Adams wins 5th Staunton Memorial

Steve Giddins reports on round 11 of the 2007 Staunton Memorial

As is only appropriate in a tournament dedicated to the memory one of England's greatest players, the 2007 Staunton Memorial tournament ended in a victory for another British chess all time great, Mickey Adams. In the final round, he drew with Black against Ivan Sokolov, to reach an untouchable 8.5/11. Sokolov finished a point behind, where he was joined by Loek van Wely, who drew with Jon Speelman in the final round. Gawain Jones completed an outstanding tournament  by capitalising on an opening blunder by Jan Timman, to finish on 6.5, in the company of Jan Smeets and Jan Werle, the two young Dutch GMs.

There were two particularly notable moments in the final round's play. Sokolov, who could finish equal first by beating Adams, maintained some pressure throughout, but missed his best chance at the crucial moment:

Sokolov captured on b6, but Adams was much more concerned about 39.Bd6!, which wins a pawn. Black would be forced to seek chances in a rook ending a pawn down, which he may or may not be able to save. In the game, play instead continued 39.Bxb6 Bxb4 40.Re5 Rb7 41.Be3 Bd6 42.Rh5+ Kg6 43.Rg5+ Kf6 44.f4, which also looks promising for White, until one sees Black's next move. 44...Rb4! The move Sokolov had missed. Now the draw is inevitable. 45.Rxd5 ½–½

The other main talking point was an extraordinary oversight by Jan Timman. The opening moves of his game against Gawain Jones (Timman is White) were 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 0–0 5.e4 d6 6.Be2 e5 7.0–0 exd4 8.Nxd4 Re8 9.f3 Nc6 10.Be3 Nh5 11.Qd2 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 Nf4

Here, Timman played the incautious 13 Bxg7?!, only to be stunned by the reply 13...Qg5!, when Black threatens mate on g2, as well as 14...Nh3+, winning the white queen. A thunderstruck Timman stared in disbelief at the position for several minutes, before deciding that he had to give up his queen for two pieces by 14 Qxf4??. Although he fought hard thereafter, he could not save the game. However, he totally missed the defensive idea 14 Kf2!, after which Black has nothing better than 14...Kxg7, with little or no advantage. An extraordinary oversight for such a player.

Once the play had ended, the players had to exercise their writing hands in earnest, in order to sign the six boards used for the event. The luxury sets and boards, loaned for the occasion by the House of Staunton, proved extremely popular, with many of the players commenting on how nice it was to play on such luxurious equipment. The signed boards will be available for purchase from House of Staunton shortly; details from their website above.

This duty over, the players and guests sat down to a highly enjoyable closing dinner and prize-giving. Chess sets again became a topic of the moment, as Mickey Adams added to his first prize by taking the best game award, for his round 9 masterpiece against Jan Werle. The prize consisted of the chess set belonging to the late Morris (Moses) Sobkowski, one of the original founders of The Friends of Chess, who have done so much for British chess over the past 40-odd years. Sobkowski and his chess set survived incarceration in no fewer than five Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Belsen - a remarkable story of human endurance. After his death, the set was donated to The Staunton Society by his widow, Trudie, and was won in 2005 by Jonathan Levitt, winner of the Third Staunton Memorial. Earlier this year, Jonathan kindly re-donated the set to the Society.

The Sobkowski chess pieces - an ordinary set, with an extraordinary story.

Another special award made at the final dinner was to sponsor Jan Mol, who was presented with a special memento by the Staunton Society, a copy of Howard Staunton's 1859 annotated edition of Shakespeare's plays. A wonderful two weeks at Simpson's was brought to an end, with all concerned looking forward to getting together again next year, for a continuation of this great event.

In addition to his £2,500 cash prize, winner Mickey Adams also received a piece of artwork, painted by Staunton Society Hon Secretary, Barry Martin - who also plans a portrait of Mickey and his wife, Tara!

Bringing the sponsor to book - Ray Keene presents Jan Mol with an 1859 annotated edition of Shakespeare, edited by Howard Staunton. Left is Squadron Leader Steve O'Neill, Chairman of the Combined Services Chess Association, who attended the dinner as a special guest.

Gawain Jones, the revelation of the tournament, receives his prize from Ray Keene. Contrary to what I wrote in the various round-by-round reports, Gawain is 19 (not 18), English (not Welsh), uses Italian (not Welsh) algebraic notation, and won five games (not four). Apart from that, I think I got everything else right...

One of the dinner guests was (retired) grandmaster Jonathan Tisdall of Norway. Mickey Adams' wife Tara is hiding behind the candelabra.

Michael Stean is another retired GM who visited the final round. His book "Simple Chess" is still a classic. Who knows, if you study it hard enough over the next 12 months, maybe you will become strong enough to be invited to the 2008 Staunton Memorial?