The Glorious 12th

Steve Giddins reports on round 6 of the 2007 Staunton Memorial

Simpsons has always been a place where the gentlemen of England congregate. For such people, there are few more conspicuous days in the calendar than 12 August, otherwise known as "The Glorious Twelfth". This is the first day of the grouse-shooting season, when the more well-heeled members of British society spend their time tramping the moors of Scotland, shotguns in hand, in the hope of bagging a brace or two of wildlife for that night's dinner. The grandmaster field assembled for this year's Staunton Memorial tournament does not contain any grouse, and certainly nothing even remotely resembling a rabbit, but that did not stop a few shots being fired during Sunday afternoon's sixth round. 

Admittedly, the games Houska-McNab and L'Ami-Adams were more peashooter than shotgun. The first two have both had a difficult start to the tournament, and it was no great surprise when Houska's quiet treatment of the Pirc led only to heavy simplification and an early draw. L'Ami secured the tiniest of edges against Adams' Queen's Indian, but in the resulting IQP structure, Adams made excellent use of the outposts on e4 and c4, and held without any problem at all.

A security-conscious Adams, making sure there's no Semtex strapped under his clock...

In the other games, Jan Werle won his second successive game, at the expense of Timman, who lost his second straight. The game was a great disappointment for the latter, who had played the first half of the game very strongly, only to weaken and collapse in the fourth hour.

Play continued 36...Nd3 37.Bxd3 exd3 38.Kf2 bxa4? After this, the position collapses quickly. Instead, 38...Bf7 retains excellent counterplay, eg 39.axb5 cxb5 40.Qxa5 Be6, when Black has serious play on the light squares. 39.Qxa4 Rxc5 40.Rxc5 Rb5 41.Qc4+ White simply annexes another pawn, and Black has no adequate compensation. The rest presents only minor technical problems. 41...Bf7 42.Qxd3 Qd7 43.Qc3 Bd5 44.Rxb5 cxb5 45.Qxa5 Qc6 46.Qb4 Bh1 47.Ke2 g6 48.Qc5 Qg2+ 49.Kd3 Qxh2 50.Qxb5 Qxg3 51.d5 Qh4 52.Qb8+ Kf7 53.Qc7+ Ke8 54.Nc4 Bxd5 55.Qe5+ 1–0

Gawain Jones is not even old enough to own a shotgun licence, but that did not stop him bagging his first kill of the event, against the luckless Jon Speelman. The game came alive in the following position:

Speelman had been suffering for some time, with his opponent's two bishops and superior pawn structure giving him a clear advantage. Here, Jon tried a tactical solution to his problems: 32...b4 33.Ke3 Kf7 34.cxb4 f4+ 35.Kd2 Bxb3 36.Bxb3 Nf5 Black regains the piece, but White still has a dangerous queenside pawn majority 37.Kc3 Rxd4 38.a5 Rd7 39.b5! Ensuring a decisive passed pawn. axb5 40.a6 Ra7 41.Kb4 Nd4 42.Bd1 Rc7 43.Ra2 Ke7 44.Be2 Rc1 This loses quickly. 44...Kd6 was a more stubborn defence, but White should still win, eg. 45.Bxb5 Nc2+ 46.Ka5 Ne3 47.Rd2+ Kc5 48.Rd8, and the a-pawn will cost Black a large unit.  45.a7 Nc6+ 46.Kxb5 Nxa7+ 47.Rxa7+ Kd6 48.Ra2 Rh1 49.Rd2+ 1–0

Jon Speelman - suffering, but at least he can still finish the crossword every day

An excellent win for Gawain. I should take the opportunity to correct an error in a previous report, when I suggested that the Dragon was an appropriate opening for him, on account of his nationality. As an e-mail from Iain Simpson, Gawain's grandfather points out, despite his name, and the fact that he records his moves in Welsh algebraic notation (!), Gawain is in fact English!

The other winner of the day was Ivan Sokolov, who handed Peter Wells his first defeat, in a wild game.

Peter had met the 4...a6 Slav with 5 g3, sacrificing the c-pawn in Catalan style. Here, he lurched forward in aggressive fashion with 19.f5 Bxg2 20.fxg6 f6 21.Kxg2 After the game, Sokolov admitted that round about here, he was very concerned about his position, but the silicon beast is less impressed with White's play. Perhaps the decisive factor here was Wells' clock, which was already down to about 20 minutes. 21...h4 22.Qf5 Qc6 23.gxh4 Rxh4 24.Rh1 Rxe4! Played instantly, this exchange sacrifice is practically forced, and is the key to Black's play. 25.Qxe4 Rxd5 26.Qf3 f5 27.Rad1 Nc7 28.Kf2 Bxb2!? 28...Qxg6+ is more natural, but Wells was now having to move almost instantly, and there is always something to be said for avoiding the obvious move in such circumstances. 29.Qh5 Bg7 30.Qh7? Sokolov's gamble pays off. Instead, 30.Rxd5 Qxd5 31.Rd1 would leave White standing clearly better. 30...Ne6 31.Qg8+ Kd7 32.Ke2? The final mistake. With the white queen out of play, Black now has the better chances, but 32.Rxd5 would at least keep White on the board. 32...Rd3 33.Rhg1 Nd4+ 0–1 34...Qf3+ is lethal.

A relaxed Ivan Sokolov chats to Erwin L'Ami before the start of play

The final game of the day was a long battle between Smeets and van Wely. Black was clearly better in the middlegame, but let things slip around moves 35-40, and reached the time-control in the following unbalanced ending:

Black has two pieces for the rook, but the white queenside pawn armada is very dangerous. Play went on 42...g5 43.hxg6 hxg6 44.a5 g5 45.a6 Ra8 46.a7 Kf8 Now a more measured approach, such as 47 Kc2, should win for White, but Smeets instead tried to force things. 47.b4?! Ne4 48.b5 Nxc3+ 49.Rxc3 Bxc3 50.b6 The two passed pawns look deadly, but Black has a defensive resource. 50...Be5 51.Rd5 Bf4 52.Rxg5

Now Black has only one move to draw. Before looking ahead, try to find it yourself. As the great Mike Basman was wont to say, "Turn off the tape and decide what you would play!".

 52...Bb8! Very photogenic. 53.axb8Q+ ½–½

So, after six rounds, it is Adams and van Wely who lead on 4.5, followed by Sokolov, Wells, Werle and Smeets on 3.5. Jones and L'Ami have 3, Timman and McNab 2, whilst Speelman and Houska are propping up the table on 1.5. In the team competition, the Dutch have extended their lead to four points, being ahead 20-16.