Go, go, go!!
The 2008 Staunton Memorial, the 6th of the current series, got underway with
the Opening ceremony and drawing of lots on Wednesday 6 August, at its
traditional home, Simpsons-in-the-Strand. The category 13 event, the strongest
such tournament in England for at least 20 years, is once again sponsored by
Dutch chess lover, Jan Mol, and brings together 6 Dutch GMs, 4 English GMs, one
Russian GM and one New Zealand-born, English-resident IM. The latter, the
indefatigable Bob Wade, at 87 years young, is setting a world record by becoming
the oldest player ever to compete at such a level.
Regular followers of the Staunton, and of these reports, will be aware that
artist Barry Martin, the Hon Secretary of the Staunton Society, always likes to
put on something of a show in the otherwise humdrum drawing of lots. As last
year, he once again paid homage to Jan Mol's interest in Formula One, by having
the players determine their draw numbers by a series of head-to-head races,
using radio-controlled dune buggy cars. The winning racer, each of whom had
first consumed a glass or two of welcoming champagne, would be the first to
propel his car across the floor and through a picture of retired former world
champion, Garry Kasparov! Hmmm - "Kasparov run over by five drunk
drivers" - sounds like the sort of newspaper headline Vlad "The
Impaler" Putin dreams of...
A nervous Garry K awaits his fate
One might have thought that the Brits would have had something of an
advantage here. After all, our Dutch guests are rather more well-known for their
love of the humble bicycle, than of the internal combustion engine. Anyone who,
like the present writer, has spent any time wandering around the streets of
Amsterdam, will be only too painfully aware that in the Dutch Highway Code, the
cyclist is king, with the motorist a poor second and the wretched pedestrian
barely registering on the scale at all. However, it was not to be. As if to
emphasise their intentions, the Dutch won all six of the head-to-head races,
thereby securing the white pieces in each of the round one games. Britain's best
performance came from Nigel Short, possibly benefitting from his experience of
the traffic in his adopted home city of Athens. However, he had the misfortune
of facing "Ayrton" L'Ami, who put up by far the most impressive
performance of the night, and ploughed into poor Garry Kimovich within seconds
of the starter's pistol firing.
Smeets and Adams under starter's orders. Adams lost this particular battle,
but won the war next day
This humiliation over, the players and guests retired for a splendidly
traditional Simpsons roast beef dinner. Nigel, still smarting over his race
defeat, pulled something of a face at the gigantic Yorkshire pudding, which
accompanied the meal. Then again, he does have the excuse of hailing from the
wrong side of the Pennines. To a true Tyke, of course, Yorky pud is little less
than a religion, the seriousness of which is emphasised by the tragic story of
the Yorkshireman who came down South, couldn't get any Yorkshire pudding, and in
his despair, went back home and battered himself to death...
"Turning reluctantly to the chess", as Harry Golombek was wont to
say, Thursday's first round saw the six Dutch players all wielding the white
pieces. The game Timman-Wade brought together the tournament's two oldest
players, with Jan Timman playing what nowadays must be the unaccustomed role of
the young whippersnapper, receiving a full 30 years from his opponent. Wade's
unusual opening sequence 1.e4 d6 2.d4 c6 3.f4 Nf6 4.e5 Bg4 seemed initially to
bring a tolerable position, but things soon went wrong, and by the time he got
his queen trapped in the centre at move 21, he was already facing a lost cause
on the queenside.
L'Ami-Short was a carefully-played draw, whilst Sokolov-Wells saw the
Englishman outplay his formidable opponent, but agree a draw in a position where
he stood substantially better, but had little time on the clock.
Alexander Cherniaev, who is fulfilling the role of honorary Englishman,
whilst adding the necessary third nationality to the tournament line-up, faced
Jan Werle with Black. The latter's positional exchange sacrifice yielded a pawn
and good positional compensation, but it was not clear that White had more than
enough. However, Cherniaev lost time with a long-winded knight manoeuvre, and
soon found himself tied hand and foot. White regained his material with an
extra pawn, and Cherniaev's subsequent blunder of a piece only shortened the
game, rather than changing its result.
Van Wely won the longest game of the day against Jon Speelman, who looked to
stand OK from the opening, but weakened and shed a pawn. Even so, his excellent
blockading knights and dark-square play appeared to offer good compensation, but
van Wely gradually made progress and Speelman resigned when faced with two
connected passed pawns in the ending.
The game of the day was undoubtedly Mickey Adams' splendid tussle with
current Dutch Champion, Jan Smeets:
Smeets,Jan - Adams,Michael [C45]
Staunton Memorial (1), 07.08.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7
7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Ba6 9.b3 0–0–0 10.Bb2!?
The more usual choice here is 10.g3, as played by Kasparov
against Karpov in game 14 of their New York/Lyon world championship match in
1990. Indeed, that was the very game that revived the Scotch as a serious weapon
in GM play. It is sobering to speculate how much of the present game is to be
found in Kasparov's legendary database - I would not be at all surprised if he
analysed much of it back in 1990!
10...Qg5 11.Qf3?!
Smeets thought for some 45 minutes over this move, which
appears to be a novelty. As far back as 1881, Blackburne chose 11.Qe4 against
Zukertort, eventually losing a long ending.
11...Bb4+ 12.Kd1
Obviously forced. White's king and development is a disaster,
but the black minor pieces and queen lack stability, and he needs to use all his
tactical ingenuity to avoid being driven back in disarray. This is one of those
positions where everything depends on the precise tactical features.
12...Nf4 13.h4 Qh6
14.g3
At first sight, 14.Bc1 looks as though it wins material, but
Black has the tactical retort 14...d6!, when he stands better after both 15.Bxf4
dxe5+ and 15.e6 Qf6.
14...Ne6 15.Bc1 Qg6 16.h5
16.Bd3 also looks strong, but is well met by 16...Nd4
16...Qc2+!
Another neat tactical resource.
17.Kxc2 Nd4+ 18.Kd3?
This looks like the final mistake. White should settle for
18.Kb2, although Black is still doing well.
18...Nxf3 19.Ke4?
Continuing the theme of death by misadvanture.
19...Nxe5!
Another hammer-blow, the main point being that 20.Kxe5 Be7!
regains the material. With Smeets by now in time-trouble, his position quickly
collapses.
20.h6 Ng4 21.hxg7 Rhg8 22.Kf5 Rxg7 23.f3 Nf2 24.Rh2 Bc5
25.Bh6 Rg6 26.Nd2 Bd4 27.Bg5 Re8 28.Rxf2 Re5+ 0–1
A great show of tactical control by Adams.
