Notts News Newsletter of the Nottinghamshire Chess Association 2007–08 No
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Notts News Newsletter of the Nottinghamshire Chess Association 2007–08 No. 9 29 September 2007 http://www.nottschess.org/ [email protected] Copyright © Nottinghamshire Chess Association 2007 World Championship 0–0 14.Kb1 Qc7 15.Qf2 White wants to remove the black Viswanathan Anand broke away from the field early in the knight at c6, which defends d5 15...Nc4 16.Bxc4 Bxc4 17. second half of the World Championship. Round 9 saw defeats Nd5 This is new in Grandmaster chess (Leko played 17.Na4 for both of his rivals, Boris Gelfand and Vladimir Kramnik, against Svidler in 2004). Anand’s idea seems natural enough giving Anand a one-point lead. In Round 10 Kramnik made a 17...Bxd5 18.Rxd5 f5 19.gxf6 Rxf6 Black counters by big effort to beat Anand, but the leader defended well and opening the f-file for his rooks 20.Qe2 Nf4 21.Bxf4 Rxf4 22. probably stood better when the draw was agreed. Rd3 Qd7 23.Nc1! White wants to re-route the knight to d5, Anand appeared to have put the issue almost beyond doubt but 23.Na5 (intending Nc4-e3-d5) is met by 23...b5 24.Nb3, with a fine win over Alexander Morozevich in Round 11, but when White has just lost time 23...Rcf8 24.a3 Clearing the Gelfand and Kramnik kept the contest alive by both winning in knight’s path 24...Kh8 25.Na2 Qh3 26.Rg3 Qh5 27.Qg2 Round 12. When they drew with each other in their penultimate game it looked as though the contest was all over, but Alexander Grischuk clearly hadn’t read the script: he forced Anand into a very difficult endgame a pawn down. It seems that Grischuk missed one clear chance to win, but Anand defended successfully to escape with a draw and take a one-point lead into Saturday’s final round. Anyone hoping for an exciting finish was quickly disappointed. After just 37 minutes and 20 moves Anand reduced Peter Leko’s Marshall Attack to an utterly sterile position and a draw was agreed. Anand thus becomes the 15th World Champion in a line stretching back to Wilhelm Steinitz in 1886. He must defend the title in a match against Kramnik next year, after which (if FIDE stick to their plan), we will have a title match every two years and the idea of tournaments to determine the champion will abandoned. Here’s the game that took Anand to the brink of winning the title. Morozevich’s kingside pressure looks strong, but Anand has all his weak points covered. Meanwhile, although the black Viswanathan Anand–Alexander Morozevich bishop is doing a solid defensive job it can’t really help in World Championship, Mexico City, 25.09.2007 attack. Anand has the advantage here, but it’s far from decisive 1.e4 c5 The Sicilian Defence was a rare beast in this 27...Rh4 28.h3 Qh6 29.Rb3 b5 30.Nb4 Black’s queenside is tournament – 1... e5 is all the rage with the top players now 2. under severe pressure, but he has counterplay 30...Rh5 31. Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e5 7.Nb3 Qf1 Anand could have played 31.Nxa6 here (instead of Be6 8.Be3 Nbd7 9.g4 Nb6 10.g5 Nh5 This is a well-known repeating moves), but perhaps he wanted to gain a little time position. White will try to exploit the weak square at d5, while on the clock 31...Rh4 32.Qg2 Rh5 Now another repetition, Black takes aim at f4 11.Qd2 Rc8 12.0–0–0 Be7 13.Rg1 taking the draw, must have been tempting, as both Gelfand and Kramnik had already drawn their games. Instead, Anand plays for the win 33.Nxa6 Bh4 34.Rg4 Bf6 35.Qe2 Rxh3 Forthcoming events 36.Rxb5 Bd8 36...Rh1+, going after the white king, might be a better try. The bishop move looks too passive 37.Rb8 Qf6 Derbyshire Rapidplay: 2 December 2007 38.Nb4 Rxf3 39.Nd5 Finally arriving on the key square. Even Celanese (formerly Accordis/Courtaulds, Spondon, Derby) so, Black is only a little worse 39...Qf7 40.Qa6 h5 41.Rg2 Contact Geoff Gibson ([email protected]) or visit h4? This appears to be the losing error. Morozevich obviously http://mysite.orange.co.uk/derbyrapidplay2007 wants to get his h-pawn moving quickly, but the price he pays is too high. 41... Qe6 holds things together 42.Qxd6 Be7 43. English Seniors Championship: 28 January–1 February 2008 Qxe5 Black’s problem is not the sacrificed pawns, but the Izaak Walton Hotel, Dovedale, Derbyshire. Five-round strength of the white e-pawn. It soon becomes clear that the FIDE-rated event for players aged 60 and over. Details and h-pawn can’t get down the board fast enough to counteract entry form: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/events/ecf- this 43...Rxb8 44.Qxb8+ Kh7 45.Qc7 Bf8 46.Qxf7 Rxf7 senior08/index.htm 47.Rg4 Rf1+ 48.Ka2 Rh1 49.e5 Bc5 49...h3 would have been consistent and stronger, but White should still win 50.e6 1 Kh6 51.Rc4 There’s nothing wrong with the obvious 51.e7, to be able to complete the course. There are usually about but around here Anand spotted a neat finish 51...h3 52.Rxc5 7,000 entrants in this event and thousands more line the h2 53.Ne3 Ra1+ 54.Kxa1 h1Q+ 55.Ka2 Qe4 route. As before, this should be good publicity for us and by running a ‘lottery’ based on the finishing places of all our runners, we could raise some useful revenue too. I envisage the public paying, say, £1.00 a go to guess the finishing places of all our team members. The nearest guess would get the equivalent of 25% of the takings, the second nearest 15% and the third 10%. Fifty per cent would go to NCA. This is easier than sponsorship, as we get our money before the race. And it doesn’t matter if someone pulls out before the event due to illness! We could also have T-shirts or vests printed with Notts Chess Association on the back. To get maximum publicity from this we could also enter a team in the Fun Run (usually about 1,000 entrants) – a mere 3 miles. This would allow our many juniors to have a bash. Many of these, I know, are already good sports people. We have rugby players, footballers, at least one hockey player, a couple of runners (!) and two Tai Kwondo aces. Just imagine the Nottingham public seeing a constant stream It looks as though White will still have to work for the win, but of runners with Notts Chess Association emblazoned on their Anand’s next move elegantly concludes matters 56.Re5! 56... backs! Qxe5 (56...Qa8 57.e7 Qe8 58.Nf5+ Kg6 59.Nd6 wins the I look forward to your enthusiastic response. queen) 57.Ng4+ leads to a trivially won endgame 1–0 Family Quiz – Awards Night European Youth Championships David Levens Amisha Parmar (West Nottingham) and Anjali Lakhani (Long In a last desperate effort to clear my home of a collection of Eaton) represented England in the Girls Under 16 and Under shields and other trophies, there will be an inter-club quiz 14 events, respectively, at the European Youth Championships night held at West Nottingham Chess Club on Friday 2 held in Croatia from 13–24 September. Amisha scored 5½/9 November, starting at 8.00 p.m., when last season’s awards and finished in a tie for 15th place, while Anjali scored 3½ and will also be given out. Light refreshments and prizes will be finished =51st. Both performed better than their initial provided. Entry is £5.00 for a team of four. ranking. It’s interesting to note that only one western This is intended to be a social event, so partners and other European finished ahead of Amisha – all the rest came from family members are welcome. Please let me know whether or countries with state support for chess. not your club will be entering a team or teams, as I need to The official site is at http://www.euroyouth2007.com/, and know how many to cater for! there are also reports on the ECF web site: http://www. englishchess.org.uk/events/eu-youth-croatia07/. League results Leicester Congress Division 1 Ankush Khandelwal (Ashfield) shared first place in the Open section of the Leicester Atkins Congress, despite losing to IM Mansfield 1 – Gambit 1 Jovanka Houska in Round 4. Both players scored 4/5. There 1 Tait, J. (191) ½ – ½ Barnes, M. (196) was a sizeable Nottinghamshire contingent, and results are 2 Cantrill, C. (160) ½ – ½ Mercs, P. (170) summarised below (all scores out of five points): 3 Morrison, K. (158) ½ – ½ Swain, J. (164) 4 Foreman, S. (147) 0 – 1 Wright, A. (149) N Open: Ankush Khandelwal 4 (=1st); David Coates 5 Wagenbach, J. (142) 0 – 1 Hayward, B. (136) (Newark) 3; Ian Kingston (West Nottingham) 2½; Giorgio 1½ – 3½ Pierbattisti (Grantham) 1½ N Major (U150): Maurice Hill (Nomads) 3; Janos Wagenbach Gambit 1 – Ashfield 1 (Mansfield) 1; Brandon Clarke (NPSCA) 1 1 Barnes, M. (196) 1 – 0 Alcock, M. (185) N Intermediate (U125): George Murfet (Radcliffe & 2 Mercs, P. (170) 0 – 1 Webster, R. (157) Bingham) 3; Daniel Broughton (West Bridgford) 3 3 Swain, J. (164) 1 – 0 Burke, S. (155) N Minor (U100): Not yet published 4 Wright, A. (149) 1 – 0 Jarvis, D.