Celebration 83rd Hastings International Congress, 28 December 2007 - 6 January 2008

Last Edited: Monday January 7, 2008 12:49 PM

This year's Hastings International Congress is being styled the 'Celebration' 83rd Hastings Congress to commemorate notable figures in the chess world who have passed away in the past few years. They include: Tony Banks, Tony Bastable, John Bisson, Steve Boniface, Michael Bent, David Bronstein, David Brown, Keith Brown, Peter Burnett, Lord Callaghan, Lady Callaghan, Philip Church, Alan Copeman, Ian Cowen, Vernon Dilworth, Richard Furness, George Goodwin, Pete Harrison, Frank Hatto, Roy Heppinstall, Keith Hoban, Isaac Iglesias, Ted Johnson, Joyce Macdonald-Ross, Fred Manning, Ian Mason, Eric McCanlis, Kenneth Messere, Lady Thelma Milner-Barry, Peter Morrish, Mike O'Hara, Frank Parr, Robert Pinner, Jan Richmond, John Robinson, Arie Rozenberg, David Pritchard, Walter Sebley, Peter Shaw, Jack Speigel, Simon Webb, Paul Watson and Roy Woodcock.

General View of the 2007/08 Hastings Congress (©2007 John Saunders)

The Masters event is a ten-round swiss which runs daily from 28 December to 6 January, starting at 2.15pm each afternoon. Spectators are welcome. Time control: 40 moves in 1 hour 20 minutes, followed by all moves in 20 minutes with the addition of one minute for each move from the start.

Official website: http://www.hastingschess.org.uk/ • View/download games (all rounds)

click here for a list of the Masters pairings and results on the official website.

Final Scores: 1-3 Vadim Malakhatko (BEL), Nidjat Mamedov (AZE), Valeriy Neverov (UKR) 7½/10, etc

SHAMELESS

Steve Giddins reports on round 10 of the Hastings Masters

Sometimes it is depressing to be proved right:

Mamedov,Nidjat (2565) - Malakhatko,Vadim (2596) [A00]

Hastings Masters (10.1), 06.01.2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Bf4 Nc6 8.Qd2 Be6 9.0–0–0 Qd7 10.Ng5 Bxg5 11.Bxg5 f6 12.Be3 0–0–0 13.Be2 Rhe8 14.Rhe1 a6 ½–½

Mind you, this masterpiece was dragged out to almost 25 minutes' playing time, making it a veritable marathon alongside Mamedov's nine-minute effort the day before.

Equally disappointing was the 15-move draw between Lalic and Flear on board four. A win for either would have brought a share of first place, rather than a share of 3rd-Umpteenth. But the Carpathian Warrior was White, and Flear evidently did not think much of his chances of winning with Black, so that too, ended after half an hour's play. 

Fortunately, the white players on the other two show boards were endowed with rather more intestinal fortitude. Jones launched himself at Nick Pert's French Defence, in highly imaginative fashion:

White has already sacrificed a pawn, and now continued in van banque style: 14.Nh7!? Qh4 15.Bf4 Bf8 16.Bg3 Qe7 17.Qg4 Nb4 18.Bb5+ Bd7 

19.Nf6+?! Once again imaginative, but possibly not sound.  19...gxf6 20.exf6 Qxf6? White's main point is that 20...Qd8? loses to 21.Rxe6+, but instead, the computer's recommendation of 20...h5! looks to give Black the advantage. This carries the tactical point that after 21.Qh3, Black can continue as in the game with 21...Qxf6 22.Be5 and now 22...Qh6, defending the rook on h8, whilst after the alternative 21.fxe7 hxg4 22.exf8+ Rxf8, Black retains his extra pawn. 21.Be5 Qg5 22.Bxd7+ Kxd7 23.Qxg5 hxg5 24.Bxh8 The upshot of the complications is that White has an extra exchange for a pawn, but the powerful central pawn mass allows Black to hold the balance. The game was drawn after 24...Rc8 25.c3 dxc3 26.Bxc3 Nc6 27.Rd1 Bc5 28.g3 b5 29.Kg2 d4 30.f4 gxf4 31.gxf4 f6 32.Be1 Kd6 33.Bh4 Rf8 34.Rde1 Nd8 35.Bg3 Kd5 36.h4 Bd6 37.h5 Rh8 38.Bh4 Be7 39.Rh1 Rxh5 ½–½

In the other top game, Chatalbashev outplayed Neverov from the opening, and soon had an ending with a healthy extra pawn. Then it all went wrong:

Although the extra passed pawn is currently blockaded, White must have excellent winning chances here. Play continued  27.Rbb7 g5 28.Bg3 Nd8 29.Rb5 f6 30.Nd2 Ra2 31.f4? White hopes to gets his bishop into play, but this move leads to pawn exchanges, which do not help his wining chances.  exf4 32.exf4 Ne6 33.fxg5 Nxc5 Now the best White can hope for is a 2 v 1 ending on the same side, which he would be very unlikely to win. But it gets worse... 34.Rc7 Re8+ 35.Kd1? 35.Kf3 is better. Rd8 36.Rbxc5 Rdxd2+ 37.Ke1 hxg5 38.Rb5 Rxg2 Suddenly, White has gone from being a pawn up, to a pawn down. Even now, the paucity of pawns should enable him to draw, but doubtless shocked at the turn of events, the Bulgarian eventually lost his remaining pawn, and was ground down. 39.Kf1 Rgc2 40.Rxc2 Rxc2 41.h4 g4 42.Rf5 Rc4 43.h5 Kf7 44.Ra5 Bh6 45.Bh4 Rc6 46.Ra7+ Ke6 47.Rh7 Bf4 48.Rg7 Kf5 49.Ra7 Rc1+ 50.Kg2 Rc2+ 51.Kf1 Rh2 52.Ra5+ Be5 53.Bg3 Rxh5 54.Bxe5 fxe5 55.Kg2 Kf4 56.Ra1 Rh3 57.Ra8 Rg3+ 58.Kf2 Rf3+ 59.Kg2 e4 60.Rf8+ Ke3 61.Rg8 g3 62.Ra8 Kd4 63.Rd8+ Kc4 64.Rc8+ Kd4 65.Rd8+ Kc3 66.Re8 Re3 67.Re7 Kd2 68.Re8 Re1 69.Kxg3 e3 70.Rd8+ Ke2 71.Kg2 Ra1 72.Rb8 Ke1 73.Rh8 Ra7 0–1

A tragedy for Chatalbashev, but one must admire Neverov's tenacity. It is the third year in a row that he has finished outright or shared first at Hastings, and in each of the last two years, he has done so by winning in the last round, whilst his rivals were busy halving out. Perhaps there is some justice in the world after all?

In the other leading games, wins for Pavlovic and Bognor lifted them to a high overall placing. Sadly, there were no norms achieved this year. Bob Eames had a marvellous fighting battle against Stuart Conquest, but the eventual draw was not enough for his IM norm. 

So, another Hastings ends. As always, it was a great 10 days, enjoyed immensely by all those involved. It is just a shame that, for the second year in a row, the lion's share of the prize money has been scooped by cynical ex-Soviet GMs, who profit from what in many other sports would be regarded as little more than match-fixing. Chess in general, and Hastings in particular, will never attract serious commercial sponsorship until this scourge of non-games is removed. For now, though, I bid you farewell for another twelve months, and hope that you have enjoyed the past 10 days' coverage of the Celebration 83rd Hastings International Chess Congress.

Steve Giddins

PS. One final point that I almost forgot. One of the evening entertainment events here at Hastings has been a series of "Master Classes", in which one of the GMs will spend an hour or so at the demo board, going over games played by the amateur players. I hear on the grapevine that our Azeri hero, Mr Mamedov, was asked to do such a Master Class on the night before the final round. He declined, on the grounds that "I have an important game tomorrow"!! Don't ya love him?

TRADITIONS UPHELD AT HASTINGS - WHAT A SHAME!

Steve Giddins reports on round 9 of the Hastings Masters

Hastings is a tournament where tradition has always been important, but some traditions are better than others. Yesterday was a day when it was some of the less fortunate traditions of grandmaster chess than were on display.

As we enter the final two rounds of the tournament, most spectators would expect the excitement to increase, as players fight it out for the top prizes. Alas, all too often, the opposite happens, and the leaders content themselves with agreeing short draws amongst themselves, to preserve their position. After the scandal of last year's final round here at Hastings, when three of the top four games were halved out inside 30 minutes' play, we had hoped that this year would be different. But already, we have the first signs that our hopes may be disappointed. On top board in round 9, Azerbaijan's Nidjat Mamedov had what appeared to be the ideal situation. Half a point ahead of the field, and with the white pieces. Surely the perfect platform to launch a serious bid to win the tournament? A win will leave him with one hand already on the trophy, going into the final round. But what happens? The "Wary Azeri" makes seven quiet developing moves, and then offers his opponent a draw, which, needless to say, is accepted with alacrity!

Pathetic, really. I know of no more cynical branch of sport than that of boxing, but even in that world, it has for decades been accepted practice that fighters who fail to give of their best in the ring can have part or all of their purse withheld. It is surely time we introduced a similar system for grandmasters who receive "appearance fees" and then fail to put in much of an appearance when it matters. Of course, Hastings could also introduce its own version of the so-called Sofia Rules, banning draw offers before move 50 - except that our version, for obvious reasons, would be called Battle Rules!

Fortunately, the other three show boards all produced fighting chess. Malakhatko moved into a share of the lead, by beating Pavlovic. It was the day of the latter's 44th birthday, and it is a long-standing tradition in chess, that people always play badly on their birthday. Back in the 1970s, Bill Hartston was one who used to suffer from this, since his birthday always fell in the middle of the British Championship. After losing several key games on the fateful day, he finally hit upon the idea of emulating royalty, by celebrating an "official birthday" on the rest day in the middle of the event, and ignoring the real thing when it came along. Once he started doing this, he won three birthday games in a row!

Pavlovic adopted a slightly different approach. Rather than expecting any presents from the top seed, Pavlovic himself was the first to offer a gift, in the form of the Benko Gambit pawn. However, Black ran into trouble in the early middlegame, and a sacrifice of two pieces for a rook proved unavailing. Meanwhile, Simon Williams was facing another unfortunate tradition, which is that one always loses one's first game after securing the Grandmaster title. He too was unable to break with the tradition, being thrashed in decisive fashion by Nick Pert:

Pert,Nicholas (2539) - Williams,Simon Kim (2475) [A43]

Hastings Masters  (9.3), 05.01.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Bg5

This is a favourite anti-Benko system of several English players, notably Hebden and Arkell.

 4...Qb6 5.a4!

Hebden usually prefers 5.Bxf6 here, but the text may well be stronger. Now 5...b4 is unattractive, since a subsequent Nbd2-c4 will come with tempo, but Simon's reply is also not very alluring.

5...bxa4 6.Nc3 Qxb2 7.Bd2

One is more used to seeing Simon on the white side of such positions. The immediate threat is 8.Rb1 Qa3 9.Nb5, so Black is forced to lose more time with his queen..

7...Qb6 8.e4 d6 9.e5

Continuing in energetic fashion. Black will soon come under pressure along the f3-a8 and a4-e8 diagonals.

9...dxe5 10.Nxe5 e6?!

10...a6 11.Qf3 Nbd7 looks compulsory, but Black's position is already very poor. After the text move, he is virtually lost.

11.Qf3 Qc7 12.Bb5+ Kd8

12...Nbd7 13.d6 Qb8 14.Rb1 is decisive.

13.Nc4 Bd6 14.Bg5

14.Nxd6 is also winning, but Pert prefers to pile on the pressure.

14...Rf8 15.0–0–0 Bb7 16.Ne4 Bxd5 17.Ncxd6 Qxd6

18.Rxd5! Qxd5 19.Rd1 Kc7 20.Rxd5 Nxd5 21.Qg3+ Kb7 22.Qd6 1–0

Jones, Neverov and Lalic all won with the black pieces, to join the 6.5 point group, whilst Glenn Flear beat Stewart Haslinger with White, to do the same. The Lalic game showed the value of following the latest trends in opening theory.

Abu Sufian,Sakil (2361) - Lalic,Bogdan (2500) [C11]

Hastings Masters  (9.8), 05.01.2008

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 Be7

This move has become fashionable over the past year or so, and has been scoring very well for Black. It was the subject of a recent survey in New in Chess Yearbook .

 8.Qd2 0–0

9.0–0–0?

One thing the above survey clearly highlighted is how badly White has done with this move. After the reply, Black already has a very strong attack. Abu was clearly unaware of this, since he accompanied the move with a draw offer.

 9...c4! 10.f5 b5 11.fxe6 fxe6 12.h4

The game Pruissjers-Li Shilong, Dieren 2006, saw White try accepting the b-pawn, but he also lost drastically: 12.Nxb5 Rb8 13.Nd6 Bxd6 14.exd6 Nb4 15.Kb1 Nf6 16.a3 Ne4 17.Qe1 c3 18.b3 Qa5 19.Bc1 Nxc2 20.Kxc2 Bd7 21.b4 Qa4+ 22.Kd3 c2 23.Rd2 Qb3+ 24.Ke2 Bb5+ 25.Rd3 Qxd3# 0–1

12...Qa5 13.Ng5

White is already practically lost. 13.Kb1 b4 14.Ne2 c3 is terrible for him, so Abu tries a desperation attack. Lalic swats it away with ease.

13...b4 14.Qe2 bxc3 15.Qh5 h6 16.Qg6 Bxg5 17.hxg5 cxb2+ 18.Kb1 Ndxe5 19.dxe5 Nb4 0–1

Amongst the other games, mention should be made of Bob Eames, who has had the tournament of his life. He moved onto 6 points, after crushing Vladimir Georgiev with the black pieces, and now needs to beat Stuart Conquest today, to complete an IM norm.

The leading final round pairings are as follows:

Mamedov (7) - Malakhatko (7)

Chatalbashev (6.5) - Neverov (6.5)

Jones (6.5) - Pert (6.5)

Lalic (6.5) - Flear (6.5)

ARISE, SIR SIMON!

Steve Giddins reports on round 8 of the Hastings Masters

As regular readers of these reports will know, short draws on the top four live boards are not all that popular with anyone, least of all certain boroughs of West London. But yesterday, a 12-move draw on board one proved to be one of the most well-received results of this year's tournament. The brief encounter between Williams and Malakhatko brought Simon the precious couple of rating points that he needed to take his rating over 2500, and thus earn him his Grandmaster title. Earlier in the day, various groups of well-wishers could be seen, feverishly scribbling numbers on pieces of paper, as the various ups and downs of expected scores and k-factors were added, subtracted, multiplied, and otherwise subjected to processes that would have defied Euclid. The net result was that when sitting down to start his game against Malakhatko, Simon knew that a draw should be enough (should rather than would, only because final confirmation is still needed from FIDE). There were fears that he might decide to pursue his usual maximalist approach, and go all out for the win, but instead, more rational counsel prevailed, and at move 12, he muttered the word "draw", one not often heard from his lips. Malakhatko was not in the mood to disappoint him, and the resultant handshake meant that England now has another Grandmaster.

There can have been few more popular titles, and it is especially nice that Simon should have wrapped up his title here at Hastings. Two years ago, he made his final norm here, and over the past few years, he has provided more entertainment than just about any other player. So our heartiest congratulations go out to him, and we hope he can now press on with the minor business of trying to win the tournament.

Whilst this was happening, it was the foreign players who were taking pole position in the Masters. Mamedov survived an inferior position to beat Hebden with Black, whilst Chatalbashev was again making use of his expertise in the Modern Benoni. In round five, he had given a fine demonstration of the merits of Black's position, but yesterday he showed the other side of the coin, in equally impressive style..

Chatalbashev,Boris (2581) - Satyapragyan,Swayangsu (2404) [A70]

Hastings Masters (8.3), 04.01.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6 7.h3 Bg7 8.e4 0–0 9.Bd3 Bd7 10.0–0

10.a4 looks a more natural reaction to Black's last, but Chatalbashev is pursuing a central strategy.

10...b5 11.Re1 c4 12.Bc2 Re8 13.a3 Na6 14.Bf4 Qb6

15.e5

This appears to be a new move, as far as I can tell, but it is very logical. Just as Black has a queenside pawn majority in this opening, so White has a majority in the centre, and Chatalbashev quickly establishes a passed d-pawn. His plan now is simply to push the pawn through the middle of Black's position.

15...dxe5 16.Nxe5 Nc5 17.Qf3 a5 18.d6!

Energetically pursuing his basic plan. Now 18...Qxd6 19 Nxg6 would result in the destruction of Black's kingside.

18...Be6 19.Rad1 b4 20.Na4 Qb5 21.Nxc5 Qxc5 22.Ba4!

All very logical. White directs his pieces at the d7-square, which is the next stepping stone for his d-pawn. Nimzowitsch wrote that an enemy passed pawn is a dangerous criminal, who should be kept under lock and key. Black seems to have forgotten to bolt the cell door.

22...Rf8 23.Bg5 Ng4

An ingenious attempt to solve his problems tactically, but it fails to do so.

24.hxg4 Bxe5 25.Bc6 Ra6

26.Rxe5!

The final blow. Now the mating threats against the king will cost Black his queen.

27...Qc5 28.Qf4 leads to mate.

28.Qxf6 Rxc6 29.axb4 axb4 30.Qe7 Rcc8 31.d7 Rcd8 32.Qxb4 Bxg4 33.Rd4 Bxd7 34.Qd2 1–0

The games on boards 4-6 were drawn after varying degrees of fight, but Pavlovic won quickly, to move into the second-placed group. Lower down the lists, there were some impressive games. Bogdan Lalic has been the target of some good-natured ribbing on my part, regarding his tendency to take too many quick draws, but he is an extremely classy player when he puts his mind to it, and he won a nice game against Richard Bates yesterday:

Lalic,Bogdan (2500) - Bates,Richard (2378) [E94]

Hastings Masters (8.12), 04.01.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0–0 6.Be2 Na6 7.0–0 e5 8.Be3 Ng4 9.Bg5 Qe8 10.Re1 exd4 11.Nd5 f6 12.Bf4 c6

13.Bxd6!? An interesting piece sacrifice. 13...cxd5 14.exd5 Qd8!? Fritz 11 prefers 14...d3 15.Bxd3 Ne5, with unclear play. 15.c5 f5? After this, Black is definitely losing. 15...Re8 is still unclear, although White has reasonable compensation for the piece. 16.Bxa6 bxa6 17.Bxf8 Bxf8 18.d6 Now the material balance is roughly equal, and the powerful passed pawn couplet gives White a decisive initiative. 18...Qf6 19.h3 Nh6 20.Qxd4 Qxd4 21.Nxd4 Kf7 22.Rad1 Kf6 23.Re8 Bb7 24.d7 1–0

There was also a fine win for Peter Poobalasingham, who destroyed Radovanovic's norm chances:

Poobalasingam,Peter (2158) - Radovanovic,Jovica (2355) [C45]

Hastings Masters (8.20), 04.01.2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Qh4

Did you realise that the Scotch Game loses a pawn by force? This is an old Steinitz favourite, which wins the e4-pawn, but at the cost of Black's development.

 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Be2

6.Ndb5 is generally regarded as the critical move, but the present game makes the text look pretty good too.

6...Nf6 7.0–0 Bxc3 8.Nf5 Qxe4 9.Bd3 Qg4 10.f3 Qa4 11.bxc3 0–0

It looks as though Black has got away with his act of larceny, and has escaped with his bag of swag, but now he discovers that the authorities are on his tail after all.

12.Nxg7! Kxg7 13.Bh6+! Kg8 13...Kxh6 14.Qd2+ leads to mate:  14...Kh5 (or 14...Kg7 15.Qg5+ etc) 15.g4+ Nxg4 16.fxg4+ Qxg4+ 17.Kh1, and there is no defence to the threats of Be2, Rf5, etc. 14.Qd2 Qh4 15.Bg5 Qh5 16.Bxf6 White has regained his material , with an overwhelming attack against the exposed enemy king and undeveloped Black army. 16...Re8 17.g4 Qc5+ 18.Kh1 Re6 19.Qh6 Rxf6 20.Qxf6 Now White has a material advantage as well. The rest is easy. 20...Qe5 21.Qh4 Qg7 22.Rae1 Kf8 23.Be4 f6 24.Qh5 Ne5 25.Bxh7 d5 26.Bf5 c6 27.Bxc8 Rxc8 28.Rxe5 1–0

Finally, an episode which will delight lovers of chess curiosities.

This position arose in the game Lyell-Calvert. White now played the nice tactic 23.Nd6!, exploiting the fact that the knight cannot be taken because of the c6-pawn queening. OK, a nice trick, but not reason enough to publish the game. But watch what happens: Nd5 24.Nc8+ Kf6 25.Nxa7 Bc5 26.Nb5 Bb6 27.Bb7 Ke7 28.Kf1 Rd8 29.Rd3 Nb4 30.Rxd8 Kxd8 31.a4 e5 32.Na3 Ke7 33.Nc4 Bd4 34.a5 Ke6 35.Ke2 Kd5

36.Nb6+! The same tactic on the b6 square. 36...Kc5 37.Nc8 Kb5 38.Nd6+ And now again on d6... 38...Kxa5 39.Nxf7 Kb5 40.Nd6+ And once more on d6, just for good measure! 40...Kb6 41.Ne4 Nxc6 Finally putting an end to the fun. The game was drawn after 42.Bxc6 Kxc6 43.g4 h6 44.Kd3 Kd5 45.f3 c5 46.Nd2 Bg1 47.h3 Bd4 48.Nc4 Bg1 49.Nb6+ Kc6 50.Nc4 Kd5 51.Nb6+ Kc6 52.Nc4 ½–½

A PROPHET IS NOT WITHOUT HONOUR...

Steve Giddins reports on round 7 of the Hastings Masters

Three wins on the top four boards saw Messrs Williams, Malakhato and Mamedov assume the lead after round 7 of the Hastings Masters. Williams moved a step closer to his GM title (he has the required norms, but is still short of the 2500 rating threshold), by winning a long game against Neverov. An unusual opening (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.b3 b6 4.c4) saw Black achieve a promising early middlegame, but he then weakened and found himself defending a queen and bishop ending.

In the diagram, Neverov should be drawing with a move such as 49...Qf1+ or 49...d6. Instead, he made a fatally optimistic bid for counterplay with 48...a5? and lost after 49.bxa5 Qc4 50.a6 b4 51.Qa5 b3 52.Qb6 Qb5 53.Qd8 Qxc5 54.a7 Qd6 55.Qb8 Qe6+ 56.Kh4 Qg8 57.Qb4 Qe6 58.Bf5 Qg8 59.Bxd7! Bxd7 60.Qe7+ Kh8 61.Qxf6+ 1–0

Mamedov beat Greet in another long game, where Black seemed to stand well for much of the time. The crucial moment came at move 37:

Black's central pawn mass is under pressure, but 37...Rf3! would keep him fully in the game, the point being that 38.Nxe5? fails to 38...Qa7+ 39.Kh1 Nxe5 40.Rxe5 Rf2 41 Qg1 Qb7, when Black wins. Instead, Greet chose the weaker 37...Rf5? and after 38.Kh2 Qe6 39.Bxc6 Qxc6 40.Rxe5 White had won a pawn, which he eventually converted some 25 moves later. 

The top-board clash saw Malakhatko take on the Carpathian Warrior, a pairing which prompted a certain prophet from Kingston-upon-Thames to declare that it would be "...a good day to tidy the house, clean the car, send Xmas thank-you letters, complete tax returns, worm the cats, etc". One can only hope that the Biblical adage "A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house", is true, and that the rest of the chess world ignored the advice, and tuned in to the live broadcasts anyway. If they did, they would have been rewarded with a fairly head-spinning game, which at one point even had Chris Ward, the sage of the Hastings commentary room, phoning his silicon friend:

Malakhatko,Vadim (2596) - Lalic,Bogdan (2500) [D24]

Hastings Masters (7.1), 03.01.2008

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c5 5.d5 e6 6.e4 exd5 7.e5 Ne4!?

The old move here is 7...Nfd7, but the text has become popular in recent years. One of its main practitioners is the pugnacious FIDE vice-president and ex-European Champion, Zurab "J'Adoube" Azmaiparashvili. It has always seemed to me that he is a player whose moves one ought to be able to rely on - not only is he a very strong GM, but when he does occasionally play a bad move, he has been known to take it back!

8.Nxd5

The sharpest response. The ending after 8 Qxd5 Nxc3 9 Qxd8+, etc. is known to offer White little.

8...b5 9.b3 Be6 10.bxc4 Nc6 11.Bd3 Qa5+ 12.Nd2 Nc3 13.Nb3 Nxd1+ 14.Nxa5

It was at this point that your correspondent, with the unfailing instinct for scandal of a true investigative journalist (Woodward, Bernstein, Giddins...) wandered into the commentary room for the first time this week, just at the very moment that Chris Ward was enlisting the help of Fritz! Chris assures me that it is the first time he has ever done this, and the position is very complicated...

 If I remember correctly, the silicon beast offered the extraordinary variation 14...Nxe5 15.Be4 0-0-0 16.Bf4 Nxc4 17 Ne7+! Bxe7 18.Bb7+ Kd7 19.Bc6+ and a draw by perpetual! It was even unkindly suggested (by me, if I am honest...) that the computer perhaps knew the identity of the black player and was consequently looking for the shortest route to a forced draw...

What none of us knew was that Malakhatko had in fact reached this position before. The game Malakhatko-Sulava, San Marino 2006, had indeed seen Black play 14...Nxe5, but the game had continued 15.Nc7+ Kd7 16.Be4 Kxc7 17.Bxa8 Nc3 18.Bd2 Bd6 19.Bxc3 Rxa8, with an unclear position, that was eventually won by Black. Malakhatko presumably had something up his sleeve, other than just his arm, whilst Lalic was obviously well aware of the predecessor game. He now produced his prepared improvement.

14...Nxa5 15.Nc7+ Kd7 16.Nxa8 Nc3 17.Bd2 b4 18.Bxc3 bxc3

Black's preparation seems to have produced satisfactory results, since although he is nominally an exchange down, the errant steed on a8 looks to have a limited shelf-life. However, appearances can sometimes be deceptive.

19.Rb1 Kc8 20.0–0

20...Be7?

The critical moment. This wastes a vital tempo, which allows White to get his KR active on the a-file. Correct was 20...Nc6, when the position seems quite unclear, although it is still not 100% clear precisely how Black will eliminate the a8 knight.

21.Rfc1 Bg5?

21...Nc6 was still better, but the position is already difficult.

 22.Rxc3 Bd2 23.Ra3

Suddenly, Black is lost. His knight will eventually be driven from a5 and thence, from c6, whereupon the a7-pawn will drop, and the knight on a8 will be released from its imprisonment. Lalic tries to wriggle, but the rest is easy for White. 

23...Rd8 24.Be2 Rd4 25.Rb5 Bxc4 26.Rxc5+ Kd8 27.Raxa5 Bxa5 28.Bxc4 Bb4 29.Rd5+ Rxd5 30.Bxd5 Kd7 31.Bxf7 1–0

Apart from Simon Williams, there were other English successes. Jones, Flear and Gormally all won, to join the 5-point group just behind the leaders, whilst Conquest and Hebden drew with each other, to do the same. Nick Pert's short draw with Chatalbashev keeps him well in the hunt also, and he has kindly offered me the chance to publish his annotations of his round three game against Florian Dinger.

Pert,N (2539) - Dinger,F (2378) [E12]

Hastings Masters (3), 30.12.2007

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 b6 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.a3 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.e3 The old main line is going through a mini-revival recently, so I thought I would try and keep up with the trends. Here g6 is a popular move for Black, but the game transposed to a more common variation which can also be reached as follows: 7.Qc2 Be7 8.e4 Nxc3 9.bxc3 0–0 10.Bd3 c5 11.0–0 Qc7 12.Qe2 Nd7 13.Bb2 7...Nd7 8.Bd3 c5 9.e4 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Qc7 11.0–0 Be7 12.Bb2 0–0 13.Qe2 By a strange move order we have reached one of the main positions of the Petrosian Variation of the Queens Indian.  13...Rac8 14.Nd2 One of Black's main plans in this position is to close down the centre, and hence limit the potential of White's bishops by playing c4 and e5. This move is designed to add more control to the c4 square, whilst readying kingside expansion with f4.  14...Bg5!? An interesting way to stop f4. Another alternative is to put the queen on f4 before the pawn gets there! Then if White wants to shift the queen he has to weaken the long diagonal with g3. 15.Rad1N This is technically a novelty, but according to my database the position has been reached once before by transposition. 15...e5?! Black goes for it and challenges the centre right away. Rfd8 comes into consideration as a useful alternative. 16.Nf3 16.d5 Bxd2 17.Qxd2 c4 I expect this was his intention, closing up the position, but probably White has slightly the better of it with the bishop pair if he can find a way to activate them. 16...Bf6 17.Bb5! I don't want Black to close me in with c4. 17...cxd4 18.cxd4 exd4 19.Nxd4 Nc5 20.Nf5!

20…Bxb2 This hands White a comfortable edge. The risky Bxe4 was the other option when White has the choice between 2 reasonable ways to fight for the advantage. 20...Bxe4 21.Nh6+ (21.Bxf6 Bxf5 22.Be7 Rfe8 23.Bxe8 Rxe8 24.Bd6 with a pull for White.) 21...Kh8 22.Bxf6 gxf6 is also possible when Black has an extra pawn, but a weak king provides at least sufficient compensation. 21.Qxb2 f6 22.Nd6 Rb8 Forced. 22...Rcd8 23.Qa2+ Kh8 24.Nf7+ Rxf7 25.Qxf7 wins. 23.f3?! I think 23.e5 is marginally preferable. This ensures White's king is safer than Black's. However the game continuation keeps a strong hold in the centre and blunts Black's bishop.] 23...Kh8! 24.Rf2 Ba6 Black is advised to swap his bishop for White's more active counterpart. 25.Bxa6 Nxa6 26.Rfd2 Nc5 27.Qc3 I wanted to continue with Rd5 and Qf2 -> kingside but Na4 would have been irritating threatening a fork on c3. 27.Rd5 Na4 28.Qb3 Nc3 29.Nb5 Nxb5 30.Qxb5 Rbd8²] 27...h6! Black has found some strong moves, and the task of converting the edge is not easy. 28.h3 I tried to look for a way to consolidate my own king position, but it is not so simple with my pawn on f3. Moving the f pawn around a castled king, can often leave it much more vulnerable. 28...Kh7 Black hopes to play Rbd8 without any Nf7+ problems. 29.Kh1 Rbd8 30.Qc2 Kg8 31.Qc4+ Kh7 32.Qd5 Rd7?! Probably Qd7 was better covering the f5 square. 33.Qf5+ Kg8 34.Qg6! Ne6! 34...Rfd8 Black would love to play this move but it fails tactically. 35.Ne8 Rxd2 36.Rxd2 Rxd2 37.Nxf6+ and mate follows. 35.Qg4 Nc5 36.Qg6 Ne6 37.Qg4 I repeated as my time was getting low and I needed to make it to move 40. 37...Nc5 38.Rd5?! 38.f4!would have been stronger, ready to support the d6 knight with e5 against Rfd8 ideas. I rejected this based on a miscalculation. 38...Qc6 39.Nf5 Nxe4 40.Rxd7 Nf2+ 41.Kg1 Nxg4 42.Ne7+ wins for White, but Black could fight on with 39...Rc7. In fact White would probably be best off playing 39.Kh2 looking after the king - the most important feature of major piece endgames. 38...Kh7! 39.h4? I start going wrong in time trouble. 39.Qf5+ Kg8 40.Qg6 Kh8 41.h4 is a more accurate version of the same idea. 39...Rfd8! 40.Nf5? 40.Qf5+ Kg8 41.e5 still retains a slight edge.] 40...Rxd5 41.exd5 g6! The only move but a very important one. I'd seen this and hoped that h5 might have maintained the initiative for White but... 42.Ng3 42.Qg3 Moving to an equal ending was probably the best option, but I was still after more; 42.h5 gxf5 43.Qg6+ Kh8 44.Qxf6+ Kg8 45.d6 Qd7 looks at least OK for Black.] 42...h5! Before White plays h5 - so now I'm obliged to sacrifice a piece. 43.Nxh5 gxh5 44.Qxh5+

 44...Kg7??

After a fine series of moves, my young opponent finally cracks. 44...Kg8 45.d6 (45.Qg6+ Qg7 46.Qf5 Rd7 and Black is slightly better; 45.Rd4 Qh7 is the point, when the Black king can hide on h8.) 45...Rxd6 46.Qg6+ Kf8 47.Qh6+ Ke8 48.Qg6+ Kd7 49.Rxd6+ Qxd6 50.h5 is still not over but Black has the better chances.] 45.Rd4! Now I think Black is lost, but he comes up with an interesting last roll of the dice. 45...Ne6 46.Rg4+! 46.Qg4+? Ng5 47.hxg5?? Qc1+ 48.Kh2 Rh8+ 49.Kg3 Qe1+ 50.Kf4 Qe5#] 46...Kf8 47.Qh6+! Ke7 47...Ng7 48.Qh8+ wins 48.Re4! Rxd5 49.Qg7+ And Black resigned since 49.Qg7+ Kd6 (49...Kd8 50.Qg8+ Kd7 51.Qxe6+ Kd8 52.Qe8#) 50.Rxe6+ wins the queen.]  1–0

FROM THE LOWER REACHES

Steve Giddins reports on round 6 of the Hastings Masters

One of the great features of Hastings is the number of strong players and other interested characters that turn up as spectators, during the week. Earlier in the tournament, we had Guardian journalist Stephen Moss, whose "Rookie" column, with Nigel Short, was such a popular feature of the paper a couple of years ago. Yesterday, it was the turn of the ever-colourful Mike Basman, who is believed still to be on the run from an international arrest warrant, for "crimes against chess orthodoxy".

Stewart Reuben (left) and Mike Basman: "This is the man you want, officer!"

Mike does not play so much chess these days, but he has built up his schools junior tournament into one of the biggest mass participation chess events in Europe. It has already produced many promising young talents, and its continued success must bode well for the future of British chess. Sadly, Mike did not stay very long yesterday, leaving after a couple of hours' play, possibly disappointed by the fact that none of the top four games opened 1.g4...

If he had stayed, he would have seen three very hard fights end in draws on the top three boards, whilst Andrew Greet won decisively against Vladimir Georgiev:

Greet,Andrew (2441) - Georgiev,Vladimir (2576) [C22]

Hastings Masters (6.4), 02.01.2008

1.e4 e5 2.d4

An unusual choice at master level, but Andrew is currently writing a book on offbeat 1.e4 openings, and the Centre Game is one of the lines he is covering. A few months ago, he approached 2.d4 expert Jack Rudd, and asked him which lines he thought most troublesome for White. Perhaps the Bulgarian Secret Service was listening in on their conversation, because one of the two defences Jack mentioned was the very line chosen by Georgiev in the present game!

2...exd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6 4.Qe3 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bd2 0–0 7.0–0–0 Re8 8.Qg3

8...Rxe4!?

An act of larceny that is also the critical choice.9.Nxe4? Nxe4 allows Black to regain the exchange with a clear advantage, so White must continue in gambit style.

 9.a3 Bxc3 10.Bxc3 d5 11.f3 Re8 12.Ne2 Bf5

This seems to be a new move, 12...Be6 having been played here previously.

 13.Qf4 Bg6 14.g4

For his pawn, White has the bishop pair and a kingside initiative. Georgiev now decides to return the extra material, in order to seize the initiative himself.

14...d4!? 15.Nxd4 Nd5 16.Nxc6 bxc6

If 16...Nxf4, then White has the better ending after 17.Nxd8. Georgiev's move accepts pawn weaknesses, in return for opening up the b-file against White's king.

 17.Qd4 Nxc3 18.Qxc3 Qg5+ 19.Kb1 Qe3?!

From here onwards, Black's positions collapses surprisingly quickly. It seems that 19...Re3 20.Qxc6 Rb8 would have given reasonable chances, with the point that 21.Qxc7? is not good because of 21...Reb3!

20.Qxc6 Rab8 21.Bd3 Rb6 22.Qxc7 Reb8

Watching the game, my first reaction was that Black has a strong attack here, but after Greet's next move, it soon becomes clear that his king is much safer than it looks.

 23.b4! Qe8

The obvious response is 23...a5, but then White wins simply by 24.Rhe1 Qf2 25.Bxg6 hxg6 26.Rd8+ Kh7 27.Ree8. Just as in the game, White's domination down the centre files outweighs Black's efforts to create counterplay on the queenside. Perhaps this is not so surprisingly - as Mark Hebden pointed out, "Well, it is called the Centre Game!".

 24.Rhe1 Qf8 25.Qe7 Qc8

Now 25...a5 is met by 26.Qxf8+ and 27.c3, when White's king is as safe as houses.

26.Bxg6 hxg6 27.Rd7 Rf6 28.Red1 Kh7 29.Rd8 Qb7 30.Qe8 1–0

After his draw yesterday, Bogdan Lalic's game against Sam Collins was not on one of the live boards. My coastal erosion correspondent of yesterday was probably highly delighted, but ironically, the game attracted a large crowd of spectators at one point.

Collins, as Black, had seen his draw offer rejected two moves ago. Possibly still stunned by the very concept of a Carpathian Warrior turning down a draw, he now forsook the peaceful (and equal) continuation 20...Qc7, in favour a rook sacrifice: 20...Nd4+!? After 21.Nxd4 cxd4 22.Bxa8 Bxc4! 23.Qf3 Ba2 24.Qc6 Qf4 25.Rhf1, the Warrior decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and returned the draw offer. Indeed, after 25...Rd8, Black would have a very strong attack, but sadly for Collins, he chose the weaker 25...Rf7?, after which Lalic escaped with all his booty intact: 26.Qxb5 Rc7+ 27.Bc6 Qd6 28.Nxf5 Rxc6+ 29.Kd3 Qg6 30.Qxa5 Bc4+ 31.Kxd4 Bxf1 32.Ne7+ 1–0. Bogdan's reward is a return to board one today, doubtless to the dismay of the entire London borough of Kingston.

Finally, a wonderful game from the New Year tournament. Those who read my round one report, describing an unfortunate "innovation" in the Slav Defence, may have formed the impression that the standard of play in the lower sections leaves something to be desired. I am delighted to be able to offer some evidence to the contrary. I received an e-mail this morning from Hastings stalwart Paul Buswell, one half of the pair behind the traditional "Bryant-Buswell" evening blitz tournaments at the Carlisle. Modestly entitled "From the lower reaches", Paul's e-mail reads "Although this game had its flaws, I felt that it had its moments for amateurs". It certainly did - how often does even a professional sacrifice two minor pieces and two rooks, in the same game?

Waldock - Buswell [B07]

New Year, 03.01.2008

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f3 Bg7 5.Be3 0–0 6.Qd2 c6 7.0–0–0 b5 8.g4 Qa5 9.a3 Be6 10.h4 b4 11.Nb1 c5 12.d5

 12...Bxg4! 13.fxg4 Nxe4 14.Qd3 Nd7 15.Qxe4 bxa3 16.bxa3 Rab8 17.c3

Having already invested two minor pieces, the "Hastings Hacker" now finishes the job in style, by throwing a couple of rooks onto the funeral pyre. 17...Rxb1+! 18.Kxb1 There is a tougher defence in 18.Qxb1, but even here, after 18...Qxc3+ 19 Qc2 Qxe3+, Black has a winning attack, despite still being a rook down. 18...Rb8+ 19.Ka2 Rb2+! 20.Kxb2 Qxc3+ 0–1

Splendid stuff! Coincidentally, tonight's evening event is the second Buswell-Bryant blitz tournament at the Carlisle pub, on the seafront; start 8.30. Last night's event was a chess quiz, most of the questions for which were compiled by yours truly. Anyone wishing to test themselves can do so here.

WALDORF SALADS AND COASTAL EROSION

Steve Giddins reports on round 5 of the Hastings Masters

Whatever you do on New Year's Day, you will do for the rest of the year, so the saying goes. There are a few people here who hope that  this is not the case. Your correspondent's only achievement yesterday was to pull a muscle in my back, whilst the entire arbiting team ended the day by being thrown out of a local hostelry, after an innocent complaint about a grossly sub-standard meal turned into a repeat of the Fawlty Towers Waldorf Salad episode.  Nor was it a great day for the British players on the top boards of yesterday's 5th round of the Hastings Masters. Mark Hebden drew a steady game against Bindrich, but Flear and Haslinger both lost. The normally well-prepared Glenn Flear seemed rather bamboozled by his opponent's move-order, and Black soon had an ideal Benoni position.

Boris Chatalbashev (left) and Glenn Flear

Flear,Glenn C (2493) - Chatalbashev,Boris (2581) [A70]

Hastings Masters Hastings (5.3), 01.01.2008

1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.c4 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3!?

It is odd to criticise such a natural move, but if White wishes to play the h3-Bd3-a4 system, then he should probably play 6.Bd3 here.

6...exd5 7.cxd5 a6 8.h3

The move 8 a4 is usually the automatic reaction to Black's a6, but Flear was presumably reluctant to allow 8.a4 Bg4. There are some Benoni lines, where White allows b5 and plays for a quick e5-break, but here this looks less effective, since Black's knight has not yet come to f6, and can instead go to e7 if necessary.

8...b5 9.Bd3 Nf6 10.0–0 0–0 11.Re1 Nbd7 12.Bf4 c4 13.Bf1 Nc5

Black has achieved a much more active position on the queenside, than he can usually manage in this line. Chatalbashev now gives a perfect demonstration of Black's strategy in this opening, which normally consists of exploiting his queenside pawn majority.

14.Nd4 Bb7 15.Nc6 Bxc6 16.dxc6 Re8 17.c7 Qxc7 18.Bxd6 Qc6 19.Bxc5?

After this, it is pretty much all one-way traffic. White should probably try to mix things with 19.e5, although his opening has clearly not been a great success.

19...Qxc5 20.Qc2 Rad8 21.Rad1 Rxd1 22.Rxd1 h5! 23.Be2 Qe5 24.Bf3 h4

The clamping of the white kingside means that he now faces serious threats against his king, as well as on the queenside. The rest is not difficult for Black.

 25.Qd2 b4 26.Nb1 Nxe4 27.Bxe4 Qxe4 28.Qxb4 Qe2 29.Rf1

29.Rd2 Qe1+ 30.Kh2 Be5+ is decisive, and illustrates the point made in the previous note.

29...Bxb2 30.Nd2 c3 31.Nf3 Qb5 0–1

Malakhatko won his fourth straight game, and has now joined the leaders, after his first-round mishap. Once again, it was an English GM who was on the receiving end, but one has to admire the Ukrainian's smooth positional play:

Malakhatko-Haslinger

A Four Knights English has yielded White a rather better queenless middlegame (for those of you who are wondering, this is definitely NOT a Nookie - too many pieces on the board!).Black has a few problems with the backward c-pawn, and is gradually squeezed. 21.Nfd2 Ra8 22.Nc4 Kf8 23.b5 c5 Black eliminates the backward pawn on the c-file, but now White has a ready-made plan to break through on the a-file instead. 24.a4! Rb8 25.a5 Bc8 26.axb6 axb6 27.Ra1 Bd7 28.Nc3 Re6 29.Bd5 Re8 30.Ra7 With Black devoid of counterplay, White methodically strengthens his grip. Note how the white central pawn structure controls the activity of his opponent's pieces. The knight on f5, for example, although apparently actively placed near the centre, actually has almost no scope to move anywhere. 30...Be6 31.Bxe6 Rxe6 32.Ne4 h6 33.Rda1 Re8 34.R1a6 Re6

35.Ra8! Simple chess. Although White exchanges an active rook for a passive one, the point is that the black rook is needed to defend b6. Once it is gone, the pawn is indefensible. Rxa8 36.Rxa8 Ke8 37.Rb8 See previous note. It is drop-off time for the b6-pawn. f6 38.Nxb6 Bf8 39.Nd5 Bd6 40.Ra8 1–0 Beautifully elegant positional play by the top seed.

The remaining game on the top four saw a short draw involving a certain Carpathian Warrior, with whom seasoned Hastings-watchers will be familiar. To be fair, our hero was Black yesterday, and he did choose a potentially very sharp line of the Grunfeld, so one might feel that it is his opponent who deserves the strictures. However, the game brought forth a comment from one online spectator, whom I will name only as Disgusted of Kingston, and who asks why one of the four live boards was wasted on a player who has such a reputation for quick draws. He even went so far as to offer the rather unkind observation that "this is the chess equivalent of having a 24-hour webcam watching coastal erosion"! What can I say? I always did hate school geography lessons, so I personally would rather play through a selection of Boggy's shortest draws, than spent all day collecting soil samples or monitoring rock formations.

Photo showing coastal erosion: relatively exciting?

Happily, there are players lower down the field who continue to fight tooth and nail. GMs Stuart Conquest and Nick Pert both won, to join the leading group, whilst Greet, Williams and Rendle are all on the 3.5 score-group. The first two both won convincingly enough, but the last-named had an extremely lucky escape against the highly experienced John Sugden, who was winning for a large part of the game. And then there is Jack Rudd, who won another brevity, replete with a hatful of sacrifices. Here, as a special feature, he annotates his latest effort.

Rudd,Jack (2332) - Kakkanas,Evaggelos (2058) [B46]

Hastings (5.23), 01.01.2008

[Notes by Rudd,Jack]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 e6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 a6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 Qc7 8.0–0

A novelty according to my database, but not a terribly convincing one. This method of development for Black passes up the natural advantage of his position (an easy ...d5 break) in favour of committing his knight to a square where it will not necessarily be useful. 8...d5 9.exd5 (9.Qe2 Bb7 10.Bd2 Nf6 11.Rae1 Be7 12.Kh1 0–0 13.f4 dxe4 14.Nxe4 c5 15.Bc3 Qc6 16.Nxf6+ Bxf6 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Bxh7+ Kh8 19.Rf3 Qxf3 20.gxf3 Kxh7 21.Qf2 Rg8 22.Qh4+ Kg7 23.Rg1+ Kf8 1–0 Ioseliani,N (2435)-Portisch,L (2605)/Monte Carlo 1994) 9...cxd5 10.Re1 (10.Qe2 Be7 (10...Bb7 11.Re1 Bd6 12.Qh5 Nf6 13.Rxe6+ Be7 14.Rxf6 Bxf6 15.Nxd5 Qd6 16.Nxf6+ Qxf6 17.Bg5 Qe5 18.Qh4 Bc6 19.Bd2 g5 20.Qh6 Qd5 21.Re1+ Kd7 22.Qh3+ Kc7 23.Qg3+ Kc8 24.c4 Qd7 25.Ba5 Skuris,P-Mengelis,A/Illinois 1963/½–½ (50)) 11.Qg4 g6 12.Qe2 Bb7 13.Bd2 Bf6 14.Rae1 Bg7 15.f4 Ne7 16.Kh1 0–0 17.Nd1 Rfc8 18.c3 Nc6 19.Rf3 d4 20.Rh3 dxc3 21.Nxc3 Nd4 22.Qg4 h5 23.Qg3 Rd8 24.Be3 Rd7 Kinder,J-McGarity,M/Brisbane 2006/0–1 (41)) 10...Bb7 11.Bg5 Nf6 12.Bxf6 gxf6 13.Qh5 0–0–0 14.Qh4 d4 15.Ne2 Qc6 16.f3 f5 17.Ng3 h5 18.Nxf5 exf5 19.Bxf5+ Kc7 20.Be4 Qd6 21.Rad1 Be7 22.Qf2 Bg5 23.Kh1 Finn,J-Curt,C/Sylvan Beach 1905/½–½ (40); RR 8...Bd6 9.Kh1 e5 10.Qg4 Bf8 11.f4 Nf6 12.Qh4 Bd6 13.fxe5 Bxe5 14.Bf4 d6 15.Bxe5 dxe5 16.Bc4 Qe7 17.Rf3 Be6 18.Bxe6 Qxe6 19.Raf1 0–0 20.Rh3 h6 21.Rhf3 Nh7 22.b3 Rad8 23.Rxf7 Shishov,M-Gipslis,A/Moscow 1959/1–0 (88)]

9.Be3 Rb8 10.Rb1 Ng6 11.Qe2 a5

11...Nf4 12.Bxf4 Qxf4 13.Bxa6 does not leave Black with any serious compensation for his pawn.

12.f4 Be7?

12...d6 leaves play nicely balanced, with neither of White's central pawn breaks amounting to much immediately.

13.e5 d6

 If he doesn't play this now, Ne4 will render it even less appealing.

 14.exd6 Bxd6

I wasn't entirely sure whether this worked, but it looked right; I can bring my pieces into the attack very quickly. 15.Qf2 would be a safer way to play this, and might have been my choice in a different game.

15...Bxf4 16.Bc5 Bxh2+ 17.Kh1 f5?!

Creating the extra weakness on e6 is very dangerous. 17...Be5 18.Qh5 Nf4 19.Rxf4 Bxf4 20.Rf1 with compensation.

18.Qh5 Be5 19.Rbe1 Rb4

19...Rb5! is another possibility, trying to give the exchange back in a similar manner to the game. 20.Bxb5 cxb5 21.Nf2 Bxb2 22.Nd3 is unclear.

20.c4 Rxb2 21.Rxf5 exf5 22.Nd6+ Kd8 23.Rxe5

23...Rxg2!! was the move both I and my opponent had overlooked, but which Fritz found immediately. 24.Bxf5 Nxe5 25.Kxg2 still leaves White with a fierce attack, but Black may be able to hang on.

 24.Qg5+ Qe7 [24...Kd7 25.Bxf5#] 25.Nf7+ 1–0

Now Jack probably DOES hope that what you do on New Year's Day, you will do for the rest of the year...

ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE

Steve Giddins reports on round 4 of the Hastings Masters

Mark Hebden took sole leadership of the 2007-8 Hastings Masters yesterday, after winning in short order against Simon Williams. Hebden now has 3.5 / 4, half a point ahead of a gigantic group of 21 players, all on three points.

Hebden-Williams saw the latter forsake his favourite Dutch Defence, no doubt fearing Hebden's preparation. Instead, Williams chose the highly unusual line 1.d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 c4 e5?!. Further original play seemed to promise a highly entertaining encounter, but it soon became obvious that Black's position was in reality just a "consignment of geriatric shoemakers".

Mark Hebden (left) gets ready to blow away Simon Williams (right)

Hebden,Mark (2542) - Williams,Simon Kim (2475) [A00]

Hastings Masters Hastings (4.4), 31.12.2007

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c4 e5 4.Nxe5 Nxe5 5.dxe5 d4 6.g3 Ne7 7.Bg2 Nc6 8.0–0 Nxe5 9.e3

 9...d3 9...dxe3 gives White a big initiative after 10.Qxd8+ Kxd8 11.Bxe3 Nxc4 12.Rd1+, followed by Bd4, Nc3, Rac1, etc. 10.f4 Ng4 11.Nc3?! This is not fully accurate. White should play 11.h3 and 12.g4 immediately. Now 11...h5 would have given Black reasonable chances. 11...c6? 12.h3 Nf6 13.g4! g6 14.Rf2 Be6 15.b3 h5 16.g5 Nd7 17.Ne4 Bg7 18.Bb2 Bxb2 19.Rxb2 f5 20.Nf2 Nc5 21.b4 Na6 22.Qxd3 1–0

Black's resignation looks a trifle premature, but Simon was just disgusted with his position and saw no real hope. He cannot regain the pawn by 22...Qxd3 23.Nxd3 Bxc4, because of 25.Ne5, followed by b5, when his queenside collapses, so he must remain a pawn down, with a rotten position. Instead, Simon preferred to make an early start to his New's Year's Eve celebrations.

The other top games were all drawn, after varying degrees of fight, but wins for Malakhatko, Mamedov, Jones, Pavlovic and Lalic saw the five GMs join the three-point group. The top seed won his third successive game, after showing the value of good endgame technique:

Lock,Gavin R (2215) - Malakhatko,Vadim (2596) [A00]

Hastings Masters Hastings (4.8), 31.12.2007

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 c6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Qa5 7.Nd2 Bb4 8.Qc2 c5 9.Bxf6 Nxf6 10.Nb3 Qa4 11.dxc5 Ne4 12.cxd5 Nxc5 13.Be2 Bxc3+ 14.Qxc3 Nxb3 15.Qxb3 Qa5+ 16.Qc3 Qxc3+ 17.bxc3 exd5 18.c4 Be6 19.cxd5 Bxd5 20.0–0 Ke7

The position looks very equal, but Black has a couple of straws on which to bases his hopes - the centralised king, and potential weakness of White's a-pawn. From here onwards, Malakhatko outplays his opponent with ease.

21.Rfd1 Rhd8 22.Rd2?! Rac8 23.f3 Be6 24.Rb2 b6 25.Kf?! 25 a4!? Rc5 26.Rd1 Ra5 27.Ra1 Ra3 28.Bd1 Rc8 29.e4 Rc5 30.Bc2 g5 31.Bb3? Dropping a pawn. 31.Kg3 is better, but the position is already clearly better for Black. Bxb3 32.Rxb3 Rc2+ 33.Kg3 Raxa2 34.Rxa2 Rxa2 35.Rb5 h6 36.Kh3 Ra1 37.Rb3 h5 38.g3 f6

 39.Kg2 g4 40.Kf2 Ra2+ 41.Ke3 Rxh2 42.Ra3 a5 43.Rb3 a4 44.Rxb6 a3 45.e5 f5 46.Kd4 a2 47.Rb7+ Kd8 48.Ra7 Rd2+ 49.Kc5 h4 50.e6 hxg3 0–1

The finish of Pavlovic-Kwiatkowski saw a pair of white knights, that would have done credit to the late Hungarian grandmaster and knight connoisseur, Gideon Barcza:

White exploited the pin on the c-file as follows: 28.Nd4 g6 29.bxc5 bxc5 30.Nb4! A nice self-fork. 30...Ra8 31.Nd5 Rb7 32.Nc6 1–0

Bogdan Lalic also decided his game with a neat tactical trick:

Black (Alan Grant) had just played 15...Nc6, no doubt expecting the enemy queen to retreat. Instead, Lalic found the surprise blow 16.Nc4! Now 16...dxc4? loses to 17 Bxc6+ and mate on e7, whilst 16...Qc7 17 Nd6+ is also highly unpalatable. Grant was forced to surrender the exchange 16...Nxb4 17.Nxb6 Nc6 18.Nxa8 Bxa8, but lost shortly thereafter: 19.Rfd1 Na5 20.Bc5 Nd7 21.Bd4 e5 22.Be3 Nf6 23.a4 Bc6 24.axb5 axb5 25.Bc5 Nb7 26.Bb4 e4 27.f3 exf3 28.Bxf3 Ne4 29.Bxe4 dxe4 30.Ra1 Nd8 31.Ra7 1–0

And with that, the players retired to celebrate New Year's Eve. Your correspondent, plagued with a cold virus, and pumped full of more antibiotics than the average Tour de France cyclist, spent the evening in his hotel room, watching "The Life of Brian" on TV. While I continue to contemplate the immortal question of what precisely the bl*ody Romans have ever done for us, I wish all of you a very happy and successful 2008. (... founded the city of London? - ed)

LUCKY FOR SOME

Steve Giddins reports on round 3 of the Hastings Masters

After three rounds of the 2007-8 Hastings Masters, no less than thirteen players share the lead on 2.5 / 3. On top board in the third round, Simon Williams rebuffed a very early draw offer from Tahirov, but was soon in trouble, and only secured a draw after a long rearguard action. Sengupta and Gormally drew a fairly quiet game, but  there was no continuation of the fairytale for round 2 giant-killer Mel Young, who was despatched in routine style by Malakhatko.

Andrew Greet went down against Chatalbashev, but otherwise, it was a pretty good day for the English players. Hebden, Pert, Conquest and Flear all won, to join the lead. Mark Hebden turns 50 in a few weeks' time, but yesterday he looked as though he was trying to recapture his youth, as he wheeled out the Benko Gambit, an opening he stopped playing some 25 years ago.

Islam, KH (2390) - Hebden, M (2541, Round 3.8

Black has won a pawn, but with all pawns on one side, it looks as though a long endgame grind is in prospect. That probably would indeed have been the case after 35 Qe5, but instead Islam played  35.Rf1?, after which Hebden decided the game immediately with 35...Rxf2! 36.Kxf2 Rc2+ 0–1

Nick Pert had a bit of good fortune at the end of his game against Florian Dinger, another of the young German talents that are playing this year's Hastings:

White had been well on top for almost the whole game, but had lost the thread over the past few moves and now stands worse. Nick tried 43.Nxh5!? gxh5 44.Qxh5+, and was duly rewarded when Black blundered with 44...Kg7? Instead, 44...Kg8 appears to leave White with insufficient compensation for the piece. After the text, however, Black is lost, and he dully succumbed after 45.Rd4 Ne6 46.Rg4+ Kf8 47.Qh6+ Ke7 48.Re4 Rxd5 49.Qg7+ 1–0

The game Bates-Pavlovic was fairly extraordinary, as the English IM blundered in the opening and fell into a known trap:

1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.e4 d6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.h3 0–0 6.Bg5 c5 7.d5 Qa5 8.Bd3?? Nxe4! 9.Bxe4 Bxc3+ 10.bxc3 Qxc3+ 11.Bd2? 11.Kf1 is somewhat better, though still good for Black.  Qe5 12.Ne2 Qxe4 13.0–0 Qxc4

The result of the opening debacle is that Black has no less than three extra pawns, but incredibly, the grandmaster failed to win this position. By way of evidence, I append the remaining moves without comment: 14.Bh6 Nd7 15.Rc1 Qh4 16.Bxf8 Kxf8 17.Nc3 Nf6 18.Re1 Bf5 19.Qe2 Re8 20.Nb5 Be4 21.Rc4 Qg5 22.Rxe4 Nxe4 23.Qxe4 Qf6 24.a4 a6 25.Na3 Rb8 26.Rb1 b6 27.Rb3 Qf5 28.Qc4 Qe5 29.f4 Qf6 30.Kh2 h5 31.Rf3 Ra8 32.Rb3 ½–½

Finally, a game which caught my eye lower down the lists. It is frequently said that England produces few talented youngsters these days, and it is certainly true that they are thinner on the ground than was the case 20 years ago. However, we do have a few, and judging by the following game, another is on the horizon. Samuel Franklin is only 13 years old, and rated just 1917, but the verve with which he hunted down the king of the highly experienced Welsh international Francis Rayner shows great promise:

Rayner,Francis (2201) - Franklin,Samuel (1917) [B50]

Hastings Masters Hastings (3.34), 30.12.2007

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Bd3 g6 5.Bc2 Bg7 6.0–0 Nc6 7.h3 e5 8.d4 0–0 9.d5 Ne7 10.a4 Nh5 11.Na3 f5 12.exf5 Nxf5 13.Ng5 Bh6 14.Ne6 Bxe6 15.Bxh6 Nxh6 16.dxe6 Nf4 17.g3? Nxh3+ 18.Kg2

18...Nf4+! 19.gxf4 Rxf4 20.f3 Qg5+ 21.Kf2 Ng4+ 22.Ke1 Ne3 23.Qxd6 Nxf1 24.Bb3 Qg3+ 25.Kd1 Ne3+ 26.Kd2 Qf2+ 27.Kd3 c4+! 28.Nxc4 Nxc4 29.Bxc4

 29...Rxf3+?! A slight blemish. As my pet silicon dachshund points out, 29...e4+ forces mate next move, but maybe Samuel was just enjoying himself too much to end the game so quickly! 30.Ke4 Re3+ 31.Kd5 Qd2+ 32.Kc5 Rc8+ 0–1

Steve Giddins' Round 2 Report

YOUNG AT HEART - AND ALWAYS READY FOR SOME NOOKIE!

Steve Giddins reports on round 2 of the Hastings Masters

The problems for the leading seeds continued yesterday, and after two rounds of this year's Hastings Masters, only five of the 102 players can still boast a 100% score. They include three GMs, one IM, plus ....Mel Young. "Mel who?" I hear you ask. No, not the lead singer of a Spice Girls' tribute band, but a local Hastings chess club member, FIDE rating 1954! Mel joined the leaders by exploiting one of his trademark gambits, in this case the Morra Gambit, to upset Chris Briscoe, rated almost 300 points above him. Mel's reward is a pairing on board three today, with Black against top seed Vadim Malakhatko, a rating difference of precisely 642 points. We'll be cheering you on, Mel!

Giant killer: Mel Young in action at Hastings

BCM Editor's note: I would never dream of asking the question "Mel who", having been Mel Young's team-mate at Mitcham for about 20 years. And he's been playing the Morra Gambit for even longer than that. One dangerous hombre when the mood takes him. Back to Steve's report...

Top board saw India's Deep Sengupta produce the rarely-seen Veresov Opening, against grandmaster Mamedov. The latter more than  equalized, and turned down a draw on move 20, but went fatally wrong around move 32-33, and was unceremoniously mated:

Here, Black could have played simply 31...Rxb2 32.Rg4 g6, when the computer is very unconvinced about White's attacking prospects. Instead, Mamedov chose the extravagant  31... h5!? 32.Qf3 Rxb2 33.Qxd5?! 33.Qxh5 is better. 33...Qg6? Now 33...Qa8 would have removed the "girlies" from the board, leaving Black with a winning ending. 34.e6 a4? Completing the collapse. 34...Rb1 was the last chance. 35.exf7+ Kh7 36.Ref1 a3 37.Rh4 Kh6 38.g4 1–0

The other winner on the top boards was Tahirov, who overcame Jovanka Houska.

Black had equalized without trouble, and now continued 23...e5 24.cxd5 cxd5 25.Ba6 Ba8? 25...Bxa6 26 Qxa6 e4 looks fine for Black. 26.Nb5 exd4?! Here, too, 26...e4 is better. 27.Nbxd4 Nc5 28.Bb5 Rf8 29.Nf5 Qe6 30.N3d4 Qe5 31.f4 Qe4 and now Tahirov completed the demolition job with 32.Rxc5! bxc5 33.Bd3. Now Black realized the high price to be paid for having opened the long diagonal of White's b2-bishop on move 26. 33...Qe8 loses to 34 Nxg7!. Jovanka chose to give up the queen with 33...cxd4 but lost after 34.Bxe4 dxe4 35.Bxd4 1–0

Pleasingly, the other two players to reach 2/2 are both English, namely Danny Gormally and Simon Williams. The former relieved Thomas Rendle of two pawns, with almost ridiculous ease, whilst Simon won yet another of his trademark Dutch Defence crushes. When the Black pawn gets to f3 in such positions, it is usually a bad sign for the White player!

Thompson,Ian D (2309) - Williams,Simon Kim (2475) [A81]

Hastings Masters (2.9), 29.12.2007

1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.0–0 0–0 6.Nbd2 Nc6 7.b3 Ne4 8.Bb2 Bf6 9.e3 Nxd2 10.Qxd2 d6 11.b4 Qe8 12.c4 e5 13.b5 Nd8 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.e4 f4

I imagine that round about here, Simon was already mentally chalking up the point.

16.Qd5+ Be6 17.Qc5 Bg4 18.Qd5+ Ne6 19.Qxb7 Qh5 20.Qa6 Rae8 21.Qa3 Be7 22.Qc3 Bc5 23.Nh4 f3 24.Nxf3 Total desperation. If 24.Bh1, White's only hope is that his opponent might losing on time, trying to decide whether 24...Nd4 or 24...Ng5 is the more decisive. Bxf3 25.Bxf3 Rxf3 26.Qxe5 Qf7 27.Kg2 0–1

A particularly welcome visitor to this year's Hastings is Glenn Flear. The English GM was born and grew up in Leicester, where he was an exact contemporary of Mark Hebden, but has now lived for many years in France. Over the past 20 years, we have seen far too little of him in England, but, as one of the true "nice guys" of the chess world, he is always a very welcome guest. He has recently written a superb book called  in which he develops the concept of "nookie", ie. NQEs, or "Not Quite Endgames". By this he means those indeterminate positions, usually queenless, but with more pieces on the board than one usually gets in the positions which are covered in most endgame books. Gleen's book is destined to become a classic, and yesterday he gave a small demonstration of his own "nookie" ability:

Dickson,George A (2160) - Flear,Glenn C (2493) [C77]

Hastings Masters (2.13), 29.12.2007

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.Qe2 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.0–0 d6 9.h3 Na5 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bd2 Nxb3 12.axb3 Bb7 13.b4 d5 14.exd5 Nxd5 15.c3 Re8 16.Na3 Bf6 17.Rfe1 Qd7 18.Qe4 c5 19.Qg4 Qxg4 20.hxg4 cxb4 21.cxb4 Nf4

With the better pawn structure, more active pieces and two bishops, this is obviously the kind of nookie that we all dream about. Glenn duly converted his advantage: 22.Bc3 Nxd3 23.Re3 Rad8 24.Rd1 Nf4 25.Rxd8 Rxd8 26.Bxe5 Bxe5 27.Rxe5 Nd3 28.Re7 Bxf3 29.gxf3 Nxb4 30.Re4 Rd1+ 31.Kg2 Nd3 32.Nc2 Rd2 33.Re8+ Kh7 0–1

Steve Giddins' Round 1 Report

 Innovations, innovations...

 Steve Giddins reports on the Hastings Masters.

Welcome to the Celebration 83^rd Hastings International Chess Congress. Once again, we are all gathered here at the Horntye Park leisure centre, to see in new English chess year, in the traditional fashion. The organisers of the world’s greatest and most famous chess event naturally felt they should employ the world’s greatest and most famous onsite chess reporter to cover the event. Sadly, he was not available, so I got the job instead…

This year’s Hastings Masters boasts a field of just over 100 players, including 16 Grandmasters and the same number of IMs. The leading seeds are Vadim Malakhatko of The Ukraine, and Boris Chatalbashev of Bulgaria. The English challenge is headed in rating terms by 20-year old Gawain Jones, who has had a spectacular year in 2007, and is now firmly established as one of England's Olympiad side. It is also very nice to welcome back two highly experienced, non-resident British GMs, in Stuart Conquest and Glenn Flear. The former, of course, grew up in Hastings, and so carries the hopes of many local supporters.

The use of accelerated pairings meant that there were far fewer easy first-round games for the top seeds than would usually be the case in a Swiss event. This was confirmed on the top four demo boards, which produced a loss and three draws for the favourites. The loss came on top board, where Malakhatko over-pressed against the young German player Sebastian Bogner, and saw his advantage turned completely on its head.

Hand gestures at the post-mortem of Malakhatko-Bogner (©2007 BCM)

Malakhatko had spent the whole game trying to exploit Black's imprisoned bishop on b7, but now the worm turned, as Black struck back with the sacrifice 37... Rxd4! 38.exd4 e3 39.Rc2 Qxb4 Now White can draw by either 40 Re2 or 40 Qxb7, in both cases allowing perpetual check. Instead, the GM tried for more with 40.Qc7??, and after 40...Qe1+ 41.Kh2 exf2 42.Rxf2 Qxf2 43.Rxb7 Qg3+ 44.Qxg3+ hxg3+ 45.Kxg3 Rd8 was facing a lost rook and pawn ending, which he was unable to hold.

Richard Bates very nearly downed the second seed, but at the very end of the session, was unable to convert a two-pawn advantage in the endgame, with only increment time remaining on his clock. Jones's choice of 1 Nf3 Nc6!? failed to ruffle Simon Knott, who held a solid draw, but there were smooth wins for Mark Hebden and Stuart Conquest. The most entertaining game of the day was Jack Rudd's chaotic attacking effort against Tahirov:

Rudd,Jack (2332) - Tahirov,Farhad (2540) [B07]

Hastings Masters (1.8), 28.12.2007

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d6 3.f4 Nf6 4.Bd3 e5 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.0–0 exd4 7.Nxd4 Nc5 8.Nc3 Qb6 9.Kh1 Bg4 10.Be2 Be6 11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5 Nfd7 13.Nxe6 fxe6 14.Bg5 Qc7 15.b4 Qxe5

Black's highly ambitious opening has been a disaster, and now the simple 16 Qd2 would have left his position virtually resignable. Instead, Rudd played the second-best (but still very strong) 16.Bh5+ g6 17.Qg4?! 17 Qd2 was still good enough. 17...Be7 18.Bxe7 Kxe7 19.bxc5 Raf8 20.Qh4+ Nf6 21.Rab1 b5 22.cxb6! Qxc3 23.bxa7 gxh5 Now simply 24 a8(Q) wins a piece on f6, but Rudd, playing at his usual breakneck speed, chose 24.Rb7+? Kd6 25.Rd1+? Now 25 Qf4+ e5 (25...Kc5 26 Rb8) 26 Qh6 was stronger. Nd5 26.Qe7+ Ke5 27.Qg7+ Ke4 and, with his flag tottering, Black had somehow crawled out.

Play stumbled on as follows: 28.Qg5 Rhg8 29.Qxh5 Ne3 30.Qxh7+ Ke5 31.Rb3? Nxd1! The move Rudd had missed.  32.Qh5+ Rf5 33.Qe2+ Kf6 34.Rxc3 Nxc3 35.Qe1 Nb5 and Black eventually rounded up the a-pawn and won.  36.Qh4+ Ke5 37.g4 Rf4 38.h3 Rf7 39.Qg3+ Kd5 40.Qb8 Rff8 41.Qb6 Nd6 42.Kg2 Ra8 43.Qc7 Rgf8 44.Qd7 e5 45.g5 e4 46.g6 e3 47.c4+ Kc5 48.g7 Rfe8 49.Kf1 e2+ 50.Ke1 Rad8 51.a8Q Rxa8 52.g8Q Rxg8 53.Kxe2 Rxa2+ 54.Kf3 Rf8+ 0–1 A tragic loss for Rudd, and a very lucky escape for Tahirov.

Of course, modern chess is all about opening theory. The morning Christmas Special tournament saw a brave attempt to improve the theory of the Slav Defence. After the moves 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3, the Black player produced the fascinating innovation 3...Bb4!!??!, doubtless a laudable attempt to accelerate his piece development by dispensing with "superfluous" pawn moves.  His opponent failed to find the refutation of this ingenious TN, and it was only some 4-5 moves later that one of the Masters' players looked at the board, and noticed that Black had somehow developed his bishop from f8, without moving either the e7 or g7 pawns. Quite correctly, the spectator  pointed this out to the arbiter, who, in the finest traditions of spoilsport officialdom, told the players that they had to return to move three and start again. Another new opening wrinkle bites the dust...

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