The day the worm turned

Steve Giddins reports on round 10 of the 2007 Staunton Memorial

So far, the only disappointment of this year's Staunton Memorial has been the rather lopsided score in the team event. To a fair extent, it was inevitable - after all, the Dutch are an extremely strong chess nation these days, and their line-up here includes three of their top four rated players, whereas the British team contains only one of the top four. Even so, the statistics do not look good from a British standpoint. Out of 28 British-Dutch encounters in rounds 1-9, only 4 had been won by the Brits, with Mickey Adams responsible for 3 of them (McNab-Sokolov from round one was the other). The crosstable showed only one British player (Adams) on a plus score, and only one Dutchman (Timman) on a minus score.

Those of us present before the start of round 10 briefly had hopes that some honour might be restored to the Union Flag, when sponsor Jan Mol challenged Bob Wade to an informal game. Surely now we would win another game, we thought? After all, Bob Wade is an International Master, whose tournament credits include a win over Korchnoi and a draw with the legendary Bobby Fischer! Alas, though, it was not to be. Sacrificing pawns with all the abandon of a 19th century Simpson's stalwart, Jan Mol won the game! The British humiliation was complete, it seemed.

Yet another win for the Dutch - sponsor Jan Mol (left) defeats Bob Wade!

But as the dark days of Agincourt, Waterloo and Dunkirk showed, it is when we Brits have our backs to the wall that we are at our most dangerous. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, etc. Henry V, the Duke of Wellington, Winston Churchill - now we must add the name of Gawain Jones to the pantheon of great British heroes! The 18-year old warmed the cockles of the British chess heart, by slaughtering co-leader Loek van Wely, in just 25 moves. And what is more, he did it with a typically British home-brewed opening line, followed by a sacrificial attack, culminating in that most beloved of all tactical coups, a queen sacrifice:

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 The Grand Prix Attack, very much a British speciality since the 1970s. The line was moulded into a dangerous weapon by the likes of Dave Rumens, Mark Hebden and Julian Hodgson. 3...g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bb5 Nd4 6.0–0 a6 7.Bd3 b5 8.Nxd4 Bxd4+ 9.Kh1 Bb7 10.e5 Ra7?! 11.Be4 Bxc3?! The start of an extremely dangerous act of larceny. 12.Bxb7 Bxb213.Bxb2 Rxb7 14.f5 Nh6 15.Qf3 Qb6? As will become clear, this is fatal. The only move was 15...Qc7. 16.e6 f6 17.fxg6 hxg6

18.Bxf6! exf6 With his queen on c7, Black could now refute the attack with 18...Ng4, but as it is, there is no defence. 19.Qxf6 Rg8 20.Rae1 d5 21.Qg5 The knight on h6 cannot be defended, since 21...Nf5 is met by 22 Rxf5. It is all over. 21...Re7 22.Qxh6 Qa5 23.Rf6 Qxa2 24.Rxg6 Rf8

And now Gawain administered the coup de grace in style.

25.Qxf8+! 1–0 It is mate in 3. Gold coins showered over the board, spectators poured out onto the streets, running down The Strand, spreading news of the great triumph...Well, not really - but it certainly put a smile on a few British faces!

Fighting them on the beaches - Jones (right) massacred van Wely, to restore some British pride

The principal beneficiary of this result was of course Mickey Adams, Loek's co-leader in the tournament. He beat Colin McNab to move a whole point clear of the field, and now needs only a draw against Sokolov in the final round to take outright first place. The Scotsman's Modern Defence was taken apart rather brutally:

Adams continued 19.Bg4. Now Black probably has to play 19...Nf6 and hope, although 20 h5 is very strong. Colin instead chose 19...c5, and after 20.Bxe5 Rxe5 21.Bxh5 gxh5 22.Nf4, it was only a matter of time before the axe descended on his king's head. Adams duly won after 22...d5 23.Rhg1 dxe4 24.fxe4 Rd8 25.Rdf1 Rd6 26.Nxh5 Rg6 27.Nxg7 Rxg7 28.Nxf7 Rxe4 29.Rxg7+ Kxg7 30.Qf6+ 1–0

On the brink - Adams (right) needs a draw in the last round for outright first place

For a long while, it looked as though we would have another British win over the Dutch (indeed, I was poised to write that Britain's chess heroes were like our buses - you wait all week for one, then two come long at once...). However, it was not to be, as Peter Wells' time-trouble prevented him converting his advantage against Werle into a win. In fact, once the smoke had cleared, it was White who was winning, and Peter was forced to capitulate for the fifth game in a row.

Werle had sacrificed a piece on e6 earlier on, but here, Wells turned the tables with the counter-sacrifice 16...Nxc3! 17.bxc3 Qd5 18.Kf2 0–0–0 With the white king so exposed, Black has a clear advantage, but Peter was already seriously short of time. There is little point in commenting in detail on the remaining moves, most of which were played in a furious mutual time-scramble. Your silicon friends will point out the various missed opportunities. 19.Be2 Qxe5 20.Qc1 Nf6 21.Bf4 Ne4+ 22.Kg2 Qc5 23.Rf1 Bg6 24.c4 Qd4 25.Rf3 Rdf8 26.Qe1 Nc5 27.Rd1 Qe4 28.Bg3 e5 29.Qf2 Ne6 30.Kh2 Nf4 31.Bf1 Ne6 32.Rxf8+ Rxf8 33.Qe2 Qxe2+ 34.Bxe2 Nd4 (=) 35.Rf1 Rxf1 36.Bxf1 Kd7 37.h4 Ke6 38.h5 Be8 39.Bd3 Nf3+ 40.Kg2 Ng5 41.h6 Kf6 42.Bh4 1-0

Jon Speelman is another who has had a wretched tournament, not winning a single game, and today he slumped to his fourth defeat, at the hands of Ivan Sokolov.

From the diagram, Sokolov seized the initiative on the queenside with  27...a4 and a time-troubled Speelman saw his position collapse as follows: 28.bxa4 Nb6 29.Ne1 Nxa4 30.Qb3 b5 31.Nd6 c4 32.Qc2 Rab8 33.d5 exd5 34.g4 Bg6 35.Nxf5 d4 36.Be4 d3 37.Qd2 Nxb2 38.Qxb2 Bxa3 0–1

Jan Timman won his third successive game, this time as Black against L'Ami. This looked like a high-class game, although the excitement on the other boards rather over-shadowed it. Timman's early exchange sacrifice yielded a position where White had serious problems coordinating his pieces. L'Ami eventually sacrificed a piece back, to reach an ending with rook v two minor pieces. The final stages saw Timman give a textbook demonstration of the superiority of the pieces:

Play continued 45... Bb3 44.Ra1 Kg5 45.Rb1 Bxa5 46.Bxa6 Kxh5 47.Be2 Bc3 48.Bd1 Bd5 49.Rb8 Be5 50.Re8 Ne6 51.Rb8 Nd4 52.Rd8 Kg5 0–1 Some spectators were surprised by White's resignation, but Black has a simple plan to win another pawn. He plays Nh4+, forcing Kf2, then Bd4+, followed by Bc5, after which the f3-pawn cannot be defended.

The longest game of the day saw Jovanka Houska draw a fluctuating struggle against Jan Smeets. Jovanka was pressing for much of the game, but Smeets held the opposite-coloured bishop ending.

 

So, after a dramatic day's play, the stage is set for an equally dramatic final round. Adams leads by a full point, from Sokolov and van Wely. However, Adams plays Black against Sokolov in the final round. A draw will give him outright first, but if Sokolov wins, he will be guaranteed a share of first place. In that case, van Wely would be able to make it a threeway tie, if he can beat the out-of-form Speelman. Plays starts at 12 noon, two hours earlier than usual. We hope to see you at Simpson's for what promises to be a great climax to a great tournament.