Speelman on chess

The Smith and Williamson 93rd British Championship finished in victory for Jonathan Rowson for the third time in succession after a tremendous finishing sprint. Well off the pace after drawing the first game of the second week as Black against FIDE Master Martin Taylor, Rowson nevertheless gathered himself together to score four successive victories against Simon Williams (given here last week), Stewart Haslinger, Danny Gormally and finally Jonathan Parker.
His burst brought Rowson up to 8.5/11 - the same score he made both in Scarborough 2004 and last year in Douglas and, a model of consistency, in the exact same manner with seven wins three draws and a single loss. After defeating Nick Pert in the final round the Edinburgh-Georgian Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant was second by herself on 8/11 - much the best score ever achieved by a woman in the British; and she was followed by Parker, Gormally, Mark Hebden and Gawain Jones on 7.5; and seven players on 7 - Nigel Davies, Haslinger, Bogdan Lalic, Richard Palliser, Chris Ward and both Perts - Nick and his twin brother Richard.

Meanwhile, the 4th Staunton Memorial Tournament came to its conclusion last Friday, after six rounds at Simpson's-in-the-Strand in London and then the final five alongside the NATO Team Championship at Wellington College in Berkshire.
I left you last week with Ivan Sokolov in the lead after an opening burst of 3.5/4. He continued to sustain this excellent form for the final two rounds in London, bounding on to 5.5/6 but slowed down a little at the start of the second week with two draws. Sokolov still led at this stage by half-a-point but after further bloodshed in this very high-scoring tournament the final round began with him, Michael Adams and Jan Timman all tied on a massive 8 out of 10

It's been a tournament very much of two halves with a number of players doing very well but equally others suffering. Sadly I've belonged to the second group especially in the early rounds where I had my worst start in 15 years with just 0.5/4. After a nervous loss in the first round to Jan Werle and a draw with Tea Bosboom Lanchava, things went from bad to worse when I played Peter Wells and was annihilated in beautiful fashion in a game which, had I but been a spectator, I would have greatly appreciated:

Peter Wells v Jon Speelman

Staunton Memorial 2006

Modern Defenced

1 e4 g6 2 d4 Bg7 3 Nc3 c6 4 Nf3 d5 5 h3 Nf6 6 e5 Ne4 7 Bd3

In this line, something of a hybrid between a Modern and a Caro Kann (1 e4 c6), Black challenges White to prove an advantage in the tactical complications.after 7 Nxe4 dxe4 8 Ng5 c5. Peter instead decided to establish his centre, albeit at the minor cost of doubled c pawns. It's also possible for White to play for a minimal edge with 6 Bd3 though after 6...dxe4 7 Nxe4 Black is relatively comfortable.

7...Nxc3 8 bxc3 c5 9 0-0

9 dxc5 is also playable aiming for a more fluid position in which White' argues that his good developmnt and temporary extra pawn are worth more than the weaknesses.

9...c4 If you're going to play this - and it's by no means forced - then it makes sense to do so before White plays Re1 and can retreat the bishop to f1.

10 Be2 f6?! To challenge White's centre but it's better - or certainly much safer - to play 10...Qa5! first.

11 exf6 exf6

12 Ba3 Kf7 Later I wondered whether 12...Be6 was better so as to be able to answer 13Rb1 with Qd7. If 14 Re1 Kf7? 15 Bxc4! dxc4 16 Ng5+! fxg5 17 Qf3+ Black gets blown away. but 14 Re1 Nc6 15 Bxc4 dxc4 16 d5 0-0-0! doesn't look so clear.

13 Rb1 Qa5 (see diagram) In fact this wasn't aggressive but a defensive move to protect b5. The point is that if 13...Re8 14 Nd2 Kg8 15 Rb5! (threatening 16 Rxd5) Black is more or less forced to play 15...Be6 though this isn't necessarily totally disastrous.

14 Bxc4!! This very brilliant move aims to exploit White's lead in development and Black's awkwardly placed king. Absolutely sound or not, it's a splendid example of human creativity in action when a machine would probably take a strictly material view unless it could analyse a huge distance ahead. Wells saw it almost immediately but couldn't quite believe it and spent lots of time looking at other ideas before returning to it and convincing himself that it was worth trying. I also had vaguely noticed it was legal but couldn't quite believe that it would work.

14...dxc4 Obviously Black must take this bishop. If 14...Qxa3 15 Bxd5+ White has a massive attack.

15 Qe2 This quiet move is the point threatening both 16 Qe7+ and 16 Qxc4+.

15...Qc7

The natural human response trying to keep my position intact. The main

point was that if 15 Re8 16 Qxc4+ Be6 17 Rxb7+ Kg8 White has 18 Re1! though in fact 18...Qa6 is far from clear. I also wondered about 15....g5 but felt that after 16 Qxc4+ Kg6 17 Rb5!? White must have at least a draw. While the greedy machines suggest that Black can get away with 15...Qxa3 16 Qxc4+ Ke7! 17 Rb4 Kd8 18 Qf7 Re8 19 Qxg7 Nd7;

16 Rfe1 Bf8?? This is the move which Black would like to play if possible but it loses on the spot.Instead 16...Rd8 was correct when White plays 17 Rxb7! Qxb7 18 Qxc4+ Rd5! (not Qd5 19 Re7+ Kg8 20 Re8+ Kf7 21 Qc7+ Qd7 22 Re7+ winning) 19 Re7+ Qxe7 20 Bxe7 Be6 21 Ba3 with a very messy position. When there are units to attack and pawns to push then the queen is usually better than pieces and in detailed analysis later with a computer I didn't find anything totally satisfactory for Black. However, this is of course what I should have played for there now followed:

17 Qe8+ Kg7 18 Bxf8+ Rxf8 19 Re7+ Kg8 20 Qxf8+!

Somehow, my desire to play Bf8 had been so great that I'd managed to miss this very simple decider. White merges the exchange and several pawns up so I resigned on the spot.
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