hebden Mark L 2453
7 Wadsworth Matthew J 2416
8 Lalic Bogdan 2402
9 O'gorman Tom 2368
10 Grieve Harry 2351
11 Tate Alan 2342
12 Claridge-Hansen William 2290
13 Toma Katarzyna 2289
14 Chopra Tanmay 2273
15 Toczek Grzegorz 2271
16 Blackburn Jonathan Lb 2235
17 Balaji Aaravamudhan 2206
18 Shafi Declan 2166
19 Villiers Thomas 2161
20 Cox Tristan A 2141
21 Wills Thomas 1994
22 Evans Harry G 1985
23 Finn Peter 1959
24 Rathbone-Jones Ifan 1941
25 Varney Zoe 1917
26 Gordon Sean 1909
27 Stubbs Oliver 1905
28 Finn Chris 1886
29 Goss Alex 1833
30 Gurner Jem 1800
31 Arora Tashika 1744
32 Idle Oscar J 1722
33 Ismail Mohammed Aayan 1719
34 Volovich Julia 1674
35 Shearsby Jude 1673
36 Oh Julie 1168
37 Greenwood Mark 0

Games

 

The Women's Championship was more one-sided: Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant won with 7.0/7.

Women's Championship, final standings

No. Name Rtg
1 Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan E 2380
2 Ciuksyte Dagne 2294
3 Kanyamarala Trisha 2180
4 Emelianova Maria 2113
5 Smith Olivia 2012
6 Putar Lara 1930
7 Varney Zoe 1917
8 Lampard Alice 1763
9 Arora Tashika 1744
10 Lowry-O'reilly Hannah 1708
11 Posadas Rayelynn 1703
12 Rida Ruqayyah 1661
13 Dicen Imogen 1630
14 Walker Kate 1596
15 Headlong Georgia 1584
16 Pert Nina P 1537
17 Barry Suzanne 1375
18 Wilson Florence 1360
19 Catabay Mae C 1215
20 Oh Julie 1168

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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